The World in 2023 — What to Expect

By Bill Lindo

Belize City: Mar 26^th 2023 — We are soon at the end of Lent and in the next two weeks we will celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God. The key – the basis of Christianity is that the Word (God) became Flesh (Man) and that he was crucified, died, and that on the third day he rose from death and became human again.

The meaning of this is that Man made in the image of his Creator has the ability to imitate God and thus there are NO Limits to human innovation, creative thinking, and discoveries.  It is on that basis that humans have been able to wilfully increase their standard of living here on planet earth.

When I was growing-up in Belize, over 70 plus years ago, Belize’s population was at least 80% Christians, who dutifully worshipped and truly believed in God and his Son, Jesus. Today, that is no longer the case. Most simply don’t care one way or another.  This decadence of the countries which support the so-called Western way of life is part of the reason for the hatred especially of the largest country on earth – Russia. President of Russia, Vladimir Putin is a hero and great leader of Russia, who revived Russia from the “banana republic” status that the West had put Russia in after 1991 and is today the 6^th largest economy in the world (CIA “real GDP” 2021 – the CIA says China is first, US second, Japan third, and India fifth).  Today, Russia has the most advanced military (they have develop a new weapon called “Hypersonic” which no other country has that travels at 14 times the speed of sound and cannot be shot-down) and possesses the most and best nuclear weapons in the world. Russia today is leader in 42 of 50 strategic resources in the world.  President Putin is a devoted Christian and firm supporter of Christian values, especially the family.  

Currently, the international system is going through a crisis on the scale of a world war. It began nearly a decade ago when the Western-supported “Euro-maidan” coup in Kiev, and Russia’s response by taking control of Crimea, prompted a prolonged United States — Russian confrontation.

Last year, Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine, as Russian professor Dmitry Trenin said, “Seeking to eliminate the threat from what many in Moscow saw as the “land-based US-armed and -controlled aircraft carrier parked on Russia’s doorstep,” which Ukraine had become. With that, the Russo-American confrontation degenerated into a proxy war between the world’s two principal nuclear powers.”  In the meantime, Washington further hardened its approach to Beijing,  abruptly replacing its former China policy of ‘engage and hedge’ with a trade and technology war, resulting in a confrontation between Washington and Beijing while also seeking to organize its allies and partners in Asia and Europe against China.

What is at stake here is not just the fate of Ukraine, which will be dismembered by Poland or the future of Taiwan, which will never be independent. The issue is the existing world order itself and its current organizing principle – America’s global hegemony. This status, roundly rejected by Moscow and Beijing, is now in question. For a few years now, the US has been calling the present situation a ‘major power competition’ – recall that this was the cause of both world wars the last (20^th) century. The Russians and Chinese, for their part, have been calling since the early 2000s for a transition/change from United States-led uni-polarity to a multipolar world order. This position is gaining support among various countries in Asia (especially Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia) the Middle East (Algeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran), Africa (Ethiopia, Zambia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Central African Republic, Mali), and Latin America (Cuba, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Nicaragua). In effect, the process of systemic change is already underway – only a nuclear war can stop this process.

Last week, President Xi Jinping of China made a historic three day state visit to Russia.  Putin had been hosting Xi in Moscow as a guest of honour last week as the two great powers continue to commit to increasing diplomatic, economic, and military cooperation.  Xi and Putin first declared a “no limits” partnership in February 2022, weeks before Russia launched its defence of Russia’s Motherland against NATO by military action against NATO proxy Ukraine.

According to Epoch Times, March 22^nd:  “As Xi left the Kremlin on March 22^nd 2023, he turned to Putin and said with a smile: “This is exactly, right now, the change which hasn’t happened in 100 years.

“And it is we, together, who are driving these changes forward.”

Putin replied, “I agree.”

“Please take care, dear friend,” Xi said before the two shook hands.”

What did China’s President Xi’s reference to a change not seen in a century mean? One hundred years ago was the start of the Great Depression which ended in the killing of over 68 million people in World War II.  Some political commentators have said President Xi was referring to the cementing of the Anglo-American rules-based international order that started to take shape, with the United States eventually emerging as a global superpower.  Others though that President Xi was referring to a new “Bretton Woods” Financial Architecture now taking shape around BRICS +.

Now let’s look at the other major crisis on the global-scale – the collapse of the Western-based Financial System.

Over the last few days, two American banks and one very large Swiss bank went belly-up. Another US bank – Republic Bank is on life-support. In Oct 1929 Wall Street banks and other financial institutions collapsed and by 1932 had put the entire world and all the countries of the world in the Great Depression.  One of the US’ greatest leaders, President Franklin Roosevelt in one of his first acts as President was to push the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act which separated commercial banking from investment banking – stopping the bankers from gambling.  For 66 years, the US and the world suffered no more banking problems until 2008, nine years after the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act. By 2009, the Fed had created some $ 26 trillion to bail-out Wall Street and their banks. (Source Bloomberg News). And in just another 10 years, 2019 the banks were in trouble again when their repo market collapsed on September 17^th 2019. The Fed pumped some $ 130 billion per day to save the banks and after June 2021 the Fed used the Covid 19 scam to bail out the bankers again. But 1 ½ years later they are bailing out the bankers again. Why? What’s wrong?

Dennis Small’s elephant in the room – the derivatives bubble

A few days ago, Dennis Small of EIR magazine published a picture in a YouTube video about the elephant in the room – derivatives (gambling).   Credit Suisse which failed, had assets of $ 0.6 trillion dollars, but derivatives exposure of $ 16 trillion dollars.  According to Mr Dennis Small’s photo, the four largest banks in US have $ 8 trillion dollars in assets, but $ 173 trillion dollars in derivatives debt. In contrast, China’s four largest banks have $ 19 trillion dollars in assets and only $ 7 trillion in derivatives debt. Russia is the same, $ 1.75 trillion in derivatives exposure and $ 3.75 trillion in assets. In a word, the Western Banks are all bankrupt. Remember during 2007-2009 the bail-out of the Western Financial System was on the backs of US workers, Developing Countries, and Russia and China. This time Russia and China and most of the global south are telling the G7 and their followers they are on their own – they will not bail them out. Colonialism and imperialism are over, finished.

The other elephant in the room is Inflation.

When the big boys decided to bail-out themselves during the Covid-19 scam, they created a lot of money which ended-up creating inflation, then with policies which rational persons would never do, the Anglo-Americans decided at lightning speed to sanction Russia with over 16,000 different sanctions – the most in the history of the world which have failed miserably. Why? It shows the calibre of their ability to think and their failure to lead. But such is the craziness of the neo-liberal/neo-con mind-set.  Russia before the Ukraine war had a trade surplus of $ 98 billion dollars, today even though Russia is at war, and should have deficits, instead the trade surplus has grown to over $ 264 billion dollars.  Inflation in Russia is at 4% while it’s at 9% in Europe.  Suddenly, money which every sane person knows is debt, suddenly with their “woke” ideology becomes an asset and power. 

Every major Empire for the last four thousand years of recorded history, every single one, collapse because of inflation – the stealing of the common man by the elites with their greed which seems can never be satisfied until their entire world collapses around them.  Remember the elites of Rome assassinate Julius Caesar rather than allow him to proclaim a Jubilee and reorganize the debts. Eventually, Rome collapse as inflation rage. And in our modern age, Chiang Kai-shek lost the civil-war in China in 1949 to Mao ze-dong Communists because the Chinese people turn against Chiang because of the inflation raging China at the end of World War II.  Chiang fled to the Chinese island of Formosa (Taiwan) with the help of the United States who stopped China from exercising their rightful control of their island – Taiwan, because the Americans wish to control and keep China weak.

We need to understand a few truths about life in the universe. In any economy money is important to grease the process, but PRODUCTION IS KEY. Over-and over we as humans need to relearn this truth, only production can control inflation and increase people’s standard of living. God gave to man a great power – something for nothing. A farmer prepares the land and by putting moisture and energy (fertilizers) along with the power of God, and for every 20 lbs of corn seeds gets about 4,000 lbs of corn after some 3 months.  And when the owner of capital (saved labour) leap frogs to the latest technology (applied science) and puts machines to increase the labour-power of workers the products are cheaper per unit even though the wages and profits are high.  This is the American System of Alexander Hamilton, Charles Henry Carey and Abe Lincoln which have produced the miracles we called United States, Germany, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, and today’s China – exploit nature, not man.

The NATO-Russia war is showing that the post-industrial society is pure nonsense – rubbish. Every war in human history produces the same result – the side that can produce the most and best guns and armaments wins. During the American Civil War, the North of Lincoln/Carey won because they produced the best and most guns and other weapons/supplies. The South had no production, no factories – everything was imported from Great Britain, thus they lost the war. In World War II the Allies — Great Britain, Soviet Union (Russia) and United States out produced the Axis powers — Germany, Italy and Japan.  The main problem for both Germany and Japan (even with their superior industry/technology) was a lack of a reliable cheap source of energy. The USA and Soviet Union (Russia) had vast and cheap sources of energy.

Today, Russia is a large producer of oil and gas, along with aluminium, fertilizers, steel, food, machine tools, and for the last 70 years the second largest exporter of military equipment, including some of the best jets, tanks, artillery and small arms. The US is the largest. Russia was the first in space, and for the last 15 years the only way to reach the international space station was on Russian rockets.  The Russians have more and much better nuclear weapons than any other country, yet the West expects Ukraine to defeat Russia. What are they smoking!  Even CNN is now saying that for every Russian killed, Ukraine losses some twelve soldiers. Russia has already destroyed two Ukraine armies. They are now on their third.  Ukraine has lost most of its industrial capacity – the Donbass region. It has also lost close to 40% of its agricultural land where the average top soil is 15 feet deep, one of the best in the world.

Make no mistake, NATO cannot defeat todays Russia.  The West/Ukraine is firing some 7,000 per day artillery 155mm shells. Meanwhile, today Russia is firing 20,000 per day at Ukraine, and producing 120,000 per day in its factories. No country in NATO has that industrial capacity.  And while Russia has some 29% of its work-force in industrial production, its partner China has close to 38%. The US has some 14% and Germany is now down to 15% from 28% before Covid-19.  The high cost of energy is now destroying the once mighty industrial Germany.  The delusion of the West must stop before they launch nuclear missiles against Russia/China to win what they cannot win.

The only way in 2023 to defeat inflation is to produce as much of everything that your citizens consume. Countries like Belize must learn that ONLY by PRODUCTION – self-sufficiency can Belize defeat inflation and provide a relative high standard of living for its citizens. But government must stop playing games with the monopoly local producers of food.  They must remember they are a part of Belize and not superior to anyone else.  Stop using global inflation as an excuse to keep raising prices on locally produced foods.  And remember that foreigners will never develop your country – only local Belizeans can do that.  And to do that, we must leap frog to the latest technology – the best machine tools.

Long Live a free Independent Belize!