Good morning, and welcome to the Global Situation Report for Friday, 27 September 2024.
- RUSSIA UNVEILS PLANS FOR INDEPENDENT BRICS PAYMENT & SETTLEMENT PLATFORM: At the Russian Energy Week Forum on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to create an independent payment and settlement platform for foreign trade transactions between BRICS nations.
- The share of the ruble in Russia’s foreign trade operations increased nearly threefold between 2021 and 2023, and now stands at 39.4%.
- In 2024, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the UAE officially became BRICS members, joining Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
- Russia is already switching to using national currencies for trade with BRICS countries, and announced the blockchain-based BRICS Pay earlier this year to compete with Europe’s SWIFT and India’s UPI platforms.
Why It Matters: The announcement is a major strategic move that signals greater economic symmetry between BRICS and its Western counterparts, and underscores Russia’s resilience amid international sanctions and war. The creation of an independent interbank network would accelerate international de-dollarization efforts, bolster national currencies, undermine foreign dependency on Western financial institutions, and blunt the United States’ strategic use of financial controls in times of crisis. – M.N.
- Global Rollup
- Shigeru Ishiba won the Japanese Liberal Democrat Party’s Presidency and the Japanese Prime Minister’s office. Shigeru has gone on record multiple times in favor of Japan having the capability to rapidly build nuclear weapons. Last week, Ishiba also published an opinion piece calling for a collective self-defense system like NATO in Asia. (Under an Ishiba administration, Japan is likely to be more aggressive against China. If Ishiba does move forward with a nuclear development plan, it is likely to kick off an arms race in the Asian Pacific. – J.V.)
- Lieutenant General Alexander Sollfrank, head of NATO’s logistics command said that NATO is planning routes to remove large numbers of injured NATO troops in the event of a war with Russia. Sollfrank expects to build a “military medical Schengen” to bypass member state laws about narcotic and painkiller transport. (A prepared NATO is likely to be overconfident that they can prevail in a war with Russia, meaning they are also likely to continue crossing red lines. – J.V.)
- South Korea’s National Intelligence Service told their parliament that they expect North Korea to carry out another nuclear test shortly after the U.S. Presidential vote on 05 November.
THAT’S A WRAP: This does it for today’s edition. Thank you for reading. If you know folks who would also like to receive this email, would you please forward it to them? We appreciate you spreading the word. – M.S.