by Joseph P. Farrell, Giza Death Star:
This story came to us courtesy of a short email from K.M., which prompted me to go looking for a fuller story. The subject of that email? The Vatican and its relationship to the BRICS nations, a subject that assumes some importance particularly with the recently announced expansion of that bloc by the addition of six new nations, and because of the recent conclusion of a trade between Russia and India for oil, in which the oil was paid for, not in American dollars, but in Indian rupees:
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While there is much geopolitics behind this story, and even quite a bit of cracks in the wall of BRICS, the fact remains that the trade by-passed the dollar completely.
So what about the Vatican and the BRICS bloc?
Here’s one version of that story:
BRIC by BRIC, the foundation for Pope’s geopolitical endgame is being laid
As usual in such articles, we get the political and financial, and ignore (completely) the theological and cultural (which we’ll get back to, because in reality, the Vatican’s moves, while impacting the political and financial, cannot be comprehended anywhere close to adequately without the theological and cultural):
By all accounts, China under Xi Jinping was the driving force behind the BRICS expansion, as a key expression of its overall strategic aim of countering Western control of the global economy and major world institutions. China’s aspiration is to build a more multilateral world order, one not exclusively denominated in dollars and not dominated by the United States.
As it happens, that vision dovetails fairly neatly with Pope Francis’s agenda for global affairs. In a recent interview, the pope described himself as a “stone in the shoe” to many for his criticism of empires – and, since he was speaking in the context of Latin America, it was fairly clear which “empire” in particular he had in mind.
Increasingly, China may come to see the Vatican under Francis as an ally in the effort to build an alternative to the Western world order. Naturally, the pope’s willingness to sign and stand by a controversial agreement with China over the appointment of bishops in the country, despite difficulties in its application, augments the impression of common cause, as does the rough alignment between Rome and Beijing on the conflict in Ukraine.
Moreover, a BRICS coalition containing not just Brazil but also Argentina may be in a stronger position to make the case to Xi that the Catholic Church, and specifically the Vatican, can be an asset at least as much as an irritant. Lula, a close friend and political ally of Francis, may be in a particularly strong position to help press that argument.
Then there’s Saudi Arabia and its little-known problem of a growing Christian population:
Saudi interest in an arrangement with the Vatican may also be enhanced by the expanding Christian footprint in the country, currently estimated at 2.1 million people out of a total population of 36 million. Most are foreign workers from countries such as the Philippines, Lebanon, Sri Lanka and India. The Saudis, who crave stability, may see a deal with the Vatican as a way to regularize their status.
And finally, there’s the growing problem of the much-anticipated and touted possibility of a BRICS “currency”:
Certianly the project of a unified BRICS currency as an alternative to the American dollar doesn’t seem to be getting off the ground anytime soon. Ironically, Argentina enters the alliance at a moment when its leading presidential contender, Javier Milei, actually is is proposing to move in the other direction, scrapping the Argentine peso and replacing it with the dollar.
Let’s start with the issue of a BRICS currency and the fact that Russia has been wanting to base it on gold. The plain fact of the matter is, I believe, that what we’ve really been watching with all the stories about this currency are really stories less about its creation and more about how it will be rolled out publicly. In other words, if one looks behind the curtain of the bilateral currency agreements between the BRICS nations of recent years, including (I would insist) that little-known military-logistical agreement between India and Japan that I blogged about some years ago, one will discover the likelihood and probability that a “unit of account” has already been created by the BRICS nations and their central banks as a means of clearing accounts conducted under terms of these bi-lateral currency agreements. Such a unit-of-account would be the BRICS equivalent of the Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) in use in the central banks of the west. And as for that military-logistical agreement between Japan and India which I blogged about some time ago, you can bet your bottom yen or rupee that the financial clearing of such an agreement will not be denominated in dollars, should either country ever enact that agreement. In short, that agreement alone is a significant indicator that such a unit-of-account already exists.
