The Death of SWIFT and the (Engineered) Death of the Dollar

in #economy6 years ago

by James Corbett
corbettreport.com
September 1, 2018

Remember when I told you about "China's SWIFT Alternative and the (Engineered) Death of the Dollar"? Well, now it's Germany's turn to get in on the act.

As the Rothschild Financial Times reports:

Germany’s foreign minister has called for the creation of a new payments system independent of the US as a means of rescuing the nuclear deal between Iran and the west that Donald Trump withdrew from in May. Writing in the German daily Handelsblatt, Heiko Maas said Europe should not allow the US to act "over our heads and at our expense." “For that reason it’s essential that we strengthen European autonomy by establishing payment channels that are independent of the US, creating a European Monetary Fund and building up an independent Swift system,” he wrote.

Boom. There it is.

As I wrote in these pages earlier this year, the scrapping of the Iranian nuclear deal was the international crisis that was needed to tip the scales and nudge the EU out from under the umbrella of the post-WWII American World Order and into the clutches of the New Eurasian Order that President-For-Life Xi is busy constructing with his Belt and Road project. That Belt and Road vision of a united Eurasian trading space is not just about building highways and rail lines; a key aspect of that vision is the creation of an alternative payment system that bypasses the American-dominated SWIFT network.

But before we get too carried away, let's get back to basics: What is the SWIFT network? SWIFT is an acronym that stands for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, and, as the name suggests, it is a telecommunication service that is used by banks to settle international transactions. You can read all about the SWIFTNet messaging platform and the wonders of standardized international financial communications on the official website, but suffice it to say, if you're a bank you need to be on the SWIFT network to be able to do international business.

Just ask the Iranian banks. Back in 2012 they were de-listed from the SWIFT Network after Uncle Sam pressured the network (via the EU Council) to ban sanctioned Iranian banks. This event gave the lie to SWIFT's professions of being a non-political entity, proving that, at the end of the day, the network will block any nation that finds itself in the cross hairs of the American Empire.

Fast forward to 2018 and Iran is once again being sanctioned by Trump and the gaggle of chickenhawk neocons he has appointed to his cabinet. And, once again, the US is using the SWIFT network as an economic battering ram against Tehran. This time Washington is threatening SWIFT's board members and their respective employers with their own sanctions unless the organization once again de-lists the targeted Iranian banks by November 4th.

There are a couple of problems with this plan, though. One problem is that the SWIFT board is composed of 25 globalist bankster insiders, so the chances of Uncle Sam actually following through and personally sanctioning these men and women in November is as close to zero as possible. As economic blogger JP Konig writes in his article on "Europe's SWIFT Problem":

SWIFT's board is made up of executives from twenty-five of the world's largest banks, including two Americans: Citigroup's Yawar Shah and J.P Morgan's Emma Loftus. No matter how erratic and silly he is, I really can't imagine Trump following up on his threat. Would he ban all twenty-five banks, including Citigroup and J.P. Morgan, from doing business in the U.S.? Not a chance, that would decimate the global banking system and the U.S. along with it. Requiring U.S. banks do [sic] stop using SWIFT would be equally foolish. Would he risk ridicule by putting two American bank executives—Shah and Loftus—under house arrest for non-compliance? I doubt it.

Doubtful, indeed.

And, as it turns out, the question of whether or not the White House will have to follow through on these threats is not so theoretical after all. In fact, neither JP Morgan nor Citibank have committed to cutting off the Iranians this year. Reports indicate that both banks are opposed to disconnecting Iran from the SWIFT network, and, as noted by Konig above, both banks are represented on the board of SWIFT itself. So there is a very real possibility that SWIFT will stand up to Washington directly.

But even if SWIFT does go along with the sanctions, it's now becoming clear that even staunch US allies in Europe are ready to throw the whole network under the bus just to take this weapon of mass financial destruction out of the hands of whichever swamp dweller currently resides in the Oval Office. Hence the German foreign minister taking to the pages of a German daily to very publicly float the idea of creating a new international payment system.

But why go to all that work when—as I pointed out in "China and Russia Creating Alternate Banking System" last year—one already exists. Actually, two. That's right, China's very own Cross-border Inter-bank Payments System (CIPS) has been up and running for nearly three years already. And Russia's SWIFT alternative—dubbed "SPFS" and intended to facilitate transactions between Russian banks specifically—was pronounced operational a year and a half ago.

Furthermore, it must be understood that the move to circumvent American control of global finance is not just limited to the creation of CIPS and SPFS and whatever alternative the Europeans come up with. We've already seen how Russia dumped over 80% of its US Treasury holdings earlier this year and used the funds to buy gold. And we've already seen the birth of the petroyuan this year with the launch of China's yuan-denominated oil futures contract on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange. And just last week we heard Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov openly calling for the end of the dollar as a means of mutual settlement.

It seems Germany is not so radical in suggesting a SWIFT alternative after all. If anything, they're late to the party. As Jim Rickards notes in a recent op-ed, this talk of ditching the SWIFT network is just "one more sign that dollar dominance in global finance may end sooner than most expect," adding that "[w]e are getting dangerously close to that point right now."

But hold on a second, there is a very important point that needs to be made here. All of these payment "alternatives" and calls for a new international financial system have to be understood for what they are: The next phase in the globalists' long game. These new structures are not really alternative at all, and even if they genuinely do undermine the power of the US government they do not undermine the banksters' control over the system itself.

I mean, come on. Does anyone really think that JP Morgan and Citibank are the valiant heroes standing up to Washington and its out-of-control sanctions? That President-for-Life Xi and Vladimir "Apartment Bombing" Putin are really going to be the saviors that will lead us to a new international order of peace and happiness for all?

If so, you might want to check the reality on these feelgood stories about the "alternative" structures that are being created. Take the Chinese SWIFT alternative. Shortly after it went live it signed a memorandum of understanding with SWIFT itself to use the SWIFT network to transmit its messages. That's right, the Chinese "alternative" to SWIFT actually relies on SWIFT to operate!

And the Russian alternative? It is a total mess. Expensive. Slow. Cumbersome. It is a pain in the rear to operate and the Bank of Russia's own internal report on the system admitted that "banks are not interested in using domestic services instead of the convenient SWIFT and they can only be moved to the SPFS by force."

So if and when Germany actually follows through with its threat to create an alternative payment network, it is almost certain that it will be a watered-down payment channel that will probably rely on the SWIFT network to operate anyway. And even if a truly alternative inter-bank payment network were created, it would still be an inter-bank payment network. Not an open-source, permissionless, blockchain-based payment channel, open to everyone, but just another inter-bank payment network. Whoopie.

This is the point that I always come back to. Whether it's the BRICS or the BRICS bank or the SWIFT alternatives or the petroyuan or the SDR or any of the other proposals for "fighting Uncle Sam's hegemony," it is always a way for the globalists to foist more regional "cooperation" on the masses and consolidate their control over the international financial system. As I've pointed out time and time and time and time again, the decline of the US and the death of the dollar is being engineered on purpose. The US is not supposed to maintain its supremacy in the 21st century.

In order for the New World Order to rise, the Old World Order has to die. That is what we are witnessing when we watch Europe climbing on board with the Eurasian agenda and "standing up" to Uncle Sam.

As always, the real solutions start and end with what we the people can do to interact directly with each other to undermine these systems of control and the push toward regional/global consolidation. And you can take that to the bank.

...Oh, wait. There's just one more little tidbit to this story. Remember the op-ed that Germany's finance minister wrote? The one that suggested establishing this alternative payment system to bypass the US? Want to guess what that op-ed was titled?

"Making plans for a new world order"

You can't make this stuff up.

Sort:  

As always, the real solutions start and end with what we the people can do to interact directly with each other to undermine these systems of control and the push toward regional/global consolidation.

And you've championing the course with articles like this, helping people understand the intricacies of the financial war and in what direction it is heading.

There has been talks between the Nigerian government and the Chinese government to float the currencies of both countries to bypass the use of dollar. This is a deal that is welcomed may many Nigerians as it is said to be a more cheaper way of facilitating trade between both Nations. This is one of the ways the Chinese are using to trump the dollar.

Yes, there is a looming change, the new world order is emerging, but the question I want to ask is: does this in anymore reflect the wishes / thoughts of the people? Will this power struggle lead to more transparency and flexibility of financial services? I think you answered this question in this paragraph:

But hold on a second, there is a very important point that needs to be made here. All of these payment "alternatives" and calls for a new international financial system have to be understood for what they are: The next phase in the globalists' long game. These new structures are not really alternative at all, and even if they genuinely do undermine the power of the US government they do not undermine the banksters' control over the system itself.

Good analysis. However I believe the end result will be that Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency with faster transaction times (Steem?) will become the standard.

At the end of the day, why would anyone want to move from a US (and part EU) controlled system (SWIFT) to the same sort of system run by China or Russia (who are sure to use it as a weapon even more than the US does).

The obvious solution will be to move to a system controlled by no one, with a long and strong track record of working and not being hacked which is much faster and cheaper than SWIFT or alternative systems.

Some banks are already moving this way and the continued weaponisation of SWIFT and breaks into competing systems and will drive this.

I concur. I don't see why steemit couldn't fill that role although bitcoin and Steem can both be right there.

Banks are very conservative and will want to use the most proven, secure and high liquidity & market cap blockchain for large interbank transfers.
While I love Steem, Proof of Stake networks are not as secure from Nation State attack as Bitcoin's POW. I've written about this in one of my early Steemit posts here.
This is particularly important in the context of the weaponisation of existing systems like SWIFT.

Also, it would require a huge increase in Steem's market cap and liquidity for it be suitable for large inter-bank transactions.

However I can see Steem being used for smaller consumer transactions where speed and no fees are important. Steem has the biggest and best community of active users of a crypto platform for content. It is natural to use the same platform to send funds as the community grows.

I wonder if Bitcoin as it currently is would be capable of that. Seven transactions per second simply does not pass muster. There are way too many banks out there relying on being able to transmit constantly day in day out. Most funds in the Bitcoin network are rarely transmitted. A second-tier solution would be required but Bitcoin has nothing in the pipeline that would fit the bill any time soon. Could Ripple replace SWIFT?

Yes, you're right that Bitcoin isn't currently capable of doing all the transactions that SWIFT does.
But a combination of Bitcoin for high value transactions and another faster (but less proven) blockchain (Steem) for smaller transactions would do the job nicely.
I'm not a fan of Ripple because it is not decentralised and would be subject to the same weaponising takeover discussed in the main article.

In my opinion, one potential plausible future scenario is one where Bitcoin is used as a decentralized global store of value and a large number of other tokens on different blockchains are used as money of different velocities, each further away from Bitcoin in terms of the compromise between security and speed/scalability. Cross-chain atomic swaps are used to move funds from chain to chain according to need. No one or even two chains will suffice for global mainstream use. There will most likely be thousands of well-known and trusted public and permissionless chains and a number of private ones. Consumers need not bother knowing exactly which route their funds take as those decisions will be taken by apps and layers of decentralized middleware.

Exactly! There is no one ring to rule them all. It will be a long tail of coins and chains.

I concur. I don't see why steemit couldn't fill that role although bitcoin and Steem can both be right there.

@dhenz yes, the advantages of having Steem do that would be endless but imo, the system of control will never allow something that is totally out of their control to be a means of transaction. They will try to push their token on us after possibly first crashing bitcoin ( causing all other alts to crash with it) to use as a scapegoat to their plagued and broken, house of cards that is the current monetary system and then introduce their NWO coin and pump it to the sky. Make it a standard. Accepted everywhere. Taxed. Controlled. Monitored. That's the only fuking thing I fear in the crypto space.

The house of cards is at the verge of tiping over as they can't keep it up for much longer. The debt is impossibly big, interest rates low (somewhere negative which is ridicilous), theft (taxes) the parasites are collecting is on a constant a rise. It has to and will go down. I just fear it won't use the crypto crash scapegoat. I can't afford gold and the Steem I earn is all I have....

I believe governments are going to have to take a back seat whether they like it or not. As a human we have been controlled via the money supply, and violence. Now, no one can take my Steem or bitcoin away, legally they can't because if I say no worse case they lock me in a cage but my money is still safe. This has never happened before, and outside of kicking in every door and going straight up a dictator and torturing people for the crypto, what other choices do they really have? Places like Kenya, the gov has barely any say or control anymore, their fiat has been reduced to toilet paper and the citizens do commerce with phone minutes. I for one am not scared and ready to buck for my freedom and I feel a lot of others fee like me. We outnumber the small majority thousands to one, the curtains are falling for the great OZ and people are starting to wake up.

Governments are just the puppets of the control system. Don't you think that those that are really in control and dictate what the mainstream does now, will not have anything to do with controling which coin will be the one we end up being pushed to use?

Now, no one can take my Steem or bitcoin away, legally they can't because if I say no worse case they lock me in a cage but my money is still safe.

They can't and that's why I love cryptos. I hate the government from the bottom of my heart, taxes, and laws also (the unnatural ones to push more taxation and regulations) but even if they can't take it away directly, they can crash the price of all cryptos if they want as I mentioned. That's in a way the same as taking your coins away.

Places like Kenya, the gov has barely any say or control anymore, their fiat has been reduced to toilet paper and the citizens do commerce with phone minutes.

Yes! That's what I love to see. People in that kind of countries come flocking to crypto as their national currencies inflate their value out of existence. Like Venezuela where they have more than 500 businesses runnign on Digibyte. But then again as soon as that happens those that are suppsoed tobe working inthe favour of the people step right in with a fresh dose of taxes and regulations. That just pisses me off.

FOr example, here where I live in a highly masonic controlled country, Croatia you can't start a business and accept crypto without having to abide the laws and accept the theft from your own government; if not you are abducted and sent to jail. All that while their friends at the top do just the opposite and get past all the laws, regulations and taxes like they don't exist. That just pisses me off man, and it's like that everywhere. Or at least I feel like it is.

I'm trying to exit their grips of control with my earnings here on Steemit because living in such a controlled and corrupted country you need damn good connections to secure a shitty 500-600€/mo job that barely pays for the appartment costs + utilities, but where is the food? No food buddy. Unless you have some friends at the top of a big company ready to hire you for 800-1k€ / mo which I don't and probably never will. It's fucked up man!

The system is broken and it has taken us such a long time to start waking up to it, and as you said the iron curtain is slowly falling but god knows how long will it take for the majority that we need to make a change to wake up.

One of the more concerning things about the international banking cartel, is the Snowden document revelations had about the internal workings of this system.

Would he risk ridicule?

Yeah man, Donald Trump would never risk that.

Just use crypto currency to transfer money around the globe.

Really interesting

Financial drama to entertain in the same way that political drama is made to entertain. Although it plays its part, but only in that game that will fail eventually as more realize what value is and oppose to not, and what money actually is.
As Max Igan points out time and time again, true solutions lies in connecting with individuals and coming together in communities locally. And stop participating in the system.
Question is; what will trigger the common man to start learning that the system is broken and to look for solutions to apply.

NWO is moving to CHINA 🇨🇳 . Thats why they have all those ghost cities .

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