Neutrality Studies Recap #9

October 15 - November 10

Hola,

Pascal here. Much has happened over the last couple of weeks, so here is a topical recap of what I’ve been discussing on the YouTube channel before and after the Neutrality Studies conference (which you can read about here).

The Global Financial System

I had several fascinating talks with great colleagues on the current and future financial system, starting with John Pang and Einar Tangen, who explained eloquently why and how the hegemonic system the US built after the Second World War is now definitely and irrevocably coming to an end. The future will be not only multi-polar but multi-systemic with alternative routes available for trade and banking.

I also hosted a panel with three former central bankers, Dejan Šoškić (Serbia), Adrian Fullani (Albania), and Miroslav Singer (Czech Republic) on the future of the European economy.

Finally, I had a fascinating talk with Professor Yan Liang on what Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) has to say on China’s economic challenges as well as the future of the BRICS monetary system. In the last video below Professor Liang explains why a common “hard currency” like the Euro would make no sense for BRICS, but a common “unit of account” is probably the way forward to de-dollarize successfully.

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What is Russia up to?

Next I was quite fascinated with the BRICS Kazan meeting and Russia’s diplomacy toward the global south. I did an in-depth talk about this with Professor Michael Rossi, a great Russia watcher who also publishes much valuable source material on his YouTube Channel (highly recommended).

Of course I also tried to cover a bit the latest foreign policy hints the Russians dropped on the future of Ukraine and co-existence with the rest of Europe. That one, however, doesn’t look very rosy, despite Putin’s recent comments about being open to normalise ties with the Europeans if they desired doing so. Unfortunately, Russophobia in the EU sits so deep that we can’t expect a recovery on that front anytime soon, even if the Russo-Ukrainian War should come to an end. I would like to point out that my friend and colleague, Glenn Diesen, asked Vladimir Putin directly about this issue at the recent Valdai Conference. You can watch this here. I’ll interview Glenn about this next week.

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Israel’s Genozide on Gaza

Without doubt the most dramatic and personally disturbing topic to discuss is the unspeakable genocide that is happening in front of our eyes in Gaza. It is utterly unfathomable to me how a good part of Europe and North America can still pretend that it’s the Israelis that are the victims and that this is in any shape or form an acceptable “response” to October 7, 2023. Even forgetting the entire history of this conflict and the question of who killed which victims of that day, the live-streamed nature of the Genocide leaves me speechless when I hear Western commentators holding a shielding hand over the IDF and the Israeli state. I honestly lack the words to express myself properly on this issue. It fills me with such a profound sadness that it impedes my ability to do a rational analysis, although I keep trying. The only way I can explain this inhumanity is a still prevalent form of racism at the heart of western culture that despite all proclamations to the contrary, still runs deep.

I have nothing but admiration for the great journalists and analysts who day-in-day-out report on what is happening and make sure history won’t forget. I would also like to point out a talk I had with Norman Solomon about the US support for Israeli terror against the Palestinian population.

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Dogmas without Believers

In three episodes in the last weeks I talked with guests about popular dogmas of the West that are falling apart in front of our eyes. One is of course the absurd claim that there is a “Rules Based International Order”, which is nothing but a shallow attempt of the outgoing hegemonic power to assert its interests, while completely disregarding the actual rules the international community cares about, namely international law. I talked about this with Dr. Binoy Kampmark.

Another one is the believe that EU membership is the solution for all economic and security problems of non-members in its vicinity. From Moldova over Georgia, Ukraine, and Armenia, the general idea of some people seems to be that the EU will automatically make everything better for them, if they could just join. But especially the example of Georgia shows that a country can experience very healthy economic growth while outside the block. So where is this idea coming from and does it still hold true? Probably not. I talked about this with a former British diplomat responsible for economic affairs, Ian Proud.

The last dogma is this idea of an “American Dream”, which by now has clearly morphed into a nightmare for most victims of the US system—inside and outside its borders. The re-election of Donald Trump is to me a clear sign of the large-spread disillusionment the majority of the US population feels toward its kleptocratic establishment. I had a very good talk with a Turkish colleague, Tunç Akkoç, who entitled this historic moment “awakening from the dream”, about which he also made a documentary that I was allowed to host on the channel. Thank you for that, Tunç!

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And what’s Japan up to?

Finally, let me point out a discussion I had with Professor Yuichi Hosoya from Keiyo University (Tokyo). He’s a great analyst of Japan’s domestic political environment and talked to me first about the recent change in the country’s leadership to Prime Minister Ishiba and the (rather disastrous) outcome of the snap-election he called for.

Secondly, we also talked about what this and the US election means for Japan’s Foreign Policy. In short, the chances are very high for Japan to strive for more strategic autonomy (which would have been true even under a Harris administration) as the general perception in this country is that its traditional Great Power protector is not a reliable partner anymore.

That’s it for this recap. Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Pascal