Financial Oligarchy: Prepare for Industrial Shutdowns, Rationing, and “Demand Destruction”

March 19—It is becoming increasingly clear to the industrial entrepreneurs and the average citizens of the trans-Atlantic region that the Western economies are rapidly approaching free-fall collapse. While the governments and the slavish media would have one believe that this is due entirely to the war in Ukraine, and that therefore (as President Biden has said), “It’s all Putin’s fault.” This ignores the fact that the destruction of the industrial and science-oriented economies of the Western nations was already in process long before the Ukraine crisis, and that such destruction was the intentional policy of the British Empire and their assets on Wall Street. Indeed, former Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney literally gushed that the banks running the Green New Deal would slash credits to all fossil fuels and to those industrial and agricultural firms which refused to conform to the suicidal “net-zero carbon” dictates.

Thus, do not expect that the oligarchs now running the governments of Western nations from their offices in the City of London and Wall Street will suddenly “realize” that the sanctions on Russia are doing greater damage to the Western economies than to Russia—they already knew, and in fact that was the intention. To “shift the trillions” (as Carney so clearly stated it) of all available credit away from long term development, both in the advanced sector and in the developing world, under the fraudulent claim that this were necessary to “save the planet” from the non-existent climate disaster, was actually intended to bail out the quadrillions of dollars of gambling debts which are now driving a hyperinflationary explosion.

The oligarchs, therefore, will not reverse these suicidal policies, neither the green attack on industry nor the criminally insane sanctions on Russia. Indeed, they will increasingly admit this is the intention. The newly popular phrase in the CIty of London is “Demand Destruction.” Rather than solving the problem through the reorganization of the world financial system, as called for in the Schiller Institute petition “Convoke an International Conference To Establish a New Security and Development Architecture for All Nations,” the oligarchs are warning industries to prepare for shutdowns and rationing of energy. ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance told Bloomberg: “Oil prices are so high that demand for crude-derived products such as gasoline soon may start to shrink. Prices are encroaching upon the area of demand destruction.” The German Federal Network Agency warned German industry on March 18 to prepare for “unavoidable industry shutdowns,” while Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said that “if things worsen, we should enter a logic of rationing.”

It is not the war in Ukraine driving the financial crisis—it is the financial crisis driving the war. As Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said, the sanctions would have been imposed anyway, with or without the Ukraine situation. The intention is to destroy the Russian economy, and the Chinese economy is next, and an even bigger target. According to the official readout of President Biden’s nearly two-hour video conference with Xi Jinping on Friday, March 18, Biden “described the implications and consequences if China provides material support to Russia as it conducts brutal attacks against Ukrainian cities and civilians.” Although there is no reason for China to provide military aid to Russia, the two nations are already trading in their own currencies and reducing their dollar holdings, while also holding negotiations to establish an entirely new financial system and trading infrastructure. The majority of the world’s nations are far more interested in being part of the dramatic industrial and infrastructure development offered by China’s Belt and Road Initiative than the austerity and conditionalities imposed by the IMF and the Western powers.

The world is descending into a dark age under the impact of the Anglo-American would-be Gods of Olympus, who imagine that they are still the lords of a unipolar world whose commands must be obediently followed. The Feb. 4 Joint Statement issued by Putin and Xi Jinping made clear that the world has entered a new era of mankind, based on the belief that all nations have the right to security and to development as the necessary basis of world peace. The greatest danger is that the oligarchs of London and New York, unwilling to join this new paradigm of peace through development, and unable to destroy it through wartime sanctions, will opt for military action, risking nuclear war.

Only a new Peace of Westphalia can reverse this descent into Hell, as called for in the Schiller Institute petition.

On April 9, the Schiller Institute will sponsor a virtual conference on this same theme, bringing spokesmen from around the world to address the urgent need for the convocation of a conference of the governments of the major powers, including at least Russia, China, India and the United States. Register for the conference here, and circulate the invitation to everyone you know.