The Multipolar World Order (yes, it's here)

[Ravenlocke]

Pepe Escobar

The Full BRICS New Delhi declaration - in 140 paragraphs.

THAT'S what's building a new - equitable - system of international relations looks like.

https://mea.gov.in/bilateral-documen...tember_12_2026

https://x.com/RealPepeEscobar/status...35664851386368

[Ravenlocke]

Russia's Pivot to Asia

Russia’s Direct Investment Fund, BRICS Pay India Agree On Developing Cross-Border Payment Services

https://russiaspivottoasia.com/russi...ment-services/

Russia's Sovereign Wealth Fund, JSC BRICS Pay; and the Indian government are to collaborate on developing the BRICS Pay platform initially to service Russia-India trade but also to later roll-out an international financial settlement mechanism that all BRICS countries can use, possibly by 2030. It will liberalise global payments capabilities away from the control currently wielded by the United States and Europe, with all the implications this brings

https://x.com/RussiasPivot/status/2099165282376077345

https://russiaspivottoasia.com/russi...ment-services/

Russia’s Direct Investment Fund, BRICS Pay India Agree On Developing Cross-Border Payment Services

Published on September 13, 2026

Russia’s Sovereign Wealth Fund – RDIF and India’s BRICS payments arm have agreed to develop the economic grouping’s payment project, as well as working on cross-border payment services. The agreement is between the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), and JSC BRICS Pay and was announced on Friday (September 11) during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s engagements in India.

The partners will explore ways to integrate BRICS Pay with India’s existing payment infrastructure, prepare potential pilot projects, and work toward the launch of cross-border payment services. BRICS Pay is the decentralized cross-border payment framework of the bloc and is based in Dubai. It works closely with India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in Mumbai. The mobile application was developed by the Dubai-based company NB PAY FZCO, while the technical architecture (DCMS) was created by specialists at Saint Petersburg State University. The platform is designed to interconnect national and commercial payment systems of BRICS+ countries.

Cross-border payments is a priority area of financial cooperation for BRICS countries amid Western sanctions and financial exclusion, with members seeking greater interoperability between their national payment systems.

RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev said that “Developing modern payment infrastructure is a crucial prerequisite for the continued growth of trade and investment among BRICS nations. BRICS Pay can complement existing national payment systems and enable them to work together. The proposed system will facilitate trade and investment between BRICS countries, including through settlements in national currencies.”

BRICS Pay India, the Indian arm of the project, will coordinate with Indian banks, payment service providers, merchants, and other market participants, while RDIF will support the initiative through its investment and international partnership network.

RDIF is Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, with US$27.3 billion in assets. JSC BRICS Pay is a Moscow-based company that develops payment-processing systems and infrastructure for the project.

Dmitriev said BRICS should develop practical investment and financial mechanisms that bring its members together. BRICS bloc Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors have asked the BRICS Payment Task Force (BPTF) to continue work on cross-border payment solutions that are faster, cheaper and more accessible. The BPTF functions as a platform for dialogue and exchange of experiences and knowledge among central bank experts, focusing on topics related to payment systems, especially the regulation of payment and settlement systems. BPTF meetings include presentations on payment systems used by central banks, aiming at shared learning, involving systems, rules, and workflows associated with payments, including fast payments, cross-border payments, and financial infrastructure.

Indian Trade Minister Piyush Goyal has called on BRICS members and partner countries to connect payment systems and expand trade in national currencies. Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra said members are discussing links between fast-payment systems and Central Bank Digital Currencies CBDC).

However, achieving this will require legislation to be passed at each national level and new regulations to be issued by the various BRICS governments and Central Banks as they are not all aligned on the legality of using their own digital currencies nor using them in international trade. Here is a quick snapshot.

Brazil does not have an official central bank digital currency (CBDC) fully in public use, but it may begin roll out of its official digital currency, Drex, later this year or during 2027.

China has a live digital currency in active use called the Digital Renminbi or e-CNY, also known as the Digital Yuan. It is legal tender with an equivalent value to physical cash and coins. It is the world’s largest live central bank digital currency.

Egypt does not have an official central bank digital currency (CBDC) in use yet, but it plans to launch an e-Pound by 2030.

Ethiopia does not have an official digital currency in active use, and private cryptocurrencies remain illegal for transactions. However, The Ethiopian Council of Ministers approved a revised National Bank proclamation enabling the NBE to issue a digital birr alongside physical currency.

India has the Digital Rupee, (e₹) in active use, issued by the Reserve Bank of India.

Indonesia does not yet have an active central bank digital currency in general public use. Bank Indonesia (BI) is developing a Central Bank Digital Currency known as the Digital Rupiah under an initiative called Project Garuda, planned to launch in 2030.

Iran has an official digital currency in the pilot stage called the Crypto Rial, alongside widespread practical use of decentralized digital assets for state and civilian trade.

Russia officially launched its central bank digital currency, the Digital Ruble, for nationwide commercial and public use on September 1, 2026.

Saudi Arabia does not have a general-use digital currency for the public yet, but it is actively testing Central Bank Digital Currencies for wholesale and cross-border settlements. It has not set a timeline or decided to launch a Digital Riyal for the general public.

South Africa’s Reserve Bank (SARB) released a position paper concluding there is no compelling immediate need to launch a retail digital rand for the general public, despite finding it technically feasible.

UAE has the Digital Dirham issued by the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) as part of its Financial Infrastructure Transformation programme.

A retail-payment technology demonstrator was tested at the BRICS Business Forum in Moscow in 2024. An explanation of how it works can be seen here.

The initial BRICS Pay programme appears likely to revolve around developing and testing bilateral trade between Russia and India – both have their Digital Currencies in live operation and their respective national legislation in place. This is also pertinent for as bilateral trade volumes – currently about US$68 billion per annum – are expected to be given a significant boost as India appears close to signing a Free Trade Agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union.

It will also help with the on-going problem that India’s oil companies have in Russia, as Indian public sector oil firms have approximately US$1 billion in unpaid dividend income currently stuck in Russian accounts due to Western sanctions and payment restrictions. The BRICS Pay solution would resolve this.

It should also be noted that the technical issues to overcome will also help the fellow BRICS members that are not currently up to speed with Digital Currencies fast track their own development. If this happens, a replacement alternative to the SWIFT payment network from which both Russia and Iran are suspended, is likely to be in place by 2030. That liberalises global payments capabilities away from the control currently wielded by the United States and Europe, with all the implications this brings.

[Ravenlocke]

🅰pocalypsis 🅰pocalypseos 🇷🇺 🇨🇳 🅉

The Pinglu Canal, China’s first river-to-sea canal, just opened. Sun Yat-sen put it on paper more than a century ago.

It links southwest China to the Beibu Gulf. Southwest cargo no longer has to run east through Guangdong to reach the sea. This is the river mouth of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor and a new gateway for China–ASEAN cooperation.

The canal was built in four years. Its lock system raises and lowers ships across a 65-metre drop.

London and Wall Street call every lock, rail, and power station overcapacity. Their specialty is a “rules-based” choke on other people’s development.

Peace through development is a canal that works for all of Asia

https://x.com/apocalypseos/status/2101163756437070029

Arnaud Bertrand

Sep 15
Yup, this is a big deal: the Pinglu Canal is China's first river-to-sea canal since the founding of the People's Republic.

It cost US$10.2 billion to build and is designed for 5000-ton ships of 90 meter length.

It's part of a bigger master plan that China calls the "New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor" (ILSTC, 西部陆海新通道) to solve a structural geographic problem: the country's vast western interior (places like Chongqing, Sichuan Guangxi, Guizhou, Gansu, Qinghai) has historically been cut off from global shipping lanes, with goods having to travel east - often thousands of kilometers - to reach the coast at ports like Guangzhou or Shanghai before heading out to sea.

Which is super inconvenient for, for instance, China's trade with ASEAN - its biggest trading partner today.

Up until recently, if you wanted to ship something from, say, Chongqing to Vietnam, you had to go east all the way down to Guangzhou before you could head back south. A massive detour.

In effect the entire logic of the plan, including the Pinglu Canal, is to reorient the economic geography of China's less developed western provinces away from dependence on the wealthy eastern seaboard and toward direct engagement with Southeast Asia.

It's as much about internal rebalancing - developing the west - as it is about external trade connectivity.

https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/2100077652946407775

[Ravenlocke]

Addis Standard

News: #Rwanda’s Bank of Kigali joins #China payment network as #Africa’s de-dollarisation drive expands

Addis Abeba — Rwanda’s Bank of #Kigali has become the first financial institution in the country and the first headquartered in East and Central Africa to directly connect to China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (#CIPS), as financial ties between Rwanda and China deepen.

Business Insider Africa reported that the agreement was signed by Bank of Kigali on 8 September in Xiamen, China, during the second CIPS Cross-Border Bank-Enterprise Cooperation Event.

The connection will enable more direct payments between Rwandan and Chinese financial institutions and could reduce the number of intermediary banks involved in some transactions, according to the bank.

The development is expected to facilitate transactions for Rwandan businesses importing goods from China and exporters selling products to the Chinese market.

CIPS is China’s principal infrastructure for clearing and settling cross-border transactions denominated in the renminbi. The system differs from SWIFT, which primarily provides secure messaging for financial institutions to transmit payment instructions rather than directly settling funds.

Rwanda is not abandoning SWIFT, with Business Insider Africa reporting that the country is expected to continue using both systems for different purposes.

The move comes amid wider efforts in parts of Africa to increase the use of local currencies in international trade and reduce reliance on the US dollar. Business Insider Africa cited China’s recent discussions with Egypt on increasing bilateral trade and investment settlements in their respective national currencies.

China is Rwanda’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching about $1.76 billion in 2024, according to the report. China accounted for 26.7% of Rwanda’s imports in the first quarter of 2026, valued at about $355.5 million, while it represented 25.8% of Rwanda’s domestic exports, worth nearly $95 million.

The Bank of Kigali’s CIPS connection therefore comes as trade between the two countries continues to expand, potentially giving Rwandan businesses a more direct channel for renminbi-denominated transactions.

https://x.com/addisstandard/status/2103474000500293725

[Ravenlocke]

Angelo Giuliano 🇨🇭🇮🇹

Interviewed by Sputnik

Interviewed by Sputnik on Xi-Trump meeting

🇨🇳🇺🇸What the Xi-Trump state dinner’s guest list said about the China-US balance of power

“Xi did not bring a Chinese business delegation because he did not need one. The American tech and finance crowd came to him,” Hong Kong-based geopolitical analyst Angelo Giuliano told Sputnik, commenting on the optics and substance of the Chinese president’s state visit to Washington.

“Bringing executives would have implied that China still seeks validation from American capital. The opposite is now true. Musk, Cook, Huang, Zuckerberg and the rest showed up because their companies remain dependent on Chinese manufacturing, components, scale and consumers. That guest list is the clearest indicator of who actually holds economic gravity in 2026.”

“China is the workshop of the world: rare earths, batteries, solar, shipyards, EVs, and a domestic market that no longer needs to beg for access,” Giuliano emphasized, pointing out that while the US “still prints the reserve currency,” it “cannot print factories or engineers at the same speed” – a consequence of “decades of US policy failure.”

During the White House arrival ceremony, Xi referred to the need to steer the “giant ship” of China-US relations toward a steady future. This was “Chinese political language for managing the relationship so it does not explode,” the analyst believes.

“High-profile rhetoric with few deliverables is standard when the declining power still needs the optics of managing the rising one. The United States cannot offer China anything Beijing cannot already obtain elsewhere or produce itself,” Giuliano said.

https://x.com/angeloinchina/status/2103510725025308986

[Ravenlocke]

Francesco Sassi

Sep 24
🌊 China is extending clean energy where it has never gone before: under the South China Sea

A breakthrough study in Joule proves underwater solar harvesting is possible at 10m depth.

But the true story is geopolitical power projection.
👇🇨🇳🇵🇭🇻🇳🇮🇩🇹🇼🇲🇾☀️

🔬 The Tech Breakthrough

Using wide-bandgap perovskite solar cells, Chinese researchers generated 324 mWh at 10 meters depth off Weizhou Island. They solved corrosion and captured blue-green light spectra to charge subsea batteries

https://x.com/Frank_Stones/status/2103055265943990448

[Ravenlocke]

Fenelon MASSALA

Translated from French
AFRICAN UNION: Thunderbolt

The President of Namibia, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, has announced the opening in October 2026, in Mauritius, of the headquarters and the launch of operations of the African Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA), whose purpose will be to assess the creditworthiness of states, local authorities, and businesses across Africa and thereby put an end to dependence on Western rating agencies (Moody's, S&P, Fitch), whose biased assessments cost Africa several billion dollars every year.

https://x.com/rfemassala/status/2103435375616147899

[bojancan]

Interesting video by Ben Norton!

Donald Trump has been a China hawk for years, and he waged a brutal trade war against the country. So why did the US leader invite Chinese President Xi Jinping to Washington, DC for a summit? The White House dinner, featuring the CEOs of top corporations, helps explain why. Ben Norton analyzes the complex state of US-China relations following Trump's failed trade war.


Sept, 25
Geopolitical Economy Report
761K subscribers
The REAL reason why Trump invited China's President Xi to Washington

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ueqdJ8vjInE

0:00 Xi Jinping visits USA
1:20 Cold War Two
2:07 Cold War One history
3:16 USA sees China as threat
4:48 Trump's trade war backfired
6:02 US-China economic integration
7:10 Trump's tariffs hurt manufacturing
8:05 Rare earths and critical minerals
9:52 Strategic stability meaning
11:26 Trump-Xi summit in Washington
12:16 Corporate CEOs attend dinner
15:53 Scott Bessent met at JPMorgan
16:33 China: largest consumer market
17:47 Trump's trip to Beijing
19:26 US corporations want market access
19:51 Windows loses market share
20:34 Apple faces restrictions in China
21:44 Tesla makes most cars in Shanghai
22:12 Google kicked out of China
22:43 Meta wants access to Chinese market
23:54 AI arms race
25:17 Trump: "Whoever wins AI, wins!"
26:31 Silicon Valley demonizes China
27:08 China's open-source AI models
28:26 Chip war
30:35 US attacks blow back
31:57 New cold war continues

[Vicus]

Lavrov UN Multilateralism Speech: 7 Strong Warnings Against Western Escalation -yesterday

Lavrov UN Multilateralism Speech Condemns Western Interventionism

The Lavrov UN multilateralism speech became one of the most confrontational addresses of the 81st United Nations General Assembly after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused Western powers of weakening international law, expanding military influence, and undermining the UN-centered system.

Speaking in New York on Saturday, September 26, Lavrov described the U.S. military operation in Venezuela on January 3 and the capture of President Nicolás Maduro as among the recent actions that have damaged global peace and security.

He demanded the immediate return of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, to Venezuela. Moscow has described their detention in the United States as unacceptable and called for guarantees that similar actions will not happen again.

Lavrov also criticized the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran, the situation in Palestine, and the continued economic pressure against Cuba.

He urged the parties involved in the Middle East conflicts to reduce tensions and avoid what he called a broader global crisis.

The Russian foreign minister presented Moscow’s position as a defense of international law, sovereignty, and multipolarity.

He argued that Western governments claim to support a rules-based order while using force, sanctions, and military pressure outside the framework of the United Nations.

“It is unacceptable to forget historical responsibility and allow dangerous ideologies to re-emerge,” Lavrov said, according to the Russian account of his speech.

The address came amid growing tensions between Russia and European governments, including Germany. Lavrov accused Western countries of rewriting the history of the Second World War and minimizing the resurgence of what he described as neo-Nazi ideology in Ukraine.

He recalled postwar documents signed by former Axis states and argued that Europe must not abandon the lessons of the conflict that devastated the continent.

The Russian minister directly challenged German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over his stated goal of turning Germany into Europe’s leading military power.

“A new remilitarization process in Berlin would have serious historical consequences,” Lavrov warned.

continue: https://www.telesurenglish.net/lavro...ralism-speech/

[Ravenlocke]

Placing the following here, but Mods if it belongs elsewhere please move it, Thank you.

Nury Vittachi

Sep 26
THE U.S. CAUSED THE Romanian government to collapse and can do the same to “any country we want”, a U.S. ambassador said, according to a Wall Street Journal report yesterday.

In a dinner discussion in Greece about the imminent implosion of Romania’s administration, Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle said: ‘We can do this to any country we want. We can do this here too.’”

No, you can’t, Greece’s Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou responded angrily, saying that governments were elected by the people.

The Ambassador, a former Fox News presenter, released a lawyer’s letter disputing the story of the argument at the dinner—but the newspaper said the words spoken at the heated discussion were related by an eyewitness present at the dinner in Athens.

.

‘HEGEMON RUN AMOK’
The story broke at the same time that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the United Nations that “the dictatorship of a single hegemon has run amok”.

Academics, including those in the US, broadly agree that the US conducts major political interference operations around the world, particularly in places on the borders of Russia and China—including Romania.

.

FUEL MONOPOLY
What’s the long term goal of US interference in these nations? The US is pushing a pipeline called the Vertical Gas Corridor, or VGC, the Wall Street Journal said.

Instead of buying affordable fuel from Russia, people in Eastern European nations will instead be steered towards purchasing exported American gas for billions of dollars.

The US has already successfully created a huge market for its natural gas in western Europe, and has also made the Chinese island of Taiwan dependent on imported fuel from the US.

Washington’s foreign policy is designed to make more people around the world dependent on American gas, and has been largely successful. For this reason, the US and allies have been working to cut non-US fuel suppliers, such as Iran, Russia, and Venezuela, out of all trade routes.

https://x.com/NuryVittachi/status/2104011009459708308