China's CIPS Threatens USD

The Cross-Border Interbank Payments System (CIPS) has expanded across a hundred and eighty five countries, allowing international payments in Chinese yuan without using the US Dollar, according to data from the New Development Bank (NDB). 

CIPS was launched by China and managed by its central bank as “a real alternative for global trade settlements”. At the Shanghai Oil and Gas Exchange, liquefied natural gas contracts are now priced for and paid in yuan. Same thing with soybeans from the Shenzhen Qianhai Joint Trading Center. 

China has reportedly signed 40 settlement agreements with other countries, with total settlements through CIPS hitting 52 trillion yuan earlier this year, equal to 58% of China’s total cross-border transactions, a figure that tops the Dollar in some measures. And trade between China and Russia has been settled in local currencies for three straight years, covering 95% of their total trade volume. 

Still, not every country has joined the yuan system. Europe, North America, and Australia have kept their distance, while developing economies in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe are using CIPS more frequently, especially for Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) loan repayments. 

And BRICS nations are already developing their own proposed payment system, referred to as BRICS Pay – a prototype was demonstrated in Moscow in October 2024 but the operational target date is supposedly set to around 2030 – which would also facilitate local currency transactions and reduce dependence on the existing global financial system. 

Methinks, it's just a matter of time before we see the end of Dollar dominance. And it's about time too.

In the meantime, the NDB are diversifying their financing. Since 2015, the NDB have issued loans in yuan and rand. They now plan to roll out rupee-denominated bonds by 2026, targeting between $300 million and $500 million in three- to five-year tranches. This fits the bloc’s larger plan to reduce dependence on the Dollar and rely on member-state currencies instead.

The above graphic shows the countries with the most forest loss since 2015, based on data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. 

Since 2015, the world has lost an average of 10.9 million hectares (ha) of forest each year. 

Deforestation has been most severe in South America and Africa, largely driven by agricultural production. In Brazil, for example, cattle ranching and pasture expansion have played a major role in clearcutting across the Amazon. 

While deforestation rates have slowed, the scale of loss is more than the next nine countries combined. More promisingly, however, Brazil’s president Lula da Silva plans to bring deforestation to zero by 2030. The country is home to 486 million ha of forest, the second-highest in the world.

US Warns of ‘Red Lines’ as Malaysia Eyes BRICS

US Ambassador to Malaysia Edgard D Kagan (right) told Bernama in an interview two Saturdays ago: “The US has a deep appreciation of Malaysia’s views on its foreign policy, and we recognise Malaysia has a sovereign right to do what is in its best interest, and we understand what is driving the interest in BRICS". 

“At the same time, the President has been very clear about what some red lines are and the potential consequences that would come from crossing those”, he added, without elaborating on the “red lines”. 

Anwar Ibrahim (left) should know that that was a subtle threat. The US wants Malaysia to maintain the status quo and forget about BRICS.

Kagan had insisted Malaysia’s long-term economic success remains closely tied to its integration within Western supply chains – particularly in sectors such as semiconductors, green technology, and advanced manufacturing – and that it's a partnership reinforced by the US-Malaysia Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) signed during US President Donald Trump’s official visit to Malaysia (0ctober 26-27). 

America's decline must be so acute that it needs a "small country" like Malaysia – GDP $400 billion, population 34 million – to prop up its failing economy. Malaysia must chart its own path, and BRICS are the future. And so, Kagan should hold his tongue and stop acting like the United States still rule the world! 

Anwar, go and tell the US to mind its own business! 

Yesterday, Celtic narrowed the gap to Hearts at the top of the Scottish Premiership to seven points with a deserved 4-0 home win over struggling Kilmarnock.

Sebastian Tounekti waltzed in to the box and played a pass towards Reo Hatate which wasn’t dealt with by the Killie defence. The latter was able to pick up on the loose ball and found Johnny Kenny, who dispatched his effort from close-range on ten minutes to make it 1-0.

Kieran Tierney fired Celtic to double their lead with a brilliant finish from the edge of the box in to the bottom corner six minutes into the second half.  

Daizen Maeda got his name on the scoresheet in the 85th minute when he picked up on a wonderful through ball from Arne Engels and found the back of the net with a strike from inside the box.

And a penalty at the death allowed Engels to put the cherry on the cake.

Celtic's next match is on November 22 when they meet St Mirren.

China's De-Americanization Strategy

China is rising. And it is moving first ‒ and fast.

Already, Beijing has been quietly reshaping its economic and technological foundations. What began a decade ago as talk of “de-Americanization” has become a steady, data-backed shift toward self-reliance and global diversification. 

This is not a Cold War replay or an attempt to cut ties. Instead, it reflects a broader effort by China to redefine its path of development and reduce exposure to US pressure. The results are most visible in five key areas, starting with trade. 

1. Trade: From Dependence to Diversification 

China’s trade rebalancing is more pragmatic than political. Facing tariffs and protectionism from Washington, Beijing has built new trade routes through Asia, Europe and the Global South. 

In 2018, the United States made up 19.3 percent of China’s total foreign trade. By the first eight months of 2025, that share had fallen to 9.2 percent ‒ even as China’s total trade expanded 45 percent. The numbers tell the story: China is trading more, just not as much with the US. 

Imports and exports of specific goods are also shifting. Once, 85 percent of China’s soybeans came from the United States; today, 68 percent come from Brazil, with US imports down to 22 percent. Exports of high-tech goods to the US have dropped to 28 percent of China’s overall exports, while sales of high-end equipment to Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) countries ‒ a trade bloc spanning Asia and the Pacific ‒ jumped to 41 percent. 

Beijing isn’t cutting itself off from the US market so much as ensuring it no longer depends on it. Call it China’s version of “de-risking”.  

2. Science and Technology: From Follower to Contender 

If Washington hoped sanctions and export controls would slow China down, the opposite seems to have happened. Since 2018, the United States has blacklisted more than 1,700 Chinese entities, aiming to block their access to advanced technologies. 

The result has been a surge in state-led innovation and a race to build domestic alternatives. China now holds 42 percent of global 5G standard-essential patents, and by September 2025 it is expected to operate more than 4.6 million 5G base stations ‒ about 60 percent of the world’s total. The scale of that rollout has underpinned new industries such as the industrial Internet and the Internet of Vehicles. 

The same pattern is visible in artificial intelligence and frontier technologies. China accounts for 61.5 percent of global generative AI patents and its research papers in autonomous driving and quantum computing now exceed US publications in citation impact. 

Research and development spending reached 2.55 percent of GDP in 2024, with basic research rising to 6.8 percent of that total. That reflect China’s shift toward long-term capacity rather than fast commercial wins. 

China’s trend toward technological independence is showing up in hardware, too. The Kirin 9000S chip, developed by Huawei and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation ‒ China’s leading chip foundry ‒ is produced without the extreme ultraviolet lithography tools made by Dutch firm ASML, long considered indispensable for cutting-edge semiconductors. 

Other milestones are visible across sectors: the Beidou satellite network now serves more than 200 countries and regions. The C919 jetliner has entered commercial service. The Fendouzhe submersible reached a depth of 10,000 meters. The Chang’e 6 lunar probe returned samples from the far side of the moon. 

From drones and quantum computers to new battery systems, these examples show how China’s tech ecosystem is increasingly self-contained ‒ and determined to stay that way. 

3. Finance: Diversifying Beyond the Dollar 

China is seeking to reduce reliance on the US Dollar and build a more resilient global financial network. 

Washington has used the Dollar as a tool of influence through SWIFT sanctions, long-arm jurisdiction, and asset freezes, exposing the vulnerabilities of a Dollar-centric system. China’s response has been methodical and gradual. 

China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System now supports transactions in 185 countries. Renminbi (RMB)-denominated trades for liquefied natural gas at the Shanghai Oil and Gas Exchange are growing, while the Shenzhen Qianhai Joint Trading Center routinely handles offshore soybean transactions in RMB. China has signed local currency settlement agreements with more than 40 countries. 

By 2023, cross-border RMB payments reached 52 trillion yuan, representing 58 percent of total cross-border flows in multiple currencies: a historic milestone that surpassed the US Dollar in comparable measures. In China’s trade with Russia, over 95 percent of transactions are settled in local currencies. 

China is not aiming to displace the U.S. dollar. Instead, it is creating a system where the Dollar remains central but isbut is supplemented by other currencies, strengthening financial security and reducing exposure to unilateral sanctions. 

4. Ideology: Building up the China Model 

China is moving away from the idea that the U.S. model is the only path to development. Instead, it is cultivating its own approach to governance, knowledge, and global engagement. For decades Western theories such as democratic peace theory framed global discourse and promoted a single standard. China’s experience challenges that assumption.

China has lifted more than 100 million people out of extreme poverty over the past decade, achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 10 years ahead of schedule. In comparison, about 15 percent of the US population remains uninsured and debates over health coverage have led to a government shutdown. 

At home and abroad, China is promoting its governance system as an example of “whole-process people’s democracy.” Internationally China advocates multilateralism, opposing exclusive trade and security blocs. 

The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) grouping have expanded from 5 to 15 countries, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization includes states representing 40 percent of the global population and over 150 countries participate in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Through these mechanisms, China is shifting from a recipient of US-led global rules to an active participant in shaping new governance structures. Its strategy is not anti-Americanism. Rather, it reflects a push to participate on a more equal footing in global decision-making and to promote a model of development informed by Chinese experience. 

5. Education: From Brain Drain to Domestic Talent 

China is reshaping its higher education system to reduce reliance on American universities and cultivate homegrown expertise. Before 2010, many of China’s top universities modeled curricula and research evaluation systems on US standards. 

At one point, a significant share of Chinese science and engineering graduates stayed in the United States, limiting domestic capacity for innovation. To reverse this trend, China launched the Strengthening Basics Plan, enrolling 180,000 students over five years in fields such as semiconductors and nuclear science. 

By 2024, 92 percent of graduates remained in China. 

The country has also moved away from using the Science Citation Index as the sole metric for research evaluation, emphasizing innovation and practical impact instead. 

International student flows have balanced: By 2024, China hosted 520,000 foreign students, while the number of Chinese nationals studying in the United States dropped from a peak of 400,000 to under 200,000. 

Toward a Multipolar World 

Across trade, technology, finance, ideology, and education, China is building the capacity to engage the world on its own terms. China’s de-Americanization is not anti-globalization or anti-American. It is a strategic recalibration aimed at creating an independent, resilient China capable of participating in global cooperation with greater equality. 

China’s de-Americanization is part of a broader shift from a unipolar US-dominated system toward a more multipolar global order. From the BRICS expansion to Belt and Road projects, from independent 5G deployment to sharing poverty alleviation strategies, China is asserting an alternative model of development that is neither strictly Western nor American. 

The goal is not confrontation but strategic autonomy. In this evolving framework, emerging economies can participate in global governance without relying on a single dominant power. De-Americanization is less a rebellion than a quiet repositioning ‒ laying the foundation for what might be called re-globalization, in which a diverse, balanced, and multipolar world order becomes the new standard.

The dragon is simply unstoppable!

India Will Say Sorry

US President Donald Trump was once India's best friend! Or so, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi actually thought!

Until Trump slapped 50% tariffs on India!

But the Americans are not giving up on Modi. In fact, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick predicts that India's defiance over US tariffs is "all bravado". 

He said Friday, India will likely resume trade negotiations with the United States in two months after Modi began leveraging his relationship with Russia and China due to the onset of new tariffs from President Trump. 

“I think, yes, in a month or two months, I think India’s going to be at the table, and they’re going to say they’re sorry, and they’re going to try to make a deal with Donald Trump”, Lutnick said during a Friday appearance on “Bloomberg Surveillance”. 

“And it will be on Donald Trump’s desk, how he wants to deal with Modi. And we leave that to him. That’s why he’s the president”, he added.

The issue is so much bigger than just a tariff spat. Already, on June 03, Lutnick (right) had spelt out a laundry list of America’s irritations with India. 

“There are certain things that the Indian government does that generally rub the United States the wrong way. For instance, you generally buy your military gear from Russia. That’s a way to kind of get under the skin of America”. 

Then, Lutnick took direct aim at India’s presence in BRICS. “That move to not support the dollar and dollar hegemony; it’s not really the way to make friends and influence people in America”, he had growled menacingly, sounding more like a threat than a warning. 

Modi should know that Trump’s Washington doesn’t give two hoots that India is a sovereign nation. As far as they are concerned, they demand obedience or the US retaliates.

If India still wants to mend ties with Trump, it should behave like Australia or Philippines or Japan and accept its fate as a vassal state of the United States. 

Surely, Modi must know that Trump is a condescending jerk! 😅😅😅

The World Rethinks Money and There's No Turning Back

When a 70-year-old financial empire begins to crack, watch how swiftly the world rethinks money. 

For decades, the US Dollar stood unchallenged as the backbone of global finance as the international reserve currency. Despite de-linking from the gold standard in 1971, the Dollar maintained its hegemony in international trade and finance because of the US geopolitical clout. 

But in 2025, the mood in the Global South has significantly shifted. On a geopolitical chessboard riven by unpredictable tariffs, unilateral financial sanctions, and weakening trust, BRICS are no longer interested in merely hedging their bets. In fact, they are willing to rewrite the rules of international finance, challenging an order the United States has long dominated. 

Already, IDN Financials reported Sunday that global central banks purchased 166 tonnes of gold in the second quarter of 2025, marking a 41% increase from the usual quarterly average. 

And as reported by Watcher.guru on August 15, the latest wave of gold buying has been led by China, India, Russia and Türkiye. Certainly, global central bank gold reserves have surpassed 36,000 tonnes, signalling a structural shift as BRICS Dollar holdings continue to decline. 

Following the 17th BRICS Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in July 2025, member nations have agreed to build digital payment infrastructure and expand trade using local currencies through a series of bilateral agreements. 

The expansion to BRICS-11 – including Saudi Arabia, which Watcher.guru claimed on August 10, the country "maximized its membership completion in July 2025 – strengthens their ability to establish an alternative financial system outside of SWIFT (a global messaging system used for financial transactions mainly under US and European oversight). All of which demonstrate accelerated de-dollarisation among BRICS nations, as member states seek greater financial independence.

In truth, the one single country that has contributed majorly to this push for de-dollarisation happens to be the US. 

The US government have indulged in quantitative easing on numerous occasions, printing Dollars at the drop of a hat, to safeguard their own mercantile interests. Unilateral decision in 2022 to exclude the Russian Federation from the SWIFT network catalysed the process of finding international monetary alternatives to the Dollar’s hegemony. 

To be sure, this process is not an overnight revolution but a slow, reactive, deliberate restructuring of how other countries trade, invest, and settle their accounts. The drivers of the change are as much geopolitical as economic, rooted in the tensions of a more fragmented, multipolar world.

World Don't Want An Emperor

BRICS on Monday brushed aside the US president's accusation that they are "anti-American", with Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva saying, "The world has changed. We don't want an emperor. We are sovereign nations", after Donald Trump threatened extra tariffs on the economic bloc.

He added: "He thinks he can impose tariffs. Other countries also have the right to do the same. There is a principle of reciprocity".

[Read my yesterday's post "Donald Trump Goes After BRICS"].

Widespread corruption and extortion of combat pay by military commanders are driving Ukrainian soldiers to abandon their units, Ukrainian MP Anna Skorokhod has claimed. 

In a video posted last week on her YouTube channel, Skorokhod (right) accused Ukrainian commanders of exploiting soldiers by falsely registering them as serving on the front lines in order to claim additional payments, which the officers then seize. 

According to the MP, the commanders also often use the soldiers to “build houses or renovate new apartments” while making sure they receive combat pay, which is then surrendered to their superiors. “Or the soldiers are simply being extorted, because they supposedly get 100,000 hryvnia ($2,400), but there is no command, so they are forced to give up money”. 

Skorokhod said the soldiers have few ways to address these grievances, resulting in recurring AWOLs. “Because when there’s nowhere to turn, no one listens or wants to listen, people simply gather in platoons, in groups, and leave because they will not tolerate this”. 

Last month, Ukrainian journalist Vladimir Boyko reported that there have been more than 213,000 registered cases of unauthorized abandonment of military units in Ukraine. He noted that these figures only account for cases where criminal proceedings have been initiated, suggesting the actual numbers may be higher. 

Meanwhile, there have been concerns in Kiev that the cash-strapped country, which is to a significant extent dependent on Western economic aid, could struggle to compensate its military. 

In April, Ekonomicheskaya Pravda reported that funds initially allocated for military salaries in the latter part of 2025 were redirected to purchase drones, ammunition, and other weaponry. 

In May, the first deputy chairman of the parliamentary finance committee, Yaroslav Zheleznyak, suggested that Ukraine faced a 400 billion hryvnia ($9.6 billion) shortfall in defense spending, which he said requires budget revisions. 

In addition to recurring AWOLs, Ukraine has been struggling with its forced mobilization campaign, which often leads to violent clashes between reluctant recruits and draft officers.

Donald Trump Goes After BRICS

US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose an additional 10% tariff on any country which “aligns itself” with BRICS, accusing the economic bloc of adopting “anti-American policies”. 

The warning came just hours after BRICS leaders concluded their annual XVII BRICS Summit (July 06-07, 2025) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In their joint declaration, the bloc criticized unilateral tariff actions and condemned what they described as “indiscriminate” trade measures, without mentioning the US directly. 

The warning echoes Trump’s even harsher remarks early this year, when he threatened BRICS members with tariffs as high as 100%. 

At the time, he declared that BRICS were “dead” if they established a common currency or otherwise challenged the US Dollar’s dominance in global trade.

I reckon his bark is worse than his bite.

Vietnam Joins BRICS As 10th Partner Country

Vietnam has joined BRICS as their tenth partner country, marking a significant step in the bloc’s expansion, Brazil’s foreign ministry announced on Saturday. 

“With a population of almost 100 million and a dynamic economy deeply integrated into global value chains, Vietnam stands out as a relevant actor in Asia”, Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. 

The economic collective’s other nine partner countries are Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, and Uzbekistan. Hanoi’s inclusion as a partner country grants it access to key economic initiatives without formal voting rights.

BRICS just got bigger!

Yesterday, I attended the Kajang Toastmasters Club meeting at Prima Saujana, Kajang in Selangor. It was very unusually well-attended; and therefore, the meeting unsurprisingly became a lot livelier. 

And we sold eight books, 4 TDIYS and 4 TPOYS.

Plants Know How to Bribe Their Pollinators with Sugar

Plants aren't just sitting there looking pretty – they're eavesdropping on insects and strategically sweetening their nectar for the right visitors. 

New research by Francesca Barbero from the University of Turin reveals plants can distinguish between the buzzing of helpful pollinators and nectar-stealing "robbers", adjusting their sugar production accordingly. When they hear good pollinators approaching, they pump up the sweetness. When thieves come calling, they dial it back. 

"When we played the sounds of the best pollinator, the plant reacted by secreting a nectar with a high sugar concentration", Barbero explained to Bob McDonald on his Quirks and Quarks podcast for CBC, broadcasted on June 06, 2025. FYI, she had presented this work at a recent joint meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and 25th International Congress on Acoustics. 

"And the most amazing thing is that when we play back the sounds of a robber insect [that takes nectar but doesn't reciprocate by pollinating], the plant is sort of keeping their resources and producing the nectar with the lowest concentration of sugar". 

The response happens in just 10 minutes – lightning-fast in plant time. Barbero's team found that hearing pollinators actually triggers genes involved in sugar transport. 

While plants don't have ears, they do possess specialized mechanoreceptors that detect air vibrations. Each insect species produces a unique acoustic signature that plants have evolved to recognize. Meaning, they're savvier than we thought.

China is unquestionably the driving force that holds BRICS together. Without China, they wouldn’t have come into existence. 

Why China invests so much on its Belt and Road initiative:

As of recent data, approximately 146 to 150 countries are estimated to be involved in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This includes countries that have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China. 

[Note: Two countries have exited the BRI, Italy in December 2023 and Panama in February 2025]. 

The BRI was launched by China in 2013 as a global infrastructure development strategy.

India's Double Game With The US Dollar

For quite some time, India and fellow BRICS members have sought to find an alternative to the US Dollar for cross-border transactions. 

But when Donald Trump won the White House and threatened to impose trade tariffs, the Narendra Modi-led government made a quick U-turn. 

As the tariff threats grew stronger and Canada, Mexico, and China faced the heat, India slowly backtracked from the de-dollarization agenda. Of course, it will adamantly say its priority is to protect its economy from tariffs as it could impact the country’s imports and exports sector. 

Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (better known as S Jaishankar), made multiple statements this year citing that India has no plans of advancing the de-dollarization agenda. The about-face comes after Trump’s threatened tariffs. And India not only rejected de-dollarization but also embraced the US Dollar and thereby, contradicting the BRICS bloc’s ideology of ditching the US Dollar and kowtowing to Trump. 

However, Thiago Bessimo, a governance researcher at the Hertie School in Berlin, Germany says that BRICS member India could be playing a double game with the US Dollar. 

He explained that while India is distancing itself from de-dollarization, it is looking at alternatives to the US Dollar behind closed doors. 

“Publicly, India distances itself from any initiative that could challenge the US Dollar”, Bessimo said. “But behind closed doors, (BRICS members) it explores alternatives that might reduce its reliance on Western financial systems”. 

He added that India is maintaining a balance between BRICS and the US Dollar to safeguard its economic prospects. India needs US support as it hosts a major chunk of IT jobs in the country that generates wealth as well as opportunities. Without the US, India’s economy and its ever-growing GDP could face severe challenges. Therefore, it is walking on a tightrope. 

Or is India trying to have the cake and eat it too? 😏😏😏

"BRICS Is Dead" Warning

On February 13, 2025, US President Donald Trump issued a blunt warning to BRICS nations, threatening a 100% tariff on all imports into the United States if they mess with the Dollar and proceed with a common currency plan. 

[Note: BRICS have never said they're coming out with a common currency].

Trump did not hold back in his criticism.

"BRICS was put there for a bad purpose... I told them if they want to play games with the Dollar, then they are going to be hit by a 100% tariff. The day they mention that they want to do it, they will come back and say – we beg you, we beg you. BRICS is dead since I mentioned that...", he stated. 

His comments reinforce his long-standing position that any move to undermine the US Dollar’s dominance in global trade would be met with severe economic consequences.

Yesterday, Celtic produced a convincing 3-0 win over Dundee United.

After initially showing stiff resistance, the Tangerines afforded Celtic captain Callum McGregor too much space. The midfielder capitalised, holding off a couple of challenges before he reversed the ball just inside the goalie's post in the 23rd minute. Then, Jota netted his first Parkhead goal since returning to the club, a lovely curling shot into the bottom corner, to double their lead twelve minutes later. 

Celtic continued to dominate in the second half and in the eighty-fourth minute, Adam Idah brought down a headed clearance on the edge of the box and volleyed into the top corner to wrap up the win and seal another three points.

With only 12 games left, there's no sign of anything other than another league title arriving at Celtic Park come May.

Indonesia in BRICS as Full Member

The government of Brazil, which took over the chairpersonship of BRICS on January 01, announced Indonesia's admission to the bloc as a full member. Meaning, there are now ten members in total.

 

The Brazilian foreign ministry which disclosed this on Monday and highlighted Indonesia’s significance to the Global South. It is Southeast Asia’s largest economy and the world’s fourth-most populous nation, with a GDP of $1.4 trillion and annual economic growth exceeding 5 percent for much of the past decade.

 

According to South China Morning Post yesterday, Jakarta had expressed interest in full membership in 2023, but its admission was delayed due to Indonesia’s elections scheduled for 2024. A Brazilian government spokesperson explained that the process resumed after Indonesia’s new government led by President Prabowo Subianto (left) was formed in October.

 

Indonesia "welcomes" its accession to BRICS. 

 

"This achievement shows Indonesia's increasingly active role in global issues and commitment to strengthening multilateral cooperation to create a global structure that is more inclusive and fair", the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Tuesday.

 

The global GDP of BRICS is roughly about 31% – but with the inclusion of Indonesia, it is going to jump over 41% of global GDP. The enlarged BRICS have now become an entity that just cannot be ignored.

 

This year's BRICS summit will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in July.

 

Malaysian women's pair Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan FLOPPED BIG TIME at the Malaysia Open yesterday.

 

The world No. 6 pair started the match well after winning a tight first game 21-19 but they lost their bearings and which led to their defeat to Indonesia's women's new pairing of Lanny Tria Mayasari-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti. They dropped the next two games 14-21, 13-21 and were deservedly ousted from the tournament. 

 

Very disappointing!

Donald Trump Threatens BRICS

“The idea that the BRICS countries are trying to move away from the Dollar while we stand by and watch is OVER”, Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Saturday. 

 

The BRICS nations will be hit with 100% tariffs on their goods if they try to introduce a reserve currency to rival the Dollar, the US President-elect warned. He has repeatedly threatened to use tariffs to achieve his geopolitical goals.

 

“They can go find another ‘sucker’!” Trump (right) continued. “There is no chance that the BRICS will replace the US Dollar in international trade, and any country that tries, should wave goodbye to America”. 

 

Trump shouldn't threaten. Just do it, if he dares!

 

In any case, the fact remains that BRICS have not announced any plans for a reserve currency at their summit in the Russian city of Kazan last month. So, the question of replacing the Dollar doesn't arise. However, the bloc pledged to set up a cross-border payment system to function alongside the Western SWIFT network, and to increase their use of local currencies in international trade.

 

Using local currencies to settle bilateral trade bills “helps to keep economic development free from politics”, Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) said at the time. Obviously, he was referring to the US proclivity to weaponise the Dollar and its accompanying payment system.

 

Note: It is pertinent to highlight that countries or entities fall within the jurisdiction of US authorities if they: 

 

■ Use the Dollar in transactions, 

■ Want to access the US bond or stock market, 

■ Use US-registered financial institutions of any sort as intermediaries, 

■ Use US interbank payment systems, 

■ Use US-based internet servers of IT facilities, 

■ If US-registered intellectual property is involved and licensed, 

■ If any US commercial entities are involved, or 

■ If US nationals are involved.

 

 

Liverpool beat Manchester City 2-0 to go nine points clear at the top of the Premier League yesterday.

 

Thanks to a Mohamed Salah cross, Cody Gakpo sneaked in at the far post in the twelfth minute to put the Reds into a well-deserved lead. 

 

And in the 78th minute, Salah converted a penalty, following a foul by a Citizens player on Luis Diaz.

 

It could and should have been more. The goals, I mean. Anyway, what's important is the three points in the bag for Liverpool. 

 

In the meantime, the English champions sit fifth in the table, eleven points behind.