The South Asian country is desperately poor, at just $2,400 gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in 2022. Yet it seeks to portray itself as an up-and-coming economic powerhouse. It is increasingly authoritarian. Yet it wants to be seen as all things to all people, including the democracies. Its prime minister, Narendra Modi, is prideful, highly nationalist, and has superpower aspirations. That makes India’s relationship with more responsible powers, including the United States, increasingly strained, not least because of New Delhi’s too close relations with the world’s most dangerous dictators, Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia.

New Delhi is involved in various international initiatives led by Beijing and is financially complicit in Moscow’s war against Ukraine. The three countries cooperate through joint membership in Beijing-led organizations, including the military-focused Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which is the closest that the three have to an alliance system such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). All three find ideological common ground in their socialist histories and the promotion of a “new multilateral” international system that they seek to exploit in leading the developing world against “imperialism” and the “West.”

This developing trilateral threat is by no means a done deal because India is still a democracy among the wolves and could turn back from the hunt. While China and Russia have been strong allies for years, there is a crack in their relationship when it comes to India, which still seeks and needs Group of Seven (G7) approval, support, and markets.

Simmering border disputes between India and China in the Himalayas, and New Delhi’s private criticism of Moscow’s war with Ukraine, complicate the threat. Its veto power in the SCO could be useful to the democracies. Russia’s deteriorating international position as a pariah state forces it into the arms of both India and China, with New Delhi distancing itself, at least to some extent, from Moscow. Over the last two years, Mr. Modi has gone so far as to skip his annual in-person meetings with Mr. Putin.

India’s continued complicity with Russia’s war where it counts, however, stems from New Delhi’s violation of G7 sanctions against purchasing Russian oil above a price cap of $60 a barrel agreed in 2022. While the cap cost Russia almost $38 billion, India’s evasions pushed the price to about $70 a barrel. That increases the price of gas globally and gives the Kremlin more cash for killing Ukrainian civilians. The world has New Delhi to thank for its unprincipled position and the global pain it is producing.

India uses the extra money to fund imports of Russian oil, arms, and nuclear power plants. The two countries plan to jointly produce weapons, which means that India is importing Russian military technology that can be used in New Delhi’s border disputes with China. This must irk Beijing, but it likely prefers India to rely on Russian rather than American arms. At least then, if there is a Sino-Indian war, Beijing could lean on Moscow to halt arms exports to India, including critical spare parts.

European sanctions on Russia following the Ukraine war diverted its exports East. Now, approximately 90 percent of Russian oil exports go to China and India, with the former importing as much as 50 percent and the latter 40 percent. Without Indian purchases, China would have much greater trade leverage over Russia. So New Delhi plays a spoiler role for Beijing in the latter’s increasing economic dominance.

The more of a pariah Russia becomes, the more Moscow relies on New Delhi to moderate the power of Beijing, drawing the three ever closer into a more stable threat to the democracies. More fully separating India from China and Russia is thus an important U.S. foreign policy goal, which is why Washington is not more openly critical of the South Asian country. Yet more must be done as India has long been “anti-Western,” is increasingly autocratic, and U.S. business risks becoming reliant on its cheap labor in the pivot away from China. That risks increasing Indian political influence in Washington through the same kind of elite capture that previously insulated Beijing from criticism.

To mitigate these risks, the United States and G7 countries must impose economic penalties on India, as the many incentives of the past, including direct development aid, are underappreciated. Our attempts at buying friendship apparently failed, and we are finally realizing that India is a fair-weather friend. Sanctions and tariffs will be needed to shift India away from Russia and China. No G7 country, including the United Kingdom, should execute new free trade agreements with India.

This tough-love approach to a fellow democracy should not be directed at India alone. Rather, new such policies should apply to any country that fails to fully cooperate with the United States and allies against existential threats from Russia and China, not to mention the trilateral threats that emanate from the complicity of third countries like India.

First, the incubation period is relatively long, up to two weeks. Second, it can pass back and forth between humans and animals. Third, it was deployed in India where diseases can be spread easily due to population density in the cities. It seems reasonable to believe that someone going to and from a city was infected. We’ll know within the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, let’s pray they have it contained because the Nipah virus is a real killer. With that said, here’s Michael Snyder describing the situation that’s unfolding right now…

(End of the American Dream)—For years, the World Health Organization has considered the Nipah virus to be a “priority pathogen” because it has the potential to cause a worldwide pandemic.  Thankfully, up to this point that has not happened, but now an outbreak in India is making headlines all over the globe.

Two victims have already died, and there are four others that have tested positive.  A five kilometer containment zone has been established around the homes of the two men that died, and schools and businesses in the region are being forced to shut down.  Authorities are hoping that such extreme measures will stop this outbreak before it can really get going.  But as you will see below, that may not be so easy.

According to the CDC, this virus was initially discovered in Asia in 1999.  Since that time there have been other outbreaks, and during those outbreaks there have been cases of human to human transmission…

Nipah virus (NiV) was first discovered in 1999 following an outbreak of disease in pigs and people in Malaysia and Singapore. This outbreak resulted in nearly 300 human cases and more than 100 deaths, and caused substantial economic impact as more than 1 million pigs were killed to help control the outbreak.

While there have been no other known outbreaks of NiV in Malaysia and Singapore since 1999, outbreaks have been recorded almost annually in some parts of Asia since then—primarily in Bangladesh and India. The virus has been shown to spread from person-to-person in these outbreaks, raising concerns about the potential for NiV to cause a global pandemic.

Viruses mutate over time, and so there has always been a tremendous amount of concern that a strain could emerge that would be able to pass very easily from human to human.

In addition, it is important to note that this virus can also be transmitted from animals to humans and from humans to animals.  The following comes from the official website of the World Health Organization…

Nipah virus (NiV) is a zoonotic virus (it is transmitted from animals to humans) and can also be transmitted through contaminated food or directly between people. In infected people, it causes a range of illnesses from asymptomatic (subclinical) infection to acute respiratory illness and fatal encephalitis. The virus can also cause severe disease in animals such as pigs, resulting in significant economic losses for farmers.

So just tracking down any humans that may have been exposed to the virus is not going to be enough to contain it. It can spread like wildfire among pigs, and bats are known to be carriers as well.

Once a human is infected, symptoms may not show up until 4 to 14 days after the initial exposure…

Symptoms typically appear in 4-14 days following exposure to the virus. The illness initially presents as 3-14 days of fever and headache, and often includes signs of respiratory illness, such as cough, sore throat, and difficulty breathing. A phase of brain swelling (encephalitis) may follow, where symptoms can include drowsiness, disorientation, and mental confusion, which can rapidly progress to coma within 24-48 hours.

So you could potentially spread this to hundreds of other people before you even realize that you are sick.

Unlike COVID, those that get infected are very likely to die.

In fact, the CDC says that the death rate for the Nipah virus falls within a range of 40 to 75 percent…

Death may occur in 40-75% of cases. Long-term side effects in survivors of Nipah virus infection have been noted, including persistent convulsions and personality changes.

Infections that lead to symptoms and sometimes death much later after exposure (known as dormant or latent infections) have also been reported months and even years after exposure.

Just think about that.

Our world was paralyzed for years by a disease that had an exceedingly low death rate.

So what would happen if the Nipah virus starts spreading worldwide and millions upon millions of people die?

Global health authorities have been concerned about such a scenario for a very long time.

As I mentioned above, the WHO has actually identified it as a “priority pathogen”…

The WHO has designated Nipah a priority pathogen for urgent research and development, one of just 10 diseases the agency lists as having the potential to seed the next pandemic for which we have few to no countermeasures.

There is no cure for the Nipah virus, and so let us hope that this outbreak fizzles out very quickly.

As I write this article, there have been a total of six confirmed cases.

Two of the victims are dead, and four others are currently being treated…

With Kerala’s Kozhikode reporting another confirmed case of Nipah virus on Friday, the state government declared holidays for educational institutions in the district till September 24. India is set to procure 20 more vials of antibody vaccines to treat the infected, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said.

On Friday, one more case of Nipah virus infection was confirmed in Kerala’s Kozhikode district after the sample of a 39-year-old man turned positive, taking the total number of cases to six. Active cases now stand at four after two people died due to the infection.

The state of Kerala has already declared a state of emergency, and we are seeing widespread shutdowns in a desperate attempt to contain the virus…

The southern Indian state of Kerala has declared a state of emergency in its fight against the Nipah virus, a rare and deadly disease that has already claimed two lives.

Schools, offices, and public transport have been shut down in a bid to halt the spread of the virus. Indian health officials have implemented various containment zones to control the spread of the virus.

A five-kilometer containment zone was established around the residences of the two men who died of the Nipah virus on August 30, a 47-year-old man, and September 11, a 40-year-old man, according to Health Minister Veena George.

“As of Thursday afternoon, Kozhikode District Collector A Geetha had declared 53 wards as containment zones across nine panchayats (a village council). This number is likely to increase if more positive cases of the virus are reported in forthcoming days,” according to Hindustan Times.

If this thing does get loose and it starts spreading all over the world, it is going to create a tremendous amount of fear.

In fact, it would make what we went through with COVID look like a Sunday picnic.

Speaking of COVID, it is still very much with us.

At this stage, we are being told that the current number of infections is actually “hovering near levels of the pandemic’s first peak in 2020”…

U.S. COVID infections are hovering near levels of the pandemic’s first peak in 2020, and approaching the Delta peak of late 2021, according to wastewater surveillance and modeling by forecasters.

It’s yet another sign that while the official pandemic state may be over, the days of COVID are far from it.

Viral wastewater levels are not far behind all of the pandemic’s 2020 peaks except for one—the initial peak of March 2020, which they’ve already surpassed. And they lag just slightly levels seen during the deadly Delta peak of late 2021, according to Biobot Analytics, which monitors such data for the federal government.

After everything that we have been through, they were never able to defeat COVID. And now it is just a matter of time before the next great pandemic sweeps across the planet.

As I have warned my readers over and over again, we have entered an era of great pestilences. Our ability to create and manipulate deadly diseases far exceeds our ability to contain them, and as we have seen once something gets out it can spread around the world in a matter of weeks.

Hopefully this new outbreak in India has been caught in time. Because if it hasn’t, we could soon have another colossal crisis on our hands.

Sound off about this article on our End Medical Tyranny Substack.

Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

India’s UPI, which is linked to the Aadhaar biometric identification system, has undoubtedly skyrocketed the number of financial transactions. With a staggering 48.6 billion transactions processed in 2021, India leads the world in real-time payment transactions. While the system has brought in economic savings and efficiencies, it is imperative to address the potential threats to personal privacy and civil liberties.

Aadhaar, a unique 12-digit identification number based on biometric data, has become a cornerstone of India’s digital public infrastructure. Its integration with the UPI system has facilitated ease of transactions but at the cost of gathering massive amounts of personal information on individuals. The amalgamation of financial data with biometric information raises concerns about the potential misuse of this data.

With financial transactions now tied to a person’s Aadhaar number, which is linked to biometrics, critics argue that this opens the door to government surveillance. It provides the government with an unprecedented ability to monitor the financial activities of individuals in real-time. The threat of this data being used for political or discriminatory purposes cannot be ruled out.

As the UPI system stores colossal amounts of sensitive data, it becomes an attractive target for hackers and malicious entities. Data breaches in such a system can have catastrophic effects on individuals whose financial and biometric data could be compromised.

The forced adoption of digital payments tied to biometric data can also be seen as an infringement on the right to autonomy and freedom of choice. People should have the option to engage in financial transactions without necessarily tying these to their biometrics.

There is also a stark lack of comprehensive research on the impact of the UPI and Aadhaar integration on privacy and civil liberties. While the World Economic Forum’s research highlights the economic impact, it falls short of analyzing the societal and personal costs that might be borne by individuals.

While India has taken enormous strides in developing its digital public infrastructure, it is crucial that this progress does not come at the expense of personal privacy and civil liberties. As the country continues to innovate, there must be a balanced approach that considers not only the economic impact but also the potential risks and costs related to data security, government surveillance, and infringement on personal freedoms.

Article cross-posted from Reclaim The Net.

• Article cross-posted from Zero Hedge.

China and India have driven this migration of gold East. The World Gold Council describes the two countries as “super consumers” of gold. Thirty years ago, China and India accounted for about 20% of annual consumer gold demand. Today, the two countries make up nearly 50% of gold demand.

The Indian gold revolution started in the early to mid-1990s when government policy changes freed up the market. In 1992, gold demand in India accounted for 340 tons. In 2022, that had more than doubled to 742 tons.

India now ranks as the second-largest gold-consuming country in the world behind China.

Gold is not just a luxury in India. Even poor people buy gold in the Asian nation. According to an ICE 360 survey in 2018, one in every two households in India purchased gold within the last five years. Overall, 87% of households in the country own some amount of the yellow metal. Even households at the lowest income levels in India own some gold. According to the survey, more than 75% of families in the bottom 10% had managed to buy gold.

Indians traditionally buy and hold gold. Collectively, Indian households own an estimated 25,000 tons of gold and that number may be higher given the large black market in the country. The yellow metal is interwoven into the country’s marriage ceremonies and cultural rites. Indians also value gold as a store of wealth, especially in poor rural regions. Two-thirds of India’s gold demand comes from these areas, where most people live outside the official tax system.

We’ve seen a similar trajectory in China. The country also has played a significant cultural role in China, but through the last half of the 1900s, Chinese individuals were banned from buying gold. The government eased restrictions in the 1990s, and in 2002, the Shanghai Gold Exchange. Within two years, the market was completely liberalized.

China’s annual gold consumption rose fivefold from just over 375 tons in the early 1990s to a record high of 1,347 tons in 2013. Since then, China has ranked as the world’s largest gold-consuming country.

Economic growth has helped spur demand for gold in the East. As the World Gold Council explained, “This surge in demand was not just an expression of exuberance by Chinese investors free to buy gold. It was also driven by explosive economic growth, rapid urbanization and the desire for a simple alternative to the limited range of investments available domestically. The industry, acknowledging this desire for gold investment products, responded with innovation and speed.”

In other words, rising affluence is intersecting with the East’s traditional affinity for gold.

Turkey, Thailand and Saudi Arabia have also reported increased imports of gold in recent years.

We also see the eastward shift of gold in central bank gold buying. The biggest buyers in recent years have all been in the East. Countries steadily increasing gold reserves include China, India, Turkey, and Singapore.

We saw the migration of gold from West to East on a micro level in late 2022.  Many Western investors – particularly at the institutional level – were dumping bullion. Meanwhile, Asian buyers took advantage of lower prices to snap up less expensive jewelry, coins, and bars.

According to a fall 2022 Bloomberg report, “large volumes of metal are being drawn out of vaults in financial centers like New York and heading east to meet demand in Shanghai’s gold market or Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar.”

New York and London vaults reported an exodus of more than 527 tons of gold between April and October 2022, according to data from the CME Group and the London Bullion Market Association. At the same time, gold imports into China hit a four-year high in August 2022.

In the East, many people use gold as their primary form of savings and wealth preservation. An article published by Seeking Alpha summarizes this dynamic.

For millions of people in Asia gold still is the ‘basic form of saving.’ In contrast to the West, where financialization started decades ago, and gold has slowly been removed from people their day-to-day lives. Until a financial crisis emerges, that is. In the West, people own little or no physical gold when they feel financially confident. People in the East have retained a long-term view concerning gold. Their ancestors saved in gold, and so have they been taught. With the knowledge that ultimately, gold doesn’t lose its purchasing power.”

Trying to get gold when a crisis rears its ugly head is a little like trying to get insurance when your house is on fire.

Western investors spurn gold to their own detriment.

As a matter of opinion, I think that on the global stage, BRICS is a union we should watch, as there are several large economic powers involved that aren’t exactly friends of the United States of America. Should this group continue to grow, it’s possible that it could dramatically affect us with regard to world trade. And that’s at the very least.

Let’s look a little deeper into it.

What is BRICS?

BRICS is an economic alliance that has been around since about 2001. Jim O’Neill from Goldman Sachs coined the acronym BRIC to represent the original countries: Brazil, Russia, India, and China. By 2010, South Africa had been added, bringing us to the current acronym. O’Neill predicted that by 2050, the original four nations would be the dominant forces in the global economy. Investopedia explains:

Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa ranked among the world’s fastest-growing emerging market economies for years, thanks to low labor costs, favorable demographics and abundant natural resources at a time of a global commodities boom.

It’s important to note that the Goldman Sachs thesis wasn’t that these countries would become a political alliance (like the EU) or even a formal trading association. Instead, Goldman said they have the potential to form a powerful economic bloc, even acknowledging that its forecasts were optimistic and dependent on significant policy assumptions.

Still, the implication was that economic power would bring political power, and indeed leaders from BRICS countries regularly attended summits together and often acted in concert with each others’ interests.

Interest faded in the BRICS countries by around 2015, as per Investopedia. But does that mean we should write them off, too?

BRICS is expanding.

For many years, the United States has been a primary global economic power, but as our star shines a little less brightly due to our economic difficulties, poor governmental management, and less than stellar relationships with several other countries, BRICS seems poised to step into the position our nation once held.

In 2015, at their 6th summit, the founding nations created the New Development Bank, with a currency pool of 100 billion USD and an additional reserve of another hundred billion. The countries also agreed to cooperate with one another in regard to credit and innovation.

This has expanded over the years, and the nations have cooperated in things like planning an optical fiber submarine communications cable system for BRICS countries so that the US could not spy on its communications. (Although plans are in place, it has not yet been built at the time of this writing.)

But now, with the war between Russia and Ukraine, and tensions with China, things seem to really be gearing up.

What countries are involved in BRICS?

Current members of BRICS are still the original ones.

• Brazil
• Russia
• India
• China
• South Africa

But…the union seems intent on expanding, and other nations are in the midst of an application process. Multiple countries have asked to become a part of the bloc.

The nations that have formally applied for acceptance into the cooperative are:

•  Algeria
• Argentina
• Bahrain
• Egypt
• Indonesia
• Iran
• Saudi Arabia
• United Arab Emirates

In addition, interest has been expressed by the following countries:

• Afghanistan
• Bangladesh
• Belarus
• Kazakhstan
• Mexico
• Nicaragua
• Nigeria
• Pakistan
• Senegal
• Sudan
• Syria
• Thailand
• Tunisia
• Turkey
• Uruguay
• Venezuela
• Zimbabwe

Sources: OilPrice.com, Bloomberg, Times of India, Anadolu Ajansi, Sputnik Globe

The original nations are meeting in South Africa on June 2nd and 3rd to discuss expansion.

Why do we care about BRICS?

Not a great deal has been mentioned about this in the news, but I believe that such a union is a very troubling sign. I’ve written before that the dollar is rapidly losing international trust and potentially even petrodollar status, and it seems as though a group such as this is well-poised to step into our place. Plus, a lot of these nations aren’t exactly friendly to the United States in the first place. A formal alliance between countries like China, Russia, India, and Iran is troubling, particularly as our government has instituted brutal sanctions in the past.

Bloomberg has said it expects the growth of BRICS to surpass the economic expectations of the G-7, the economic group of which the US is the leader, which consists of the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Canada.

Zero Hedge reports on several reasons this is concerning.

Add to this that several Central and South American countries are interested in joining the ranks of BRICS, and this alliance could quite literally be in our own backyard. While this is assumed to be strictly an economic alliance, what happens if there is a global conflict? Would this coalition carry over into that realm as well?

Sides are being chosen.

What it looks like to me is that sides are being chosen and lines are being drawn. The United States has powerful enemies. (And that’s not even including the ones within our own borders who seem intent on destroying the very fabric of our culture.) While BRICS is not a threat to our way of life today, they could be a formidable foe in the very near future. While we lose economic power, they gain economic power. And in our modern world, that is everything.

For our entire lives, the United States has been on top of the global pyramid. One must wonder, when rivals begin to group together, how long we will keep that position.

The expansion of the BRICS alliance is very important to watch. While we certainly can’t personally influence the proceedings, our awareness can help us to be one step ahead in our preparations. This could eventually destroy our already volatile financial system, so if you haven’t put your savings into a safe holding like gold and silver, you may want to look into that sooner rather than later. We always think we have time, but it looks to me like that presumed time is rapidly running out.

Our concerns are not only within our system but also from alliances that could destroy our global economic power. This would be a crushing blow that would change everything from the price and availability of imports to the very fuel our country runs upon.

But what do you think?

Is the potential expansion of the BRICS alliance concerning to you? Why or why not? Is this something you’ve been watching? How do you think we Americans could be affected by a large, competing economic bloc? Will this affect the way you prep in any way?

Let’s discuss it in the comments.

About the Author

Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging, adventure-seeking, globe-trotting blogger. She is the founder and publisher of three websites.  1) The Organic Prepper, which is about current events, preparedness, self-reliance, and the pursuit of liberty; 2)  The Frugalite, a website with thrifty tips and solutions to help people get a handle on their personal finances without feeling deprived; and 3) PreppersDailyNews.com, an aggregate site where you can find links to all the most important news for those who wish to be prepared. Her work is widely republished across alternative media and she has appeared in many interviews.

Daisy is the best-selling author of 5 traditionally published books, 12 self-published books, and runs a small digital publishing company with PDF guides, printables, and courses at SelfRelianceand Survival.com You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Gab, MeWe, Parler, Instagram, and Twitter.

And he and his handlers are handling the war between Russia and Ukraine exactly the wrong way as well.

Specifically, the policies of financially isolating Russia are creating a bifurcated world that the United States will no longer dominate. In the process, he is ensuring that the U.S. dollar will no longer reign as the world’s reserve currency — which is going to lead to a collapse of our economy when countries stop buying our debt.

Case in point: India’s mass purchases of cheap Russian fossil fuels are more frequently being made in currencies other than the dollar, according to Reuters.

“U.S.-led international sanctions on Russia have begun to erode the dollar’s decades-old dominance of international oil trade as most deals with India – Russia’s top outlet for seaborne crude – have been settled in other currencies,” the report this week began.

The dollar’s dominance has been challenged from time to time, but it has persisted due to the undeniable benefits of utilizing the most universally recognized currency for commercial purposes.

India’s oil trading, prompted by the upheaval of sanctions and the conflict in Ukraine, presents the most compelling proof to date of a move towards alternative currencies that could have long-term implications, the report continued.

Ranked as the third-largest importer of oil globally, India began procuring the majority of its oil from Russia, which emerged as its top supplier after European nations rejected Moscow’s oil in response to its invasion of Ukraine that started in February of last year.

Following the imposition of an oil price ceiling on Russia by a coalition opposing the war on December 5th, multiple sources from the oil trading and banking sectors have disclosed that Indian purchasers have been utilizing non-dollar currencies, such as the United Arab Emirates dirham and, more recently, the Russian ruble, to pay for the majority of Russian oil. This shift, which has not been previously reported, has amounted to several hundred million dollars in transactions over the last three months, according to the sources who spoke to Reuters.

Last year, the Group of Seven (G7) economies, the European Union, and Australia established a price cap with the aim of prohibiting Western services and shipping from trading Russian oil, except when it is sold at a mandated low price, to deprive Moscow of funds for its war.

According to three sources with direct knowledge, a few Dubai-based traders, as well as Russian energy firms Gazprom and Rosneft, have been seeking non-dollar payments for certain specialized grades of Russian oil that have been sold above the $60 per barrel price limit in recent weeks, the report noted.

Due to the sensitivity of the matter, the sources requested anonymity.

Although these sales constitute a minor portion of Russia’s overall sales to India and do not seem to breach the sanctions, which US officials and experts believed could be circumvented by non-Western services such as Russian shipping and insurance, the trade sources and former Russian and US economic officials told Reuters that three Indian banks supported some of the transactions. This is in line with Moscow’s efforts to decrease its dependence on the US dollar, while traders aim to evade sanctions, Reuters added.

If the dollar loses its global reserve currency status, it would have a significant impact on the United States and the world economy. The demand for the dollar would decrease, which would lead to a depreciation in its value.

This would make imports more expensive and increase inflation in the United States. Moreover, the United States would lose the privilege of being able to borrow in its own currency, meaning it would have to pay higher interest rates to borrow money from other countries. This could lead to a decrease in foreign investment in the United States, which would slow down economic growth.

And that’s exactly what is happening under Biden.

Sources include:

• Reuters.com
• NSJOnline.com
• NATURAL NEWS

In a posting at Real Clear Wire, Brownback, who was the 46th governor of Kansas, wrote, “Approximately 1,000 Christians belonging to Adivasi tribal communities from the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh have fled their homes following a spate of violent attacks.”

He explained from December 9-18, “Attacks in Chhattisgarh occurred in villages across the region. Horrifying footage shows scenes of violent chaos. Street mobs hacked at statues of Jesus and Mary, leaving churches decimated in their wake. They targeted anyone suspected of being a Christian and beat them with sticks, resulting in over 20 people being hospitalized with severe injuries. Strikingly, a local political leader was one of five arrested for the assault and rioting.”

He confirmed fact-finders from the Center for Study of Society and Secularism and the All India People’s Forum released a report explaining “the atrocities that transpired.”

“The report finds that Christians were asked to denounce their faith and convert to Hinduism or face brutal consequences. It offers evidence that Adivasi Christians are the targets of a coordinated campaign. Human rights defenders point the finger at the state for ‘weaponizing laws’ against Christians,” he explained.

“Chhattisgarh has an anti-conversion law, penalizing conversion by ‘force or allurement’ with up to three years of jail time. Eleven Indian states have in place either anti-conversion laws or guidelines governing religious conversions. Laws of this kind are used to suppress religious minorities while turning a blind eye to radical activities,” he wrote.

He warned that religious minorities in India are under threat.

“Chhattisgarh ranks as the second most dangerous region for India’s Christians. Despite recent escalation, international attention has been scant, compounding local inaction. As one human rights defender noted, ‘it is the incapacity of the Congress [Indian National Congress party] government [the ruling party in the state] that is unable to save the Adivasi Christians from the continuous attacks,’” Brownback said.

He said those displaced Christians are in deplorable conditions right now, as they cannot return home.

According to Suman Mandavi and Outlook India, “at least 59 incidents happened and except 4 incidents, not a single case has been lodged.” Police ignore complaints, standing by and watching as Christians are attacked. In response, nearly a thousand people have camped outside local administrative offices in protest. On February 19, over 15,000 Christians from 100 churches and organizations gathered at Jantar Mantar to protest the unanswered violence towards Christians throughout India,” he wrote.

“Their cry is simple – the authorities must act. Their lives depend on it.”

He said, “The local, state, and national governments in India need to make it abundantly clear that they will not tolerate these attacks. Otherwise, perpetrators and victims alike will discern a silent signal of support for the attacks, leading to more fear and violence.”

He insisted, “The U.S. must use every diplomatic tool at its disposal to maintain pressure on all South Asian governments to protect their religious minorities.”

Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

This article was originally published by the WND News Center.

Biometrics used for transaction verifications tied to government-collected personal data is a digital ID. They want it to be universal. They want it to cover not just financial transactions but every aspect of our lives. This is a control mechanism. As I discussed on a news clip for The JD Rucker Show, what we’re seeing happening in India is what we can expect to see in the United States very, very soon. Here’s the article from Reclaim The Net…

The Indian government is allowing banks to verify individual transactions for those that exceed 2 million rupees annually using iris scans and facial recognition in cases where fingerprint verification fails. The move is an effort to crack down on tax evasion and fraud, according to sources who talked to Reuters, but also highlights major privacy and civil liberties concerns.

A few banks have already started using the option, according to the sources, who asked not to be named because the advisory allowing such verification has not been made public. The verification is optional and is meant to be used in cases where someone has not shared their Permanent Account Number (PAN) card with banks.

The new measure will be used to verify the identity of individuals who have made transactions, both withdrawals and deposits, exceeding 2m rupees in a year if they have shared the Aadhaar biometric identity cards with the banks.

The Aadhaar card, provided by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), carries a unique number linked to someone’s face, iris scan, and fingerprints.

Last month, India’s ministry for finance asked banks to take the “necessary action” on a letter by UIDAI that recommended verification should be done via iris and facial scanning, particularly where fingerprint verification has failed.

However, the letter did not talk about consent.

Alternate Media Source:

#1 Serbia

Are you ready for another war in the Balkans?  Ethnic tensions have risen to the highest level in more than two decades, and the president of Serbia just convened an emergency gathering of his national security council…

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has met his national security council as tensions rise in Kosovo between the authorities there and ethnic Serbs.

On Saturday a stun grenade was thrown at EU police in north Kosovo, where Serbs form a majority, and local police exchanged fire with unknown groups.

Ethnic Serbs set up road blocks after Kosovan police were deployed in a dispute over car number plates.

Some in the region now believe that war is “inevitable”, and Kosovo is already asking NATO to step in and intervene…

At a news conference in Kosovo’s capital Pristina on Sunday, Prime Minister Albin Kurti asked the Kosovo Force (KFOR), a NATO-led international peacekeeping force, to guarantee “freedom of movement,” as he accused “criminal gangs” of blocking roads.

A fragile peace has been preserved in Kosovo since it declared independence from Serbia in 2008 following the 1998-99 war in which NATO intervened to protect Kosovo’s Albanian majority. Serbia does not recognize Kosovo’s independence.

#2 The Disputed Border Between China And India

On Tuesday, we learned that there has been yet another violent clash along the hotly disputed border between China and India…

Soldiers from India and China clashed last week along their disputed border, India’s defense minister said Tuesday, in the latest violence along the contested frontier since June 2020, when troops from both countries were killed in a deadly brawl.

Rajnath Singh, who addressed lawmakers in parliament, said Friday’s encounter along the Tawang sector of eastern Arunachal Pradesh state started when Chinese troops “encroached into Indian territory” and “unilaterally tried to change the status quo” along the disputed border near Yangtze.

The Chinese just can’t seem to stop provoking India, and a full-blown conflict between the two nations could escalate out of control very rapidly.

Let us hope that does not happen, because both China and India possess nuclear weapons.

#3 Taiwan

For a long time, we have been warned that China will eventually invade Taiwan.

Unfortunately, tensions in the region just continue to escalate, and on Tuesday the Chinese sent more bombers into Taiwan’s air defense zone than ever before…

China sent a record 18 nuclear-capable bombers into Taiwan’s air defence zone, Taipei said on Tuesday (Dec 13), just days after Beijing banned more Taiwanese imports in the latest sign of deteriorating ties.

Democratic Taiwan lives under the constant threat of invasion by China, which sees the self-ruled island as part of its territory to be seized one day.

#4 Iran

There will be a war between Iran and Israel.

Of course the IDF has already been regularly hitting Iranian-backed forces inside Syria on a regular basis, but we should be thankful that a full-blown war in which missiles are flying back and forth between the two nations hasn’t started yet.

Unfortunately, we are closer than ever to that point.  In fact, it is being reported that Israel is actually warning that it may bomb the airport in Beirut “if it determines that Iran is smuggling weapons on civilian planes”…

According to Israeli media reports, Israel has warned Lebanon that Israel Defense Forces could bomb Beirut’s airport if it determines that Iran is smuggling weapons on civilian planes destined for the terrorist group Hezbollah. The alleged weapons smuggling was reported by a London-based Arabic language newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, which quoted Israeli sources who said Israel issued the warning.

When a full-blown war between Iran and Israel finally starts, there will be no holding back by either side.

The death and destruction such a war will cause will shock the entire world, and the global oil trade will be thrown into a state of complete and utter chaos.

#5 Ukraine

The United States and Russia both continue to escalate the horrifying conflict in Ukraine.

Now that Russia is bombing the living daylights out of Ukraine’s power grid, the U.S. is choosing to respond by giving Patriot missiles systems to the Ukrainians…

Pentagon officials are in the final stages of preparing a plan to send a Patriot air defense missile system to Ukraine to counter Russian aerial assaults, U.S. officials told CBS News.

The plan has not yet been approved by either the Pentagon or the White House, but that could come as early as this week.

This represents a major escalation, and it is also being reported that the Biden administration has given the Ukrainian government the green light to conduct drone strikes deep inside of Russia.

Needless to say, the Russians are not pleased at all about having to deal with drone strikes deep inside their own territory.  In fact, some prominent Russian voices are warning that the U.S. and Russia are getting dangerously close to the unthinkable.  The following comes from a British news source…

Mad Vlad Putin’s henchmen have fired a warning shot that the Ukraine conflict could turn into a “full-scale nuclear war.”

They made the stark comments after the US gave the go-ahead for Kyiv to kick off drone strikes into Russia.

We don’t see such talk on U.S. television.

The Biden administration continues to assure all of us that the risk of nuclear war is extremely low, but the Russians see things very differently…

One source in Putin’s circle said: “This is playing with fire, risking full-scale war which could easily go nuclear.”

Another added: “Who will now give Moscow the green light for strikes against Ukrainian decision-making centres?”

Most people never imagined that World War I would get as bad as it did.

And most people never imagined that World War II would result in tens of millions of deaths.

Now we have entered the early stages of a third world war, and this time the major participants are armed with nuclear weapons.

If we don’t pull back from the brink, the consequences could potentially be far beyond what most people could even imagine right now.

So let us pray for peace, because a global war in which hundreds of millions of people die is not an acceptable option.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

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Article cross-posted from End of the American Dream.

I fondly remember foreign affairs analysts claiming it would be decades before these “backwards” or “broken” nations could compete against us. Their arguments often sounded like Tony Stark talking to Loki in Stark Towers in the first Avengers movie “I have an army,” Loki said. “We have a Hulk,” Stark replied.

The days of western bravado and dismissal of BRICS seem to be upon us, and it didn’t take decades. The architects of The Great Reset seem to be positioning BRICS to challenge American economic hegemony by both weakening western nations while propping up Russia and China. While both have economic challenges of their own, they’re plowing through it while we’re getting stuck in the dirt. The nature of their authoritarian governments gives them a stronger position to handle economic hardships. Meanwhile, many Americans are trying to time out when to hit up the Tesla Supercharger stations.

Two articles hit my radar this morning. Both bode ill for us as a rising BRICS alliance means another option may be available to the world soon. The U.S. dollar’s status as the world reserve currency exists because it exists. There have been no other options so nations have had to play ball or become North Korea. If that changes, and many nations are hoping it will, then the alternative will likely something out of BRICS. And that would spell doom for us and our $30+ trillion national debt.

Here’s the first article that’s worth a read from Great Game India:

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey May Join BRICS ‘Very Soon’, Forum Chair Anand Says

According to the president of the BRICS International Forum, Purnima Anand, Turkey, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia might “very soon” join the club of major emerging economies, which also includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

According to Anand, this topic was discussed by China, Russia, and India at the 14th BRICS Summit, which virtually took place from June 23 to 24.

“All these countries have shown an interest in joining and are preparing to apply for membership. I think this is a good step, because expansion is always perceived positively; this will clearly increase the influence of BRICS in the world… I hope that the accession of countries to BRICS will happen very quickly, because now all representatives of the core of the association are interested in enlargement. So it will be very soon,” Purnima Anand stated.

According to reports, the BRICS International Forum President is sure that Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey will all join the organization soon because they have already “begun the process.” She reportedly said that they wouldn’t all sign up at once though.

Anand’s comments are consistent with those made earlier about the potential growth of BRICS by Li Kexin, head of the Department of International Economic Affairs at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Li Kexin stated during a press conference following the 14th BRICS summit in Beijing that “there are several countries currently ‘at the door’ — for example, Indonesia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Argentina.”

The BRICS nations concur that the bloc needs new members while maintaining its distinctive identity, he continued.

“I believe there is a shared understanding that we need to enlarge, get ‘new faces’,” Li said.

He highlighted, however, that the growth of the BRICS is “not to create a new bloc.”

Siyabonga Cyprian Cwele, the South African ambassador to China, who spoke beside Li, emphasized that BRICS is about partnership rather than “big muscle.”

The Global Times had quoted Sabino Vaca Narvaja, Argentina’s ambassador to China, as saying that “the BRICS cooperation mechanism is of great significance for the building of a new, more multipolar and balanced world.”

“We are interested in joining BRICS because it is a cooperative mechanism composed entirely of emerging economies. There are no strings attached and all cooperation is mutually beneficial,” Vaca said.

At their 14th meeting in Beijing, China, the BRICS group of countries decided to work together to improve and change global governance while preserving international peace and security. South Africa will take up the rotational chairmanship of BRICS in 2019 from China, who currently holds the position.

Iran, Algeria, Argentina, Egypt, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Senegal, Uzbekistan, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Malaysia, and Thailand were among the 13 other developing countries whose leaders were invited by Beijing to the conference.

Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the world to “reject hegemony, bullying, and division” in his opening remarks at the summit. Iran made its ambition to join BRICS known in advance of the meeting, citing its “unique geographical position and its capabilities in the fields of energy, transit, and trade” as well as its potential to serve as a “golden route to connect” the East and the West.

“If Iran and other powerful countries join the grouping, it can be even stronger and challenge western policies,” Iran’s state-owned Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) added.

Here’s the second article on the subject by Free West Media:

BRICS Expansion on the Cards

More and more emerging countries are considering joining the BRICS group, which is seen as the major emerging countries’ counterweight to the US-led West and the G7. Especially in times like these, this is also a clear signal to Washington.

The BRICS group of states, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, are working ever more closely together on an economic and political level. Together they represent 3,26 billion people and a gross domestic product of US$27,54 trillion. According to estimates, the economic output of these five countries will account for 50 percent of total global value added by 2030.

In view of the fact that “rules-based” Western countries are experiencing serious economic problems, this prognosis does not even seem that far-fetched.

In contrast to the G7 group, the representatives of the US-led collective West, the BRICS group sees itself as an open organization that does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. It is therefore not surprising that membership in this group of states also arouses the interest of diverse nations.

In particular, those states that have their own problems and conflicts with the United States seem to be most interested. Argentina and Iran, for example, announced their intention to become part of the group of states. And Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates have recently expressed interest in becoming members.

The list does not end there as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey also plan to join BRICS , the President of the International BRICS Forum Purnima Anand confirmed to Russian outlet Izvestia, adding that a discussion and a possible decision on some countries will be held at the next summit of the association, which will take place in 2023, the Russian news agency TASS reported.

These countries could participate in increased resource sharing and open up air, trade and financial routes “to the new global realities”.

Notably, BRICS countries are working on establishing a new common reserve currency, similar to the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights. This would enable economic cooperation without having to resort to the US dollar or the euro – and without being threatened with having their funds confiscated by Western financial institutions.

A major Western bank, ING, has meanwhile brought up the discussion of a basket of BRICS currencies, noting that “the increasing weaponization of the dollar” could see a move into gold.

Former Russian President and Prime Minister and current Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev commented on the expansion. “The best protection against the rotting euro will be the transition to new means of payment in trade with our reliable partners, including through the use of national currencies – the Russian ruble, Chinese yuan, Indian rupee, etc,” he wrote on Telegram. “The dollar, the euro and the pound sterling are clearly not enough for the modern world.”

BRICS nations have since opted for a payment system that would be an alternative to the US-dominated SWIFT system. The main benefits highlighted were redundancy in case there were disruptions to the SWIFT system.

China has initiated the development of their own payment system called CIPS: the Cross-Border Inter-Bank Payments System (CIPS), which provides a network that enables financial institutions worldwide to send and receive information about financial transactions in a secure, and standardized system. India also has its alternative Structured Financial Messaging System (SFMS), as does Russia with its System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS).

As more countries join BRICS and indirectly related organizations like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SOC), the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and so on, it becomes more difficult for the United States to exert influence economically and to put financial pressure on nations to bend to its will.

The financial war declared on countries outside the realm of the dollar, showed many countries how vulnerable they actually are as a result of a close connection to the western financial systems. Over-reliance on China may also pose dangers for many, but what other options remain?

Why It Matters

The reason the Liberal World Order secretly backs BRICS is not because they want them necessarily to succeed. They want the United States to fail, and BRICS is the most viable option to take down America’s economy from outside while they move other chess pieces in the nation, most notably the Biden-Harris regime.

We are no longer in a position to let them grow without concern of them usurping us. As noted above, they are on pace to account for half of the world’s wealth before the end of the decade. And if a shooting war starts between any of the players, most notably between the United States and China-Russia alliance, then it’s very likely we will see the shift away from the U.S. dollar accelerate quickly.

As many know, the only thing keeping us from being crushed by our national debt is that most other nations are tied to the U.S. dollar. If that changes, then we will fall. BRICS is the outside existential threat that far too few are watching. Government, media, and the people seem to be ignoring it. We need to start addressing it as soon as possible. It may already be too late.

Article originally published at my Economic Collapse Substack.