Iraq Embraces the Yuan as the Dollar's Dominance is Declining in the Middle East!!

Hello everybody, second day you'll find me drinking water here. So anyway, excited to be with you as always, and I mean it. Uh, so today's topic, guys, I'm going to be talking about— yeah, there's somebody who already said, well, Mr. O, this is an old topic. No, it's not all the— yes, about the one with Iraq, that was in May. This one about the Iraq decision to stop the circulation of the dollar. But this live stream is not about just that. It's understanding as to what led to all this and what are the implication and ramification moving forward, and how that is a reflection of exactly what's taking place as we speak in the Middle East and of course on the global stage. That is the reason why I wanted to do it. So anyway, this is what I'm going to be covering, uh, in this live stream here, with a little bit of geography, with a little bit of history, because it's very important for us to understand that. So before I do this, like to extend my sincere thanks to all of you, and, uh, I want to give a shout out to a new channel member by the name of Catherine Westover. Thank you so much, Catherine, for becoming a channel member, uh, and I appreciate your support. And to all of you, remember, we are now about 88, uh, members, so I'd like to reach it to 100 soon so I can do that exclusive Q&A for you. I am also thinking about— some of you have been sending me comments about where can we, uh, help the channel and support it and all that stuff. I'm gonna create a Patreon account, so if you guys would like to support the channel that way, you can do that at your own discretion and whatever you want to support the channel with. So, but I'll work on that and I will let you know. So, but thank you all for your support, it means a lot. And please, if this is your first time here, please make sure to subscribe to this channel. I would really appreciate it. Uh, I'm gonna get in into the topic right away to cover it. So this way, because there's a lot to cover into this, and of course I'm gonna take a question or two, so make sure you prepare your question for later on. So here's the, the questions we're gonna start with. So why did Iraq decided to stop using the dollar, or the circulation rather— I'm sorry, the circulation and the withdrawals of the US dollar now? Was it pressured by the United States? And if so, is this aimed at Iran? And the third question is, what's really at the heart of all this? And this is exactly why I wanted to do this particular, uh, particular discussion today. So I do want you to keep in mind— literally, I want you to keep in mind two key aspects to this brief analysis that I'm gonna do. One of them has to do with the— hi Steve! Steve calls me Dave. Hey Dave! Hi Steve! You know, you're funny when somebody calls me Dave. Anyway, uh, the two main is the BRICS, and the second one, it's, uh, the second one has to do with many angles to it, including Malaysia, because they just made a decision regarding they're getting rid of the dollar. But if you take into consideration the trade between Malaysia and Iraq— Malaysia imports a lot of, lot of, uh, uh, oil from, uh, Iraq. So, but also the decisions of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates that they will not be using the dollar for their, uh, sale of energy. So, and this is what I'm saying. I'm, I'm saying See it, see the big picture. This is the reason what prompts me to decide to do this. And I think the next live stream I'm going to do it, I think, on the Maldives. Then I am going to do one brief history about the Arab-Israeli conflict, this from a historical perspective. I might go back, uh, all the way back to the Roman Empire, or the Romans, that is. That's what I'm gonna intend to do. So Uh, uh, okay, so let's get into this. And we just, uh, first of all, just address, uh, sort of a brief, uh, uh, intro about it. So, well, of course you're gonna have to look at Iraq decisions to stop, uh, uh, the circulation of the dollar because it was narrated under the so-called abuse of the hard currency. There might be some logical argument to this. I was aware of one case, and the case was way back, back in 2007 or 2008 when I was in Iraq. I spent a lot of time in Iraq at that time when I was still working in Washington, so I used to go back and forth. I will go about 3 months, 4 months out of a year to Iraq. Uh, so one, one event that took place back then, and we found out about it, is that there were some money leaving the central bank in Iraq and heading out to Iran. Well, why is this important? Is because the sanctions, of course, on Iran, but also Iran had access to hard currency. But this one here, I'm seeing it differently, even though the narrative is saying, oh, because the US sort of had to talk with Iran to sort of stop the abuse of the hard currency. It is aimed at Iran. That's, that's no-brainer. But also because we saw that one thing we didn't calculate on is that when we invaded Iraq, we didn't realize how much influence Iran is going to have in Iraq. Because you all remember during the Iran-Iraq War, and I wrote extensively in most of my books, the last three, the last three. Yeah, I don't think so. I mentioned it in the Russia book, but I, I didn't mention this one. Anyway, one thing was that we were supporting both sides. We were supporting Iraq and we were supporting Iran by providing weapons. It's the same thing we are doing. As a matter of fact, it was, uh, I got a tweet, I wish I can find it, by a former CIA analyst, Larry Johnson, who disclosed that the US is providing weapons to both Israel and Hamas. Yeah, so interesting how— so I won't be surprised. This is why I say you have to see really the big picture. So, so, and, and I did the video for you about Iraq making this decision, but that's not what I'm going to be talking about here. What I'm going to be talking about, it really what I see the rationale for how the central bank in Iraq had to embark on this But the objective is very different from what the narrative is. And of course, you take into consideration what's taking place right now in the Middle East. Anytime— just listen to this carefully, guys— anytime there is a tension or tensions, there are tensions in the Middle East, when it raised to a military conflict, it tends to impact the global economy. What am I referring to here? There are two tanks now. The stock market in Israel is tanked, in Tel Aviv is tanked. The global economy is on shaky ground right now. Two tanks because the gold went up, oil went up. Those are the main things. And now you're going to have the impact. Of course, Israel is asking 1 million people to leave Gaza, which I don't see the rationale for something like this. You can just see if, if, if Iran— if Israel escalates its, its attacks, it's gonna go outside the box, as I say. What do I mean by this? You're gonna see the involvements of some other elements in the Middle East. Already the Western media is not disclosing detail about the current demonstrations in Jordan As a matter of fact, they are even calling now to challenge the monarchy. And King, uh, King Jordan, King of Jordan, his name is King Abdullah, he is going to Europe, uh, he's going to Europe to ask its leaders, well, you're gonna have— it's nonsense, you know, it's just enough talk, you know, it's in action that people— you can talk all for forever. I think he's concerned about his monarchy, you know, give a hoot about Palestinians or whatever. It's just politics, you know. The interesting dynamics to this, while I'm at it, is that the Saudis this morning announced that they're going to freeze the plan for normalizing relations with Israel. Well, that's a big, big blow to the United States and big blow to to Israel itself. Because remember, they are about 4 countries. Yeah, if I recall, 4 countries that have normalized relations with Israel. Now they are on the spot. You have United Arab Emirates, you have Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. 4 countries. They are on the spot right now because that means when you normalize something like this, that you are almost— oh, let alone you are an Arab country or a Muslim country, that just doesn't— the optics of it are not good. So, and this is to, to take back to our conversation about the Iraqi decision to stop the circulation of the US dollar. And as I said, there are two elements to this. One of them is Malaysia and the other one is the BRICS. I will get into this after I talk to you about the geography and the history, because you need to understand the history of Iraq. Iraq, it's a very old civilization. Most people in the West have no idea how old Iraq is because there's a lot of, a lot of dynasties went through into that. So, so let's start with a geography first, and I'm gonna show you a map here, uh, I can get to it. It's right here. This is our Iraq, modern-day Iraq. So, so now there are those who say, why Iraq is in the Middle East? Well, of course it is in the Middle East, but there are also in some other political maps you will see Iran listed as Western Asian country. So I always refer to it as a Middle Eastern. But again, it's a Western— it's like, you know, when you think about Turkey, for example. Yeah, Turkey in the Middle East, but also you think about it as Western Asian countries for that. So Iraq is a Western Asian country that borders 6 countries. You have Iran, Kuwait, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. So, and it has a very, very diverse geography, and I've been there, so I could— I saw The difference when you go, for example, to Baghdad versus when you go to the western side of Iraq, where the western side is nothing but a desert, you know. So this is why the geography of Iraq, it consists of about 5 main regions. You have the desert, you have Upper Mesopotamia, you have the northern highlands, you have the Lower Mesopotamia, then you have the alluvial plains. So the desert area covers the western part of the country of Iraq, while the Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow through the central and southern regions, which why— this is why it's a very fertile land. And of course, in addition to being a historical site, I have, I have one right here that I need to show you. There's right there. So do you see the Euphrates and the Tigris? Uh, those are the main, the main aspects of, of the geography of, uh, of Iraq. And, and I'm not going to go too much into this. I mean, when you look at the, the map itself, uh, let me post it again for you to see, because very— and for you to understand where everything is. You look at where Baghdad is, Samarra, you know, Kirkuk, Mosul, Fallujah, Karbala, and Najaf, all those, and Nasiriyah, all those, al-Basra, uh, all those are very important cities, and each one of them has its own history, uh, given the old history of Iraq itself, which, uh, Soleimani, of course, I didn't forget to mention that Uh, and this is why it's important to understand, uh, the part of geography, because it put things in perspective for you. So, so when we decided to invade, I'm sure Washington understood to a degree, but whomever was advising the president, kind of like, sir, you kind of need to understand the ramification of this. And this is something we fail to understand. So So let me get into the history of it, and I intend to spend some time here because it's very important for you guys to see and understand. And I'm going to go all the way to the beginning with images. I had to really spend the last 48 hours digging into the archives. And by the way, I appreciate you guys. There are some of you putting comments how much they appreciate the, the amount of time of the research that I conduct for me to share this with you. So I, I, uh, I appreciate that. I appreciate it. So I just want you to know, uh, so let me— I'm gonna be leaving some pictures but changing between or rotating between pictures to put things in perspective for you. So this is an old picture of the really the beginning of Iraq. This is— we're going back to throughout history, so Uh, what I'm going to start with, I'm going to start with this Sumerians. So let me put a picture for you, you guys can see what I'm referring to here. Sumerians, the very first people to settle in Mesopotamia, which is modern-day Iraq. That's how it was known back then. And the time they settled in was about 4,800 BC, and that when he marked the first emergence of the human civilization, you know. But what's interesting about Sumerians, I don't know if you had classes in history. I remember I had it in my high school back then. Sumerians, they were very, very gifted and imaginative, and those the one who developed, by the way, the system of writing. They were the first to develop that. So, so the Sumerian language, linguistically separates from any others. And that's where it was always preserved, in some sort of a tablet and, and so forth. You can find them now in the clay tablets, like what you see in, in, in the Egyptian hieroglyphics. They still have them on the tablet and, and so forth. Also, Sumerians were known for, as I said, creativity. They invented the wheel. A mathematical system based on the number 60. That is what, uh, very interesting about it. And it's on the basis of time in modern world, and also it was the basics for the system of banking. That's what's important about it. So the, uh, and again, the Sumerians themselves developed other aspects of, uh of agriculture and, uh, and, and other areas of, of, of developments. Uh, I found the map, guys, that I need to share with you that goes way back. So, but this map here, this one is tied to the next. Who was after them? The Akkadians. Okay, Akkadians were, were after in that part of history. So And it was none other than, uh, it was under the rule of Sargon of Akkad. He's the one who conquered the Sumerian city-states back then. So Akkadians were in 2340 BC. So the Akkadians were, uh, Akkadians, I'm sorry, were a Semitic-speaking group who united the Semites and the Sumerian speakers under one rule. So, and then, but unfortunately for the Akkadians, this empire was short-lived, and it was in 2125 BC when it fell. So, uh, and, and this is where led to the next, because they all fall under the Babylonian that comes next. It is, by the way, I don't know if I have an image for you about— yes, I do, I do. This is an image of, uh, this is an image of the Sargon of Akkad. He's the one who conquered most of the Sumerian city-states. So I did find it in the archives that I was researching, and, and I wanted to share it with you. So the next one comes, the, uh, the Babylonian Empire. Let me get you— here's an image of it. But I remember this is all— it's just, uh, this is the, the ruins of the city of Babylon, which are, by the way, the city of Babylon is what is in modern-day city near Hilla. Hilla is— I was there in Iraq in that city, Hilla, the city of Hilla. It's, it's, uh, it, it's known in Iraq. So the Babylonian Empire ushered in a new era in Mesopotamia after the downfall of the Akkadians, you know, and it was none other— it was ruled under none other than Hammurabi. And I remember the name because when I was in high school, we had to learn about it. So the reign of Hammurabi, which took between 1792 to 1750 BC, He was the 6th king of Babylon and is regarded one of the highlights of ancient Mesopotamian civilization. Hammurabi, by the way, was the first to develop the code of law. I recall this in high school, literally, uh, and moving justice from the whims of the powerful to the codified system of regulations applicable to all society. You know, I wish that we have laws that apply to everybody, uh, meaning in, in, in my country. I can't speak of your country because who am I to say, well, you should have this or that? No, I can't do that. But in my country, here in the United States, uh, we don't have a, a, a fair justice system. I don't shy away from saying it. I've been writing about it. I've been spoken, uh, about it. You know, we have unfair justice system. You know, even your color of skin will determine the outcome sometimes, not all the time. So let alone the upper class versus the middle class versus the lower class, the system is a mess. Anyway, Hammurabi created a good system that was for everybody. So, and that's what, if you ever known, if you ever read in history, you will always hear or reference about the Babylonian sense of justice. That is the reference to it because Hammurabi created that fairness in the justice system. It was very, very interesting. After that came the Assyrian. Let me get you a picture here. Here's the Assyrian. And those are just imagery to reflect back then. Uh, this is, uh, the city, uh, of— or the capital, the original capital, the ancient city of Assur. That's where the name Assyrian came from. Don't confuse this with Syria, those are two separate things. So the Assur was centered in the northern Mesopotamia today, which is Iraq today. That's the— so the Assyrian Empire, named for its original Napero, the ancient city of Ashur, was centered in northern Mesopotamia. The Assyrians were known for their mastery in battle and their penchant for city building, such as Nineveh, you know, the city of Nineveh and Kalakh. You know, those are— because back in the 9th century BC, these two cities grew to Mesopotamia and substantial territories in the greater region. So this is what's important about this, this, this part of history. Next one comes— I think I have another image of Assyrian. Yeah, this is another image of the Assyrian, uh, images back then. So Uh, after that one came the Babylonian independence, of course, later on, uh, which led to— that will lead us to the next one. It's the, uh, conquest. Yeah, this is where, uh, Babylonian independence, of course Babylonian conquered, and this one it was when the city was conquered here. And of course it goes back to Cyrus the Great, you know, not Cyrus the member of the channel here because his name, screen name, is also Cyrus the Great. So, um, uh, so the Babylonians are defeated by Cyrus the Great in the, uh, Achaemenid Empire. So, and Mesopotamia will later become subject to subsequent conquest by Alexander the Great. In 3,300— in 331 BC. So the Romans and their tradition, uh, the Parthian Empire in the 3rd century BC, and this is the Sassanid dynasty in the 3rd through the 7th century. So this is the time when they were conquered. After that came the Arab influence. Of— you can always tell by the architecture. So, so the Arab, uh, the region of Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq, came under Arab influence in 636. Why is this? Because that was the time of the beginning of Islam. So Arabs were first to call the country Iraq. It was the Arab that called it, so that's where the name is from. And Iraq is a name that is derived or meaning the fertile. This is why near the Tigris and Euphrates, the land is fertile. That's why they were calling it Iraq. So under what's called the Rashidun, Rashidun, it was a caliphate that existed. I remember all this also because in high school we had to go through the history of the Middle East this way. And of course, in college, I had to touch on this stuff. And for me, it was a memory I remembered, you know. So, uh, and the Rashidun, uh, caliph, you know, it was none other than Ali ibn Abi Talib. Those who speak Arabic fluently will understand what I'm referring to here. Moved his capital from Medina, which means Medina in, in, in, uh, in, in, in modern-day Saudi Arabia, to the city of Kufa, because it was, uh, when he became the fourth caliph. Well, Kufa is a big city in Iraq. It holds a lot of meaning to the history and civilization of, uh, of, of Iraq. Of course, uh, I have some other images for the developments under the Arab ruling at that time. So then you fast forward to the Ottoman Empire. Of course, you can't forget the Ottoman expanded way far beyond. So, and the, uh, and by the way, during the Abbasid, the Abbasid caliph Abu Jafar al-Mansur That's when the emergence of the city of Baghdad became, uh, I'm sorry, it's this picture here. It became— why now? No, not this one. Right there. This where you start to see the architecture, the developments. And of course, when the Ottoman Empire took over, because you remember the Ottoman expanded all the way to Spain, to one area called Sevilla and Andalusia. This is where my ancestors are from way back in time. And before the conquest— I'm sure you all know about the, the wars of the conquest— my ancestor had to flee, and they fled to North Africa, in the mountains in North Morocco. So, so this is, uh, The next one will be, uh, and again, I don't think so I have this image here. No, I don't. So let's just move on to the next one, uh, the Ottoman rule. And this is the picture for the Ottoman. This is the Ottomans when they start, they ruled, uh, during the 14th and 15th century. So, uh, at that time in history was known as the black sheep and the white sheep. Turkmen ruled Iraq. And in the 16th century, most of the territory of present-day Iraq came under the control of the Ottoman Empire, with the exceptions of the 16-year insurrection by the Safavid starting in 1622. I wrote about this in the Iran book because I had to mention the history of Iran vis-à-vis the one in Iraq also. And, and Safavids, I, I talked about it around the 1622 at that time. So Ottoman, Ottoman rule lasted until the end of World War I, so through which Iraq was divided into 3 provinces. Yeah, 3 provinces. This is why it was important to, for me to share this map with you right here to understand that Iraq in its division back there after World War I and the fall of the Ottoman, it was divided into Mosul, you see there on the map on the north, Baghdad on the, on the center, and Basra in the south. Still till today, believe it or not, Iraq still ethnically, yes, it's a Muslim country, but it's still ethnically— you have Shiites and Sunnis, you have Christians, of course. But the way you look at it is Iraq into three. You got the Kurds in the north, Sunnis in the center, and the Shiites in the south. That's how it's always. And for us, of course, we have a hard time understanding this dynamics in the history of the Middle East. That's why we never, we never understood it. We never had a clue as to how to approach a foreign policy dealing with the Middle East. It's the same mistake we making in Asia. We don't understand that the history— you take China, 5,000 years. I mean, it's not something you overlook. I said, well, no, it will be fine. No, it won't be fine. Because if you don't understand what took place throughout those decades and decades or centuries, for that matter, You want to understand why China is behaving the way it behaves today. This is why it didn't make sense to me, uh, like I said yesterday when, uh, we were talking about, uh, Chuck Schumer, you know, being criticizing China for not condemning, uh, Hamas enough. Yeah, China's not gonna do it. It's part of their culture, history. They don't get involved when it doesn't involve them. Simple as that, you know. We all remember what Japanese did to the, to the Chinese. And because they, because the history of Japan known for that expansionism, you know, imperialism, or whatever term you want to use, you know, of course the Chinese won't forget that. And this is something some of our politicians do not grasp, you know. Like I always say, you got people in Washington reading a book or two and start calling themselves expert, and, and that's far from the truth. So, so the Ottoman— let me see where I am here, uh, and after the Ottoman Empire, as I said, it was the developments of the architectures and so forth. Then after that came King Faisal. Now you need to understand, because Iraq was a kingdom in 1920, it was the Treaty of Sevres which established Iraq as a mandate of the League of the Nations and the British administration. Yeah, the Brits ruined the Middle East. Yeah, because they divided it without understanding the ethnicities, without understanding the religious lines, without understanding, oh, all the, the, the dynamics that you seen in the Middle East, including what we're seeing right now between Israel and, and Palestine. Because when they pushed for the creation of Israel, they didn't understand that you, you're not gonna tell an entire people to leave the land. That just doesn't make any sense, you know. So King Faisal, and he was under the, as I said, British administration, and in 20— in 1921, uh, Faisal was proclaimed as King of Iraq. You know, and, uh, of course, the British mandate terminated in 1932, and Iraq was admitted to the League of Nations. In 1945, Iraq joined the United Nations and became a founding member of the Arab League. So the Hashemite, uh, monarchy ruled Iraq until 1958 when he was overthrown by a coup d'état by member of the Iraqi Army, including the late Saddam Hussein. That's how it all began for modern-day Iraq. And for that, I had a picture here for you. Those are the Ba'ath elements, uh, Ba'athist Party, that is, at that time. Uh, so, so the Hashemite took over, but it did last. It was in 1958 when the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party— it was under Saddam at that time, and Saddam took presidency in 1979, uh, has been in power since we removed him from power in 2003. And we all know what came after that. Or of course, they are talking about the democracy of Iraq in March 2003, which is far from the truth. There is, there is chaos in Iraq. I was in Iraq. I walked around. I used to go out. I speak the language so I could communicate with the locals. And what they told me was, and I didn't ask them, you know, uh, of course they're nice people in Iraq. They won't harm you if you don't harm them. Simple as that. Like any other parts of the world. So, so I wasn't sort of concerned because yes, I'm an American. Uh, you know, they kind of, uh, okay, are you judging me or are you judging the country? You know, why don't you deal with me as a human being instead of, you know, and that's one mistake we make, some of us. No, we tend to, when we go to a foreign country, we think we are this high and mighty. Why, why not have some humility and just be simple and treat people for who they are as human beings regardless of what their nationalities are, religious or religion is, or political affiliation or ideology? What have you. Who are you to judge? You know, it's kind of, uh, so I used to ask them and I said, how do you see things now? He said, it's worse for us now than it was before. I say, why is that? They said to me, well, back then we used to go out at night and walk safely and all. We can't do that now, meaning after the invasion, because what happened after that, the sectarian tensions emerged. Now you start having that confrontation between Sunnis and Shiites, which was fomented by outside elements. That's the— you start to have electricity was all the time over there. They didn't have enough electricity because we kind of ruined the country, per se. I mean, I don't shy away from saying it. Yeah, I was there, I saw, I didn't agree with certain things. I voiced my concern, but that's all I could do, you know. At some point in your life, you reach a point where you say, I'm done with this, you know. It's kind of in clear conscious, I'm done. So, uh, now you— yes, I am known to US government. They know who I am, of course. Uh, will I go back and work for US government? No, I don't think so, you know. There are those who ask me, well, what, what would happen if they wanna I want you to work as a, a, an ambassador. I said no, thank you, I'm not interested. It's because simple reason, they are not going to let me do what is right. If I am to become an ambassador and dealing with other countries, I gotta first of all, uh, sort of fix the, the problems that exist before we move an inch. Because if I am to start, I gotta start on, on a clean slate. Washington's not gonna like that. Washington will want to have an ambassador that push for more tensions, and I'm not willing to do that. And in clear conscience, I will not. So, plus, I like what I'm doing here. This is why, guys, I told you I gave up a full-time teaching position to do this. Why? Because I believe in it. I'm just passing through this life here. You know, what am I going to take with me? Nothing. You know, maybe be remembered, oh, it used to be that guy, that Dr. O, used to share knowledge with us, used to do this. That's all it is. Is it for fame and all that? No. You know, and I don't like that stuff. I like to remain behind the scenes. So, so this is what I wanted to share with you about the history of Iraq, because I need you to understand, uh, so all the hypes about the democracy and all that— no, Iran is worse today than it was back then. Let's just say it straightforward. So, and I don't shy away from saying that. Pardon me. So let's talk about, uh, uh, my analysis about the two key points, BRICS and, uh, and Malaysia. But even with Malaysia, you're going to have to also go before that to China's yuan. Why? And, and by the way, I will have all the links for you for articles and so forth. And, uh, uh, speaking of articles, uh, I don't know if any of you saw the post that I did yesterday. I post yesterday for the community Uh, I came across— I don't know, they sent it to me as, uh, anniversary or whatever you call that. Uh, it was an article that I posted, uh, back then, uh, in 2020. Yeah, in 2020, I wrote an article, uh, for the South China Morning Post, and, and believe it or not, they did post it. And, uh, I argued back then uh, that the 21st century, it's going to belong to China, not the United States. Of course I get criticized here in the US. Uh, let, let me share the link with you here, guys, so you can see it. No, not share it, but post it for you. Banner. Okay, create banner. And here is a link to my article. In South China Morning Post. So let me post it for you here, guys. Here's the link, uh, and I'll post it for you. Don't worry about it, I'll, I'll post it for you. So my arguments back then was about the idea of, uh, if we are to, to tie it to what Iraq did regarding the U-1. Well, you all know Yes, it was back in May when the decision— I did a, a video for you there, guys— uh, was that Iraq decided to drop the US dollar from the bilateral— remember, that's the keyword— bilateral trading with China, which means Iraq didn't want to go through the dollar to pay for its goods or whatever, or receive payments from China or others. What did they decided to do? Iraq and China decided to trade in the yuan. So, and that also paved the way for understanding what lies ahead after them. Well, of course, what lies ahead after that has to do with the BRICS. Why BRICS? It's because, as you know, BRICS has announced the admission of 6 countries. But now I'm not going to mention all the 6. I think Argentina, Eritrea, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and United Arab Emirates. I would be interested in 3, the 3 Middle Eastern countries, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and United Arab Emirates. Why is this important? It's because they are oil producers. You know, when you are an oil producer, especially for Iran and, uh, OPEC members, uh, the transactions will be conducted in the dollar. Not anymore, because even Saudi Arabia itself Okay, Saudi Arabia has announced now that it's gonna stop using the dollar for oil transactions. Actually, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. So, so when Iraq, you know, that they can see what's going on on the global stage. When Iraq saw what took place with BRICS announcements and thought about, well, wait a minute, you have Saudi Arabia You have Iran, United Arab Emirates, OPEC members. That's gonna be part of BRICS. Who do you have in BRICS? You have China, you have Russia, okay? Uh, uh, you have India, of course. Uh, India and China, large consumers. Russia, major producer. But if you add Saudi Arabia and Iran, United Arab Emirates to a degree, but Iran and Saudi Arabia, other major oil producers, which are by the way also part of the OPEC Plus. All this paved the way for Iraqi politicians or whomever making their decisions to say to themselves, well, wait a minute, we're not gonna wait till the train leaves the station and start running after. We better get on it right now. But how do you get on it, and under what pretext? And I am not denying that to crack down on the US dollar, it's happening. Because if Iraq didn't do it, we will sanction them. This is no different than what's taking place right now as we speak between Germany and China. They are talking about, uh, establishing a headquarters for China in Germany, and the US is livid about it because Germany is seeing where things are headed. They don't want to be let alone they don't even trust the US anymore. I believe Iraq is seeing the same thing because Iraq is a major oil producer. Iraq has also granted some oil drilling to Chinese companies, but not the US, uh, ExxonMobil. I was there in Iraq at the time when that contract was granted to Chinese but not to the American company. We were like, what the heck just happened? Yeah, because that's what happened. The Iraqi government back then said to the US, no, we're gonna give the contract to China. Why? I don't know. I wasn't involved in those talks. It wasn't, you know, all I was aware of is that officially ExxonMobil was kicked out and China was welcome. That's the deal. So my thinking is, with Iraq seeing these changes taking place, they're saying to themselves, no, no, no, no, no, no, we're not gonna wait, we're gonna have to get on this now. And you start to pave the way because this is gonna take time. This is why the ban on the circulation of the dollar is gonna take effect starting January 2024. Oh, you still have few months between now and then. So, uh, uh, there are also those who saying, well, because the, the dinar, which is the currency of Iraq, is going down so fast. Yes, it might be to a degree for that, but also Iraq doesn't want to be depending too much on the US dollar. Same thing the Saudis did regarding oil transactions. Same thing, of course, Iran doesn't because Iran is sanctioned anyway, but they don't care. They moving forward. Uh, then the other country like Malaysia— well, I intend to probably think about doing a video for you guys or a live stream, whatever we'll decide later. So, well, here's the thing. Malaysia made— just made it through Anwar Ibrahim— made an aggressive— I'll use the term aggressive in quote here because that's not my word. A push to trade with China and yuan, but to slash the reliance on the dollar. That's to me a big, big, big, big, big message loud and clear as to where— what's going on. Now don't get me wrong about Anwar Ibrahim, we all know his history back then, so— but that's beside the point. It's for us to understand Where the— this is why I say, I always say, guys, make sure to see the big picture. This is why. Is Malaysia all of a sudden decided on this based on the results of what just took place in the Maldives? What do you guys think? Because all this, don't tell me, is, is happening in a vacuum. There is no way. Because also Malaysia did this because they saw what just happened with India. India not getting, uh, uh, the, uh, the EV buses, the electric vehicle buses, which by the way, thank you to, uh, Patty, Patty N8552, uh, was one of our members of the community here, sent me a comment. He said, David, it is Nicaragua that placed the order of 500 electric buses from China after rejecting India. So thank you for— because I drew a blank on the name of the country yesterday, I couldn't remember. So thank you very much, Perian, I truly appreciate it. So Nicaragua got that, but that's beside the point. Could it be that Malaysia now seeing that as an example, India kind of was ignored? India, uh, China said to India, sorry, we're not going to give you the 500 electric buses, but we're going to give it to nikarakawa, you know. So Malaysia will have to think ahead of time. Also, Indonesia is already thinking ahead of time. But again, it's what's taking place in that part of the world, the Indo-Pacific or Asia-Pacific, whatever term you want to use for that. So, but to me, the key you need to focus on is on the Maldives elections, because that president, Mohamed Mauzu, is going to be officially, uh, uh, uh, uh, I drew a blank on the word, officially become a president in November 17th, next month. So, so this is where I see the key for us to understand this dynamics. And again, these are not happening in a vacuum. Iraq is thinking in terms, we better get on it now. Now the other elements you have to also consider is what's taking place right now in the Middle East, the Arab-Israeli conflict. Like always, anytime there's eruption, and this time I am seeing signs that thing's gonna go bad. I, I sad to say, but it's the reality. I'm seeing some signs. What Israel doesn't realize is that they think because of the military superiority it's gonna dominate. It will not. Israel is not highly, highly trained in guerrilla warfare, you know. Remember, the Southern Lebanon is not even involved yet. There are other groups involved and not even getting involved in the fight yet. For now, all you have is the group inside Palestine. Now, if other groups came in, and they're going to come in with some very, very heavy weaponry and some advanced system. As a matter of fact, they just shot down a helicopter, Israeli helicopter, by a missile from the group. Where the group got the missile, I, I'll let you reach your own conclusion. I have my own theory for that. But my point in this is that the outcome of what lies ahead won't be pretty for Israel. So they better think twice. Before engaging, let alone attacking Iran, which will not make any sense. That's suicide for Israel. So, uh, and for us, the US, of course, uh, I don't know why even the head of the Palestinian, uh, leader, Mahmoud Abbas, met with the Secretary of State. Why? If it were me, I wouldn't meet with the Secretary of State. Forget about it. Yeah, that's like the same argument I made, and I still stand by my argument. I don't know why President Xi granted the audience for Chuck Schumer. It's beyond me. Yes, I understand the culture, I understand the protocol, I understand all that. I am looking at it strategically, you know, the head of an emerging power giving an audience to a member of US Congress who, by the way was pushing for the sanctions of China and so forth. You know, to me it's kind of— no, it doesn't send clear message. In international affairs, you have to send clear messages. You have to make it clear as to where you stand, like what China did regarding the neutrality vis-à-vis now the issues of the Middle East. This is why, again, in my opinion, why they succeeded in brokering a deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran. That, that's just how I see it. That is what I see. So, oh, let me see. Thank you to KL, uh, thank you very much KL for your Super Sticker. Truly appreciate it. Uh, by the way, yesterday I didn't see the Super Sticker from Ariel. You put a Super Sticker yesterday. Thank you so much, Ariel. Truly appreciate it. So the idea of to think in terms of why Iraq all of a sudden embarking on this is because they are seeing what's coming down the pipe and they don't want to be left behind, and rightly so. Why? Because also China is building infrastructure inside Iraq, not a major mega project, but there are some to my knowledge. You know, I still keep an eye on that part of the world. Because that falls under my academic background, and I need to understand the developments now. Now, don't get me wrong here, guys. After the invasion, the Iraqi government was as corrupted as any. Yeah, don't fall for it. Also, corruption is massive inside the government in Iraq. At that time, used to be the guy by the name Nouri al-Maliki, who by the way had properties in England. You know, Ayad Allawi had properties in England. Uh, the corruption is massive, you know. Uh, the system, I think, to me, and again, uh, this might sound harsh, uh, but I think corruption should be looked at in terms of, uh, when you break the public trust, you go to jail forever, or, or death penalty for that matter. Why not? You know, this way you'll think twice. You know, and I'm not being heartless here, guys, don't, don't get me wrong. But if you get involved in corruption and break that public trust, why should you even be? You know, the punishment will have to fit the crime. And to me, that's two either. And, and not the government that decides, the people that decides. You give the choice to the people. This is why for our system We will never have a referendum because the government understand if they ever open that door, the government will lose control. Uh, there's one thing I forgot to mention to you, and I want to go back to the history of Iraq because it's, it's tied to our modern day. So you all hear about the term algorithm, right? Can anybody tell me the background of that term, algorithm? Let me, uh, let me type it here for you guys. Algorithm, right there. Can anybody tell me the background of that term, where it came from? Algorithm. Let me see if any Anyone? Oh, Ken. Okay, Ken. Thank you so much for your Super Sticker, truly appreciate it. Uh, the answer, Hushia Latin. No, no, good try. Good try. No. Anyone else? Algorithm is Arabic. Uh, uh, you're absolutely correct, is an Arabic term. It's by the name of Muhammad al-Khwarizmi. Yeah, that's the Arabic name. That's the one it was. So his name was Muhammad bin Musa al-Khwarizmi, and he lived between 780, uh, and 850. Now, what was his name? Al-Khwarizmi. That's the Arabic name. What was he known for? He was a Persian— first of all, he was a Persian polymath, meaning he was a mathematician, uh, and he was from the Khawarizman. That's why, or back then, the names of Arabs always will have to take the name of the tribe they are from. So, and he's the one who produced vastly believe it or not, vastly influential works in mathematics, astronomy, and geography till modern day. The modern day algorithm, it was based on his work. And, and it was around 820 CE, he was appointed as the astronomer and head of the Library of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. That's why Baghdad It was considered at some point in its history as the center of the Arab or the Golden Age of the Arab or Islamic Golden Age. So Iraq was also known by another guy by the name— it was a poet by the name of Abu Tayyib al-Mutanabbi. When I was in Baghdad, there is a boulevard inside Baghdad named after him. Al-Mutanabbi was one of the top poets in the Arab world, and, and he has also another last name, Al-Kindi. Al-Kindi was attached to the tribe he was from. So, and he was during the Abbasid Empire time. That's when— I just wanted to share this with you while I was thinking about it. So, so let me summarize here, and I'll take a question or two from you guys. So So one thing, one, one I want you— one thing I want you to take from all this is that the decision by Iraq, yes, it's to crack down on the dollar, whatever, but that's beside the point. The decision is also— it's a reflection of what lies ahead as far as the global financial system with the dollar. It's going to go down one way or another. For now, we don't see that yet because it takes years. Remember When the Bretton Woods system was set up in 1946, it took from that time to 1973 when the decision was made. From 1973 forward, all the oil transactions will be conducted in the US dollar. It will take the same for the US dollar to cease to exist as far as global trade. And now we're seeing the fast pace towards de-dollarization Iraq was thinking in terms, we better get on this train before it's too late. And as I said, Malaysia also. And I didn't see, you know, Anwar Ibrahim making that decision this quick, and he did. And interesting, it was right after the elections in Maldives. Now some might say, oh, there is no link there, doc. No, it might be knowing what those islands there is gonna— the role is gonna play within the big picture of the, the Indo-Pacific. So that is the reason why I wanted to, uh, say that. So, all right, let me see if there is any question here, and I am going to, uh, sign off after that. So I'm gonna post, by the way, a banner for the channel for your opinion on it. So, and I will welcome your feedback, guys. If, if, if you feel like it. So, all right, let me see. I'm going to go all the way to the top. And, uh, and by the way, if, if, uh, yeah, some of you have been suggesting certain topics, and I will do that, uh, but I'm also keeping an eye on what you need to know because there are certain things that I don't believe it will be— it will be covered be covered in the, uh, Western media. So question from Cheesecake: can the current Malaysia leader be trusted given his close ties to the three-letter organization in the US? Yeah, you all know what he's referring to, the three-letter, right? So that's the CIA. Yeah, there is an old history there. That's why I was surprised that Anwar Ibrahim made that decision. But again, they remember there are also the business community inside Malaysia that could exert influence, and they are saying we don't want to risk any trade with China because they are seeing already what's taking place in Australia. We don't hear much about how bad, economically speaking. I have somebody who I communicate with through another platform without disclosing this. And, and he is telling me about to leave that country altogether because where things are headed, you don't pack and leave unless it is getting very, very bad. So we are not hearing exactly the truth about how devastated the Australian economy is. And why is because China decided to stop And rightly so, and rightly so. Sometimes you have to do the things that you have to do to make a point. Yes, will impact people, be it because people can also influence their own governments. So this is how I see it. So, uh, another question from Hairless. Hey, a question: will the Canadian dollar drop with the US dollar as it gets dumped? I don't know. It's hard for me to answer this because remember, guys, I am not a financial advisor. That's not my area. All I can see is that Canada now is going through a different, uh, it's, it's bad in Canada. The Canada you used to know or hear or read about a decade ago is gone. Is gone. The amount of the, the what, what the, the Prime Minister Dictator Trudeau is doing to that country. But again, people are allowing it. So same like us here, we're allowing it. So do you blame the government? You blame the people too. But what is planning in, in moving the country? As a matter of fact, I just find out that, uh, the Canadian government was paid by the World Economic Forum to allow the disclosure of some information regarding the pandemic. So So, so, oh, let me say here, so just to answer quickly, I, I don't know, but also the dollar, anytime things go wrong in the US, it impacts Canada's financial one way or another. So far the dollar is still a little bit up in comparison to the Canadian dollar, but the, the lifestyle, the way how Canada used to be, when you have now the Prime Minister, Dictator Trudeau, is gonna now choke the mainstream medias and the social media platforms. He wants to block all that so Canadians will never know what the truth is. Let me— sorry, I want to say thank you to Sajjad Al-Khawaji. I hope I pronounced it correctly. Yeah, Sajjad Al-Khawaji. Thank you so much for your super sticker. You wrote, uh, I am Iraqi, I live in the US, uh, firm Iraq in 100% support to Iran to the detriment of the Iraqi people. Iraqi government is subservient to Iran, they're open about it. You know, I, I see your point and I agree to agree with this. I will not deny it. And the way I know it, when I was in Iraq When I was back then, did you know that the intelligence services of Iraqi were infiltrated by Iranians? You know, we were aware of it. I was aware of it because I was there, because the influence. But again, uh, to me— and, and you brought up a good point there— detriment to the Iraqi people. And when you say Iraqi people, regardless of what religion, regardless what ethnicity, Those are Iraqi citizens. They deserve to enjoy and prosper through the wealth of their natural resources that belongs to them. You know, sometimes when I, uh, and I'll tell you, you're from there, so when I used to go to Kadhimiyah and look to go walk through certain regions in, uh, in Baghdad, you know, and I'm seeing the slums and all that stuff, you know, And to me it was like, you know, as rich as Iraq is in natural resources, they're not developing. Why not? Why not? You know, that's always to me the measurement by which I gauge whether a government is doing a good job or not. It's the reflection of its citizens. And we're not blaming just the Iraqi government. Corruption is all over. We have it right here at home. Go to New York City, certain areas in New York City, and see how, you will think you are walking in some really underdeveloped country, and you are here in the United States. The infrastructure is crumbling, the, the, the trash, the people living in the streets, you know, and we call ourselves the richest country on Earth. So, so you, you got a point, Sajjad. I agree with you. Yeah, the infiltration of the Iranian inside the system, but this is the mistake we created I argued this before. I said you guys do not want to go in because that's gonna now revive the shiasm that's been dormant for quite a while. And my advice was ignored, my report was ignored. There's nothing I could do about it. So there's something we call in the military chain of command. So, so you're absolutely correct, and, and Iraqis deserve better. You know, wonderful people, by the way. So like every other ethnicities. So I enjoyed meeting some in, in different parts of the world. So thank you so much for your super sticker, Sajjad. Uh, uh, Michael, Michael Jen. Doc, what is Iraq's level of willingness to comply with Iran and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in getting airspace for Iran's Air Force if Israel and allies dare to attack Iran lands? That's a great question. That's more of a strategic one than anything else. Uh, yeah, it will be very interesting to see what Iraq is going to do. But remember, Iraq also doesn't have normalized relations with Israel, nor do they care to have that. This is why you're seeing— I better get the charger here, guys. Pardon me. All right, let's get the charger here. There we go. Sorry for that, guys. Uh, so the idea, as I said, they're going to be thinking in terms of, uh, they're going to be thinking in terms of, well, we can't let our airspace to be used— meaning Iraqis— our airspace to be used to attack our neighbor, you know, regardless whatever, you know. If that attack take place, which it will not, there is no way I see Israel making it suicide. Despite what you hear, despite the rhetoric, you know, there are two hurdles to Israel. First of all, Israel doesn't have fuel tankers for its flights from Tel Aviv or whatever they're going to take from all the way to Iran. They're going to have to refuel, which means who's going to provide that? Which means the United States. And if United States does that, that means it's party to the conflict. That means any aircraft belong to either US or Israel, it's subject to being shot down. So, and second thing is whether the countries in the row, within the countries will allow their airspace to be used. This is exactly what I heard about the ECOWAS in Africa. Certain countries said, forget about using our airspace. I do see the same scenario. So, uh, but attacking Iran, it will be suicide. Israel is not going to do it. They can't do it because they know Iran will shower Tel Aviv and any major cities with major missiles, and the Iron Dome is not working despite what you hear. So, so this is what I see. So, and Iraq, of course, is gonna think twice about allowing something, uh, to be, to be, uh, uh, uh, allowing its airspace to be used to attack a neighbor. Because no matter how you look at it now, Iran is a neighbor of Iraq. Iraq is a neighbor of Iran. There's nothing. We created those, the, those conditions. It's too late. That's why I said back then when I wrote the book about Iran, I, I put, uh, in my analysis there about the Middle East now has changed. The landscape has changed forever and not in favor of the United States because of what the change is going to be bringing is going to be bringing new alliances because new ones going to reemerge. It's going to open up the door back then when I argued for Russia and China to now increase their footsteps in the Middle East. And that's exactly what is happening. So this is where I see the challenge. So Uh, okay, I'll take one more question, guys, if, if I see a question here. Oh, oh, it's not a comment, is a statement, or a comment rather. Uh, uh, Antle Crazy, you wrote Australia poll defy including, including, uh, you meant to say including of Aboriginal rights in the Constitution. What, what, it's, it's sad, it's shame. Yeah, we don't— do we hear about Aborigines anymore or about Indian rights here at home? This is why I always defy— I'll defy anybody in this country here. You know, we're all Americans, but we all came from somewhere. You know, to those who say, well, you're not American, whatever. Nonsense, nonsense. Because if we are to make our arguments, then we should leave the land to the Indian. We all pack our bags and leave, you know. We gotta be honest about when you debate or when you address an issue, whatever. You can't just brush it off or kick it aside and thinking, oh, it's irrelevant. No, it is not. You know, you have to recognize at least, uh, we are the— the government is doing to a degree. When you go to the reservations in the western part of the United States, there are certain reservations, like for example, they don't pay taxes, they have their own rules, whatever. They live in them alone to a degree, you know. But still, how we came to be, it wasn't pretty. So And we can't shy away, we can't shy away from addressing the truth. You know, that, that's to me how I look at the whole reason for learning from history is not to make the mistakes again. You look at now with what's going on with this Arab-Israeli conflict, you know, we all say, well, never again. Here it is. All right guys, I hope you find this informative and I look forward to seeing you next time. Uh, I'll be working on some topics, and, uh, I'm even thinking about probably doing just most of the live streams instead, but we'll see. So I'll put the question for you, uh, in, in a survey and get your feedback on that one. All right, guys, hope you have a safe and peaceful weekend. Enjoy it, whatever part of the world you are in, and I look forward to seeing you next time. As always, remember, geopolitics impact your daily life in more ways than one. Till next time, bye-bye.