The 15th annual BRICS summit will take place on August 22-24th, 2023 in South Africa. BRICS, which stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, formed an alliance in 2010. They will be meeting this year to discuss expanded membership and also a potential new currency.

BRICS has invited over 69 countries to the summit. Currently, 13 countries have applied for membership and over 40 countries have expressed interest in joining, including Saudi Arabia and Mexico. The real challenge will be to decide who can effectively cut ties with the U.S. dollar and which countries might have disputes that would prevent an economic alliance.

Former CIA and DOD advisor James Richards predicts that the result of this summit will be when the dollar, which has been the world’s reserve currency since WWII, collapses.

August 22, 1971 happens to be the day the U.S. removed the gold standard and introduced a fiat currency. Looking at the astrological ephemeris for that day, Mars was making a tight conjunction with the transiting north node of the moon at 14 degrees of Aquarius. I’ve mentioned in previous posts that when a planet considered a “malefic” makes a hard aspect with the north node (particularly a conjunction) it is inauspicious for the future. Mars, the planet of aggression and war, plays a dominant role in that financial decision.

While the U.S. still holds 77% of the world’s gold reserves, three members of BRICS also rank in the top 10 of global reserves (India, China and Russia), collectively owning roughly 32% of the world’s gold. But because of the collapse of Bretton Woods and the gold standard in 1971, the global economy far exceeds the value of these reserves.

With the dollar as the world’s reserve currency since WWII, the global demand for dollars was simply too high. When Nixon came into office in 1969, his administration discovered that there were four times as many dollars in circulation than there was gold in reserves. Some economists argue that removing the dollar from the gold standard was the worst decision ever made. But setting up the dollar as a reserve currency is what created the problem.

The task of rebuilding Europe and other war-torn countries after WWII was what helped create temporary economic security. However, a unipolar, or one-nation economic superpower has major drawbacks.

Because the U.S. valued its global partnerships (and domination) above all else, America has suffered domestically. Globalization forced the U.S. to outsource too many jobs. Raising the price of the dollar raises the cost of American exports, increasing volatility in countries relying upon the dollar for international trade. In addition, the U.S. deficit is only growing and not being paid back – yet another problem with having one nation’s currency dictate international trade. It just isn’t sustainable in the long-term.

Sanctions imposed by the U.S. have resulted in the U.S. trying to strong arm other nations towards dollar dependency. The current sanctions against Russia have been largely ineffective. They have harmed Europe considerably more, whose countries rely upon trade and tourism from Russia. France is feeling the blow the most dramatically.

The sanctions against Russia have cost European farmers billions of Euros. Because of this, Russia has become a major agricultural exporter.

BRICS was formed in 2010 as a means of offsetting the harmful effects of sanctions. From 2010-2015, Russia halved the number of U.S. Treasury bills it held, which was what precipitated the initial backlash from the U.S. Russia used to be one of the world’s biggest holders of U.S. Treasury bonds.

During 2010-2015, the Russian Federation began gradually separating itself from the petrodollar by trading directly with China in Yuan and Roubles. China also started to ween itself off of U.S. Treasury bonds. In 2015, China held over $1270 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds. Today it holds around $950 billion – the lowest in 10 years.

Putin was hardly the first to do this. In 2003, Saddam Hussein sold 3 billion barrels of crude oil for over $25 billion Euros – deliberately shunning the dollar. A month later, the U.S. invaded Iraq. Hussein was then assassinated in 2006.  In 2009, Muammar Gaddafi, then President of the African Union, proposed a pan-African monetary system in defiance towards America. The U.S. went after him. Gaddafi was assassinated in 2011.

Russia took further action in response to being completely cut off by the international SWIFT banking system by creating their own interbank transmission system, the SPFS, as well as their own payment system for bank cards, the MIR.

The BRICS countries are discussing their own form of currency as a counterpoint to U.S. sanctions. BRICS currently accounts for 45% of the global GDP. A BRICS currency will probably end up as a CBDC (central bank digital currency) rather than as paper money. It’s success will depend largely on how effective it is as an alternative to the U.S. bonds market. BRICS would need a bond market in 20 or more countries for this to work, which seems pretty promising.

The sanctions on Russia just speeded up the process of the world’s de-dollarization. A good portion of the world that is economically savvy and tired of U.S. bullying is certainly poised to see the dollar’s demise. Turning the world economy into a more multipolar alliance could actually be a good thing for all involved – even for the U.S. What will likely threaten everyone the most is if the war in Ukraine escalates towards WWIII in an attempt to preserve U.S. hegemony.

On November 17, 2023, the Sun and Mars will be conjunct in Scorpio at 24 degrees. This aspects the charts of Ukraine, Russia and the EU (depending on the chart used for the EU). When a planet conjoins the Sun, it loses potency. The Sun kind of eclipses its strength. Astrologer Austin Coppock calls this a kind of reset. This could end up being a break in the conflict. While Mars will be hidden by the Sun on November 17th, Mars only conjuncts the Sun every two years. We shall see what happens.