Geopolitical Economy Report Ben Norton

US Senators sent a letter to International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan, threatening to impose sanctions and even invade the Hague if he issues arrest warrants for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Biden administration is also pressuring the ICC not to charge Israeli officials over their war crimes in Gaza. Ben Norton discusses Washington's deep hypocrisy.

VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=pM29iLpZMJU

Sources and links: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/05/07/us-threat-icc-israel

Topics
0:00 Intro
0:48 US politicians threaten ICC
2:26 Trump sanctioned ICC
3:17 Biden's hypocrisy
3:56 Republican senators' letter to ICC
6:47 Hague Invasion Act
8:44 Israel's gen0c1de in Gaza
9:48 Israel unleashed famine in Gaza
10:37 Israeli minister demands "total annihilation" of Gaza
11:26 Amalek
13:16 US hypocrisy on ICC warrant for Russia's Putin
14:51 Africa criticizes ICC
15:42 US/Israel lobbied for ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan
16:46 US & Israel refuse to join ICC
17:02 ICC vs ICJ
18:40 Save face, or save your empire?
21:13 Outro

China is reducing its holdings of US Treasury securities. Instead, the People's Bank of China is buying gold, and Beijing prioritizes imports of important commodities like oil and metals. Ben Norton discusses the geopolitical impact of de-dollarization in the world's largest economy.

VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=z-bnIrbZjaM

Check out our related video - "How the dollar's 'exorbitant privilege' enriches the USA (and global elites)": https://youtube.com/watch?v=jYkiMcR1Rj8

Topics
0:00 Why countries are de-dollarizing
1:05 Russia & China
1:41 Brazil & China
2:18 Persian Gulf oil & gas
3:29 Central bank reserves
4:54 China drops US Treasurys
6:15 Debate in Beijing
8:40 Gold
9:37 Charts: China buys metals & oil
11:21 Strategic petroleum reserve
11:53 Belt & Road Initiative
12:50 East Asia funds US deficits
14:25 Global South funds Global North
15:25 Japan replaces China as top US creditor
16:03 US inflation, interest rates, bond yields, & debt
18:48 Outro

Japan's currency the yen has fallen significantly against the dollar. It its economy in crisis? What is the role of US interest rates, inflation, debt, and deficits? What about China? Ben Norton explains the complex geoeconomic situation.

VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=sz3r36ZTe7Q

Topics
0:00 Intro
1:40 Yen plunges against US dollar
3:32 Rising exports, falling imports
4:40 Did Germany overtake Japan?
5:58 Nominal GDP is misleading
7:27 PPP is much more accurate
9:25 Misunderstanding GDP figures
10:53 US deficits & debt drive GDP growth
12:37 Strong US dollar
13:58 Industrialization & manufacturing
15:31 Current account
16:15 US Treasury securities
18:09 Why is the yen falling?
18:43 Interest rates
20:37 Bond yields
23:28 Why doesn't Japan raise interest rates?
23:50 Japan's debt
26:18 Inflation
29:32 US Treasurys
30:29 De-dollarization: China drops US bonds
33:14 TL;DW (conclusion)
35:07 Outro

How much does the US benefit from printing the global reserve currency? An economist calculated that US average daily income would fall by 27-57% if the dollar lost its "exorbitant privilege". Ben Norton explains how wealthy investors not only in North America but around the world hold much of their wealth in the dollar.

VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=jYkiMcR1Rj8

Link to Philip Pilkington's report and Twitter account: https://twitter.com/philippilk/status/1782409654519128497

Topics
0:00 US dollar dominance
2:00 Economics of exorbitant privilege
5:23 Current account
9:29 Balance of payments
12:31 Effects of dollar hegemony
14:45 Neoliberalism & financialization
17:41 Foreign capital funds US deficits
19:28 Global 1% invests in US assets
20:35 Super Imperialism
22:25 Fed inflates asset bubbles
25:22 De-industrialization in West
28:06 Industrialization in BRICS
28:57 Investment & FDI
33:08 Wages & manufacturing
35:00 Re-industrialization?
38:16 Outro

US President Joe Biden signed a law that will force TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance to sell the app, or it will be banned in the US. Ben Norton explains how this is part of Washington's economic war, aimed at protecting Big Tech monopolies in Silicon Valley.

VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=_WFYov2kfLI

Topics
0:00 Biden signs law to ban TikTok
1:39 US tech war on China
5:00 India banned Chinese apps, giving US Big Tech total control
6:38 Protectionism or economic war?
8:30 Silicon Valley lobbied against TikTok
9:37 Donald Trump tried to ban TikTok... before doing 180
12:15 Role of Israel/Palestine/Gaza?
13:42 US trade war with Japan in 1980s
15:38 "Free market" hypocrisy
18:25 US does not truly want "competition" with China
19:39 Outro

If Ukraine loses in the NATO proxy war with Russia, "it will be the end of Western hegemony", lamented former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Ben Norton explains the geopolitics of the conflict, and how most of the Global South has not joined the Global North in opposing Moscow.

VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=M8ZmkIhs8r0

Check out our related report - "‘Western dominance has ended’, EU foreign-policy chief admits, warning of ‘West against the Rest’": https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/02/26/western-dominance-ended-eu-josep-borrell