Money – power – world

 Our conference was characterised by complaints about the disregard of the equality of status and the egality of all people and states as well as about the abuse of power, which ultimately culminates in violence, lies and war.

Today’s financial system
leads to inequality and violence

Anyone who looks at the course of time with open eyes and with autonomous thinking must realise that behind these undesirable developments is not only the greed for power, influence and possession, but that international rules enable them, even induce them. However, these rules are usually not taken into consideration.
    The first major area leading to inequality and violence is the financial order that has been recognised and enforced to date.
    It begins with the manipulated Bretton Woods conference from 1 to 22 July 1944, in which the proposal for an international clearing bank, the International Clearing Union (ICU), in which all currencies would have been equivalent, in a cloak and dagger operation was changed to the opposite. The Bancor unit of account and its convertibility to gold was replaced by the US dollar in the Final Act. The United States Dollar (USD) thus became value in gold. The participants who did not know this were urged to sign a blank “document that was yet to be formulated”.
    The USD was thus fixed as the world’s dominant currency. This enabled the USA to dominate the world markets from then on, especially since “open market access” was also anchored.
    When the US gold reserves ran out, the petrodollar strategy was invented: it was agreed with Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, that the Saudis would only sell oil and natural gas in US-Dollars and would also enforce this in OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries). In return, the USA committed itself to defending the regime and established the largest base in the Middle East in Saudi Arabia.
    However, this agreement was unilaterally terminated by Saudi Arabia on 9 June 2024. The US-Dollar is therefore now only backed by military means worldwide. Anyone who opts out is subject to war and/or “sanctions” up to and including exclusion from international financial transactions (SWIFT).
    As long as its position as the world’s reserve currency can be maintained, the USA can live on credit and finance its military power, especially since foreign exporters have so far been able to invest their “value of gold” US-Dollars in the USA with interest (circulation). As a result, the USA’s debts are increasing to an almost immeasurable extent. They are currently 35.2 US-trillion. That’s millions multiplied with millions!
    If the world, which has become suspicious, turns its back on the USA, it will face bankruptcy. This makes them all the more willing to use violence, and they are prepared to sacrifice Europe as a battlefield.

Global monetary
agreement as a way out

The way out of this danger is a global monetary agreement with a haircut (dept relief) and an International Clearing Union, which has a “Union Dollar” as a reference currency to save the face of the USA.
    Anyone who allows himself to be embraced by a sinking one will be dragged into the abyss by them. We must therefore, like clever lifeguards, skilfully rescue the sinking one.
    Since the current financial system runs contrary to the motto of our conference, it is our task to take persistent countermeasures. Here we should remember the Latin proverb gutta cavat lapidem (constant dripping wears the stone).
    The latter also applies to the necessary reform of the Charter of the United Nations, as we will see below.
    The Charter of the United Nations, which was signed on 26 June 1945 and came into force on 10 October 1945, is based on noble principles, but in detail contains huge exceptions with regard to equality and equivalence.
    The major powers represented in the Security Council have the right to veto all requests that contradict their interests.
    The General Assembly is not even allowed to make recommendations when the Security Council takes up a matter. See Article 12: “(1) While the Security Council is carrying out the functions assigned to it in this Charter in a dispute or situation, the General Assembly shall not make any recommendation on that dispute or situation, except at the request of the Security Council”.
    The expansion of the Security Council to 15 members did not change anything in that.

Wars under the protective umbrella
of the veto in the Security Council

Under the protective umbrella of the veto right, wars and regime changes were triggered and supported primarily by the USA and England. Between 1946 and 2000 there were 81 open and covert interventions in foreign countries’ elections. The most serious one was probably the coup in Iran in 1953. If Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh had not been overthrown, Iran would today be a Western-oriented democracy. Mossadegh was “Western” shaped. He studied law and economics in France and Switzerland and recognised the international legal system. His “crime” was that he wanted to nationalise the natural resources – especially oil – for a fair fee and thus use them for public welfare. But this contradicted the GB and US interests. Now we have a permanent Iran crisis and the repressive mullah state. The engagements in Afghanistan, Israel, Kosovo, Libya, Syria and Ukraine as well as the confrontation with China are currently putting a strain on world politics.
    Although the majority of the members of the United Nations want a peaceful end to the conflicts, warmongers can continue to operate under the protection of the veto and claim that they are acting for democracy and freedom. It should also be noted that the USA has not ratified the statute of the International Court of Justice and is withdrawing from its jurisdiction.
    With all this, we should remember that the USA is not only in financial distress, but also held hostage to the military-industrial-complex.
    None less than the commander in chief of the Allied invasion on 6 June 1944 and later US President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned in his farewell speech on 17 January 1961 of the dangers from the military-industrial-complex because it needs wars and armed conflicts for its business.

New global
power structure aims at UN reform

Therefore, there is a need for a democratic reform of the Charter and the associated institutions (especially the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund), which we also persistently have to set in motion.
    Professor Hans Köchler has provided a comprehensive presentation in his lecture “Sovereign Equality” in the United Nations System in his Talks in the Canton of Grisons on 26 July 2024 (published by the International Progress Organisation).
    The ongoing change in the international balance of power – I am thinking here above all of the growing BRICS States – paves the way for reform.
    Victor Hugo’s words of encouragement should give us confidence: “The future has many names: For the weak, it means the unattainable…” and: “Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come”.      •

(Translation Current Concerns)

* Heinrich Wohlmeyer, born 1936 in St. Pölten, Austria; Gen. Dir. a. D.; Hon. Prof. Dipl. Ing agr. Dr. iur; Dipl. in Law, studied agriculture and law in Vienna, worked as a Fulbright scholar in the USA on “Agricultural Economics and Business Administration” and did his doctorate in London on “International Commodity Control Agreements”. Wohlmeyer worked in industry, regional development and trade policy for 20 years, and was a research manager for a good ten years. He taught at the Vienna University of Technology and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna. He became involved in sustainability issues, circular economy and economic, ecological and social undesirable developments at an early stage. Various awards and numerous publications.