Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The IMF Changes its Rules to Isolate China and Russia

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, December 18, 2015

The IMF Changes its Rules to Isolate China and Russia

Click here to access article by Michael Hudson from CounterPunch.

This very astute politically oriented economist analyses many of the ramifications of the recent IMF rule changes which dramatically changes their rules to omit enforcement of debts to Russia or China. This radical change of rules presents all kinds tortured legal and political problems for Empire strategists who are obsessed with the challenges posed by Russia and China to thwart its quest for total world domination. He see that these changes are fraught with peril and likely will backfire.

Few have calculated the degree to which America’s New Cold War with Russia is creating a reaction that is tearing up the world’s linkages put in place since World War II. Beyond pulling the IMF and World Bank tightly into U.S. unilateralist geopolitics, how long will Western Europe be willing to forego its trade and investment interest with Russia? Germany, Italy and France already are feeling the strains. If and when a break comes, it will not be marginal but a seismic geopolitical shift.

However he appears to suggest that a multi-polar capitalist world is both desirable and possible. Therefore, his analysis of the recent IMF dramatic change of rules to omit enforcement of debts to Russia or China appears to suggest an anomaly in capitalism's evolution. This is contrary to my opinion.

While both Russia and China do have significant segments of their economies that function according to capitalist principles, Russia is guided by a strong nationalist ethos while China's economy is supervised by a Communist Party which is attempting to use capitalist operations in limited sections of their economy in order to import investment capital and technology. Thus, once the Empire's virulent capitalist form is defeated, I am currently thinking that both Russia, China, and the rest of the world will abandon or sharply limit capitalist practices in their economies.