US senator says Ukraine is 'gold mine' with $12 trillion of minerals West 'can't afford to lose'

Summary

The video script discusses US Senator Lindsey Graham's comments on Ukraine's vast mineral resources, worth 10 to 12 trillion dollars, and the West's interest in preventing these assets from falling into Russian and Chinese hands. It highlights the geopolitical and economic motivations behind Western support for Ukraine, including weakening Russia and securing access to critical minerals for technological advancement, beyond the narrative of democracy and human rights. The script also touches on the potential ramifications of seizing Russian assets to fund Ukraine's war efforts, suggesting it could lead to a global financial realignment.

Takeaways

• 💰 US Senator Lindsey Graham suggests that Ukraine has 10 to 12 trillion dollars' worth of critical minerals and could become a very wealthy country, emphasizing the West's interest in these resources.
• 🔒 Graham implies that the West should continue supporting Ukraine to prevent these mineral assets from falling into the hands of Russia and China.
• 🤝 He suggests that by helping Ukraine, it could become the best business partner for the West, hinting at a potential trade-off using Ukraine's mineral resources.
• 🗣️ The script mentions that the US has previously claimed support for Ukraine to protect democracy, but also highlights the Ukrainian government's undemocratic actions.
• 🏛️ The Ukrainian leader, Zelensky, is reported to have consolidated media control, imposed martial law, and banned opposition parties, contradicting the narrative of promoting democracy.
• 💡 The US and NATO's support for Ukraine is suggested to be driven not only by democracy but also by geopolitics and economic interests, including weakening Russia and securing access to strategic minerals.
• 💼 The script discusses the profits made by US investors and corporations from the war in Ukraine, indicating economic motivations behind the conflict.
• 💼🏦 Wall Street firms like BlackRock are investing billions in Ukraine, profiting from the war and the country's assets being sold off cheaply.
• 💻 The US is concerned about China's dominance in the critical mineral supply chain and is working to secure its own supply, with Ukraine being a potential source.
• 🛑 The US Congress has approved billions in aid for Ukraine, much of which goes to the US military-industrial complex, highlighting the profits made from defense spending.
• 🌍 The script concludes by suggesting that the US and its allies are pushing for economic decoupling and the creation of new financial institutions, potentially impacting global currency and trade dynamics.

Q & A

What is the estimated value of critical minerals in Ukraine according to the US senator Lindsey Graham?

The estimated value of critical minerals in Ukraine is between 10 to 12 trillion dollars.

Why does the West, particularly the US, want to prevent these minerals from falling into the hands of Russia and China?

The West wants to prevent these minerals from falling into the hands of Russia and China to weaken their economies and to secure strategic resources for themselves, especially for high-tech industries and clean energy technologies.

What does the US senator Lindsey Graham suggest as a way for Ukraine to pay back the West for the weapons provided?

Lindsey Graham suggests that Ukraine could use its critical mineral assets to pay back the West for the billions of dollars of weapons provided.

What was the context of Lindsey Graham's comments about Ukraine's mineral resources?

The context of Lindsey Graham's comments was that Ukraine should pay the West using its minerals for the weapons they have received, and that the West must continue sending weapons to Ukraine to protect these resources.

How has the Ukrainian government been described in terms of democracy by the media and US officials?

The Ukrainian government has been described as undemocratic, with actions such as consolidating TV outlets, imposing martial law, controlling all media, dissolving rival political parties, and banning opposition parties.

What was the US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's explicit statement regarding the US support for Ukraine?

Lloyd Austin stated that the United States wants to weaken Russia in Ukraine.

What economic motivations does the US have for supporting Ukraine beyond the political and strategic reasons?

The US has economic motivations such as gaining access to Ukraine's vast mineral resources, profiting from the war through military contracts, and supporting Wall Street investments in Ukraine.

How much aid has the US Congress approved for Ukraine as of May 2024, and what does it include?

As of May 2024, the US Congress has approved $175 billion in aid for Ukraine, which includes $17 billion in defense spending for military support and weapons, and $57 billion in non-defense support.

What does the US aim to achieve by restricting China's influence in the global critical mineral supply chain?

The US aims to prevent China from dominating strategic industries such as electric vehicles, batteries, and semiconductors, and to secure a 'Made in America' supply chain for critical minerals.

What is the significance of Ukraine's critical mineral reserves for the global economy and the US strategy?

Ukraine's critical mineral reserves are significant for the global economy as they include essential minerals for high-tech components and clean energy technologies. For the US, securing these reserves is part of a strategy to counter China's dominance in these fields.

Outlines

00:00

💰 Ukraine's Mineral Wealth and Geopolitical Interests

The paragraph discusses the vast mineral resources in Ukraine, estimated at 10 to 12 trillion dollars, and the geopolitical interests of the West, particularly the United States, in these assets. It highlights a statement by US Senator Lindsey Graham, who emphasizes the importance of supporting Ukraine to prevent these resources from falling into Russian and Chinese control. The narrative suggests that the West's support for Ukraine is not solely based on democratic values but also on economic interests, including the potential for Ukraine to use its mineral wealth to repay the West for military aid.

05:02

🏛️ Democracy or Economics? The Real Motives Behind Western Support for Ukraine

This paragraph delves into the question of whether the West's support for Ukraine is genuinely about promoting democracy or driven by economic interests. It points out that despite claims of supporting Ukraine for democratic reasons, the Ukrainian government has exhibited undemocratic behaviors, such as consolidating media control, dissolving opposition parties, and extending the president's term without a democratic mandate. The paragraph also mentions that US and NATO support for Ukraine is partly due to geopolitical strategies to weaken Russia and the economic benefits for Wall Street and the military-industrial complex.

10:03

🛑 The Economic Ramifications of the Ukraine Conflict

The focus shifts to the economic implications of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. It discusses how the US and its allies are profiting from the war, with big corporations and investors gaining from the investment opportunities and the military-industrial complex benefiting from increased defense spending. The paragraph also reveals that the US Congress has approved billions in aid for Ukraine, much of which is channeled through US military contractors, highlighting the economic stimulus the conflict provides to the US economy.

15:04

🌏 Strategic Minerals and the Global Supply Chain

This paragraph examines the strategic importance of Ukraine's mineral resources, particularly in the context of global supply chains. It details the vast reserves of minerals such as titanium, iron ore, lithium, and rare earth elements, which are crucial for high-tech industries. The narrative underscores US efforts to secure these resources to counter China's dominance in the supply chain and to limit China's access to critical minerals that are vital for its industrial and technological ambitions.

20:08

🕊️ The Complexities of the Ukraine Conflict: Beyond Mineral Resources

While acknowledging the significance of Ukraine's mineral resources, this paragraph argues that there are multiple reasons for the conflict, including geopolitical strategies to weaken Russia, the desire for Ukraine to join NATO and the EU, and the exploitation of Ukraine's educated but low-wage workforce. It also references historical instances where US officials have openly discussed overthrowing foreign governments for access to natural resources, suggesting a pattern of behavior where economic interests intertwine with political actions.

25:08

📊 The Broader Impact of Economic Sanctions and Asset Seizure

The final paragraph discusses the broader implications of economic sanctions and the proposal by US Senator Lindsey Graham to seize Russian assets to fund Ukraine's war efforts. It warns of the potential backlash against such actions, including the loss of trust in holding US dollar and Euro assets by central banks worldwide. The narrative concludes by connecting these events to a larger trend of economic decoupling and the creation of alternative financial institutions, reflecting a shift in global economic dynamics.

📺 Conclusion and Call to Action

The concluding paragraph serves as a call to action for viewers, encouraging them to like, subscribe, and share the content. It also introduces the speaker, Ben Norton, as the editor-in-chief of the Geopolitical Economy Report, emphasizing the importance of understanding the economic roots of geopolitical conflicts.

Keywords

💡Critical Minerals

Critical minerals are elements that are vital to the economic and national security of a country due to their importance in various industries, including technology, defense, and manufacturing. In the video, it is mentioned that Ukraine is rich in critical minerals, estimated to be worth 10 to 12 trillion dollars, which is a significant point of interest for the West, particularly the US, in the context of the ongoing conflict.

💡Lindsey Graham

Lindsey Graham is a US Senator from the Republican Party who is cited in the video as advocating for continued support of Ukraine, emphasizing the country's mineral wealth as a strategic asset for the West. His comments reflect the geopolitical and economic interests at play in the conflict, beyond the stated aim of supporting democracy.

💡Geopolitics

Geopolitics refers to the influence of geography on international politics and relations. The video discusses how the US and NATO's support for Ukraine is driven by geopolitical considerations, such as weakening Russia and preventing China from gaining access to Ukraine's mineral resources, rather than solely focusing on democracy promotion.

💡Martial Law

Martial law is the temporary imposition of military control over civilian functions of government, often in response to a crisis. The video mentions that Ukraine's leader, Zelensky, imposed martial law and took control of media, which is indicative of the undemocratic measures taken by the government, contradicting Western claims of supporting democracy in Ukraine.

💡State Assets

State assets refer to property and resources owned and controlled by the government. The script discusses how Ukraine is offering investments worth $400 billion, which is more than twice its GDP, suggesting the selling off of state assets at a significant discount, which is a point of interest for Western investors and asset managers.

💡Military-Industrial Complex

The military-industrial complex is a concept referring to the policy and economic system in which the military and industry are closely entwined, often leading to a situation where military spending drives economic policy. The video points out that this complex, including US military contractors, benefits from the conflict in Ukraine, with billions of dollars in defense spending approved by the US Congress.

💡Economic Decoupling

Economic decoupling is the process of separating or reducing interdependencies between economies, often for strategic or protectionist reasons. The video suggests that the actions of the US, such as sanctions and asset freezes, are accelerating economic decoupling, leading countries to consider trading in currencies other than the US dollar and holding assets other than US treasuries.

💡Democratic Mandate

A democratic mandate refers to the authority a government has to govern, derived from the will of the people, typically expressed through elections. The video script implies that Ukraine's leader Zelensky has overstayed his term without a democratic mandate, highlighting concerns about the legitimacy of the government in the context of Western support.

💡Investment Opportunities

Investment opportunities refer to situations where capital can be deployed with the expectation of generating profit. The video mentions that Ukraine is open for business, offering substantial investment opportunities, which are of interest to Western corporations and asset managers like BlackRock, who are looking to profit from the conflict.

💡Seizure of Assets

The seizure of assets refers to the act of forcibly taking possession of property, often by a government or legal authority. In the video, Senator Lindsey Graham is quoted as calling for the seizure of over $300 billion of Russian assets held by Western banks, to be given to Ukraine, which would represent a significant act of theft in the context of international finance.

💡Diversification of Reserves

Diversification of reserves means spreading a country's foreign exchange reserves across a variety of assets to reduce risk. The video explains that many central banks are diversifying their reserves away from US dollars and euros due to the risk of asset freezes and sanctions, with a move towards holding assets like gold.

Highlights

US Senator Lindsey Graham emphasizes the strategic importance of Ukraine's critical minerals, stating they could make Ukraine the richest country in Europe.

Graham warns against letting these mineral assets fall into Russian and Chinese hands, advocating for continued Western support to Ukraine.

The West's support for Ukraine is framed as a means to secure access to critical minerals, rather than solely for democratic reasons.

Ukraine's potential as a business partner is highlighted, with its vast mineral reserves being a significant draw for Western investment.

The narrative of supporting Ukraine for democratic values is questioned, with evidence of the Ukrainian government's undemocratic actions presented.

Reports of Ukraine's leader, Zelensky, consolidating media control and dissolving opposition parties suggest a departure from democratic principles.

The US and NATO's geopolitical motivations for supporting Ukraine are discussed, including weakening Russia and securing resources.

US investors and corporations are profiting from the war in Ukraine, with big asset managers like BlackRock investing billions.

Zelensky's symbolic ringing of the New York Stock Exchange bell signifies Ukraine's openness for business and investment.

Ukraine is offering $400 billion in investments, a sum exceeding its GDP, indicating a sell-off of state assets at low prices.

The US Congress has approved $175 billion in aid for Ukraine, much of which benefits the US military-industrial complex.

The war in Ukraine is portrayed as a stimulus for the US government, exemplifying military Keynesianism.

Graham's comments reveal a desire to prevent China and Russia from accessing Ukraine's critical minerals, crucial for high-tech industries.

The US is concerned about China's dominance in the critical mineral supply chain, aiming to secure a 'Made in America' supply chain.

Legislation introduced in the US aims to counter Chinese dominance in critical mineral supply chains, with Ukraine positioned as a key ally.

The US government's history of overthrowing foreign governments for resource access is highlighted, with examples from Venezuela.

The potential seizure of Russian assets to fund Ukraine is discussed, with implications for global trust in Western financial institutions.

The call for seizing Russian assets could lead to a decoupling of the global economy from the US dollar and Euro, prompting diversification.

The geopolitical and economic implications of the war in Ukraine are analyzed, revealing the complex motivations behind international relations.

Transcripts

they're sitting on 10 to 12 trillion

dollars of critical minerals in in

Ukraine they could be the richest

country in all of Europe I don't want to

give that money and those assets to

Putin to share with China if we help

Ukraine now they can become the best

business partner we ever dreamed of a US

senator has said the quiet part loud and

warned that the West cannot afford to

lose the war in Ukraine because he said

Ukraine is a gold mine that has 10 to 12

trillion worth of critical minerals that

the West needs and this US senator

Lindsey Graham from the Republican Party

he insisted that the West must continue

sending more and more weapons to Ukraine

in order to protect these minerals and

prevent them from falling into the hands

of Russia and by extension China Lindsey

Graham made these comments in an

interview on CBS on June 10th by the way

quick note for context he began this

clip talking about how Donald Trump

provided weapons to Ukraine as loans

that is that Ukraine had to pay the us

back for those weapons so the context of

this clip is that Lindsey Graham is

strongly implying that Ukraine should

pay the West using its minerals to pay

for the billions of dollars of weapons

that they have given to Ukraine what did

Trump do to get the weapons flowing he

created a loan system they're sitting on

10 to 12 trillion dollar of critical

minerals in in Ukraine they could be the

richest country in all of Europe I don't

want to give that money and those assets

to Putin to share with China if we help

Ukraine now they can become the best

business partner we ever dreamed of that

10 to 12 trillion of critical mineral

assets could be used by Ukraine and the

West not given to Putin and China this

is a very big deal how Ukraine ends

Let's help them win a war we can't

afford to lose let's find a solution to

this war but they're sitting on a goal

mine to give Putin 10 or 12 trillion

dollar of critical minerals that he will

share with uh China is ridiculous now

these remarks are very revealing because

for years the United States has claimed

that it must support Ukraine in order to

protect democracy now this is despite

the fact that the Ukrainian government

has been very

undemocratic back in 2022 NPR reported

that the Ukrainian leader vlir Selinsky

had Consolidated all of Ukraine's TV

Outlets he imposed martial law and the

state took control of all media and

furthermore zalinski dissolved rival

political parties as NPR reported he

banned 11 opposition political parties

including by the way all of the major

left-wing parties all of the Socialist

and communist parties were banned in

Ukraine because they were deemed

so-called pro-russian parties meanwhile

zalinski has overstayed his term in

office which was supposed to end in May

2024 he has continued without a

democratic mandate and the major French

newspaper Lon referred to zalinski as

quote a president with no term end in

fact two former US diplomats published a

very revealing article in Newsweek in

2023 titled Ukraine sure does not look

like democracy anymore I want to read a

few highlights from this article it

notes that in May 2022 the Ukrainian

parliament passed the law formally

banning all opposition parties president

vlir seninsky signed the law among the

parties that were banned included the

opposition platform for Life party which

had 10% of the seats in Parliament

furthermore another 11 ban parties

include the Socialist Party of Ukraine

the progressive Socialist Party of

Ukraine the union of left forces and the

Communist Party of Ukraine all have been

banned under the right-wing nato-backed

regime

furthermore it notes that Ukraine has

banned elections Ukraine has put the

Democratic process itself on hold since

declaring martial law in

2022 furthermore it notes that

democracies are not supposed to censor

the media but the Ukrainian government

in February 2022 ordered the nine

largest television networks in Ukraine

to combine their news operations into a

single state controlled news program

called Tel Marathon in April 2022 the

National Security Council ordered three

independent television channels

associated with zelinsky's predecessor

taken off the air in December 2022

zalinsky signed a law which gave the

national broadcasting Council statutory

authority to regulate all print

broadcast and digital media now keep in

mind that was an article written by

former US diplomats this is not random

activists if we look at what's actually

happening on the ground in Ukraine and

if we look at these comments from us

politicians like Lindsey Graham we can

see that the war in Ukraine has nothing

to do with so-called democracy and

certainly not human rights now it goes

without saying that one significant

reason motivating the US and NATO to

support Ukraine is geopolitics the US is

trying to weaken Russia this was stated

explicitly by the US defense secretary

Lloyd Austin who also worked for us

weapons corporations before he was

appointed the head of the Pentagon in

2022 Lloyd Austin visited Ukraine and as

the Washington Post reported he said

very clearly that the United States

wants to weaken Russia in Ukraine that

point is obvious but it's not just

political it is also economic US

investors big corporations big asset

managers like Black Rock on Wall Street

have made many billions of dollars in

profits over the war in Ukraine and I

discussed this in a previous video and a

report which I will link to in the

description below looking at how Ukraine

is being sold to Wall Street and back in

2022 zalinski symbolically rang the

opening bell at the New York Stock

Exchange and he announced that Ukraine

was open for business as he said and he

also revealed that with the backing of

the US government and right-wing

economists in the US and big

corporations that Ukraine was offering

$400 billion do worth of Investments

selling off State assets for pennies on

the dollar now for context Ukraine's GDP

is under $200 billion and yet it's

offering $400 billion in invest ments

more than two times the size of the

entire country's GDP of all of Ukraine's

economy and asset managers on Wall

Street like Black Rock which have

trillions of dollars of assets under

management they invest the wealth of

rich people in order to make them richer

and richer well meanwhile Black Rock and

other Wall Street firms are investing

many billions of dollars in Ukraine and

they are profiting

from this war and their wealthy clients

oligarchs from the US and around the

world are profiting from this war and I

should add that it's not just Wall

Street it's also the military industrial

complex that is profiting from this war

as of May 2024 in just two years of this

war in Ukraine the US Congress approved

$175

billion of aid for Ukraine

that included

$17 billion in defense spending in

Military Support weapons and 57 billion

in non-defense support now I should

emphasize here that a lot of this

spending is not going necessarily

directly to Ukraine it is going to the

US military industrial complex it is

going to US military contractors big

weapons corporations that are making

billions of dollars in profits creating

missiles and tanks and guns and

ammunition and other military technology

that is going to Ukraine so when people

in the west when they say you know that

we're being so kind and we're helping

Ukraine so much well this is not just

benevolence obviously it's actually

ukrainians who are the ones losing their

lives fighting to the last Ukrainian on

behalf of the US and NATO but it's not

just that us corporations are making

profits hand over foot profiting off of

this war with big big fat juicy

government contracts to build all of

this military technology so this is a

huge stimulus for the US government this

is military keynesianism so Wall Street

benefits big corporate asset managers

and investors benefit the

military-industrial complex benefits and

average working ukrainians are the ones

losing their lives on behalf of Western

capital and this brings me back to the

comments that were made by Lindsey

Graham the US senator who said openly

that the US and the Western countries

want to get access to the 10 to 12

trillion dollar of mineral resources in

Ukraine this was revealed in an article

in the Washington Post back in August

2022 with a very blatant title quote in

the Ukraine war a battle for the

nation's mineral and energy wealth The

Washington Post reported quote Ukraine

Harbors some of the world's largest

reserves of titanium and iron ore fields

of untapped lithium and massive deposits

of coal collectively they are worth tens

of trillions of dollars the newspaper

then added that UK Ukraine has quote

Myriad other reserves including stores

of natural gas oil and rare earth

minerals essential for certain high tech

components that could hamper Western

Europe's search for alternatives to

imports from Russia and China this point

is key the major US newspaper referred

to Ukraine as a quote raw material

motherload that is home to 117 of 12

of the most widely used minerals and

metals and a major source of fossil

fuels and again they they estimated that

in the war zone going on in eastern

Ukraine that there is at least 12.4

trillion worth of Ukraine's Energy

deposits metals and minerals this is

where the figure cited by the senator

Lindsey Graham came from now one of the

key considerations that was highlighted

both in the comments from Lindsey Graham

and in the Washington Post article is

that the United States wants to prevent

China and Russia from having access to

some of these important minerals now

first of all I should point out this is

rather strange because Russia is

actually one of the world's top

producers of all of these Commodities if

you look at the list of the major raw

materials Metals minerals fossil fuels

in the world Russia is always near the

top of the top 10 Russia has so many

trillions of dollars of minerals and

natural resources and fossil fuels and

oil and gas it does not need access to

all of this in Ukraine so it's it's

rather strange and funny hearing the

Western Powers talk about this as if

Russia is desperate but what the US is

concerned about is trying to weaken

China's economy and trying to prevent

China from having access to some very

important

critical strategic minerals because

China is the world's industrial

superpower and the US is trying to

prevent China from competing in

cuttingedge technology Industries in

particular in electric vehicles in

batteries in semiconductors this is why

the US government has imposed tariffs

and Export restrictions on these major

Chinese Industries and CNBC published a

very revealing article in 2024 titled us

very concerned about China's dominance

as critical minerals supplier energy

Chief says the article noted that China

is the Undisputed leader in the critical

mineral supply chain accounting for

roughly 60% of the world's production of

rare earth minerals and materials the

White House released a fact sheet in

2022 emphasizing that the Biden

Administration is is working on securing

a made in America supply chain for

critical minerals it warned of China's

influence over the global supply chain

and in particular it named things like

Rare Earth elements lithium and Cobalt

which are key inputs in Clean Energy

Technologies like batteries electric

vehicles wind turbines and solar panels

and again these are the industries in

China the US has targeted with an

economic War and a trade war and some of

these Rare Earth elements lithium Cobalt

and other critical minerals are located

in Ukraine which has very large reserves

and almost immediately after Joe Biden

came to power in 2021 he signed an

executive order in which he revealed

that Washington is focused very heavily

on trying to restrict China's influence

in global critical mineral Supply chains

this this has become a hot issue in

Washington in fact this year

2024 US Congress members both

Republicans and Democrats introduce

legislation that they say will counter

Chinese dominance in the critical

mineral Supply chains and the US senator

Todd young a republican said quote the

Chinese Communist party is aggressively

attempting to monopolize critical

mineral resources and the United States

urgently needs to diversify our supply

chain and strengthen ties with allies

and of course one of those allies is

Ukraine that has trillions of dollars of

minerals the US would very much like to

get its hands on now I do want to stress

here that this is not the only reason

for the war for critics who are going to

say that this is a crazy conspiracy I'm

not saying that the only reason that

this war is happening is because the US

and big multinational corporations want

to get access to Ukraine's natural

resources again as I acknowledged there

are many geopolitical considerations

weakening Russia the US wants Ukraine to

join NATO the military block led by the

US Europe wants Ukraine to join the

European Union and they can get access

not only to Ukrainian natural resources

but also cheap labor Ukraine has a well

educated Workforce that are actually

paid very low wages compared to the rest

of Europe Ukraine has in fact suffered

from some of the most poverty in all of

Europe and some of the lowest wages so

European companies can benefit if

Ukraine joins the EU from exploiting

lowp Paid well-educated Ukrainian labor

there are many different motivations I'm

not saying it's only because of minerals

but you cannot ignore the fact that US

government officials like Lindsey Graham

and media Outlets like the Washington

Post are openly saying

that the West wants to get access to the

trillions of dollars of minerals in

Ukraine this is a significant factor

that we need to talk about and I should

add that this is not the first time that

US government officials have openly

boasted that they were trying to

overthrow a foreign government and take

their natural resources this has

happened many times Donald Trump said it

very openly in a Republican party rally

in 2023

Trump talked about the crew attempt

against Venezuela's democratically

elected leftist government that he

kicked off in

2019 and Trump boasted he said if only

we had overthrown the Venezuelan

government if our crew had succeeded we

would have gotten access to all of that

oil he said we would have taken over

Venezuela here's that clip Venezuela how

about we're buying oil from

Venezuela when I left Venezuela was

ready to collapse we would have taken it

over we would have gotten all that oil

it would have been right next door but

now we're buying oil from Venezuela so

we're making a dictator very rich can

you believe this nobody can believe it

and Trump's National Security adviser

John Bolton a Hardline neoconservative

Warhawk he made very similar comments as

well in 2019 during the coup attempt in

Venezuela he did an interview on Fox

News and John Bolton said that it would

make a big difference if us companies

could invest in and produce oil in

Venezuela so of course it's not just

getting access to these natural

resources it's the US government is

acting on behalf of big corporations in

the US especially fossil fuel

corporations that want to get access to

these resources so they can profit so

their shareholders can get richer and of

course many of these companies they fund

the campaigns of politicians both rep

Republicans and Democrats in the US they

buy elections essentially and their

shareholders are some of the major

constituents lobbying us politicians

funding their campaigns and their

shareholders want to get richer and

richer off of these natural resources

and I should add that the US government

doesn't really hide this at all it's

pretty blatant in fact do you remember

who Donald Trump's first Secretary of

State was before the neoconservative

Mike Pompeo it was Rex Tillerson and

what was his political experience well

his actual experience was not

necessarily directly political it was

indirectly political Rex Tillerson was

the CEO of Exxon Mobile the world's

largest private Oil Company if you look

at a list of the 10 largest oil

companies on Earth the first three of

them are State own companies there's

Saudi aramco of Saudi Arabia China's

China petroleum and chical and Petrina

and the fourth largest on Earth is Exxon

Mobile and of course again the CEO of

Exxon was the Secretary of State the

head of the US state department under

Donald Trump it's not just a revolving

door in the US the US government is run

by these top Executives from Big

corporations and US government policy is

made on their behalf half now before I

conclude I want to look at one other

comment that was made by the US senator

Lindsey Graham in this interview that he

did on CBS and in this part he called

for the US and Europe to seize the more

than 300 billion of Russian assets that

were frozen by Western Banks this is

calling for one of the biggest acts of

theft in world history in this interview

Senator Graham called a meeting that he

had in Kiev with the Ukrainian leader

zalinski and he said that zalinski asked

the US government to seize these assets

from Russia and to use them to fund

Ukraine to fund the weapons and to pay

off its debts and fund reconstruction

here is this clip here's what he wanted

most of all for us to go after the

Russian assets all over the world take

the money from The Sovereign wealth

funds of Russia and give it to Ukraine

there's $300 billion uh sitting in

Europe from Russian Sovereign wealth

assets that we should seize and give to

Ukraine we have Russian money in America

we should seize now in response to what

he said there I do want to issue a

correction Lindsey Graham said that this

is money from Russia's Sovereign wealth

fund but in reality we're talking about

$300 billion of assets that belong to

Russia's Central Bank this is US dollar

denominated assets and it's actually

mostly Euro denominated assets and the

US government has been pushing really

hard pressuring Europe to seize this

money from the Russian central bank and

to use it to fund Ukraine however Europe

is very hesitant and why is that because

this can blow up in the face of the West

because if the US and EU sees this money

from Russia Central Bank why would other

countries around the world why would

their central banks Hold Us dollar

assets and Euro assets it would be crazy

of them to do that I mean maybe if their

Western allies like Japan or South Korea

they wouldn't be afraid of course

they're militarily occupied by the US

and have been since the 40s or 50s but

if you are an independent country and

you're not just completely obedient and

subservient and don't just follow

whatever the West tells you to do you

would start second guessing whether or

not you should hold dollar or Euro

Assets in your central bank and this

explains why so many central banks

around the world are diversifying their

reserves and holding other assets

especially Gold by the way and this is

why China has been selling off hundreds

of billions of dollars of the treasury

Securities that it amassed over time

because China realizes it could be next

I talked about this in a recent video

Central bankers and economists in China

are very concerned that they could be

next and it's not just officials in

China it's even longtime us allies like

Saudi Arabia and Egypt and Indonesia

many central banks around the world are

second-guessing their Holdings of

Western assets and what we're seeing is

these us officials like Lindsey Grant R

they are calling for accelerating

economic decoupling the creation of new

financial and Economic Institutions so

countries can dollarize they can trade

in other currencies especially their own

local currencies they don't need the US

dollar they can hold other Assets in

their Central Bank foreign exchange

reserves this is all happening very

quickly and the US has continued to

sanction more and more countries and

freeze their assets it did it to Iran

and then to Venezuela and then to

Afghanistan and now to Russia and this

process is accelerating here at

geopolitical economy report this is one

of the main issues that we report on a

lot that we focus on along with

conflicts like the war in Ukraine and we

are trying to help educate people so you

can understand what actually drives

these geopolitical conflicts which of

course are always rooted in e economics

so on that note I want to conclude I'm

Ben Norton I'm the editorinchief of

geopolitical economy report I want to

thank everyone for joining me today

please like And subscribe please share

this and I'll see you all next time