💰 Is the US dollar’s global power at risk?

The shift towards national currencies and a multipolar world is here to stay, Lillie Ferriol Prat, a research assistant at the South African DUT BRICS Research Institute tells Sputnik.

She believes that "the current dollar monetary mechanic is in need of urgent reform as their persisting debt ceiling crisis indicates."

Current trends:

🔸 Nations are exploring alternative payment methods, including Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs);

🔸 The Atlantic Council’s CBDC Tracker shows 134 countries, covering 98% of global GDP, are exploring CBDCs, including BRICS nations;

🔸 Since the freezing of Russia’s sovereign assets in 2022, cross-border CBDC projects have more than doubled – which the Kremlin says is because of shattered trust in the dollar and euro;

🔸 US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 23 banning CBDCs in the US, with some experts suggesting that other nations' digital currencies could also be targeted;

🔸 Trump threatened 100% tariffs on BRICS countries if they replaced the US dollar with a common currency, but Russia has dismissed that warning, stating no such plan is currently in place.

Ferriol Prat points out that sanctions are often ineffective – especially with BRICS+ representing over 50% of the global population – and believes Trump’s rhetoric is mainly targeted at the domestic audience.

"I think it is a matter of preserving confidence and national self-esteem," she says. "The Biden administration has left the US thoroughly unstable. To mitigate chaos, it is highly desirable to increase domestic confidence and unity."

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⚡️ Trump appoints Marco Rubio as USAID Acting Administrator

The official statement from the US State Department also declared that "it is now abundantly clear that significant portions of USAID funding are not aligned with the core national interests of the United States".

📹 This statement confirmed Marco Rubio's earlier revelation of his new position.

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❗️ USAID on the chopping block, Department of Education next?

Donald Trump's advisors are considering dismantling the Department of Education or significantly reducing its functions, the Wall Street Journal reports.

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⚡️ Trump puts tariffs on hold after phone call with Trudeau

The Canadian prime minister announced a $1.3 billion plan to beef up Canada's border with intelligence, new helicopters and 10,000 personnel to fight drug trafficking. Trudeau also promised to appoint a fentanyl czar and list cartels as terrorist organizations.

As a result, he said, the US president will pause the promised tariffs for 30 days.

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🥴 This is what the beginning of dictatorship MELTDOWN OF THE US DEEP STATE looks like

Speaking to USAID employees, Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar went off the rails.

"It is us, the taxpayers, who are being ripped off," she said, calling President Trump a "dictator" for shutting down the corrupt agency.

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💸 Meet USAID’s European little sister

As USAID faces an uncertain future after being branded a "criminal organization" by Elon Musk, the EU’s use of "development assistance" to advance its interests takes on new significance. Here’s what to know:

🔶 The EU coordinates bloc-level foreign aid via the ‘Directorate-General for International Partnerships’, (DG INTPA). This agency complements, but doesn’t replace, bilateral aid agencies of individual EU states.

🔶 DG INTPA is the product of several reorganizations, including a 2011 merger of EuropeAid (AIDCO) and DG DEV. In policy circles, it’s sometimes still called EuropeAid, no doubt to copy its American cousin.

🔶 Brussels touts its aid agency’s role in promoting UN development and poverty alleviation goals. But its true mission is serving as a soft power tool for EU economic, political, and security interests.

🔶 EuropeAid manages much of the €67 billion in EU aid sent to Ukraine, aimed at preventing that country’s economic collapse amid NATO’s proxy war with Russia.

🔶 Reorganizations have made managing the nearly €100 billion in annual EU foreign aid rife with potential corruption and mismanagement.

🔶 In the mid-2000s, the EU’s anti-fraud watchdog uncovered “complex and well-organized” financial abuses, from falsified cost reports and duplicate funding requests to declaring projects complete when they weren’t.

🔶 In 2023, independent journalists uncovered DG INTPA and other EU agencies’ hopeless dependency on consulting firms, some of them under investigation for fraud and cronyism.

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🏒 Trump calls for Russian hockey player's place in Hall of Fame

At a White House event for the Florida Panthers, Trump praised Russian goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, calling him a future Hockey Hall of Famer.

Bobrovsky, a 36-year-old native of Russia’s Novokuznetsk, led the team to the 2024 Stanley Cup championship, showcasing his remarkable skill.

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🔥 DEI promotion in Serbia and transgender opera in Colombia - USAID spending exposed

Caroline Leavitt reveals USAID expenses:

🤡 $2.5 million for DEI in Serbia

🎶 $70,000 for a DEI musical in Ireland

👹 $47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia

📚 $32,000 for a comic book in Peru.


This is how US taxpayer money is wasted.

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❗️ Biden is back in Hollywood !

Former President Joe Biden has re-signed with the Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Previously he released his memoir "Promise Me, Dad" in 2017 and went on a speaking tour that sold "more than 85,000 tickets nationwide," according to the agency. CAA also represents Barack and Michelle Obama.

Someone tell him the Frankenstein movie is already cast! 😁

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⚡️ State Secretary Marco Rubio: "We need to apply more pressure to Iran until they stop doing the activities that they’re doing. What are those activities? They’re trying to ultimately get to a nuclear weapon."

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❗️ Gaza war will not resume after first phase of ceasefire — Hamas official

"It is not because he [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] is peace-loving, but the Israeli army will fight, and the remaining prisoners are its soldiers. In total, more than 60 Israeli prisoners of war are in captivity," Musa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, told Sputnik.

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🚨 'They are completely uncooperative' — Rubio on whether the USAID should die

"Now we have basically an active effort – their basic attitude is we don't work for anyone, we work for ourselves, no agency of government can tell us what to do," US Secretary of State said in an interview with Fox News.

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🤡 Waste, fraud and abuse by USAID exposed

"For decades, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous — and, in many cases, malicious — pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, with next-to-no oversight," the White House listed USAID so-called activities.

Only "a few examples" by the way.

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❗️China to impose new tariffs of 15% on US coal and LNG, and 10% on oil and agricultural machinery.

This move follows the US administration’s decision to impose a 10% tariff on Chinese goods. While similar measures against Canada and Mexico were postponed, tariffs on China remain in effect.

Trade war in the air?

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America First = Deutschland Uber Alles?

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that Washington's reliance on "peace through force" threatens to bury diplomacy altogether and dangerously mirrors Nazi ideology.

"Such an ideology shows no respect for US obligations under the UN Charter," Lavrov said.

Lavrov agreed with experts who argue that a return to the previous status quo – defended by the US and its allies – is no longer possible. He emphasized that demographic, economic, social, and geopolitical conditions have irreversibly changed.

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