Sometimes, you find exactly what it is you’re looking for. Half the time, you might not know you’re looking for anything or what that anything even looks like.
But the other half of the time, when you know exactly what it is you’re searching for and happen upon it, it’s an unparalleled level of satisfaction. But it all depends on the way you’re going about the hunt.
The internet ruined romance. Why let fate intervene when you could just order up that which you desire? Here’s where I answer the rhetorical question I just asked myself. Because the space in between chance, fate, and desire is where the magic really happens.
For years, I wanted to own Sly and the Family Stone’s There’s a Riot Goin’ On but it never turned up. Ever since my dad played ‘Family Affair’ for me while we sat in the driveway in his truck, I’ve been hooked on that band. Well, other records of theirs were purchased and thoroughly enjoyed, but for whatever reason, that one eluded me. That is, until one day, I was unwittingly thumbing through my local record store’s used section and there it was waiting for me, a first pressing of Sly’s opus.
Well, friends, it’s happened again.
My wife and I have been hoping to purchase Harry Nilsson’s Nilsson Schmilsson for years, now, but to no avail. We’ve got plenty of his other records, but this is the one, you know?
Well, my little family was perusing the bins of an upstairs record store in downtown Oxford, Mississippi on Saturday when fate struck once again. My wife had walked our daughter down the outdoor metal staircase because she couldn’t keep her hands to herself any longer, and I was giving one last run through their recently received used selection.
I didn’t know I was looking for it, I hadn’t thought about that particular album in a while, but its white and gold lettering was peaking out of the pile, waiting for me to pluck it out. I immediately bought it and rushed outside to show my wife how good our luck had been.
Since we came home on Monday, it’s been on constant rotation - I’m even listening to it now. But what’s even better than finally owning this record, is that now, every time I listen to it, it will be indelibly linked to the little record shop in Oxford with my wife and our one-year-old daughter.
The record itself isn’t especially rare or anything, but my relationship with it from now on will be, and that’s something that made the wait and the search all the more worthwhile.
The Hermit Leaves His Shell
If you’re only as good as the company you keep, then Russia just plummeted to the bottom of the social hierarchy.
According to US intelligence, Kim Jong Un, the supreme leader of North Korea, will be leaving Pyongyang to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week. Reports suggest that the rare excursion for the leader of the Hermit Kingdom will see him travel via his armored train (he doesn’t fly for obvious reasons) to Vladivostok, on Russia’s eastern coast.
The two countries have been locked in arms negotiations and it appears that the Korean nation plans on engaging in a large-scale weapons deal with Russia that would see large-scale munitions and raw materials flow the way of the Kremlin.
Previously this summer, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang where North Korean media showed the pair strolling through warehouses as the Supreme Leader showed off his vast arsenal - like a kid showing off his Hot Wheels collection. After the initial visit, however, it seems negotiations advanced considerably, and a meeting between the two leaders of the neighboring countries is slated for next week.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is somewhat a pariah in geopolitics, the level of totalitarianism and despotism that the people of North Korea have been subjected to for decades is unrivaled in its duration and extremity. Both the Korean leaders’ seclusion and brutality have kept them largely isolated from the rest of the world.
For the past half-century, North Korea’s interactions with the outside world have been extremely restricted and the few dealings it managed to complete weren’t exactly rousing successes for both parties. In 1974, the DPRK ordered 1,000 Volvo sedans from Sweden, and upon delivery, they shirked the bill. The debt remains unpaid while a few hundred mid-70s Volvos roam the streets of Pyongyang to this day.
That said, the DPRK is essentially propped up by neighboring China. The CCP is North Korea’s largest trading partner, and it is virtually dependent on the policies of Beijing to keep the Kim regime afloat. Thanks to the aid of China, North Korea is able to have as many nuclear weapons as they do famines - and they have a lot of famines.
The unintended consequence of the Ukrainian-Russian War is the creation of a new axis of powers in the East. Russia and China are attached at the hip at this point, Iran has quite a friendly relationship with the Kremlin, and India currently hangs in the balance between the West and its Eastern peers - just to name a few.
As more nations across the globe developed and the United States’ influence on global affairs, for one reason or another, has wavered, it looked as if we were heading to multipolarity - a balancing of the scales amongst independent, sovereign nations. But the unexpected wrench in the gears is the current conflict between Moscow and Kyiv.
The war is efficiently sorting out and solidifying new factions of cooperation amongst nations with whom the United States already had tenuous relationships. If the war ever ceases, the West will have a new coalition of nuclear powers with which to contend - a veritable group of Monstars a la Space Jam if you will. The only difference here is that we don’t have Michael Jordan on our team anymore, and no ‘secret stuff’ - it was just water, the secret stuff was in them all along! - in our water bottles.
Boy, did that essay take a left turn there at the end. It may not have been the most high-brow of references but like a moth to a flame or the intractable pull of a black hole, I was lured ever closer to making a Space Jam analogy. Praise me or forgive me, we’re having fun, aren’t we?
BRICS by BRICS
A couple of weeks ago, BRICS nations met in Johannesburg, South Africa for their 15th annual summit. On the docket were a couple of items: first, was whether or not they would be extending an invitation to join the geopolitical upstart to six additional countries. And second, was the prospect of issuing a common currency to be used by all member nations.
Up until this point, BRICS has been comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The commonality between these five countries was originally their shared desire to ease international dependence on the US dollar and the American economy writ large, but the idea of a shared currency recapitulates the original mission as one that is considerably more competitive.
At the summit in Johannesburg, BRICS nations agreed to extend invitations to Argentina, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Iran. It appears as if most of, if not all, the prospective invitees will accept the invitation. The UAE and Saudi Arabia bring much-needed financial weight to the existing nations, Argentina helps the coalition continue to represent the global South, and the two African countries will establish a more significant presence of the group in that continent.
Makes sense.
Iran is the real head-scratcher. About half of the original nations are at least ambivalent towards the United States and the West. China and America are so economically codependent that they ought to see a couples therapist. India and South Africa continue to have warm relations with the West and their Eastern BRICS counterparts, but the inclusion of the Islamic State strikes a different tone. Iran is decidedly anti-American and anti-West. The addition of the Islamic Republic of Iran will posture the now-doubled in size conglomerate in a much more antagonistic stance against the United States and its Western allies.
For now, however, the current modus operandi of BRICS will be to trade amongst each other while using their respective currencies as opposed to the US dollar. The prospect of a common currency that’s backed by gold or oil for the BRICS nations is postponed for the time being, but my bet is that it’s an inevitability.
As the world becomes increasingly bipolar, one of the more effective ways a new coalition could compete against the euro and dollar is by unilaterally agreeing to a sound currency.
The problem with that move, however, is that it won’t be received well by American and European leadership. Similar to how the social justice movement in America has now conflated words with actual violence, governments consider playing with their pocketbook an act of war.
In the early ‘70s, the US government ditched the gold standard in favor of a fiat currency. At the time, it was unclear whether the global market would cut and run from the dollar, but they stuck around largely due to the production and military might exemplified by the United States. The dollar was no longer backed by the precious metal, but, in short, the American way of life was as good as gold, right?
America doesn’t have the world’s largest powerhouse of a manufacturing base anymore, we’re a country of middle managers that are energy-dependent upon vindictive rulers across the world - I mean, who needs enemies when you have a friend in Saudi Arabia? - and we haven’t won an actual war since World War II.
A fiat currency is backed by the GDP, first, and the military, second. The US dollar is facing increasing scrutiny as the world’s premier currency and the American economy - despite the best efforts of Bidenomics - isn’t exactly thriving. So, this is why you should care about BRICS and their future plans. When the dollar is threatened and the Dow Jones is no longer capable of bailing it out, listen for the faint hum of F-16s in the distance.
What is it Dave Chappelle said? “The First Amendment is first for a reason. Second Amendment is just in case the First one doesn’t work out.” But in this case, sub the First Amendment for GDP, and the Second Amendment for an entire nation’s stockpile of ammunition and explosives.
To a better next week.
Cheers,
~FDA