We live in interesting times

The disputed area of the South China Sea 

Long time followers of this blog will know that much of my understanding of what is going on in the world comes from the inimitable golden jackass, Jim Willie CB. It is his analysis which points to a fundamental shift in the global economic stakes and that shift is in an eastward direction.

I keep looking for the signs he has been pointing to in his recent offerings and Bloomberg reports that China has imported more gold in the first five months of 2012 than the UK holds. Yesterday the Financial Times reported that Iran had been importing tonnes of gold in the first five months of 2012.

Over at Zero Hedge the supposition becomes that not only is China directly importing gold but it is demanding gold rather than US$ from its trading partners.

The Jackass hypothesis it seems is borne out by events. And whilst we are on the subject of gold, analysis shows that the UK's sale of gold in 1999 to 2001 directly assisted one of the largest US banks, more market manipulation?

The BBC reporting on the increasing tensions in the South China Sea over China's territorial claims in that region but it is more than claims that have been fought over. A naval stand-off lasting several weeks over the Scarborough Shoal has directed the attention of the US to the Pacific reports the NY Times.

The US has since made plans to re-activate naval bases in the Philippines and to station troops in Australia and Russia Today reports that there have been calls for further strengthening of the US military presence in the region.

So the US plans to surround China with forces on the Pacific to complement the strategic deployment of troops in the Middle East.

Meanwhile in Europe we have finally been given the details of the Spanish Bailout and it has swiftly been analysed as average and of course lacking the key detail of just how much it is all going to cost. One key detail is an insistence that powers be transferred from the Ministry of the Treasury to the Central Bank of Spain, Banco d'Espana. A legal challenge has been launched in the German Constitutional Court to delay or prevent the signing into law of the ESM in Germany.

And so there we have it, the Anglo-American block is preparing to defend its economic dominance with the sword, the Chinese are repeating the Opium Wars, but in reverse (taking all the gold through trade) and the Germans, well they are deciding just how much candy is good for the children in the South of Europe.

Has anyone read that book by George Orwell, 1984? Weren't there three global powers in that book? Weren't they all Authoritarian states? Maybe I am on the wrong side.