The puppeteers are now making their move

We are living in interesting times! What a time to be alive!

So, Chinese President Xi Jinping — the leader of the world’s second-biggest economy, who has just been elected president for an unprecedented third term — was in Russia last week for a three-day State visit to pitch his peace plan to end hostilities in Eastern Europe, as well as deepen relations with Moscow.

As he bade farewell to his counterpart, Vladimir Putin, while standing at the door of the Kremlin, President Xi said something that Bishop Lazi thinks would probably shape the 21st century.

“Right now, there are changes — the likes of which we haven’t seen for 100 years — and we are the ones driving these changes together,” Xi told Putin.

Beijing is making big moves on the world stage.

On March 10, it facilitated what many thought was impossible by prodding Iran and Saudi Arabia, which hitherto had been mutually hostile towards each other, to agree to re-establish full diplomatic ties.

It left the United States, which had been blindsided by the move, both slack-jawed and non-plussed.

Earlier in December, the Saudis had rolled out the red carpet and gratuitously feted Xi, as Beijing and Riyadh further cemented their diplomatic relations.

However, the mood was quite different, if not opposite, to the muted reception that greeted US President Joe Biden five months earlier, in July, when he made the long trip to the Kingdom to grovel for oil production to be increased in order to tame rising oil prices, which were giving him sleepless nights at home. Well, instead of boosting production, OPEC+ actually decided to cut output, an ominous sign for Washington.

An oil-rich Saudi Arabia drifting away from the US into the warm arms of China could portend a long and difficult road ahead for the Americans, considering that it was the February 14, 1945 meeting between then-US president Franklin Roosevelt and Saudi King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud that consequentially shaped world politics and finance, especially through the rise of the petrodollar.

Later in 1971, Richard Nixon’s decision to take the US off the gold standard, including coaxing Saudi Arabia to sell its oil in US dollars, helped to enthrone King Dollar (as the greenback is also called), which ultimately became the world’s reserve currency and major unit of exchange in international trade.

Rising new order

But, as the world, Zimbabwe included, has come to realise, Washington is increasingly using the dollar as part of its ordnance to attack perceived adversaries.

Unilateral sanctions on Venezuela, Iran, Iraq, Syria and, lately, Russia, among other countries, have all been designed to cut them off the international finance system to weaken their economies and, with them, targeted regimes.

Realising the inherent risks in such a hegemonic Washington-controlled financial system that weaponises the US dollar, China, with support from other BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa — is now using its diplomatic, political and economic heft to create a multi-polar energy market by encouraging the use of its own currency, the yuan, in buying and selling oil.

Analysts in the energy markets believe this has already begun to happen, especially after Xi’s meeting with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders in December, thus heralding the birth of the petroyuan.

This is quite a big deal.

Russia, Iran and Venezuela account for 40 percent of OPEC+ proven oil reserves, while GCC countries account for another 40 percent.

After all, it is oil that was and is the lifeblood of the US dollar.

China has, however, gone a step further. In order to boost the allure of the yuan, it has made it convertible to gold on the Shanghai and Hong Kong gold exchanges.

The creation of an alternative multipolar financial ecosystem beyond the extra-territorial and extra-judicial tentacles of the US would provide relief to sanctioned countries such as Zimbabwe by making the coercive measures ineffective and ineffectual.

But the envisaged progressive diminution in value and influence of the US dollar would mean countries around the world would largely use their wealth to trade, possibly restoring a semblance of the gold standard.

It could be the beginning of the end of the American empire, which has brought misery to countless countries around the world.

The Bible has for long foretold the decline of powerful empires.

Revelations 18:9-14 says: “When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her.

Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: ‘Woe! Woe to you, great city, you mighty city of Babylon! In one hour your doom has come! The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore — cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and human beings sold as slaves.

“They will say, ‘The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your luxury and splendour have vanished, never to be recovered.’ The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will weep and mourn and cry out . . .”

Ahead of the curve

But by virtue of its own unique circumstances and perspicacious reading of the evolving global dynamics, Zimbabwe, through the Second Republic, is well ahead of the curve, as it is now building its reserves by stockpiling mineral wealth and requiring mining companies to pay 50 percent of their royalties in minerals. And the value of our minerals, especially gold, cannot be overemphasised.

Last year, export proceeds exponentially rose to a record US$7,4 billion, from US$6,4 billion a year earlier, buoyed by mineral exports, which accounted for 75,8 percent of total exports.

Gold eclipsed every other mineral by contributing US$2,5 billion, driven by a record haul of 35,4 tonnes realised in the review period.

But, most importantly, monetary authorities have been minting gold coins to mop up excess liquidity and anchor the Zimbabwe dollar, something the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has bizarrely advised against.

Our minerals have extricated us from decades of economic decline and are beginning to shape our prosperous future.

We cannot be poor when we are so rich.

So, it is unsurprising that those seeking to derail the current progress Zimbabwe is making would target the country’s gold sector.

This is why Bishop Lazi found last week’s supposed documentary by Al Jazeera on the purported smuggling of the mineral from Zimbabwe quite fascinating, especially so close to the elections.

The involvement of Tendai Biti, one of CCC’s top leaders, as a key talking head in the oversold but under-delivered “expose” was even more revealing.

You see, wherever you find Biti, the meddlesome Brenthurst Foundation — which recently sponsored a curious cellphone survey that claimed young Nelson Chamisa will win the forthcoming elections — and the Oppenheimers will not be far behind.

The two have become inextricably linked, so we are not sure whether in last week’s documentary he was an interlocutor for the foundation or the Oppenheimers, or both.

Those who want to know about the Oppenheimers’ interests in Zimbabwe need look no further than their sprawling 65 000-hectare fiefdom in Shangani, which they reportedly bought (Bishop doesn’t know from whom) in 1937 and is fabulously rich in gold, lithium, silver, copper, lead, cobalt, manganese, zinc, nickel, chrome, graphite, et cetera.

Need we also talk about their highly suspicious activities in diamond-rich Marange through DeBeers (a company formed by Cecil John Rhodes in 1888 and subsequently taken over by them) before they hastily withdrew in 2006?

So, what does this have to do with anything?

You need to read between the lines.

In 2011, a London-based lobby firm, CT Group, is understood to have assiduously worked on behalf of a Canadian mining company on an influence campaign to sway the outcome of the elections in favour of the preferred presidential candidate.

As reported by the Guardian (UK) in November last year, they actually promised to carry out “indirect activity to undermine the president inside the DRC and internationally”.

In a neighbouring country, the lobbyists even opened an online news website to try and influence public opinion.

Over the years, we have been seeing similar efforts to create “a climate of opinion” against incumbents, especially before the elections.

As we head for the polls, the drama — all meant to swing the elections — will become more animated and frenzied; desperate even.

The puppeteers are now making their move.

However, as Bishop Lazi always says, this is a land of consequence.

We have the valorous distinction of fighting a bitter and painful armed conflict against greedy imperialists for more than a decade before independence, and, thus far, we have managed to ward off the asymmetrical warfare by neo-colonialists.

We keep our eyes on the prize!

Bishop out!