Where the World’s Most Powerful Meet the World’s Money: World Economic Forum & BlackRock
Covid-19, climate change, and China: the shared focus of the World Economic Forum’s “Great Reset” and BlackRock’s “economic restart.”
ABOUT THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM (WEF):
- The World Economic Forum (WEF) is the self-described “International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation” aiming to “[engage] the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.”
- The WEF claims to be “independent, impartial and not tied to any special interests,” but insists “[i]t’s high time we stopped debating whether stakeholder capitalism makes sense,” meaning today’s free-market capitalism “must be transformed” without discussion.
- “[T]he world must act jointly and swiftly to revamp all aspects of our societies and economies, from education to social contracts and working conditions,” writes WEF founder Klaus Schwab. “Every country, from the United States to China, must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed.
- The WEF says in the future, “You’ll own nothing. And you’ll be happy.”
- Schwab calls this the “‘Great Reset‘ of capitalism” and “The Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
- The WEF’s Great Reset agenda is promoted by world leaders such as Joe Biden, John Kerry, the U.K.’s Prince Charles, Canada’s Justin Trudeau, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Angela Merkel, and China’s Xi Jinping.
- WEF is partnered with Amazon, State Grid Corporation of China, Apple, Google, Facebook, CVS Health, IBM, IKEA, Goldman Sachs, Toyota, Volkswagon, BP, Shell, Bank of America, Citi, Airbus, European Investment Bank, Visa, S&P Global, Walmart, Workday, TIME Magazine, PayPal, and hundreds more.
WEF FOCUSED ON COVID, NET-ZERO, & CHINA:
- Schwab says Covid-19 “represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world… .”
- The WEF embraces what it calls “The Net-Zero Challenge,” which Schwab says “set[s] a target to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner” by spurring on “global climate action.”
- The WEF emphasizes its cooperation with China. Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke at a WEF virtual meeting calling for “major transformation” and taking advantage of “cooperation opportunities to other countries,” after which Schwab “thanked China for taking an active part in global efforts to combat COVID-19 and to implement the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.”
ABOUT BLACKROCK INC.:
- The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports that BlackRock Inc. is closing in on an “unthinkable” $10 trillion in world assets.
- “Its assets under management rose 30% to $9.5 trillion, from $7.3 trillion a year earlier, cementing its dominance as the world’s largest money manager,” reports WSJ.
- Investopedia notes that “by some measures the biggest investment management company across the globe.”
- BlackRock holds major shares in Amazon, Apple, Twitter, Walmart, CVS Health, UnitedHealth Group, Berkshire Hathaway, BP, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, Facebook, Alphabet, Tesla, Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Allstate, HP, Ebay, Ford, Blackstone, Nvidia, JP Morgan Chase, Visa, PayPal, Home Depot, Disney, Intel, Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, Pepsi, Coca Cola, Merck, Netflix, Chevron, Costco, McDonald’s, and thousands more.
- “BlackRock is trusted to manage more money than any other investment firm in the world,” according to the WEF.
- BlackRock’s Chief Executive Larry Fink joined the World Economic Forum Board of Trustees in 2019 (also here), serving as “a member of the Forum’s International Business Council.”
- The WEF is officially partnered with BlackRock, according to the WEF’s “Partners” webpage.
BLACKROCK FOCUSED ON COVID, NET-ZERO, CHINA:
- BlackRock’s Investment Institute published its “2021 midyear outlook” with the subheadline “Looking beyond the restart,” using the term ‘restart’ in the same manner the WEF uses the term ‘reset.’ “The restart of economic activity is real,” the document says, and is “broadening globally.”
- This restart will be driven by a “revolution” in “historic fiscal and monitary policy,” the document reveals, and will be Covid-19 “vaccine-led.”
- “The powerful restart of economic activity after the Covid-19 shock is broadening,” reads the document. “A restart is not a traditional business cycle recovery. You can only turn the lights back on once, so to speak. Fiscal stimulus and easy monetary policy have provided a bridge through the pandemic.”
- BlackRock’s “third theme” is “the journey to net zero,” according to the document. “The path to net-zero carbon emissions has a starting point and potential destination—but there is no clear roadmap yet for getting there,” the document goes on to say. “Some of the coming changes may be abrupt—and add to supply and demand disruptions among commodities. We see opportunities along the way, with private market financing playing a key role.”
- The BlackRock document also says that one of its major themes is “China stands out,” meaning that the organization believes that “Chinese assets play a key role in our strategic views in an increasingly bifurcated U.S.- China world.” “For the first time, we break out Chinese assets from emerging markets (EM) as distinct tactical allocations,” the document goes on to say. “We believe Beijing’s focus on quality growth should bear fruit, keeping us tactically neutral on Chinese equities but heavily overweight strategically.”
- “Much is changing in China, and the cost of ignoring this emerging opportunity might prove high, especially over the longer term,” reads BlackRock’s website. “We believe the onshore Chinese equity market is becoming increasingly hard to ignore for investors.”
Jon Fleetwood is Managing Editor for American Faith and author of “An American Revival: Why American Christianity Is Failing & How to Fix It.“
Pentagon to mandate Covid-19 vaccinations for all military personnel following FDA’s full approval of Pfizer shot
The Pentagon has said it will update its own guidance on Covid-19 vaccinations, mandating the jab for all military personnel, following the US drug regulator’s decision to fully approve the Pfizer vaccine.
Speaking on Monday, US Department of Defense spokesman John Kirby said the military was aware of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision to fully approve the Pfizer vaccine for use in people over 16, and was preparing to issue updated guidance to all service personnel.
“We’re going to move forward making that vaccine mandatory,” Kirby told reporters. “We’re preparing the guidance to the force right now,” he stated, adding that the exact timetable for mandating the jab was still being worked out.
Earlier on Monday, the FDA announced that the Pfizer jab had been fully approved for use in the US. The shot has been administered under emergency-use authorization since mid-December 2020.
The FDA added that the Pfizer vaccine will retain its emergency-use authorization for use in adolescents and for those requiring a third dose due to other health conditions.
Earlier in August, the Washington Post reported that around 65% of active-duty military personnel were fully vaccinated, compared to around 59% of eligible Americans.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has previously encouraged all military personnel to get vaccinated against Covid. “To defend this nation, we need a healthy and ready force. I strongly encourage all DoD military and civilian personnel – as well as contractor personnel – to get vaccinated now and for military service members to not wait for the mandate,” Austin stated earlier in August.
President Joe Biden has also said he backed a move to mandate vaccinations for US military service personnel, adding that it should happen no “later than mid-September.”
Beijing Says the US Cannot Abandon Afghanistan Amid Anti-American Propaganda Offensive
The Chinese regime said the United States can’t simply walk away from the Afghanistan chaos, in its latest salvo directed at Washington amid an aggressive propaganda campaign leveraging the crisis.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Aug. 23 cast the United States as the “chief root cause and biggest factor” for the unfolding instability in Afghanistan, saying that the United States “should not simply take to its heels” but should instead provide reconstruction and humanitarian aid.
After the Taliban’s rapid takeover of the country, blindsiding Washington, which was due to withdraw its troops by month’s end, Beijing has been quick to capitalize on the crisis to tarnish U.S. leadership on the world stage.
The Chinese regime also sees an opportunity to fill in the void left by the United States in an area that Beijing considers its own backyard—Afghanistan shares a 47-mile border with China’s Xinjiang. But the regime is also wary that instability in the country could spill over to neighboring Pakistan and Central Asia and potentially make its way to the Chinese border.
Since Afghanistan’s fall to the Taliban, the group and Beijing have both expressed a desire to stay on friendly terms. The Chinese regime, falling short of recognizing the group as the new ruler, has previously described the Taliban takeover as “the will and choice of the Afghan people.” Wang, in the Aug. 23 press briefing, promised that Beijing would “play an active role in promoting peace” in Afghanistan and helping the nation to “achieve self-development.”
The Taliban last week expressed hopes that Beijing could contribute to the country’s rebuilding efforts, with a spokesperson telling Chinese state media that the group had been in touch with a Chinese delegate Beijing recently appointed to liaise with the new regime.
But the China–Taliban relations will be more pragmatic in nature than the warm friendship portrayed by Chinese state media, some analysts have said.
Frank Lehberger, sinologist and a senior research fellow with India-based Usanas Foundation, said the Taliban will only exert efforts to accommodate the wishes of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) when the group’s own demands are appeased; right now, the Taliban’s main concern is cash flow.
“As long as the CCP leadership quickly pays the amounts of foreign currencies or provides all the infrastructure investments that the Afghanistan Taliban want … then the Taliban will be ‘nice’ to China,” he told The Epoch Times.
“But if the CCP is unwilling or unable to provide the expected finances in time, or if China does anything that does not please the Taliban, then the Taliban will very fast bite the Chinese hands that feed them.”
Money is also a pressing challenge that the Taliban faces in cementing its control. The United States has blocked the Taliban’s access to billions of dollars in Afghan federal reserves that are held in U.S. bank accounts, and the International Monetary Fund has withheld $460 million in aid. This financial pressure leaves the United States with a potential leverage point as tensions continue to surge.
Adding to the complexity, the Chinese regime has long-held fears that the country could harbor Uyghur militants who may launch attacks into China’s far west Xinjiang region, home to Uyghur Muslims that the regime has repressed in an expansive campaign purportedly to eliminate terrorism.
The Taliban last month assured Beijing that it would “never allow any force to use the Afghan territory to engage in acts detrimental to China,” but it remains unclear how much control the group can exercise over the country to follow through with this pledge.
Aussies Shooting Rescue Dogs Dead in Anti-COVID Effort
I have to apologize in advance for even reporting this to you, but it’s vital to know just how insane Australia has gone in their anti-COVID fight.
But in Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, several rescue dogs were shot dead last by local authorities. According to Angus Thompson in the Sidney Morning Herald, the rural Bourke Shire Council “killed the dogs to prevent volunteers at a Cobar-based animal shelter from travelling to pick up the animals.”
A spokesman from Australia’s Office of Local Government (OLG) said that they had “been informed that the council decided to take this course of action to protect its employees and community, including vulnerable Aboriginal populations, from the risk of COVID-19 transmission.”
An investigation has been launched but the local council refused to comment and the shelter declined to comment for the Herald story.
Brace yourself for this next bit:
NSW Health reports there have been no locally acquired COVID-19 cases in Cobar in recent weeks.
Not deaths. Not even hospitalization. Not a single CASE. And for that, they shot dogs.
I feel sick
Aussies are getting fed up, too.
And: Australian Police Use Tear Gas, Pepper Spray, Rubber Bullets Against Melbourne Protests After 200+ Days in Lockdown.
Over the weekend, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison basically said that the beatings will continue until morale improves. “You can’t live with lockdowns forever,” he told the government-run ABC News, “and at some point, you need to make that gear change and that is done at 70%.”
At this time, “Less than 30% of Australians over the age of 16 are currently fully vaccinated,” so it’s a safe bet that the country’s Communist China-style lockdowns will continue for quite some time.