CEO of BlackRock: the war in Ukraine "has put an end to globalization" and calls for a "global digital payment system"

 

FW Comment: The cat is finally out of the bag and we now see the real purpose of the Russian invasion. What couldn't be achieved by the bogus pandemic will now be realised through a war that has been deliberately designed to break the global supply chains and shatter the global economy.

Kontrainfo

March 26th, 2022  (leer en castellano)

"The Russian invasion of Ukraine has put an end to the globalization we have experienced over the last three decades," BlackRock CEO Larry Fink wrote in his annual letter to shareholders of the world's leading financial fund. In his opinion, the military conflict will reshape the world economy and further increase inflation by prompting companies to withdraw from their global supply chains.

While the immediate result has been Russia's complete isolation from capital markets, Fink predicted that “companies and governments will also look more broadly at their dependence on other nations. This may lead companies to conduct more of their operations on or near land, resulting in faster withdrawal from some countries, thus more closed and protectionist economies. He also warned that "a large-scale reorientation of supply chains will inherently be inflationary," in the far-reaching 10-page letter that also addressed the war's effect on the "energy transition" and cryptocurrencies.

"Russia’s brutal attack on Ukraine has upended the world order that had been in place since the end of the Cold War, more than 30 years ago," he said, and in the following line he set the position of the financial mega-fund: "I speak for everyone at BlackRock when I say that witnessing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been truly heartbreaking. We stand with the Ukrainian people, who have shown true heroism in the face of merciless aggression."

“In the early 1990s, as the world emerged from the Cold War, Russia was welcomed into the global financial system and given access to global capital markets. In time, Russia became interconnected with the world and deeply linked to Western Europe. The world benefited from a global peace dividend and the expansion of globalization (…) But the Russian invasion of Ukraine has put an end to the globalization we have experienced over the last three decades (…) BlackRock has been committed to doing our part. Grounded in our fiduciary duty, we moved quickly to suspend the purchase of any Russian securities in our active or index portfolios. Over the past few weeks, I’ve spoken to countless stakeholders, including our clients and employees, who are all looking to understand what could be done to prevent capital from being deployed to Russia… Russia has been essentially cut off from global capital markets, demonstrating the commitment of major companies to operate consistent with core values. This “economic war” shows what we can achieve when companies, supported by their stakeholders, come together in the face of violence and aggression.

Fink wrote that “Mexico, Brazil, the United States, or manufacturing hubs in Southeast Asia – could stand to benefit” and advocated that companies BlackRock invests in do more to address climate change. His letter predicted that the war will affect the transition to cleaner energy, he wrote. “In response to the energy shock caused by the war in Ukraine, many countries are looking for new sources of energy.  In the US much of the focus is on increasing oil and gas supply, and in Europe and Asia, coal consumption may increase over the next year.  This will inevitably slow the world’s progress toward net zero in the near term,” he maintained.

Although BlackRock's hopes for renewables were allowed to remain: “In the longer term, I think recent events will accelerate the shift to greener energy sources” as higher fossil fuel prices would make a wider range renewable energy is financially competitive, he wrote.

In one of his first comments on cryptocurrencies, Fink drew attention to the “potential impact [of the Ukraine war] on accelerating digital currencies,” warning that “global digital payment system, thoughtfully designed, can enhance the settlement of international transactions while reducing the risk of money laundering and corruption.” 

And he ended by warning: "The magnitude of Russia’s actions will play out for decades to come and mark a turning point in the world order of geopolitics, macro-economic trends, and capital markets." 

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Food shortages, "bird flu" and digital payments:

Source: https://trikoobanews.com/43337.html

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