BRICS Bank President Rousseff Met With Economist Glazyev on Sidelines of SPIEF

June 14—Underscoring the importance of the ongoing discussion within the BRICS on the subject of creating a new international financial architecture to replace the bankrupt speculative dollar system, investigative journalist Pepe Escober reported to Brazil’s Bom Dia 247 program, according to VeritXpres, that BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) President and former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff had a meeting on the SPIEF sidelines in St. Petersburg  with the prominent Russian economist Sergey Glazyev, on the morning of June 7, “about creating a new commercial currency.” The account in Veritxpress.com says that "the scheduled half-hour meeting lasted more than one hour. Glazyev has been working on a cross-border payment system that bypasses the dollar, The Unit. The new currency will be used for commercial transactions and will be anchored in commodities, gold and a basket of currencies from different countries. This meeting between the president of the BRICS Bank, Rousseff and Glazyev is extremely important, as the current statutes of the BRICS Bank provide for all its collateral in dollars."

Other sources familiar with Glazyev's work report that "The Unit" is similar in concept and purpose to an idea for a global exchange currency, The Demo, proposed to be used for commercial transactions in the Bretton Woods system by the U.S. President Franklin  Roosevelt, but was never implemented after his death in 1945. Glazyev is thought to have the backing for the concept from Russian President Vladimir Putin, for whom he serves as an economic advisor.

“According to [Pepe] Escobar, who spoke to Dilma and Glazyev upon leaving the meeting," the report continued. "Dilma seemed happy and told him that she enjoyed the meeting and thought the concept of The Unit was excellent. Glazyev also reported that the meeting was very productive and a new meeting was scheduled to deepen the discussion. Pepe Escobar stated that the idea of The Unit has already been positively evaluated by the Russian Ministry of Finance, and that one of Putin’s advisors confirmed this to Escobar yesterday. The journalist said he would not be surprised if the currency appeared tacitly approved during the BRICS summit in Kazan in October.”

Although no other media accounts of the Rousseff-Glazyev discussion are available at this time, Escobar’s report on Glazyev’s view of a new currency is fully consistent with his stated views on these matters—views shaped significantly by his friendship over decades with the late American economist Lyndon LaRouche, as Glazyev himself has repeatedly stated publically, referring to Mr. LaRouche as a mentor. As for the adoption of that approach at the upcoming October BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, the outcome is still being fought out—with worried opposition coming from economists and leaders in many of the BRICS countries themselves who are overly influenced by the City of London and Wall Street’s approach. Glazyev has stated in other interviews, including with Escobar, that he does not see his plan being fully implemented for "a couple of years," although it is thought that he favors a phasing it in sooner than that.