Gerda

Professional bean counter | certified nerd | wannabe culinary queen | occasional blogger | supermom

[Gerda @gerdajv]

@waitmaya 31

[Gerda @gerdajv]

@ClaysonMonyela When my daughter was in the US for a year she wanted biltong, All Gold tomato sauce, Mrs balls chutney, crunchies, marmite, Ouma rusks, creme soda, strawberry pronutro, spur sauce 🤣

[Gerda @gerdajv]

@QaanitahHunter @News24 Looks great and like something I would like to read! On my TBR list 👍

[Ricardo @Ric_RTP]

The real reason the US is invading Venezuela goes back to a deal Henry Kissinger made with Saudi Arabia in 1974.

And I'm going to explain why this is actually about the SURVIVAL of the US dollar itself.

Not drugs. Not terrorism. Not "democracy."

This is about the petrodollar system that has kept America the dominant economic power for 50 years.

And Venezuela just threatened to end it.

Here's what really just happened:

Venezuela has 303 billion barrels of proven oil reserves.

The largest on Earth.

More than Saudi Arabia.

20% of the entire world's oil.

But here's the part that matters:

Venezuela was actively selling that oil in Chinese yuan. Not dollars.

In 2018, Venezuela announced it would "free itself from the dollar."

They started accepting yuan, euros, rubles, anything BUT dollars for oil.

They were petitioning to join BRICS.

They were building direct payment channels with China that bypass SWIFT entirely.

And they were sitting on enough oil to fund de-dollarization for decades.

Why does this matter?

Because the entire American financial system is built on one thing:

The petrodollar.

In 1974, Henry Kissinger made a deal with Saudi Arabia:

All oil sold globally must be priced in US dollars.

In exchange, America provides military protection.

This single agreement created artificial demand for dollars worldwide.

Every country on Earth needs dollars to buy oil.

This lets America print unlimited money while other countries work for it.

It funds the military. The welfare state. The deficit spending.

The petrodollar is more important to US hegemony than aircraft carriers.

And there's a pattern of what happens to leaders who challenge it:

2000: Saddam Hussein announces Iraq will sell oil in euros instead of dollars.

2003: Invaded. Regime change. Iraq's oil immediately switched back to dollars. Saddam lynched.

The WMDs were never found because they never existed.

2009: Gaddafi proposes a gold-backed African currency called the "gold dinar" for oil trade.

Hillary Clinton's own leaked emails confirm this was the PRIMARY reason for intervention.

Email quote: "This gold was intended to establish a pan-African currency based on the Libyan golden Dinar."

2011: NATO bombs Libya. Gaddafi sodomized and murdered. Libya now has open slave markets.

"We came, we saw, he died!" Clinton laughed on camera.

The gold dinar died with him.

And now Maduro.

With FIVE TIMES more oil than Saddam and Gaddafi combined.

Actively selling in yuan.

Building payment systems outside dollar control.

Petitioning to join BRICS.

Partnered with China, Russia, and Iran.

The three countries leading global de-dollarization.

This isn't coincidence.

Challenge the petrodollar. Get regime changed.

Every. Single. Time.

Stephen Miller (US homeland security advisor) literally said it out loud two weeks ago:

"American sweat, ingenuity and toil created the oil industry in Venezuela. Its tyrannical expropriation was the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property."

He's not hiding it.

They're claiming Venezuelan oil BELONGS to America because US companies developed it 100 years ago.

By this logic, every nationalized resource in history was "theft."

But here's the DEEPER problem:

The petrodollar is already dying.

Russia sells oil in rubles and yuan since Ukraine.

Saudi Arabia is openly discussing yuan settlements.

Iran has been trading in non-dollar currencies for years.

China built CIPS, their own alternative to SWIFT with 4,800 banks in 185 countries.

BRICS is actively building payment systems that bypass the dollar entirely.

The mBridge project lets central banks settle trades instantly in local currencies.

Venezuela joining BRICS with 303 billion barrels of oil would accelerate this exponentially.

That's what this invasion is really about.

Not stopping drugs. Venezuela accounts for less than 1% of US cocaine.

Not terrorism. There's zero evidence Maduro runs a "terror organization."

Not democracy. The US supports Saudi Arabia, which has zero elections.

This is about maintaining a 50-year-old agreement that lets America print money while the world works for it.

And the consequences are terrifying:

Russia, China, and Iran are already denouncing this as "armed aggression."

China is Venezuela's biggest oil customer. They're losing billions.

BRICS nations are watching a country get invaded for trading outside the dollar.

Every nation considering de-dollarization just got the message:

Challenge the dollar and we will bomb you.

But here's the problem...

That message might accelerate de-dollarization, not stop it.

Because now every country in the Global South knows what happens if you threaten dollar hegemony.

And they're realizing the only protection is to move FASTER.

The timing is insane too:

January 3rd, 2026. Venezuela invaded. Maduro captured.

January 3rd, 1990. Panama invaded. Noriega captured.

36 years apart. Almost to the day.

Same playbook. Same "drug trafficking" excuse.

Same real reason: control of strategic resources and trade routes.

History doesn't repeat. But it rhymes.

What happens next:

Trump's press conference at Mar-a-Lago sets the narrative.

US oil companies are already lined up. Politico reported they've been approached about "returning to Venezuela."

The opposition will be installed. Oil will flow in dollars again.

Venezuela becomes another Iraq. Another Libya.

But here's what nobody's asking:

What happens when you can no longer bomb your way to dollar dominance?

When China has enough economic leverage to retaliate?

When BRICS controls 40% of global GDP and says "no more dollars"?

When the world realizes the petrodollar is maintained by violence?

America just showed its hand.

The question is whether the rest of the world folds or calls the bluff.

Because this invasion is an admission that the dollar can no longer compete on its own merits.

When you have to bomb countries to keep them using your currency, the currency is already dying.

Venezuela isn't the beginning.

It's the desperate end.

What do you think?

[Gerda @gerdajv]

@budgetins Sent a DM with details. None of the phone numbers we have are working

[Gerda @gerdajv]

@budgetins We are unable to get through to any of your numbers to check on a tyre claim submitted. My daughter now had another puncture and is stuck without a spare

[AgentLeon @AgentLeonV3]

5th of January 1976

The opening of the SABC with the first ever broadcast in South Africa

[Gerda @gerdajv]

@SHEIN_Official I see that I did get an email on Friday saysing that I will be refunded because the delivery timeline has expired. Unfortunately I don’t think I will use SHEIN again

[Gerda @gerdajv]

@SHEIN_Official I am very disappointed as my last order has now been delayed by more than 3 weeks to South Africa. It arrived in South Africa and was customs cleared on 31 March and I’m still waiting for delivery. And I’m getting no response despite logging a service ticket

[Gerda @gerdajv]

Some of the comments on this post 🤣🤣

[captain depression @cpt_depression_]

Groot Kerk - Dutch Reformed Church in Graaff-Reinet, Eastern Cape, South Africa 🇿🇦 📍 ❤️ #StrongerTogether

[Gerda @gerdajv]

@BrentLindeque @marangdream Google Mac and cheese burger 😊

[Gerda @gerdajv]

@Devi_HQ I got a Phillips hand mixer, which finally started falling apart (still working though) in December after 30 years

[Gerda @gerdajv]

How frightening. Hoping the little boy gets found safely

[Nivashni Nair @NivashniNair]

Lindokuhle Ntsethe has not been found. He reportedly took the wrong taxi after his first day of school as a Grade R pupil. His mother confirmed to me at 6:12am that the has been no developments in the search for him.

[Qaanitah Hunter @QaanitahHunter]

FIRST TAKE | SA's genocide case against Israel a masterstroke in legal genius https://t.co/oFw085alKT

[Gerda @gerdajv]

Fascinating

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

A new ocean is forming in Africa along a 35-mile crack that opened up in Ethiopia in 2005. The crack, which has been expanding ever since, is a result of three tectonic plates pulling away from each other.

It’s thought that Africa’s new ocean will take at least 5 million to 10 million years to form, but the Afar region’s fortuitous location at the boundaries of the Nubian, Somali and Arabian plates makes it a unique laboratory to study elaborate tectonic processes.

There are still some big unknowns, including what is causing the continent to rift apart. Some think that a massive plume of superheated rocks rising from the mantle beneath East Africa could be driving the region’s continental rift.

Each plate boundary in the Afar region is spreading at different speeds, but the combined forces of these separating plates is creating what’s known as a mid-ocean ridge system, where eventually a new ocean will form.

The three plates are separating at different speeds. The Arabian plate is moving away from Africa at a rate of about 1 inch per year, while the two African plates are separating even slower, between half an inch to 0.2 inches per year.

[📷 Anthony Philpotts]

[Gerda @gerdajv]

@AlexAndBooks_ @tylercowen The last one is the most important. I see my daughters saying nowadays they don’t have time to read but then spend hours watching TikTok videos or insta reels or playing games. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[Gerda @gerdajv]

@CityPowerJhb Any update? We’ve been out for 8 hours now

[Gerda @gerdajv]

@CityPowerJhb please advise on status. Power has been out since 22:38 on Saturday

[Gerda @gerdajv]

@CityPowerJhb Power in Kyalami has been out since 23:30 on Saturday. I just logged a call as well. CPWEB4100339

[Gerda @gerdajv]

Another log

[Gerda @gerdajv]

@CityPowerJhb Power in Kyalami has been out since 23:30 on Saturday. I just logged a call as well. CPWEB4100339