The Bush administration will never allow the Iranian government to open an oil exchange (bourse) that trades petroleum in euros. If that were to happen, hundreds of billions of dollars would come flooding back to the United States crushing the greenback and destroying the economy. This is why Bush and Co. are planning to lead the nation to war against Iran. It is straightforward defense of the current global system and the continuing dominance of the reserve currency, the dollar.
The claim that Iran is developing nuclear weapons is a mere pretext for war. The NIE (National Intelligence Estimate) predicts that Iran will not be able to produce nukes for perhaps a decade. So too, IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei has said repeatedly that his watchdog agency has found “no evidence” of a nuclear weapons program.
There are no nuclear weapons or nuclear weapons programs, but Iran’s economic plans do pose an existential threat to America, and not one that can be simply brushed aside as the unavoidable workings of the free market.
America monopolizes the oil trade. Oil is denominated in dollars and sold on either the NYMEX or London’s International Petroleum Exchange (IPE), both owned by Americans. This forces the central banks around the world to maintain huge stockpiles of dollars even though the greenback is currently underwritten by $8 trillion of debt and even though the Bush administration has said that it will perpetuate the deficit-producing tax cuts.
America’s currency monopoly is the perfect pyramid-scheme. As long as nations are forced to buy oil in dollars, the United States can continue its profligate spending with impunity. (The dollar now accounts for 68% of global currency reserves up from 51% just a decade ago) The only threat to this strategy is the prospect of competition from an independent oil exchange; forcing the faltering dollar to go nose-to-nose with a more stable (debt-free) currency such as the euro. That would compel central banks to diversify their holdings, sending billions of dollars back to America and ensuring a devastating cycle of hyper-inflation.
SOURCE
The real reason Iran is in our bomb sights?
Iran’s Oil Exchange threatens the Greenback
Discussion in 'Political Debate & Discussion' started by poncho, Jan 23, 2006.
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I heard that when Iran pulls it's oil out of OPEC the price of oil will go up to $100 a barrel.
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Where in the article did it mention Iran pulling out of OPEC? I must have missed it.
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A couple of counter-views:
LINK NO. 1
LINK NO.2 -
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Has any member of OPEC ever left it? To leave the cartel would appear to be giving up a lot of influence on keeping the world price of oil at a high level, which is the purpose of OPEC.
It's not my thread, it's poncho's. -
Go to online maps. Type in "Straits of Hormuz."
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I heard it on Fox News. But here's an article:
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Regarding Iran's stated plan to open an oil-exchange that is based on the Euro, here is what Roger Diwan, managing director at the Petroleum Finance Co. in Washington says,
"It's purely rhetorical. In order to have these oil contracts, you have to have a lot of people invest in them, and most of those people are in places like New York and London....I don't see a lot of investors in New York deciding to shift from New York to Tehran."
Dubai is trying to create a market also, but you don't hear anyone talking about the threat from them.
The talk from Tehran about trading in Euros is just another way to stay on the offensive against the West in general. -
As to Tehran's nuclear weapons capability, there have been different estimates. In November 2004 the Wall Street Journal reported that European officials believed Iran was five or six years away from possessing nuclear weapons....In January 2005, IDF Intelligence Branch chief Maj Gen Aharon Farkash stated that if Iran's uranium enrichment activities were not halted, it could develop its first atomic bomb some time between 2007 and 2009. The problem is that nobody knows for sure. The Iranian government says that it needs nuclear power, but burns off natural gas at it's wellheads!
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