Was I sleeping...How the hell did I miss this?

[serryjw]

quote.......
The Real Reasons Why Iran is the Next Target: The Emerging Euro-denominated International Oil Marker

The Iranians are about to commit an "offense" far greater than Saddam Hussein's conversion to the euro of Iraq’s oil exports in the fall of 2000. Numerous articles have revealed Pentagon planning for operations against Iran as early as 2005. While the publicly stated reasons will be over Iran's nuclear ambitions, there are unspoken macroeconomic drivers explaining the Real Reasons regarding the 2nd stage of petrodollar warfare - Iran's upcoming euro-based oil Bourse.



In 2005-2006, The Tehran government has a developed a plan to begin competing with New York's NYMEX and London's IPE with respect to international oil trades - using a euro-denominated international oil-trading mechanism. This means that without some form of US intervention, the euro is going to establish a firm foothold in the international oil trade. Given U.S. debt levels and the stated neoconservative project for U.S. global domination, Tehran's objective constitutes an obvious encroachment on U.S. dollar supremacy in the international oil market
end quote......

http://www.energybulletin.net/2913.html

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. We knew that we don't want the world coverting to the Euro, but

I didn't know about our concern with Iran specifically.

[Nabia2004]

2. Saddam intended to go euro also

[kiraboo]

4. Yeah, this came up in the early days of the war over on another

board I used to frequent. Repuke-dominated. They were not impressed with the argument but I think it has some merit as at least one of the reasons we're invading the middle east.

[ismnotwasm]

6. That was my understanding also

I wish I knew a little more about economics

[DanCa]

3. Blood money huh?

No federally funded war if that's the case.

[Speck Tater]

5. A military attack against Iran...

would overextend the armed forces to the breaking point, and bankrupt the country so fast that it would hasten the almost certain collapse of America as a world power.

Plus public opinion is already turning against the Iraq debacle. Another debacle will be the breaking point for the patience of the American public as well. It would be the end of the neo-cons, once and for all.

[Richard Steele]

11. They aren't going to use any troops. This time it's NUCLEAR.

It's the END of about 90% of all of _US_!

And the NeoCons have plans to rule over the remaining 10 percent.

[autorank]

7. Europe rose to it's current level of prosperity without a world currency.

Let Europe have it. They can dominate the last 20-50 years of filthy fuel while researchers and entrepreneurs develop alternative fuels. Oh, and they can deal with the Iranians, etc.

It occurs to me that there is actually something worse than an administration that attacks and meddles all over the middle east and central asia; an administration that did this well. Fortunately, we're not going to get the opting to "corner" the oil market. We will be foresed to think and create something new.

The bottom line is, if we fail to come up with an alternative fuel source in a few years, China and India coming online as "industrial" nations will turn global warming into global "broiling." We'll all te toast.

On those pleasant thoughts, good night.

[wli]

8. Good to see other people waking up to it.

I mentioned it in another thread a week or so ago.

[serryjw]

9. There is NO time to read MORE?

in the last 4 years and I still miss this?

[Literate Tar Heel]

10. I've been preaching this sermon for a few years

but unfortunately most people without an economics degree (I don't have one either ... just a minor in it) don't have a firm enough grip of macroeconomics to understand the real consequences of what happens as soon as there is a viable world market for Euro-based oil trading ... this, in my opinion, is mostly what Iraq was about, what Iran will be about, and is the source of our militant stance toward Venezuela

[serryjw]

12. Actually I have been following all this for years

I knew that Saddam threatened the american dollar when he sold oil in Euros, buy some how I missed this. Everything that is happening is about oil & whom will have control of it.

[Beam Me Up]

17. whoever controls the global energy market will control global commerce

if there is to be any

[Emit]

13. This came up on this thread a day or so ago

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1999919&mesg_id=2000980

It's hard to keep up with it all. Jeesh, it's not like we have a proactive free press helping out, either.

[WCGreen]

14. I wonder if they are working with Sudan and Venezuala...

I wonder.....

[LibertyorDeath]

15. Petrodollar Warfare

Petrodollar Warfare: Dollars, Euros and the Upcoming Iranian Oil Bourse
by William R. Clark
(Friday August 05 2005)

"A successful Iranian bourse will solidify the petroeuro as an alternative oil transaction currency, and thereby end the petrodollar's hegemonic status as the monopoly oil currency. Therefore, a graduated approach is needed to avoid precipitous U.S. economic dislocations."

"This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous...Having said that, all options are on the table."

-- President George W. Bush, February 2005

Contemporary warfare has traditionally involved underlying conflicts regarding economics and resources. Today these intertwined conflicts also involve international currencies, and thus increased complexity. Current geopolitical tensions between the United States and Iran extend beyond the publicly stated concerns regarding Iran's nuclear intentions, and likely include a proposed Iranian "petroeuro" system for oil trade. Similar to the Iraq war, military operations against Iran relate to the macroeconomics of 'petrodollar recycling' and the unpublicized but real challenge to U.S. dollar supremacy from the euro as an alternative oil transaction currency.

It is now obvious the invasion of Iraq had less to do with any threat from Saddam's long-gone WMD program and certainly less to do to do with fighting International terrorism than it has to do with gaining strategic control over Iraq's hydrocarbon reserves and in doing so maintain the U.S. dollar as the monopoly currency for the critical international oil market. Throughout 2004 information provided by former administration insiders revealed the Bush/Cheney administration entered into office with the intention of toppling Saddam.<1><2> Candidly stated, 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' was a war designed to install a pro-U.S. government in Iraq, establish multiple U.S military bases before the onset of global Peak Oil, and to reconvert Iraq back to petrodollars while hoping to thwart further OPEC momentum towards the euro as an alternative oil transaction currency ( i.e. "petroeuro").<3> However, subsequent geopolitical events have exposed neoconservative strategy as fundamentally flawed, with Iran moving towards a petroeuro system for international oil trades, while Russia evaluates this option with the European Union.
More
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/17450

[serryjw]

16. Now that King Fahd is dead

I wouldn't take Arabia off the table either.....I posted this before
quote....
OUR friends don't trust Bushit either. They know they are all crazy. If Ghawar were attached by USA and these bombs went off it would really be the end of modern civilization for decades. Ghawar represents 25% of the world's oil. The '39 depression would look like a picnic in comparison.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry at the absurdity of this. That is how desperate the Saudis are. If they can't keep their oil than no one will get it, and they know trouble is around the corner. When King Fahd dies they could easily have a civil war in Arabia and put the oil fields in jeopardy.
end quote.....


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thenewswire/archive/2005/05/embargoed-book-claims-sau_1.html

[LibertyorDeath]

18. Thanks I hadn't read it yet.

Definitely

"OUR friends don't trust Bushit either. They know they are all crazy."

[Emit]

19. Brings to mind this article, posted somewhere here at DU

yesterday. It's another important news story that has slipped under the radar and hasn't received the attention it deserves:

Most of those who listen to, watch or read the so-called “mainstream” national media are probably unaware that the U.S. embassy and consulates in Saudi Arabia were shut down this week due to “specific and credible” threats against American interests. On July 30, the 35,000 Americans in Saudi Arabia, one of our supposedly staunch allies in the Persian Gulf, were advised by the American embassy to leave the country. A similar advisory for Americans to leave the country was issued the same day in Kuwait, another of our great “allies.” In both cases, Americans in the area have been advised to exercise extreme caution when frequenting “Western” establishments and to change their travel habits regularly.

This new wave of discontent follows hard on the heels of the Aug. 1 death of King Fahd, who, at 84, had held the throne and led the House of Saud since 1982. Fahd was replaced—at least for now—by his 82-year-old half-brother, Crown Prince Abdullah, who has been primarily responsible for the kingdom’s leadership since Fahd’s stroke in 1995. Of particular interest is the appointment of Prince Sultan, the country’s defense minister, as the new crown prince. Reportedly, Sultan has been battling al-Queda sympathizers who “have targeted westerners in a bid to undermine the ruling al-Saud family and threaten the oil industry.” That battle, it would appear, is going to escalate.

What the calcified American press did pick up on was the corresponding rise in oil prices that accompanied this latest turn of events. On Monday, oil jumped to new highs, topping $64 a barrel, up nearly 50 percent from a year ago. Given that Saudi Arabia has the world’s largest known oil reserves, the specter of violence against western interests and their long-standing relationship with the Saudi royal family has been widely credited with contributing significantly to that increase.

Unless you made a conscious effort to connect the geopolitical dots, what most people will notice from all these warnings, shut-downs and threats is the continuing rise in the price of gas at the pump, which, like the price of crude oil, hit new record highs this week at a nationwide average of $2.34 per gallon. Despite George Bush’s crowing about the wonderful new energy bill, with its billions in subsidies for polluting industries, the price of gas is likely to put the pinch on your pocketbook far into the foreseeable future.

http://www.everyweek.com/News/News.asp?no=5099

[serryjw]

20. This was an accident waiting to happen

quote.......
Saudi Arabia’s current social crisis has given new life to the Islamist opposition. Average incomes have slumped from $16,000 a year in the early 1980s to $7,000 by 2001.

Power cuts and water rationing are a regular feature of life for many Saudis.

The port city of Jeddah, with three million inhabitants, has 300 palaces for royalty but no sewage system.

Unemployment has soared as a population explosion over the last 30 years means that around 100,000 young Saudis are entering the labour market each year.

end quote......
http://www.countercurrents.org/saud-ashford130805.htm

How many of these are entering Iraq and joining the anti-American movement?

[Talismom]

21. I'd heard a radio interview about how the Saudis have "protected" their

oil fields with bombs to make sure that the neocons don't turn on them and grab them. They don't trust this crowd any more than we do.

[serryjw]

22. READ post #16!

n/t

[alfredo]

23. But hasn't King Fahd been just a figurehead for the past few

years? It does seem that a transition has been made. Of course that doesn't mean that there will not be a power struggle when the next generation is poised to take power. Then there's the Osama factor and the scary fact that Iraq becoming an Iranian style Shiite state.

hard times are coming.

[serryjw]

24. Out of respect they didn't

change much while he was alive. The domestic condition of the country has gotten so much worse in the last 10 years

[alfredo]

26. Will we see any reform,

or will we see women remain nothing more than pack animals.

[serryjw]

29. First and Foremost

will not be concerning woman's rights. When you are starving there is little time for the bigger picture. They need to create an economy where they can educate & employ Saudi's or I will be right there will be a civil war ( Saudi's against the Royal Family)The clerics and the Saudi's are much more conversative in their beliefs than the Royal Family that has been in bed with the West for way to long. If they don't address the powder keg will explode into the same violence we see in Iraq.

[alfredo]

30. That's a given.

With Iraq out of the way, Iran will be able to march right into Saudi Arabia with the help of the Shia of southern Iraq. We won't be able to do much of anything to stop them short of nuclear war.

The Shiite want to control the mideast. To do that they will have to defeat the more moderate Sunni. Deposing Saddam was the first step in their crusade. Thanks to Bush.

Bush is getting his Armageddon.

[serryjw]

31. What a pretty thought

...and I have little hope the dems can fix this mess

[alfredo]

32. I have little hope it can be fixed.

It would take someone who hasn't a dog in this fight to fix it.

[bleever]

28. Kick

[Beam Me Up]

25. kik

[MelissaB]

27. kick