UAE, Saudi considering to move reserves out of dollar in wake of Dubai

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

UAE, Saudi considering to move reserves out of dollar

http://www.middleeastforex.com/index.php?section=147



WASHINGTON — A number of Middle Eastern central banks said on Tuesday they would seek to switch reserves from the US greenback to euros.

The United Arab Emirates said it was considering moving one-tenth of its dollar reserves to the euro, while the governor of the Saudi Arabian central bank condemned the decision by the United States to force Dubai Ports World to transfer its ownership to a ‘US entity,’ the UK Independent reported. “Is it protectionism or discrimination? Is it okay for US companies to buy everywhere but it is not okay for other companies to buy the US?” said Hamad Saud Al Sayyari, the governor of the Saudi Arabian monetary authority.

The head of the United Arab Emirates central bank, Sultan Nasser Al Suweidi, said the bank was considering converting 10 per cent of its reserves from dollars to euros. “They are contravening their own principles,” said Al Suweidi. “Investors are going to take this into consideration (and) will look at investment opportunities through new binoculars.”

The Commercial Bank of Syria has already switched the state’s foreign currency transactions from dollars to euros, Duraid Durgham head of the state-owned bank said. The decision by the bank of Syria follows the announcement by the White House calling on all US financial institutions to end correspondent accounts with Syria due to money-laundering concerns. Syria’s Finance Minister Mohammad Al Hussein said: “Syria affirms that this decision and its timing are fundamentally political.”-Khaleej Times Online

[cornermouse]

1. I'm going to become a heretic about it.

Maybe its just as well if they do move their money out and do it now instead of waiting until later when they own even more of us and we're even deeper in debt.

[Old and In the Way]

2. I read this as a threat, too.

If they dump their financial holdings, it could be ugly for the USD. OTOH, do we really want to sell out the assets of this country to the highest bidder?

Our government is being run like a business....like a business, these people are selling tangible assets to the highest bidder.

Pretty scary.

[cornermouse]

3. Yep.

We might as well face up to it and get past whatever damage is done sooner rather than later.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

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[Old and In the Way]

16. Very sobering..............if I might suggest, you ought to start your

own thread on this information. I had no idea that foreign investments were in this deep. I'll bet the majority of Americans don't realize this. While we keep printing the paper, the paper owners redeem for our assets.

I'd be interested in seeing what the total value of publically owned assets have been sold off over the past 5 years.

The future looks pretty grim. We'll soon be renters in our own country. Ownership society? Ha....try Rentership Society.

[BR_Parkway]

4. Petrodollars to petroEuros, this just gives them the public face they

can show for what they're doing so that it doesn't panic the US markets and tank their current investments while they are making the switchover.

[FloridaPat]

5. This is stupid. The US trains bin Laden and creates al Qaeda.

The US blames Saudi Arabia on 9-11 but invades Afghanistan and creates death and destruction to a lot of Muslims. Then the US illegally invades Iraq and thousands of Muslims die in the mess, the country is a disaster, and the whole Middle East is on shaky ground. The US is trying hard to invade Iran. Thousands of Muslims are tortured and put in prison with no rights and no charges. There are all the Abu Ghraib pictures and films. But the Arab countries are upset over a business deal? And they got the ports. It's not like the deal fell through like 98% of the people believe it has. Doesn't Saudi Arabia own a big chunk of the US? Maybe it's really the Iranian bourse that is helping these countries make the switch. But I really find it hard to believe this is all that could upset them, unless there is a huge game going on that we can't see. Like * and the Saudis are going to take over the Middle East together and keep all the oil to themselves.

[CJCRANE]

7. I'd go along with your last sentence.

Saddam's Iraq was a rival and threat to Saudi Arabia. Bushco did their dirty work and took them out. Iran too is a rival power.

Once Bushco have taken down Iran and Syria there's nothing to stop the oil sheikhs reaping the benefits of a huge Middle Eastern free trade zone.

(And when the oil sheikhs benefit Bushco benefits).

[WePurrsevere]

8. To many of the rich the lower classes are expendable, they are nothing

except worker bees that reproduce and bring them truck loads of honey (money). What's a bit of collateral damage when millions and billions can be made? :sarcasm:

I'm pretty sure there's a game going on... it's a real life type of Monopoly. If these rich business men and county's leaders truly cared about all the insults, crimes and horrors BushCo have perpetrated on their fellow Arabs/Muslims they could have done quite a bit to punish us. Instead their leaders are holding hands and kissing Bush's...feet. If another country or leader had done or was doing to us all that BushCo and "Americans" have done and are doing to them would we be this "friendly"? ... The way things have been going I don't think so.

None of what's been going on lately has been about "people", it's about big BIG money. This is part of what being a Dem is all about to me... putting people FIRST. I'm not saying that money and business don't have a place. I get some satisfaction when I sell some of my art or an antique/collectible and I enjoy a fun day helping our economy and shopping once in a while, B-) but when push comes to shove people must come first and not be looked upon, treated like or dehumanized down to merely "collateral"... sadly I truly believe that to BushCo and many others like him the middle and lower classes of people are nothing except an expendable (yet to be placated to keep us complacent) end to a means... $$$$$$$$$$$$$.

edited for more clarity... I hope :hangover:

[FloridaPat]

13. A dot connection - Saudia Arabia's oil fields aren't in great shape.

I wonder if the whole things is to really help Saudi Arabia. There is a link but it's to Michael Ruppert's premium services. Here is a small part of it though:

"Matt Simmons and others have shown us all too well how strained by secondary and tertiary recovery injection are Saudi Arabia’s fields. The recent collapse of Burgan in Kuwait re-emphasizes the dangers of pushing secondary recovery. I believe the evidence shows that Ghawar and the lesser members of Saudi’s “royal family” of fields are teetering already. This will only turbo charge that process.

At this moment I am less afraid of an attack on Iran than I am that either oil supplies will start to collapse or that a climate crisis will occur. But these developments are stark reminders of the gravity of the present situation. It is almost as if the human race intends to commit suicide."



http://www.fromthewilderness.com/
BREAKING: Game of Iranian Roulette Escalates Through Japan - More Pressure on Ghawar by Michael C. Ruppert (No summary available.)

[WePurrsevere]

6. I figured they'd be switching over to euros anyway but making it sound

like a threat of some type or implying that this is based purely on prejudice just ticks me off. Unless I missed a rather large piece of news we're not stopping ALL "Arab" investments in this country, we're just trying to control ALL foreign investments in areas where our national security has a fairly high potential of being compromised.

This just makes me even more convinced (if one be more then 100%) that we need to become more self sufficient & independant of foreign oil. Not at the cost of the environment or our wilderness areas (we'll be running out very soon anyway) but working to make clean alternative energy inexpensive and available to all Americans.

[Disturbed]

9. These are the Bush Regme Allies?

I guess shrub didn't kiss the King enough.

[no_hypocrisy]

10. I don't suppose that Saudi Arabia is enriching uranium these days, eh? n/t

[DrGonzoLives]

12. Good

Seeing as how the UAE allows NO foreign investment whatsoever, they shouldn't have any financial stake here, either.

[closeupready]

14. Is that true? Sauce for the goose, then, eh?

Such a restriction does not a level playing field make, UAE.

[Sensitivity]

17. False. sorry to say. Check out new stock exchange project

Few locations in the world more investor friendly.

http://www.difc.ae/exchange/index.html

[DrGonzoLives]

18. There are plenty more investor friendly

True, they are opening up somewhat, but it's still virtually impossible for a foreigner (80-85% of UAE's population) to own land. Then there are these laws:

Source: U.S. State Department

The Federal Companies Law applies to all commercial companies established in the UAE and to branch offices of foreign companies operating in the UAE. Companies established in the UAE are required to have a minimum of 51 percent UAE national ownership. However, profits may be apportioned differently. Branch offices of foreign companies are required to have a national agent unless the foreign company has established its office pursuant to an agreement with the federal or an emirate government. All general partnership interest must be owned by UAE nationals. Foreign shareholders may hold up to a 49 percent interest in limited liability companies.

The Commercial Agencies Law requires that foreign principals distribute their products in the UAE only through exclusive commercial agents that are either UAE nationals or companies wholly owned by UAE nationals. The foreign principal can appoint one agent for the entire UAE or for a particular emirate or group of emirates. The law provides that an agent may be terminated only by mutual agreement of the foreign principal and the local agent, notwithstanding the expiration of the term of the agency agreement.

The Federal Industry Law stipulates that industrial projects must have 51 percent UAE national ownership. The law also requires that projects either be managed by a UAE national or have a board of directors with a majority of UAE nationals. Exemptions from the law are provided for projects related to extraction and refining of oil, natural gas, and other raw materials. Additionally, projects with a small capital investment or special projects governed by special laws or agreements are exempt from the industry law.

The Government Tenders Law stipulates that a supplier, contractor, or tenderer with respect to federal projects must either be a UAE national or a company in which UAE nationals own at least 51 percent of the share capital or foreign entities represented by a UAE distributor or agent. Foreign companies wishing to bid for a federal project must, therefore, enter into a joint venture or agency arrangement with a UAE national or company. Federal tenders must accompany a bid bond in the form of an unconditional bank bond guarantee for 5 percent of the value of the bid. If goods and services are not available locally then UAE federal government entities often tender internationally.

In other words, there is no way in hell any company outside of the UAE would be able to do what Dubai Ports wanted to do in the U.S. If we are going to commit ourselves to fair trade, that means that countries we do business with must play by the same rules, which the UAE does not.

[Sensitivity]

19. A little history would be useful. Regulations are reaction to Colonial

past in which ownership of the economic heights in many of these countries was in the
hands of foreign potentates in Turkey, England or France.

The U.S. and other former colonial empires are the ones that have been
persistently pushing free-trade principles on the globe to their strategic advantage,
while blocking free-trade when it was not convenient.

The U.S. standard of living is heavily subsidized by countries all over the world as a
result of Terms Of Trade which are balanced to favor us: i.e. we buy low and sell high as a result of our military and economic power and dominant role in shaping the terms of globalization.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

15. kicked and recommended

:kick: