Iraqi Oil and the U.S. Dollar
I do not for one minute pretend to be any sort of expert or scholar of international currency trading, petroleum development, or Middle East politics. I do, however, have a nagging thought in my mind about the current war in Iraq.
The US government is telling the American people that we are engaged in a "War on Terror" against radicals and various government which harbor and/or foster them and their allies. However, President Bush simply refuses to close the border between Mexico, instead opting to deploy 150,000+ troops to the Middle East. He tells us that we must fight the "terrorists" on offense, and that waiting at home to be struck again is doomed for failure. I don't necessarily disagree, but wouldn't the best idea be to do both?
After all, with our armed forces spread around the globe in Korea, Germany, the Balkans, the Middle East and elsewhere, our homeland must be a more appealing target than it's been for many years. I believe that the only responsible way to fight this "War on Terror" includes BOTH strong border security at home, heightened deportation and detention power for local and State police, reduced or suspended immigration and international military action when and where we have actionable intelligence and opportunities to disrupt the plans and sanctuaries of our enemies.
At a cost of 1400 dead and 10,000 wounded Americans, as well as who knows how many dead Iraqi civilians and would-be policemen, the Iraqi people recently had a chance to vote in a their first free and fair election in 50 years. Hopefully, that election will send strong signals to other Arab leaders and their people who also may prefer the ballot box to the bomb belt or the torture chamber.
In recent years, Israel has built miles of fence line effectively cutting off parts of Gaza from the "Palestinians", who until the construction of the fence had easy access to heavily concentrated Jewish areas, which often provided attractive targets to the suicide bombers of al-Aqsa and Hamas.
Repeatedly, the United Nations Security Council has moved to sanction Israel for the fence, yet the United States has vetoed the measure each and every time, raising an interesting question, and the crucial one to understanding why the facts being told by President Bush just don't add up to the logical conclusion he offers.
Why doesn't America build a fence between Mexico and our precious homeland? If it's good enough for Israel, what possible reason could we have for not following their example of an idea that has turned out to be an overwhelming, though not perfect, solution to the problem they face?
There must be another reason for the wars we are fighting in the Middle East right now...
In April 1997, a study was released by the James A Baker Institute at Rice University. It said the following:
- While the U.S. and Western allies can respond effectively to outright military adventurism in the Gulf region, fashioning effectual policy responses to internal instability or anti-Western ideological movements will be far more difficult.
- A U.N. panel on Monday approved Iraq's plan to receive oil-export payments in Europe's single currency after Baghdad decided to move the start date back a week.
- Were France, Germany, Russia and a number of OPEC oil countries to now shift even a small portion of their dollar reserves into euro to buy bonds of Germany or France or the like, the United States would face a strategic crisis beyond any of the postwar period.
- Iraq is going ahead with its plans to stop using the U.S. dollar in its oil business in spite of warnings the move makes no financial sense.
- In the last two months, Sadam Hussein has caused international turmoil by demanding payment for its oil in euros rather than dollars, the industry's accepted form of payment.
- Iran's proposal to receive payments for crude oil sales to Europe in euros instead of U.S. dollars is based primarily on economics, Iranian and industry sources said.
But politics are still likely to be a factor in any decision, they said, as Iran uses the opportunity to hit back at the U.S. government, which recently labeled it part of an "axis of evil."
The proposal, which is now being reviewed by the Central Bank of Iran, is likely to be approved if presented to the country's parliament, a parliamentary representative said.
- The US State Department has pushed back its planned meeting with Iraqi opposition leaders on exploiting Iraq's oil and gas reserves after a US military offensive removes Saddam Hussein from power to early December.
- Communist North Korea has said it will stop using American dollars from Sunday and start using euros instead.
- The Iraqi account, held at BNP Paribas, has also been earning a higher rate of interest in euros than it would have in dollars.
England -Though Tony Blair recently called on George Bush to get on the global warming bandwagon, British is resisiting the European Union and therefore perhaps the Euro is not as important to the British gov't as it is to Paris or Berlin.
"New" Europe - Many of these countries are less than enthused about the development of the European Union as well. Since many were Soviet bloc states, the pain and suffering of socialist governments rings all too fresh in the minds of the Eastern European countries.
Australia - With much stronger ties to London and Washington than other countries, and having watched PM John Howard win reelection, it seems that the Aussies are among a minority of nations whose people still yearn for liberty and individual freedom.
George Soros - Again, myself not being overly knowledgeable of currency markets, I'm really not sure about this man and how he makes his money. However, it has been said that he made part of his mega-fortune by orchestrating the collapse of the British Pound years ago, and therefore, in the absence of conflicting evidence, I can only assume that he would be willing to try the same thing to America and the dollar. Remember, Soros is not an American, and by no means can he be considered an American nationalist.
France/Germany/Russia - All have struggling economies, and are unable to lift themselves up to compete on the global stage with America, Japan, or China. It may be that these governments chose instead to hurt the American economy, thereby bringing us down to them since they can't rise up. Further, Paris and Berlin are major factors in the drive towards the European Union and any strengthening of the Euro can only help the credibility of the EU and its proponents.
Does any of this look familiar, as in those who favored the war in Iraq and those who did not?
posted by Veritas at 09:30
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