12/29/2009 OpEdNews - Article: Irans Oil Exchange t…

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January 22, 2006 at 23:26:47
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Iran​s Oil Exchange threatens the VIEW FAVORITES
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By Mike Whitney (about the author) Page 1 of 1 page(s)

ope dne ws.com Permalink

For OpEdNews: Mike Whitney - Writer

The Bush administration will never allow

the Iranian government to open an oil premium rt. liberal
exchange (bourse) that trades petroleum blogad info
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.
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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
�
The Bats and the Bees
Mohammed ElBaradei has said repeatedly that his watchdog agency has found no
�
Obama Says ‘We Will Not
evidence of a nuclear weapons program. Rest’ Until Plotters Found
(Update3)
Some Fantastic Place
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 Jim & Dawn helpfully keep
Rory's hope alive
the unavoidable workings of the free market.
Republican Jim DeMint
Blames Obama For
America monopolizes the oil trade. Oil is denominated in dollars and sold on either the "Christmas Bomber" While
NYMEX or London's International Petroleum Exchange (IPE), both owned by Americans. Putting Hold On TSA
Appointment
This forces the central banks around the world to maintain huge stockpiles of dollars even
Is Ron Sparks Really The
though the greenback is currently underwritten by $8 trillion of debt and even though the Best Candidate For AL-05?
Bush administration has said that it will perpetuate the deficit-producing tax cuts. Maybe Not.
I’ll Be Seeing You
America's currency monopoly is the perfect pyramid-scheme. As long as nations are Read more...
forced to buy oil in dollars, the United States can continue its profligate spending with Advertise here
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.

The effort to keep information about Iran's oil exchange out of the headlines has been
extremely successful. A simple Google search shows that NONE of the major newspapers
Most Popular
or networks has referred to the upcoming bourse. The media's aversion to controversial
Articles
stories which serve the public interest has been evident in many other cases, too, like
in the Last 2 Days
the fraudulent 2004 presidential elections, the Downing Street Memo, and the flattening (by Recommend Emails)
of Falluja. Rather than inform, the media serves as a bullhorn for government policy;
manipulating public opinion by reiterating the specious demagoguery of the Bush Now I'm Really Getting
administration. As a result, few people have any idea of the gravity of the present threat Pissed Off by David
facing the American economy. Michael Green

This is not a �liberal vs. conservative� issue. Those who've analyzed the problem draw Walk Away From the

opednews.com/…/opedne_mike_whi_06… 1/4
12/29/2009 OpEdNews - Article: Irans Oil Exchange t…
the very same conclusions; if the Iran exchange flourishes the dollar will plummet and the Health Reform Bill by
American economy will shatter. Rob Kall

This is what author Krassimir Petrov, Ph.D in economics, says in a recent article The An Avatar Awakening
Proposed Iranian Oil Bourse: by David Swanson

�From a purely economic point of view, should the Iranian Oil Bourse gain momentum, it Department of
will be eagerly embraced by major economic powers and will precipitate the demise of the Veterans Affairs
dollar. The collapsing dollar will dramatically accelerate U.S. inflation and will pressure Reports 73 Thousand
upward U.S. long-term interest rates. At this point, the Fed will find itself between U.S. Gulf War Deaths
...between deflation and hyperinflation-it will be forced fast either to take its "classical by Clive Boustred
medicine" by deflating, whereby it raises interest rates, thus inducing a major economic
depression, a collapse in real estate, and an implosion in bond, stock, and derivative Detroit Airliner Terror
markets, with a total financial collapse, or alternatively, to take the Weimar way out by Incident: A
inflating, whereby it pegs the long-bond yield, raises the Helicopters and drowns the Convenience Theory
financial system in liquidity, bailing out numerous LTCMs and hyperinflating the economy. by Grant Lawrence

No doubt, Commander-in-Chief Ben Bernanke, a renowned scholar of the Great The Courage of
Depression..., will choose inflation. ...The Maestro has taught him the panacea of every Michael Vick by Brasch
single financial problem-to inflate, come hell or high water. ...To avoid deflation, he will
resort to the printing presses...and, if necessary, he will monetize everything in sight. His For Obama, No
ultimate accomplishment will be the hyperinflationary destruction of the American Opportunity Too Big
currency ...� To Blow by Naomi
Klein
� � �
So, raise interest rates and bring on total financial collapse or take the Weimar way
� �
out and cause the hyperinflationary destruction of the American economy. � Glen Beck Is Officially
Crowned King Of Fools
These are not good choices, and yet, we're hearing the same pronouncements from right- So Now We...Cry! by
� �
wing analysts. Alan Peter's article, Mullah's Threat not Sinking In , which appeared in Daniel Vojir
FrontPage Magazine.com, offers these equally sobering thoughts about the dangers of an
Iran oil-exchange: 2000-2009: America's
Lost Decade by Bob
� A glut of dollar holdings by Central Banks and among Asian lenders, plus the current low Burnett
interest rate offered to investor/lenders by the USA has been putting the dollar in
jeopardy for some time... A twitching finger on currency's hair-trigger can shoot down the Save Congo: Send
dollar without any purposeful ill intent. Most estimates place the likely drop to "floor Hillary Clinton AVATAR
levels" at a rapid 50% loss in value for a presently 40% overvalued Dollar. � by Georgianne
Nienaber
The erosion of the greenback's value was predicted by former Fed-chief Paul Volcker who
�
said that there is a 75% chance of a dollar crash in the next 5 years . �
Go To Top 50 Most
Such a crash would result in soaring interest rates, hyperinflation, skyrocketing energy Popular
costs, massive unemployment and, perhaps, depression. This is the troubling scenario if
an Iran bourse gets established and knocks the dollar from its lofty perch. And this is
what makes the prospect of war, even nuclear war, so very likely.

Peter's continues:
�With economies so interdependent and interwoven, a global, not just American TOP EDITORIA LS:
US P re ss Ignore s Egyptian
Depression would occur with a domino effect throwing the rest of world economies into Suppre ssion of Gaza
poverty. Markets for acutely less expensive US exports would never materialize. Fre e do m March
by R obe rt Naim an
O ne Day W e 'll All Be
The result, some SME's estimate, might be as many as 200 million Americans out of work Te rrorists
and starving on the streets with nobody and nothing able to rescue or aid them, contrary
�
by C hris He dge s
Voluntary tax ation
to the 1920/30 Great Depression through soup kitchens and charitable support efforts.
by Sie gfrie d O thm e r
Is this the Ne x t Iranian
Liberal or conservative, the analysis is the same. If America does not address the R e volution?
by Micha e l C ollins
catastrophic potential of the Iran bourse, Americans can expect to face dire
Mo re Mom s Have to Go to
circumstances. W ar
by Nancy Fulton
Eve r Ex panding W ars: An
Now we can understand why the corporate-friendly media has omitted any mention of
Appalling Ne w Y e ar
new oil exchange in their coverage. This is one secret that the boardroom kingpins would C e rtainty
rather keep to themselves. It's easier to convince the public of nuclear hobgoblins and by Em ily Spe nce
Mino rity R ule
Islamic fanatics than to justify fighting a war for the anemic greenback. Never the less, it
by John Base l
is the dollar we are defending in Iraq and, presumably, in Iran as well in the very near Public C itize n wrote the
future. (Saddam converted to the euro in 2000. The bombing began in 2001) following using the
langua ge of R alph Nade r--
i.e . spe ak ing truth whe re it
There are peaceful solutions to this dilemma, but not if the Bush administration insists on ne e ds to be spok e n
hiding behind the moronic deception of terrorism or imaginary nuclear weapons programs. by ALO NE
C he e rle ading for W all
Bush needs to come clean with the American people about the real nature of the global
Stre e t
energy crisis and stop invoking Bin Laden and WMD to defend American aggression. We by David Gle nn C ox
need a comprehensive energy strategy, (including government funding for conservation
�
Air Te rror Attack C ould
Have Be e n Pre ve nte d By
projects, alternative energy-sources, and the development of a new line of American-
�
made hybrid vehicles) candid negotiations with Iran to regulate the amount of oil they
Not Invading Iraq e tc.
by Jay Janson
will sell in euros per year (easing away from the dollar in an orderly way) and a collective
� �
Through A Look ing Glass,
Dark ly
international approach to energy consumption and distribution (under the auspices of
by Alle n L R oland
the UN General Assembly) W hat the Ne w Y e ar
De m ands
by R obe rt P arry
Greater parity among currencies should be encouraged as a way of strengthening
C le an-Up Tim e
democracies and invigorating markets. It promises to breathe new life into free trade by by Micha e l Fo x
allowing other political models to flourish without fear of being subsumed into the Dog De a le rs Ra ide d at Je t
Spe e d
capitalist prototype. The current dominance of the greenback has created a global empire
by Me rritt C lifton
that is largely dependent on debt, torture, and war to maintain its supremacy. The O ccupie d W e st Bank
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12/29/2009 OpEdNews - Article: Irans Oil Exchange t…
by Ste phe n Le ndm an by david snie ck us
Iran's oil bourse poses the greatest challenge yet to the dollar-monopoly and its
An Ava tar Awak e ning Ge tting the Scoop fro m
proponents at the Federal Reserve. If the Bush administration goes ahead with a
� �
preemptive nuclear strike on alleged weapons sites, allies will be further alienated and
by David Swanson Nationally Syndicate d

�
He alth IN$UR ANC E
by John Jonik
others will be forced to respond. As Dr. Petrov says, Major dollar-holding countries may
De troit Airline r Te rror
decide to quietly retaliate by dumping their own mountains of dollars, thus preventing the
U.S. from further financing its militant ambitions. � Incide nt: A Conve nie nce
The ory
by Grant Lawre nce
2009: Anothe r hard ye ar
There is increasing likelihood that the foremost champions of the present system will be for Am e rican Muslim s
the one's who bring about its downfall. by Abdus Sattar Gha zali
W HO W ILL W ATC H THE
W ATC H LIST ?
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W ar Targe t Ge ts Its O wn
Mike is a freelance writer living in Te rror Icon
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R e straint"
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You W on't Go Awa y?
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Re : «Iran's oil exchange threatens the greenback» by mhenriday on Wednesday, Jan 25,
2006 at 2:02:10 PM
Are the Anti-Israel comments rational? by Bill Neenan on Thursday, Jan 26, 2006 at 8:41:57 PM

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