INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - LOOKING GLASS NEWS | |
Iranian Oil Bourse Opens for Business: A Final Step Toward US Dollar Collapse & Preemptive Nuclear Strike |
|
by Daniel L. Abrahamson InfoWars.com Entered into the database on Saturday, May 13th, 2006 @ 17:47:24 MST |
|
The impending opening of the Iranian International Oil Bourse (IOB),
set to commence trading next week on the island nation of Kish, strongly increases
the chances of an imminent nuclear American-Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear
and financial facilities. The electronic oil bourse, much
discussed by terrorism expert Webster Tarpley, appears ready to launch in
the coming weeks or even days. Because it will offer oil in euros, it may trigger
the rapid collapse of the U.S. dollar. Over the past four days, the Western media has finally ended their blackout
and acknowledged the possibility of an imminent dollar collapse, as gold reaches
nearly $700 an ounce. On Friday, May 5, the Associated Press covered the oil bourse with their article
“Iran
wants oil market in Euros.” The article warns of a rapid decline in
the dollar while feebly attempting to minimize the importance of the oil bourse. Nevertheless, the AP quotes a top Wall Street analyst who gives a far more
realistic assessment: “But if one day the world's largest oil producers
allowed, or worse demanded, euros for their barrels, ‘it would be the
financial equivalent of a nuclear strike,’ said A.G. Edwards commodities
analyst Bill O'Grady. ‘If OPEC decided they didn't want dollars anymore,’ he added, ‘it
would signal an end of American hegemony by signaling an end to the dollar as
the sole reserve currency status.’ Incredibly, some neocon warmongers are now openly calling for a strike on Iran
because of the bourse. On May 8, Bush apologist Jerome Corsi penned an editorial entitled “Iran
Signs It’s Own Death Warrant.” Corsi is the same GOP hack who
helped sponsor the Swift Boat ads & wrote Unfit for Command during the staged
2004 presidential election. In his article he admits a major reason for the
US invasion of Iraq was the oil-for-euros policy of Saddam Hussein, and warns
of China’s interest in the oil bourse. He then goes further, predicting an imminent US attack: “If Iran wants
also to seriously threaten the dollar's position as a dominant foreign reserve
currency, a war becomes almost certain. The Iranian oil bourse may never be
mentioned by U.S. policymakers as a official reason the United States decides
to go to war with Iran, but it may end up being the straw that broke the camel's
back.” According to Forbes, the
bourse may open this week. In their May 7 coverage, they suggest the electronic
oil market is ready for trading: “Iran's oil ministry on Friday also made
a move to establish an oil-trading market denominated in euros instead of U.S.
dollars, granting a license for the bourse, according to a report from the country's
state-run television.” Warren Buffett who is a well known Rothschild banker is predicting demise,
Bill Gates, George Soros are all predicting economic demise The Forbes coverage echoes another article from April 26, when the Iranian
state media reported
their oil-for-euros market will open some time in the next week. Iranian
Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh made the announcement at the 10th General
Assembly of International Energy Agency and consultations with OPEC member states.
Meanwhile, Reuters is reporting the
bourse will not open for another two months, based on quotes from President
Ahmadinejad. So assuming the bourse opens sometime between now and the next two months,
how might it disrupt the fragile geopolitical balance which has reached near
Cuban Missile crisis proportions? Clearly the economic threat of the Iranian Oil Bourse is one of the main motives
behind the pending US invasion, rather than the bogus official claims of a nuclear
threat. The National Intelligence Estimate from the US State Department acknowledges
Iran is at least 10 years away from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Even the more
hawkish estimates from within the White House estimate Iran
is at least three years away from acquiring a nuclear weapon. On April 30, Al-Jazeerah reported the
oil bourse has widespread international support, and “Some of the
major oil-producing countries such as Venezuela (which has boosted its economic
ties with Iran) and a few of the larger oil consuming countries, most notably
China and India, have already announced their support for the IOB.” The Al-Jazeerah article, entitled “Petro-Euro: A reality or distant nightmare
for U.S.?” warned that the Iranian oil bourse could sink the U.S. dollar
and lead to the rise of the euro as the world’s reserve currency: “Such
a move could lead to a collapse in value for the American currency, potentially
putting the U.S. economy in its greatest crisis since the depression era of
the 1930s.” The same article mentions how Saddam Hussein’s decision to trade oil
for euros in 2000 may have been a major trigger for the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Al-Jazeerah also quotes American security expert William Clark as predicting
that “if Iran threatened the hegemony of the U.S. dollar in the international
oil market, the White House would immediately order a military attack against
it.” Before this week, the mainstream media had tried desperately tried to blackout
news about the bourse. A small mention came in a UPI article from April 25,
while an April 2 piece in the San
Francisco Chronicle warned, “the bourse would rival the New York Mercantile
Exchange and International Petroleum Exchange in London -- the twin centers
of the oil-trading world. They quoted the cogent analysis
of finance scholar Krassimir Petrov, who wrote, “The Iranian government
has finally developed the ultimate 'nuclear' weapon that can swiftly destroy
the financial system underpinning the American Empire." Why would Iran’s oil exchange present such a threat to the U.S. dollar
and worldwide economy? The dollar accounts for more than two thirds of all central bank reserves worldwide
because all international oil transactions have to be in US Dollars. This reserve
status creates a constant demand for dollars, despite the underlying weakness
of the U.S. economy. Hence, central banks are willing to overlook the massive
trade and budget deficits are expanding with
on-the-books Federal debt at record highs over 9 trillion and a fiscal
gap estimated at $72 trillion. But the United States is an economy on life support and nearing default, ravaged
by agreements like NAFTA, CAFTA, and MFN trade status with China (all under
the auspices of the WTO). The industrial and machine tools factories in America
have been eviscerated, with Ford
posting a quarterly loss of 1.2 billion. GM posted a quarterly loss of $325
million and both
companies had their bonds cut to junk status back in 2005. Ravaged by capital flight, mired in debt, and borrowing $2 billion a day just
to stay afloat, the U.S. economy is increasingly reliant on this petrodollar
reserve status. The vast size of U.S. liabilities means that any threat to the
dollar hegemony could result in a rapid currency collapse, sinking the world
into recession. Hence the dire threat of the Iranian Oil Bourse, which may put
an end to the fiat currency charade that began after the US defaulted on its
gold payments in 1971. On Wednesday May 3, the dollar fell to one-year lows against the euro and the
lowest level since 1970 against the Canadian dollar. A Telegraph article entitled
“Dollar drops as great sell-off looms” described the impending currency
crisis as the dollar loses its role as the world’s reserve currency: “Greenback
liquidation comes amid growing concerns that global central banks and Middle
East oil funds are quietly paring back their holdings of US bonds… Gold
leapt to a 25-year high of $660.95 an ounce on fears the dollar decline could
spiral out of control, disrupting the global financial system.” The demise of the dollar looms as the Federal Reserve stopped releasing M3
money supply numbers on March 20. Some unconfirmed internet rumors claim the
Fed recently ordered 2 trillion greenbacks printed. While such reports may seem
outlandish, new Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a speech in 2003:
“"The US government has a technology called a printing press that
allows it to produce as many US dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost.” A February 6 article in the London Telegraph expounded on Bernanke’s
reputation as an inflationist. Discussing Bernanke’s position, they wrote:
“Ultimately, the Fed can flood the system by buying any kind of asset,
or even dropping bank notes from helicopters, he said. The speech earned him
the epithet ‘Helicopter Ben’" Even before Bernanke took over, Alan Greenspan helped direct the Fed’s
desperate scheme of raising interest rates 15 times since June 2004, vastly
increasing liquidity, and debasing the value of the U.S. dollar. The Financial Times reported on May 16 that the dollar was facing a freefall
collapse, in an article entitled “Fears for dollar as central banks sell
US assets.” The article explained the recent sell-off in the dollar was
triggered by dollar divestiture by the European central banks: “The world's
central banks were net sellers of US assets in March for the first time since
September 2002, according to figures that may hint that the recent rebound in
the dollar will be temporary. Central banks sold a net $14.4bn in US assets
during the month, the largest sale since August 1998, the US Treasury revealed.” Russia’s Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin recently warned of a dollar collapse
on April 21 at the opening spring session of the International Monetary Fund.
He said “Russia cannot consider the dollar as a reliable reserve currency
because of its instability. This currency has devalued by 40% against the euro
in recent years.” Two years ago Russia had nearly 90% holdings in US dollars
and today that proportion has fallen to below 80% The same IMF conference featured the release of the 2006 World Economic Outlook,
which warned of a U.S. dollar collapse due to global trade imbalances, spiraling
U.S. debt, and the demise of the petrodollar reserve standard. The report stated,
"global current account imbalances are likely to remain at elevated levels
for longer than would otherwise have been the case, heightening the risk of
sudden disorderly adjustment". “Disorderly adjustment” is the newest banker euphemism for the
hyperinflationary spiral and worldwide economic depression which will accompany
a dollar collapse. On that same day of April 21, Sweden’s Riksbank recently cut their dollar
holdings in half, instead favoring Euros. Reuter reported that, “The Riksbank's
move to increase its euro holdings to 50 percent of its reserves follows comments
by Gulf central banks in recent weeks that they are considering increasing the
share of the euro in their reserves. Back in February, South Korea shocked the currency markets when they announced
a move away from dollar-denominated assets. CNN reported, “The world's
fourth-largest stockpile of reserves that has traditionally been held in U.S.
debt…announced its plans to diversify into other currencies.” Recently, currency shocks hit Iceland and New Zealand and may portend a global
financial meltdown in its growing stages. Within hushed circles on Wall Street, the impending dollar crisis has been
long predicted. In a closed-door meeting in 2004, the chief economist at Morgan
Stanley, Stephen Roach, predicted “economic Armageddon.” The Boston Herald article reported Roach’s comments as follows: “His
prediction: America has no better than a 10 percent chance of avoiding economic
"Armageddon…Roach sees a 30 percent chance of a slump soon and a
60 percent chance that ‘we'll muddle through for a while and delay the
eventual Armageddon.’" Furthermore, globalist banker & billionaire Warren Buffett is warning of
a global financial collapse and the precipitous drop in the dollar in a recent
Forbes Magazine. Buffett has personally bet at least $20 billion against the
U.S. dollar, and said the following: "The rest of the world owns $10 trillion
of us, or $3 trillion net. If lots of people try to leave the market, we'll
have chaos because they won't get through the door." The article went further: “A continuing fall in the dollar ‘could
cause major disruptions in financial markets. There could be unpredictable side
effects. It could be precipitated by some exogenous event like a Long-Term Capital
Management,’ Buffett says, referring to the 1998 collapse of a steeply
leveraged hedge fund.” Warren Buffett is strongly linked to the Rothschild banking syndicate, and
Buffett brought Arnold Schwarzenegger to visit Lord Jacob Rothschild’s
Buckinghamshire estate in 2002. Buffett’s dire warnings likely represent
the sentiments of the Rothschilds and others in European financier dynasties
dominating the New World Order overclass; those who hope to use a worldwide
depression to seize assets, depopulate the planet of “useless eaters,”
and create a unipolar biometric police state. Billionaire software kingpin and Bilderberg member Bill Gates, who recently
hosted Chinese police state head President Hu, is also shorting the dollar.
Last January, Bloomberg quoted Gates predicting a collapse in the U.S. currency.
He said, “I’m short the dollar. The ‘ol dollar, it’s
gonna go down…It is a bit scary. We're in uncharted territory when the
world's reserve currency has so much outstanding debt.” The article continued: “Gates's concern that widening U.S. budget and
trade deficits are undermining the dollar was echoed in Davos by policymakers
including European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder.” Billionare investor and Bilderberg member George Soros recently predicted a
U.S. recession in 2006 or 2007. Soros believes a the U.S. housing bubble will
soon collapse the Fed cannot keep the dollar propped up. Soros told the press,
“Europe is growing relatively well... but a hard landing in the U.S. will
be associated with a decline in the dollar which would hurt the European economy," It appears the bottom may already be falling out from under the financial house
of cards. The fiat currency ponzi scheme, bloated by hundreds of trillions in
leveraged derivatives, hedge fund manipulations, and unregulated currency speculation,
appears doomed. In order to stave off the collapse, the Cheney-led shadow government and their
Anglo-American financiers appear ready to launch a nuclear strike on Iran, destroying
the oil bourse and shutting off oil shipments at the Straits of Hormuz. The
larger invasion of the Middle East appears to be a plan to limit oil supply
and spike prices, as Iraq is now a net importer of oil since the US/UK invasion. Major financial analysts are now warning of $100 a barrel oil, which will further
increase the artificial demand for dollars and perhaps stave off a dollar collapse.
Daniel Eustulin and Jim Tucker reported back during the 2005 Bilderberg, the
New World Order announced the coming $120 a barrel oil at the secret world government
conference. In June 2005, Eustulin wrote, “A British Bilderberger noted that oil
at $120 a barrel will greatly benefit Britain and the US, but that Russia and
China would be the biggest winners.” Eustulin also described the strong
sentiment for moving away from the dollar and toward the euro for the world
currency. The insane plan to attack Iran with nuclear weapons will likely backfire, producing
massive financial upheaval and a potential Armageddon. The inflation caused
by $120+ a barrel oil will likely shock markets and the dollar will collapse
regardless. The neocon endgame, which envisions an apocalyptic “World
War 4” conflict against Russia and China, might become inevitable. The Anglo-American oligarchs and their shadow government moles inside the Pentagon
are desperate to stop the Iranian bourse and seize control of the oil in the
tiny region Khuzestan (containing 90% of Iran’s oil wealth). The possibility
of a false-flag terror attack or joint Israel-U.S. strike during the months
of May or June appears more grave than ever before. Recent mainstream reports of TOPOFF 2 drills in Chicago and a wave
of other drills in May and June may indicate the final planning for a synthetic
terror attack is complete. Additionally on July 18, the Defense Department is wargaming a military
strike on Iran. The Asia Times reports, “This particular ‘war game’
is the fifth in a series that has also included exercises related to a purported
avian-influenza pandemic and a crisis in Pakistan.’ Will the Iranian Oil Bourse be the final straw that inspires one of
these drills to go live? Will the potential dollar collapse usher in the next
stage in insane neocon push toward World War Three? |