Iranian Oil Exchange
                 …Declaration of War?

War Is Money

Editorial by Mark Radulich

I’ve been covering the possibility of war in Iran since early last year. I’ve also chronicled whatever changes there have been in the world economy vis-à-vis Iran. In that time one of the elements of this story that have become crystal clear is just how intertwined Iran has become with the regimes in Russia, China, North Korea and Venezuela. Furthermore, for one reason or another, these aforementioned countries are indelibly joined to one another mostly through strategic and economic partnerships.

 
When I first started covering Iran and the possibility of a second war led by President Bush II, I banged all kinds of pots and pans, and tried to alert as many people as possible using this writing space that we were headed down the same path that led to war in Iraq. A few years ago I was firmly on the side of the hawks in believing that eliminating Saddam Hussein was reasonable goal in the aftermath of 9/11. (For more on that last years, “Questions and Answers About the Middle East.”

 
However, after seeing just how badly Washington has handled the security of Iraq post invasion, I personally have lost faith in this commander-in-chief to lead an effective campaign against any nation. Let me couch this belief by saying that for what they’ve had to work with and the conditions therein, the US soldiers are doing a fine job and my beef is not with them nor their immediate commanders. In addition, it’s not the war plan itself I had a huge problem with. It was allowing every Arab/Muslim nut from Syria to Iran to come rushing over the border unimpeded that has really irked seeing as that’s the main reason we’re still dealing with an on-going insurgency.

 
Having said that, it appears to be that President Bush and company do not learn from their mistakes and one can only assume that a ground invasion of Iran would only bring the same results. Granted Iran is surrounded by Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan but that doesn’t mean that those country’s won’t be transit points, especially where their borders are porous, for other would be terrorists stemming from places such as Yemen, Oman and Saudi Arabia. In short, as much as I think regime change is needed in Iran, I no longer have confidence in this president to execute it effectively.

 
Lucky for anyone and me else who opposed war again Iran, for a while it looked as if we weren’t going to go through with it. As I stated before, the past year has been littered with all kinds of agreements between Iran and other nuclear powers. Even our allies such as India have acquiesced to the promise of good business with Iran and have been in talks to build a pipeline with them and their neighbors with whom they’ve recently established a tenuous peace with, Pakistan. My thinking was that now there’s too much money for all parties involved to lose so despite some of the insane rhetoric coming from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, I figured that all of this talk of war had to be hot air.

 
Well according to the Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester Libertarian Society, our esteemed leaders don’t so much care about whatever economic bridges have been across the seas. Apparently, their major concern, as it was in Iraq, is maintaining supremacy of the dollar. More to the point, it is maintaining the supremacy of the US petrodollar versus the petroeruo.

 
”In November 2000, Iraq stopped accepting U.S. dollars for their oil. Counted as a purely political move, Saddam Hussein switched the currency required to purchase Iraqi oil to the euro. Selling oil through the U.N. Oil for Food Program, Iraq converted all of its U.S. dollars in its U.N. account to the euro. Shortly thereafter, Iraq converted $10 billion in their U.N. reserve fund to the euro. By the end of 2000, Iraq had abandoned the U.S. dollar completely.

 
Two months after the United States invaded Iraq, the Oil for Food Program was ended, the country’s accounts were switch back to dollars, and oil began to be sold once again for U.S. dollars. No longer could the world buy oil from Iraq with the euro. Universal global dollar supremacy was restored. It is interesting to note that the latest recession that the United States endured began and ended within the same timeframe as when Iraq was trading oil for euros. Whether this is a coincidence or related, the American people may never know.

 
In March 2006, Iran will take Iraq’s switch to the petroeuro to new heights by launching a third oil exchange. The Iranians have developed a petroeuro system for oil trade, which when enacted, will once again threaten U.S. dollar supremacy far greater than Iraq’s euro conversion. Called the Iran Oil Bourse, an exchange that only accepts the euro for oil sales would mean that the entire world could begin purchasing oil from any oil-producing nation with euros instead of dollars. The Iranian plan isn’t limited to purchasing one oil-producing country’s oil with euros. Their plan will create a global alternative to the U.S. dollar. Come March 2006, the Iran Oil Bourse will further the momentum of OPEC to create an alternate currency for oil purchases worldwide. China, Russia, and the European Union are evaluating the Iranian plan to exchange oil for euros, and giving the plan serious consideration.”

 
March of 2006 just happens to be when some have said will be the start of Iran’s forced regime change. From the above article, “The plans to invade Iran are unspoken, but unfolding before our very eyes. The media has been reporting on Iran more often, and increasingly harshly. For the U.S. government to justify invading Iran, it must first begin to phase out the War in Iraq, which it is already doing. Next, it must portray the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as a threat to the region and the world. Finally, once naive American people are convinced the “weapons of mass destruction” that were to be found in Iraq are actually in Iran, coupled with the almost daily media coverage of Iran’s nuclear power / weapons program aspirations, and what we will soon have on our hands is another fabricated war that will result in tens of thousands of civilian lives being lost, all because the political elected pawns in Washington DC lack the discipline to return our currency to a gold or silver standard, end the relationship with the foreign banking cartel called the Federal Reserve, and limit the activities of the U.S. government to those articulated in Article I Section 8 of the Constitution for the United States of America.”

The news is already starting to hit the fan. Iran Mania is reporting that, “The United States threatened to seek international action against Iran if it resumes nuclear fuel research, suggesting the world's patience with Tehran could be wearing thin, AFP reported.”

Obviously this is a precursor to war as many analysts have stated in previous articles.

It no longer appears to matter what Russia or China do to rein in Iran. Where American money is concerned our enemies and we are alone in the world - alone with our bombs.