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Unspoken Reasons for the War on Terror |
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It seems to go back to the Bretton Woods Conference when the dollar was made the world's reserve currency after World War II. Everything was fine until the Nixon Shock in the early 1970's when the gold standard ended and the dollar became a floating currency--until it was linked to oil to bring an end to the OPEC oil boycott of 1973. From that point on, every nation that wanted to buy oil had to first change their currency into dollars. There was some resistance to this, especially during the 1980's by Germany and Japan who were pushing for their currencies, the Mark and Yen, to co-share the title of world reserve currency with the US dollar but the US would not allow it. The G-7 was formed to keep Europe and Japan firmly within the domain of the dollar and no serious challenge was mounted again until September 2000. That was the year when Saddam Hussein sent a warning shot over the bow of US currency hegemony by selling Iraqi oil in euros instead of dollars.
France, China, and Russia were all waiting in the wings for the UN/US/UK sanctions to end, at which point they would come into Iraq and establish lucrative contracts to extract and purchase Iraqi oil, which they could then do in a currency that left the US out of transactions altogether. It was too serious a threat to the US trade deficits, so in March 2003 Iraq was invaded and three months later, Iraqi oil was back on the market, being sold for dollars.
Fast forward to 2006 and the world is facing round two in the oil currency war. Now it is Iran, and if what Saddam did back in 2000 was a warning shot over the bow, what Iran is about to do is nothing short of shock and awe--total warfare on the US economy. Iran is about to open the world's third energy trade exchange or "bourse". Currently, the only two places on the planet where oil can be purchased is the NYMEX in New York and the IPE in London, both of which sell oil denominated only in dollars. The exchange opening in Tehran on March 21, 2006(the beginning of the Persian new year) is going to be the only place where oil can be purchased in euros and it could deal a serious blow to the US economy. So serious is this challenge that on March 23, 2006 the federal reserve is no longer going to let the world know how much US currency is in circulation(M3) because it may cause a run on the banks when the dollar begins to tank. Another reason put forward for hiding M3 is that China has announced that it is diversifying its 800 billion US dollars so they aren't left holding the bag as the dollar declines. China has strong trade relations with Iran and knows that soon they will be able to buy oil directly from Iran with euros.
The philosophical background for all of this goes back to the end of the cold war and a paper written by Paul Wolfowitz who was reporting to Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney in the George H. W. Bush administration. Wolfowitz had written a 42 page document called "Defense Planning Guidance" that was so belligerent to United States' allies, that it was sent back to him to rewrite after it was leaked to the New York Times and Washington Post. It defines who our new enemies are in the post Soviet world and that no one, even friends and allies, will be allowed to challenge US interests. After Bush I was defeated, Wolfowitz went on to help create the Project for the New American Century, a think tank that now puts George Kennan's "straight power concepts" into practice. He left his most recent job at the Pentagon and currently heads the World Bank.
What is most alarming as we approach the March 21 opening of the Iranian Oil Bourse, is that the United States is posturing itself to consider a preemptive nuclear strike against Iran to stop them under the guise of keeping them from developing nuclear weapons.
So unless level heads prevail, we may be months away from nuclear war.
These are the threads that seem to weave an unspeakable tapestry of global ruin. We hope it is nothing but paranoid speculation. Please tell me I'm an idiot and that I need a hobby other than running through potentially apocalyptic hyperlinks. If this scenario merits any credibility, we have a lot of work to do in the next few months. Please forward this around if you think it is helpful. I seriously am not a conspiracy theorist and have tried to stay from those kinds of websites and bloggers. Let us know what you think and send corrections and additions. Thanks for taking the time to consider these matters.
Here are a few more resources for your consideration
Here is the article that started it all
And here is the book that you all must buy
More on M3 and why it is important
A wonderful primer on the dollar and the federal reserve
Another take on the upcoming crisis with Iran
And another
And another that wonders why 31 nations have nuclear power plants and Iran can't have one too
The fight with Iran that we cannot win
We overthrew Iran in 1953
And we'll do it again
We have got to stop this or our children will never forgive us.
"We [change people], if we do at all, by being something
irresistible, not by demanding something impossible"
May Sarton
"Now faith is turning your dreams into deeds.
It is betting your life on the unseen realities."
Clarence Jordan- Hebrews 11:1. Cotton Patch translation. |
