Posted on 01/20/2006 2:15:17 AM PST by dennisw
All it takes is one well-placed fanatic in charge of a movement of obedient fanatics to throw the world into turmoil.
Remember an Austrian corporal with a funny mustache?
We'll just have to fall back on our charm, wit, and roguish good looks. Should be just as solid as printing the world's reserve currency.
Good points.
TEHRAN, Iran Jan 20, 2006 A defiant Iran announced Friday it has begun pulling its foreign currency accounts out of European banks to protect its assets from possible U.N. sanctions over its nuclear program.
As analysts estimated the amount of those funds at up to $50 billion, Iran also called for a reduction in OPEC oil production raising the possibility that the country would use oil in its standoff with the West. Iran pumps about 4 million barrels of oil a day, making it the second largest producer in OPEC after Saudi Arabia.
Underlining his challenging stance, Iran's hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, held a meeting in Damascus, Syria, on Friday with leaders from the Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The two governments expressed support for Iran's right to the peaceful exploitation of nuclear power and criticized what they called the "selective and double-standard policy practiced by some international powers in this regard." The remark was a reference to U.S. and European opposition to Iran's enrichment of uranium, a process that can produce material for atomic bombs.
The meeting came a day after an Islamic Jihad suicide bomber blew himself up in a Tel Aviv restaurant, wounding 20 people. Israel accused Iran and Syria of being behind the attack, a charge both countries denied.
The currency withdrawal signaled that Iran was willing to weather U.N. punishment rather than abandon its nuclear ambitions, which the United States and some in Europe say are to develop atomic weapons. Tehran insists its program is for peaceful purposes only.
Friday's move also deprives Europe of an important lever to influence Iran and could weaken its resolve to push Iran to give up key parts of its nuclear program, analysts said.
Crude oil prices rose above $67 Friday amid concern over the Iranian nuclear dispute, unrest in Nigeria and al-Qaida's threat of terrorist attacks in the United States.
Analysts fear that oil prices could surge much higher even beyond $100 a barrel if the U.N. Security Council imposes trade sanctions on Iran over its nuclear activities.
We're Americans! Living in luxury is our birthright. I'm sure that the Chinese and Indians will be glad to support us in our accustomed style.
Following your bread crumb trail ping.
This is maybe the single most telling article I’ve read. Enlightening, to say the least. Please tell me, if there’s more.
Some countries are debating internally about how to unwind themselves from the Euro as we speak.
France and Germany are punishing smaller countries for violating debt/GDP ratios, when at the same time France and Germany are violating them too.
The Proposed Iranian Oil Bourse ........
This still has not come to pass
Here is a good free hard asset newsletter
http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/
http://www.emailpreferencecenter.com/epcLogin.asp
Aug. 15, 1971 - He claims that’s the day we taxed the rest of the world.
The Bourse may not have happened, but all the earmarks of strategy have, particularly where China and Russia are involved. I don’t get the Japan thing though; I thought their yen was pretty soft, too.
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