[Dialup Llama]

Good move Putin you marooon. A commie you may be, a trader you are not. Move to Euros just at the time when Euroland is trying to devalue to gain competitive advantage.

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[<1/1,000,000th%]

Or chickens.

[McGavin999]

LOL, go ahead and watch the US "suddenly" discover an alternate source of power. Then the oil money will be next to worthless as the world moves to a new energy source.

People forget how dependent the world was on rubber until WWII made it impossible to get rubber. We just invented nylon. Seen any rubber tires lately?

Putin is not that dumb. He knows what would happen, and he'd be sitting on a reserve of worthless oil.

[zacyak]

That would be a huge boon to the euro zone economy and potentially catastrophic for the United States. Dollar-based global oil trade now gives the United States carte blanche to print dollars without sparking inflation -- to fund huge expenses on wars, military build-ups, and consumer spending, as well as cut taxes and run up huge trade deficits.

Almost two-thirds of the world's currency reserves are kept in dollars, since oil importers pay in dollars and oil exporters keep their reserves in the currency they are paid in. This effectively provides the U.S. economy with an interest-free loan, as these dollars can be invested back into the U.S. economy with zero currency risk.

I doubt Putin will go thru with this anytime soon, but the mere threat of it provides him with a certain leverage. Bin Laden himself admitted that he couldn't bring down the U.S. militarily, and envisioned an economic war as the means by which to put us in our place. We are certainly vulnerable.

[Mike Darancette]

That would be a huge boon to the euro zone economy and potentially catastrophic for the United States.

But euro zone investments in the USA would lose big time. I imagine that we would stop selling oil, pump a little more, and get serious about alternative fuels.

[Brian S]

Our foreign "partners" are intent on seeing that Bush Admin does not get elected to a second term for a multitude of reason, the most prominent, our "pre-emptive strike" doctrine". They will work in concert to see this administrations removal.

They also know that oil is the lever they can use to trash the US economy.

The US populace votes its "pocketbook" and right now this economy dangles by a string.

Another "energy shock" to this economy sends it into recession for the 2004 elections...if it is not already on that path.

JMO...

[Jumper]

Pricing Russian oil in Euros for Europeans would be a good thing. Our political differences have more to do with France and Arabs than anything else. Each military success brings another diplomatic assault from the French led Eurozone upon America. Again, French and Arab Oil interests are providing cover for another economic attack on the US financial system. This is a protracted assault. It may come down one day to military action by the US which is totally unconcieved by the those who make these "intellictual communist mistakes" of thinking they can topple a country without a shot. The US will eventually have to fight or die a slow liberal death, giving rise to wars as the global economic-militray-political system breaks down. Europe has never renounced the use of force of occupation in Africa so we can expect them to make a grab for land legimitized by the UN and other dictatorial regimes once the "voice of the people" is conquered.

The dollar reserves in the world might only be dumped if the UN can gain economic control of American oil investments and Iraq. Pumping US crude in Alaska would hamper any arguements for American trade deficits in trade "on balance". Americans, faced with an economic crash directed by global traders and pumping Alaskan oil, will chose our own reserves in both $$ and oil before domination by France. The risk of confrontation between France and the US may actully come to pass on a limited economic scale very soon, and quite possibly on a military level in limited measure as well. French interests in Africa are ripe for "third party" intervention directed by Washington and I would highly recommend kicking another prop out from under the European economic zone, e.g., African interests. Syria's loss to France would provide another blow both politically and economically, and the soon to be felt lost of Afarat will surely hurt the Paris skyline as well.