Subject: Northwoods Peace Initiative Special Edition-The Currency War Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2006 09:28:30 -0600 Message-ID: <B14120EE5C432443B21102F7925DAD0202DA277C@COKE.uwec.edu> From: "Glenn, Larry R." <GLENNLR@uwec.edu>
Hi,
Those of you who have attended various peace related events in the past
few years probably know who Mike Miles is from Project ELF and Iraq war
opposition. Do you think his concerns are real? Please reply to him if
you have any comments.
Larry Glenn
________________________________
________________________________
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2006 10:47:59 -0600
From: Mike Miles and Barb Kass <anathoth@lakeland.ws>
To: Mike Miles & Barb Kass <anathoth@lakeland.ws>
Subject: Northwoods Peace Initiative Special Edition-The
Currency War
Dear Peacemakers,
This edition is only going to focus on the economic
issues that we have come to believe drive the US war on terror. Many of
you may have heard bits and pieces of what has come to be called
Petrodollar Warfare-the clash between the US dollar and the EU euro for
the coveted position of being the world's reserve currency. An event
that is on the horizon--the opening in March of the world's third energy
exchange in Tehran-- is focusing attention on what may be the primary
unspoken reason for the war on terror. If this information is correct,
it exposes the Achilles' heel of the declining US Empire. Our hope is
that disseminating this information will help forestall the run up to
war with Iran. There is so much smoke and mirrors involved in economic
theory that this attempt at bringing certain threads together is not at
all meant to be the final word. We hope that it provokes further
research and discussion. To be honest, we hope our concern about these
issues is totally misguided because if it isn't, we are all in deep
trouble. We hope to be hearing back from all of you who know more about
this than we do.
read on....
Mike and Barb
________________________________
It seems to go back to the Bretton Woods Conference
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Monetary_and_Financial_Conf
erence> when the dollar was made the world's reserve currency after
World War II. Everything was fine until the Nixon Shock
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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
<http://currentconcerns.ch/archive/2003/04/20030409.php> . 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
<http://currentconcerns.ch/archive/2003/04/20030409.php> but the US
would not allow it. The G-7 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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.
<http://www.rferl.org/features/2000/11/01112000160846.asp> 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.
<http://www.thedossier.ukonline.co.uk/Web%20Pages/FINANCIAL%20TIMES_Iraq
%20returns%20to%20international%20oil%20market.htm>
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
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Mercantile_Exchange> in New York
and the IPE
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Petroleum_Exchange> 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 sound the death knell of the US economy.
<http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11613.htm> 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 <http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h6/discm3.htm> (M3)
<http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h6/discm3.htm> because it may
cause a run on the banks when the dollar begins to tank.
<http://futures.fxstreet.com/Futures/content/100480/9-1-2006.asp>
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.
<http://www.countercurrents.org/eco-whiney110106.htm> 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
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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. <http://zfacts.com/p/169.html> 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
<http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1665.htm> , a think
tank <http://www.newamericancentury.org/> that now puts George Kennan's
"straight power concepts" <http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/sam/sam-1-2.html>
into practice. He left his most recent job at the Pentagon and currently
heads the World Bank. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/14/AR20050
51400071.html> to stop them under the guise of keeping them from
developing nuclear weapons.
<http://www.currentconcerns.ch/archive/2006/01/20060102.php>
So unless level heads prevail, we may be two 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
two 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
<http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9698.htm>
And here is the book that you all must buy
<http://www.newsociety.com/bookid/3877>
More on M3 and why it is important
<http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_05/chapmand112205.html>
A wonderful primer on the dollar and the federal reserve
<http://www.weblog.ro/soj/2005-10-31/Basic+Learning:+The+U.S.+Dollar.htm
l#52000>
Another take on the upcoming crisis with Iran
<http://www.weblog.ro/soj/2004-11-15/Iran:+Part+2.html#19199>
And another <http://www.teamliberty.net/id209.html>
And another that wonders why 31 nations have nuclear
power plants and Iran can't have one too
<http://www.teamliberty.net/id215.html>
The fight with Iran that we cannot win
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1688777,00.html>
We overthrew Iran in 1953
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax>
And we'll do it again
<http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2005%5C12%5C27%5Cstory_2
7
-12-2005_pg7_49>
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.