Is it just a coincidence?

[phreakwars]

According to CBS news: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/29/eveningnews/main4056941.shtml

 

New pictures of Iran's uranium enrichment plant show the country's defense minister in the background, as if deliberately mocking a recent finding by U.S. intelligence that Iran had ceased work on a nuclear weapon.

 

No attacks are imminent and the last thing the Pentagon wants is another war, but Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen has warned Iran not to assume the U.S. military can't strike.

 

So uhm, allegedly, Iran is trying to entice us. This news comes as we also see THIS in the headlines:

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUSBLA02024820080430

Iran has been reducing its exposure to the dollar as the United States has ratcheted up sanctions because of a dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme. In December, an official said 90 percent of its oil export earnings were outside the dollar.

"All of Iran's oil trading is being done with euro and yen," Hojjatollah Ghanimifard, international affairs director of the National Iranian Oil Company, told Fars News Agency.

 

What, our money is no good there? Well DUH !!

 

Our money is no good anywhere.

 

But then, doesn't it just warm your hearts to know that Shell gas wants to look out for us:

 

From CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/30/shell.qa/

 

I say we need more gas to be produced in this country. I've been saying that for three years, ever since I took this position [as president of Shell]. If the U.S. set a goal to produce 2 to 3 million barrels more a day in this country, we would send a shock around the world that would immediately say to the speculators, hey, U.S. is serious. President [bush] said something yesterday about this. I didn't hear him, but I think that's good news. But we should set a specific target.

 

 

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[Old Salt]

A lot of the other Gulf countries' currencies are pegged to the Dollar. The falling Dollar is hurting them (they aren't getting as rich as they want so the price of oil has to stay up). There has been talk for a long time of converting sales of oil from the Dollar to the Euro. Heck, the price of oil might even go down, then. The Euro Zone has been getting their oil cheaper than the US (relatively speaking) because of the strength of the Euro.

[snafu]

Have you noticed all the canidates have the same idea about Iran? They all have said if we need military intervention it won't be ruled out. I think thats one good reason to pull our troops from Iraq. We just might be using them in Iran.

[Old Salt]

Never take the military option off the table. If you do, you will negotiate from a position of weakness (the other guy won't take you seriously). I guess all three understand that concept.

 

BUT, as long as we are tied up in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Iranians will feel that they don't have anything to worry about militarily anyway. And we all know how well sanctions work. Sanctions hurt the common people but the leaders are not fazed - they don't care about their people (IMO).

 

So, we're caught between a rock and a hard place.

 

Back to the article.... We're lucky Iran is getting away from the Dollar. Do we want Iran owning all of those Dollars? That's just something else they can hold over our heads. Now, if we could just get China to divest its Dollars. The Dollar might really tank for a while, but I think we'd be better off in the long run.

[hugo]

Don't chase last years profits. The euro is going to head downward.

[Old Salt]

Don't chase last years profits. The euro is going to head downward.

It's inching down right now, but it's falling much slower than it rose. I doubt we'll ever see parity, though.