The rest of the world also buys Iranian oil.
Exactly, IN DOLLARS...so far. So long as the rest of the world needs dollars to buy energy, as under the OPEC treaty with the US, the dollar becomes the supreme necessary de facto world currency.
Iran has threatened to open up the first large-scale oil bourse denominated in Euros though, coincidentally about the same time we started ratcheting up the sabre-rattling over any percieved evil we could think of.
Saddam made the mistake of taking Euros for oil as well as direct barter (Oil for Food)...BIG no no for the powers that be.
When people say we are involved in the ME because of oil, it is a piece of the truth. When the other camp says it is to preserve the American way of life, that is also a piece of the truth. The fact of the matter is that the dollar is a worthless piece of paper, and only by aggressive enforcement of its use by treaty or war do we keep it propped up and therefore keep Joe Q. Public ignorant, fat, lazy, and even proud of what is being done in his name.
Should be required reading:
http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congr … 021506.htm Most Americans forget how our policies have systematically and needlessly antagonized the Iranians over the years. In 1953 the CIA helped overthrow a democratically elected president, Mohammed Mossadeqh, and install the authoritarian Shah, who was friendly to the U.S. The Iranians were still fuming over this when the hostages were seized in 1979. Our alliance with Saddam Hussein in his invasion of Iran in the early 1980s did not help matters, and obviously did not do much for our relationship with Saddam Hussein. The administration announcement in 2001 that Iran was part of the axis of evil didn’t do much to improve the diplomatic relationship between our two countries. Recent threats over nuclear power, while ignoring the fact that they are surrounded by countries with nuclear weapons, doesn’t seem to register with those who continue to provoke Iran. With what most Muslims perceive as our war against Islam, and this recent history, there’s little wonder why Iran might choose to harm America by undermining the dollar. Iran, like Iraq, has zero capability to attack us. But that didn’t stop us from turning Saddam Hussein into a modern day Hitler ready to take over the world. Now Iran, especially since she’s made plans for pricing oil in Euros, has been on the receiving end of a propaganda war not unlike that waged against Iraq before our invasion.
Last edited by GorillaTicTacs (2006-12-11 03:38:51)