First Strike Initiated on Iran

[Submariner]

Not with bombs but with banks.:D

ETA: Not much different than a naval blockade to block commerce which, at international law, is an act of war.


US blacklists major Iranian bank: The Bush administration has blacklisted one of Iran's biggest banks, alleging that it is used to transfer money to terrorist organisations.

The Treasury Department said it had cut state-owned Bank Saderat off from the US financial system entirely.

The bank, although unable to deal directly in the US, was previously able to make transactions via a bank in another country.

The US is calling for UN sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme.

There has been no official reaction to the news from either Bank Saderat or Iran.

'Funds moved'

Stuart Levey, the Treasury's under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, announced the action against Saderat during a speech to the American Enterprise Institute.

He said the bank had been blacklisted because "this bank, which has approximately 3,400 branch offices, is used by the government of Iran to transfer money to terrorist organisations."

"We will no longer allow a bank like Saderat to do business in the American financial system, even indirectly," he added.

According to Mr Levy, the bank had facilitated the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars to the Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah, and what he called other terrorist organisations, every year.

Correspondents say the bank has played a major role connecting Iranian businesses with the outside world over the last few years.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5329326.stm

[baffle Stack]

That's the best news I read all day.

[Bulldog1967]

Shit.

I read the headline and though Israel had dropped one on 'em.

Here's hoping.

[graffex]

Shit.

I read the headline and though Israel had dropped one on 'em.

Here's hoping.

Wouldn't that be great?

[Submariner]

“The first message was routine enough: A ‘Prepare to Deploy’ order sent through naval communications channels to a submarine, an Aegis-class cruiser, two minesweepers and two mine hunters. The orders didn’t actually command the ships out of port; they just said to be ready to move by Oct. 1. But inside the Navy those messages generated more buzz than usual last week when a second request, from the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), asked for fresh eyes on long-standing U.S. plans to blockade two Iranian oil ports on the Persian Gulf. The CNO had asked for a rundown on how a blockade of those strategic targets might work. When he didn’t like the analysis he received, he ordered his troops to work the lash up once again.

“What’s going on? The two orders offered tantalizing clues. There are only a few places in the world where minesweepers top the list of U.S. naval requirements. And every sailor, petroleum engineer and hedge-fund manager knows the name of the most important: the Strait of Hormuz, the 20-mile-wide bottleneck in the Persian Gulf through which roughly 40% of the world’s oil needs to pass each day. Coupled with the CNO’s request for a blockade review, a deployment of minesweepers to the west coast of Iran would seem to suggest that a much discussed—but until now largely theoretical—prospect has become real: that the U.S. may be preparing for war with Iran.”

The blockade expands?

[Submariner]

Iran not only wants to price its oil in euros rather than dollars (just as Saddam Hussein did), it has set up its own exchange and wants to bypass London and Chicago. (And look what is about to happen to Saddam.:D )


Should the Iranian Oil Bourse accelerate, the interests that matter—those of Europeans, Chinese, Japanese, Russians, and Arabs—will eagerly adopt the Euro, thus sealing the fate of the dollar. Americans cannot allow this to happen, and if necessary, will use a vast array of strategies to halt or hobble the operation’s exchange:

* Sabotaging the Exchange—this could be a computer virus, network, communications, or server attack, various server security breaches, or a 9-11-type attack on main and backup facilities.

* Coup d’état—this is by far the best long-term strategy available to the Americans.

* Negotiating Acceptable Terms & Limitations—this is another excellent solution to the Americans. Of course, a government coup is clearly the preferred strategy, for it will ensure that the exchange does not operate at all and does not threaten American interests. However, if an attempted sabotage or coup d’etat fails, then negotiation is clearly the second-best available option.

* Joint U.N. War Resolution—this will be, no doubt, hard to secure given the interests of all other member-states of the Security Council. Feverish rhetoric about Iranians developing nuclear weapons undoubtedly serves to prepare this course of action.

* Unilateral Nuclear Strike—this is a terrible strategic choice for all the reasons associated with the next strategy, the Unilateral Total War. The Americans will likely use Israel to do their dirty nuclear job.

* Unilateral Total War—this is obviously the worst strategic choice. First, the U.S. military resources have been already depleted with two wars. Secondly, the Americans will further alienate other powerful nations. Third, major dollar-holding countries may decide to quietly retaliate by dumping their own mountains of dollars, thus preventing the U.S. from further financing its militant ambitions. Finally, Iran has strategic alliances with other powerful nations that may trigger their involvement in war; Iran reputedly has such alliance with China, India, and Russia, known as the Shanghai Cooperative Group, a.k.a. Shanghai Coop and a separate pact with Syria.

Whatever the strategic choice, from a purely economic point of view, should the Iranian Oil Bourse gain momentum, it will be eagerly embraced by major economic powers and will precipitate the demise of the dollar.

http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_23645.shtml

Things are easier to get into than out of.:(

[Striker5]

Doh! Why did you get my hopes up and then bring me down!?

The two biggest things threatening America is our own sissy-ness (we elect our leaders) and our greed. I am no economist but we are becoming financially independent on our enemies - China and the ME. The corporations (especially the mutlinational ones) seem to be only loyal to the green backs that are five inches from their noses and are giving no though to how their actions will effect things ten years down the road. I am too ignorant of ecomomics have a good solution.

[Submariner]

UN-weary, US opts for unilateral moves against Iran

JERUSALEM AFP 14/01/2007 07:18

Recent US operations against Iranian interests in Iraq appear to signal a shift by Washington towards unilateral action after growing frustated with slow-moving UN diplomacy.
...
The first sign that Washington would act alone came from the US Treasury, which has barred two Iranian banks since September and pressured global financial firms to break their ties with Iran.

"We're going to keep designating Iranian banks," Rice said en route to the region.

http://www.bakutoday.net/view.php?d=32124

Now with the price of crude oil falling we have this:


Russia is even adding fuel to the fire, as it angers OPEC by selling more oil when output cuts are debated openly and sometimes with hostility. The Russian oil production runs now at 9.75 million barrels per day. Russia angers US officials also, since its Urals crude is being sold in Rotterdam in euro terms. Anyone familiar with history realizes that the Saudis were as crucial as the bankers in destroying the Soviet Union. The Saudi royals were coordinated with US policy as they permitted the crude oil price to go under $10, and bankers called in huge loans. Call it a Soviet loan default, but please ignore the underlying force. History rhymes here with respect to Saudis versus Iran. An aside... now we have Russia selling oil in rubles, and also several nations selling oil in euro transactions like Norway, Venezuela, and Iran.

The gold price cannot sit still with such assaults on the oil price. Gary Dorsch points out in his usually expert diligent comprehensive style in "What's Behind the Crash in Crude Oil?" (http://www.321energy.com/editorials/dorsch/dorsch011207.html) that arbitrage in the oil versus gold ratio has contributed toward pulling down the gold price. My scribbles have long cited oil as the ultimate commercial capital blood and gold as the ultimate financial capital blood. They are tied inextricably though, each inversely correlated to the US Dollar. As crude fell in price, so has gold been pressured.

http://www.321gold.com/editorials/willie/willie011207.html

Good thing that the Treasury Secretary and White House Chief of Staff came from Goldman Sachs. First we isolate their banks. Now we attack their capital base through forcing down the price of oil. Full spectrum warfare (wasn't taught at USNA.) The Saudis help defend the US Dollar as world reserve currency by pumping more oil to cut its price and we keep the Iranians from overthrowing the House of Saud. Pretty neat....