THE ROVING
EYE All
that glitters is ... oil By
Pepe Escobar
In his State of the Union
address, United States President Barack Obama
said, "Let there be no doubt: America is
determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear
weapon, and I will take no options off the table
to achieve that goal."
In the real world,
this means Washington is willing to go to war -
the economic war is already on - against a country
that subscribes to the nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty and is not seeking nuclear weapons,
according to the International Atomic Energy
Agency and the latest US National Intelligence
Estimate.
Obama also said, "The [Tehran]
regime is more isolated than ever before; its
leaders are faced with crippling sanctions, and as
long as they shirk their responsibilities, this
pressure will not relent."
Online, January 18). And
it's not the Iranian leadership that is subjected
to crippling sanctions; it's the absolute majority
of 78 million impoverished Iranians who will pay
the price.
In an earlier statement, Obama
had "applauded" the European Union's decision to
slap its own Iranian oil embargo, adding, "These
sanctions demonstrate once more the unity of the
international community."
So, let's talk
about the "unity of the international community" -
which comprises the US, North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) countries, Israel and the GCC
(Gulf Cooperation Council, also known as Gulf
Counter-revolution Club); the rest of the world is
just a mirage.
Join the oil-for-gold
program BRICS members India and China,
together, buy at least 40% of Iran's oil exports,
roughly 1 million barrels a day. That's 12% of
India's oil needs. As for China, last year it
bought 30% more oil from Iran than in 2010, an
average of 557,000 barrels a day.
The real
"international community" is now very much aware
that India will start paying Iranian oil with gold
- and not only rupees, via Indian state bank UCO
and Turkish state bank Halk Bankasi. Beijing -
which already trades with Iran in yuan - may also
turn to gold. Needless to say, both Delhi and
Beijing are major gold producers and holders of
gold assets.
Talk about the Year of the
Dragon starting with a bang. And talk about the
new Year of the Dragon gold standard.
Everyone remembers the doomed United
Nations oil-for-food program that starved Iraqis
to death for years prior to the 2003 US
invasion/occupation. Average Iraqis paid the
terrible price for UN/US sanctions, and
oil-for-food only benefited the Saddam Hussein
system.
Now it's a much more serious
business; the oil-for-gold program, a BRICS + Iran
initiative that will benefit the Islamic Republic
leadership and perhaps alleviate the effects of
sanctions over the Iranian population. Global
consequences: gold shooting up, petrodollar going
down, oil traders opening bottles of Moet in
droves.
Another BRICS member, Russia, is
already trading with Iran in rials and roubles.
And an aspiring BRICS member, Turkey - also a NATO
member - will not follow the US/EU sanctions
unless they are imposed by the UN Security Council
(a no-no, because permanent members Russia and
China would veto it).
In two months, Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin - who angers/terrifies
Washington and Brussels to Vlad the Impaler levels
- is certain to be back as president of Russia.
That's when the Atlanticist poodles will see real
hardball at play.
Meanwhile, Tehran will
never bow down to Western sanctions - much less
with multiple lateral/underground mechanisms to
sell its oil involving three BRICS members plus US
allies Japan and South Korea, which eventually
will get exemptions from the Obama administration.
As this never was about a non-existent
nuclear weapon, the Tehran leadership only has to
follow a supreme strategic parameter; don't fall
for any provocation or false flag black ops that
would provide the casus belli for a
US/British/Israel axis of war attack.
And
all this while trends in the - overcast - horizon
point to what could be dubbed an Asian Dollar
Exclusion Zone, which for many sharp minds in the
developing world might pave the way for an
energy-backed currency used by the BRICS and the
Group of 77 (G-77) to counter the increasingly
desperate - and clueless - Atlanticist West.
Back to the European poodle parade, one
just has to examine the joint statement issued by
these mediocrity monstrosities - British Prime
Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela
Merkel and neo-Napoleonic "liberator of Libya",
French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The trio
said, "We have no quarrel with the Iranian
people." Iraqis heard exactly the same thing from
another set of mediocrities in 2002 and 2003. Then
their country was invaded, occupied and destroyed.
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