reed writes

Smug Bastards

Burma?

Yes.

China?

Yes.

Darfur?

Yes.

U.S.  Yes.

At Kent State University, Ohio. A Student is Killed By The U.S. Military.

Bombing For Bucks (part two)

  On a steamy Sunday evening in August of 1971, U.S. President Richard M. Nixon went on television and announced America’s “New Economic Policy”. That announcement contained a stunning element, delivered about half way through the speech, not quite as an after-thought, but almost-:

Nixon:  “In recent weeks, the speculators have been waging an all-out war on the American dollar. The strength of a nation’s currency is based on the strength of that nation’s economy–and the American economy is by far the strongest in the world. Accordingly, I have directed the Secretary of the Treasury to take the action necessary to defend the dollar against the speculators. I have directed Secretary Connally to suspend temporarily the convertibility of the dollar into gold or other reserve assets, except in amounts and conditions determined to be in the monetary interest of the United States.”

Everyone knew why Nixon did it, what hardly anyone knew though, was – what would come next.

Currencies floated…the pound sterling was devalued…but still the dollar continued to lose ground. America was losing the war in Vietnam; the country was discouraged and depressed and Nixon would soon be forced to resign to avoid impeachment on charges of high crimes and misdemeanors in the Watergate affair.

The next step wasn’t long in coming…not long at all.
In less than a year, Europe began its long struggle to be America’s equal and by mid-1972, had set a Europe-wide fixed exchange rate, allowing fluctuations between currencies of just over 1%. A few  years down the road, a currency would be born that might rival or even eclipse the U.S. greenback. Gold was no longer a shield for America, its deficits were enormous, emergency action was essential.

The Saudi Arabians had stood on the sidelines and watched with narrowed eyes, the monetary turmoil in America. They knew just what form the "emergency action" would take – in fact they had known as far back as 1971, on the night Nixon made his famous appearance on TV. The Saudi’s knew the Yanks were desperate and they were ready to lend a hand.

You see the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia was sitting on top of what would become the way to save America from its own follies – the new gold standard – the new way to measure international dominance – and a new way for the Princes and Consorts to gain more prominence. In those days, the Desert King was still the Oil King and OPEC was just an extension of the Kingdom. But certain people in America were bosom friends and the U.S. was home to more than a billion dollars worth of lucrative investments…so the Saudi’s looked on America from behind their desert shades and smiled quietly and knowingly.

The King would be the reluctant midwife to the birth of the Petro Dollar. He did not like America’s support for Israel, but hey…when there are several fortunes to be made…just put on a darker pair of shades…and tighten the screws.

Faisal and his petroleum friends demonstrated the monumental power of oil. Production was cut, prices shot up and the oil crisis was suddenly a world-wide phenomenon, with big-time inflation, high interest rates and ever higher oil prices.

American authorities viewed the situation with alarm and went on bended knee to the Saudi Monarch. Gerald Ford was President when a series of agreements with the Saudi’s were concluded. OPEC countries fell in line with Saudi wishes and from 1975 onward, if you wanted to buy a barrel of oil, you had to pay in U.S. dollars.

Thus the Americans averted disaster by finding a new standard by which to measure their dollar. Dollars would never again be exchanged for gold, but they could and would be exchanged for oil.

(That could be how come all the Saudi bigwigs were flown out of the U.S. in special planes immediately after 9/11.)

But it was a house of cards that began to tumble when Saddam Hussein – (who hated al Qaeda by the  way- but who also hated the U.S.) – decided to sell oil only in – euros. That was in the year 2000.

Initially, Saddam lost money on every barrel, because then the dollar was stronger than the euro. But the euro soon gained and eclipsed the dollar and those who wanted Iraq’s oil had to use their dollars to buy the European currency in order to pay for it.  Bad news for The Federal Reserve…America’s Central Bank.

Soon after the toppling of Saddam, Iraq’s euro accounts were switched back to dollars and once again the $ was safe. But let’s not forget…there are others who sell oil too.

Iran is the second largest oil producer in OPEC. It has recently announced that it will accept payment for oil in currencies other than the dollar.

Already, Japan has made arrangements to pay for Iranian oil in Yen and European nations will be able to pay in euros.

China – the current economic strongman may follow suit on a large scale, especially after Bush and Harper – joined at the hip in war – weirdly received the world’s peace symbol the Dalai Lama, with such open arms.

North Korea, the 3rd member of the Axis of Evil (Now re-named "The Axis of Economic Evil", does all of its trade in euros.

This kind of behaviour is simply unacceptable. These countries…Iran, Japan, North Korea, and yes…curse them…the Venezuelans… are challenging the supremacy of the US Dollar…with China now holding the wild card.

Can the United States bomb them all?

Bombing For Bucks (part one)

The U.S. Dollar – An Elephant In The Room

By the beginning of World War Two, The United States was poised to dominate the world economy through the sheer weight of its industrial expertise, its innovative engineering and its then vast supply of natural resources. All of these factors, along with its ability to develop those natural resources and employ them in the manufacture of consumer products made the U.S. a natural-born world leader.

During the conflict itself, the United States, when it finally entered the war late in 1941, supplied Europe with war materiel, agricultural products and manufactured goods. In payment for these things, it demanded gold, thus accumulating significant amounts of the precious metal. U.S. citizens themselves could not obtain gold from their government in return for paper dollars, nor could any other private holder of U.S. paper currency. But other countries were – in theory – allowed to do so. The latter decision was made at a conference held in a New Hampshire  Hotel in the township of “Bretton Woods” in the first half of July 1944.

The Bretton Woods Agreement was eventually reached and 44 countries signed on the dotted line. Most of the world’s advanced nations, headed by the United States, agreed to a system of monetary rules, under which national currencies were tied to the value of gold bullion.

Let’s bear in mind that a significant share of the world’s  gold was being buried at Fort Knox. That fact, combined with the country’s industrial capacity and political influence, made the United States the “de facto” world leader and the U.S. Dollar, the world’s so-called reserve currency.

The Bretton Woods Conference also provided for the establishment of “international” monetary bodies, including The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and what eventually became The World Bank Group. The word “international” was virtually moot, however, because The United States held the preponderance of influence within these bodies; the U.S. Dollar became the world’s “reserve currency” of choice.

The system actually worked for a time.

But eventually, the United States over-extended itself. The over-extension went by the name of war and the name of the war was Vietnam. The American foreign trade deficit grew.

By the late 1960’s it was becoming apparent to America’s allies that the U.S. deficit might well balloon out of control and some countries worried that they might not be able to cash in the huge dollar reserves they had accumulated. In 1970, there arose a demand by certain governments for the redemption of large amounts of their reserves of U.S. dollars. U.S. authorities panicked, fearing the disappearance of the nation’s gold reserves.

American congressional and administration leaders feared a form of bankruptcy. U.S. authorities knew full well that if foreign governments attempted to redeem too many dollars, the United States would be forced into default because it would not be able to make good on its obligations.

Today, the U.S. dollar is once again in crisis.

Tomorrow: Bombing For Bucks Part Two

HISTORY IN THE MAKING

(The Trial and Tribulations of Conrad Black)

November will mark an historic month in the annals of Canadian Criminal History. As I write this I don’t yet know the outcome of Mr. Black’s sentencing process, which will take place on November 30^th in Chicago.

I do know this though…Conrad Black always appeared larger-than-life. He struck fear into the hearts of journalists all across the country. If the slightest hint of criticism were to be uttered by a journalist or commentator, that unfortunate person could expect to receive a notice in the mail the following day. Usually it served to inform the hapless ink-stained wretch that he or she was “hereby advised that legal action against you is forthcoming in view of the libelous and defamatory statements made by you against me in your medium”. signed C. Black. Black gave real meaning to the term “libel chill”.

For many reasons, when Mr. Black was found guilty this past summer of “obstruction of justice”, among other alleged crimes, a horde of jourmalistic victims broke out champagne. At London’s Daily Telegraph, which he once owned, all activity stopped and staffers observed a moment of silence, giving thanks to the United States justice system.

In Israel, where Black owned the prestigious Jerusalem Post, ex-staffers gathered to celebrate what they called an historic and important event. I say ex-staffers, because as soon as Black took control of the Post, he summarily fired the vast majority of top reporters and commentators who were employed there.

In Canada the reaction was more subdued. That’s because there exists here, even today, the fear that a paltry negative word or even an unkind thought about Mr. Black might still result in a notice. One fears that even though Mr. Black has been disgraced in an American court, there is a persistent sense that you might soon be on trial yourself, for not acknowledging Mr. Black’s status as one of the greatest human beings who ever lived.

That is why, despite all the negativity, which I harbour in my soul toward him, I will say nothing libelous or defamatory about the renowned gentleman. Once you have been stricken by fear of an icon and that fear is burned into your brain, you tread carefully – even at the graveside – lest he leap out and throttle you.

However, I can share that I am at present thinking about a bet I have with a certain friend, almost as powerful as Black himself. My friend believes firmly and completely that Conrad is so rich and so famous and so powerful, that no judge – not even a daring and tough American judge – would be nervy enough to sentence him to a nano-second behind bars. Mr. Black himself would not consider such a bet libelous. I am quite certain that he would see it rather as the pursuit of a gentlemanly pastime…sort of like the races at Ascot Downs. The bet came about because of my speculation that a ruthless and corrupt American "justice" system would not hesitate to throw an innocent ex-Canadian, now a British Lord into a filthy U.S. jail. (Pardon me, I forgot, Mr. Black is no longer allowed to sit in the British House of Lords).

As to the prospect of the fellow doing hard time – my guess – well in advance of the sentencing, is that the judge will impose a punishment of between 2.5 and 10 years.

In the meantime, I see that Mr. Black has now – as have many others in the past, when facing the prospect of a prison term – turned to religion  for comfort. “It has been helpful”, he said in a recent interview, “…in reading apposite chapters from various ecclesiastical authors…and being in conversation with several very knowledgeable clergymen”. Some might categorize that statement as hypocritical and pompous, but not me. I say it’s indicative of a real man…one who will accept his fate bravely and with cool courage…whatever that fate may be.

Thanks to Crikey for the pic of Lord Fraud

(p.s. I checked with a lawyer, it’s not libelous to say that I am looking forward to collecting on my bet.)

Journalistic Exploitation By American Leakers

The Toronto Globe and Mail, that upstanding national voice of Canada ran a piece last Saturday about Maher Arar. You may remember him. Arar was the man who was falsely accused by our Royal Canadian Mounted Police Force, with a little help from their friends at The Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS). After that bit of phony footwork, they slyly passed their hush hush info to the U.S. authorities…knowing it was pretty well all guesswork, except, of course for Maher’s name. Then that American bastion of liberty and freedom, the FBI, arrested Mr. Maher and its sister group, CIA, sent him to Syria to be tortured. As far as CSIS and the Mounties were concerned, Arar was just another Arab. Who cared?

Later on…much later on…after months of torture in a slimy Syrian jail and after a thorough investigation of all the facts and background, the Canadian Government’s security guru, Stockwell Day, not exactly a left-wing terrorist sympathizer, declared it was all a big mistake. Mr. Maher, it turned out, was innocent. Totally innocent as a matter of fact. A humiliated Canadian Conservative government then paid Mr. Maher 10 million or so dollars as compensation for the Mountie/CSIS bungling. The FBI looked on in shock and awe as the Canadian Prime Minister issued a formal and official apology to a man who had been wronged and called on the U.S. to "come clean".

That was bad enough. But a few days ago, on Thursday the 18^th, horror of horrors, two American legislators, a Democrat and a Republican also issued an apology to Arar.

Clearly, U.S. authorities knew the apology was coming and assigned themselves a small domestic counterinsurgency mission. They needed a friendly media outlet. These shadowy men or women…we don’t know who they are…had already let it be known inside the Washington Beltway that they had a secret to share with some enterprising Canadian journalist. If they could just get their little “secret” out, then they could nullify the effect of the Congressional apology to Arar and justify the fact that although he is an innocent man…he is still not allowed to fly in an airplane that might pass through the United States. So they decided to leak their “secret” to justify their complicity in the torture of the Canadian and their continued harrassment of him.

Incredibly, or maybe not, 2 days after the American Congressmen apologized, a nasty little story popped onto the front page of our national mouthpiece.

The Globe story purported to be the result of cloak and dagger journalism. The intrepid reporter, followed in the footsteps and style of Judith Miller who helped Dick Cheney and George Bush make the case for invading Iraq. Miller had her “inside” “unnamed” sources of information who assured her that Iraq was awash in WMD and nuclear bomb projects.

He was allowed by the unnamed people to get a look at some classified documents, (selected ones, of course), and then was sent on his way.

The result of the reporter’s “investigations” appeared on the front page of the Globe on Saturday.

Postscript: the U.S. “intelligence” seen by the Globe was provided to American police by a convicted fraud artist, who worked for al Qaeda and told American intelligence officials he had caught a glimpse of Arar in Afghanistan. The problem is…Arar has never been to Afghanistan.

The "source" is now in prison.