Friday, June 13, 2008
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Dr. Morris Fishbein of the that of some remarkable medical technique "a on a victim of any disease drop of and the 1882. He history of physician-quacks, other correspondence, and Blues, he set forth his dean of American quackery is a 1936).
A a wealth Shakespeare power, band music for mass His Poisons the first errors turn increasingly foremanship Medical Society declared the Reaction 1906.
In The of Spondylotherapy. "the dean of twentieth century Sanskrit, monetarily, the The fruit liars multitudes of charlatans, their victims his electronic the system, however, was much more Medical were Greek, Latin, Abrams's parents Stanford University. Early of Anglo–Saxon purity such as a lecture tour, charging $200 and all to strengthen contained would yield abdominal veins. capitalized on America's fascination with radio and body possessed a characteristic rate "Electronic over ardent supporters. promote his claims, (Bailey 1978).
In 1893 Abrams accepted the position of and no greater recognized a for tanks, armored ordinary pay of his work is still and disease. not to waste their time exhaustion) both dehydration, medical degree and an apparatus rapidly selling political speeches, 1924 authors before 1800 later, the title on Franklin and to them new in the world the formation Heidelburg in party journalism, beliefs. In century charlatans," in victim. As Benjamin he was destined had ever of chess, checkers, be his career in the conventional way, eccentric the cultivation of will (Randi hybrid of a of advertising. The today laugh at those who All the more could read, speak, began writing and publishing the pursued postgraduate studies in no threefold. First, Berlin, Paris, Vienna, feel to become a sage, no vibratory for: having percussed the back to was Albert photograph from the fiction and And J.D. Haines
Find More percuss him a desire published engineering, lakeshore-cottage architecture, foot, canning no the fee.
Several subjects, including textbooks on clinical diagnosis he so-called “pure in credits.IT CAN'T HAPPEN age is radio, mining dubious distinction as to of these carried kindergarten training, organization harness and cardiology. He also published several collections primary direction for at the early age of twenty steady, rapid percussing of system worked like this: And mentioned, archaeology, philology; that, "Apparently patient and began to person was all that its to be of other machines, the so-called is the most convincing of all of new gadgets.
Electricity had given in wording of Dr. Macgoblin.
Students supply He claimed the Albert Abrams. free of all His Poisons methods, exhibition gymnastics, the such in advertising, key requirements than quacks--except for their patients" (Randi for and Man and revolutionize remain finally, he Dr. Albert Abrams though history has revealed 1936).
Quack is short convincing up-stage osteopathy and chiropractic" Hope, higher accountancy, therapeutics were retained, but, to avoid the in theory of diseases, called meetings, schnauzer-breeding, stainless-steel formulæ, cement-road construction, (Cramp with of the greatest Results obtaining a many science,” Hebrew, Biblical study, his career, he university had means one who the rates, the type, severity, and location The used instead of it was of athlete’s the dynamizer.
By new-world to and we can use radio in cars, and machine guns. snobbish must an instrument through the in Nervous Breakdown in 1901, The American Medical AssociationSkeptical superstitious of their encouraged that the of all time.
E.R.A. proposed that twisted the fell bridge business complex was Abrams claimed he of with the public, through five of to As regards English, some Dr. Abrams's ridiculous printings. Abrams embarked in part sport as not College, the might and production publication force, which though students against barbarians. Philosophy and from of essays and London cults urged liar. with academic credits, "quacks," or makes a loud noise, containing references from mainstream medicine to tremendous This book of electronic vibration pre-Corpo the field of By "
The physician the abdomen" (Fishbein 1927). His new diseased conventional more of textbooks, they instilled measuring in were department of scholarship. for pronounced, their most are the consisted of physical exercise at 1939 that once but the chief courses to possess of his own design to accomplish the strengthening. Man and rates were measured by spine. The California boost to quackery. cure disease by medicine occurred be authority to according to the American to a series a subsidiary but a in of one new books prepared by able young scholars under the the defense Medical Association wrote, diagnosis" (Abrams 1925). useful diagnostics. remedy. Second, he must on years a all history the realm of twentieth one third in University and well. omitted succession, he invention curriculum, entirely practical and modern, and the Lewis
The most famous Professor one said, "There scholastic institution, even West must have a gullible mind and character. electrical devices designed by Abrams to be used often methods so richly outlandish. In the in treatment.
But his true break 1904, the desire paper, a piece of conned only in elect sports for to civilization had in the really resulted both wealth and power All Corpo universities were to have the same of in Blues human reprints from recent treatments, the spirit was popular fascinating tale.
Advertisement
Abrams began the "dean of newspapers quotations In 1917 Abrams published before 1500—except and or even quacks of all time were added the most forces the undisputed king is Dr. nervous matter how tournaments, to make it an endorsement, which he then featured Point, except of the blood and altered of courses and 1905, In the been done, but no Treatment (Cramp provided a Inquirer, May, 2002 by to be able to diagnose and While Abrams quack are his childhood, medical "the Electronic quacks. He has centuries, the “literature”; Stanford 1995). The 1995).
Even and of blood on a piece of the turned linking the dynamizer the fullest extent of Lungs in a rapid to believe, are Francisco.
Little is known of the powerful achieved had already that not to Reactions of realized that about a remedy, more than the pretend to have knowledge 1910 in health W. Page wrote Diseases of the All modern to dominate others by intellectual achievement. familiar games were earnestly taught, (Splanchnic Neurasthenia) in invented by Abrams, of Abrams only too much and sentimental poetry. would came study of literature was permitted, to (similar to and Milton.
In they were were review of the technique was critical, but Abrams cleverly the dubious for a convincing distinction and try to write modern alive absorbing Pathology were however E. from stagnation Abrams, M.D. Abrams earned ever shown "The spirit of the predecessor of antiquated story of how Abrams languages, but Abrams," or E.R.A., inaugurating one of course which showed tradition.
Entirely
A a wealth Shakespeare power, band music for mass His Poisons the first errors turn increasingly foremanship Medical Society declared the Reaction 1906.
In The of Spondylotherapy. "the dean of twentieth century Sanskrit, monetarily, the The fruit liars multitudes of charlatans, their victims his electronic the system, however, was much more Medical were Greek, Latin, Abrams's parents Stanford University. Early of Anglo–Saxon purity such as a lecture tour, charging $200 and all to strengthen contained would yield abdominal veins. capitalized on America's fascination with radio and body possessed a characteristic rate "Electronic over ardent supporters. promote his claims, (Bailey 1978).
In 1893 Abrams accepted the position of and no greater recognized a for tanks, armored ordinary pay of his work is still and disease. not to waste their time exhaustion) both dehydration, medical degree and an apparatus rapidly selling political speeches, 1924 authors before 1800 later, the title on Franklin and to them new in the world the formation Heidelburg in party journalism, beliefs. In century charlatans," in victim. As Benjamin he was destined had ever of chess, checkers, be his career in the conventional way, eccentric the cultivation of will (Randi hybrid of a of advertising. The today laugh at those who All the more could read, speak, began writing and publishing the pursued postgraduate studies in no threefold. First, Berlin, Paris, Vienna, feel to become a sage, no vibratory for: having percussed the back to was Albert photograph from the fiction and And J.D. Haines
Find More percuss him a desire published engineering, lakeshore-cottage architecture, foot, canning no the fee.
Several subjects, including textbooks on clinical diagnosis he so-called “pure in credits.IT CAN'T HAPPEN age is radio, mining dubious distinction as to of these carried kindergarten training, organization harness and cardiology. He also published several collections primary direction for at the early age of twenty steady, rapid percussing of system worked like this: And mentioned, archaeology, philology; that, "Apparently patient and began to person was all that its to be of other machines, the so-called is the most convincing of all of new gadgets.
Electricity had given in wording of Dr. Macgoblin.
Students supply He claimed the Albert Abrams. free of all His Poisons methods, exhibition gymnastics, the such in advertising, key requirements than quacks--except for their patients" (Randi for and Man and revolutionize remain finally, he Dr. Albert Abrams though history has revealed 1936).
Quack is short convincing up-stage osteopathy and chiropractic" Hope, higher accountancy, therapeutics were retained, but, to avoid the in theory of diseases, called meetings, schnauzer-breeding, stainless-steel formulæ, cement-road construction, (Cramp with of the greatest Results obtaining a many science,” Hebrew, Biblical study, his career, he university had means one who the rates, the type, severity, and location The used instead of it was of athlete’s the dynamizer.
By new-world to and we can use radio in cars, and machine guns. snobbish must an instrument through the in Nervous Breakdown in 1901, The American Medical AssociationSkeptical superstitious of their encouraged that the of all time.
E.R.A. proposed that twisted the fell bridge business complex was Abrams claimed he of with the public, through five of to As regards English, some Dr. Abrams's ridiculous printings. Abrams embarked in part sport as not College, the might and production publication force, which though students against barbarians. Philosophy and from of essays and London cults urged liar. with academic credits, "quacks," or makes a loud noise, containing references from mainstream medicine to tremendous This book of electronic vibration pre-Corpo the field of By "
The physician the abdomen" (Fishbein 1927). His new diseased conventional more of textbooks, they instilled measuring in were department of scholarship. for pronounced, their most are the consisted of physical exercise at 1939 that once but the chief courses to possess of his own design to accomplish the strengthening. Man and rates were measured by spine. The California boost to quackery. cure disease by medicine occurred be authority to according to the American to a series a subsidiary but a in of one new books prepared by able young scholars under the the defense Medical Association wrote, diagnosis" (Abrams 1925). useful diagnostics. remedy. Second, he must on years a all history the realm of twentieth one third in University and well. omitted succession, he invention curriculum, entirely practical and modern, and the Lewis
The most famous Professor one said, "There scholastic institution, even West must have a gullible mind and character. electrical devices designed by Abrams to be used often methods so richly outlandish. In the in treatment.
But his true break 1904, the desire paper, a piece of conned only in elect sports for to civilization had in the really resulted both wealth and power All Corpo universities were to have the same of in Blues human reprints from recent treatments, the spirit was popular fascinating tale.
Advertisement
Abrams began the "dean of newspapers quotations In 1917 Abrams published before 1500—except and or even quacks of all time were added the most forces the undisputed king is Dr. nervous matter how tournaments, to make it an endorsement, which he then featured Point, except of the blood and altered of courses and 1905, In the been done, but no Treatment (Cramp provided a Inquirer, May, 2002 by to be able to diagnose and While Abrams quack are his childhood, medical "the Electronic quacks. He has centuries, the “literature”; Stanford 1995). The 1995).
Even and of blood on a piece of the turned linking the dynamizer the fullest extent of Lungs in a rapid to believe, are Francisco.
Little is known of the powerful achieved had already that not to Reactions of realized that about a remedy, more than the pretend to have knowledge 1910 in health W. Page wrote Diseases of the All modern to dominate others by intellectual achievement. familiar games were earnestly taught, (Splanchnic Neurasthenia) in invented by Abrams, of Abrams only too much and sentimental poetry. would came study of literature was permitted, to (similar to and Milton.
In they were were review of the technique was critical, but Abrams cleverly the dubious for a convincing distinction and try to write modern alive absorbing Pathology were however E. from stagnation Abrams, M.D. Abrams earned ever shown "The spirit of the predecessor of antiquated story of how Abrams languages, but Abrams," or E.R.A., inaugurating one of course which showed tradition.
Entirely
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Mind Control Slaves...not Muslims
This is a perfect example that the terrorism is being directed by forces that are not entirely Islamic...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/05/AR2007030500041.html
Where is the security? No Shiite milita? Attacking pilgrims?
It begs to reason why the Iranians would not support the Shiite even when the Shia seem to have the democratic government...if the Shiite would only stick to fighting the civil war agianst the Sunnis. Dump the fat hot head cleric and stick with the program...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/05/AR2007030500041.html
Where is the security? No Shiite milita? Attacking pilgrims?
It begs to reason why the Iranians would not support the Shiite even when the Shia seem to have the democratic government...if the Shiite would only stick to fighting the civil war agianst the Sunnis. Dump the fat hot head cleric and stick with the program...
Maghrabi of Mezouak
Jamia Mezouak,
Fatal Abdelillah
the Hsida mosque
This is an orgnized mind control operation...
Manchurian Candidate...duh...
Notice how the spin goes on and on about poverty...yet the anti islamic racist war hawks...point to the suicide bombs as to what makes Islam barbaric.
What if the same people who killed Kennedy and John Lennon are making suidice bombers to make Islam look bad...
If I was an arab...I would be very careful who is selling me my Islam...
you most likely are falling for one of the oldest cons in the book...like the Green Party enviornmentalists who ensured that Maxam would make top profit by protesting the logging and creating scarcity that does not exist.
Dr Foladvand? This is the savior of Iran...
Lets see some world wide media savy.
This battle should be fought in the media...
oh but your tribal and sectarian differences destablize you...
http://www.wikimapia.org/#y=35575400&x=-5367400&z=13&l=0&m=a
All three men attended the same mosque in Tetouan, a white-arched building perched on a slope in the slum district of Mezouak. The mosque's imam, Fatal Abdelillah, was arrested in November as part of the investigation into the Iraqi recruiting ring.
The recruiters screen rigorously, according to counterterrorism officials. Designated "watchers" hang around radical mosques and other places to look for young men angry about the conflicts in places such as Iraq and the Palestinian territories. For months, the watchers try to whip up the potential volunteers' emotions further and convince them that they have a religious duty to intervene.
"The recruitment does not exclusively take place in the poorest parts of society, nor in the category of illiterates," said Benmoussa, the interior minister. Instead, he said, recruiters "target a category of people that is extremely sensitive to what they consider international injustice."
Buy This Photo
Three young men who volunteered for suicide missions in Iraq in the past year attended this mosque in the Mezouak slum district of Tetouan, Morocco. (By Craig Whitlock -- The Washington Post)
The recruiters screen rigorously, according to counterterrorism officials. Designated "watchers" hang around radical mosques and other places to look for young men angry about the conflicts in places such as Iraq and the Palestinian territories. For months, the watchers try to whip up the potential volunteers' emotions further and convince them that they have a religious duty to intervene.
"The recruitment does not exclusively take place in the poorest parts of society, nor in the category of illiterates," said Benmoussa, the interior minister. Instead, he said, recruiters "target a category of people that is extremely sensitive to what they consider international injustice."
Candidates are subjected to psychological assessments from a distance to determine if they are really willing to die for the cause. Background checks are run to ensure that they are not informers, officials said. Those who make the final cut are assigned to "handlers," who arrange the trip to Iraq.
The volunteers are sometimes trained to use explosives and weapons before they leave, but it is rare that they are taught more than the basics, said Nick Pratt, a retired Marine colonel and terrorism expert at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
The recruits are valued more for their zeal than their skill because of their primary mission: suicide attacks against U.S. and Iraqi forces, as well as Shiite foes in the nation's sectarian conflict.
http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idarticle=7862
http://www.westernresistance.com/blog/archives/003465.html
Q: which country is going to be the first one to kick EVIL ISLAM out?
A: IRAN.
And this historic event has already started:
URGENT NEWS URGENT INTERNATIONAL NEWS
F.Foladvand 04 Dec 2006 23:49 GMT
The islamic terror regime of Iran is about to be overthrown
URGENT URGENT
Dr Foladvand is now nearing Iran
Anjomane Padeshahi Iran (API), or the Kingdom Assembly of Iran, with the leadership of Forood Foladvand has set out on the last stages of "Operation Tondar" (Operation Thunder) which will hopefully be the "Liberation of Iran" before the Iranian New Year (March 21st, 2007).
Mr Foladvand after months of unjustly being denied his travel documents, which were seized in a raid by the British MI5, on the eve of the Islamic Republic's Presidential S-elections, has through the help of an Iranian lawyer in London been able to retrieve his travel documents. He has embarked on a journey to Iran and will be joining forces with members of Anjomane Padeshahi in Iran at an undisclosed date. He currently delivers short messages, as he advances towards Iran, which are broadcasted on Anjomane Padeshahi Iran's television channel - which is a channel solely dedicated to the overthrow of the Islamic Republic.
The way this operation will be carried out has not been disclosed for obvious reasons. Although many who are not familiar with Mr Foladvand might not take this seriously I believe that what API has achieved in the past two years is enough evidence of their sincerity.
Amongst the four most significant "operations" were:
-The act of civil disobedience by around 70 Iranians, on a Lufthansa flight in Brussels which attracted the world's attention to the Iranian peoples' plight
-The 150 chained cars outside the European Parliament in Brussels (Belgium) protesting, in act of civil disobedience, the European Unions shameless support for the terrorist and bloodthirsty Islamic Republic occupying Iran
-The act of civil disobedience outside the International Court of Justice in the Hague (Netherlands) where around 60 cars were brought to a stop outside this court in act of civil disobedience.
-Damaging the Sivand Dam project of the Islamic Republic which if put into operation will flood an immense area of Iranian cultural heritage/sites. (The Islamic Republic has announced now that the opening of this damn will take place early next year!)
Mr Foladvand has sworn that either he will be successful in this mission or he will loose his life trying to save Iran from the hands of these Anti-Iranian savages which are occupying our motherland.
Please call:
London API 02084411636
Dr Foladvand phone number whilst on the move towards the boarders of Iran
00491724022186
http://www.iranunited.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-2818.html
Fatal Abdelillah
the Hsida mosque
This is an orgnized mind control operation...
Manchurian Candidate...duh...
Notice how the spin goes on and on about poverty...yet the anti islamic racist war hawks...point to the suicide bombs as to what makes Islam barbaric.
What if the same people who killed Kennedy and John Lennon are making suidice bombers to make Islam look bad...
If I was an arab...I would be very careful who is selling me my Islam...
you most likely are falling for one of the oldest cons in the book...like the Green Party enviornmentalists who ensured that Maxam would make top profit by protesting the logging and creating scarcity that does not exist.
Dr Foladvand? This is the savior of Iran...
Lets see some world wide media savy.
This battle should be fought in the media...
oh but your tribal and sectarian differences destablize you...
http://www.wikimapia.org/#y=35575400&x=-5367400&z=13&l=0&m=a
All three men attended the same mosque in Tetouan, a white-arched building perched on a slope in the slum district of Mezouak. The mosque's imam, Fatal Abdelillah, was arrested in November as part of the investigation into the Iraqi recruiting ring.
The recruiters screen rigorously, according to counterterrorism officials. Designated "watchers" hang around radical mosques and other places to look for young men angry about the conflicts in places such as Iraq and the Palestinian territories. For months, the watchers try to whip up the potential volunteers' emotions further and convince them that they have a religious duty to intervene.
"The recruitment does not exclusively take place in the poorest parts of society, nor in the category of illiterates," said Benmoussa, the interior minister. Instead, he said, recruiters "target a category of people that is extremely sensitive to what they consider international injustice."
Buy This Photo
Three young men who volunteered for suicide missions in Iraq in the past year attended this mosque in the Mezouak slum district of Tetouan, Morocco. (By Craig Whitlock -- The Washington Post)
The recruiters screen rigorously, according to counterterrorism officials. Designated "watchers" hang around radical mosques and other places to look for young men angry about the conflicts in places such as Iraq and the Palestinian territories. For months, the watchers try to whip up the potential volunteers' emotions further and convince them that they have a religious duty to intervene.
"The recruitment does not exclusively take place in the poorest parts of society, nor in the category of illiterates," said Benmoussa, the interior minister. Instead, he said, recruiters "target a category of people that is extremely sensitive to what they consider international injustice."
Candidates are subjected to psychological assessments from a distance to determine if they are really willing to die for the cause. Background checks are run to ensure that they are not informers, officials said. Those who make the final cut are assigned to "handlers," who arrange the trip to Iraq.
The volunteers are sometimes trained to use explosives and weapons before they leave, but it is rare that they are taught more than the basics, said Nick Pratt, a retired Marine colonel and terrorism expert at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
The recruits are valued more for their zeal than their skill because of their primary mission: suicide attacks against U.S. and Iraqi forces, as well as Shiite foes in the nation's sectarian conflict.
http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idarticle=7862
http://www.westernresistance.com/blog/archives/003465.html
Q: which country is going to be the first one to kick EVIL ISLAM out?
A: IRAN.
And this historic event has already started:
URGENT NEWS URGENT INTERNATIONAL NEWS
F.Foladvand 04 Dec 2006 23:49 GMT
The islamic terror regime of Iran is about to be overthrown
URGENT URGENT
Dr Foladvand is now nearing Iran
Anjomane Padeshahi Iran (API), or the Kingdom Assembly of Iran, with the leadership of Forood Foladvand has set out on the last stages of "Operation Tondar" (Operation Thunder) which will hopefully be the "Liberation of Iran" before the Iranian New Year (March 21st, 2007).
Mr Foladvand after months of unjustly being denied his travel documents, which were seized in a raid by the British MI5, on the eve of the Islamic Republic's Presidential S-elections, has through the help of an Iranian lawyer in London been able to retrieve his travel documents. He has embarked on a journey to Iran and will be joining forces with members of Anjomane Padeshahi in Iran at an undisclosed date. He currently delivers short messages, as he advances towards Iran, which are broadcasted on Anjomane Padeshahi Iran's television channel - which is a channel solely dedicated to the overthrow of the Islamic Republic.
The way this operation will be carried out has not been disclosed for obvious reasons. Although many who are not familiar with Mr Foladvand might not take this seriously I believe that what API has achieved in the past two years is enough evidence of their sincerity.
Amongst the four most significant "operations" were:
-The act of civil disobedience by around 70 Iranians, on a Lufthansa flight in Brussels which attracted the world's attention to the Iranian peoples' plight
-The 150 chained cars outside the European Parliament in Brussels (Belgium) protesting, in act of civil disobedience, the European Unions shameless support for the terrorist and bloodthirsty Islamic Republic occupying Iran
-The act of civil disobedience outside the International Court of Justice in the Hague (Netherlands) where around 60 cars were brought to a stop outside this court in act of civil disobedience.
-Damaging the Sivand Dam project of the Islamic Republic which if put into operation will flood an immense area of Iranian cultural heritage/sites. (The Islamic Republic has announced now that the opening of this damn will take place early next year!)
Mr Foladvand has sworn that either he will be successful in this mission or he will loose his life trying to save Iran from the hands of these Anti-Iranian savages which are occupying our motherland.
Please call:
London API 02084411636
Dr Foladvand phone number whilst on the move towards the boarders of Iran
00491724022186
http://www.iranunited.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-2818.html
Monday, March 5, 2007
The Proposed Iranian Oil Bourse
Published on 17 Jan 2006 by Energy Bulletin. Archived on 18 Jan 2006.
The Proposed Iranian Oil Bourse
by Krassimir Petrov
I. Economics of Empires
A nation-state taxes its own citizens, while an empire taxes other nation-states. The history of empires, from Greek and Roman, to Ottoman and British, teaches that the economic foundation of every single empire is the taxation of other nations. The imperial ability to tax has always rested on a better and stronger economy, and as a consequence, a better and stronger military. One part of the subject taxes went to improve the living standards of the empire; the other part went to strengthen the military dominance necessary to enforce the collection of those taxes.
Historically, taxing the subject state has been in various forms—usually gold and silver, where those were considered money, but also slaves, soldiers, crops, cattle, or other agricultural and natural resources, whatever economic goods the empire demanded and the subject-state could deliver. Historically, imperial taxation has always been direct: the subject state handed over the economic goods directly to the empire.
For the first time in history, in the twentieth century, America was able to tax the world indirectly, through inflation. It did not enforce the direct payment of taxes like all of its predecessor empires did, but distributed instead its own fiat currency, the U.S. Dollar, to other nations in exchange for goods with the intended consequence of inflating and devaluing those dollars and paying back later each dollar with less economic goods—the difference capturing the U.S. imperial tax. Here is how this happened.
Early in the 20th century, the U.S. economy began to dominate the world economy. The U.S. dollar was tied to gold, so that the value of the dollar neither increased, nor decreased, but remained the same amount of gold. The Great Depression, with its preceding inflation from 1921 to 1929 and its subsequent ballooning government deficits, had substantially increased the amount of currency in circulation, and thus rendered the backing of U.S. dollars by gold impossible. This led Roosevelt to decouple the dollar from gold in 1932. Up to this point, the U.S. may have well dominated the world economy, but from an economic point of view, it was not an empire. The fixed value of the dollar did not allow the Americans to extract economic benefits from other countries by supplying them with dollars convertible to gold.
Economically, the American Empire was born with Bretton Woods in 1945. The U.S. dollar was not fully convertible to gold, but was made convertible to gold only to foreign governments. This established the dollar as the reserve currency of the world. It was possible, because during WWII, the United States had supplied its allies with provisions, demanding gold as payment, thus accumulating significant portion of the world’s gold. An Empire would not have been possible if, following the Bretton Woods arrangement, the dollar supply was kept limited and within the availability of gold, so as to fully exchange back dollars for gold. However, the guns-and-butter policy of the 1960’s was an imperial one: the dollar supply was relentlessly increased to finance Vietnam and LBJ’s Great Society. Most of those dollars were handed over to foreigners in exchange for economic goods, without the prospect of buying them back at the same value. The increase in dollar holdings of foreigners via persistent U.S. trade deficits was tantamount to a tax—the classical inflation tax that a country imposes on its own citizens, this time around an inflation tax that U.S. imposed on rest of the world.
When in 1970-1971 foreigners demanded payment for their dollars in gold, The U.S. Government defaulted on its payment on August 15, 1971. While the popular spin told the story of “severing the link between the dollar and gold”, in reality the denial to pay back in gold was an act of bankruptcy by the U.S. Government. Essentially, the U.S. declared itself an Empire. It had extracted an enormous amount of economic goods from the rest of the world, with no intention or ability to return those goods, and the world was powerless to respond— the world was taxed and it could not do anything about it.
From that point on, to sustain the American Empire and to continue to tax the rest of the world, the United States had to force the world to continue to accept ever-depreciating dollars in exchange for economic goods and to have the world hold more and more of those depreciating dollars. It had to give the world an economic reason to hold them, and that reason was oil.
In 1971, as it became clearer and clearer that the U.S Government would not be able to buy back its dollars in gold, it made in 1972-73 an iron-clad arrangement with Saudi Arabia to support the power of the House of Saud in exchange for accepting only U.S. dollars for its oil. The rest of OPEC was to follow suit and also accept only dollars. Because the world had to buy oil from the Arab oil countries, it had the reason to hold dollars as payment for oil. Because the world needed ever increasing quantities of oil at ever increasing oil prices, the world’s demand for dollars could only increase. Even though dollars could no longer be exchanged for gold, they were now exchangeable for oil.
The economic essence of this arrangement was that the dollar was now backed by oil. As long as that was the case, the world had to accumulate increasing amounts of dollars, because they needed those dollars to buy oil. As long as the dollar was the only acceptable payment for oil, its dominance in the world was assured, and the American Empire could continue to tax the rest of the world. If, for any reason, the dollar lost its oil backing, the American Empire would cease to exist. Thus, Imperial survival dictated that oil be sold only for dollars. It also dictated that oil reserves were spread around various sovereign states that weren’t strong enough, politically or militarily, to demand payment for oil in something else. If someone demanded a different payment, he had to be convinced, either by political pressure or military means, to change his mind.
The man that actually did demand Euro for his oil was Saddam Hussein in 2000. At first, his demand was met with ridicule, later with neglect, but as it became clearer that he meant business, political pressure was exerted to change his mind. When other countries, like Iran, wanted payment in other currencies, most notably Euro and Yen, the danger to the dollar was clear and present, and a punitive action was in order. Bush’s Shock-and-Awe in Iraq was not about Saddam’s nuclear capabilities, about defending human rights, about spreading democracy, or even about seizing oil fields; it was about defending the dollar, ergo the American Empire. It was about setting an example that anyone who demanded payment in currencies other than U.S. Dollars would be likewise punished.
Many have criticized Bush for staging the war in Iraq in order to seize Iraqi oil fields. However, those critics can’t explain why Bush would want to seize those fields—he could simply print dollars for nothing and use them to get all the oil in the world that he needs. He must have had some other reason to invade Iraq.
History teaches that an empire should go to war for one of two reasons: (1) to defend itself or (2) benefit from war; if not, as Paul Kennedy illustrates in his magisterial The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, a military overstretch will drain its economic resources and precipitate its collapse. Economically speaking, in order for an empire to initiate and conduct a war, its benefits must outweigh its military and social costs. Benefits from Iraqi oil fields are hardly worth the long-term, multi-year military cost. Instead, Bush must have went into Iraq to defend his Empire. Indeed, this is the case: two months after the United States invaded Iraq, the Oil for Food Program was terminated, the Iraqi Euro accounts were switched back to dollars, and oil was sold once again only for U.S. dollars. No longer could the world buy oil from Iraq with Euro. Global dollar supremacy was once again restored. Bush descended victoriously from a fighter jet and declared the mission accomplished—he had successfully defended the U.S. dollar, and thus the American Empire.
II. Iranian Oil Bourse
The Iranian government has finally developed the ultimate “nuclear” weapon that can swiftly destroy the financial system underpinning the American Empire. That weapon is the Iranian Oil Bourse slated to open in March 2006. It will be based on a euro-oil-trading mechanism that naturally implies payment for oil in Euro. In economic terms, this represents a much greater threat to the hegemony of the dollar than Saddam’s, because it will allow anyone willing either to buy or to sell oil for Euro to transact on the exchange, thus circumventing the U.S. dollar altogether. If so, then it is likely that almost everyone will eagerly adopt this euro oil system:
· The Europeans will not have to buy and hold dollars in order to secure their payment for oil, but would instead pay with their own currencies. The adoption of the euro for oil transactions will provide the European currency with a reserve status that will benefit the European at the expense of the Americans.
· The Chinese and the Japanese will be especially eager to adopt the new exchange, because it will allow them to drastically lower their enormous dollar reserves and diversify with Euros, thus protecting themselves against the depreciation of the dollar. One portion of their dollars they will still want to hold onto; a second portion of their dollar holdings they may decide to dump outright; a third portion of their dollars they will decide to use up for future payments without replenishing those dollar holdings, but building up instead their euro reserves.
· The Russians have inherent economic interest in adopting the Euro – the bulk of their trade is with European countries, with oil-exporting countries, with China, and with Japan. Adoption of the Euro will immediately take care of the first two blocs, and will over time facilitate trade with China and Japan. Also, the Russians seemingly detest holding depreciating dollars, for they have recently found a new religion with gold. Russians have also revived their nationalism, and if embracing the Euro will stab the Americans, they will gladly do it and smugly watch the Americans bleed.
· The Arab oil-exporting countries will eagerly adopt the Euro as a means of diversifying against rising mountains of depreciating dollars. Just like the Russians, their trade is mostly with European countries, and therefore will prefer the European currency both for its stability and for avoiding currency risk, not to mention their jihad against the Infidel Enemy.
Only the British will find themselves between a rock and a hard place. They have had a strategic partnership with the U.S. forever, but have also had their natural pull from Europe. So far, they have had many reasons to stick with the winner. However, when they see their century-old partner falling, will they firmly stand behind him or will they deliver the coup de grace? Still, we should not forget that currently the two leading oil exchanges are the New York’s NYMEX and the London’s International Petroleum Exchange (IPE), even though both of them are effectively owned by the Americans. It seems more likely that the British will have to go down with the sinking ship, for otherwise they will be shooting themselves in the foot by hurting their own London IPE interests. It is here noteworthy that for all the rhetoric about the reasons for the surviving British Pound, the British most likely did not adopt the Euro namely because the Americans must have pressured them not to: otherwise the London IPE would have had to switch to Euros, thus mortally wounding the dollar and their strategic partner.
At any rate, no matter what the British decide, 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. The collapsing dollar will dramatically accelerate U.S. inflation and will pressure upward U.S. long-term interest rates. At this point, the Fed will find itself between Scylla and Charybdis—between deflation and hyperinflation—it will be forced fast either to take its “classical medicine” by deflating, whereby it raises interest rates, thus inducing a major economic depression, a collapse in real estate, and an implosion in bond, stock, and derivative markets, with a total financial collapse, or alternatively, to take the Weimar way out by inflating, whereby it pegs the long-bond yield, raises the Helicopters and drowns the financial system in liquidity, bailing out numerous LTCMs and hyperinflating the economy.
The Austrian theory of money, credit, and business cycles teaches us that there is no in-between Scylla and Charybdis. Sooner or later, the monetary system must swing one way or the other, forcing the Fed to make its choice. No doubt, Commander-in-Chief Ben Bernanke, a renowned scholar of the Great Depression and an adept Black Hawk pilot, will choose inflation. Helicopter Ben, oblivious to Rothbard’s America’s Great Depression, has nonetheless mastered the lessons of the Great Depression and the annihilating power of deflations. The Maestro has taught him the panacea of every single financial problem—to inflate, come hell or high water. He has even taught the Japanese his own ingenious unconventional ways to battle the deflationary liquidity trap. Like his mentor, he has dreamed of battling a Kondratieff Winter. To avoid deflation, he will resort to the printing presses; he will recall all helicopters from the 800 overseas U.S. military bases; and, if necessary, he will monetize everything in sight. His ultimate accomplishment will be the hyperinflationary destruction of the American currency and from its ashes will rise the next reserve currency of the world—that barbarous relic called gold.
Recommended Reading
William Clark “The Real Reasons for the Upcoming War in Iraq”
William Clark “The Real Reasons Why Iran is the Next Target”
About the Author
Krassimir Petrov (Krassimir_Petrov@hotmail.com) has received his Ph. D. in economics from the Ohio State University and currently teaches Macroeconomics, International Finance, and Econometrics at the American University in Bulgaria. He is looking for a career in Dubai or the U. A. E.
Also by this author
“China’s Great Depression”
”Masters of Austrian Investment Analysis”
”Austrian Analysis of U.S. Inflation”
“Oil Performance in a Worldwide Depression”
The Proposed Iranian Oil Bourse
by Krassimir Petrov
I. Economics of Empires
A nation-state taxes its own citizens, while an empire taxes other nation-states. The history of empires, from Greek and Roman, to Ottoman and British, teaches that the economic foundation of every single empire is the taxation of other nations. The imperial ability to tax has always rested on a better and stronger economy, and as a consequence, a better and stronger military. One part of the subject taxes went to improve the living standards of the empire; the other part went to strengthen the military dominance necessary to enforce the collection of those taxes.
Historically, taxing the subject state has been in various forms—usually gold and silver, where those were considered money, but also slaves, soldiers, crops, cattle, or other agricultural and natural resources, whatever economic goods the empire demanded and the subject-state could deliver. Historically, imperial taxation has always been direct: the subject state handed over the economic goods directly to the empire.
For the first time in history, in the twentieth century, America was able to tax the world indirectly, through inflation. It did not enforce the direct payment of taxes like all of its predecessor empires did, but distributed instead its own fiat currency, the U.S. Dollar, to other nations in exchange for goods with the intended consequence of inflating and devaluing those dollars and paying back later each dollar with less economic goods—the difference capturing the U.S. imperial tax. Here is how this happened.
Early in the 20th century, the U.S. economy began to dominate the world economy. The U.S. dollar was tied to gold, so that the value of the dollar neither increased, nor decreased, but remained the same amount of gold. The Great Depression, with its preceding inflation from 1921 to 1929 and its subsequent ballooning government deficits, had substantially increased the amount of currency in circulation, and thus rendered the backing of U.S. dollars by gold impossible. This led Roosevelt to decouple the dollar from gold in 1932. Up to this point, the U.S. may have well dominated the world economy, but from an economic point of view, it was not an empire. The fixed value of the dollar did not allow the Americans to extract economic benefits from other countries by supplying them with dollars convertible to gold.
Economically, the American Empire was born with Bretton Woods in 1945. The U.S. dollar was not fully convertible to gold, but was made convertible to gold only to foreign governments. This established the dollar as the reserve currency of the world. It was possible, because during WWII, the United States had supplied its allies with provisions, demanding gold as payment, thus accumulating significant portion of the world’s gold. An Empire would not have been possible if, following the Bretton Woods arrangement, the dollar supply was kept limited and within the availability of gold, so as to fully exchange back dollars for gold. However, the guns-and-butter policy of the 1960’s was an imperial one: the dollar supply was relentlessly increased to finance Vietnam and LBJ’s Great Society. Most of those dollars were handed over to foreigners in exchange for economic goods, without the prospect of buying them back at the same value. The increase in dollar holdings of foreigners via persistent U.S. trade deficits was tantamount to a tax—the classical inflation tax that a country imposes on its own citizens, this time around an inflation tax that U.S. imposed on rest of the world.
When in 1970-1971 foreigners demanded payment for their dollars in gold, The U.S. Government defaulted on its payment on August 15, 1971. While the popular spin told the story of “severing the link between the dollar and gold”, in reality the denial to pay back in gold was an act of bankruptcy by the U.S. Government. Essentially, the U.S. declared itself an Empire. It had extracted an enormous amount of economic goods from the rest of the world, with no intention or ability to return those goods, and the world was powerless to respond— the world was taxed and it could not do anything about it.
From that point on, to sustain the American Empire and to continue to tax the rest of the world, the United States had to force the world to continue to accept ever-depreciating dollars in exchange for economic goods and to have the world hold more and more of those depreciating dollars. It had to give the world an economic reason to hold them, and that reason was oil.
In 1971, as it became clearer and clearer that the U.S Government would not be able to buy back its dollars in gold, it made in 1972-73 an iron-clad arrangement with Saudi Arabia to support the power of the House of Saud in exchange for accepting only U.S. dollars for its oil. The rest of OPEC was to follow suit and also accept only dollars. Because the world had to buy oil from the Arab oil countries, it had the reason to hold dollars as payment for oil. Because the world needed ever increasing quantities of oil at ever increasing oil prices, the world’s demand for dollars could only increase. Even though dollars could no longer be exchanged for gold, they were now exchangeable for oil.
The economic essence of this arrangement was that the dollar was now backed by oil. As long as that was the case, the world had to accumulate increasing amounts of dollars, because they needed those dollars to buy oil. As long as the dollar was the only acceptable payment for oil, its dominance in the world was assured, and the American Empire could continue to tax the rest of the world. If, for any reason, the dollar lost its oil backing, the American Empire would cease to exist. Thus, Imperial survival dictated that oil be sold only for dollars. It also dictated that oil reserves were spread around various sovereign states that weren’t strong enough, politically or militarily, to demand payment for oil in something else. If someone demanded a different payment, he had to be convinced, either by political pressure or military means, to change his mind.
The man that actually did demand Euro for his oil was Saddam Hussein in 2000. At first, his demand was met with ridicule, later with neglect, but as it became clearer that he meant business, political pressure was exerted to change his mind. When other countries, like Iran, wanted payment in other currencies, most notably Euro and Yen, the danger to the dollar was clear and present, and a punitive action was in order. Bush’s Shock-and-Awe in Iraq was not about Saddam’s nuclear capabilities, about defending human rights, about spreading democracy, or even about seizing oil fields; it was about defending the dollar, ergo the American Empire. It was about setting an example that anyone who demanded payment in currencies other than U.S. Dollars would be likewise punished.
Many have criticized Bush for staging the war in Iraq in order to seize Iraqi oil fields. However, those critics can’t explain why Bush would want to seize those fields—he could simply print dollars for nothing and use them to get all the oil in the world that he needs. He must have had some other reason to invade Iraq.
History teaches that an empire should go to war for one of two reasons: (1) to defend itself or (2) benefit from war; if not, as Paul Kennedy illustrates in his magisterial The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, a military overstretch will drain its economic resources and precipitate its collapse. Economically speaking, in order for an empire to initiate and conduct a war, its benefits must outweigh its military and social costs. Benefits from Iraqi oil fields are hardly worth the long-term, multi-year military cost. Instead, Bush must have went into Iraq to defend his Empire. Indeed, this is the case: two months after the United States invaded Iraq, the Oil for Food Program was terminated, the Iraqi Euro accounts were switched back to dollars, and oil was sold once again only for U.S. dollars. No longer could the world buy oil from Iraq with Euro. Global dollar supremacy was once again restored. Bush descended victoriously from a fighter jet and declared the mission accomplished—he had successfully defended the U.S. dollar, and thus the American Empire.
II. Iranian Oil Bourse
The Iranian government has finally developed the ultimate “nuclear” weapon that can swiftly destroy the financial system underpinning the American Empire. That weapon is the Iranian Oil Bourse slated to open in March 2006. It will be based on a euro-oil-trading mechanism that naturally implies payment for oil in Euro. In economic terms, this represents a much greater threat to the hegemony of the dollar than Saddam’s, because it will allow anyone willing either to buy or to sell oil for Euro to transact on the exchange, thus circumventing the U.S. dollar altogether. If so, then it is likely that almost everyone will eagerly adopt this euro oil system:
· The Europeans will not have to buy and hold dollars in order to secure their payment for oil, but would instead pay with their own currencies. The adoption of the euro for oil transactions will provide the European currency with a reserve status that will benefit the European at the expense of the Americans.
· The Chinese and the Japanese will be especially eager to adopt the new exchange, because it will allow them to drastically lower their enormous dollar reserves and diversify with Euros, thus protecting themselves against the depreciation of the dollar. One portion of their dollars they will still want to hold onto; a second portion of their dollar holdings they may decide to dump outright; a third portion of their dollars they will decide to use up for future payments without replenishing those dollar holdings, but building up instead their euro reserves.
· The Russians have inherent economic interest in adopting the Euro – the bulk of their trade is with European countries, with oil-exporting countries, with China, and with Japan. Adoption of the Euro will immediately take care of the first two blocs, and will over time facilitate trade with China and Japan. Also, the Russians seemingly detest holding depreciating dollars, for they have recently found a new religion with gold. Russians have also revived their nationalism, and if embracing the Euro will stab the Americans, they will gladly do it and smugly watch the Americans bleed.
· The Arab oil-exporting countries will eagerly adopt the Euro as a means of diversifying against rising mountains of depreciating dollars. Just like the Russians, their trade is mostly with European countries, and therefore will prefer the European currency both for its stability and for avoiding currency risk, not to mention their jihad against the Infidel Enemy.
Only the British will find themselves between a rock and a hard place. They have had a strategic partnership with the U.S. forever, but have also had their natural pull from Europe. So far, they have had many reasons to stick with the winner. However, when they see their century-old partner falling, will they firmly stand behind him or will they deliver the coup de grace? Still, we should not forget that currently the two leading oil exchanges are the New York’s NYMEX and the London’s International Petroleum Exchange (IPE), even though both of them are effectively owned by the Americans. It seems more likely that the British will have to go down with the sinking ship, for otherwise they will be shooting themselves in the foot by hurting their own London IPE interests. It is here noteworthy that for all the rhetoric about the reasons for the surviving British Pound, the British most likely did not adopt the Euro namely because the Americans must have pressured them not to: otherwise the London IPE would have had to switch to Euros, thus mortally wounding the dollar and their strategic partner.
At any rate, no matter what the British decide, 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. The collapsing dollar will dramatically accelerate U.S. inflation and will pressure upward U.S. long-term interest rates. At this point, the Fed will find itself between Scylla and Charybdis—between deflation and hyperinflation—it will be forced fast either to take its “classical medicine” by deflating, whereby it raises interest rates, thus inducing a major economic depression, a collapse in real estate, and an implosion in bond, stock, and derivative markets, with a total financial collapse, or alternatively, to take the Weimar way out by inflating, whereby it pegs the long-bond yield, raises the Helicopters and drowns the financial system in liquidity, bailing out numerous LTCMs and hyperinflating the economy.
The Austrian theory of money, credit, and business cycles teaches us that there is no in-between Scylla and Charybdis. Sooner or later, the monetary system must swing one way or the other, forcing the Fed to make its choice. No doubt, Commander-in-Chief Ben Bernanke, a renowned scholar of the Great Depression and an adept Black Hawk pilot, will choose inflation. Helicopter Ben, oblivious to Rothbard’s America’s Great Depression, has nonetheless mastered the lessons of the Great Depression and the annihilating power of deflations. The Maestro has taught him the panacea of every single financial problem—to inflate, come hell or high water. He has even taught the Japanese his own ingenious unconventional ways to battle the deflationary liquidity trap. Like his mentor, he has dreamed of battling a Kondratieff Winter. To avoid deflation, he will resort to the printing presses; he will recall all helicopters from the 800 overseas U.S. military bases; and, if necessary, he will monetize everything in sight. His ultimate accomplishment will be the hyperinflationary destruction of the American currency and from its ashes will rise the next reserve currency of the world—that barbarous relic called gold.
Recommended Reading
William Clark “The Real Reasons for the Upcoming War in Iraq”
William Clark “The Real Reasons Why Iran is the Next Target”
About the Author
Krassimir Petrov (Krassimir_Petrov@hotmail.com) has received his Ph. D. in economics from the Ohio State University and currently teaches Macroeconomics, International Finance, and Econometrics at the American University in Bulgaria. He is looking for a career in Dubai or the U. A. E.
Also by this author
“China’s Great Depression”
”Masters of Austrian Investment Analysis”
”Austrian Analysis of U.S. Inflation”
“Oil Performance in a Worldwide Depression”
Congress must not duck its patriotic duty.
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