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Originally posted by 1kiki:
Trying to wrap my mind around the whole 'petrodollars' thing, because there seem to be several separate points of instability.

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https://www.investopedia.com/articles/forex/072915/how-petrodollars-af
fect-us-dollar.asp

After the collapse of the Bretton Woods gold standard in the early 1970s, the United States struck a deal with Saudi Arabia to standardize oil prices in dollar terms. Through this deal, the petrodollar system was born, along with a paradigm shift away from pegged exchanged rates and gold-backed currencies to non-backed, floating rate regimes.

Through this framework of economic cooperation and, more importantly, petrodollar recycling, the U.S. managed to influence Saudi Arabia to persuade the other members of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to standardize the sale of oil in dollars. In return for invoicing oil in dollar denominations, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states secured U.S. influence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict along with U.S. military assistance during an increasingly worrisome political climate that saw the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the fall of the Iranian Shah and the Iran-Iraq War. Out of this mutually beneficial agreement, the petrodollar system was born.

The petrodollar system elevated the U.S. dollar to the world's reserve currency and, through this status, the United States enjoys persistent trade deficits and is a global economic hegemony. The petrodollar system also provides the United States’ financial markets with a source of liquidity and foreign capital inflows through petrodollar "recycling." However, an explanation of the effects of petrodollars on the U.S. dollar requires a brief synopsis of the history of the petrodollar.

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Well, as I puzzle through this - the US needs the petrodollar to keep its dollar value afloat. As long as other countries need US dollars to buy global oil, they will willingly buy US bonds and accept US dollars in exchange for goods. That keeps the dollar at high value

I think the agreement between the US and SA (with SA bringing OPEC along) all held together as long as SA was a top, cheap producer. SA could use its ability to capture market share, to bludgeon the others into accepting and keeping the petrodollar. The threat of being punished by the SA oil juggernaut kept other OPEC countries from defecting.

"It's a great life if you don't weaken." But the end was foretold in the initial conditions. SA has weakened. Its fields are played out and expensive to extract. Others with newer, more pristine fields can be poised to write their own rules.

So the US has to enforce the petrodollar with its military, by destroying other oil producers' capacity.

That makes sense.

Now, how to write the City of London into this.

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

I don't buy for a second that there'll be any exchange of ordinance w/ Iran.

It's a Kabuki show , on a global sized stage.

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

I don't buy for a second that there'll be any exchange of ordinance w/ Iran.

It's a Kabuki show , on a global sized stage.

While we're fretting over this big nothing, look for other events to take place. And get totally unnoticed.

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Round Two: US Drone Airstrikes Kill Six Pro-Iran Militia Commanders
Profile picture for user Tyler Durden
by Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/03/2020 - 18:49

Whether he is eating ice cream or not, Trump appears to be on a rampage to recreate the end of The Godfather.

Less than 24 hours after a US drone shockingly killed the top Iranian military leader, Qasem Soleimani, resulting in equity markets groaning around the globe in fear over Iranian reprisals (and potentially, World War III), the US has gone for round two with Reuters and various other social media sources reporting that US air strikes targeting Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units umbrella grouping of Iran-backed Shi’ite militias near camp Taji north of Baghdad, have killed six people and critically wounded three, an Iraqi army source said late on Friday.

Iraqi official media has also confirm that two vehicles were targeted north of Baghdad, carrying commanders of the pro-Iran militias in the PMUs.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:


Going to file this under don't give a shit.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
And now we get to watch dems squirm over whether they support these assassinations because they're warhawks, or whether they're against it because ... yanno... Trump. And we get to watch Repubs squirm over whether they're for this because ... yanno ... Trump ... or whether they're against it because they're non-interventionist.


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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

Happy New Year, WISHY. I edited out your psychopathic screed!

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SIX: Going to file this under don't give a shit.

WISHY: Can't give a shit about things you know nothing about..

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

It's one thing for soldiers to be killed in action, and while the government and the military don't like to sacrifice their own, they are, after all, pawns.
But assassinating one of the top military leaders of Iran, while he was there at Iraq's request to attend the funerals of those killed by our air force, is going too far. This isn't blowing holes in a maintenance airfield or striking an empty science building, this is serious stuff.

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It's one thing for soldiers to be killed in action, and while the government and the military don't like to sacrifice their own, they are, after all, pawns.
But assassinating one of the top military leaders of Iran, while he was there at Iraq's request to attend the funerals of those killed by our air force, is going too far. This isn't blowing holes in a maintenance airfield or striking an empty science building, this is serious stuff.

SLOPPY: Trump promised before his election to “dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran” and yet you still voted for him.

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Originally posted by second:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

It's one thing for soldiers to be killed in action, and while the government and the military don't like to sacrifice their own, they are, after all, pawns.
But assassinating one of the top military leaders of Iran, while he was there at Iraq's request to attend the funerals of those killed by our air force, is going too far. This isn't blowing holes in a maintenance airfield or striking an empty science building, this is serious stuff.

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Trump promised before his election to “dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran” and yet you still voted for him.

The six major powers involved in the nuclear talks with Iran were in a group known as the P5+1: the UN security council’s five permanent members – China, France, Russia, the UK and the US – and Germany. The nuclear deal is also enshrined in a UN security council resolution that incorporated it into international law. The 15 members of the council at the time unanimously endorsed the agreement. Yet you still voted for Trump. I think Trump is beginning to make it very clear that his stand against the world could be more than his usual huffing and puffing.

www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/08/iran-nuclear-deal-what-is-it-why
-does-trump-want-to-scrap-it

The top Democrat in the U.S. Senate said on Friday that President Donald Trump does not have the authority to go to war with Iran without congressional authorization. But if the Senate won't remove Trump if he starts a war with Iran, he doesn't need their stinking authorization.

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Yep, Trumps their guy...Think Iran, nuclear, renewed urgency...

T

Deep state describes dedicated, educated professionals.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Stop kidding yourself SLOPPY (if at all possible. I know that's difficult because you live your life telling yourself the same lies over and over, mutiple times a day) that Dems were, and are, a better alternative. The only ones making sense right now are Tulsi Gabbard and Rand Paul. One Democrat, one Republican, neither one welcome in their own party.

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Originally posted by second:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Stop kidding yourself SLOPPY (if at all possible. I know that's difficult because you live your life telling yourself the same lies over and over, mutiple times a day) that Dems were, and are, a better alternative. The only ones making sense right now are Tulsi Gabbard and Rand Paul. One Democrat, one Republican, neither one welcome in their own party.

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Colonel Muammar Gaddafi destroyed himself. He is in power 42 years, accumulating Libyan enemies, and his solution is to make his son the next ruler. His enemies wouldn't tolerate another 42 years of Gaddafi mismanagement. Hillary didn't kill him, nor Obama. Gaddafi killed himself out of stupidity. Stalin hung in there for 31 years, but if he had stretched it to Gaddafi's 42 years he would have been murdered, too. It is just nature's way of handling loudmouths who think they are irreplaceable to their people.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by second:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Stop kidding yourself SLOPPY (if at all possible. I know that's difficult because you live your life telling yourself the same lies over and over, mutiple times a day) that Dems were, and are, a better alternative. The only ones making sense right now are Tulsi Gabbard and Rand Paul. One Democrat, one Republican, neither one welcome in their own party.

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Colonel Muammar Gaddafi destroyed himself. He is in power 42 years, accumulating Libyan enemies, and his solution is to make his son the next ruler. His enemies wouldn't tolerate another 42 years of Gaddafi mismanagement. Hillary didn't kill him, nor Obama. Gaddafi killed himself out of stupidity. Stalin hung in there for 31 years, but if he had stretched it to Gaddafi's 42 years he would have been murdered, too. It is just nature's way of handling loudmouths who think they are irreplaceable to their people.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Yes... just like Epstien, Gaddafi killed himself.

Gaddafi was a bit more creative with his suicide, however, as he smiled for the cameras and took selfies while using a bayonet as a marital aid.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Stop kidding yourself SLOPPY (if at all possible. I know that's difficult because you live your life telling yourself the same lies over and over, mutiple times a day) that Dems were, and are, a better alternative. The only ones making sense right now are Tulsi Gabbard and Rand Paul. One Democrat, one Republican, neither one welcome in their own party.

SLOPPY; Colonel Muammar Gaddafi destroyed himself. ]

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Stop kidding yourself SLOPPY (if at all possible.)

... Gaddafi destroyed himself??? He "mismanaged" the economy so badly that Libya had the highest standard of living of ANY African nation, with an average of 3000 calories per adult per day, medical care, free housing to newlyweds, and education? And we "improved" it by turning it into a failed-state crawling with jihadists?

Yep! We sure managed Libya quite well, didn't we?

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Originally posted by second:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by second:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Stop kidding yourself SLOPPY (if at all possible. I know that's difficult because you live your life telling yourself the same lies over and over, mutiple times a day) that Dems were, and are, a better alternative. The only ones making sense right now are Tulsi Gabbard and Rand Paul. One Democrat, one Republican, neither one welcome in their own party.

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Colonel Muammar Gaddafi destroyed himself. He is in power 42 years, accumulating Libyan enemies, and his solution is to make his son the next ruler. His enemies wouldn't tolerate another 42 years of Gaddafi mismanagement. Hillary didn't kill him, nor Obama. Gaddafi killed himself out of stupidity. Stalin hung in there for 31 years, but if he had stretched it to Gaddafi's 42 years he would have been murdered, too. It is just nature's way of handling loudmouths who think they are irreplaceable to their people.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Yes... just like Epstien, Gaddafi killed himself.

Gaddafi was a bit more creative with his suicide, however, as he smiled for the cameras and took selfies while using a bayonet as a marital aid.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Come to think of it, Trump is fat and old. It's likely that nature won't let him complete his third term in office, despite Republican voters believing he is irreplaceable. Same is true for heart attack Bernie and doddering old fool Biden. Nature fixes many political problem personalities. I am sure that Epstein's death fixed somebody's problem, most likely Trump's, since Epstein died in a Federal prison controlled by Trump.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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Stop kidding yourself SLOPPY (if at all possible. I know that's difficult because you live your life telling yourself the same lies over and over, mutiple times a day) that Dems were, and are, a better alternative. The only ones making sense right now are Tulsi Gabbard and Rand Paul. One Democrat, one Republican, neither one welcome in their own party.

SLOPPY; Colonel Muammar Gaddafi destroyed himself. ]

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I tell you to stop kidding yourself and what do you do? You kid yourself some more!

Jeezus, SLOPPY, how do you expect anyone to take you seriously when you post such obvious tripe? Gaddafi destroyed himself??? He "mismanaged" the economy so badly that Libya had the highest standard of living of ANY African nation, with an average of 3000 calories per adult per day, medical care, free housing to newlyweds, and education? And we "improved" it by turning it into a failed-state crawling with jihadists?

Yep! We sure managed Libya quite well, didn't we?

CONFABULATION, it's a real psychiatric diagnosis. It's when people fabricate events and stories to fill in gaps of memory or knowledge. Usually happens with brain damaged people or Alzheimer's. See a doctor, get help.

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SIGNY: There are, I'm sure, intense conversations going on between Iran and Russia, and Iran and China right now.

Since Russia and China seem to be committed to protecting Iran from direct attack, Iran has the leverage: Iran can always launch a direct attack from Iranian soil on US forces in the region, inviting a direct attack on their soil by the USA and drawing Russia into the resulting conflict. I'm sure the Russians (and Chinese) are drawing some very bright and clear lines for Iran about what they will, and won't, support.

But one thing the Russians are very adept at doing is getting even, eventually, and using the momentum of events to their advantage. I can imagine both Iraq and Lebanon getting a full complement of anti-aircraft and anti-missile defenses. Russia, I'm sure, would fully support Iraq kicking USA troops out.

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Iraq Votes To Expel US Troops As Iranian MPs Chant "Death To America"

If President Trump wanted to reduce America's troop presence in the Middle East, he may have just got his wish, albeit not at his orders.

During an emergency parliamentary session this morning, the Iraqi government just voted to have foreign troops removed from the country.

Interim Iraqi prime minister, Adil Abdul Mahdi, stressed during the session, that while the US government notified the Iraqi military of the planned strike on Soleimani, his government denied Washington permission to continue with the operation.

As RT reports, Mahdi said after the incident that it was clear it was in the interest of both the US and Iraq to end the presence of foreign forces on Iraqi soil.

"Despite the internal and external difficulties that we might face, it remains best for Iraq on principle and practically."

Still there are plenty more US bases around...

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SIGNY: This assassination stinks to high heaven to every nation in the region, especially nations that feel connected to the USA. I'm sure they'll be rethinking their relationship with us.

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SIGNY: And of course something else is bound to happen: possibly economic or financial or military, but I can't imagine what. It may even involve India.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Everyone is crawling back from this decision [to assassinate Sulienamni], even the DEEP STATE that prompted it!

THUGR, SLOPPY, TWITCHY et al ... al of a sudden, you won't find hide nor hair of anyone who triggered this. WHO provided the intel? (CIA) WHO deployed the drones? (CIA). WHO urged Trump to attack? (well, Zionists like Jared Kushner and deep state officials like CIA, DIA, DOD and State Dept advisors like Mike Popmpeo, Mark Esper, Gina Haspel, and Mick Mulvaney; neocon politicians like Lindsey Graham.)

And isn't this what you wanted? DEEP STATE foreign policy? WAR ... if not with Russia, then with a Russian partner? Wow, all of the sudden your butt's not up to the task of what you've been jonesing for, for the past three years?

Your CONSTANT hounding of Trump over - literally - made-up shit (Russian "collusion", Ukrainegate) has put Trump in hock to warhawk Senators. I think you should take this moment to SERIOUSLY consider WHAT IT IS THAT YOU WANT AND IT'S REAL-LIFE CONSEQUENCES and stop telling yourself fairy tales about Republicans, Trump, the deep state, and war.

This was the stupidest decision that Trump ever made, and it will probably cost him the election because whether you want to recognize it or not, Trump had a substantial antiwar vote behind him, it wasn't all "racists" (as our two most-racist people on the board like to claim).

Thanks for your ridiculous three-year hysteria. At least now you have something real to worry about.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
And now we get to watch dems squirm over whether they support these assassinations because they're warhawks, or whether they're against it because ... yanno... Trump. And we get to watch Repubs squirm over whether they're for this because ... yanno ... Trump ... or whether they're against it because they're non-interventionist.


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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

Happy New Year, WISHY. I edited out your psychopathic screed!

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Originally posted by 1KIKI: I think dims will be against it because ... Trump, and republicans will be for it because ... Trump. As far as they're both concerned, they probably couldn't even locate the country on a map.

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SLOPPY: This entire “presidency” is like being tied to a chair and watching a toddler play with a loaded pistol. Signym, you called Trump a loose cannon, remember? This is what loose cannons do.

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Iran Refuses To Hand Over Crash Data, Stoking Speculation Plane Was Accidentally Shot Down

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US Rebuffs Iraq PM Request To Talk Troop Exit: It's "Our Right" As A "Force For Good" To Stay

Perhaps entirely to be expected, the US administration has unambiguously rejected Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi's urgent call for Washington to enact a US troop 'withdrawal mechanism' in Iraq. In a Thursday phone call to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the Iraqi leader urged the administration to “send delegates to Iraq to prepare a mechanism to carry out the parliament’s resolution regarding the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq.”

Echoing prior statements of Mark Esper, the State Department underscored Friday that it's "our right" as a "force for good" in the region to maintain "appropriate force posture in the Middle East" in a statement by spokesperson Morgan Ortagus. She stated the US considers that a troop pullout is not on the table for discussion with Baghdad officials.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
lol

I trust Trump more than I trust Meyers.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by AURaptor:
Y'all mad that WW3 didn't happen?

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Originally posted by second:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
lol

I trust Trump more than I trust Meyers.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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What does "trust" mean to you? Trump stupidly made up, or fictionalized, his whole story about four American embassies being imminently threatened by Iran's General, who would destroy those embassies unless Trump assassinated the General first. Trump's story is obviously phony/make-believe/baloney Trump created out of his imagination when asked a question.


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

Seth Meyers along with all of the other late night hosts and most of the legacy media stupidly made up, or fictionalized, a whole bunch of bullshit over the last 3 years. It probably goes back decades, but almost everybody has a camera and an internet connection these days so that's been really bad for their business of lies.

It's why they've resorted to simply telling you what you want to hear for ratings.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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