Iran turns to barter for food as sanctions cripple imports

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Iran turns to barter for food as sanctions cripple imports

By Valerie Parent and Parisa Hafezi

PARIS/TEHRAN | Thu Feb 9, 2012 5:43pm EST

(Reuters) - Iran is turning to barter - offering gold bullion in overseas vaults or tankerloads of oil - in return for food as new financial sanctions have hurt its ability to import basic staples for its 74 million people, commodities traders said Thursday.

Difficulty paying for urgent import needs has contributed to sharp rises in the prices of basic foodstuffs, causing hardship for Iranians with just weeks to go before an election seen as a referendum on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's economic policies.

New sanctions imposed by the United States and European Union to punish Iran for its nuclear program do not bar firms from selling Iran food but they make it difficult to carry out the international financial transactions needed to pay for it.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/09/us-iran-wheat-idUSTRE8180SF20120209

[Eugene]

1. Indonesia says it would study any barter approach from Iran

Source: Reuters

Indonesia says it would study any barter approach from Iran

By Yayat Supriatna and Niluski Koswanage

JAKARTA/KUALA LUMPUR | Fri Feb 10, 2012 6:23am EST

(Reuters) - Indonesia, the world's top palm oil producer, would study any approach by Iran to trade by barter, it said on Friday, as tightening sanctions hurt Iran's ability to pay for basic staples.

Western financial sanctions have crimped Iran's purchases of grain, cooking oil and tea, and barter could provide one way to resume shipments. Iran may turn to countries that have large Muslim populations and resources, such as Indonesia and Malaysia, for its needs.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/10/us-iran-indonesia-idUSTRE8190C520120210

[bemildred]

2. It's like we want to re-elect Ahm-an-idjit again.

They think a bad economy is bad for Obama, so it must be bad for Ahm-an-idjit. But that only works if he gets blamed for it.

[rrneck]

3. There doesnt appear to be need to barter for weapons.

The army must be getting plenty to eat.

We need oil in the Persian Gulf. Iran (a Persian country whose national language is Persian), a sovereign nation that has just as much right to acquire weapons for its own defense as any other, could become a regional power there. We can't have that so they become a scary enemy that may obtain weapons we've had for seventy years and used twice (unlike every other country on the planet).

So we cook up some bullshit excuse to invade the reigon and surround them but since we're such a benign peaceful people we only impose sanctions on them. It's also cheaper. That way there will be no danger Iran will interfere with our oil that God misplaced when he made the world.

So Iran devotes a disproportionate amount of its resourses in response to the threat of invasion. A threat so dire the country is fertile ground for the establishment of a repressive totalitarian government. Of course we all know totalitarian governments are a threat to freedom, and since we have the copyright on that we have to surround them and impose sanctions.

And the people starve.



Now that the pre coffee rant is out of the way I can go to work.

[Liora24]

4. Sometimes there is no other choice.

If sanctions are the only way we can harm the theocratic regime in Iran without going for an all-scale war which would be even worse then it might be worth it.

[NOI4I]

5. Why don't they quit nukes?

Why are they so suicidal?

[Dokkie]

6. I will tell you whats suicidal

giving up your Nuclear ambition and bowing down to the western powers running the world. I remember what Allen West said about Libya, he said "we wouldn't have been able defeat Gaddafi if he hadn't given up him WMDs up". Iran gives dares give up what ever it is they are cooking up that is the day they get destroyed. Suicide is exactly what they are trying to prevent.

So here is hoping they build up enough Nuclear missiles to prevent any western powers from even thinking about fighting em.

[bemildred]

7. Because we will screw then raw if we get the opportunity.

Maybe even without it. And believe me they know it.