U.S. GATHERS ALLIES FOR IRAN SANCTIONS (Iran's bourse worries rich guys)

[No Exit]

Iran's new bourse--in which oil is traded not with dollars, but with euros--seems to have some rich westerners worried. Wonder if those rich westerners are anyone we know or are governed by. One thing's for sure: when we invade Iran, not one of those rich guys or his kid will be actually fighting. And no one will state the true reason for the war: they'll just blabber about "fighting terrorism", when what it's really all about is protecting their (NOT our) bulging pocketbooks.


Dec. 4, 2005 19:00 | Updated Dec. 4, 2005 23:31

US gathers allies for Iran sanctions

By NATHAN GUTTMAN
Washington

The US is preparing for the possibility that it will have to deal with Iran's nuclear program without the assistance of the UN Security Council. In the past weeks the administration has been working with European and Japanese allies on a "menu" of sanctions that could be imposed on Iran even if the issue is not referred to the UN Security Council. According to well-placed sources in Washington, the sanctions being discussed are focused on trade issues, since almost half of Iran's trade is with Europe and Japan.

The talks on multilateral non-UN sanctions are intended to ensure that the pressure on Iran will not expire even if the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) decides in its March 2006 meeting not to refer Iran to the Security Council. The US itself already has Iran under a regime of sanctions deriving from the Iran-Libya Sanction Act, and congress is expected to take on in the next few months proposals of a new sanction bill that will limit even more the possibility of foreign companies to conduct business with Iran.

American ties with Iran are also restricted because Iran is on the US list of countries sponsoring terror.

The US administration is focusing on the next three months, before the IAEA meeting, in establishing a stable majority that will be in favor of referring Iran to the Security Council. The focus is on Russia, that is still trying to broker a deal with the Iranians, but diplomatic effort is also directed at China, India and South Africa.

American officials told their Israeli counterparts recently that the US would take the Iran issue to the UN only if it is sure that the case is "veto proof," meaning that it has assurances from the permanent members in the Security Council not to use their veto power to bloc a resolution against Iran.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1132475680432&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[leveymg]

1. Hah! As if Europe is going to cut itself off from 15% of its oil imports.

Anything more than just a symbolic gesture by the EU and Japan is just wishful thinking by Bibbi & Co. The Iranians know this.

By the way, the EU (except Blair) would be delighted if the whole world started trading oil in Euros.

[acmejack]

2. * economics have ensured that USD will no longer be the world's currency

Dollar is in the dumper, they'd be fools not to change to euros.

[pretzel4gore]

3. too bad it's chic to thumb nose at usa...

thanks to that bush character, and his flunkeys (rice, rummmy, cheney, friedman, foxnews, hadley, rove, cnn's les bitzer, rush limbah-humbug, bob shieffer, nbc, reuters, ass press, tom blankley ad nazism) in the gov. and in the pigmedia. Under the bush aegis, no one on earth loses anything for flaunting, while they look like bush stooges if they cooperate....

[leveymg]

4. The German-American Bund also wrapped itself in the stars&stripes

The extreme far right was never purged from American politics, and took over the Republican Party after World War Two under the guise of anti-Communism.

The Bush-Dulles clique is the same GOP cabal that engineered the rise of the Nazi Party from Wall Street law firms with Ford Motor Co. and Standard Oil money during the 1920s and 1930s. They went on to forment and profit from the Cold War, and later to sponsor and manipulate al-Qaeda in the hope of taking over Saudi Arabia.

Time for some too-long delayed housecleaning in the United States.