I am posting almost in it's entirety, the following article that originated on thedailysheeple.com and was reposted via dprogram.net.
World War III: The Unthinkable Cost of Preserving the Petrodollar
(DailySheeple) – As noted by many of our readers, one of the key topics omitted from our article on the inevitability of economic collapse, was the petrodollar system. Due to it’s significance, we felt that this subject deserves it’s own article. If you have never heard of the petrodollar, don’t be surprised. There’s a good reason for this. No major news network will dare touch this subject, because if this information was ever to become public knowledge, politicians would find it next to impossible to convince American people to support any more wars. Public approval of wars is only possible as long as people remain ignorant of the primary driving force behind our foreign policy. The reason you haven’t heard of the petrodollar system is because our government wants you to think that we start wars to spread democracy.
However, if you want to distinguish truth from propaganda, if you want to know the real reasons behind the global conflicts in our recent history, you must first learn about the petrodollar system. Without this crucial piece of info, you will have a hard time understanding what really happened in Libya, what’s happening in Syria right now and what’s going to happen in Iran next.
Why did NATO and the U.S. aid Libyan “rebels” in killing Gaddafi? Why was our government willing to support and arm the same terrorists that would later turn on our embassy and murder Libya ambassador Chris Stevens? Why was killing Gaddafi so absolutely imperative?
Why are we now doing the same thing in Syria? Why are U.S. operatives currently on the ground in Syria aiding Al Qaeda to topple Assad? Why are we willing to work along side known terrorists just to destabilize Syria and overthrow the regime there?
Why are we willing to risk World War 3 by attacking Iran, a key Russian and Chinese ally? Pakistan and North Korea already possess a nuclear stockpile, but Iran is years away from developing a nuclear weapon. Iran has no military capability to target the U.S. and it has not attacked another country since 1798. Yet, the media is trying to convince us that we are weeks away from Ahmedinajad unleashing his non-existent weapons of mass destruction. Sound a little familiar? Have we heard this before, maybe?
So what is the petrodollar system and why is it so important? Why is the United States willing to risk a new world war just to maintain the hegemony of the petrodollar? To get a proper perspective we need to start with a quick historical background:
Bretton Woods Conference
In July of 1944, as World War II was still raging, 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations gathered in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, to setup institutions and procedures to regulate the international monetary system and to establish the rules for commercial and financial relations among the world’s major industrial states.
The Bretton Woods Agreement established the dollar as world’s reserve currency, which meant that international commodities were priced in dollars. The agreement which gave the United States a distinct financial advantage, was made under the condition that those dollars would remain redeemable for gold at a consistent rate of $35 per ounce. The fixed dollar to gold convertibility rate established a stable platform for global economic growth.
As the issuer of the world’s reserve currency, the United States promised to print dollars in direct proportion to its gold reserves. However, this agreement was based on an honor system, since the Federal Reserve refused to allow any audits or supervision of it’s printing presses.
The U.S. defaults on it’s obligation and violates Bretton Woods Agreement
In the years leading up to 1970, expenditures in the Vietnam war made it clear to many countries that U.S. was printing far more money than it had gold. In response to this and the negative U.S. trade balance, nations began demanding fulfillment of America’s “promise to pay” – that is, the redemption of their dollars for gold. This of course set off a rapid decline in the value of the dollar. The situation climaxed in 1971 when France attempted to withdraw it’s gold and Nixon refused.
On August 15, President Nixon made a televised announcement
referred to as the Nixon shock, stating the following:“I have directed the Secretary of the Treasury to take the action necessary to defend the dollar against the speculators.
I have directed Secretary Connolly to suspend temporarily the convertibility of the dollar into gold or other reserve assets,
except in amounts and conditions determined to be in the interest of monetary stability and in the best interest of United States.”
This was obviously not a temporary suspension as Nixon claimed, but rather a permanent default. And for the rest of the world who would entrust the United States with their gold, it was outright theft.
The birth of the petrodollar leads to global domination
In 1973, President Nixon asked King Faisal of Saudi Arabia to accept only U.S. dollars as payment for oil and to invest any excess profits into U.S. treasury bonds, notes and bills. In return Nixon offered military protection for Saudi oil fields. The same offer was extended to each of the world’s key oil producing countries and by 1975 every member of OPEC had agreed to only sell their oil in U.S. dollars.
The act of moving the dollar of off gold and tying it to foreign oil, instantly forced every oil importing country in the world to start maintaining a constant supply of the Federal Reserve paper. And in order to get that paper, they would have to send real, physical goods to America.
This was the birth of the Petrodollar. Paper went out, everything America needed came in and the United States got very, very rich as a result. It was the largest financial con in recorded history.
The arms race of the Cold War was a game of poker. Military expenditures were the chips and the U.S. had an endless supply of chips. With the Petrodollar under it’s belt, it was able to raise the stakes higher and higher, outspending every other county on the planet. Until eventually U.S. military expenditure surpassed that of all other nations in the world combined. Soviet Union never had a chance.
The collapse of the Communist block in 1991 removed the last counterbalance to America’s military might. United States was now an undisputed super power with no rival.
Many hoped that this would mark the beginning of a new era of peace and stability. Unfortunately, there were those in high places who had other ideas.
Petrodollar system must be maintained at any cost
Within that same year, the U.S. invaded Iraq in the first Gulf War. And after crushing the Iraqi military and destroying their infrastructure, including water purification plants and hospitals, crippling sanctions were imposed which prevented that infrastructure from being rebuilt.
These sanctions, which were initiated by Bush Sr. and sustained throughout the entire Clinton administration, lasted for over a decade and were estimated to have killed over 500,000 children. The Clinton administration was fully aware of these figures.
Read the rest here.
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