Which is exactly why we ‘park’ the entire naval fleet in the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf, right?
See also:
– Israel Security Cabinet Votes 8 To 6 To Attack Iran – Brent At $126
– Pentagon predicts Israel will drag US into war with Iran (Independent, Mar 21, 2012):
Secret US simulation assumes Tehran would retaliate against ships if nuclear sites bombed
Classified war games conducted by the Pentagon have sketched a scenario in which an attack by Israel on Iran’s suspected nuclear facilities would lead to Tehran launching a counter-strike against a US ship in the Gulf. That in turn would drag a reluctant US into a fresh war in the Middle East.
The results of the simulation, meant primarily to test co-ordination and communications between the various arms of the US military in the event of a flare-up with Iran, were reported by The New York Times.
The revelations came as Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned yesterday that Tehran would attack any enemy “on the same level” as it attacks Iran. He named both Israel and the US as enemies, in remarks on state television.
The war games were completed earlier this month under a long-standing programme called Internal Look to test the readiness of the Pentagon, Central Command in Florida and military resources in the Middle East to respond to any fallout from an Israeli strike.
That fallout, the simulation showed, might include the Iranian leadership reasoning that any Israeli incursion would have come with an American stamp of approval and would justify a counter-strike against a US target. Under that scenario, Tehran would hit a US Navy vessel in the Gulf with the loss of 200 or more American lives. At that point, the US would feel bound to retaliate. The top military commander in the Gulf, the Middle East and Southwest Asia, General James Mattis, is reportedly using these results to underscore his belief that any attempt by Israel to take out Iran’s nuclear facilities could lead to a potentially disastrous conflagration.
Yesterday, President Barack Obama sent a message to Iranians celebrating New Year, or Nowruz, saying he hoped to bridge divides with their country. “America seeks a dialogue to hear your views and understand your aspirations,” he said, calling on the regime in Tehran to respect human rights. During a visit to Washington last week by David Cameron, the President conceded that the US military was engaged in contingency planning with regard to Iran. But he underscored that the Pentagon has a responsibility to prepare for any eventuality and it did not follow that the US expected war with Iran.
Mr Obama has said repeatedly that the “military option” is on the table if diplomatic efforts to resolve the nuclear stand-off with Iran fail. Recently Iran agreed to resume talks with the permanent five UN Security Council members, plus Germany, to try to resolve the dispute.
Washington has no appetite for a new war in the region and would prefer to rein in Iran through tougher sanctions and at the negotiating table. But Mr Obama may find himself hostage to the intentions of Israel, which believes more strongly than the US that the window for sanctions to work is narrowing quickly. Any daylight between Mr Obama and Israel could be costly for him in an election year.
According to The New York Times, the exercise lasted two weeks. It suggested an Israeli strike on Iran would delay it achieving a nuclear weapon by one year, but subsequent – and presumably more intense – US attacks would set the programme back by only two more years.
SWIFT no longer controls all the world banks. Some of Iran’s banks are not affected. There are a number of reasons, the main one is the growing trend of financial alliance that avoid use of the US dollar.
It started with the South American Trade Alliance in 2010. 12 nations of South America, Caribbean and Cuba got together and made an agreement to trade with each other leaving the US dollar out completely. They even established an electronic currency, the Sucre in July of 2010, which translates the varied currencies so all can use their own currencies. That was the beginning. In 2010, the GDP worth was about $630 million.
Next, Russia and China established a similar agreement between each other using their own currencies, leaving out the US dollar. By the end of 2010, the deal was settled. China went on to establish similar agreements with Turkey and several South American nations.
After the final sanctions on Iran by the USA a few weeks ago, China and India joined with Russia and China to buy and sell with each other and Iran leaving out the US dollar. I saw on Bloomberg yesterday, Japan is being given an exemption to deal with Iran…..as if they need it.
Add those nations’ GDPs for 2010 exceed $20 Trillion. The global GDP is estimated anywhere from $50-65 Trillion a year. $20T is a big hit.
There is another financial alliance being established in Brazil, Columbia and Peru as I write this. The US dollar is losing power around the world because the entire world has finally found something to agree about: Wall Street caused the worst global economic collapse in modern history, entire nations went bankrupt. Not only has nothing been done to legislate regulations to ensure it won’t happen again, but all the crooks walk free without fear of investigation or prosecution. We have become an oasis for crooks, Murdoch’s son just moved here from the UK……he won’t be prosecuted here.
We have lost all our credibilty, and nobody is investing here. Our national debt is being floated by nonstop printing of US dollars, giving the banks free money to buy treasury bills. We are loaning money to ourselves, nobody else will do it.
What I forgot to say is that the real World War 3 is the financial strategy I just described, and we are losing.
I could see no way to amend my statement, so am asking you to please add this to it.