Some readers may be rolling their eyes and reaching for the mouse, but hear me out. We can link just about every major event and trend in the world to this one simple concept.
In August of 1971, then-president Richard Nixon took bold steps to create a global reserve currency out of the dollar, known universally as the "petrodollar". He disposed of the dollar's convertability to gold under the Bretton Woods agreement, and established wage and price controls to battle run-away inflation in the US>
At around the same time, OPEC shut off the oil spigot to the US, and sent gasoline prices from 45 cents per gallon to well over a dollar in a matter of months - not to mention odd-even lines at the gas pumps in a rather bizarre rationing scheme.
This all led to the petrodollar, a deal with the devil to make the dollar the only currency that could buy oil on the global market. The deal with OPEC was that they would only sell oil for dollars and deposit their loot in US banks. The Federal Reserve would guarantee at least a 3% annual return through controlled inflation on the deposited balances.
In the meantime, the US began handing out gobs of dollars in development grants through what John Perkins (listen to Radio Far Side interview) described as "economic hitmen", as well as other kinds of subsidies called "international aid" to ensure that everyone had a ready supply of dollars to spend with OPEC.
In order to control all of these new dollar transactions, a system called SWIFT was set up in 1973, to clear international transactions. It expanded to a worldwide system for all financial trade clearing and if you've ever transferred money internationally, then you know that you need the SWIFT code of the receiving bank as a kind of address, along with the account number, to complete the transfer. It also is a key function of credit card transactions, especially overseas.
All was fine and good for about 25 years - until...
A few folks started getting uppity and wanting to trade oil (and other stuff) in currencies other than the dollar. Saddam Hussein of Iraq, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and Mahmoud Ahmadinijad of Iran all decided they wanted to accept something other than dollars, which could only be used to buy American trinkets, and gosh, there were a lot of other countries to trade with out there in the Big Bad World.
Well, it shouldn't take the aware reader more than a few seconds to look at that list and match it up with global events since 1990 (Desert Storm - Gulf War). Every one of those countries have either been invaded, destabilized, or vilified by the US.
Along comes Russia, who in cahoots with China, decide it would be nifty if they could start their own financial clearing system that would allow multiple national currencies, as well as keep their transaction histories out of the hands of US banks, who under the SWIFT system know what everyone is spending and everything everywhere.
So Russia and China form the BRICSA bloc of nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) to create their own clearing system, as well as alternatives to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), which have been the primary outlets for US grants and "foreign aid". In other words, they were directly threatening pretty much the entire petrodollar system and backing it up with Russia's vast petroleum reserves (no need for OPEC to buy oil).
And what do we see in the headlines? Russia being demonized, China being threatened, India's economy destabilizing, political turmoil in Brazil, and racial upheaval in South Africa, not to mention a decades-long attempt to crater Iran and Syria because they are bosom-buddies with Iran and have some oil that they are also willing to sell for other-than-US-dollars.
Afghanistan, you ask? Oh, that's because the Taliban were stamping out the opium trade, which threatened the US black budget world. That's a side-show to the rest of this mess.
Yes, nearly every major hot-spot in the world right now has something to do with threats to the petrodollar system, which has created fabulous wealth for a select few and a financial system that makes virtually every transaction on the planet the morning report down at the Federal Reserve. That's a lot of power and wealth under direct attack, and those folks are not going to release their control without a fight.
Oh, and ISIS and the Islamic terror parade? That's basically a private army for the petrodollar system that is used to destabilize petroleum-rich Mid-East nations, and wreak havoc on countries that get out of live with the US petrodollar empire. They are controlled and funded by the Saudis, who have a vested interest in the petrodollar system, since the royals live a lavish lifestyle on the back of it.
King Salman's recent Asia tour was little more than a show of wealth and a "good cop" ruse - to the US "bad cop" routine - to try and keep China and the rest of the region in line with the petrodollar system and out of Russia's oil fields. He handed out plenty of toys and trinkets to buy a lot of goodwill.
Even Donald Trump knows which side of the toast the butter is on. Whatever his rhetoric during the campaign, he has tread lightly since being sworn in, so as not to ruffle the petrodollar system or slow down the efforts to prop it up. If anything, he is busily re-branding the Petrodollar Wars to make them a bit more palatable to the American public, who are growing tired of war and have little or no clue about the reasons for all of it.
Before pouring your cup of morning java and opening your news reader, begin with a five-minute mantra of, "It's all for the petrodollar." Then, when you start scanning the day's headlines, it will all suddenly seem much clearer.
Sure, it's all about oil, but it goes much deeper than that. It's about the global financial system and the de facto empire built on the petrodollar.
Imagine you were in control of a multi-trillion dollar empire and your subsidiaries were starting to get restless and threatening to take your client list and go rogue. What would you do?
That, in a nutshell, is the Global Financial Crisis and the War on Terror.
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