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Dubai: The oil boom and current petrodollar recycling are creating a strong basis for a new Gulf economy that is fast becoming a key driver of global economic growth and future oil demand, according to Lehman Brothers, a leading global investment bank. The flow of investment stemming from the high oil prices has increased cash flows of both the public and private sector. These increased cash flows have resulted in a rapid increase in government spending which has fuelled domestic demand for energy in the Gulf, Edward Morse, Leh-man Brothers' chief energy economist said in a recent report. Analysts from...

The petrodollar pipeline that recycles billions from oil producers back to the U.S. economy has turned crude-laden nations from Norway to Iran into the world’s biggest sources of global savings. These nations are also key sources of foreign demand for U.S. assets. Now new research predicts a trend that could affect the U.S. economy nearly as much as swings on crude exchanges: Oil producers might be looking to diversify how they spend and invest their cash. Such changes are worth watching — mainly because the flood of money generated for oil exporters by sustained high crude prices has become a...

J'accuse...! In 1898 a Parisian literary newspaper, L’Aurore, printed what some have called the greatest newspaper article of all time. Written by Emile Zola, the 4,000-word article exposed a corrupt French military more concerned with appearance than reality. An innocent man, Alfred Dreyfus, was falsely convicted and sent to Devil’s Island. Then, it was pride, fear and anti-semitism the drove the machinations. Today, our military is undermined by Saudi petrodollars promoting a single religion, indeed, a single sect, politely known as Wahhabi Islam, but more accurately termed Islamic Fascism, that threatens our nation with physical and economic terror. Aside from...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Petrodollars have returned to the world stage, and could play a potentially destabilizing role in the U.S. and global trade imbalances, according to a new report from the International Monetary Fund released Thursday.Petrodollars, just as much a part of the 1970s as bell bottoms and platform shoes, are dollars paid to oil-producing countries and then re-invested in major financial markets. In the 1970s, these funds were deposited in big Western banks. This time around, it is more complicated. Petrodollars are being recycled through international capital markets and offshore accounts, partially because of the post 9/11 Patriot Act...

A number of Middle Eastern central banks said on Tuesday that they would seek to switch reserves from the US greenback to euros. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) said that it was considering moving one-tenth of its dollar reserves to the euro, while the governor of the Saudi Arabian central bank condemned the decision by the United States to force Dubai Ports World to transfer its ownership to a "US entity", the UK Independent reported. "Is it protectionism or discrimination? Is it okay for US companies to buy everywhere but it is not okay for other companies to buy the...

Iran and Venezuela joined forces to undermine the U.S. dollar. Last year, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced that his country's plans to move its foreign-exchange holdings out of the dollar into the euro, calling for the creation of a South American central bank designed to hold in euros all the foreign-exchange holdings of the participating countries. On the other hand, Iran started since 2003 demanding oil payment in euros, not dollars, although the oil itself was still priced in dollars. The Islamic Republic has already announced plans of opening the Iranian Oil Bourse in March, challenging by that the NYMEX...

The Next Crisis By Oliver North January 13, 2006 Official Washington has the attention span of a fruit fly. A "crisis d'jour" momentarily captures the attention of the so-called mainstream media, politicians and government bureaucrats. For a few days -- occasionally for a few weeks -- the potentates on the Potomac will focus on "the problem," hold hearings, introduce some legislation, devise a way to spend more of our tax dollars, initiate an "investigation" -- and move on when they are "shocked," "stunned," and/or "surprised" by the next catastrophe or scandal. Like a pan of soup on a hot stove,...

Some may understand the surging demand that comes from a billion Chinese and a billion Indians who have joined the oil market as consumers—not only to fuel their cars and planes but as an ingredient in fertilizers, pesticides, medicines, paints, and plastics. Guess how many barrels of oil we import a day? A million? Five million? No, the staggering answer is . . . 12 million barrels a day, and we're heading for 20 million barrels a day by 2025. The price increases over the past year mean that we consumers will send oil producers an additional $50 billion this...

Tomorrow, President Bush could make the following speech: "We are all concerned that the industrialized world, and increasingly the developing world, draw too much of their energy from one product, petroleum, which comes disproportionately from one volatile region, the Middle East. This dependence has significant political and environmental dangers for all of us. But there is now a solution, one that the United States will pursue actively. "It is now possible to build cars that are powered by a combination of electricity and alcohol-based fuels, with petroleum as only one element among many. My administration is going to put in...

    « Dhimmitude at the LA Times: "Beheading for Sake of Fear, Not Islam" | Main | Eurabia in action: Former French PM Calls Balfour Declaration "Historic Mistake" » June 23, 2004 Douce France, by Hugh Fitzgerald One of the most dispiriting things about the comments shutdown, which we are working to end as quickly as we possibly can, is that we have all missed out on remarks from our friend Hugh Fitzgerald, one of the most erudite and articulate anti-jihadists on the scene today. In fact, I can't think of anyone who tops him in either erudition...