Barbara wrote:On August, Iran announced they want to switch their oil currency to Euro to get more value.
Guess what next?
Barbara, This is right on the money. In the words of Paul Harvey, "Stay tuned for news!"
On November 6, 2000, Iraq announced that it would cease to accept dollars for its oil, and would accept instead only euros. At the time, financial analysts suggested that Iraq would lose tens of millions of dollars in value because of this currency switch; in fact, over the following two years, Iraq made millions. If OPEC were to switch to the euro as the standard for oil transactions, it would have serious ramifications for the U.S. economy. Oil-consuming economies would have to flush the dollars out of their central bank holdings and convert them to euros. France and Germany are the EU leaders with the vision of a resurgent, united Europe taking its rightful place in the world and using its euro currency as a world trading reserve currency and thus gaining some of the free ride the United States enjoys now. They are the ones who initiated the euro oil trade with Iraq.
In April 2002, the Bush administration quickly endorsed the military-led coup of President Chávez, an outspoken critic of Bush’s imperialistic policies. Although the coup collapsed after 2 days with Chavez being restored to power, various reports suggest the CIA and a rather embarrassed Bush administration approved, and may have been actively involved with the civilian/military coup plotters. Venezuelan's ambassador Francisco Mieres-Lopez apparently floated the idea of switching to the euro approximately one year before the failed coup attempt. Furthermore, there is some evidence that the U.S. is still active in its attempts to overthrow the democratically elected Chavez administration.
On July 21, 2004, the Venezuelan government said it may suspend oil shipments to the United States in case of an eventual conflict with the U.S.”: “In case of an aggression, that option would be considered.”
On December 7, 2002, the third member of the “axis of evil,” North Korea, officially dropped the dollar and began using euros for trade.
In May 2004 an additional 10 member nations joined the European Union. The EU now represents an oil consumer 33% larger than the United States. In order to mitigate currency risks, the Europeans will increasingly pressure OPEC to trade in euros, and with the EU at that stage buying over half of OPEC oil production, such a change seems likely.