Long term readers of this blog probably remember me getting my knickers in quite a twist this time last year about the Iranian Oil Bourse, a venue for trading oil and petrochemicals well outside of America’s sphere of influence and in currencies other than the dollar. At the time, I thought it certain to bring the dollar and the U.S. hegemony crashing down, and the “real” reason for Bush’s warmongering.
With all that’s happened since then, perhaps it’s best to see the emergence of the IOB – and other significant institutions like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Banco Del Sur – as a reflection of America’s decline as well as a contributing factor. Still, I hope you’ll all be interested to learn that after many delays it finally came into operation yesterday. You can find plenty of interesting links on the subject at EnergyBulletin.net.
By a happy coincidence, this came just one day before the ruthlessly neoliberal New Labour government finally conceded that Northern Rock is now (”temporarily”) nationalised.
Ah yes I meant to add that, Northern Rock is really just being babysat by the govt. until things get better and for that the investors expect for them to be paid not the tax payers, cheeky monkeys.
Northern Rock is an utter disaster. One of the few corporations with any form of social conscience and it has utterly destroyed itself. Marvellous.
I do find myself hoping that the shareholders are given the princely sum of one pound sterling to share between them though. Bitch, bitch, bitch, that’s all I hear. The government hasn’t stolen shit from them; their investment collapsed all on its own and they wouldn’t even get a token payment without taxpayer cash propping the bank up.