Dollar Watch: Middle East Gulf Exporters Create Their Own “Petro-Currency”

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

Oops.  Looks like some more movement in the “let’s-dump-the-dollar” game.

Seems like the oil-producing states of the Middle East have made some moves. According to the Telegraph (U.K.):

Gulf petro-powers to launch currency in latest threat to dollar hegemony

“The Gulf monetary union pact has come into effect,” said Kuwait’s finance minister, Mustafa al-Shamali, speaking at a Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) summit in Kuwait.

The move will give the hyper-rich club of oil exporters a petro-currency of their own, greatly increasing their influence in the global exchange and capital markets and potentially displacing the US dollar as the pricing currency for oil contracts. Between them they amount to regional superpower with a GDP of $1.2 trillion (£739bn), some 40pc of the world’s proven oil reserves, and financial clout equal to that of China.

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar are to launch the first phase next year, creating a Gulf Monetary Council that will evolve quickly into a full-fledged central bank.

The Emirates are staying out for now – irked that the bank will be located in Riyadh at the insistence of Saudi King Abdullah rather than in Abu Dhabi. They are expected join later, along with Oman.

MORE

Earlier in the year, we posted about other moves to dump the dollar.  See below for some relevant posts.

The Gulf pact faces hurdles internally (Saudia Arabia will dominate and Saudi needs will come first and may leave the other states on the short end) as well as from the outside:

Ben Simpfendorfer, Asia economist for RBS and an expert on the Middle East, told the FIKR conference that the rise of China had paradoxically disrupted the case for pan-Arab economic integration.

There was a natural fit ten years ago between rich oil state and low-wage manufacturers in Egypt and Syria, but cheap exports from China have forced poorer Arab states to retreat behind barriers to shelter their industries. “The rationale for a single currency has become weaker,” he said.

We’ll have to see what transpires.  Just wanted to bring you up to date on the latest rumblings.

Related Posts

The Scanner–International Edition, March 24, 2009: Say Goodbye to the Dollar? China, Russia Proposing a New World Currency for “Non-Credit” Based Economies, Echo G-20 Agenda of Expanding IMF; China Will “Consider” Buying IMF Bonds; 10th China Develpment Forum Underway (UPDATE 1X–Geithner Supports China Proposal??)

Russia-China Proposals; “Rebalancing” Global Currency Reserves: Why the U.S. Can’t Take Anything for Granted Re: the Dollar (March 27, 2009)

HEADS UP! It’s HERE! The New World Currency Design, Presented to the G-8 Delegations (With Pics) (July 13, 2009)

As China (And Other Countries, Too) Makes Non-dollar Trade Deals Around the World, Maybe Americans Should Seek Safety in the Reincarnation Bank (July 31, 2009)

Yuan on the Way to Becoming an Alternative Reserve Currency & Obama’s Off to China to INSIST That the Chinese Play Nice (November 12, 2009)

Flattering Parade Magazine Spread on Hillary Clinton Let’s a Few Tidbits Drop About Her Situation

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

Yesterday morning (Sunday, October 25) I opened the paper to find Parade magazine’s cover graced with a photo of a smiling Hillary Clinton. Reason? A 2-plus page spread entitled “A Day with Madam Secretary.”

Hillary Clinton on the cover of Parade magazine 10/25/09

The timing piqued my interest because just on Friday I had caught a discussion of Clinton on The McLaughlin Group.  Host John McLaughlin had outlined several successful Clinton initiatives that had been completed during the past week and wanted to discuss how important it all was…with a twist.  There have been rumors flying around about how Hillary is planning a 2012 run and how both Clintons are seething over what happened in 2008. While Pat Buchanan, Mort Zuckerman, and Eleanor Clift poo-pooed the idea, Monica Crowley held firm.

Zuckerman and Buchanan basically said that Hillary’s work wasn’t really “big” enough to get all that excited over and Clift brought up how, no matter how popular Teddy Kennedy was, he couldn’t derail the renomination of Jimmy Carter.  But Crowley, was sticking to chatter that she’s been hearing for awhile…that Hillary will resign over a foreign policy issue and launch another Presidential bid.  She won’t wait for 2016, either, when Crowley says she would be too old. No, the bid will come in 2012.

Take a look at the Parade piece. The piece is the work of Les Gelb, described this way:

Leslie H. Gelb is president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations and has served in senior positions in the Departments of State and Defense. He is the author of the book “Power Rules: How Common Sense Can Rescue American Foreign Policy.”

What’s omitted from this bio is the fact was a long-time foreign policy writer for the New York Times. Just for the record…

The article is positively glowing, but there a few tidbits which raise one’s “suspicions”…

September 16
8:30 a.m. Daily Small Staff Meeting

The Secretary and six of her closest aides, including Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills and Deputy Chief Huma Abedin, both of whom worked on her Presidential campaign, review the day’s schedule, looking for trouble and opportunities. They meet in Clinton’s small, personal office just behind her larger, formal quarters. Practically every day begins this way. They touch on various explosive international hot spots: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Israel, North Korea. Though they don’t talk about it, they seem ever aware of President Barack Obama’s iron-handed control of decisions. One worry today: the President’s decision to cancel the U.S. missile shield in Eastern Europe—a move bound to displease Poles, Czechs, and Republicans.

8:45 a.m. Daily Senior Staff Meeting

snip

Whatever subject comes up, Clinton calls on her practical instinct: “ We’ve got to do a better job explaining to people around the world what we’re doing.”

She manages to get to the White House to meet with Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada at 11:05; no report on the meeting which is off-limits to Gelb, then is back at State by 12:10 PM for ceremony for Senegalese diplomats.

During their lunch break, Gelb brings up the topic of a resignation directly:

1 p.m. Lunch With Leslie Gelb
We eat in the courtyard adjoining the State Department’s first-floor employee cafeteria. Diners gape as Clinton goes through the line, although she does this—most unusually for the nation’s top diplomat—nearly once a month. Many burst into applause.

We sit at a table away from the crowd. Clinton has a hard edge to her foreign-policy views and generally positions herself to the right of her colleagues in national security. Yet she staunchly defends President Obama and his prerogatives. While she’s “not satisfied that we’re executing as we should” in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and elsewhere, she nonetheless argues for continuing “present directions” in most areas. When I question whether the U.S. really has vital interests in Afghanistan, she shoots back that if we simply leave and allow the Taliban to return, al-Qaeda “would come right back, and we’d be worse off in Pakistan.” She continues: “Despite how hard Afghanistan is, we have to make progress. And what we do and what happens in Afghanistan will affect Pakistan.” Regarding Iran, she says, “We can’t choose negotiating partners in countries like Iran. So we’ve got to look for ways to change the perceptions of those we have to negotiate with.”

And what of the rumors, I venture, that she’s unhappy and may step down to run for governor of New York or her old Senate seat? She guffaws. “What nonsense! I love this job and working for President Obama and trying to do something about the critical problems we face in the world—and that’s what I’m going to do.”

Odd though, that Gelb should ostensibly limit the discussion to being governor of NY or running for the Senate again.  Why even bring these rumors up if they’re just rumors that most people don’t even care about?

Right after lunch, there’s this brief report:

2:15 p.m. U.S.-India Strategy Dialogue
Some 60 Executive Branch officials assemble to discuss strategy toward India—one of the new major powers in the world. Clinton stays briefly to bless the effort.

Seems like there’s really no need for Clinton to “bless” any effort when there are 60 EXECUTIVE BRANCH officials all gathered together, right?  Doesn’t Hillary have a role in this at all?

Winding up the day with a 7:30 PM policy dinner on Iran with some 30 experts from inside and outside the government, Gelb makes these final comments:

I scurry to catch the last flight back to New York. The Secretary, with her unfailing smile, repairs to her office for more calls and reading. It’s hard to read the mind of someone frozen in the public spotlight like Hillary Clinton. She has to be perpetually onstage. But what I think I glimpse beneath the unflagging smile and constant concentration is a very tired person—tense, frustrated, but absolutely determined to make her tenure as Secretary of State a success and to accomplish important things.

While this spread in Parade is flattering, one gets the sense of  how tightly Hillary is controlled by the White House and how she may be getting squelched on larger issues.

Frankly, I view Hillary Clinton as being the “finger in the dike” for U.S. foreign policy at this point.  Obama’s bowed to the Saudi leader. He’s squandered our prestige over a failed Olympic bid for Chicago, and he’s dithering on Afghanistan. (Note: France announced on October 15, 2009 it won’t be sending any more troops to Afghanistan). China may be drilling for oil in U.S. waters.  And let’s not forget to mention Obama’s prior rebuffed peace offerings toward Iran.   Hillary talks tougher than Obama does, but, unfortunately, she’s not the one in charge.

Meanwhile, some of our allies are less than pleased about Obama. France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, for example, thinks Obama is “incredibly naive and grossly egotistical.”  After Obama’s speech to the U.N. Security Council in late September (spun nicely here by the New York Times), Jack Kelly appeared on Greta Van Susteren’s show, but here’s link to the full piece he wrote on the subject entitled “Sarkozy’s Contempt for Obama”  (anonymous sources, unfortunately).

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While most world leaders dutifully praised the Nobel Prize awarded to Obama, the many were unimpressed. And there is some fraying around the edges lately, from both the right and the left. See and Obama the Impotent in the Guardian and Analysis: Why Everyone Is Saying No to Obama in the Jerusalem Post.  Obama is viewed as weak, no doubt about it.

I can’t imagine how Hillary Clinton keeps chugging along in this Administration and can fully understand her “frustration.” As for her desire to accomplish important things, she’s pushing against some forces that really don’t want her to get credit for anything “important.”  Heck, when you are up against 60 Executive Branch officials at a meeting on India and you don’t stay very long, what does that say about your position??

Whether Hillary Clinton is planning to take on Obama in the primaries for 2012 or not, there may just come a point where she really DOES decide to resign rather than to have her reputation ruined if Obama does something really stupid.  We’ll have to see, won’t we?

***

Earlier Related Posts:

The Complicated Diplomatic Life of Hillary Clinton (UPDATE 1X: Clinton on the Defensive in Congo over Bill’s “Presence”; UPDATE 2X: Bill Off the Leash?; UPDATE 3X: Video of Clinton Congo Outburst, Glenn Beck Comments) (August 10, 2009)

Hillary Clinton At It Again in Africa…This Time, Talking about Elections…(August 13, 2009)

The Complicated Diplomatic Life of Hillary Clinton (UPDATE 1X: Clinton on the Defensive in Congo over Bill’s “Presence”; UPDATE 2X: Bill Off the Leash?; UPDATE 3X: Video of Clinton Congo Outburst, Glenn Beck Comments)

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

UPDATE 1: 8/10/09 PM:

Apparently, Hillary Clinton IS getting touched by the recent focus on her husband–in Congo, no less!  This is SO NOT GOOD! And in so many ways…for women, for Clinton herself, for the country…is the final set-up in place for her to leave? A large part of her visit to Congo is going to focus on the mass rapes in the country and human rights issues, but by the time the following report gets to the U.S. that emphasis will probably be lost.

Note: I’ve deleted the original excerpt after seeing that it was from the AP….replaced by the story from the France24/AFP:

Clinton pushes rights issues in Congo, Angola

snip

Clinton faced a flurry of questions from the students, not all to her liking. At one point, she showed a rare flash of public anger as a young man asked for the views of her husband, former president Bill Clinton.

“My husband is not the secretary of state, I am,” Clinton said forcefully.

The AP story also quoted her as saying she wouldn’t be “channeling” Bill Clinton and described her response as being “snapped.”

The Voice of America news omits the exchange and the BBC story only cites the last line/quotation (without the “she snapped” or the “forcefully.”)

UPDATE 2

Albert R. Hunt, Exec. Editor for Washington for Bloomberg News opined 8/10:

Big Dog May Not Return to Leash After Pyongyang

What will this Pandora’s Box yield?

UPDATE 3   8/11/09   AM

From the AP story at FOX News, the video…and, as predicted, this is going viral. Glenn Beck was razzing Clinton about this on his AM radio show just now and will sending it in his newsletter.  He did make one comment that makes a lot of sense: that Clinton must really regret that she took the job.  Whatever it is, she’s cleary frustrated as hell.  Beck also played a tape of her during the campaign in which she shouts about how “Amercans have a right to debate” and how “debate is patriotic” (in reference to the Bush Administration). Beck mocked her “gentle” style and compared it to her outburst in Congo.  He also commented on her absence from the trip to Russia and the N. Korean business.  He was implying that she was being cut out of the loop.   He was caustic, of course, but an awful lot of it was spot on.  Especially when he finished up by saying that the Obama/ACORN machine had taken down the Clinton machine–that’s how scary these people (Obama people)  are.

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ORIGINAL POST BEGINS HERE (Touching on what’s been brewing and finally came out today, as reported above.)”

This is a complicated post that has evolved over several days observation…

To start,  back on Tuesday, 8/4/09,  I posted a little comment over at the TD Blog’s open thread on Bill Clinton’s mission to N. Korea to free Al Gore’s journalists/reporters  from Current TV (or whatever they are).  I commented:

I expect to hear at some point that Bill’s success shows that Hillary sucks at being SOS…

So, lo and behold, I listened to the report on the “rescue” the next  morning on the BBC World Service news bulletin (at 1400 UTC)  and at the very end, the throwaway comment by a reporter on the phone (a British reporter, not an American) was (sic) “What’s interesting is that SOS Hill Clinton is married to Bill Cinton and he accomplished what she couldn’t.”  The AP on Thursday (8/6) in an analysis piece (can’t quote them) and the L.A. Times in a news story that, of course, includes “analysis” used the word “overshadow” in their post-mission coverage.

Meanwhile, over at the BBC’s “Have Your Say” page, the teaser is “Should Africa Listen to Hillary Clinton?”

Should Africa listen to Hillary Clinton?

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has begun a tour of Africa, saying improving democracy is the key to boosting trade and development. But should Africa follow her advice? (more)

Gee, I thought she was representing the Obama Administration/the United States–why the “personalization” of her foreign policy trip?

Well, I guess it’s understandable, since Clinton has personalized some of her rhetoric, notably her comments in late July regarding North Korea. From the detailed coverage of the spat at India’s IBNLive:

“Maybe it’s the mother in me, the experience I’ve had with small children and teenagers and people who are demanding attention, Don’t give it to them,” she said in the interview.

She also said the North Koreans were like “little children” who “had no friends left.”

I have no no problem to the reference to motherhood, in general, but …did Clinton’s acid comments really help the situation?

North Korea’s Foreign Minister issued a scathing response. From the KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY of DPRK(Democratic People’s Republic of Korea)

She said during her recent trip to India that “north Korea should not receive the attention it is seeking through behavior like missile launches,” likening Pyongyang’s behavior to that of unruly children. Her words suggest that she is by no means intelligent.

The DPRK has taken necessary measures to protect the nation’s sovereignty and right to existence to cope with the U.S. hostile policy and nuclear threat, not to attract anyone’s attention.

snip

We cannot but regard Mrs. Clinton as a funny lady as she likes to utter such rhetoric, unaware of the elementary etiquette in the international community.

Sometimes she looks like a primary schoolgirl and sometimes a pensioner going shopping.

Anyone making misstatements has to pay for them.

While some stories in the Western press called N. Korea’s personal attack “bizarre”  (See: the Agence France-Press report at News.com.au titled  North Korea in bizarre Hillary Clinton attack ),  over at IBNLive there’s a vote up on Clinton, up or down which is basically tied, and also a place where, among several choices,  you can give her flowers or throw tomatoes, complete with a “live action” tomato throw at Clinton.  Currently the tomatoes are the most popular choice.

The result of this spat was that the 6-party talks were declared “dead”….but the rhetoric was toned down and backchannel work to reset the playing field  was undertaken and then, enter Bill Clinton and the freeing of the Current TV writers.

Early on,  Asia Times Online, the “private” nature of Bill’s N. Korean rescue mission was nabbed as a “fantasy”: See Dear Leader stars in Bill and Hillary show for a good read.

Clinton was just the high-profile visitor North Korea hoped to entice from Washington in return for handing over the journalists.

Why bother to pretend otherwise, after wife Hillary, as secretary of state, had laid the groundwork by saying that maybe Ling and Lee had made a mistake and strayed across the Tumen River border with China when North Korean soldiers picked them up on March 17? And hadn’t Hillary already expressed an apology for the mishap after having said earlier the two had done nothing wrong?

The Independent Opinion Page seemed to think everything is OK for Hillary:

Yet one perk now stands out. How many other jobs would enable a woman to send her philandering husband to North Korea? Many women have fantasised about it. Mrs Clinton has actually done it. Take note Harriet Harman. Some sisters, at least, are letting their menfolk know who wears the (pantsuit) trousers.

Well, that BBC reporter quoted up top doesn’t seem to echo this shallow assessment. Neither did the AP or the L. A. Times and other media outlets. From the  above L.A. Times story,

It once again led to him overshadowing his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, even as she is on her own diplomatic trip to Africa.

snip

At the same time, the trip left some uncertainty about how Clinton’s new diplomatic career is fitting in with that of his wife, America’s chief diplomat. While Bill Clinton was in a worldwide spotlight, the debut of Hillary Clinton’s 11-day trip to Africa received scant attention. She has been trying to raise her visibility in an administration stocked full of capable diplomats and influential White House foreign policy aides. The Africa trip, including stops in Kenya — Obama’s father’s homeland — and several longtime hot spots, was meant to help her raise her own profile.

In an NBC interview Wednesday, the secretary of State said that though she had originally favored Gore for the North Korea assignment, she was “very much in favor” of sending her husband once the North Koreans requested it.

And, here’s something else, also from the L.A. Times story:

“This is really going to help consolidate his role as an elder statesman,” said Ross Baker, a political analyst at Rutgers University. “It almost gave him a kind of heroic tint.”

So Bill is the hero of the story; Hillary, not so much. Heck, by the end of the week on the McLaughlin Group, Hillary Clinton’s name didn’t even come up in the discussion of Bill’s trip to N. Korea and its potential implications at all!

Back to that BBC news bulletin I mentioned right up at the top…

A short bit later in the same news bulletin, I heard the report on Hillary Clinton’s umbrage at the Kenyan government…their corruption, impunity, and failure to correct the problems that resulted in the post-election violence back in December 2007.

The BBC story below has a video of  Clinton Speaking at the 8th AGOA Conference.

Kenya impunity ‘disappoints US’

snip

Addressing the press following a meeting with the Kenya’s president and prime minister, Mrs Clinton strongly criticised Kenya’s political leadership.

She said the absence of strong and effective institutions had permitted ongoing corruption, impunity and human rights violations.

And she noted that these conditions had helped fuel the violence that engulfed the country in early 2008.

“We’ve been very clear in our disappointment that action has not been taken [over the violence],” she said.

“It is far preferable that it be done in the regular course of business, that prosecutors, judges, law enforcement officials step up to their responsibilities and remove the question of impunity.”

The violence broke out after supporters of Raila Odinga – the main opposition leader at the time – said he had been cheated of victory in the December 2007 polls.

Clinton adds:

“I want you to know President Obama feels a personal connection and commitment to the future of Kenya.”

If you listen to her speak this line, she enunciates every word very carefully, as if she wants to make sure everyone listening gets it.  It’s overkill, of course.  Perhaps over-compensating for Obama’s ties to Odinga and the same old, same old foreign policy that’s chugging along. Or some reflexive sense that she has to make sure any hint of “not being fully on board” is dispelled.  Whatever.  It seems to happen fairly often.

A little bit below this video there’s an audio clip which discusses the main concern of the U.S. regarding  Africa, namely, OIL, since 24% of our imports come from Africa and catching up with China, Russia, and India.

Emira Woods, Liberian-American  journalist and an “expert on U.S. foreign policy in Africa”  comments, that  despite the ” lofty rhetoric” of Obama’s Inaugural Address, U.S. foreign policy is “still focused on a  narrow definition of U.S  interests” with regard to “extractive industries”…oil, gas, and mining.  Then there’s the “land grab” which is going on across the African continent.  According to Woods, large “tracks of lands” are being turned over to the production of biofuels to fuel cars around the world, but there’s really very little concern about feeding starving children.  Woods also relays concerns about the militarization of Africa. (Note: Both the Clinton video and the Woods audio are here on one page:   http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8185626.stm).

Very little “hope and change” over there, just like there’s very little here at home…

And in Angola, Clinton pushed for  “credible elections”…you know, the kind the Democrats gave us last year during the primaries.  Eek!

Of course, the topic turned to oil. From the BBC:

In Luanda, Mrs Clinton is expected to sign a memorandum of understanding with American oil giant Chevron and the US Agency for International Development (USAid) to promote investment in Angola’s agricultural sectors like coffee and bananas.

Asked about China’s growing influence in Angola, Mrs Clinton said she was not interested in what other people were doing in Angola because her focus was on what the US was doing.

Last year, Angola overtook Saudi Arabia as China’s leading source of crude oil.

She’s not interested in what China is doing?  Really?  Oh, please.  It sounds sort of glib, doesn’t it? And completely disingenuous…

So, basically, all the trumpeting of a new foreign policy seems to be a lot of hot air and not much different than anything that’s come before. The U.S.’s self-interest is still all wrapped up in oil.

Remember how during the Bush years we got all sorts of big talk?  Remember the infamous “axis of evil” reference in his 2002 State of the Union address (axis = North Korea, Iran & Iraq)?  Well, there are times when Clinton sounds just like George W. with her sometimes very harsh or very glib statements.

Now, I really deplore the snark from that BBC reporter aimed at  Hillary Clinton about Bill coming to the rescue.  She seems to absorb al this without batting an eye. Then again, Hillary got the “street finger” from the Obama crew during the primaries. And she chose to leave the Senate and sign on with the Obama crowd.  It’s nice that she’s adding some comments about women in her speeches, but in real life, she’s being slimed by a reporter for the BBC and undercut in her desired appointments to positions by the Obama team.  It’s been reported that HIS  people are in under her, not her first choices for key jobs.  And now, Bill has re-entered and is the new hero of the N. Korea situation.

But she’s apparently OK with all this. (?)

So, the upshot of how this makes me feel is that 1) She’s getting shafted or undercut too often and 2) Sometimes she speaks in ways that makes me scratch my head. But most of the time, I just wonder what will happen next. What does Bill do next?  Madeline Albright sure didn’t have to deal with this sort of thing. I can’t figure it out, unless Clinton is used to the soft form of “battered wife” syndrome.  Then there’s the dealings with Obama, the guy who cheated and muscled himself into the nomination.  Here she is, right on board the train with the usual U.S. foreign policy, surrounded by Obama loyalists, while he keeps his nose clean. I guess she’s OK with this and how she must defer to his lead, but it I don’t feel OK watching it all happen.

So, while others cling to Hillary Clinton as their personal inspiration, I can only say that I’m left with very mixed feelings at this point. I sort of shake my head and say ” Too bad”  about Clinton’s odd position at State, along with everything else that is “too bad” these days…

Sharia Finance: Rapidly Increasing Inroads Via American Banks…With the Help of Our Treasury Department

(Editor’s Note:  IA has visited the subject of Sharia law several times…See below for earlier posts on the topic. The accepted spelling is Sharia or Shariah.)

~~By American Lassie

The first thing I’d like to state before I get into the meat of this article is the fact I hold the opinion that most Muslims are just like you and me, only believing in a different religion. Their everyday lives are much the same as ours. It is the fanatical Hanbali form of Islam that is so autocratic and dangerous and considered authoritative in Saudi Arabia and other areas around the Persian Gulf.

During the Bush Administration, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Robert Kimmett’s visit to Saudi Arabia and other oil rich Persian Gulf states was with the purpose of recycling of petro dollars in the form of foreign investment in the United States to alleviate the financial crisis.  I’m sure Mr. Kimmett was told by the Saudis and others that in order to obtain their money, the banks would have to abide by Sharia Finance Law.  Whatever went on in his meetings with the Persian Gulf States, he came back to America and co-sponsored the Harvard University Law School’s Project on Islamic Finance.  The host of a seminar held at the Treasury Building was Neel Kashkari, Interim Secretary of The Treasury for Financial Stability and also administrator of the first of the TARP money while George Bush was President.  Kashkari was Henry Paulson’s top assistant.  Unfortunately Shariah-Compliant Finance seems to be the current party line in The Treasury Department.   (See: http://www.thebobofiles.com?p=632)

I’ll come back to this seminar later, but first I would like to present a little more background. This seminar is very important so please stay with me until the end of this article.

The United Kingdom is in deep trouble with all the concessions they have made to Sharia Finance and Sharia Law.  The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has caused a lot of turmoil in England with his pronouncements in favor of Shariah Law. Her Majesty’s government has allowed the establishment of at least five Shariah Courts to hear (initially) family law cases.  Polygamists in the UK can get welfare for each of their wives as long as all marriages beyond the first were performed overseas), Sharia promoting Islamists are seeking to achieve “parallel societies” here and elsewhere in the West.  Islamists secure footholds over other Muslims through “parallel societies” and then to non-Muslims.  This is an insidious industry meant to foist Islam on the policy community, the markets and western countries.

The differing views of Archbishop Williams and the Bishop of Rochester, England, Michael Nazri-Ali, are causing a rift in the Church of England. The debate over the path of the western sociopolitical system is the most pivotal in today’s world.  This is more and more evident in the crack it is causing in the Church of England.

Multiculturalism and universalism are fundamentally opposed beliefs.  The  level of danger to Britain, Europe, and the entire West created by homegrown Islamists  will be determined by which system prevails.

An op-ed by Dr. Nazir-Ali (January 11, 2008) discusses why he believes that “Britain’s campaign to reconstruct itself as a multicultural society has failed.” (See: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1574695/Extremism-flourished-as-UK-lost-Christianity.html)

Dr. Nazir-Ali has resigned his post to devote his time to working in communities where Christians are a minority.  He said he was inspired by the story of Hanna Shah, an imam’s daughter who faced being killed by her family for refusing an arranged marriage before she became a Christian.

Radical Muslims have became more militant as Britain has increasingly accomodated the strictures of Islam’s law:

“The death threats that followed Nazir-Ali’s essay only bolstered his thesis.  ‘The irony is that I had similar threats when I was a Bishop in Pakistan”,  he noted,  “but I never thought I would have them here.'”

Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, suggested that official acceptance of some facets of Sharia not only “seems unavoidable” but could actually improve social cohesion. To Williams the idea that “there’s one law for everybody and that’s all there is to be said, and anything else is completely irrelevant in the process of the courts – I think that’s a bit of a danger.”
(See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7232661.stm)

Michael Nazir-Ali witnessed the realities of Sharia Law as a man in Pakistan.  He came to Britain to escape this for himself and his family and now finds himself in the same situation in Britain.  And the cultural split becomes more prevalent as native Britons see more and more acquiescence to Islamic Law. There will be more strife.  It will be battling enclaves with more and more social unrest.

Discussion about Sharia Law

From the Middle East Forum: David J. Rusin, a research associate at Islamist Watch and a Philadelphia-based editor for Pajamas Media, writes:

“Historians may one day look back on these two prelates and the church they serve —- a body faced with plummeting attendance and approaching disestablishment  — as a symbol of the early twenty-first -century discourse over the future of the West.  For now, Michael Nazir-Ali and Rowan Williams illuminate the diverging paths before us: one paved with an ardent defense of Western Liberties, the other with a nihilism that leads inexorably to dhimmitude. (See: http://www.meforum.org/1890/a-schism-over-sharia-in-the-church-of-england)

Melanie Phillips in the Spectator newspaper offered this statement in her rebuttal to Williams’ comments. (See: http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/492106/the-archbishops-speech.thtml)

“One law for all is the very basis of legal and social justice and is the glue that binds a society together.”

DO WE WANT THIS FOR AMERICA? Our Treasury Department is inviting just this scenario because of the greed of our officials.  In the wake of all the brouhaha about the banks–the Wall Street crisis, the enormous bailouts, The Federal Reserve’s suspect bailouts of AIG–one thing troubling me is the lack of publicity on our government’s support of Islamic financing. Is it being done under cover of all this other money boondoggle so that the American people don’t know what is going on?

***

“JIHAD WITH MONEY”
“While America struggles with the sub-prime and credit market crisis, Sharia-Compliant Finance, is quickly infiltrating our financial markets – and bringing Islamic Shariah Law with it.  As one leading Islamic authority on Shariah-Compliant Finance has stated, “it is jihad with money.” In a new ACT! for America video, Joy Brighton, ACT! for America’s financial expert on Shariah Compliant Finance warns America of this chilling threat.” (See: http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/023435.php)

Sharia means “path” or  “path to water.”  It means God’s Law that will provide salvation if followed.  The Quran, Islam’s holy book is considered the literal word of God.  Unfortunately, the Quran is interpreted in different ways by different teachers.

Sharia governs all aspects of life, not just financial.  It governs men and women’s relations, education and inheritances.  Some Islamic nations temper the application of Sharia in criminal law, but Iran and Saudia Arabia are exceptions.  They fully implement Sharia in all areas of the law.
(See: www.cfr.org/publication/8034)

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FROM:  Shariah, Law and ‘Financial Jihad’: How Should America Respond?
Analysis and Findings of a Workshop Co-sponsored by: The McCormick Foundation and The Center for Security Policy

(See: http://www.rrmtf.org/publications/JihadReport.pdf)

The primary purpose of Shariah is to promote Islam as the only legitimate theo-political system and to accomplish it’s dominance, through violent jihad if necessary, worldwide. (This is what is meant by the “Islamist” agenda.)  Shariah rules govern all aspects of life but are most notorious for the mandate they provide for–toning of adulteresses, execution of homosexuals, amputations for petty crimes, beheading of Muslim Apostates, institutionalized misogyny and myriad other violations of western values and international norms. For example, a popular poster from the Islamic region of Nigeria, shows the dire punishments of Shariah in a country torn in two by conflicts over new Shariah Courts.  In the top row, a woman is shown riding a bike with a man, and next is shown her punishment: being stoned to death. (Page 7)

SNIP

The Law of Shariah is the source of the command for faithful Muslims to practice jihads. For peaceable Muslims the term is usually interpreted to mean a personal, introspective “struggle” against Muslims own sins or temptations.  The authoritative rendering of Islamic jihad, however is a ‘just’ war against non-Muslims and Muslims who have gone astray.  “Shariah-adherent Muslims must engage in jihad to bring about the global Islamic state under a caliph who governs pusuant to Shariah. (Page 10)

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Islamic Finance and the U.S. Treasury Department

The United States Treasury Department is opening the back door to Sharia Law in this country by wooing the money of the Muslim States. This wooing of Sharia began in the Bush Administration.  In addition to the Nov 6, 2008 seminar at the Treasury Dept. there was an earlier seminar on April 26, 2002. Following are the introductory remarks by John B. Taylor, undersecretary for International Affairs at the Islamic Finance 101 seminar at the Treasury Department (www.treas.gov/press/releases/po3068.htm).

“Welcome to Islamic Finance 101.  As the Undersecretary of Treasury I want to thank you for joining us at this seminar on the fundamentals of Islamic Finance….We are very  grateful that this diverse panel is here today to share their knowledge with us.  They have joined us from great distances – traveling from Bahrain, Houston, Boston, and New York to share their expertise with us”
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Treasury’s Office of International Affairs implements the U.S. Government’s international and finance and economic development polcies and develops U.S. policy toward the World Bank and IMF.  We have had a growing interest (sic) Islamic finance because of its rapid growth and significant presence in many partners of the United States such as Bahrain, Egypt, Indonesia, Kuwait, Malaysia, and Pakistan.”
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“Today’s seminar was inspired by a round table that Secretary O’Neill attended last month in Bahrain.  At the roundtable hosted by Citibank Bahrain’s Islamic Investment Bank”—
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“The Secretary wanted to make sure that we hosted a similar event in the United States to “demystify” Islamic Banking for our colleagues in Washington who may not have exposure to this topic.”

MORE

Then on Nov 6, 2008 there was another seminar at the Treasury Deparment.  This was the first time I learned that this was planned by the Bush Administration.  It had to be with the knowledge of the man who had just been elected to replace George Bush.

ISLAMIC FINANCE 101, Nov. 6, 2008.

Welcome by Neel Kashkari, Assistant Secretary and custodian of the first TARP money.
PURPOSE: “This forum is designed to help inform the policy community about Islamic Financial services, which are an increasingly important part of the global financial industry.
The Department of the Treasury, working with Harvard University’s Islamic Finance Project, will host speakers from academia and industry to share information on the development of Islamic Finance, both in the U.S. and globally.  The primary audience of this seminar is comprised of staff from U.S. Banking regulatory agencies, Congress, Department of Treasury and other parts of the Executive Branch.  For some in attendance this may be their first and only opportunity to learn formally about Islamic Finance.  We expect about 100 people in the audience.  The presentations will be short and focused, and directed toward policy makers rather than academics.
MORE
(See: www.saneworks.us/uploads/news/applications/7.pdf)

Representative Peter King, R-NY reacted, warning that “There are too many people who are sympathetic to radical Islam.  We should be looking at them more carefully.”

While our Treasury Department is courting these people, they are teaching insurrection on our very soil.  Their mosques and schools and Islamic Centers across the country are inciting insurrection by Saudi trained imams.

THE RISKS OF ISLAMIC FINANCE:
“Of particular concern is the progress being made to establish Shariah-Compliant Finance (SCF) within Western, and most recently, U.S. banks and other institutions that trade securities.  Islamic finance’s leading Shariah authorities have made plain that they consider SCF to be “jihad with money”, “financial jihad” and a means of promoting their objective of destroying the West’s economic system and replacing it with an Islamic one.

“Incredibly, in recent days, the Treasury Department has begun embracing Shariah-Compliant Finance.  Deputy Secretary Robert Kimmett has professed an interest in “studying the salient features of Islamic Banking to ascertain how far it could be useful in fighting the ongoing world economic crises”.  According to a press report out of Saudi Arabia he has declared that “experts in the Treasury Department are currently learning the important features of Islamic Banking.” (See: www.USAStopSharia.org)

STRINGS ATTACHED TO HANBALI MONEY:
Robert Kimmett and his crew in the Treasury Department had better be sure they read the fine print.  When you accept Shariah money, you must accept Shariah Law with it.  These greedy officials at Treasury can’t see beyond their noses.  Their stupidity is going to land us in the same soup pot as the United Kingdom is in if we don’t manage to stop them.

At least Peter King, R-NY sees the danger in what is happening here.  Maybe if enough of us contact him he will raise a ruckus in Congress.  It’s worth a try.

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Hanbali Islam (From Overview of World Religions from the University of Cumbria)–
“Today the school is officially recognised as authoritative in Saudi Arabia and areas within the Persian Gulf.”

Wikipedia article on Hanbali

Hanbali Material in English

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