A grim Ministry of Finance report prepared for Prime Minister Putin is warning today that the decision by Iran to cease taking US Dollars for its oil could verybe the “first shot” fired in World War III, and one which Russia will be blamed for by the Obama regime.

According to this report, Iran swiftly countered planed US sanctions against its Central Bank yesterday by announcing that it will no longer accept the US Dollar as payment for its oil shipments to India, Japan and China, and further announced that bilateral trade between itself and Russia will, also, break from the US Dollar for settlement in favor of the Iranian Rial and Russian Rubles.

Sure to enrage the Obama regime, this report continues, was that the proposal to switch to the Ruble and the Rial was raised by President Medvedev at a meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in Astana, Kazakhstan, of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Though Iran had previously announced in 2008 that it had stopped trading its oil for US Dollars (Ahmadinejad called the depreciating US Dollar a “worthless piece of paper”) India, Japan and China were made exempt due to their large holdings of American currency and fears of wreaking further chaos on the global economic collapse that had just begun.

Important to note, this report reminds us, is that a similar move by Iraq’s former leader Saddam Hussein in not accepting US Dollars for oil in 2000 brought about the invasion of his country by the Americans and their European allies resulting in his eventual execution and causing the vast wealth of Iraqi oil and gas fields to be turned over to the Western oil giants.

Likewise, this report says, former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi earned the same fate as Hussein after he, in the months leading up to the US-NATO military attack on his country, called on African and Muslim nations to join together to create a new currency that would rival the US Dollar and Euro and saying that Libya would only sell oil and other resources around the world only for gold dinars.

Most oil sales throughout the world are denominated in US Dollars, and according to proponents of the petrodollar warfare hypothesis, because most countries rely on oil imports, they are forced to maintain large stockpiles of Dollars in order to continue imports.

This creates a consistent demand for US Dollars and upwards pressure on its value, regardless of economic conditions in the United States. This in turn allows the US government to gain revenues through seignorage and by issuing bonds at lower interest rates than they otherwise would be able to. As a result the USgovernment can run higher budget deficits at a more sustainable level than can most other countries.

But, this report reminds us, the current budget deficit of the US has now reached the staggering amount of $15.23 trillion which is the size of its entire economy, and with the Federal Reserve preparing to being another round of massive printing this coming summer the loss of Iran’s oil customers needing US Dollars could very well signal the collapse of the entire American economy.

Though the Obama regime has sent its Treasury Secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, to China and Japan today in an effort to persuade them to cut back on Iranian oil this effort appears doomed from start as the Chinese have outright rejected this move and Japan has, likewise, expressed its concerns.

As is always the case in these type of dire matters, reports from the US show its mainstream propaganda media organs are not reporting on this potentially catastrophic turn of events leading to yet another circumstance where the American people will be taken by complete surprise when this cold war suddenly turns hot.

In order to prepare itself for what is to come, however, a vast Russian naval fleet arrived in Syria yesterday in an attempt to forestall US-NATO action against its Middle East ally currently under attack by the CIA-backed terrorist group known as al-Qaida.

Most shocking in this report are some Russian economists stating that the Obama regime is actually anticipating the collapse of the US Dollar as a “solution”to their being able to implement drastic socialistic change such as was done during the Great Depression under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and which the grim statistics being reported from the US show they are, indeed, nearing total economic collapse and include:

1. A staggering 48 percent of all Americans are either considered to be “low income” or are living in poverty.

2. Approximately 57 percent of all children in the United States are living in homes that are either considered to be “low income” or impoverished.

3. If the number of Americans that “wanted jobs” was the same today as it was back in 2007, the “official” unemployment rate put out by the U.S. government would be up to 11 percent.

4. The average amount of time that a worker stays unemployed in the United States is now over 40 weeks.

5. One recent survey found that 77 percent of all U.S. small businesses do not plan to hire any more workers.

6. There are fewer payroll jobs in the United States today than there were back in 2000 even though we have added 30 million extra people to the population since then.

7. Since December 2007, median household income in the United States has declined by a total of 6.8 percent once you account for inflation.

8. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 16.6 million Americans were self-employed back in December 2006. Today, that number has shrunk to 14.5 million.

9. A Gallup poll from earlier this year found that approximately one out of every five Americans that do have a job consider themselves to be underemployed.

10. According to author Paul Osterman, about 20 percent of all U.S. adults are currently working jobs that pay poverty-level wages.

As the buildup for war between the US and Iran continues to escalate, UN Chief Ban ki Moon’s call for the easing of tensions has gone unheeded as the Obama regimes call for the “dogs of war” to be unleashed on the Iranian people shows no sign of abatement.

To what the final outcome may be in all of these events was detailed by Professor Igor Panarin of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs who has long warned the United States is in a state of economic collapse which will see America being divided up into 6 regions due to a “vulnerable political setup,” “lack of unified national laws,” and “divisions among the elite, which have become clear in these crisis conditions.”

Interesting to note about Professor Panarin’s prediction of the United States splintering into different regions are new reports coming from the United States showing that the Obama regime has recently called for the staffing of what are called FEMA Concentration Camps in not just 6, but 10 different regions of their country.

Professor Panarin further warned that “a secret agreement was reached between Canada, Mexico and the US on a common Amero currency as a new monetary unit” and said that “this could signal preparations to replace the dollar.”

When asked how Russia should react to his vision of the future, Professor Panarin said: “Develop the ruble as a regional currency. Create a fully functioning oil exchange, trading in rubles… We must break the strings tying us to the financial Titanic, which in my view will soon sink.”

January 10, 2012 © EU and US all rights reserved. Permission to use this report in its entirety is granted under the condition it is linked back to its original source at WhatDoesItMean.Com.

Ministers are considering draconian plans to prevent a flood of money and people heading to Britain from Europe if the ailing single currency collapses.

Experts fear that the collapse of the euro would lead to the widespread movement of both people and money – with potentially damaging consequences for Britain if left unchecked.

The Treasury has drawn up contingency plans to prevent investors shifting huge sums of cash from the Eurozone to Britain – amid fears it could lead to a surge in the value of the Pound.

And it emerged yesterday that Britain’s borders could also be temporarily sealed against economic refugees from Europe if the collapse of the euro sparks widespread civil unrest on the Continent.

The Foreign Office is also working on contingency plans for the emergency evacuation of thousands of British expats and holidaymakers from stricken countries.

Officials insist the plans are being drawn up as a precaution – and do not indicate that the Government believes the collapse of the single currency is imminent.

Despite repeated attempts by Eurozone countries to prop up the single currency, many experts believe the 17-member currency cannot survive the coming year intact.

British officials believe that one or more countries, such as Greece and Portugal, could be forced to drop out of the single currency in order to tackle the dire problems in their own economies.

Ministers fear the break-up of the euro could have a devastating effect on Britain, dashing hopes of a recovery and sending the economy back into recession.

Anecdotal reports suggest some wealthy investors and individuals from countries like Greece are already moving money to the UK and buying property in London.

The Treasury, which has a central role in drawing up contingency plans for the euro’s collapse, believes a break-up could send international investors scrambling for a safe haven.

The transfer of huge sums of money to London could send Sterling soaring – threatening to crush the fragile recovery in exports which is central to the Coalition’s plans to ‘rebalance’ Britain’s economy.

Earlier this year the Swiss government was forced to intervene after nervous investors transferred cash there from the Eurozone, sending the value of the Swiss Franc to unsustainable levels.

The Swiss authorities moved to peg the currency to the euro.

The Treasury is planning a different approach which will impose strict limits on the amount of money that can be moved in or out of the UK.

Treasury officials are also drawing up plans to deal with the impact on Britain’ s major banks, which have a combined exposure of £170 billion to the troubled economies of Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Italy and Spain.

Elsewhere in Whitehall there are fears that a collapse of the euro could lead to widespread civil unrest – and even spark a flood of economic refugees.

Some countries are expected to ground all flights and effectively seal their borders to prevent the flight of people and money. British officials are said to be considering contingency plans to seal the UK’s borders in a worst-case scenario – although any attempt to prevent the free movement of people is illegal under EU law.

The Ministry of Defence has also been put on standby to help rescue British nationals stranded in countries that are plunged into chaos.

Other EU countries are also drawing up contingency plans.

Earlier this month reports in Portugal said the country’s borders would be temporarily sealed if the country drops out of the single currency.

Strict limits would be imposed on cash withdrawals and euro notes would be stamped with an escudo mark until the new currency was printed and distributed.

Source.

Banks around the world are preparing for the possible collapse of the euro as fears of the European debt crisis increase.

Several banks are even installing systems capable of coping with trading in old European currencies.

Meanwhile finance firms, corporations, and different governments have also turned to plans that aim at preparing them for harsh times.

Regulators have asked banks in the US and UK to provide updates on readiness levels in case of a possible euro collapse.

Some corporate firms have also started transferring their cash on a daily basis out of European countries, including debt-ridden Greece instead of once every two weeks.

Europe has for months grappled with an economic and financial crisis. Insolvency now threatens in-debt countries such as Greece, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain.

Since its formation, the European Union had been a haven for those seeking refuge from war, persecution and poverty in other parts of the world.

The worsening debt crisis, however, has forced European governments to adopt harsh austerity measures and tough economic reforms. Tens of thousands of Europeans are migrating from their homelands as a result of these difficulties.

There are fears that more delays in resolving the eurozone debt crisis could push not only Europe, but also much of the rest of the Western world back into recession.

Source.

Analysts are doing a lot of worrying lately about all the bad things that could happen in the global economy, despite positive economic data and occasional market rallies.

Looking ahead to 2012, Deutsche Bank analysts Tom Joyce and Ram Nayak lay out 10 of the biggest worries investors have to look out for in the coming year in a massive investor note about what we should be looking forward to in the coming 12 months. What’s more, they tell you how to hedge for the worst case scenario.

Ironically enough, analysts remains so bearish that one of the biggest risks is that the economy does well.

#1 A Greek exit rom the euro

Image: real democracy

Probability: A Greek euro exit and return to the Drachma is not DB’s base case, but then again it’s not inconceivable.

What would happen: Big haircuts on private sector assets, capital controls, collapse of Greek banking system, run on peripheral European banks

Hedges: Switch from European assets to gold or U.S. Treasuries, long yen or sterling, and long volatility indices

#2 Funding crises in Italy and Spain

Image: Alberto Pizzoli / AFP / Getty

What to watch: In Spain, the private sector and banking system. In Italy, politics and growth.

What would happen: A crisis of confidence would prohibit both countries from accessing cash and threaten both the euro and the global financial system.  The European Central Bank would need to “respond aggressively,” to save the global economy from collapse.

Hedges: Short French and British banks, short Eastern European currencies, long options on CDX.IG

#3 The U.S. gets hit with a downgrade or double-dip recession

Image: bthomso via Flickr

Catalysts: Risks #1 or #2 materialize, fiscal cuts disappoint, or growth underperforms

What would happen: The U.S. bank sector could also be downgraded. Timing is everything to measure the impact.

Hedges: Issuers can win out by pre-funding, investors should be overweight on non-financials and highly rated non-cyclicals.

#4 A hard landing in China

Image: Daniel Goodman / Business Insider.com

How it happens: 5-6% growth, which would feel like a recession

What would happen: Global capital markets would be affected by sharp declines in commodity prices, but China’s large Forex reserves it could probably stop the fall and stimulate growth.

Hedges: 6-month put option on commodities baskets

#5 France loses its AAA rating

Image: MJC Rodez on Flickr

Probability: “Quite possible,” given lack of progress on austerity measures

What would happen: French-German bond spreads may indicate that this risk is already priced in, but this would have negative implications for the European Financial Stability Facility and already mounting funding pressures.

Hedges: Buy French CDS, “buy best-of-put options”—a put over the equity index that performs best on the period (because equity markets generally go down simultaneously with a macro shock)

#6 Aggressive and sustained deleveraging of European banks

Image: eyeSPIVE on Flickr

Probability: Deleveraging is definite. The only question is by how much.

What would happen: Deleveraging will probably total up to $2 trillion in 18 months, but this could be exacerbated by crisis.

Hedges: Investment in cyclical industries, lower-rated credits and financials, long volatility indices.

#7 Commodity trade finance faces a liquidity crunch

Probability: High, particularly if aggressive bank deleveraging (risk #6) materializes.

What would happen: The European banks that provide financing for the big Swiss-based commodity trading houses could cut funding, and commodities prices would fall.

Hedges: European borrowers should seek funding from the U.S., one-year USD puts on Brent

#8 Safe haven assets disappear

Signs for caution: Traditional safe-haven assets like gold, the Swiss franc, and the yen have all been volatile/

Worse still: U.S. Treasuries and bunds have been go-to investments recently, but high debt levels in the U.S. and Germany could change that.

Hedges: Other AAA-rated investments like supranational bonds and gilts.

#9 U.S. pension fund deficits continue to balloon

Image: Flickr Vertigogen

How it happens: Both public and private sector funding gaps for pensions are out of control, and this could get worse. Rock bottom interest rates are making this worse.

What would happen: Rating agency downgrades, declines in corporate profitability, and funding crises.

Hedges: Puts on equity indices where premium is only paid out when rates rise (the idea is that they don’t).

#10 BETTER than expected economic growth

Image: Aepoc, CC.

How this is a problem: Betting against the market always carries the risk of being surprised.

What would happen: Europe stabilizes, the global economy grows, and risk asset prices exceed expectations.

Hedges: “10y/20y euro rates payer spreads; long non-conforming mezzanine debt; Short AUD v Long MXP”

Source.

Zero Hedge: As every major developed economy hits Bass’s Keynesian Endgame, the status quo is set to change dramatically. Nowhere is this climax playing out louder than in Europe and the implicit solution of Germany-uber-alles (while seemingly inevitable though nevertheless lengthy in execution) is likely to not sit well with many of the EMU nations. To wit, The Telegraph today reports that Britain’s Foreign Office is advising its overseas embassies to draw up plans to help expats should the collapse of the Euro turn explosive. Almost incredibly, a senior minister has revealed that Britain is now planning on the basis that a euro collapse is matter of time.

The Telegraph: Prepare for riots in euro collapse, Foreign Office warns

British embassies in the eurozone have been told to draw up plans to help British expats through the collapse of the single currency, amid new fears for Italy and Spain.

As the Italian government struggled to borrow and Spain considered seeking an international bail-out, British ministers privately warned that the break-up of the euro, once almost unthinkable, is now increasingly plausible.

Diplomats are preparing to help Britons abroad through a banking collapse and even riots arising from the debt crisis.

The Treasury confirmed earlier this month that contingency planning for a collapse is now under way.

A senior minister has now revealed the extent of the Government’s concern, saying thatBritain is now planning on the basis that a euro collapse is now just a matter of time.

“It’s in our interests that they keep playing for time because that gives us more time to prepare,” the minister told the Daily Telegraph.

Recent Foreign and Commonwealth Office instructions to embassies and consulates request contingency planning for extreme scenarios including rioting and social unrest.

Greece has seen several outbreaks of civil disorder as its government struggles with its huge debts. British officials think similar scenes cannot be ruled out in other nations if the euro collapses.

Diplomats have also been told to prepare to help tens of thousands of British citizens in eurozone countries with the consequences of a financial collapse that would leave them unable to access bank accounts or even withdraw cash.

Fuelling the fears of financial markets for the euro, reports in Madrid yesterday suggested that the new Popular Party government could seek a bail-out from either the European Union rescue fund or the International Monetary Fund.

There are also growing fears for Italy, whose new government was forced to pay record interest rates on new bonds issued yesterday.

The yield on new six-month loans was 6.5 per cent, nearly double last month’s rate. And the yield on outstanding two-year loans was 7.8 per cent, well above the level considered unsustainable.

Italy’s new government will have to sell more than EURO 30 billion of new bonds by the end of January to refinance its debts. Analysts say there is no guarantee that investors will buy all of those bonds, which could force Italy to default.

The Italian government yesterday said that in talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Prime Minister Mario Monti had agreed that an Italian collapse “would inevitably be the end of the euro.”

The EU treaties that created the euro and set its membership rules contain no provision for members to leave, meaning any break-up would be disorderly and potentially chaotic.

If eurozone governments defaulted on their debts, the European banks that hold many of their bonds would risk collapse.

Some analysts say the shock waves of such an event would risk the collapse of the entire financial system, leaving banks unable to return money to retail depositors and destroying companies dependent on bank credit.

The Financial Services Authority this week issued a public warning to British banks to bolster their contingency plans for the break-up of the single currency.

Some economists believe that at worst, the outright collapse of the euro could reduce GDP in its member-states by up to half and trigger mass unemployment.

Analysts at UBS, an investment bank earlier this year warned that the most extremeconsequences of a break-up include risks to basic property rights and the threat of civil disorder.

“When the unemployment consequences are factored in, it is virtually impossible to consider a break-up scenario without some serious social consequences,” UBS said.

The ascension of Mario Monti to the Italian prime ministership is remarkable for more reasons than it is possible to count. By replacing the scandal-surfing Silvio Berlusconi, Italy has dislodged the undislodgeable. By imposing rule by unelected technocrats, it has suspended the normal rules of democracy, and maybe democracy itself. And by putting a senior adviser at Goldman Sachs in charge of a Western nation, it has taken to new heights the political power of an investment bank that you might have thought was prohibitively politically toxic.

Gerald Celente on Greece, the IMF, financial criminals, austerity measures, Christine Lagarde, Jean-Claude Trichet, bailouts and other economic predators.

Celente describes how we are living the beginning of the first world war of the 21st century. The Great Depression, currency wars, trade wars… The break down of the global economic system. One big ponzy scheme.

Gerald Celente’s famous statement: “When all else fails, go to war”. With the latest news on Iran-Israel the next big war is on the horizon: The big World War III.

History Is About To Repeat Itself. – Stockmarket Crash’s Into World War.

Economic Policy Journal - Oligarch George Soros, at a conference in Vienna, during a panel discussion said

Let’s face it: we are on the verge of an economic collapse which starts, let’s say, in Greece but could easily spread. The financial system remains extremely vulnerable…

He also said, as reported by Reuters, that a country will eventually exit the euro zone andurged policymakers to come up with a “plan B”:

The euro had no provision for correction. There was no arrangement for any country leaving the euro, which in the current circumstances is probably inevitable.

Two points. Soros is correct, a financial collapse could occur, but it need not damage anyone beyond those  in the bankster system. The average man in the street could benefit if there is a collapse and it is too big for the shakedown artists, the IMF and World Bank, to handle. Unfortunately, what is likely to occur is that the European Central Bank and other central banks will crank up the money printing presses to bail out the banksters.

Point 2, the prudent thing for any country that leaves the euro would be to default on its debt and institute a hard currency (most likely backed by gold).  Unfortunately, any country that leaves the euro will probably start running their printing presses 24/7.

Bottom line: Crisis will likely mean accelerating money printing and accelerating price inflation.

Press TV – UK Treasury ministers have confirmed that the coalition government is dealing with potential plans for a Greek bankruptcy after warnings by Jack Straw that the euro could not last.

Straw, the former Labour foreign secretary, warned that the euro “is going to collapse,” and said, “Is it not better that this happens quickly rather than a slow death?”

Straw’s message came after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the world economy would be destroyed if IMF members did not aid the Greeks.

Speaking at the parliament, Straw said, “What the Government should do instead of sheltering behind the complacent language, weasel words that ‘it is not appropriate, we should not speculate’ is recognize that this eurozone cannot last.

“And it is the responsibility of the British Government to be open with the British people now about the alternative prospects.”

In an urgent meeting, Britain’s senior MPs from all parties asked the government to stand aside from the new financial package aiding Greece and urged the country to leave the euro.

Mark Hoban, financial secretary to the Treasury, said, “I am not going to comment on whether the eurozone will remain intact or not. Clearly, this crisis demonstrates the huge strain the eurozone in under. That is why it was right for us to stay out of the eurozone.”

Meanwhile, he admitted that there were many scenarios, which were being considered.

He said it “will not be appropriate” to talk about the detail, but “I will be guilty of not stepping up to the responsibilities of his office if plans had not been made to cope with a default.”

He said that the UK banks had given around £2.47 billion in exceptional loans to Greek nationals and institutions.

Prime Minister David Cameron also declared that UK would not participate in a bailout of Greece.

“We were not involved in the first bailout of Greece; we don’t believe the European financial mechanism should be used in any way.”

Conservative MP Anne Main claimed that Greece “should be allowed to depart peacefully from the eurozone.”

Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, also admitted that UK would not play a part in contributing aid package for Greece.

“The package for Greece that is already in place is a eurozone package with the IMF. It’s the eurozone that is taking forward discussions now about the next stage of dealing with Greece’s substantial problems. There’s simply no proposition on the table for the UK to contribute beyond that IMF involvement and I don’t expect there to be one,” he said.