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Comment by laotzu | Hacker News Reader

This is such an obvious example of the divide to conquer strategy which is still alive and well in the region. Iran Contra revealed the MIC was selling weapons to both Iran and Iraq at the same time.

Profit from endless weapons sales, profit from cheap oil, and keep the dollar strong by only selling the oil for the dollar. 3 birds with one stone.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2003/feb/16/iraq.theeuro

And now here we are, oil is cheaper than it has been since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the dollar is more valuable than it has been in decades (relative to other currencies) all the while the instability in the middle east continues to increase.

http://www.macrotrends.net/1369/crude-oil-price-history-char...

"The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous."

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basically every argument you make is cherry picked. the dollar was near multi-decade lows ~2 years ago. oil was at near multi-decade highs ~2 years ago.

the only thing consistent in anything you said was mid-east instability. the mid-east has been unmanageable / unstable for several eons.

And why do you think that is? Could it be the arbitrary borders drawn by the colonial powers? Or perhaps the carefully chosen dictators placed by some great power or other? I hate it when people make the instability in the Middle East seem like its entirely our (i.e. people of the Middle East) fault.

i haven't presented anything remotely resembling an argument of causality for mid-east dysfunction, nor do i want to. what i'd like is for people with political axes to grind to back their arguments with facts instead of imagined nonsense.

Of course.

it's our ancestors faults.

i'm talking way back during the industrial revolution. these decaying empires of the region in that time were ripe for the picking for the emerging powers of the world.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran–Russia_relations

check the history section, particularly the 1800s:

"In his later years of rule, Peter the Great found himself in a strong enough position to increase Russian influence more southwards in the Caucasus, the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea at the cost of the two declining empires; the Safavid Empire and the Ottoman Empire."

Good point, but it's not that simple. There are simply too many factors in play when it comes to the Middle East.

>dollar was near multi-decade lows ~2 years ago. oil was at near multi-decade highs ~2 years ago.

Yeah, that's exactly the correlation I am pointing out. Guess who started really blowing up ~2 years ago? ISIS.

More instability = less control over oil resources by the sovereign = cheaper oil for everyone else

Decrease the oil price, and you increase demand for oil.

Increase the demand for oil, and you increase the demand for the dollar.

Increase demand for the dollar and you increase its value. Basic economics.

6/7 of the richest companies in the world in terms of revenue are oil companies, and oil is primarily traded in dollars. You'll notice that when a country starts trying to sell oil in something other than the dollar, they go on the NATO shit list: i.e. Iraq, Iran, Venezuela.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrocurrency#Currencies_used_...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_companies_by_r...

"War is a matter not so much of arms as of money." -Thucydides

isis is who we have to thank for $32 oil? we should all send a card.

If you have anything of actual substance to say I'm open to debate. I see from your comment history you have specialized financial knowledge which might offer valuable comment on this economic theory.

Oil price is a tool and is not so much affected by world events as used to affect world events. Most oil producing nations (after the 70s opec shocks) have enough money and stockpiles that they can control production to affect smaller producers and consuming countries.

Some of the results of the current low oil prices:

reduced income for isis,

reduced income for russia

competitive pressure on shale oil, gas, solar and electric vehicles (although that one now seems to be driven by tech/luxury appeal rather than by being more economical).

The first two have the smell of foreign policy about them.

The dollar is more valuable than the last decade? How come the Euro exchange rate changed from 2 for 1 USD (about 2010?) to 0.9 for one USD today? Did the Euro increase so much more? Without oil?

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