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Iran Just Officially Ditched the Dollar in Major Blow to US: Here’s Why It Matters

Following President Donald Trump’s ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries, the Iranian government announced it would stop using the U.S. dollar “as its currency of choice in its financial and foreign exchange reports,” the local Financial Tribune reported.

Iran governor Valiollah Seif’s central bank announced the decision in a television interview on January 29. The change will take effect on March 21, and it will impact all official financial and foreign exchange reports.

“Iran’s difficulties [in dealing] with the dollar,” Seif said, “were in place from the time of the primary sanctions and this trend is continuing,” but when it comes to other currencies, he added, “we face no limitations.”

In a piece published by Forbes, Dominic Dudley contends that this move is significant “in the light of the recent ‘Muslim ban‘” announced by Trump. Iran nationals were added to the order issued by the current U.S. administration, which prompted the Iranian government to vow to stop issuing visas to U.S. citizens.

Dudley notes that since 1975, “no Americans have been killed in terrorist attacks in the US by the citizens of the countries included in the ban,” while countries such as Saudi Arabia — “home of 15 of the 19 terrorists involved in the 9/11 attacks” — were left out of the list of prohibited countries.

Despite the country’s decision to halt the use of the U.S. dollar as its base currency for exchange with other nations, Iran’s top export is oil. In the global markets, oil is mainly purchased and sold in U.S. dollars. This fiscal year, Iran is expected to earn  $41 billion from oil sales, with countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and China as their top clients. It’s still uncertain how the country will manage to switch currencies without relying on the American currency. The shift, Dudley notes, “will add a degree of currency risk and volatility and is likely to complicate matters for the authorities.”

This matters because predominantly Muslim countries left out of the “Muslim ban” include Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s top oil exporters.

In the 1970s, the Arab nation struck a deal with U.S. President Richard Nixon establishing an alliance that would maintain the dollar as the standard oil exchange currency in exchange for military support from America. The use of the dollar as a standard currency for oil exchange was accepted by Saudi Arabia and the remaining block of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which include Iran and 11 other Middle Eastern, African, and South American countries.

OPEC countries account for 42 percent of global oil production, holding 73 percent of the world’s oil reserves. Due to its influence, the use of the U.S. dollar as its standard currency helps to keep demand for the U.S. dollar high, giving the currency the support it requires to remain “the world’s reserve currency” and preventing the effects of inflation from hitting the U.S. consumer.

Iran’s decision to exit this deal might impact the U.S. economy and threaten the dollar, prompting the U.S. government to take stern measures to combat Iran’s actions. After all, Iran holds 13 percent of OPEC’s oil reserves.

http://theantimedia.org/iran-ditched-dollar-us-matters/

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Trump Loosens Sanctions on Russian Security Service

Two years ago the Obama administration issued an executive order that allowed the Treasury Department to sanction any organization engaged in "cyber-enabled activities...that are reasonably likely to result in, or have materially contributed to, a significant threat to the national security, foreign policy, or economic health or financial stability of the United States." (This was after the Sony hack.)

In late 2016, in retaliation for the Russian interference with the US election, Obama issued another executive order. This one added the Russian security service (FSB) and several other Russian actors to the list of sanctioned organizations.

Today, the Trump administration loosened these sanctions:

All transactions and activities otherwise prohibited pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13694 of April 1, 2015...are authorized that are necessary and ordinarily incident to....

(1) Licenses, permits, certifications, or notifications issued or registered by the [FSB] for the importation, distribution, or use of information technology products in the Russian Federation....

(2) Complying with law enforcement or administrative actions or investigations involving the Federal Security Service; and

(3) Complying with rules and regulations administered by the Federal Security Service.

What does this mean? Payments are limited to $5,000 per calendar year, so the payments themselves are not what's important. Nor does this order allow the sale or export of goods to the FSB itself. What it does is allow payments to the FSB for the licenses required to sell IT equipment in Russia.

How big a deal is this? What kinds of exports have been held up because it was illegal to pay for the FSB permits that were required? Is this just a minor fix for an unanticipated side-effect of the sanctions, or is it the first small step in loosening other sanctions on Russia? Good question. Perhaps some Russia expert will weigh in on this.

UPDATE: For what it's worth, conservative sanctions expert Eric Lorber says this is probably just a benign fix to an "unintended consequence" of the original sanctions ordered by Obama.

UPDATE 2: Last year Russia passed a law requiring that metadata for all communications be stored for 3 years (by phone companies) and 1 year (by internet providers). In addition, the content of all communications must be stored for 6 months, and decryption keys have to be provided to the state security authorities. The new rules take effect in 2018.

A reader emails to say that the problem with the Obama sanctions is that they prevent Western companies from engaging with the FSB to understand exactly how the new law will be interpreted. I don't entirely understand why that requires any money to change hands, but hey. It's Russia. So maybe this wrinkle is what the easing of the sanctions is really about.

UPDATE 3: I'd sure be interested to hear from the folks who drafted the Obama sanctions. Did they deliberately want to cause Russia pain by preventing the import of IT equipment, or was this just an oversight? Who was responsible for writing and reviewing this stuff, anyway?

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/02/trump-loosens-sanctions-russian-security-service

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1 hour ago, drunkbysix said:

He defended milo. A RACIST.

 

Well, I'll never know, will I?  His posts were deleted before I got the chance to read them.  So, I can't make an objective decision on whether he "defended" him or not. 

Last I checked, that was known as censorship.  And before you start calling me a racist, I'm not defending any right-winged fuck-head bigots either. 

I've already been called a child molester sympathizer this week, I don't need anymore vile accusations from chumps. 

Pud is not racist and calling him one is offensive. 

 

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3 minutes ago, WeboGirl said:

 

Well, I'll never know, will I?  His posts were deleted before I got the chance to read them.  So, I can't make an objective decision on whether he "defended" him or not. 

Last I checked, that was known as censorship.  

 

Last I checked, a message board is not a democracy.

Spare me this bullshit "censorship" malarky that is always touted by the ones whose trolling gets curbed by the moderators. Trolling is trolling.

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6 minutes ago, WeboGirl said:

 

Well, I'll never know, will I?  His posts were deleted before I got the chance to read them.  So, I can't make an objective decision on whether he "defended" him or not. 

Last I checked, that was known as censorship.  And before you start calling me a racist, I'm not defending any right-winged fuck-head bigots either. 

I've already been called a child molester sympathizer this week, I don't need anymore vile accusations from chumps. 

Pud is not racist and calling him one is offensive. 

 

If you support a racist, you're racist. THATS offensive.

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6 minutes ago, WeboGirl said:

 

Well, I'll never know, will I?  His posts were deleted before I got the chance to read them.  So, I can't make an objective decision on whether he "defended" him or not. 

Last I checked, that was known as censorship.  And before you start calling me a racist, I'm not defending any right-winged fuck-head bigots either. 

I've already been called a child molester sympathizer this week, I don't need anymore vile accusations from chumps. 

Pud is not racist and calling him one is offensive. 

 

Look, you already made your mandatory 'defence' of Pud. Now move along and stop talking about something that you just admitted you know nothing about. An old thread about the antics of Milo whtsisname that was bumped by the usual lot and posted in by the usual lot talking shit about "freedom of speech" was deleted. No, there is no room in this forum for giving a platform to racist, sexist, transphobic, xenophobic pieces of shit. Again, don't like it, find another MADONNA forum.

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Check this out, look at him (your president, not mine)....

 

Those who blindly continue to elevate this dangerous unfit-to-lead a country lunatic asshole, and those who post cheap passive-aggressive sarcastic jabs: you deserve your fucking Donald Trump.

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1 minute ago, svperstar said:

Last I checked, a message board is not a democracy.

Spare me this bullshit "censorship" malarky that is always touted by the ones whose trolling gets curbed by the moderators. Trolling is trolling.

 

Give me a colossal break with the censorship crap.  This isn't the Washington Post. Unless, he made a personal attack on someone, or divulged personal information, his posts shouldn't have been deleted. 

But, hey, if that's the house rules, then there's nothing wrong with that.  But how come they're only applied to a select few?

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3 minutes ago, Kim said:

Look, you already made your mandatory 'defence' of Pud. Now move along and stop talking about something that you just admitted you know nothing about. An old thread about the antics of Milo whtsisname that was bumped by the usual lot and posted in by the usual lot talking shit about "freedom of speech" was deleted. No, there is no room in this forum for giving a platform to racist, sexist, transphobic, xenophobic pieces of shit. Again, don't like it, find another MADONNA forum.

 

You have a girls name.

 

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1 minute ago, WeboGirl said:

 

You have a girls name.

 

Are you even a girl? The amount of bullshit you spout, I'm starting to wonder.

Now either stay on topic or fuck off out the topic.

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6 minutes ago, svperstar said:

Last I checked, a message board is not a democracy.

Spare me this bullshit "censorship" malarky that is always touted by the ones whose trolling gets curbed by the moderators. Trolling is trolling.

 

4 minutes ago, Kim said:

Look, you already made your mandatory 'defence' of Pud. Now move along and stop talking about something that you just admitted you know nothing about. An old thread about the antics of Milo whtsisname that was bumped by the usual lot and posted in by the usual lot talking shit about "freedom of speech" was deleted. No, there is no room in this forum for giving a platform to racist, sexist, transphobic, xenophobic pieces of shit. Again, don't like it, find another MADONNA forum.

Thank you both.  

It is about time people on this forum got behind our moderators and trust their judgements.  This forum is very accepting of different views and personalities overall. However, do we want the politics section to be full of obscene right wing ideology ?   I saw that pathetic Milo thread and reading people praising and defending a racist, sexist,obscene vile troll who wants attention is sickening and  has no place on a Madonna forum. 

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13 minutes ago, pjcowley said:

Trump Loosens Sanctions on Russian Security Service

Two years ago the Obama administration issued an executive order that allowed the Treasury Department to sanction any organization engaged in "cyber-enabled activities...that are reasonably likely to result in, or have materially contributed to, a significant threat to the national security, foreign policy, or economic health or financial stability of the United States." (This was after the Sony hack.)

In late 2016, in retaliation for the Russian interference with the US election, Obama issued another executive order. This one added the Russian security service (FSB) and several other Russian actors to the list of sanctioned organizations.

Today, the Trump administration loosened these sanctions:

All transactions and activities otherwise prohibited pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13694 of April 1, 2015...are authorized that are necessary and ordinarily incident to....

(1) Licenses, permits, certifications, or notifications issued or registered by the [FSB] for the importation, distribution, or use of information technology products in the Russian Federation....

(2) Complying with law enforcement or administrative actions or investigations involving the Federal Security Service; and

(3) Complying with rules and regulations administered by the Federal Security Service.

What does this mean? Payments are limited to $5,000 per calendar year, so the payments themselves are not what's important. Nor does this order allow the sale or export of goods to the FSB itself. What it does is allow payments to the FSB for the licenses required to sell IT equipment in Russia.

How big a deal is this? What kinds of exports have been held up because it was illegal to pay for the FSB permits that were required? Is this just a minor fix for an unanticipated side-effect of the sanctions, or is it the first small step in loosening other sanctions on Russia? Good question. Perhaps some Russia expert will weigh in on this.

UPDATE: For what it's worth, conservative sanctions expert Eric Lorber says this is probably just a benign fix to an "unintended consequence" of the original sanctions ordered by Obama.

UPDATE 2: Last year Russia passed a law requiring that metadata for all communications be stored for 3 years (by phone companies) and 1 year (by internet providers). In addition, the content of all communications must be stored for 6 months, and decryption keys have to be provided to the state security authorities. The new rules take effect in 2018.

A reader emails to say that the problem with the Obama sanctions is that they prevent Western companies from engaging with the FSB to understand exactly how the new law will be interpreted. I don't entirely understand why that requires any money to change hands, but hey. It's Russia. So maybe this wrinkle is what the easing of the sanctions is really about.

UPDATE 3: I'd sure be interested to hear from the folks who drafted the Obama sanctions. Did they deliberately want to cause Russia pain by preventing the import of IT equipment, or was this just an oversight? Who was responsible for writing and reviewing this stuff, anyway?

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/02/trump-loosens-sanctions-russian-security-service

Is there a limit to the amount of executive orders a President can sign? Is there ANY accountability going on over there at all?

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1 minute ago, Kim said:

Are you even a girl? The amount of bullshit you spout, I'm starting to wonder.

Now either stay on topic or fuck off out the topic.

 

I'm fucking off then... 

You don't listen to what people are saying and you never will. That's your problem, not mine. 

Yes, I'm a girl. You've always been a dick, probably of because of your lack of one. 

 

 

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2 minutes ago, jazzyjan said:

Webo, you did not see that thread so don't realise how offensive it was.  If you saw it, I am sure you would think differently. 

If she doesn't, she's just as bad. Supporting racism is wrong! Period.

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2 minutes ago, jazzyjan said:

Webo, you did not see that thread so don't realise how offensive it was.  If you saw it, I am sure you would think differently. 

 

Then let the moderators let me see it.  

That's all I'm asking.  

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10 minutes ago, WeboGirl said:

 

Give me a colossal break with the censorship crap.  This isn't the Washington Post. Unless, he made a personal attack on someone, or divulged personal information, his posts shouldn't have been deleted. 

Oh i'm sorry, did you write the rules of MadonnaNation? My mistake. Allow me to go get a red pen and apply some edits.

You're the one who STARTED this "censhorship crap" honey. The fact of the matter is posters like you are always harping about their "rights" being infringed when they are on the WRONG side of the moderator criteria.

I don't give a shit about your politics. What I DO give a shit about is one's inability to KNOW THEIR AUDIENCE. A lot of people are upset and angry and concerned right now, so if that means cutting out a few posts by those who purposely TROLL to rub salt in unnecessary wounds and perhaps KEEP a few people from leaving the board altogether (of which some already have over this), then OH WELL.

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2 minutes ago, WeboGirl said:

@jazzyjan , you've stood by while someone called me a phaedophile sympathizer, and now you're standing by while I'm being called a racists. 

Really? 

 

On the "pills" again are we dear? Quit while your ahead, and QUIT hijacking this thread.

 

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1 minute ago, Kim said:

On the "pills" again are we dear? Quit while your ahead, and QUIT hijacking this thread.

 

Grow a pair, asshole.

I said I'm fucking off...

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21 minutes ago, jazzyjan said:

 

Thank you both.  

It is about time people on this forum got behind our moderators and trust their judgements.  This forum is very accepting of different views and personalities overall. However, do we want the politics section to be full of obscene right wing ideology ?   I saw that pathetic Milo thread and reading people praising and defending a racist, sexist,obscene vile troll who wants attention is sickening and  has no place on a Madonna forum. 

This.

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Guest Pud Whacker
2 hours ago, WeboGirl said:

I don't think anyone here in this forum is in defense of right-winged racists.  Don't you think that's a bit harsh?  It would be like, oh...I don't know...let me think...maybe saying that someone supports child moltesters. (Call me crazy...it's the first thing that popped into my head).  Funny, not funny!!!

Yes, fence sitters fucked up the election, but so did people who didn't try to educate themselves and know the facts.  

@Pud Whacker has been a friend of mine since 2001.  I think I know him pretty well enough to say that he's not a racist and he doesn't support them either.

If he's "trolling" around it's only because there are waaaaaaaaay too many high horses in this forum. 

 

Thank you darling. Xo

The bizarre thing is 80% of this board has known me for over 10 years and I can't believe what I'm seeing, hearing, being accused of. I'm not complaining but it's baffling. The people that know me, KNOW ME. Like you, whom I love AND trust  

I have always been odd. Always had a weird sense of humor and ALWAYS been attracted to rabble rousers. One of their names is...

MADONNA.  For those that don't know her or maybe didn't LIVE while it was happening, or maybe forgot her potency..

She was a woman many years ago that liked to ruffle people's feathers, gross people out, crawl off a wedding cake and hump the floor, dance in front of burning crosses while kissing a black saint and had a penchant for FLASHING her naked body to the world every chance she got.

Making love under a cross while homos, lesbians and a woman dressed as a NAZI sadistically pulled the hair back of Madonna's lover while he was roped to a chair. 

She used to piss a lot of people off. People that worshipped Christ were always calling her blasphemous. Even The Pope.  

In other words, she liked to disrespect what others cherished. Which I adore!

The world has since changed because of this woman and now every pop star covers Madonna's old territory so it doesn't quite pack the same punch it used to. People are desensitized. 

Thats just one FUCKING WEIRD CUNT that I have worshipped and still do in my life. 

So in the words of one fabulous fag...

EAT IT!!!!

:headbang:

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Meanwhile, in the real world:

Quote

Today, Trump cut sanctions against Russian intelligence agencies. Russia knew about it before Congress. His surrogates are trying to conjure a war with Iran, a trade war with Mexico and a confrontation with China. They are insulting our allies. With few exceptions, barely a peep from Congress.

Today, Congress repealed bills that prevent coal from being dumped in rivers and prevent mentally ill people from buying guns. They forwarded a bill designed to destroy unions across the United States. Not a peep from the president who promised to "drain the swamp."

The two are working together to steal a Supreme Court seat, ram through the most hostile cabinet in history and destroy the last parliamentary rules of in Congress in order to stifle opposition.

The GOP and the quisling president are working in tandem to destroy America. Congress is destroying the domestic security of average Americans. The Republican party is compromised by the wealthiest Americans who want to destroy civil society in a myopic effort to cut their taxes. Trump is working to destroy America's national security in devotion to Russia, which has offered to make him and his cabal rich and powerful. In return, Trump is clearing the way for Russia to cause the collapse of the Western alliance and rebuild its empire in Eastern Europe. The actors involved are willing to risk a human civilization ending nuclear war in order to bring it about.

I wish this was as far fetched as it sounds. But these conclusions are inescapable as the unfolding new political situation confirms all of our worst fears, and at a much more frantic clip than many had feared. At this rate, we really cannot wait for the 2018 elections. Only a determined mass uprising will stop this now. We The People hold our fate in our hands more than at any time in our lives. We need relentless, broad, unified, fierce action. The clock to Armageddon is ticking.

But by all means, let's wage a war about how "political correctness" is the reason EVERYTHING bad is happening in the world, and as a result we must OVERCOMPENSATE by being purposely outgoing on any inflammatory and provocative thing we can say. 

Because we all know how THAT turns out....

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29 minutes ago, Kim said:

Is there a limit to the amount of executive orders a President can sign? Is there ANY accountability going on over there at all?

President Donald Trump's actions like a 'military coup', says expert on fascism

'From their actions and pronouncements, we cannot exclude an intention to carry out a type of coup'

Donald Trump’s actions during his first fortnight as President are like those of a coup, a historian of fascism has warned. 

Ruth Ben-Ghiat, professor of history and Italian studies at New York University, is the author of “Italian Facism’s Empire Cinema” and an expert on fascist history. In a op-ed for CNN, she has warned of the Trump administration: “From their actions and pronouncements, we cannot exclude an intention to carry out a type of coup.”

She explains: “Many may raise their eyebrows at my use of this word, which brings to mind military juntas in faraway countries who use violence and the element of surprise to gain power. Our situation is different.

"Trump gained power legally but this week has provided many indications that his inner circle intends to shock or strike at the system, using the resulting spaces of chaos and flux to create a kind of government within the government: one beholden only to the chief executive.”

Ms Ben-Ghiat continues: “Second is the unleashing of the political purges that authoritarians so love.

"Some purges are punitive (say the firing of acting Attorney General Sally Yates because she defied Trump's immigration order) and some pre-emptive (the expulsion of senior State Department staff) but the effect is to cleanse the government of troublemakers and leave a power vacuum to be filled with loyalists — or not filled at all, for added disruption of the state bureaucracy.”

During his first fortnight in the White House, Mr Trump has spearheaded many controversial actions. One of his first executive orders was to reinstate the Global Gag Rule, also known as the Mexico City Policy, barring any government funding for international aid organisations which give women advice about abortions.

He subsequently announced a broad travel ban, issued by a further executive order. This ended admission of refugees, as well as barring immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries.

The ban has been criticised for allegedly unfairly targeting Muslims. However, Mr Trump has insisted the measure is necessary in order to ensure national security and defend against terrorism.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/president-donald-trump-executive-orders-actions-likened-military-coup-historian-expert-fascism-ruth-a7558831.html?cmpid=facebook-post
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20 minutes ago, Kim said:

Any more of that shit and you can take a suspension. My first ever. 

 

 

0  <---  The amount of fucks I give.  If you're going to throw insults then expect them back at you.  Can we not throw them back because you're a moderator or a pussy?  

I vote the latter. 

Call it what you will, Pud is a friend and he's not racist.  I'm not going just ignore that vile shit. 

 

Gotta go, I have a date...

With a BLACK MAN.

 

 

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Guest Pud Whacker
1 minute ago, WeboGirl said:

 

0  <---  The amount of fucks I give.  If you're going to throw insults then expect them back at you.  Can we not throw them back because you're a moderator or a pussy?  

I vote the latter. 

Call it what you will, Pud is a friend and he's not racist.  I'm not going just ignore that vile shit. 

 

Gotta go, I have a date...

With a BLACK MAN.

 

 

:lol:

THATS RACIST!!!

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1 minute ago, WeboGirl said:

 

Gotta go, I have a date...

With a BLACK MAN.

 

 

Enjoy that "date" in your head. 

Anymore off-topic SHIT in here from the resident attention-seekers will be deleted. 

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