By Walid Phares
According to economic analysis the severe financial crisis ravaging the US and hitting the international community on all continents has its economic roots in two major realms: One was the overbearing political pressure put on Wall Street to release loans into unprepared sectors of society and two, was the miscalculation -some say the drunkenness- of Wall Street in accepting these immense risks. But according to Political Economy assessment, there may have been a third player in the crisis: OPEC, or more precisely, radical circles within Oil Producing regimes in the Peninsula. The thesis argue that combined Salafist-Wahabi and Muslim Brotherhood circles in the Gulf -with consent from the Iranian side on this particular issue, used the escalating pricing of Oil over the past year to push the financial crisis in the US over the cliff. The "high point" in this analysis is the timing between the skyrocketing of the prices at the pumps and the widening of the real estate crisis. In short the "Oil-push" put the market out of balance hitting back at Wall Street. Basically, there was certainly a crisis in mismanagement domestically (with its two above mentioned roots), but the possible OPEC economic "offensive" crumbled the defenses of US economy in few months.
The link between this analysis and our counter terrorism interests is dual. One, if the forthcoming investigation will demonstrate that there was a war room manipulated by the "radicals" within OPEC striking at US and Western economies, we would be witnessing the rise of the concept of "economic terrorism." Two, and as the forthcoming investigation is progressing, a re-reading of al Qaeda and other Jihadi literature, speeches and statements about the Silah al Naft (Weapon of Oil) and more particularly the calls by Ayman Zawahiri on "selling US dollars and buying Gold, ahead of American economic collapse" seems to be necessary. Zawahiri's statements most likely aren't coordinated with the OPEC "hard core" push but his knowledge of the "push" is more than likely because of his ties to the Wahabi-Salafi circles inside the Kingdom. Moreover, such a finding would shed light on the analysis of commentary on the web and on Satellite media about "the necessity for Americans to feel the pain of economic pressures, to put political pressures on their Government to change course in the region."
I am posting here two pieces on the subject.
Is There A Foreign Force Waging War Against the US Economy? (Part One)
head to link for this and the following article
OPEC's HEAVY HAND
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