|
|
| # 45 So, what the hell is a Bourse? |
|
If you have ever been to Dubai, then you will no doubt, have been to the Dubai gold Souk. Believe me, no wife or girlfriend is ever going to let you not go there, if you’re staying in this city. The Souk is a huge market that specialises in just one product, and there is more gold sold in this three or four street section of Dubai, than anywhere else in the world. We wandered around this section of the town for about six hours and I’m sure my lovely wife looked at every single thing that was on show. As you can imagine for a strict “non shopper” like me, this carry-on rapidly lost its appeal. Just how many rings and bracelets can a lovely wife look at before she makes her choice?
Answer, millions.
I now totally understand the term “Gold fever”
I must admit, the full size Indian elephant, solid 24 ct gold fancy dress, attached to a full size Indian elephant did get my attention. I did not bother practicing my haggling skills for two reasons, one I don’t own an Indian elephant and two, the two hundred US Dollars I had in my pocket at the time was never ever going to be enough, no matter how good I thought I was at haggling.
Now I may not be the world’s best window shopper and I freely admit to this crime. But I am an avid people watcher from way back and this quarter of Dubai has every breed and type of human being on the planet by the thousands, jammed into a fairly small area, say the size of a small suburb in New Zealand.
And every single one of them was trying to do a deal of some sort, flat out and in every language known to man.
To think for a second that any one of them was not armed to the teeth in order to protect all this gold and was totally prepared to do so at a moments notice, was a mistake that I wasn’t about to make.
To say that I spent the day with one eye watching our backs would be an understatement.
Armed cops were everywhere, but they would have been totally unable to do anything, had the situation hit the fan.
My over-riding impression of this small part of the world is; there is nothing and I mean nothing, you can not buy in Dubai if you have enough money and the balls to carry out the deal.
Fascinating place, go and check it out some time.
So let’s come back to my original question, what the hell is a Bourse?
Bourse is an Iranian word for Souk or huge market specialising in one product.
The Iranian’s are currently in the process of setting up an Oil Bourse, Black Gold, and it’s due to open for business in March 2007.
The problem is they intend to sell this black gold in any currency other than US dollars.
Do you think for a minute the Yanks are not going to try and stop this happening?
This could easily destroy the entire US/Western world’s economy.
The problem is the Iranians now have the really big weapons to protect it and are totally prepared to do so at a moments notice.
Face facts, the world is embroiled in a world war, it’s about oil and absolutely astronomical amounts of money, and at the moment it’s being fought to the death in some of the scariest back streets on earth, cloak and dagger style.
Not to mention the odd bomb or two in Iraq.
The reason it’s not all in the papers in black and white, for the punters to follow like a soap opera is a simple one, their still trying to keep most of it a secret.
Understanding a secret is like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle without a copy of the box lid, you have to look for little pieces, that don’t necessarily make a lot of sense on their own, but which fit into a bigger picture. You don’t automatically get all the pieces at the start or in an order that you can make any kind of sense of. But rest assured that there is a bigger picture and that the next piece you are looking for has Iranian Oil Bourse written all over it.
My prediction for the New Year, watch the newspapers and TV news for anything concerning Iran and it’s new Oil Bourse around March or perhaps a little later.
No matter what the US administration says in the meantime, remember the first thing that goes out the window in war, is the truth.
But then, this new oil bourse has already had three postponed openings to date and my prediction could very easily be delayed once again.
Obviously the risk of being flattened by one of the largest war machines ever to exist on the planet and camped on your back door step is a big one.
Weather or not you play that card simply depends on the size of your gonads.
I really sincerely hope I’m wrong in my view of this box lid, but if the situation all goes to custard, keep your head down and one eye on your back.
But then, that is “Just an old Trucker’s point of view”
|
|
|
|
|
