DIY 100 Calorie Packs

<p>Remember my <a href="http://weightloss-stories.blogspot.com/2012/02/being-honest.html">Being Honest</a> post? Well I think the reason I was consuming starbursts and eating those cupcakes is because I'm a self described snacker! I can be 100% on plan during the main meals, but in between I LOVE to snack! To ensure I have healthy, portion controlled snacks readily available I found this great idea from <a href="http://www.hungry-girl.com/">Hungry Girl</a> and put together some homemade 100 calorie packs! <p align="left">For this particular combo I use Chex cereal, mini chocolate chips, and mini marshmallows. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJDxnrhC2rF4JcIZBng0Z13vkl4LrCq6PF5aBvqpnyeaDezerNK7bfRRtLY5x4ITeHMYdTq_xBsgUGDLfshH-CpjJAwuxiqds159RroFBXrtDRF4x_yF1iAQbf6zObXeFb63xyBp5fL_fN/s1600-h/IMG_10614.jpg"><img alt="IMG_1061" border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgou4UjtoKFUj8xoNhMHRXUMzhgZzElbSHLP9DUFlyR_xE2a2PF8JaMokTmTvY1VAnVsijJDwfBQ2hLRTQDd29aiDRI6V_ozfXkO7OdvLYEq5yeels5gHx51Fhj1511OPa0jrWyh8VWA9J4/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="IMG_1061" width="404"></a></p> <p align="left">I combined the following to a make a s’mores 100 calorie pack:</p> <ul> <li> <div align="left">15 mini marshmallows</div> <li> <div align="left">1/4 Chex cereal</div> <li> <div align="left">1/2 T mini chocolate chips</div></li></ul> <p align="left">Makes 1 serving. 2 points+/serving. I put them in individual Rubbermaid containers for easy, on the go snacking.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPqz3PCR6UnqgjqhLD1hHxZHXcaJPGN5D76c4peL3vH2KMmhYLpW70y2k_zm1oOv87NvCsaEh-gtbcCCg-T54N4ohqTffmhrJxOCYBGLpilhYeT9Xm2C7OLQbmH57GkAdtXgcNsTjJXNlF/s1600-h/IMG_10634.jpg"><img alt="IMG_1063" border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9mxVG3p3VYv-VTSGvbEywX9d3Vs-i4xObklK3BikZiJ3VzCq0dCsBmU0h35DRi9JIyLG5iAfKRtgk6uNSCV1xpog8nZDvy7byDh8yzh-eq9CO9gLAEAKR_CcXY_AqvS9Oiv3b-8r1irtU/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="IMG_1063" width="404"></a></p> <p align="left">Not only did I make some homemade 100 calorie packs, I also separated out a bag of pretzels into individual portions. 3 points+ each!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcXm0XSrxefDb2tQIKzONxwlkN3gGtrssNBIcBRnAqthAECltBRKRHTYL4oliu3kx14J2ojZBPEvli0dFYAcL2yVNgDr-FBUgFyukDMFGSEXXqQ9HinjarkByvN9t74pSqxlxqnFjjVrZ_/s1600-h/IMG_10644.jpg"><img alt="IMG_1064" border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI51p9RcWpmqFx9bmacVplSBDeUEEtCe1Ndi95Fo7jupXsonUuMSG3SAVbNZJCFkM8fqRzXLiCYkmi3A7mqHA1Tn5f_4bkPXxBt7vWLDVXEvd1NTBokrf2tcUKiJNmrXMUcLMqbIvCnnAK/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="IMG_1064" width="404"></a></p> <p>I am going to use these portion controlled servings to help me stay on track in between meals! <p><strong>What do you do to keep your snacking in check?</strong></p>

DIY 100 Calorie Packs

Remember my Being Honest post? Well I think the reason I was consuming starbursts and eating those cupcakes is because I'm a self described snacker! I can be 100% on plan during the main meals, but in between I LOVE to snack! To ensure I have healthy…

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I got a new job! At least I think I did

<br /><div class="ArticleHeadline" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-top: -30px; text-align: left;"><div class="cbmsnArticleImage" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" src="http://emj.cbdr.com/artieimages/21/ar5l6h2766y7px212b21.gif?time=12/6/2011%202:56:01%20pm" /></div><div style="color: #333333; font: italic normal normal 16px/normal arial, helvetica;"><span id="cbArticle_lblHeadline2">How to handle strange hiring situations</span></div><b><span id="cbArticle_lblByLine">Debra Auerbach, CareerBuilder Writer</span></b><br /></div><div class="ArticleContent" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">For a job seeker, there is no better feeling than picking up the phone and hearing those magical words, "We'd like to make you an offer." After a call like that, it's natural to want to shout the news from the <a href="http://msn.careerbuilder.com/jobs/keyword/roofing/" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none;">rooftops</a>, hand in your two weeks' notice and buy yourself a "Congratulations on the new job" present.<br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">But what happens when a week goes by and you have yet to receive official new-hire paperwork or any additional <a href="http://msn.careerbuilder.com/jobs/keyword/communications/" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none;">communication</a> from the hiring <a href="http://msn.careerbuilder.com/jobs/keyword/manager/" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none;">manager</a>? You don't want to bother the new company, but you start to panic. Perhaps your celebration was a bit premature?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">Given today's up-and-down economy, strange or untraditional hiring situations are becoming more common. Perhaps you get an oral offer but then never hear back. Or you accept a job with the understanding that it's for a certain role but later learn the position has become drastically different. You're just happy to be offered a job, so you don't want to come across as pushy or a complainer. You do, however, want -- and deserve -- to get some confirmation or clarity.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">If you ever find yourself on the receiving end of what appears to be an awkward or ambiguous hiring situation, here is some advice to help you avoid getting burned:</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><b>Don't put all your eggs in one career basket</b><br />You may be asked back for multiple interviews and get some hints from the people you speak with that the job is yours, but until you hear officially, keep your options open. "The job search is never over until the offer is in hand," says Roy Cohen, <a href="http://msn.careerbuilder.com/jobs/keyword/career+coach/" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none;">career coach</a> and author of "The Wall Street Professional's Survival Guide." "It is inevitable that an opportunity will disappear through no fault of yours. So it is essential that you continue to network and job search until the very final moments. Having multiple irons in the fire will also make you a lot more desirable and enhance the potential to negotiate in a meaningful way."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><b>Leave no room for misunderstanding</b><br />At this point, you've received the oral offer from the hiring manager. Before you give notice at your current company, make sure that you have an official offer letter and that it's signed, sealed and delivered. "Don't leave a meeting where you've received a verbal offer without solidifying the details," says Sandra Lamb, career, lifestyle and etiquette expert, and author of "How to Write It, Third Edition." "Say, 'Just to be clear here, I understand you are offering me the position of X, with a salary of Y, to start Z.' Cover all the details and get them in writing. Absent [of] this, write your own letter of employment and cover all these items, and ask for a signature."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><b>Don't be afraid to follow up</b><br />As teams shrink and companies become short-staffed, it's not uncommon for the hiring process to take a little bit of time, and days or weeks may go by before the official paperwork is in the job seeker's hand. While the job may be the only thing on your mind, it's important to remember that the hiring team is likely <a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=juggling&src=IE-SearchBox&FORM=msns07" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none;">juggling</a> multiple hiring and personnel matters. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't follow up periodically; doing so will not only help to push the process along, but it will also show them your continued interest in and excitement for the position.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">Daniel Newell, job development and <a href="http://msn.careerbuilder.com/jobs/keyword/marketing/" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none;">marketing</a> specialist for San Jose State University's Career Center in <a href="http://msn.careerbuilder.com/jobs/california/san+jose/" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none;">San Jose</a>, <a href="http://msn.careerbuilder.com/jobs/california/" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none;">Calif</a>., suggests that if you don't hear back after seven to 10 days, it's time to follow up. "When calling the employer, thank them for taking your call and inform them that you were calling to follow up on the job offer made to you," Newell says. "Let them know that you have been preparing yourself for the opportunity and are simply inquiring about a general estimate of when they anticipate you starting the position. It's not a bad idea to ask if you will receive a formal offer via email or by mail."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">If after multiple attempts you're still hitting a brick wall, it may be a sign that it's time to move on. "If a job seeker has interviewed with an employer and has checked in with them at least twice within three weeks and has still not received a formal job offer or any sign of moving forward in the hiring process, that job seeker should reconsider working for that employer," Newell says. "This looks bad on a company and tarnishes their image as a professional business or representative."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><b>Be open to changes</b><br />"Anyone offered a position today should anticipate -- or almost expect -- that the job for which they were hired to do is probably not the job they are going to be asked to do," says Lee Igel, Ph.D., associate <a href="http://msn.careerbuilder.com/jobs/keyword/professor/" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none;">professor</a> at <a href="http://msn.careerbuilder.com/jobs/new+york/" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none;">New York</a> University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies. "Organizations today are focused on fitting the human to the task, which means the job description is either a starting point for work or something that serves as little more than a basis for hiring. In the old world of work, employees conformed to the needs of a distinct job; in today's world of work, employees have to conform to the needs of a task or project."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">That's not to say that if you're unsure about the drastic change you can't speak up. Just do it in a way that shows you're a team player and happy to pitch in where needed, but you want to have a complete understanding of the expectations and goals for the position.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><b>Look for red flags</b><br />While companies may be approaching hiring in more untraditional ways, if something doesn't feel right, listen to your gut. If you have a bad feeling about a company or its hiring practices, chances are it's not a good place to work. "If the hiring procedure is strange, it should be a very large red flag," Lamb says. "Even in these times, getting a flaky boss, ending up working for nothing or doing a job that isn't what you thought you were being hired for isn't going to serve you well."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><i>Debra Auerbach is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com and its job blog, </i><a href="http://www.theworkbuzz.com/" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><i>The Work Buzz</i></a><i>. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.</i></div></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />

I got a new job! At least I think I did

How to handle strange hiring situationsDebra Auerbach, CareerBuilder WriterFor a job seeker, there is no better feeling than picking up the phone and hearing those magical words, "We'd like to make you an offer." After a call like that, it's natural …

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Weight Watchers Baked Fruit Cinnamon Oatmeal

I had a special request to post this recipe, so here it is.  I have no pictures of this one though.  I will warn you: this recipe says it serves 8.  When baked in an 8 x 8 pan, naturally you would cut it evenly in to 8 pieces.  Then you realize how small those pieces are, and it's 7 PointsPlus!  However, in the cookbook, it also gives the weight of the serving size, which is 126 grams.  THAT makes this worth the 7 PointsPlus, especially because it's so filling.<br /><br />Also, I find that adding milk to it is necessary, since it is definitely on the dryer side otherwise (especially if you make this for the week).  <br /><br />I hope you like it!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibJXlCNP6Pn0ZRzRcJ7nYu1P3q_FEP2LGstnjCozUxY_czjKAbMObMjB5qfCpDrDNgfvQeQbJ0sBIEOmoX19mc03vqyXx2McB1b4VkzfPgPGfUagGoSfcmNlDMckeTXG-O4pM1UZJI16E/s1600/ww+new+complete+cookbook.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibJXlCNP6Pn0ZRzRcJ7nYu1P3q_FEP2LGstnjCozUxY_czjKAbMObMjB5qfCpDrDNgfvQeQbJ0sBIEOmoX19mc03vqyXx2McB1b4VkzfPgPGfUagGoSfcmNlDMckeTXG-O4pM1UZJI16E/s320/ww+new+complete+cookbook.JPG" width="284" /></a></div><br /><b><u>Weight Watchers Baked Fruit Cinnamon Oatmeal</u> <i>(7 PointsPlus)</i></b><br /><ul><li>3 cup old-fashioned oats</li><li>1/2 cup chopped dried apricots</li><li>1/2 cup dried cranberries or blueberries <i>(I used bluebs!)</i></li><li>1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar</li><li>2 tsp baking powder</li><li>3/4 tsp ground cinnamon</li><li>1/4 tsp salt</li><li>1/2 cup plain fat-free yogurt</li><li>1 cup reduced fat (2%) milk <i>(I used skim)</i></li><li>1/2 cup applesauce</li><li>1/2 cup Egg Beaters</li><li>2 Tbsp canola oil</li><li>1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract</li></ul><i>Directions:</i><br /><ol><li>Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly spray and 8-inch square baking dish with nonstick spray.</li><li>Mix together oats, apricots, cranberries/blueberries, all but 2 Tbsp of brown sugar, the baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.  Whisk together yogurt, 1/2 cup milk, the applesauce, egg substitute, oil, and vanilla in a medium bowl until smooth.  Add yogurt mixture to oat mixture, stirring until combined well.</li><li>Spoon into prepared baking dish and spread evenly; sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons brown sugar.  Bake oatmeal until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes.  Let cool 10 minutes in baking dish on wire rack.  Cut oatmeal into 8 equal portions and serve with remaining 1/2 cup milk.</li></ol>Makes 8 servings

Weight Watcher Recipes Weight Watchers Baked Fruit Cinnamon Oatmeal

I had a special request to post this recipe, so here it is.  I have no pictures of this one though.  I will warn you: this recipe says it serves 8.  When baked in an 8 x 8 pan, naturally you would cut it evenly in to 8 pieces.  Then you realize how s…

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Currency Warfare: What are the Real Targets of the E.U. Oil Embargo against Iran?

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mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style><![endif]--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC1vKCzIpSyt2VsnkN7XO0ssw5G0P0FEh5jnkTTxT9Qy2is6Ru3C5FmOjUrANofrYCmmF-QknAKMlZiwpvARv6RoR0O1s6btFEiXx1yWz84qHb3KB2zz32Jrtmj3xxBx9GW7v_3SzyN_Gh/s1600/p_20101014082801FinancialSvcs600x500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC1vKCzIpSyt2VsnkN7XO0ssw5G0P0FEh5jnkTTxT9Qy2is6Ru3C5FmOjUrANofrYCmmF-QknAKMlZiwpvARv6RoR0O1s6btFEiXx1yWz84qHb3KB2zz32Jrtmj3xxBx9GW7v_3SzyN_Gh/s320/p_20101014082801FinancialSvcs600x500.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Against whom is the European Union’s so-called “oil embargo on Iran” really aimed at? </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya</span><br /><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">This is an important geo-strategic question. Aside from rejecting the new E.U. measures against Iran as counter-productive, Tehran has warned the member states of the European Union that the E.U. oil embargo against Iran will hurt them and their economies far more than Iran. <br /><br />Tehran has thus warned the leaders of the E.U. countries that the new sanctions are foolish and against their national and bloc interests. But is this correct? At the end of the day, who will benefit from the chain of events that are being set into motion?</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Oil Embargos against Iran are Not New <br /></span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />In 1951, the Iranian government of Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh with the support of the Iranian Parliament nationalized the Iranian oil industry. As a result of Dr. Mossadegh’s nationalization program, the British militarily blockaded the territorial waters and national ports of Iran with the British Royal Navy and prevented Iran from exporting its oil. They also militarily prevented Iranian trade. London also froze Iranian assets and started a campaign to isolate Iran with sanctions. The government of Dr. Mossadegh was democratic and could not be vilified easily domestically by the British, so they began to portray Mossadegh as a pawn of the Soviet Union who would turn Iran into a communist country together with his Marxist political allies.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The illegal British naval embargo was followed by regime change in Tehran via a 1953 Anglo-American engineered coup d’état. The 1953 coup transformed the Shah of Iran from a constitutional figure head to an absolute monarch and dictator, like the monarchs of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Qatar. Iran was transformed overnight from a democratic constitutional monarchy into a dictatorship.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Today, a militarily imposed oil embargo against Iran is not possible like it was in the early 1950s. Instead London and Washington use the language of righteousness and hide behind false pretexts about Iranian nuclear weapons. Like in the 1950s, the oil embargo against Iran is tied to regime change. Yet, there are also broader objectives that go beyond the boundaries of Iran tied to Washington’s project to impose an oil embargo against the Iranians.<br /><br /><b>The European Union and Iranian Oil Sales</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Iran’s largest customer for oil is the People’s Republic of China. According to the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA), which was created after the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo as the strategic wing of the Western Bloc’s Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Iran exports 543,000 oil barrels per day to China. Iran’s other large customers are India, Turkey, Japan, and South Korea. India imports 341,000 barrels per day from Iran, Turkey imports 370,000 barrels per day from Iran, Japan imports 251,000 barrels per day from Iran, and South Korea imports 239,000 barrels per day from Iran.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">According to the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum the European Union only accounts for 18% of Iranian oil exports, which means less than one-fifth of Iranian oil sales. Only “collectively” is the European Union the second largest customer of Iran. All the E.U. countries together import 510,000 barrels per day from Iran. This collective rank that all Iranian oil importing E.U. countries have together is being highlighted by those that want to emphasize the effectiveness of the E.U. oil embargo against Iran.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Iran can replace oil sales to the European Union via new buyers or by increasing sales to existing customers like China and India. An Iranian agreement to work with China for stockpiling Chinese strategic reserves would fill a large portion of the vacuum left by the European Union. Thus, the oil embargo against Iran will have minimal direct effects on Iran. Rather, it is most likely that any of the effects that the Iranian economy feels will be tied to the global ramifications of the oil embargo against Iran.<br /><br /><b>Iran and Global Currency Warfare</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), both the U.S. dollar and the euro together constitute 84.4% of the world’s currency exchange reserves (end of 2011 date). The U.S. dollar alone, was the largest share of the world’s currency exchange reserves in 2011, namely 61.7%. <br /><br />Energy sales are an important part of this equation, because the American dollar is tied to the oil trade. <br /><br />Thus, oil trade, through what is called the petro-dollar, is helping sustain the American dollar’s international standing. Countries around the world have been virtually forced to use the U.S. dollar to maintain their energy and trade needs and transactions. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To highlight the importance of the international oil trade to the U.S., all the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members – Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates – have their national currencies pegged to the U.S. dollar and thereby sustain the petro-dollar by trading oil in American dollars. Moreover, the currencies of Lebanon, Jordan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Belize, and several tropical islands in the Caribbean Sea are also all pegged to the U.S. dollar. Aside from the overseas territories of the United States, El Salvador, Ecuador, and Panama also all officially use the U.S. dollar as their national currencies.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The euro on the other hand is both a rival of the U.S. dollar as well as an allied currency. Both currencies work in tandem against other currencies in many cases and seem to be controlled by increasingly merging centres of financial power. <br /><br />Aside from the seventeen European Union members using the euro as their currency, the Principality of Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City have issuing rights and both Montenegro and the Albanian-majority Serbian province of Kosovo also use the euro as their national currencies. Outside of the euro area (Eurozone), the currencies of Bosnia, Bulgaria, Denmark, Latvia, and Lithuania in Europe; the currencies of Cape Verde, Comoros, Morocco, the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, and the two CFA zones in Africa; and the currencies of several Western European overseas dependencies, such as Greenland, are all pegged to the euro. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Several monetary zones are directly tied to the euro. In Oceania, the Comptoirs Français du Pacifique (CFP) franc, simply called the Pacific franc (<i>franc pacifique</i>), used in a monetary union of the French dependencies of French Polynesia, New Caledonia, and the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands is pegged to the euro. As mentioned earlier, both the CFA zones in Africa are also pegged to the euro. Thus, both the Financial Community of Africa (<i>Communauté financière d’Afrique</i>, CFA) franc or West African CFA franc in West Africa – used by Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo – and the Financial Cooperation in Central Africa (<i>Coopération financière en Afrique central</i>, CFA) franc or Central African CFA franc – used by Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville), Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon – have their fates tied to the monetary value of the euro.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Iran is not looking for military confrontation in the rising hostilities with the United States and European Union. Despite the warped narrative being presented, Tehran has said that it will only close the Strait of Hormuz as a last resort. The Iranians have also said that they will not let U.S. or hostile ships go through Iranian territorial water, which is their legal right, and that hostile ships could navigate through Oman’s territorial waters in the Strait of Hormuz instead. As a side note, among other things, the problem for the U.S. and Iran’s other adversaries is that the waters on the Omani side of the Strait of Hormuz are too shallow.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Instead of military confrontation, Tehran is fighting back economically in several ways. The first step, which started before 2012, was Iranian international oil sales and trade were diversified in regards to their currency transactions. This is part of a calculated move by Iran to move away from using the American dollar just like Saddam Hussein of Iraq did in 2000 as a means to fight back against the sanctions imposed on Iraq. In this context, Iran has created an international energy exchange or course competing with the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and London’s International Petroleum Exchange (IPE), which both operate using the American dollar for transactions. This energy exchange, called the Kish Oil Bourse, was officially opened in August 2011 on Kish Island in the Persian Gulf. Its first transactions were made using the euro and the Emirati dirhem.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In context of euro and U.S. dollar rivalries, the Iranians originally wanted to turn to the euro and a petro-euro system with the hope that the competition between the American dollar and the euro would make the European Union an ally of Iran and de-link the E.U. from the United States. As political tensions have mounted with the E.U., the petro-euro has become less attractive for Tehran. Iran has realized that the European Union is submissive to U.S. interests under corrupt leaders. Thus, to a lesser extent, Iran has also tried to move away from the euro.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Moreover, Iran has broadened its move away from the use of the U.S. dollar and the euro as policy in bilateral trade relations. Iran and India are talking about gold payments for Iranian oil. Iranian and Russian trade is conducted in Iranian rials and Russian roubles, while Iranian trade with China and other Asian countries is conducted using the Chinese renminbi, Iranian rial, Japanese yen, and other non-dollar and non-euro currencies.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">While the euro could have been a big winner from a petro-euro system, the actions of the European Union have worked against this. The E.U. oil embargo against Iran is merely hammering the nails in the coffin. Globally, the emerging matrix of Eurasian and international trade and transaction outside of the umbrellas of the American dollar and the euro is weakening both currencies. The Iranian Parliament is now passing legislation to cut oil exports to the members of the European Union that will be part of the sanctions regime until they rescind the Iranian oil sanctions. The Iranian move will be a blow to the euro, especially since the European Union will not have time to prepare for the Iranian energy cuts.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are several possibilities that could emerge. One of them is that this could be part of what Washington wants and it could be playing into its hands against the European Union. Another is that the U.S. and specific E.U. members are working together against strategic economic rivals and other markets.<br /><br /><b>Who Benefits? The Economic Targets are beyond Iran...</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The end of Iranian oil exports to the European Union and the decline of the euro will directly benefit the United States and the U.S. dollar. What the European Union is doing is merely weakening itself and giving the U.S. dollar the upper hand in its currency rivalry against the euro. Moreover, should the euro collapse, the American dollar will quickly fill much of the void. Despite the fact that Russia will benefit from higher oil prices and greater leverage over E.U. energy security as a supplier, the Kremlin has also warned the European Union that it is working against its own interests and subordinating itself to Washington.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Many important questions are at play about the economic consequences of increased oil prices. <br /><br />Will the European Union be able to weather the economic storm or a currency collapse? <br /><br />What the E.U. oil embargo against Iran will do is destabilize the euro and snowball globally hurting non-E.U. economies. In this regard, Tehran has warned that the U.S. aims to hurt rival economies through the adoption of E.U. oil sanctions against Iran. Within this line of thinking, this is the reason why the U.S. is trying to force China, India, South Korea, and Japan in Asia to reduce or cut Iranian oil imports.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Within the European Union, it will be the most fragile and struggling economies, such as Greece and Spain, which will be hurt by the E.U. oil embargo against Iran. <br /><br />The oil refineries in the European Union countries that import Iranian oil will have to find new sellers as sources and will also be forced to adjust their operations. Piero De Simone, one of the leaders of Italy’s Unione Petrolifera, has warned that approximately seventy oil refineries in the E.U. could be shutdown and that Asian countries could start selling refined Iranian oil to the European Union at the expense of the local refineries and the local petroleum industries. <br /><br />Despite the political claims supporting an oil embargo against Iran, neither will Saudi Arabia be able to fill the void of Iranian oil exports to the European Union or other markets. A shortfall in oil supplies and the production changes could have spiralling effects in the European Union and on the costs of industrial production, transportation, and market prices. The prediction is that the E.U. will effectively be deepening the crisis in the euro area or Eurozone. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Moreover, the rise in everyday prices, ranging from food to transportation, will not be limited to the European Union, but will have global ramifications. As prices rise on a global scale, the economies in Latin American, Caribbean, African, Middle Eastern, Asian, and Pacific countries will face new hardship, which the financial sector in the U.S. and several of its partners – including members of the European Union – could capitalize on by taking over certain sectors and markets. The IMF and World Bank, as the Bretton Woods proxies of Wall Street, could get into the mix and impose more privatization programs benefiting the financial sectors of the U.S. and its main partners. Furthermore, how Iran decides to sell the 18% of oil it will stop selling to E.U. members will also be a mediating factor.<br /><br /><b>The Ghosts of the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo: Libya and the International Energy Agency</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">While countries in Africa or the Pacific have no strategic oil reserves and will be at the mercy of global price increases, the U.S. and the European Union have worked and tried to strategically insulate themselves from such scenarios. This is where the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) comes into the picture. Libyan oil reserves are also a factor to the hostilities and petro-politics involving Iran.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The IEA was created after the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo. As mentioned earlier it is a “strategic wing of the Western Bloc’s Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).” The OECD is a club of countries that includes the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Turkey, Australia, Israel, and New Zealand. It is essentially based on the contours of the Western Bloc, which is comprised of America’s allies and satellites. Aside from Israel, Chile, Estonia, Iceland, Slovenia, and Mexico all the members of the OECD are members of the IEA.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Since its creation in 1974, one of the responsibilities of the IEA has been to stock strategic oil reserves for the OECD countries. During the NATO war against Libya the IEA actually opened its strategic oil reserves to compensate for the void left by a lack of Libyan oil exports. The only other two times this happened were in 1991, when Washington led a military coalition in its first war against Iraq, and in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina devastated the United States. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The war in Libya had many purposes: </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(1) preventing African unity; <br /><br />(2) driving China out of Africa; <br /><br />(3) strategically controlling important energy reserves; and <br /><br />(4) guarding oil supplies in the scenario of any American-led conflicts against Syria and Iran. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What the NATO war in Libya has done is secure oil output from Libya, because there was a chance that the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya under Colonial Muammar Qaddafi could have suspended oil sales to the European Union in support of Syria or Iran in possible conflicts with the U.S., NATO, and Israel. It is also interesting to note that one of the Libyan figures that helped enable the war against Libya in the United Nations was Sliman Bouchuiguir, the head of the Libyan League for Human Rights (LLHR) and the current Libyan ambassador to Switzerland, who worked on formulating a strategy against allowing oil from being used as a strategic weapon to insure that the 1973 oil crisis never repeat itself for the U.S. and its allies.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Aside from Iran, the Syrians have also been a source of oil imports for the European Union. Like Iran, the E.U. has also cut their bloc off from Syrian oil via a sanctions regime engineered by the U.S. government. With Iranian and Syrian oil cut off from the E.U., the strategic value of Libyan oil rises. In this regard, the reports about the deployment of thousands of U.S. troops to Libyan oil fields can also be analyzed as being coordinated or tied to the growing U.S. and E.U. hostilities with Syria and Iran. Rerouting Libyan oil shipments to the E.U. that were intended for China can also be part of such a strategy.<br /><br /><b>The Psychological War</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In reality, the sanctions regime engineered by the U.S. government against Iran has gone as far as it can go. All the speeches about Iranian isolation are bravado and far from the reality of current international relations and trade. Brazil, Russia, China, India, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Venezuela, and various countries in the post-Soviet space, Asia, Africa, and Latin America have all refused to join the sanctions against the Iranian economy.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The E.U. oil embargo, coupled with the broader sanctions against Iran, has broad psychological implications. Iran and its ally Syria both face a multi-dimensional war that has economic, covert, diplomatic, media, and psychological scopes. <br /><br />The psychological war, which involves the mainstream media as a tool of foreign policy and war, constitutes an efficient propaganda instrument for the U.S. due to its lower costs. Yet, the psychological war can be fought on both sides. <br /><br />Much of the power of the U.S. is psychological and tied to fear. Like the geography of the Persian Gulf, time is on Iran’s side and working against the United States. <br /><br />If Iran continues on its present course and is undeterred by sanctions, this will help break a critical psychological threshold, which around the world tends to discourage countries from confronting and opposing the United States. <br /><br />Should many countries continue to refuse to bow down to the Obama Administration pertaining to the imposition of sanctions against Iran, this will also be a blow to the prestige and power of the U.S., which would also have economic and financial implications.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Moreover, at the end of the day, the E.U. oil embargo will hurt the E.U. instead of Iran. In the long-term it could also hurt the United States. <br /><br />Structurally, the effects of the E.U. oil embargo will further entrench the E.U. in the orbit of Washington, but these effects will catalyze growing social opposition to Washington, which will eventually manifest in the political and economic arenas.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>

Currency Warfare: What are the Real Targets of the E.U. Oil Embargo against Iran?

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