July 5, 2008 (LPAC)--In an interview with media representatives from Group of Eight member countries, recorded July 1, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev reported on Russia's establishment of "an exchange for oil and other energy resources, where trade is conducted in rubles." Informed of Medvedev's interview, Lyndon LaRouche said he found the proposal interesting, in that it would tend to undercut the power of the London oil spot market, and might even contribute to strengthening the U.S. dollar, by undercutting the Anglo-Dutch ability to drive up oil prices through their control of the oil futures market. LaRouche explained that, since the breakup of the Bretton Woods system by George Shultz and other British agents in the Nixon Administration, and the launching of the London spot market during the oil hoax of the mid-1970s, the U.S. dollar has been a captive of the Anglo-Dutch speculative system, and has not been a sovereign currency. The dollar must be liberated from the spot market control, LaRouche concluded, and if the Russians are prepared to take actions that undercut the power of London, it could be useful.
The ruble-denominated oil exchange, said Medvedev, "is a step towards turning the ruble into one of the possible regional reserve currencies, all the more so as the ruble is now fully convertible.... The main thing now is for the ruble to be seen as a reliable currency, in which savings can be placed and which can be used to carry out transactions."
Medvedev's interview began with the grave international financial crisis. Medvedev has focussed on the systemic nature of the crisis, and the Russian government's idea of the ruble as a reserve currency, in several recent interviews and speeches, as well as at a June 25 in-depth meeting with Russian VTB bank head Andrei Kostin about specific measures, including the oil exchange.
In the July 1 group interview, and in an additional one with Japanese media, Medvedev twice said that today's rampaging inflation crisis stemmed from "markets that are not so well regulated," and the inadequacy of "the existing regulatory system." He reiterated the "multiple reserve currencies" idea, saying that reform today must result in a system that "cannot be focussed on just one country and one currency. It should be built on a balance of the major economies, on their sustainable growth and the principle of several reserve currencies.... We think there should be a dollar that is strong, not weak like today, and several other reserve currencies, as well, that help individual countries and the world economy as a whole deal with the problems before it." One of these could be the ruble--"not something that can be done by presidential decree, by the stroke of a pen. This is something that grows out of a well-organized economy and the acceptability of this or that means of payment for use by other partners."
Asked about the usefulness of the G8 format, Medvedev said, "It is very clear that the leaders of the biggest economies and biggest countries need to meet and exchange information on the most complex issues and biggest problems before them."
