Then Russia had the second misfortune of having a mostly drunk or drugged Boris Yeltsin. Hundreds of billions worth of Russian peoples’ wealth was privatized into personal fortunes and transferred to western banks and institutions, real estate and football clubs. Whenever Yeltsin or his Prime Minister Chernomyrdin gave signs of an independent line, Western media leaked news of their reportedly billions of dollars in western banks. Chernomyrdin, as a mediator sold out Serbia and its leader Milosevich to the West. Curiously, he was Russia’s ambassador in Kiev, Ukraine, when in a US financed and supported franchised street revolution, an openly pro US Victor Yushchenko was elected its President last year. Privatization in Russia has manufactured scores of US dollar billionaires from unabashed loot of its peoples’ wealth, who in turn have been burdened with hundreds billions dollars of debt. When Russia tries to regulate these robber barons, US corporate media howls in protests while not opposing trial and sentencing of criminals who ran Enron and Welcome.com into bankruptcy.  
 
History did not end with the fall of the Berlin Wall, a proposition coined by economist Francis Fukuyama but he has now asked for return of state controls (but US media makes little mention). USA, now feeling supreme and arrogant stealthily encroached on the strategic Russian space in former communist nations, which it had acquired by destroying and defeating the ruthless Nazi war machine and sacrificing 30 million lives (for which the Anglo-Saxon media gave all credit to the West, with a fraction of human sacrifice). US led West is increasing its economic power by controlling of the newly independent former Communist countries through the so-called globalization, which as implemented, is but a modern day version of Capitulations, which had given unfettered sovereign powers in the Ottoman empire to foreign traders in their commercial enterprises .These were later extended to non-Muslim subjects of a multi-religious societies and helped unravel the Ottoman empire. Similar concessions to foreigners extracted by gunboat diplomacy impoverished and ruined China.
 
US led Rape in Iraq,
 
It is now crystal clear that the unilateral invasion of Iraq, insultingly dubbed ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’, a doable regime change operation, as Vice President Cheney told Prince Hassan of Jordan, apart from gaining strategic control over Iraq's hydrocarbon reserves and to strengthen control over the region with its vast energy resources, was also to maintain the U.S. dollar as the monopoly currency for the critical international oil market.
 
US deputy Defense Secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, in his arrogance openly declared in Singapore that the claims of WMD's and other accusations for invading Iraq were only for bureaucratic justification. He also told the US Congress how the Iraq oil wealth would finance the invasion and Iraq’s re-construction (for the greater economic gains of US multinationals like Vice President’s former company Halliburton) and maintain new military bases in Iraq. How would Wolfowitz now finance poor countries development! 
 
To achieve US objectives puppet governments have been installed in Iraq. What a galaxy of star turns. US Vice-Roy Paul Bremer , under whom over 8 billions of US dollars from Iraqi oil sales remain fully unaccounted for as pointed out by US government audit .This was rubbed in by British MP George Galloway in the US Senate Committee which had put to sword false accusations against him that he gained from UN’s Food for Oil program .Every one has been accused in the program including UN Secretary General Kofi Annan , he, for describing the invasion of Iraq illegal and trying to reform the UN , dominated by power balance after the 2nd world war,  which has now also become unrepresentative. George Bush has shown his disregard for the UN by sending John Bolton, an outspoken opponent of UN, even against the wishes of the US Congress. UN’s Oil for Food Program was vitiated by USA and UK and many have accused them for the death of half million Iraqi children in the implementation of the UN sanctions.
 
Those now ruling and robbing Iraq are convicted embezzlers like Ahmed Chalabi, CIA and MI5 agents like former Prime Minster Iyad Allawi and other exiles, some of whom the US is realizing are promoting in Iraq, interests of Iran, US’s current bete noire .The rulers have little idea or concern or capability in reducing the sufferings of Iraqis and are busy lining their pockets. 
 
It is now clear that Saddam Hussein sealed his fate when he announced on September 2000 that Iraq would no longer accept dollars for oil being sold under the UN's Oil-for-Food program, and decided to switch to the euros as Iraq's oil export currency.
 
During 2003 -04 , information provided by former insiders in the Administration revealed that the US wanted to establish multiple U.S military bases, now under construction in Iraq, before the onset of global Peak Oil, and to reconvert Iraq back to petrodollars hoping to stop further OPEC momentum towards the Euro as an alternative oil transaction currency ( i.e. "petro-euro").

After the occupation of Iraq its oil sales were switched back to US dollars -- the international currency of oil sales - despite the fall in US dollars value, thus the confirming this vital fact but not so well known as rationales for 2003 the Iraq war.  Saddam Hussein‘s sale of Iraq's oil for euros, a political move had also improved Iraq's earnings because of the euro’s appreciation against the dollar. The change back to US dollars has decreased the revenues for rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure.
The US objective was confirmed by a Financial Times article as early as June 5, 2003, that Iraqi oil sales would be once again denominated in U.S. dollars – not euros.
 
In fact on 20 August CNN , with its jingle “ Be the first to know “ telecast a documentary with the motive of blaming the director of US intelligence for not providing good intelligence for the decision to attack. The whole world by now knows that the decision to invade Iraq was planned by the so-called Vulcan group set up by the incoming Administration, even before George W. Bush was installed in the White House after the flawed 2000 elections. CNN could have done such a film earlier. Why does it not do a film on Iraqi resistance and US responsibility in creating a climate for a civil war in Iraq?
 
There is so little of such news in US corporate controlled media, where five conglomerates control 90% of media outlets, thus undermining a pillar of democracy in USA.  
 
Will it be now Iran’s turn?
 
Iran has gone even ahead of Iraq and would start operating an oil bourse for trading in oil from next year.  No, wonder since more than a year, there have been threats of US attack on Iran under the pretext of its nuclear bombs program. Scott Ritter, former UN’s weapons inspector in Iraq has been saying since more than a year that it could have happened this June, but perhaps the Iraqi quagmire has at least delayed it. No wonder Iran would like the quagmire to worsen, while it strengthens its own position in Iraq.

William Clarke wrote in Global research website on 27 October, 2004 that the Tehran government‘s plan for 2006 to begin competing with New York's NYMEX and London's IPE with respect to international oil trades - using a euro-denominated international oil-trading mechanism, would amount to an "offense" far greater than Saddam Hussein's conversion to the euro of Iraq’s oil exports in the fall of 2000. Numerous articles have revealed Pentagon planning for operations against Iran as early as 2005 under the public pretext of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, but the real reasons are the second stage of petrodollar warfare – Iran’s upcoming euro-based oil Bourse.