> http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/the-demise-of-the-dollar-
> 1798175.html
>
> In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history,
> Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France –
> to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies
> including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new,
> unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council,
> including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar.
Hmm, my first reaction was skeptical -- oil isn't really priced in dollars per se, dollars are just a convenient benchmark (you could quote them in euros or yen, this wouldn't change anything). Also, the Gulf states don't control $2 trillion, more like $1.4 trillion -- the SWF Institute and various other reasonably credible sources put the UAE at $733 billion in assets, Saudi Arabia at $436 billion, Kuwait at $224 billion and Qatar at $68 billion.
On the other hand, it *is* true that (1) the BRICs are clearly transitioning to a post-dollar-centric world, which may mean SDRs (the IMF special drawing right, essentially a basket of currencies) or some variation of this, and (2) the Gulf states will be a significant financial player in that world.
-- DRR