Allan-That is very interesting and does not surprise me. China is our main competitor for oil and has been jockeying for position in Africa for about a decade now. It seems like they have formed, at least, a temporary alliance with Russia and Nato has the ME in lock down except for Iran.

In regards to the reserve currency issue. I suspect that it has already been decided that the dollar is going to be replaced and Obama and others are telegraphing this now. Kind of letting the public digest it. China sure has been warning for over a year now. With the amount of time Goldman executives and Chinese speaking, Asian economics expert Giethner have spent over there that they must have brokered and/or aware of this, as well as financially positioning themselves if it is going to happen.