Cheap oil - updated...

With crude oil prices currently around $55/barrel it is clear this is a manipulation and not supply and demand. The ultimate goal of "cheap oil" is to bring the oil nations to their knees. Crude oil topped out at $147/barrel and then suddenly began a decline. It continued to decline even after AIPAC decided to scale back production. I don't think the "cheap oil" will remain around too much longer. We may just see $200/barrel in 2009.

"Alarm bells are ringing," said Tom Fallon, head of emerging-market research at La Francaise des Placements in Paris, which manages $11 billion. "Weaker oil raises a number of issues for deterioration in terms of trade and budget assumptions which are now being seriously called into question."Oil, Russia's chief export, has fallen 63 percent since the July-high of $147. The ruble has plunged 19 percent against the dollar in the past four months, even as the central bank sold 16 percent of its currency reserves in an attempt to arrest declines.

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/11/alarm-bells-ring-in-russia-over-ruble.html

update:
NOVEMBER 15, 2008 -

Iranian newspapers are quoting Mojtaba Hashemi Samareh, a top advisor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as saying the country has converted its financial reserves into gold.The papers did not specify how much of Iran's estimated $120 billion in reserves would actually be converted into gold.
The daily Jahan-e-Eghtesad, or Economy World, quoted Samareh on Saturday as saying the decision to buy gold was carried out on Ahmadinejad's order.The decision comes after a dramatic fall in oil prices. About 80 percent of Iran's foreign revenue comes from oil exports.
http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4714854