What They Don't Tell You: Care to Speculate?

I talk about Iran's plan to open its own oil market, Bush's visit to Europe, Hariri's assassination, Russia's embrace of Iran, and you can decide if they're all related or not. (2:49)

Hi, this is Jody Paulson from Moscow, ID with what they don't tell you.

I'm going to take a break from speculating today and just present you with some facts. However, I'll admit that I have arranged said facts in such a way as to facilitate your own speculation, should you desire.

Iran is set to open its own oil trading market for Middle East and Opec, threatening the supremacy of London's International Petroleum Exchange. A contract to establish this new platform for trade is expected to be signed with an international consortium within days. Meanwhile, President Bush is visiting Europe. I doubt he's getting a warm welcome: on Tuesday Belgium's Vice Prime Minister found all the urinals in his ministry's decorated with stickers of George W. Bush saying, "Go ahead. Piss on me." By the way, Iran wants to trade oil for euros, not dollars.

In Germany, Bush told Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder that Iran must not be allowed to have nuclear weapons. "They were caught enriching uranium after they had signed a treaty saying they wouldn't enrich uranium. They have breached a contract with the international community. The party that needs to be held accountable is them, not any of us." Does any of this sound familiar to you? I bet it does to Europe, too.

In another part of the world, the Israel Air Force Commander-in-Chief said Monday that Israel must be prepared for an air strike on Iran in light of its nuclear activity. With Syria, Hezbollah guerrillas and Hezbollah's Iranian benefactors all operating in Lebanon, "we understand who has interests" in assassinated former Prime Minister Hariri being out of the picture, he said, adding, "I hope that there won't be a war - but you know, no one knows."

Israel would like to blame the guerrillas, but many aren't buying it. Last Sunday Jordan's king Abdullah said the assassination was "too sophisticated to be the work of terrorists." Authorities are pretty sure Hariri wasn't killed with a car bomb -- the crater from the blast was in the middle of the street. The bomb was likely to have been buried underground and was capable of defying the Hariri's signal jamming equipment. Again, the question to ask is, "who benefits?"

Moving over to Russia, where a summit with Bush is scheduled this week, the head of Iran's National Security Council got a warm welcome from President Putin last week. Putin told the press pool, "We will continue to cooperate with Iran at all levels, including nuclear energy."

Hmmm. Up for some speculating?

I'm Jody Paulson, and I just thought you should know.