伊拉克暫停人民幣交易

什麼時候會是比特幣？我們今年稍早報道說，伊拉克不再希望以美元出售石油，而是以人民幣出售。

Iraq, which had expressed its desire to sell its oil in currencies other than the dollar, has been ordered by the American Federal Reserve to cease its transactions in Chinese yuans. According to Mr. Al-Kadhimi, a member of the parliamentary finance committee, the Fed cited “divergences and specific problems related to transactions.”

伊拉克曾表示希望以美元以外的貨幣出售石油，但已被聯準會命令停止以人民幣交易。議會財務委員會成員卡迪米表示，聯準會提到了「與交易相關的分歧和具體問題」。

To put it more transparently, the United States wants to prevent Iraq from trading with its Iranian and Syrian neighbors, two nations under embargo due to their defiance of Israel.

更透明地說，美國希望阻止伊拉克與其鄰國伊朗和敘利亞進行貿易，這兩個國家因蔑視以色列而受到禁運。

This decision comes after the Iraqi Parliament’s finance committee called on January 31 to sell oil in currencies other than the dollar. The aim was to bypass repetitive American sanctions against Iraqi banks.

這項決定是在伊拉克議會財務委員會於 1 月 31 日呼籲以美元以外的貨幣出售石油之後作出的。目的是繞過美國對伊拉克銀行的反覆制裁。

“The U.S. Treasury always uses the pretext of money laundering to impose sanctions on Iraqi banks. We need a national agreement to end these arbitrary decisions”, said the statement.

「美國財政部總是以洗錢為藉口對伊拉克銀行實施制裁。我們需要一項全國性協議來結束這些任意決定”，聲明說。

The finance committee reiterated its “call to the government and the Central Bank of Iraq to quickly take measures against dollar dependence by diversifying foreign exchange reserves”.

金融委員會重申「呼籲伊拉克政府和中央銀行迅速採取措施，透過外匯存底多元化來應對美元依賴」。

This is reminiscent of 2001, when Saddam Hussein decided to sell his oil exclusively in euros rather than dollars. Hence, by the way, the French opposition to the second Gulf War. At that time, that is, only two years after Saddam Hussein’s decision, the Americans invaded Iraq under a false pretext to save the petrodollar.

這讓人想起2001年，當時薩達姆侯賽因決定只用歐元而不是美元出售石油。因此，順便說一下，法國反對第二次海灣戰爭。當時，也就是薩達姆做出決定僅僅兩年後，美國人就以拯救石油美元為藉口入侵伊拉克。

Iraqi oil was again denominated in dollars immediately after the capture of Baghdad. For more than 20 years now, the central bank of the conquered country has been regularly forbidden to use its large dollar reserves.

佔領巴格達後，伊拉克石油立即再次以美元計價。二十多年來，被征服國家的中央銀行經常被禁止動用其巨額美元儲備。

Iraqi banks must go through the SWIFT network which requires final authorization from the Fed. The latter can block any payment from the Iraqi central bank and does not hesitate to do so.

伊拉克銀行必須通過SWIFT網絡，這需要聯準會的最終授權。後者可以阻止伊拉克央行的任何付款，並且會毫不猶豫地這樣做。

In short, Iraq is in the same situation as Iran and Russia. Its dollar foreign reserves are partially frozen and its transactions via the SWIFT network depend on Washington’s goodwill.

簡而言之，伊拉克的處境與伊朗、俄羅斯是一樣的。其美元外匯存底被部分凍結，其透過SWIFT網路的交易取決於華盛頓的善意。

It is therefore evident that the country of the two rivers would do well to join the BRICS. The deputies favoring such an approach belong to the Shia Coordination Framework. This is an alliance of parties supported by Iran, forming the backbone of the current government. The idea is also gaining traction among other political forces.

因此，顯然，兩河流域國家加入金磚國家是有利的。支持這種方法的代表屬於什葉派協調框架。這是伊朗支持的政黨聯盟，構成了本屆政府的支柱。這個想法也受到其他政治力量的關注。

Zeinab Al-Mousawi, a member of the parliamentary oil and energy committee, declared at the end of last year that joining the BRICS should be a national priority.

議會石油和能源委員會成員澤納布·穆薩維去年年底宣布，加入金磚國家應成為國家優先事項。

Such integration “could limit the dominance of the U.S. dollar. We could free ourselves from financial and commercial restrictions imposed by Washington”, she said.

這種一體化「可能會限制美元的主導地位。我們可以擺脫華盛頓施加的金融和商業限制”，她說。

Indeed, moving away from the dollar and the SWIFT network is also the priority of the BRICS. The Deputy Speaker of the Duma Alexander Babakov reiterated this again this week. “The priority of the BRICS financial agenda is to create our own financial messaging system similar to SWIFT”, he told the TASS agency.

事實上，擺脫美元和 SWIFT 網路也是金磚國家的首要任務。杜馬副議長亞歷山大·巴巴科夫本週再次重申了這一點。他告訴塔斯社：“金磚國家金融議程的首要任務是創建我們自己的類似於 SWIFT 的金融資訊系統。”

The Russian Ambassador to China Igor Morgulov said the same thing at the beginning of July. “We are leaving the dollar-dominated space and developing the mechanism and tools for a truly independent financial system”, he asserted.

俄羅斯駐華大使莫爾古洛夫7月初也說過同樣的話。他斷言：“我們正在離開美元主導的領域，並為真正獨立的金融體系開發機制和工具。”

However, Mr. Morgulov admitted that the introduction of a new common currency was not imminent. However, he stressed that the BRICS – which now include Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Ethiopia, Iran, and Egypt – “are moving in this direction”.

然而，莫爾古洛夫先生承認，新的共同貨幣的推出並不是迫在眉睫的。不過，他強調金磚國家——現在包括巴西、俄羅斯、印度、中國、南非、衣索比亞、伊朗和埃及——「正在朝這個方向前進」。

Russia already has an alternative to the SWIFT network. The Russian SPFS interbank messaging system ensures the secure transfer of financial messages to partner foreign banks. China also has a similar network called CIPS which it uses for international yuan transactions.

俄羅斯已經有了 SWIFT 網路的替代方案。俄羅斯 SPFS 銀行間報文系統可確保金融報文安全傳輸至外國合作銀行。中國也有一個名為 CIPS 的類似網絡，用於國際人民幣交易。

Overall, the BRICS are increasingly using their national currencies and seeking to avoid the SWIFT network. The share of payments in national currencies between Russia and BRICS countries has risen to 85%, compared to 26% two years ago.

總體而言，金磚國家越來越多地使用本國貨幣，並尋求避開 SWIFT 網路。俄羅斯與金磚國家之間以本國貨幣支付的份額已上升至85%，而兩年前為26%。

Last month, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov said that Russia was working on an international payments system in collaboration with the central banks of BRICS member states. The senior official mentioned the term “BRICS Bridge platform”.

上個月，俄羅斯財政部副部長伊凡·切別斯科夫表示，俄羅斯正與金磚國家央行合作開發國際支付系統。這位高級官員提到了「金磚國家橋樑平台」一詞。

This is reminiscent of the “mBridge” project led by China under the aegis of the Bank for International Settlements. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov also clarified that the BRICS “Bridge” will operate with central bank digital currencies, just like mBridge.

這讓人想起中國在國際清算銀行支持下主導的「mBridge」計畫。俄羅斯財政部長安東·西盧阿諾夫也澄清，金磚國家「橋樑」將與央行數位貨幣一起運作，就像mBridge一樣。

On this topic, don’t miss our article: Bitcoin and CBDCs, Russia wants both.

關於這個主題，不要錯過我們的文章：比特幣和 CBDC，俄羅斯兩者都想要。

Unfortunately, trading in national currencies has its limits, whether CBDCs are involved or not. For instance, Russia eventually refused to accept rupees as payment because India has nothing to sell that interests the Russian market.

不幸的是，無論是否涉及 CBDC，本國貨幣交易都有其限制。例如，俄羅斯最終拒絕接受盧比作為付款方式，因為印度沒有什麼可以出售的東西可以吸引俄羅斯市場。

And why not Bitcoin?

為什麼不是比特幣？

The world needs a universally accepted standard currency due to its intrinsic qualities. Gold played this role for a long time before the United States betrayed the entire world by reneging on the Bretton Woods agreements signed at the end of World War II.

由於其內在品質，世界需要一種普遍接受的標準貨幣。在美國背棄二戰結束時簽署的布雷頓森林協議而背叛整個世界之前，黃金已經扮演了很長的時間。

Since then, all nations trade in dollars, a gun to

從那時起，所有國家都以美元進行貿易，這把槍