Global Articles on what is going on...posted daily

[sandi66]

stop using the U.S. dollar to settle bilateral trade

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- China and Russia will stop using the U.S. dollar to settle bilateral trade and instead use the ruble or the yuan, though the move is not meant to signal a challenge to the dollar, according to reports Wednesday. China's Premier Wen Jiabao and Russian President Vladamir Putin made reference to the new currency trade pact late Tuesday, following meetings in St. Petersburg that also saw the signing of bilateral trade and energy-cooperation agreements, according to a report in the state-run China Daily. "About trade settlement, we have decided to use our own currencies," Putin told reporters, according to the report. Earlier this week, China added the ruble to the list of currencies that can be traded against the yuan on its domestic exchange.

www.marketwatch.com/story/china-russia-to-drop-dollar-in-bilateral-trade-2010-11-23



ty nalmann

[sandi66]

Obama Call Likely to Be Spurned as China's North Korean Support Holds Firm
By Bloomberg News - Nov 24, 2010 4:36 AM ET

President Barack Obama’s call for China to put more pressure on North Korea to stop military attacks on South Korea may go unheeded in Beijing, where officials refuse to pin any blame on their ally, analysts say.

Obama, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and South Korean President Lee Myung Bak called for China to use its influence to control North Korea’s behavior, following yesterday’s deadly artillery salvo. Four people were killed and 20 wounded, mostly soldiers, when Northern forces shelled the island of Yeonpyeong in the first attack of its kind since the 1950-1953 civil war.

“China thinks the most important and urgent goal right now is to make sure there won’t be any escalation of the conflict, rather than finding out who’s responsible,” said Yang Xiyu, a researcher at the China Institute of International Studies in Beijing, a group attached to China’s foreign ministry.
China, North Korea’s biggest trading partner and ally of 60 years, holds that maintaining stability on the Korean peninsula is paramount, and the best way to achieve that is to continue giving economic aid and political support to North Korea.
That sentiment is reflected in China’s official stance toward the artillery exchange. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei yesterday appealed for “dialogue and consultation,” and avoided blame or criticism of North Korea. China’s reaction is similar to its response following the sinking of a South Korean warship in March that killed 46 sailors.

While the U.S., Japan, Australia and the U.K. all backed the findings of an international probe that blamed the sinking on a North Korean torpedo, China did not, arguing that it had not seen the evidence first hand.
Trade Matters
In between the two incidents, China and North Korean economic and diplomatic contacts have surged. Two-way trade rose 22.3 percent in the first seven months of this year to $1.65 billion, with Chinese exports to North Korea rising 29.6 percent, according to Chinese customs statistics.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has made an unprecedented two trips to China this year, meeting with President Hu Jintao in May and August. In October Zhou Yongkang, a member of China’s ruling Politburo in charge of the country’s police forces, stood next to Kim during a Pyongyang military parade.

Two weeks later Chinese General Guo Boxiong, another Politburo member, traveled to North Korea to commemorate what he said was their joint “victory” over the “imperialist aggression” by U.S.-led forces during the 1950-53 Korean war.

Obama told Lee in a phone conversation today, Seoul time, that he plans to place a call to China to urge its cooperation on North Korea issues, according to a statement from Lee’s office. Yesterday, Obama told ABC News that China must “make clear to North Korea that there are a set of international rules that they need to abide by.”
‘Stern Attitude’
Kan, in a separate phone conversation, told Lee that “given China’s influence over North Korea, China should display a stern attitude,” Lee’s office said. Kan also pledged to convey this message to the Chinese.
While China’s stance toward North Korea may not change after this incident, concern is rising in Beijing that an ally of six decades is increasingly a diplomatic liability, said Zhu Feng, a professor of international relations at Peking University.

“This attack proves that North Korea is entirely a minus to China’s foreign policy,” Zhu said. “I see growing frustration and I see a new imperative to overhaul the policy.”

www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-24/obama-call-likely-to-be-spurned-as-china-s-north-korean-support-holds-firm.html

[sandi66]

Obama Sends Aircraft Carrier to South Korea After North's Attack
By Bomi Lim and Nicholas Johnston - Nov 24, 2010 3:00 AM ET

The U.S. sent an aircraft carrier to take part in exercises off the Korean Peninsula in a show of strength after North Korea fired artillery onto South Korean soil for the first time in half a century.
President Barack Obama talked with South Korean counterpart Lee Myung Bak for 30 minutes by phone and dispatched the USS George Washington from Japan today to take part in the drills. These will take place off the South’s western coast from Nov. 28-Dec. 1, the U.S. Forces Korea said in an e-mailed statement. There are about 25,000 American troops stationed in South Korea.

“The United States stands shoulder to shoulder with our close friend and ally,” Obama told Lee, according to a White House statement. North Korea must stop its “provocative actions, which will only lead to further isolation.” The two leaders agreed that further sanctions against North Korea may be necessary, Lee’s office said in a statement.
South Korea raised its military alert status to the second- highest level after North Korea yesterday fired onto the island of Yeonpyeong, killing two soldiers and injuring 20, including four civilians, Defense Minister Kim Tae Young said today in Seoul. Two dead civilians were found on the island after the attack, said a Coast Guard official, who declined to be named in line with government policy.
It was the North’s first land attack on its rival since the 1950-53 Korean War.
South Korea’s benchmark Kospi Index fell 0.2 percent to 1,925.98, after earlier dropping as much as 2.4 percent. Defense-related companies surged. The won dropped to a two-month low against the dollar.

Rising Tensions
Tensions with Kim Jong Il’s regime have risen in the past year after the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan in March killed 46 sailors. Obama this week dispatched envoy Stephen Bosworth to Asia after a U.S. scientist reported that North Korea said it had built a uranium-enrichment plant.

“The combination of the enrichment revelations and then this artillery attack really make it a front-burner issue” for the U.S., said Victor Cha, who holds the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

North Korea fired about 170 artillery shells, 90 of which landed in the water, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Lee ordered his administration to see if the military’s battle manuals can be revised to “respond more actively” to provocations and bolstered military capabilities on islands on the western border, according to a statement from his office.
Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan today called the incident a “barbaric act.” His government will consider fresh sanctions against North Korea, Economy Minister Banri Kaieda said.

Japan’s Korean Residents
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said the government may exclude North Korean citizens from tuition subsidies at high schools. Japan in May tightened controls on sending money to North Korea in response to the Cheonan sinking, lowering the cap on undeclared cash transfers to 3 million yen ($36,000) from 10 million yen.

Honda Motor Co., Mazda Motor Corp. and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. said they suspended business travel to South Korea as a result of yesterday’s attack.

Before speaking with Lee, Obama met in the White House Situation Room with National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen and United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, the White House said.

Obama’s challenge is to get China to put more pressure on North Korea, said Cha, a former deputy head of the U.S. delegation to the six-party talks involving the U.S., China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and North Korea. Those talks are aimed at getting the government in Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.
China’s Influence
Obama said in an interview with ABC News that China needs to do more to make North Korea abide by international rules. China is North Korea’s biggest economic and political ally.
“We hope the parties do more to contribute to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters in Beijing yesterday.

North Korea initiated the exchange of artillery fire, Bosworth told reporters in Beijing yesterday after meeting with Chinese officials.
North Korea accused South Korea of opening fire first and warned of more “merciless military attacks” if its territory is violated. The North Korean army’s Supreme Command made the statement via the official Korean Central News Agency.
“The North Korean issue is a tinder box for the region,” said Gavin Parry, managing director of Hong Kong-based Parry International Trading Ltd. “They like to saber-rattle for attention, but on the heels of a nuclear inspection that indicated they could have bomb capabilities, markets can’t afford to ignore any instability for the region.”



www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-23/obama-to-call-south-korea-s-lee-after-attack-by-north-kills-two-soldiers.html

[sandi66]

Maliki to form Iraqi government within 30 days
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Published: Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010 - 9:34 pm

BAGHDAD — Iraq's incumbent prime minister, Nouri al Maliki, was officially tasked Thursday with forming a new government to lead the country through a pivotal four-year period marked by the planned withdrawal of the last American troops.

With 30 days to name his cabinet, Maliki will need to assemble a team that comprises all of Iraq's squabbling factions in order to break an eight-month political impasse that has fueled insurgent violence and widespread public dissatisfaction.

"I call on all political blocs, politicians and the people of Iraq to work toward looking past their differences in order to achieve a secure and stable Iraq," Maliki said in remarks broadcast on state television.

The announcement had been expected since earlier this month, when Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said he would ask Maliki to form a government. The start of the 30-day clock sets into motion intense jockeying among Maliki's fellow Shiite Muslims as well as politicians from the Sunni Arab and Kurdish minorities for key government posts, particularly control of security matters.

Maliki's often heavy-handed political tactics dismayed the United States and alienated many Shiite allies during his first term. In parliamentary elections in March his political bloc finished a close second to the secular Iraqiyya coalition led by former prime minister Iyad Allawi — and far short of the 163-seat majority required to lead the new government.

However, Allawi's fractious coalition failed to win the backing of rival groups, and Maliki staged a comeback after regaining the support of his leading Shiite rivals, including the populist anti-American cleric Muqtada al Sadr. Earlier this month, Maliki also agreed to a list of demands from Iraq's influential Kurdish minority that would include some curbs on his executive powers.

The next 30 days will begin to test Maliki's commitment to those promises, one of the biggest of which was to form a new strategic council headed by Allawi. Allawi had strong support from Sunnis, who fear being marginalized by a Shiite-led regime, and from U.S. officials, who saw him as a counterweight to Maliki.

The United States, which still has about 49,000 troops in Iraq advising and training the Iraqi military, is supposed to withdraw its forces completely by the end of 2011. In recent months, insurgent groups such as al Qaida in Iraq have made a comeback, targeting opponents and exerting control of some Sunni areas of Baghdad where Iraqi's Shiite-dominated security forces are loath to patrol.

U.S. officials had strongly backed creating the strategic council, but it has no clear mandate and many Iraqi officials doubt that Maliki will grant it — or his opponents — real powers.

"Partnership was totally absent from the government of the last term," said Mohammed al Khalidi, an Iraqiyya member from Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad. "In fact, it was closer to a dictatorship. ... But now we are hoping for a real partnership."


www.sacbee.com/2010/11/24/3211794/maliki-to-form-iraqi-government.html

[sandi66]

Administration braces for big WikiLeaks dump that includes damaging cables

11/25/10 04:14 PM ET

The Obama administration is holding its breath for a potential holiday weekend release of more classified documents by the website WikiLeaks, warning that the latest document dump could contain information that may harm ties with U.S. allies.

On Sunday, WikiLeaks warned that the next release was seven times the size of the Iraq war logs. "The Pentagon is hyperventilating again over fears of being held to account," WikiLeaks tweeted Wednesday.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters Wednesday that the administration was braced for another imminent release, which is expected to include hundreds of thousands of classified State cables that detail private diplomatic discussions with other governments, potentially compromising discussions with dissidents, and even, reportedly, corruption allegations against foreign governments.

"When this confidence is betrayed and ends up on the front pages of newspapers or lead stories on television and radio it has an impact," Crowley said. "We decry what has happened. These revelations are harmful to the United States and our interests. They are going to create tension in our relationships between our diplomats and our friends around the world. We wish that this would not happen. But we are, obviously, prepared for the possibility that it will."

Crowley warned that the release, expected to be some three million documents, would "put national interests at risk."

The spokesman said that the State Department has talked "with members of the Hill to let them know what we are prepared for."

The Pentagon warned the Senate and House Armed Services Committees that the document dump could occur as soon as Friday, according to Bloomberg.


“We anticipate that the release could negatively impact U.S. foreign relations,” Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs Elizabeth King wrote Tuesday in an e-mail to the defense panels, Bloomberg reported.


"It’s hard for us to give you any kind of assessment of what the potential impact is, because we actually don’t know what is going to be released," he said. "...We are in touch with our posts around the world. They have begun the process of notifying governments that release of documents is possible in the near future."

The latest document dump is expected as a Swedish appeals court on Wednesday confirmed an arrest warrant on suspicion of rape and molestation for Julian Assange, a founder and spokesman for the covert WikiLeaks organization.

London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat reported Wednesday that one U.S. military report in the documents charges that Turkey allowed its citizens to aid al-Qaeda in Iraq, and that other documents show the U.S. aiding the Kurdish separatist rebels known as the PKK. The PKK is on the State Department list of foreign terrorist organizations.

The July 25 release of some 75,000 documents releated to the Afghanistan war and the Oct. 22 release of 400,000 Iraq war documents provoked outcry from Washington, with the White House, defense chiefs and lawmakers warning that the leaks could harm national security.


thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/130733-administration-braces-for-massive-wikileaks-dump-that-includes-damaging-cables

[sandi66]

Administration braces for big WikiLeaks dump that includes damaging cables


By Bridget Johnson -



11/25/10 04:14 PM ET

The Obama administration is holding its breath for a potential holiday weekend release of more classified documents by the website WikiLeaks, warning that the latest document dump could contain information that may harm ties with U.S. allies.

On Sunday, WikiLeaks warned that the next release was seven times the size of the Iraq war logs. "The Pentagon is hyperventilating again over fears of being held to account," WikiLeaks tweeted Wednesday.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters Wednesday that the administration was braced for another imminent release, which is expected to include hundreds of thousands of classified State cables that detail private diplomatic discussions with other governments, potentially compromising discussions with dissidents, and even, reportedly, corruption allegations against foreign governments.

"When this confidence is betrayed and ends up on the front pages of newspapers or lead stories on television and radio it has an impact," Crowley said. "We decry what has happened. These revelations are harmful to the United States and our interests. They are going to create tension in our relationships between our diplomats and our friends around the world. We wish that this would not happen. But we are, obviously, prepared for the possibility that it will."

Crowley warned that the release, expected to be some three million documents, would "put national interests at risk."

The spokesman said that the State Department has talked "with members of the Hill to let them know what we are prepared for."

The Pentagon warned the Senate and House Armed Services Committees that the document dump could occur as soon as Friday, according to Bloomberg.


“We anticipate that the release could negatively impact U.S. foreign relations,” Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs Elizabeth King wrote Tuesday in an e-mail to the defense panels, Bloomberg reported.


"It’s hard for us to give you any kind of assessment of what the potential impact is, because we actually don’t know what is going to be released," he said. "...We are in touch with our posts around the world. They have begun the process of notifying governments that release of documents is possible in the near future."

The latest document dump is expected as a Swedish appeals court on Wednesday confirmed an arrest warrant on suspicion of rape and molestation for Julian Assange, a founder and spokesman for the covert WikiLeaks organization.

London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat reported Wednesday that one U.S. military report in the documents charges that Turkey allowed its citizens to aid al-Qaeda in Iraq, and that other documents show the U.S. aiding the Kurdish separatist rebels known as the PKK. The PKK is on the State Department list of foreign terrorist organizations.

The July 25 release of some 75,000 documents releated to the Afghanistan war and the Oct. 22 release of 400,000 Iraq war documents provoked outcry from Washington, with the White House, defense chiefs and lawmakers warning that the leaks could harm national security.


thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/130733-administration-braces-for-massive-wikileaks-dump-that-includes-damaging-cables







********************



Washington Braced For Millions Of Leaks


11:48pm UK, Thursday November 25, 2010



US embassies around the world are contacting allies, as Washington braces itself for the leak of millions of diplomatic documents.
Clip of video on link below.
The potentially embarrassing and sensitive communications are expected to be published by Wikileaks - which has already released thousands of military papers on Iraq and Afghanistan.

The US State Department - America's foreign ministry - has condemned the actions of the website as gratuitous - and likely to harm relations and erode trust between countries.

Sky News understands the US ambassador to the UK, Louis Susman, has been seen going into Downing Street and the Foreign Office for what one source called "contingency planning".

Sky News foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall said: "Potentially this is diplomatic dynamite.



Video clip on link below



"(It involves) 2.7 million emails that have gone between the State Department and various embassies across the world with candid remarks about world leaders, about ambassadors, about foreign leaders.

"We think that three leaders might be in the firing line, because we know the Americans have criticised (Afghan president) Hamid Karzai, President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, of Russia.

"Those are just three names that we're hearing that may be criticised. There are many, many more and it is very embarrassing for the Americans.




WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has divided opinion since rising to prominence


"The Americans have spent the last four months poring through these documents and they will have thought 'oh dear, look what we said about X'."

He added there was a debate about whether it was right to publish the documents.

Those in favour of the leaks say they are part of a transparent democracy, whereas critics argue such revelations may hamper government officials' ability to do their jobs properly due to fears their comments will end up on the internet.

US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said: "We continue to make clear that this is harmful to our national security.


At the heart of this exchange is the debate over whether a government has the right to conduct any of its business in secret given that citizens fund what the government is doing and thus has a right to know.

Sky foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall

"It does put lives at risk. It does put national interests at risk.

"Inherent in this day-to-day action is trust that we can convey our perspective to other governments in confidence and that they can convey their perspective on events to us.

"When this confidence is betrayed and ends up on the front pages of newspapers or lead stories on television and radio it has an impact.

"These revelations are going to create tension in our relationships between our diplomats and our friends around the world."



news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Wikileaks-Millions-Of-Documents-To-Be-Leaked-By-Website-As-Washington-Prepares-For-Embarrassment/Article/201011415832885?lpos=World_News_Top_Stories_Header_0&lid=ARTICLE_15832885_Wikileaks%3A_Millions_Of_Documents_To_Be_Leaked_By_Website_As_Washington_Prepares_For_Embarrassment



or tinyurl.com/3227u7g

[sandi66]

Will Hillary Clinton & Lawrence Cannon Be Named By Wikileaks?

New Wikileaks Document Release Coming: United States Warns Foreign Embassies About Upcoming Wikileaks Release, Including Canada

November 25, 2010

Everytime Wikileaks releases a set of classified documents the United States gets nervous and apprehensive. This time the news reports say Wikileaks will release perhaps 2 million documents.
•Wikileaks Iraq War Documents
•Wikileaks, Julian Asange
•Wikileaks Iraq War Video
The Washington Post quotes U.S. State Department spokesperson P.J. Crowley.
Crowley said State does not know "exactly what WikiLeaks has or what they plan to do," but the consequences to American interests could be severe. The cables, for instance, could reveal that senior government officials in other countries are the sources of embarrassing information about the inner workings of those governments, thus making it more difficult for the State Department to obtain such intelligence in the future
Source: washingtonpost.com
So, the State Department in the USA has contacted foreign embassies and diplomatic missions, including Canada, that the Wikileaks release could contain politically sensitive information.
In Canada, one area of speculation is the case of Omar Khadr. Recently, Omar Khadr plead guilty to Terrorism before a U.S. military tribunal. Omar Khadr was the youngest person be held at the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison. Formally, he was declared a child soldier but Canadian never sought the extradition of Omar Khadr despite a Supreme Court of Canada ruling that said Khadr's constitutional rights had been violated.
Reports say Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lawrence Cannon, as informed about the Wikileaks document release by the U.S. ambassador to Canada, David Jacobson.
While no one knows what exactly the documents may reveal, speculation is that another issue that may be exposed is the pressure the U.S. put on other countries to repatriate Guantanamo Bay detainees, including Toronto-born Omar Khadr.
Recently, the Canadian government reluctantly agreed to finally bring him back to Canada after a discussion between Cannon and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

www.nowpublic.com/world/will-hillary-clinton-lawrence-cannon-be-named-wikileaks-2731531.html

[sandi66]

U.S. diplomats alert Ottawa to embarrassing disclosures from WikiLeaks

November 25, 2010

WASHINGTON—It is a hallmark of cross-border diplomacy to keep all the bruises hidden, whenever and wherever possible. Or at the very least wait a generation before the fading scars are shown.
That’s why today, nearly 40 years after the fact, we still know only fragments of what the famously pugnacious Richard Nixon had to say about that “clever son of a pregnant dog,” Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
Barely half of the 3,700 hours of Nixon tapes have been made public so far. The full heft of the former president’s views on Canada may not be known for generations to come, if ever.
Contrast that with the almost nuclear silence in Ottawa, Washington and other world capitals Thursday, as tight-lipped officials brace for a vast weekend WikiLeaks dump of America’s dirty diplomatic laundry.
These won’t be stale Nixon-era rants. Rather, they are expected to be startlingly fresh dispatches from America’s inner diplomatic ego — a mountain of classified U.S. State Department documents, some of which may cut to the heart of the here-and-now, from Guantanamo Bay to Afghanistan and beyond, with unkind words for close allies.
But precisely what? And precisely how damaging?
Canada’s official lips were sealed tight on the matter, except to confirm dual overtures from Washington — David Jacobson, the U.S. ambassador to Ottawa, gave a head’s up to Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, while the Canadian embassy in D.C. is “currently engaging” with the State Department.
Sources in Ottawa acknowledged on background that even after the U.S. briefings the scope of what’s coming remains unclear. “We are not privy to the full contents of documents which may be leaked,” foreign affairs spokesperson Alain Cacchione said in an email to the Star.
U.S. officials, similarly, were ducking behind their turkeys on American Thanksgiving. Until the thing is out, nobody is saying.
But as a night-before-Christmas mood takes hold in some Canadian newsrooms in anticipation of unwrapping so many packages of rare inside chatter, some veteran diplomats caution not to overread the story. Because the words themselves may matter less than who is doing the talking.
“It is not at all uncommon for diplomats on the same team to share negative comments about allies,” said former Canadian diplomat Paul Frazer, now a Washington consultant.
“But depending on what’s there, I hope people don’t get too twisted over it. When you report to trusted colleagues using private channels, people sometimes vent their frustrations. But often those exchanges aren’t even shared with the upper levels. It might just be the view of a middling military commander, which in no way reflects the official stance of the government. Much depends not merely on what is said, but at what level are they saying it.”
Amid the speculation, a side debate on the ethical merits of the potential leaks proceeded apace. It’s one thing for WikiLeaks to crack open the vaults to military field reports in Afghanistan and Iraq, as it did in July and October. Is it something else to allow the world to peer this deep inside what global friends say about each other when their backs are turned?
Some diplomats point to lesser-known tension-points Canada-U.S. relations, wondering whether they may have played out different had Wikileaks then been a factor. A case in point: those fateful 17 months that began in May, 1986, when Canada’s chief trade negotiator, Simon Reisman, hatched the original Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement.
“There were some very hot moments. At one point Simon Reisman, who was volatile but a very good negotiator, got up and walked out,” said Frazer.
“When that happens, you use every possible back channel to cool tempers. A lot of conversation goes back and forth to avoid embarrassing either party. So you have to wonder what impact it would have made if all that were out in the open as it was happening.”
Sources in Washington speculated that in the event that Afghanistan figures prominently in the Wikileaks dump, any undiplomatic mention of Canada is likely to pale against disclosures of U.S. views on various European NATO allies who have abstained from combat. But U.S. displeasure at the uneven workload in Afghanistan is hardly new; a rash of U.S. officials have said as much on the record, year after year.
Another D.C.-based source indicated the documents are expected to include inside U.S. diplomatic dialogue on child soldier Omar Khadr. Officials on both sides refused to discuss that possibility.
“Until there’s something to react to, don’t expect any reaction. Everyone is waiting to see what’s really there,” said one U.S. official.

www.thestar.com/news/world/article/897102--u-s-diplomats-alert-ottawa-to-embarrassing-disclosures-from-wikileaks

[sandi66]

Pyongyang Tests China's Patience
Beijing Works to Balance Its Close Ties to Neighbor With Desire to Be Seen as a Responsible Member of Global Community


NOVEMBER 26, 2010



The Aftermath of a Deadly Strike: People searched through the debris of destroyed buildings on Yeonpyeong Island on Thursday, following North Korea's artillery barrage against the South Korean territory in the Yellow Sea on Tuesday, an attack that drew international criticism and strained Pyongyang's ties with Beijing.

BEIJING—North Korea's latest act of aggression against the South has prompted a new round of public debate in China on how to manage ties with a neighbor that is at once a close ally but, increasingly, a source of international embarrassment.

The government's official response to North Korea's shelling of a South Korean island village remains cautious, stopping well short of criticism of the North.

In comments reported Thursday, Premier Wen Jiabao said China opposes "any provocative military behavior" on the Korean peninsula. Mr. Wen was speaking in Russia as the U.S. and South Korea prepare for joint naval exercises in the Yellow Sea in response to the deadly attack. But it wasn't clear whether his warning referred to North Korea's attack, or to the South Korean exercises Pyongyang claims to have responded to, or to the planned naval drills between the U.S. and South Korea.

Mr. Wen called the standoff between Seoul and Pyongyang a "severely complicated situation," according to a statement posted on the Chinese Foreign Ministry's website. He called for "all relevant parties to exercise the utmost restraint," and said "the international community should do more work to ease the tension of the situation."

Among Chinese foreign-policy circles and general citizens, there are growing signs of exasperation with Pyongyang's behavior. Some question how Beijing benefits from its old Communist ally's recent provocations

State media no longer display blind loyalty to the North. "North Korea showed its toughness through the skirmish. But the move neither helps solve its economic plight, nor wins over understanding from other nations," said an editorial in the Global Times, a generally nationalistic English-language newspaper, which criticized all countries with a stake in the Korean peninsula.

"The North tried to protect its own security in an inconceivable manner," it said. "The U.S. and Japan tried economic sanctions, which proved futile. China and Russia could only appeal for restraint."

A Chinese-language editorial on the newspaper's website described North Korea's actions as a "public humiliation of the surrounding big countries' painstaking diplomatic efforts."

The apparent frustration reflects the contradiction between China's staunch support for one of the world's most secretive and unpredictable regimes, and Beijing's desire to portray itself as a responsible member of the international community.

It also highlights the increasingly diverse range of players trying to influence foreign policy in China—which until recently was the exclusive preserve of the Communist Party's top leaders.

On Thursday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei offered a relatively mild response to an announcement by the U.S. and South Korea on Wednesday that the aircraft carrier USS George Washington would conduct exercises with the South Korean navy in the Yellow Sea just off the Chinese coast. "We have taken note of the related reports, and express concern on this matter," he said.

When the U.S. and South Korea considered staging a drill with the same carrier in the same area west of the Korean peninsula in July, Chinese officials vehemently protested, and the two countries instead conducted the drill on the east side of the peninsula.

Mr. Hong also confirmed that Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi has postponed his planned trip to South Korea for "scheduling reasons." And he again expressed China's grief over the casualties in the artillery exchange on Tuesday. Asked about China's view of how the incident started, Mr. Hong said only that the two parties involved "have different stories."

China's main priority is to prevent any sudden collapse of the North Korean regime, which it fears would flood northeastern China with refugees and allow the roughly 30,000 U.S. troops now in South Korea to move up to the Chinese border.

However, leaders are also increasingly sensitive to public opinion. And China is bracing for a planned state visit by President Hu Jintao to the U.S. in January, and a once-a-decade leadership change in 2012.

China has been trying for the past two years to revive the so-called six-party talks between North and South Korea, China, the U.S., Japan and Russia, which are designed to persuade Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons program. Yang Xiyu, a former Chinese diplomat who took part in the talks, said the North's recent actions had "complicated" those efforts.

Other Chinese experts went further, warning that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was now pursuing his own interests without taking China's into account.

"We are being coerced by North Korea," said one Chinese foreign-policy expert. "This is an alliance from history, and we want to abandon it if they behave in this irresponsible way."

Forged during the Korean War, when more than 180,000 Chinese died assisting the North, China's close ties to Pyongyang now threaten both to undermine China's image-building efforts and to strengthen relations among the U.S., Japan, and South Korea.

China attracted criticism by refusing to blame North Korea for March's sinking of a South Korean naval ship, which killed 46 sailors. President Hu also hosted Mr. Kim on two visits to China this year, and in October sent a senior party official to attend a ceremony in Pyongyang to anoint Mr. Kim's third son as the next leader of North Korea.

Shen Dingli, an expert on international relations at Shanghai's Fudan University, said China should push for an international investigation of Tuesday's artillery exchanges to establish whether the North was the aggressor.

"Our alliance is based on mutual defense. We will defend North Korea if it is attacked. But we will not defend it if it attacks someone else," he said.

"This is a great opportunity for China to show it is a responsible member of the international community."

Online, meanwhile, there were plenty of verbal attacks on South Korea and the U.S, but also criticism of North Korea, and of China's continued support for it.

"Kim Jong Il is not significant to China, but China still protects him," wrote Zhuan Ma Wu Mao in a popular discussion forum for political and social issues on club.kdnet.net. "This gives other Asian countries more reasons to rely on the U.S."



online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703678404575636190457991622.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[sandi66]

www.mainjustice.com/2010/11/29/perrelli-urges-action-on-indian-and-black-farmer-settlements/ Perrelli Urges Action on Indian and Black Farmer Settlements

and

biggovernment.com/publius/2010/11/29/pigford-ii-settlement-partially-funded-by-cuts-to-children-nutrition/ Pigford II Settlement Partially Funded
sarge_66: Congress is rushing through its lame duck session to finally appropriate funds to pay out claims from the Pigford II settlement. The settlement is meant to clear up claims from black farmers who claim discrimination from USDA and also missed out on the first settlement.

The legislation sets aside $1.5 billion to pay these claims. The legislation also makes cuts in other federal programs to “pay for” the new spending. Among the cuts are $500 million for nutrition programs for women, infants and children.

[sandi66]

Never Mind Watergate

"Inside the Nixon Administration: The Secret Diary of Arthur Burns," covers five of the most astounding years in monetary history

November 30, 2010

By SETH LIPSKY

In the midst of the current crisis—with the dollar having collapsed to barely more than a 1,400th of the value of an ounce of gold, the United Nations calling for a new world currency and Ben Bernanke becoming a political punching bag for the "quantitative easing" that critics fear will ignite inflation—we now have a book containing the secret diaries of the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board during Richard Nixon's presidency, a time of turmoil in currencies and markets and of policies that haunt our economy to this day.

Arthur Burns, the pipe-puffing ex-Columbia professor who served as Fed chairman under Presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter, turns out to have kept a diary between 1969, shortly before he became the 10th chairman of the Fed, and 1974, when President Nixon resigned. The diary was given by Burns's widow, Helen, to the Gerald Ford Presidential Library and released for publication in 2008. The scoop— "Inside the Nixon Administration: The Secret Diary of Arthur Burns"—is edited by Robert H. Ferrell, a scholar of American history.

The diary covers five of the most astounding years in monetary history. They encompass the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, under which foreign governments could redeem their dollars with our government for gold; the closing of the gold window, ending such convertibility; the imposition of wage-and-price controls, supposedly to stanch inflation; and an import surcharge. They saw the failure of the Smithsonian Agreement, an attempt to stabilize things by devaluing the dollar, and then the beginning of the great inflation, during which the dollar lost much of its value, falling, by early 1980, to less than an 800th of an ounce of gold from the 35th of an ounce it had been set at under Bretton Woods.

Burns's "secret diary" isn't likely to make big headlines in this era of Wikileaks. Nor is it intended to offer a complete or coherent narrative of these events. But for those with an eye on today's monetary debate, it is a little gem of a volume, offering brief, occasionally trenchant, sometimes galling insights, with lots of waspish comments about various figures within and around the White House. These start with the president himself, who, in the early entries, is treated in warm and respectful terms.

When he is still serving as a presidential counselor, just ahead of his Fed appointment, Burns writes of Nixon: "He clearly likes his job. He wants to be a good president, really a president of all the people. I can hardly recall a single partisan utterance." But by the middle of the book he is writing: "The President's preoccupation with the election frightens me. Is there anything he would not do to further his reelection? I am losing faith in him, and my heart is sick and sad."

On members of the administration Burns can be caustic. Henry Kissinger is "admittedly ignorant of economics." John Connally, who for part of the period is Treasury secretary, is "a thoroughly confused politician." George Shultz, who would follow Connally at Treasury, is described as "a no less confused amateur economist," though he rises in Burns's estimation as the years go on.

Not that Burns comes out much better, even in his own view. At one point he writes, in the diary's clipped prose, that he is "the only one there with any knowledge of the subject, but even I not a real expert on some aspects of the intricate international problem!" So it turned out. He seems throughout his own diary to grasp that inflation is not the way out of America's underperforming economy but to be unable—even as chairman of the Fed—to put his foot down.

At the time there were observers outside the White House—not least Henry Hazlitt, a New York Times editorial writer in the 1940s—who had warned from the beginning that Bretton Woods as a system was inherently inflationary and, not to put too fine a point on it, doomed. "Inside the Nixon Administration" gives the impression that, when it came to monetary policy, Nixon, Shultz, Connally and Burns himself were but corks on the water, carried along by economic forces larger than themselves.

If Burns's diary is a guide, none of these figures thought about money in terms of the Constitution. There is no reference here to the fact that the Founders thought of the dollar as a fixed amount of silver or its free-market equivalent in gold. Nixon and Burns let go of the American currency in a series of small decisions. At one point the chairman of the Federal Reserve writes that he would be for a price freeze—"but only for 30 days."

Burns comes off as relatively conservative figure, but also weak. "My efforts to prevent the closing of the gold window—working with Connally, [Paul] Volcker, and Shultz—do not seem to have succeeded," he writes on Aug. 12, 1971, three days before the event. "The gold window may have to be closed tomorrow because we now have a government that seems incapable, not only of constructive leadership, but of any action at all. What a tragedy for mankind!"

So here were are now in a new crisis, with a different chairman at the Fed, preparing to pump hundreds of billions of dollars into the economy as part of a desperate effort to boost demand and keep the economy from going back into recession. One wonders whether Ben Bernanke is keeping his own "secret diary." Burns's was kept in two spiral notebooks, one of which, this volume tells us, cost 49 cents. Today similar notebooks are listed at Staples.com at $5.49. They are similar, at the moment, to the Federal Reserve's one-dollar bills—worth but slightly more than the paper they're printed on.

Mr. Lipsky has been covering the current monetary crisis at www.nysun.com.

online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704700204575643350150001176.html

[sandi66]

www.mainjustice.com/2010/11/29/fine-stepping-down-as-doj-inspector-general/

Glenn A Fine Stepping Down as DOJ Inspector General at the Dept of Justice after a decade in the post, Attorney Gen Eric Holder announced

[sandi66]

Holder Says U.S. Is Conducting `Very Serious' Investigation of Wall Street
By Sara Forden and Jeff Bliss -
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed today that the Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation related to trading on Wall Street.

In response to questions about the probe of insider trading, Holder said an “investigation is ongoing” and described it as “very serious.” Holder was questioned at a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington.

“I don’t want to get into the details,” he said. The investigation is being conducted by the U.S. attorney’s office in New York, he said.

The FBI searched the offices of three hedge funds in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts last week as the investigation became public.

As part of the investigation, Steven A. Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors LP received a government subpoena for documents. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents on Nov. 22 searched the offices of Level Global Investors LP and Diamondback Capital Management LLC. Both firms were founded by former employees of Stamford, Connecticut-based SAC.

A third hedge fund, Boston-based Loch Capital Management, was searched the same day.

“Rampant” Insider Trading

Wellington Management Co., the Boston-based money manager that oversees $598 billion, said last week the U.S. has asked for documents. Denver-based Janus Capital Group Inc. said last week they’d been asked for general information, without identifying the agency that made the request.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan has been leading a crackdown on what he said in a speech this month was “rampant” insider trading on Wall Street and is devoting “significant resources” to the investigations.

Insider trading prosecutions require the government to prove that people bought or sold securities using material, non- public information with the intent to defraud.

Bharara’s office is prosecuting two alleged overlapping insider trading rings centered on Raj Rajaratnam’s Galleon Group hedge fund. So far 14 have pleaded not guilty in that case. In that case, the government used wiretaps to gather information in what prosecutors have characterized as the biggest probe of insider trading at hedge funds.

Cooperating Witness

In that probe, former SAC employee Richard Choo-Beng Lee, who later founded Spherix Capital LLC, pleaded guilty to criminal charges and is cooperating with prosecutors.

In an unrelated trial this month, Brooklyn rabbi Milton Balkany was convicted of trying to extort $4 million from SAC, by claiming he could prevent a federal prisoner from telling U.S. authorities about alleged insider trading at the firm.

According to court records, Balkany told an investigator with Bharara’s office, in a conversation secretly recorded by prosecutors, that SAC had inside tips about medical device makers Cyberonics Inc. and Respironics Inc. and Myriad Genetics Inc., which makes molecular diagnostic products.

An SAC lawyer alerted prosecutors to the extortion attempt, and a prosecutor said during the trial that Balkany “lied” and that there was no evidence of illegal trades.

www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-29/holder-says-u-s-is-conducting-very-serious-investigation-of-wall-street.html



ty nalmann

[sandi66]

Welcome to the Food Wars: Patriot Act for Food
A close look at bizarre propaganda for S.510

by Rady Ananda


Global Research, November 28, 2010


Need a good laugh? Check out the bizarre reasoning offered in support of the Patriot Act for Food (S 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act), which the U.S. Senate will vote on shortly (likely Monday). From a need to stop food smuggling, to the law is too old, to the terrorists are gonna get us, elites sure are shy on brains when it comes to credible propaganda. They must be drinking fluoridated water and smoking Monsanto marijuana, or hoping you are.

A couple weeks ago, we reported that Senator Bob Casey informed his Pennsylvania constituents that S.510 will stop food smuggling in the United States. Never heard of the problem? That might be because the “biggest food smuggling case in the history of the U.S.” amounted to $40 million worth of commercial grade honey over a five-year period. Food smuggling is clearly not a problem – nor is it a fiscally sound reason for giving the Food and Drug Administration an extra $1.6 billion.

Admittedly, no one is accusing U.S. elites of being fiscally sound – just look at our rising unemployment, hunger, and home foreclosure rates. Clearly, food smuggling is just bizarre bunk that lazy propagandists invented out of thin air.

Next, the well-regarded Christian Science Monitor listed as the “strongest argument for the bill” – get this – because the law in place is too old. Nothing about whether or not the old law is effective, nothing about the tens of thousands of deaths the FDA causes each year by the drugs it allows on the market. No – that very agency needs more power, more money, more authority over what’s on your table, according to S.510 supporters.

Here’s some more penetrating analysis by CSM:

Would SB 510 put America’s cornucopia under the control of a “globalist mafia” led by the World Trade Organization?
No. Some people have been concerned that the bill would give international groups more power over food matters in the US. The bill does state that the US will not knowingly break any existing agreements with the World Trade Organization, but it doesn’t cede any inspection or enforcement powers to international agencies.

Merely because the bill does not cede inspection or enforcement powers to foreign agents does not preclude domestic ones from inspection and enforcement authority. CSM’s response is absurd, as well as deceptive. The correct answer is YES, SB 510 puts US food under the control of the WTO. Read the section and decide for yourself:

SEC. 404. COMPLIANCE WITH INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS.

Nothing in this Act (or an amendment made by this Act) shall be construed in a manner inconsistent with the agreement establishing the World Trade Organization or any other treaty or international agreement to which the United States is a party.

Black is white; war is peace; and who are you going to believe: corporate media or your own ability to read plain English?

And, who is the enforcement agency for these agreements? Why, the DHS, otherwise known as the:

* Dept. of Homeland Stupidity – you know, those folks who want to build a bioterrorism lab in the middle of Tornado Alley, where a huge bulk of the nation’s food is grown and raised (map here);
* Dept. of Heck-of-a-Job Security that miserably failed New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and has again failed the Gulf of Mexico following the BP oil catastrophe this year;
* Dept. of Homeland Perversity that sexually molests children and adults who travel by air, that is collecting naked images of those who pass thru their carcinogenic body scanners, and which has not prevented a single terrorist from boarding a plane.

That’s who’s going to be in charge of protecting the US food supply. Feel safer?

This leads us to the latest absurdity emanating from the federal government: The terrorists are going to try to poison us. Like the “red menace” that was so effective a bogeyman in the last century, the Muslim “terrorist” is this century’s bogeyman. It’s just as overblown.

How are terrorists going to poison the food supply? Seriously, that might be accomplished in a centralized food system that is forced to adulterate natural foods because laws and rules have decreed it or allowed it – like the FDA allowing BPA, fluoride, chlorine, pesticides – all known poisons. Notice how sick Americans are compared to the rest of the world? You can thank the alphabet soup of federal agencies that allows our skies, lands and waters, and thus our food, to be poisoned by industrial processes.

It’s nearly impossible to poison the food supply under a decentralized scenario with tens of millions of producers and distributors. Food safety is enhanced by decentralization and localization, not by allowing monopoly production as we have now in the U.S. Centralizing control in the hands of a few people who used to work for Monsanto, the company that brought us PCBs, DDT, rBST, Agent Orange, aspartame, and glyphosate, amounts to a clear and present danger to our health, and certainly to our food safety. But that’s what S.510 intends to do.

How likely is a terrorist attack on the US food supply? About as likely as 19 Muslims destroying four significant structures without a defensive response from the world’s largest and most technologically advanced military. The threat to our food safety lies within, from a corrupt and bloated federal government owned and controlled by pharmaceutical, chemical and biotech corporations, not from outside our borders.

The entire food “safety” legislative scheme at the federal level is really a “food control” scheme backed by corporate monopolies. It is part and parcel of the Full Spectrum Dominance plan to control every aspect of human life. “Control the food and you control the people,” planned Henry Kissinger back in the 1970s.

We might expect more effective propaganda when going for complete control over our natural born right to sustain ourselves as we deem fit, but we’d be expecting too much from this crop of elites. Rather than intelligence, they rely on brute force and hyper-regulation in destroying small producers and distributors of natural, unadulterated food.

To view a list of articles that detail the dangers of such legislation, click here.

Welcome to the food wars.

globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22148



ty joye

[sandi66]

CIA, Mossad and Soros Behind Wikileaks
Posted: July 28, 2010

by Truth RSS in Alternative News, Cointelpro




Suspicions abound that Wikileaks is part of U.S. cyber-warfare operations




WMR has learned from Asian intelligence sources that there is a strong belief in some Asian countries, particularly China and Thailand, that the website Wikileaks, which purports to publish classified and sensitive documents while guaranteeing anonymity to the providers, is linked to U.S. cyber-warfare and computer espionage operations, as well as to Mossad’s own cyber-warfare activities.

Wikileaks claims to have decrypted video footage of a U.S. Predator air strike on civilians in Afghanistan and that covert U.S. State Department agents followed Wikileaks’s editor from Iceland to Norway in a surveillance operation conducted jointly by the United States and Iceland. Iceland’s financially-strapped government recently announced a policy of becoming a haven for websites that fear political oppression and censorship in their home countries.

However, in the case of Wikileaks, countries like China and Thailand are suspicious of the websites’ actual “ownership.”

Wikileaks says it intends to show its video at an April 5 press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC but that its presenters may be detained or arrested before that time.

WMR’s sources believe the Wikileaks “militancy” in the face of supposed surveillance appears fake.

Our Asian intelligence sources report the following: “Wikileaks is running a disinformation campaign, crying persecution by U.S. intelligence- when it is U.S. intelligence itself. Its [Wikileaks'] activities in Iceland are totally suspect.” Wikileaks claims it is the victim of a new COINTELPRO [Counter Intelligence Program] operation directed by the Pentagon and various U.S. intelligence agencies. WMR’s sources believe that it is Wikileaks that is part and parcel of a cyber-COINTELPRO campaign, such as that proposed by President Obama’s “information czar,” Dr. Cass Sunstein.



In January 2007, John Young, who runs Cryptome, a site that publishes a wealth of sensitive and classified information, left Wikileaks, claiming the operation was a CIA front. Young also published some 150 email messages sent by Wikileaks activists on cryptome. They include a disparaging comment about this editor by Wikileaks co-founder Dr. Julian Assange of Australia.



Assange lists as one of his professions “hacker.” His German co-founder of Wikileaks uses a pseudonym, “Daniel Schmitt.”


Wikileaks claims it is “a multi-jurisdictional organization to protect internal dissidents, whistleblowers, journalists and bloggers who face legal or other threats related to publishing” [whose] primary interest is in exposing oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we are of assistance to people of all nations who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their governments and corporations. We aim for maximum political impact. We have received over 1.2 million documents so far from dissident communities and anonymous sources.”

In China, Wikileaks is suspected of having Mossad connections. It is pointed out that its first “leak” was from an Al Shabbab “insider” in Somalia. Al Shabbab is the Muslim insurgent group that the neocons have linked to “Al Qaeda.”

Asian intelligence sources also point out that Assange’s “PhD” is from Moffett University, an on-line diploma mill and that while he is said to hail from Nairobi, Kenya, he actually in from Australia where his exploits have included computer hacking and software piracy.

WMR has confirmed Young’s contention that Wikileaks is a CIA front operation. Wikileaks is intimately involved in a $20 million CIA operation that U.S.-based Chinese dissidents that hack into computers in China. Some of the Chinese hackers route special hacking program through Chinese computers that then target U.S. government and military computer systems. After this hacking is accomplished, the U.S. government announces through friendly media outlets that U.S. computers have been subjected to a Chinese cyber-attack. The “threat” increases an already-bloated cyber-defense and offense budget and plays into the fears of the American public and businesses that heavily rely on information technology.

It is also pointed out that on Wikileaks advisory board is Ben Laurie, a one-time programmer and Internet security expert for Google, which recently signed a cooperative agreement with the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and has been charged by China with being part of a U.S. cyber-espionage campaign against China. Other Wikileaks advisory members are leading Chinese dissidents, including Wan Dan, who won the 1998 National Endowment for Democracy (NED) Democracy Award; Wang Youcai, founder of the Chinese Democracy Party; Xiao Qiang, the director of the China Internet Project at the University of California at Berkeley, member of the advisory board of the International Campaign for Tibet, and commentator on the George Soros-affiliated Radio Free Asia; and Tibetan exile and activist Tashi Namgyal Khamsitsang.

Our sources in Asia believe that Wikileaks ran afoul of their CIA paymasters after it was discovered that some of Wikileaks’s “take” was being diverted to Mossad instead of to their benefactors at Langley. After a CIA cur-off in funding, “Daniel Schmitt” took over and moved the Wikileaks operation to Belgium and Sweden with hopes of making a more secure base in Iceland.

There are strong suspicions that Wikileaks is yet another Soros-funded “false flag” operation on the left side of the political spectrum. WMR has learned that after former Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) decided to oppose Soros’s choice of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s deputy Mark Malloch Brown as President of the World Bank, succeeding the disgraced Paul Wolfowitz, Soros put the Wikileaks operation into high gear. “Daniel Schmitt” hacked into Coleman’s supporters list, stealing credit card info, addresses, and publishing the “take” on Wikileaks. Democrat Al Franken, who was strongly backed by Soros, defeated Coleman in a legally-contested and very close election.

It is also believed by informed sources that Soros is behind the operation to move Wikileaks to Iceland. By becoming a power in Iceland, Soros can prevent Icelanders from paying back the British and Dutch investors in Icelandic online Ponzi scheme banking and continue his all-out war against British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who has, in turn, targeted Soros for betting against pound sterling.

Iceland is classic prey for Soros. The Icelandic krona has been decimated as a currency and has no where to go but up in value, especially if the British pound and the euro depreciate.
Soros is currently talking down the euro, planning its fall and shorting it, just like he did versus the pound in London in the 1980s. After the UK’s and Europe’s currencies are devalued, Soros will buy every Euro note in sight, thus making trillions.

Soros and his Wikileaks friends have in Iceland a practically unregulated banking system desperate for an influx of capital — money that will come from the exiled Russian tycoons in Israel, London and the United States. Israeli investors like Bank Leumi, and awash in siphoned-off Bernard Madoff cash, will do their bit for this smash-and-grab operation by Soros’s Quantum-linked hedge funds.

With Wikileaks firmly ensconced in Iceland, the “brave” and much-heralded information leakers will run an international blackmail operation against Soros’s foes and launch computer break-ins against Soros’s business rivals and non-Quantum banks. Wikileaks will be used as the info-hitmen against President Obama’s and Rahm Emanuel’s enemies in the 2012 re-election campaign.

From Iceland, Soros will be well-positioned to gain control over the massive mineral resources under the melting ice sheet of Greenland. Under the ice are the only major rare-earth deposits outside of China and with such minerals at his disposal, Soros can control the world’s electronics industries. This past week’s volcanic activity in Iceland could, however, disrupt or destroy Soros’s plans to establish and control a North American-European gateway in Iceland.
T
he following are some of the emails Young revealed in his exposure of Wikileaks’s CIA connections (as well as to the Russian “phishing” Mafia, an operation run by Russian-Israeli Jews using Israel as a base) [Note: in the second email, "JYA" is a reference to John Young Associates]:


To: John Young
From: Wikileaks
Subject: martha stuart pgp
Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 12:20:25 -0500
—–BEGIN PGP MESSAGE—–
Version: None
J. We are going to f**k them all. Chinese mostly, but not entirely a feint. Invention abounds. Lies, twists and distorts everywhere needed for protection. Hackers monitor Chinese and other intel as they burrow into their targets, when they pull, so do we.

Inxhaustible supply of material. Near 100,000 documents/emails a day. We’re going to crack the world open and let it flower into something new. If fleecing the CIA will assist us, then fleece we will. We have pullbacks from NED, CFR, Freedomhouse and other CIA teats. We have all of pre 2005 afghanistan. Almost all of india fed. Half a dozen foreign ministries. Dozens of political parties and consulates, worldbank, apec, UN sections, trade groups, tibet and fulan dafa associations and… russian phishing mafia who pull data everywhere. We’re drowing. We don’t even know a tenth of what we have or who it belongs to. We stopped storing it at 1Tb.

——————————————-


From: Julian Assange
Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 13:40:14 +0000
To: funtimesaheadlists.riseup.net
Subject: [WL] cryptome disclosure

[This is a restricted internal development mailinglist for w-i-k-i-l-e-a-k-s-.-o-r-g. Please do not mention that word directly in these discussions; refer instead to 'WL'. This list is housed at riseup.net, an activist collective in Seattle with an established lawyer and plenty of backbone.]
No idea what JYA was saying!

It’s clear to me however, that he was not trying to protect people’s identities with his xxxxx’ing, but rather trying to increase the sexiness of the document. Perhaps he feels WL is a threat to the central status mechanism in his life? I think he just likes the controversy.

He may have done us a great favor. There’s a lot of movement in that document. It’s a little anarchist, but I think it generally reads well and sounds like people doing something they care about.

Btw, I suggest we be careful with Wayne Madsen too. He seems to be another case of someone who was fantastic a few years ago, but recently has started to see conspiracies everywhere. Both cases possibly age related.

I am not spending any more thought on it. Next week is going to be busy. The weeks earlier stories will be already done and that’ll set the agenda for the rest of the week, not jya’s attention seeker.

I’m willing to handle calls for .au, although my background may make S a better bet.
————————–
By: Wayne Madsen



Comments
1.Is Wikileaks COINTELPRO? The Strange Saga Continues : says:
August 8, 2010 at 5:45 am
[...] As reported by Wayne Madsen, Wikileaks is most likely a Mossad/CIA front. Its hard to argue with that claim as everything put forward by Wikileaks has been, for the most part, beneficial to the world elite. WMR has confirmed Young’s contention that Wikileaks is a CIA front operation. Wikileaks is intimately involved in a $20 million CIA operation that U.S.-based Chinese dissidents that hack into computers in China. Some of the Chinese hackers route special hacking program through Chinese computers that then target U.S. government and military computer systems. After this hacking is accomplished, the U.S. government announces through friendly media outlets that U.S. computers have been subjected to a Chinese cyber-attack. The “threat” increases an already-bloated cyber-defense and offense budget and plays into the fears of the American public and businesses that heavily rely on information technology. Article [...]

Reply
2.Wikileaks founder accused of rape but then cleared of charges… | FDRadio says:
August 22, 2010 at 6:03 am
[...] journalist Wayne Madsen believes Wikileaks is linked to U.S. cyber-warfare and computer espionage operations, as well as to [...]

Reply
3. CIA, Mossad and Soros Behind Wikileaks | The End Times Are Upon Us ! says:
August 22, 2010 at 1:33 pm
[...] CIA, Mossad and Soros Behind Wikileaks Posted on August 21, 2010 by TheEndTimesAreUponUs Source: Truth Rss [...]

Reply
4. WikiLeaks Founder Charged with Rape in Sweden « says:
August 23, 2010 at 3:36 pm
[...] journalist Wayne Madsen believes Wikileaks is linked to U.S. cyber-warfare and computer espionage operations, as well as to [...]

Reply
5. Is WikiLeaks COINTELPRO? | The New World Order has you… says:
November 11, 2010 at 4:39 pm
[...] CIA, Mossad and Soros Behind Wikileaks [...]

Reply

truthrss.com/2010/07/28/wikileaks-cointelpro/

[sandi66]

Wikileaks Next Target: "A Big US Bank"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 11/29/2010 17:54 -0500


Honest distributor of leaked data or a clever PsyOps front, one can not deny that whatever it is, Wikileaks does share some unique information with the world (as to how it is interpreted is a different story). Yet for the most part, the bulk of the organization's recent exposures have focused on the US military and away from the private sector, and thus away from that which is really important in today's world: money (of a paper representation thereof). Which is we read with interest in the latest Julian Assange interview with Forbes' Andy Greenberg that next on the docket of Wikileaks disclosure is not some facebooky look into the gossip world of international espionage or the foreign service, but something far more tangible and relevant: "A Big US Bank."

From the interview:

These megaleaks, as you call them that, we haven’t seen any of those from the private sector.

No, not at the same scale for the military.

Will we?

Yes. We have one related to a bank coming up, that’s a megaleak. It’s not as big a scale as the Iraq material, but it’s either tens or hundreds of thousands of documents depending on how you define it.

Is it a U.S. bank?

Yes, it’s a U.S. bank.

One that still exists?
Yes, a big U.S. bank.

The biggest U.S. bank?

No comment.

When will it happen?

Early next year. I won’t say more.
One needs to ask whether this is what we need: after all the US public already has enough public data to convict the executives of all the banks for numerous consecutive life sentences as is. It almost seems that nothing short of photographic evidence of some very (in)famous bank CEOs have underage sex while filming snuff movies, dressed in drag, killing puppies and recording their market manipulation conversations with Brian Sack will even rattle the Rip van Winkle formerly known as Eric Holder. But then again, we can hope...

As for Assange's reason for coming to public with the bank exposition:

What do you want to be the result of this release?

[Pauses] I’m not sure.

It will give a true and representative insight into how banks behave at the executive level in a way that will stimulate investigations and reforms, I presume. Usually when you get leaks at this level, it’s about one particular case or one particular violation.

For this, there’s only one similar example. It’s like the Enron emails. Why were these so valuable? When Enron collapsed, through court processes, thousands and thousands of emails came out that were internal, and it provided a window into how the whole company was managed. It was all the little decisions that supported the flagrant violations.

This will be like that. Yes, there will be some flagrant violations, unethical practices that will be revealed, but it will also be all the supporting decision-making structures and the internal executive ethos that cames out, and that’s tremendously valuable. Like the Iraq War Logs, yes there were mass casualty incidents that were very newsworthy, but the great value is seeing the full spectrum of the war.

You could call it the ecosystem of corruption. But it’s also all the regular decision making that turns a blind eye to and supports unethical practices: the oversight that’s not done, the priorities of executives, how they think they’re fulfilling their own self-interest. But it’s also all the regular decision making that turns a blind eye to and supports unethical practices: the oversight that’s not done, the priorities of executives, how they think they’re fulfilling their own self-interest. The way they talk about it.

While we refuse to pass judgment on Assange's character, and his motivations, it appears that he may have finally figured out that to enact change in a country, you have to go not after the politicians or even the military industrial complex. After all both of those are puppets for the moneyed interests. One has to go after the very heart of the financial oligarchy. Money always has made the world go round, never more so than in the US currently. Perhaps Assange can redeem himself of all attacks on his persona if he does succeed in disclosing something that is beyond mere watercooler talk and actually leads to at least one major prosecution. After all, the US' own regulatory and enforcement mechanisms are corrupt beyond repair, and completely unable to do so on their own...

(and yes, we certainly hope it is not Lehman Brothers, although the bank in question is most certainly going to get the Lehman treatment. The question is who will benefit from this disclosure, and now that Goldman's FICC desk is no longer the gold mine it used to be, there are some suggestions)

www.zerohedge.com/article/wikileaks-next-target-big-us-bank

[sandi66]

[Note: This is a link to the speech where Lord James revealed Foundation X’s offer of aid to the UK. Prior to his peerage, Lord James had a career as a highly respected banker and corporate director and his reference to “laundering terrorist money” refers to his work for the UK in dissolving bank accounts used by the IRA. Read here. ]



www.24hgold.com/english/news-gold-silver-Betting-In-the-Endgame.aspx?langue=en&article=3227294466G10020



Betting in the Endgame

In The End


Betting in the Endgame

Dr.Schoon

There is a difference between betting in the endgame and betting on the endgame. The former is a fool’s avocation whereas the latter is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The endgame of capitalism is a uniquely different environment where investors find themselves faced with increasingly dangerous options. In the endgame, proven strategies are improvident, buying and holding becomes a time bomb and speculators are favored over investors because of excessive liquidity and volatility.

Capitalism, a system of credit and debt that produced 300 years of growth is now dying. The bankers’ debt-based money has created such levels of debt that even 0 % credit can no longer induce growth. In the endgame, the problem is not the lack of credit - it’s the excessive amount of debt.

…sooner or later, too much credit always turns into a giant debit as borrowers crumple under the burden of escalating interest payments… - Melchior Palyi, economist, 1892-1970

Capitalism’s problem has always been debt, the inevitable byproduct of credit-driven expansion. In times of economic growth, merchants of debt, i.e. bankers, sell debt to those seeking returns; but, in the endgame when economies contract, IOUs cannot be repaid as defaulting debt overwhelms the ability to pay what is owed.

Today, central bankers are caught in a trap of their own making. Removing gold from the international monetary system in 1971 allowed governments and bankers to expand their balance sheets to historic heights. The price, however, was the debasement of their currencies, a price which is now being exacted.

Gold is up 29 percent this year and is heading for a 10th annual gain, the longest winning streak since at least 1920 in London, partly on demand for an alternative asset to protect against the debasement of currencies. - Bloomberg.com, November 8, 2010

In 1971, on the advice of Milton Friedman (Ben Bernanke’s mistaken mentor), President Nixon ended the convertibility of the US dollar to gold; and, since then, central bankers have been fighting to keep their debt-based paper money functioning without the backing of gold - a fight they are now losing.

Gold..has risen again today in most currencies and reached new record nominal highs in sterling (877.30/oz) and is targeting record nominal highs in euros . Competitive currency devaluations and currency debasement is seeing all fiat currencies fall in value against gold. - Goldcore.com, November 9, 2010

That an economic system based on leveraged debt actually lasted three centuries is a miracle as well as an abomination. Its passing will nonetheless be mourned by those who still believe that bankers are benign wizards of modern finance overseeing orderly and just markets.

In truth, bankers are self-serving parasites whose dispensation of credit ultimately leaves societies, businesses and nations bankrupt on the gallows of compounding unpayable debt.

INVESTORS FORCED TO TAKE ON RISK

By keeping interest rates low, central bankers are trying to force investors to take on more risk to keep their economies functioning. By so doing, however, central bankers are distorting underlying free market dynamics as investors should be reducing, not increasing risk, in such times.

The consequences of distorting free-market forces have devastating repercussions in the endgame. This is what happened in 2002 when Greenspan cut interest rates to 1% and in so doing created the catastrophic US real estate bubble whose collapse brought global credit markets to a halt in 2007.

Capitalism’s free markets are only free as long as they serve the bankers’ quid pro quo that markets accept the bankers’ leveraged debt, i.e. capital, as money. Such markets flourished before gold’s complete removal from bankers’ bogus money in 1971, setting the endgame in motion; and, now, 39 years later, the endgame is almost over as monetary disarray and defaulting debt take their toll.

In should be noted that Greenspan’s real estate bubble could not have expanded without the collusion of credit-rating agencies and US regulators. As regulators looked the other way, credit agencies such as Moody’s, S&P and Fitch fraudulently gave subprime mortgages the highest AAA rating allowing institutional investors, e.g. pension funds and insurance companies, to buy trillions of dollars of high yielding toxic debt extending capitalism’s endgame a few more years.

The critical role that credit rating agencies played in the collapse of markets was predicted by economist Melchior Palyi. In The Wall Street Journal article The Man Who Called the Financial Crisis - 70 Years Early (11/6/10), the WSJ credited Palyi (1892-1970) with having predicted the current financial crisis and its cause in 1936.

PALYI’S NEXT PREDICTION

Palyi later made another prediction about a trend that could eventually cause the collapse of the western banking system. Palyi noted that after 1950 gold was being drained from central bank monetary reserves at an unprecedented rate before disappearing then into private hoards.

Melchior Palyi first came to my attention in an article subtitled, Gold Vanishing Into Private Hoards (5/31/2007) by Professor Antal E. Fekete, another Hungarian-born economist. In that article, Fekete wrote:

While doing research in the Library of the University of Chicago in the early 1980's I came across the unfinished manuscript of a book with the title: The Dollar: An Agonizing Reappraisal. It was written in the year 1965. It has never been published (although it has received private circulation).

The author, monetary scientist Melchior Palyi, a native of Hungary, died before he could finish it. Monetary events started to spin out of control in 1965, culminating in the default on the international gold obligations of the United States of America six years later in August,1971. Palyi had correctly prophesied that event which occurred after he died.

Palyi observed that beginning in 1950, gold bullion began moving out of government reserves into private hoards, a trend that would eventually empty government coffers of the gold that backed their paper currencies. If continued, Palyi predicted this would lead to the breakdown of the entire gold-based monetary setup of the West.

Palyi was right. Six years later, gold was removed as the foundation of the global monetary system. For the first time in history all money was fiat. The following is excerpted from Palyi’s unpublished work, The Dollar: An Agonizing Reappraisal (1965):

1950 is the watershed year marking the start of a new era in the relationship between gold and paper money. In the twelve-year period ending in 1964 the Western World's gold mines and Russian gold sales (about $1 billion in 1963-64) combined, produced $16 billion worth of gold, but official gold reserves have grown only by $7 billion. More than 50 percent, on average, of the new gold bypassed official reserves and vanished in private hoards.[bold, mine]

On the top of that the prime reserve currency, the U.S. dollar (that is backing many other currencies) had lost close to one-half of its gold reserves. By the end of 1965 our reserves have declined from a peak of $24.7 billion in September, 1949, to less than $14 billion -- of which $835 million is a sight deposit of the International Monetary Fund.

Not only has the richest country [the US] failed to attract any part of the new gold supply; it has actually lost more than $10 billion's worth. If continued, this process would herald the breakdown of the entire gold-based monetary setup of the West, with incalculable consequences. [i.e. the endgame)

Professor Fekete wrote that in 2007 the amount of gold now in private hoards was greater than all the gold produced before 1950:…gold absorption into private hoards for the 15-year period from 1950 through 1965 was of the same order of magnitude as the U.S. gold reserve at its peak in 1949, the largest gold concentration ever in history.

This private absorption of gold is unprecedented, both as to its magnitude and to its speed. The total amount of gold absorption for the entire 57-year period 1950-2007 [is] an amount greater than all the gold produced in history before 1950. ..Fifty percent of all gold in existence has been produced since 1960. The same fifty percent has been withdrawn during the same period of time from the public domain, and disappeared in private hoards.

There is no way to account for this gold. We do not know the location, the identity of owners, nor their intentions what they wanted to do with it…

The question is: Who has been buying all that gold?

THE ROTHSCHILDS

In the endgame, systemic stress often reveals information that would otherwise never be discovered. One such discovery is an unexpected clue to the identity of those buying the world’s gold reserves since 1950. The clue emerged as a consequence of the UK’s increasingly perilous finances.

A clue to the mystery buyers surfaced on November 1st when in a speech in the House of Lords, Lord James of Blackheath revealed that a shadowy group [referred to as Foundation X by Lord James]had contacted him with an offer to help solve the UK's economic problems, a group that possesses more gold than all the world's bullion reserves combined.

On the basis of these gold holdings - in excess of 30,000 tons - Foundation X is in all likelihood a front for the Rothschilds, the infamous banking family which has a long history with gold.

The family patriarch, Nathan Rothschild, first began dealing in gold in 1809, in 1840 the Rothschilds were appointed bullion brokers for the Bank of England and from 1919 to 2004 the family firm oversaw the daily fixing of the gold price in London - and, most likely, are now the mysterious buyers who have been purchasing most of the world’s gold since 1950.

Note: This is a link to the speech where Lord James revealed Foundation X’s offer of aid to the UK. Prior to his peerage, Lord James had a career as a highly respected banker and corporate director and his reference to “laundering terrorist money” refers to his work for the UK in dissolving bank accounts used by the IRA. Read here.

The multi-billion pound offer of “Foundation X” to aid the UK is an indication of just how serious these times are. The collapse of the global banking system threatens the power of all who have benefited from the systemic indebting of others, a group that certainly includes the Rothschilds.

It is clearly in the Rothschilds’ self-interests to now help England, the nation which made their banking empire possible through its legitimization of debt-based capital as money. The fortunes of England and the Rothschilds have been intertwined for centuries and should England collapse, the power and influence of the Rothschilds would decline as well.

The endgame is bringing about the end not only of capitalism, but the vast empires of wealth to which it gave rise. That the elites are now worried about the economic stability of sovereign nations is evidence that the endgame is drawing closer to its inevitable end.

THE END

Debt is the critical issue now facing the world’s governments. How it should be approached is the focus of much debate. In a recent exchange of views hosted by the news program, Russia Today, I and others discussed the global debt crisis. To view the discussion, click here.

The debt crisis is part of capitalism’s endgame. In 1981, Buckminster Fuller predicted that the world’s power structures would collapse. In 1991 communism fell and today capitalism is following in communism’s fatal footsteps.

Fuller was not the only one who predicted the seriousness of the present crisis. Among them were economists Melchior Palyi, Ludwig von Mises, John Exter, economic historian David Hackett Fisher, American historians William Strauss and Neil Howe and others. Given the severity of this crisis, it is a short list.

Another unlikely source, however, recently came to my attention; a psychic channeling in 1992 also predicted today’s debt-driven economic troubles [note the use of the word monetary in the channeling]:

... In your country [USA] right now you see some signs of economic recovery on some levels. However, it has not reached its full stage of recovery and there will be additional times of turmoil in the monetary sense concerning your country and the world as a whole.

The monetary situation is not good as most of you are aware...The debt of the country is phenomenal. If it were a private individual it would have been forced to declare bankruptcy long before now. There will be some financial challenges throughout the world in the years ahead… - Dr. Blair, channeled message, March 20, 1992.

That a psychic message predicted an event completely missed by the vast majority of trained economists says something about (1) economists, (2) the training of economists and (3) psychics.

Dr. Blair, channeled by the late medium, Dr. Robert Ireland in Tucson, spoke on many subjects. Some of Dr. Blair’s economic predictions are included in a talk I gave at the Temple of Universality on October 31st. To view, click here.

THE REASONS FOR THE CRISIS

In his channeling in 1992, Dr. Blair explained the reasons for the coming crisis, reasons that bear a close similarity to those given by Buckminster Fuller in the introduction to Fuller’s book, the Critical Path.

It will be a spiritual revolution…It will be a time of trials and tribulations but one that brings mankind closer together. Man will come to each other’s aid for the purpose of helping and uplifting his brother. - Dr. Blair, channeled message, March 20, 1992

Humanity is moving ever deeper into crisis - a crisis without precedent.
First, it is a crisis brought about by cosmic evolution irrevocably intent upon completely transforming omnidisintegrated humanity from a complex of around-the-world, remotely-deployed-from-one-another, differently colored, differently credoed, differently cultured, differently communicating, and differently competing entities into a completely integrated, comprehensively interconsiderate, harmonious whole. - Critical Path, Buckminster Fuller, St. Martin’s Press, 1981, page xvii:

The crisis has not yet brought about the radical transformation of humanity that Buckminster Fuller and Dr. Blair predicted. This is because the requisite level of severity has not yet been reached. It will be.




ty joye

[sandi66]

BOMBSHELL, For those who insist that the "Illuminati" is a myth
www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2Xu-5B22Ok


November 21, 2010

The first gentleman in this video giving his report to Parliament is now dead, and this video was recorded on November 1st, just 21 days ago.

Source: alligatorfarm.wordpress.com/20...

Info: Lord James of Blackheath describes a Private "Foundation" which has more money than all the governments of the world put together. This "Foundation X" willing to bail out the world "for nothing". What a lovely sounding old Lord this man is BUT is he seriously this naive?

Nevertheless, why is all this so top secret if it is a real, honest offer by a Private Group of people who should never have achieved such an amount of money in the first place (for what I hope are obvious reasons). Further, if such a Foundation exists (which it certainly seems to) then they can only have gained this amount of wealth over a very significant period of time (thinking in decades to centuries here) and it will have been, without a shadow of a doubt, ill-gotten. So the question is: Why don't we simply hold a gun at their heads fully loaded and say "Hand it over! What's preventing you?" Because if they need to talk to a Head of state before they do it then there must simply be conditions.

And lastly, WHO are these top 6 people of the world? You may say "it said top 6 security clearance" but so what? How many nations are there? So HOW can there be only 6 people with a Worldwide top security clearance? From what nations and what has security got to do with it?

Probably very much the same as what the Official Secrets Act has to do with the Bank of England eh?

www.firetown.com/blog/2010/11/20/lord-james-of-blackheath-describes-a-private-foundation-which-has-more-money-than-all-the-governments-of-the-world-put-together/



ty joye

[sandi66]

Original session of parliament from Nov.1st
Lord James of Blackheath, Speech on Foundation X (House of Lords, 01/11/2010)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaA-5_IjkeE&feature=related

[November 03, 2010 <- uploaded to youtube


This is just weird. Massive scam or money laundering on the part of the Vatican Bank? Who knows...]



UK up for sale to Foundation X - Lord James of Blackheath speaks to Sky
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aWTsxSOTDA&feature=related


[November 05, 2010
Is the uk up for sale to clear its debts or is Lord James having a Laugh?
House of Lords debates, 1 November 2010
Text of speech available from
www.theyworkforyou.com/lords/?...
www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/lo...
Sky report news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Poli... ]



ty joye



Additional INFO:

Lord James of Blackheath David Noel James
Party
Conservative

Address as
Lord James
.Contact details
Westminster
House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW
Tel: [phone]


Biography
Party groups
James Review of Taxpayer Value 2004-05

Political interests
Horseracing industry, NHS finances, MoD procurement, funding and organisation of 2012 Olympics

Name, style and title
Raised to the peerage as Baron James of Blackheath, of Wildbrooks in the County of West Sussex 2006

Register of Interests
1: Directorships
Northern Flexihire and Rental Solutions Ltd (vehicle hire)

10: Non-financial interests (a)
Chairman, Henleys Group plc

Chairman, Vidapulse Limited

Chairman, Demontford Holdings

Consultant, Cerberus Capital Management LP (New York)

10: Non-financial interests (e)
David James Music Charitable Trust

Chairman, Amberley Football Club

www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/24971

************************

David James, Baron James of Blackheath

David Noel James, Baron James of Blackheath CBE (born December 7, 1937) is a British businessman and corporate trouble shooter and Conservative life peer.

[edit] Career
James has had a varied career in the City. Between 1959 and 1964, he trained with Lloyds Bank, joining Ford Credit's launch team in 1964. He then became a director of many companies, often in trouble, to assist their recovery: in 1973 he joined Cork Gulley to rescue Cedar Holdings; in 1989 he was appointed chairman of Eagle Trust; other directorships have included British Shoe Corporation, LEP group, Dan-Air, North Sea Assets and Central & Sheerwood. During his time at Eagle Trust he triggered the Iraqi supergun affair. Whilst visiting Eagle-owned Walter Somers factory in Halesowen in 1990, he noticed the muzzle of what appeared to be a large gun. He informed MI6, giving them one of their first leads.[1] He served a term under David Rowland on the Council of Lloyd's and chaired a committee which controversially allowed corporate capital to underwrite on more favourable terms.

In late 2000, James was appointed as chairman of the ailing Millennium Dome project, a high profile position, and was credited with saving the attraction from financial collapse. In 2005 he attempted to make a bid for troubled carmakers MG Rover.[2]

Ahead of the 2005 general election, James conducted a review for the Conservatives that identified £35 billion of state sector savings. The disputed figures were heavily used by then Party leader, Michael Howard. After the election defeat, Howard and Shadow Chancellor George Osborne appointed James to head a new Conservative watchdog to monitor the way the third term Labour administration delivers on its promises to cut costs. He has been vocal about his concerns for the financial management of the London 2012 Olympics.

In April 2006 it was announced that James had been nominated for a Life Peerage by the Conservative Party [3] The news had already been revealed in a list leaked to The Times[4] that eventually led to the Cash for Peerages scandal. James himself had given a relatively small amount to the Conservatives. He was gazetted as the 'Baron James of Blackheath', of Wildbrooks in the County of West Sussex on 9 June 2006.

In November 2010 Lord James claimed in the House of Lords that he had been approached by a secretive "megarich" organization, which James referred to only as 'Foundation X', willing to lend billions of pounds, interest-free, to the UK government.[5]

He has worked as a Consultant for Cerberus Capital Management.[6]

Lord James is married but has no children. He has a particular interest in music and cricket. He is Chairman of the British Racing Club of horses.

[edit] "Foundation X" speech
James attracted some press and blog attention after a speech in the House of Lords on November 1, 2010, in which he claimed to have been approached by an unnamed organization wishing to fund massive public works projects in the UK with vast currency reserves backed by gold bullion.[7][8] A Labour Party staff member and political blogger who wrote about the story[9] speculated that the organization in question is the Office of International Treasury Control.[10] However, James has stated that he had not been approached by the Office of International Treasury Control, that there were no links between Foundation X and the Office of International Treasury Control[11], that the Foundation X was a viable organization, and that the offer was in good faith.

On Saturday November 6, 2010; the UK Treasury issued a statement which contradicted James' earlier claims; denying that any meeting took place between Lords James & Sassoon and a representative of the group which had being referred to as 'Foundation-X'. [12]

[edit] References
^ David James: Straight-talking at the Dome BBC News, 6 September, 2000
^ Three teams vie for Rover rescue BBC News, 15 July 2005
^ New working life peers unveiled BBC News, 11 April 2006
^ Sleaze row as election donors get peerages Times Online, 8 November 2005
^ Hansard, 1 November, 2010. Andy McSmith, Lords stunned by Tory peer's IRA funding claim, The Independent, 6 November 2010
^ www.parliament.uk/biographies/david-james/24971
^ Lords Hansard 1 Nov 2010 : Column 1536
^ Did somebody just try to buy the British government? Charles Stross, November 3, 2010
^ The Lord, the cabinet minister, "Foundation X" and a mysterious £5 billion… Hopi Sen, November 2, 2010 (republished by The Guardian)
^ Have we uncovered "Foundation X"? Hopi Sen, November 3, 2010
^ Lord James: Foundation X not a scam Tom Espiner, 4 November, 2010 15:54
^ Treasury has 'decided not to pursue' £22bn Foundation X proposal David Meyer, 6th November 2010

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_James,_Baron_James_of_Blackheath

[sandi66]

House expected to take up Cobell Tuesday



Monday, November 29, 2010 7:00 pm



Calling the $3.4 billion Cobell lawsuit settlement "fair and reasonable," three Obama administration officials went on the offensive Monday to campaign for its passage in the U.S. House of Representatives, where it is expected to see floor action today.

The Claims Settlement Act of 2010, which includes $4.6 billion to settle long-running lawsuits against the Departments of Interior and Agriculture by Native American trust account holders and by African-American farmers, passed the Senate last week and is awaiting action by the House.

Deputy Secretary of Interior David Hayes said Monday that President Barack Obama wants to "right past wrongs" with congressional funding for both the Cobell and Pigford II lawsuits. Hayes, who was in Rapid City last year to urge support for the negotiated Cobell settlement, spoke with the media by conference call, along with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli. All three expressed hope that the House would "respond in a bipartisan way" to get the funding approved. The House approved similar legislation earlier this year, but the legislation ran into opposition in the Senate.

The Cobell settlement, named for lead plaintiff Elouise Cobell of the Blackfeet Tribe in Montana, calls for $1.5 billion to be shared by at least 300,000 Native Americans to compensate them for the mismanagement of money the government collected -- or was supposed to collect -- on their behalf.

An additional $1.9 billion would be used to buy small parcels of reservation land held by multiple owners, known as fractionated trust land, that are expensive to manage and do not generate much income.

Hayes said that $1.9 billion has the "potential to unlock enormous land benefits for tribes" by purchasing highly fractionated trust land interests at fair market value from thousands of individuals so that the lands can be consolidated under tribal control for the benefit of entire tribal communities. "Land will become of greater benefit to the tribal community by consolidation," Hayes said. Currently, trust lands can have so many owners that getting the necessary 50 percent approval of all owners to do anything with it can be nearly impossible, he said. Once consolidated, the land will still be held in trust, but by the tribe, not individuals.

The Cobell settlement contains "no forced requirements for folks with fractionated interests to sell their land," but it does contain incentives for them to do so, Hayes said.

One of those incentives is $60 million for a scholarship fund for low-income Native American college students. In addition to being paid for the land, the Interior Department will make a donation to that fund whenever a landowner participates in the consolidation program.

"We believe this combination will make this a very attractive program," Hayes said. But even $1.9 billion will buy only a percentage of those fractionated interests, so the Interior Department plans to focus on specific tracts. Decisions about which trust land to consolidate first will be made in consultation with tribal governments, he said

The Pigford II settlement, named after North Carolina farmer Timothy Pigford, would provide $1.2 billion to settle discrimination claims by black farmers who say Agriculture officials denied them loans and assistance for years based on their race. The federal government had settled with thousands of black farmers in 1999, but this round would compensate those who missed that deadline.

"It may have come a little too late for many black farmers, but for many who are waiting ... it's long-overdue justice," said John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association.

Even if the House passes the measure this week, victims should not expect a check any time soon. Federal officials said they are not sure how long it will take to certify claims and pay plaintiffs.

The package the House will vote on also includes more than $1 billion to settle lawsuits over water rights filed by Native American tribes in Arizona, Montana and New Mexico and provide reservations with access to clean drinking water.

The Cobell lawsuit had been held up for months over concerns by Republicans on how the settlement would be paid for, and by opposition from some tribes that lawyers' fees as high as $100 million were excessive given that individuals would get a little more than $1,000 on average to settle discrimination claims. Democrats, who control the Senate, found ways to cover the cost, and all parties involved agreed to redirect a portion of the money slated for land purchases to the payouts to individuals.

The Sioux Falls Argus Leader contributed to this report

Contact Mary Garrigan at 394-8424 or [e-mail]

www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_c2b262e4-fc24-11df-ac7c-001cc4c03286.html

[sandi66]

US House could pass settlement for black farmers, Indians today
November 30, 2010



WASHINGTON -- Obama administration officials Monday urged the House to approve $4.6 billion to fund class-action settlements with American Indians and black farmers so they can begin the lengthy process of paying plaintiffs.



Both the so-called Cobell and Pigford II settlements have been languishing for months on Capitol Hill while lawmakers, mainly in the Senate, argued over how to pay for them and other details, such as lawyers' fees. The Senate approved the money in early November, and the House's passage is expected as early as today, which means long-standing claims by these minority groups against the federal government soon may be resolved.

These are "truly historic settlements," Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli told reporters Monday. "They don't just resolve litigation, but they put large classes of our citizens in a new relationship with the agencies that play a critically important role in their lives: the Department of Agriculture for African American farmers, and the Department of the Interior for Native Americans whose land is held in trust."



The Cobell settlement, named for lead plaintiff Elouise Cobell of the Blackfeet Tribe in Montana, calls for $1.5 billion to be shared by at least 300,000 Indians to compensate them for the mismanagement of money the government collected -- or was supposed to collect -- on their behalf. The lawsuit originally claimed the Interior Department lost tens of billions of dollars generated from timber cutting, cattle grazing and mineral excavation on tribal lands the government holds in trust.



An additional $1.9 billion would be used to buy small parcels of reservation land held by multiple owners that are expensive to manage and do not generate much income. In addition, the agreement would create a committee to evaluate ongoing tribal trust issues, and establish a $60 million scholarship fund for American Indian students.



The Pigford II settlement, named after North Carolina farmer Timothy Pigford, would provide $1.2 billion to settle discrimination claims by black farmers who said Agriculture officials denied them loans and assistance for years based on their race. The federal government had settled with thousands of black farmers in 1999, but this round would compensate those who missed that deadline.



"It may have come a little too late for many black farmers, but for many who are waiting ... it's long-overdue justice," said John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association.



Even if the House passes the measure this week, victims should not expect a check any time soon. Federal officials said they're not sure how long it will take to certify claims and pay plaintiffs.



"Obviously, it's going to take some time," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters. "We want to make sure it's done right ... understanding that folks have waited a long time. We'll do it as expeditiously as possible."



The package the House will vote on also includes more than $1 billion to settle lawsuits over water rights filed by Indian tribes in Arizona, Montana and New Mexico and provide reservations with access to clean drinking water.



The Cobell lawsuit had been held up for months over concerns by Republicans on how the settlement would be paid for, and by opposition from some tribes that attorneys' fees -- as high as $100 million -- were excessive given that individuals would get a little a more than $1,000 on average to settle discrimination claims. Democrats, who control the Senate, found ways to cover the cost, and all parties involved agreed to redirect a portion of the money slated for land purchases to the payouts to individuals.



"The concern has always been that the landowners get their full funding that they felt that they deserved," said Gay Kingman with the Great Plains Tribal Chairman's Association, some of whose members raised concerns about the legal fees. "That was the main sticking point."



www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20101130/NEWS02/11300316/US+House+could+pass+settlement+for+black+farmers++Indians+today

[sandi66]

The euro weakened for a third day, Italian and Spanish bonds dropped and the cost of insuring the region’s riskiest bank debt rose on concern the loan crisis is deepening. European stocks gained, paring the first monthly decline since August.

The euro depreciated 0.8 percent against the dollar at 6:20 a.m. in London. The extra yield investors demand to hold 10-year Italian debt instead of benchmark German bunds widened to more than 200 basis points for the first time since the euro’s debut in 1999. The difference in the cost of insuring subordinated and senior European financial-company bonds rose to the most since May 2009. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.4 percent. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures slipped 0.1 percent.

Government securities and the euro are being dragged down by concern Portugal and Spain may suffer the fate of Ireland, which had to ask for an 85 billion-euro ($111 billion) rescue package to help bail out its banks. A Chinese Academy of Social Sciences economist said today Wen Jiabao’s government needs to raise borrowing costs by another 200 basis points.

“Euro-area contagion is becoming fairly indiscriminate,” Valentin Marinov, a currency strategist at Citigroup Inc. in London, wrote in a report today. “There is so far little indication that euro-area politicians will act quickly and forcefully enough to prevent further spread widening. We cannot exclude more euro selling.”

Euro, Dollar

The euro weakened against all but one of its 16 most-traded peers, dropping as much as 1.1 percent to $1.2980, the lowest level since Sept. 16. It fell 1.3 percent to 109.13 yen. The Dollar Index advanced a third day, gaining 0.4 percent to 81.133 after reaching 81.346, the highest level since Sept. 20.

The difference in yield between Italian 10-year bonds and German bunds widened to as much as 212 basis points, the most since 1996. The Spanish-German yield spread rose to 282 basis points and the yield premium for Belgian 10-year bonds reached 131 basis points, the most since January 2009.

Credit-default swaps insuring Italian government bonds rose seven basis points to 253, contracts on Spain increased nine basis points to 361 and Portugal climbed 11.5 basis points to 551, all record highs, according to CMA, a data provider.

The Markit iTraxx Financial Index linked to the senior debt of 25 banks and insurers rose 8 basis points to a 2 1/2-month high of 173, while an index of subordinated notes climbed 23.5 basis points to 318. The gap between the two widened 15.5 to 145 on expectations subordinated bondholders will be forced to share the cost of bailing out lenders.

European Stocks

The gain in European shares trimmed this month’s decline in the Stoxx 600 to 1.2 percent. Hochtief AG rose 3.5 percent after Actividades de Construccion y Servicios SA won approval from Germany’s financial regulator for its 2.7 billion-euro ($3.5 billion) bid for the German construction company. Alstom SA gained 3.3 percent as Deutsche Bank AG raised its recommendation on the world’s third-largest power-equipment maker to “buy.”

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index decreased 0.7 percent to the lowest level since Oct. 5, while the MSCI Emerging Markets Index slipped 0.3 percent to a two-month low. The Shanghai Composite index posted its first monthly drop since June after Zhong Jiyin of the Chinese Academy wrote in a commentary in China Daily that recent increases in banks’ reserve requirements won’t be enough to reverse excessive liquidity in the system.

The decline in U.S. futures indicated the S&P 500 may retreat for a third day. Baldor Electric Co. jumped 37 percent in German trading after ABB Ltd., the Swiss maker of factory robots and electrical equipment, agreed to buy the company for about $3.1 billion in cash to expand in the North American market for industrial motors and drives.

Property Prices

A report today may show real-estate prices in 20 cities rose in September at the slowest pace in eight months, indicating the latest slump in sales is destabilizing housing. The S&P/Case-Shiller index of house prices climbed 1 percent from September 2009, the smallest year-over-year gain since February, according to the median forecast of 28 economists in a Bloomberg survey. The figures are due at 9 a.m. New York time. Other reports may show consumer confidence rose and businesses expanded.

Gold for immediate delivery rose 0.5 percent to $1,373.70 an ounce. The S&P GSCI Index of 24 commodities fell 0.1 percent and oil sank 0.4 percent to $85.41 a barrel.

www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-30/euro-near-two-month-low-bond-risk-rises-on-european-contagion-risk.html

[sandi66]

Diamondback Capital Management LLC, one of three hedge funds raided by the FBI last week, said it received a federal grand jury subpoena and is cooperating in a U.S. probe that it said includes research consultants.

The firm, based in Stamford, Connecticut, said it was told by the government it isn’t the target of the probe and that the raid was focused on one of its portfolio managers, who was put on leave, according to a letter to sent to investors yesterday.

“The warrant appears to be focused on a single employee (a portfolio manager), as well as on a former employee who reported to that employee,” Diamondback co-founders Lawrence Sapanski and Rich Schimel said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg News. “One of the principal areas on which the government appears to be focused is the use of industry research consultants.”

Hedge funds Level Global Investors LP and Loch Capital Management also had their offices raided by the FBI on Nov. 22. Janus Capital Group Inc. and Wellington Management Co. were among firms that received information requests last week as part of the government’s insider-trading investigation.

Level Global, with offices in New York and Greenwich, Connecticut, said in a letter to investors that it met with the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Nov. 23 and that the government said yesterday it wasn’t a target of the probe.

“Nor, in fact, has the firm been alleged to have engaged in any misconduct or wrongdoing,” Level Global said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg News.

Holder Confirms

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed yesterday that the Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation related to illegal trading on Wall Street.

In response to questions about the probe of insider trading, Holder said an “investigation is ongoing” and described it as “very serious.” Holder was questioned at a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington.

“I don’t want to get into the details,” he said. The investigation is being conducted by the office of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan, Holder said.

Jessie Erwin, a spokeswoman for Bharara’s office, declined to comment on the investigation. Jim Margolin, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New York office, also declined to comment.

Diamondback said yesterday that the federal grand jury subpoena it received “is similar to those received by many other market participants.”

‘Fully Cooperating’

The fund said that it received a subpoena “seeking a broad range of information in connection with our trading and research activities” and that it is “fully cooperating” with producing the information sought by the U.S.

Diamondback, which oversees about $5.8 billion in assets, said several of its 135 investment professionals use industry research consultants.

The firm has a policy and set of procedures designed to avoid having any employee receive or misuse material nonpublic information, according to the letter.

A day after the FBI searches, Steven A. Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors LP got a government subpoena, said a person familiar with the matter who declined to be identified because the matter is private. No allegation of wrongdoing has been made against SAC, which manages $12 billion. Jonathan Gasthalter, a firm spokesman, declined to comment.

Chu Arrested

Don Ching Trang Chu, an employee of expert-network firm Primary Global Research LLC in Mountain View, California, was arrested on Nov. 24 for allegedly providing insider information to hedge funds. He was charged in a criminal complaint filed by Bharara’s office.

Chu had a roster of Asia-based employees of North American technology companies to feed information to clients, according to court documents.

In several conversations recorded by the FBI as part of its probe, Chu, who was born in Taiwan and became a U.S. citizen in 1987, describes his access to numerous contacts in Asia who were willing to share financial information about their employers, including Broadcom Corp.

An unnamed employee of the Irvine, California-based company “probably gave Broadcom’s revenue numbers before Broadcom’s quarter end because that is what he does,” Chu is quoted as saying in the complaint.

Broadcom’s Cooperation

Broadcom, the biggest maker of chips for television set-top boxes, said yesterday that it has been in contact with the U.S. government and is cooperating with an insider-trading investigation.

None of the employees of the company referred to in the criminal complaint against Chu are executive officers of Broadcom, said Bill Blanning, a company spokesman, in an e-mailed statement yesterday.

Two Broadcom employees whose names weren’t disclosed were providing information to hedge funds, according to the complaint against Chu. Broadcom has “strict policies” to prevent insider information being shared, Blanning said in his e-mail.

John Kinnucan, a technology research provider in Portland, Oregon, said he refused a request from the FBI to wear a hidden microphone to record investor-client conversations as part of its insider trading probe, he wrote in the New York Times.

FBI agents arrived unexpectedly at Kinnucan’s home, making it “abundantly clear” they believed he and his clients were “guilty,” and threatened to arrest him immediately, he said in an article published yesterday.

Kinnucan Contacted

Kinnucan, the founder of Broadband Research, whose clients include hedge funds, was contacted by the FBI as part of the government’s investigation of insider trading, according to the Times.

Kinnucan said agents arrived at his home and cited his research, “insinuating it was improper.”

“I had to decide between committing a wrong -- agreeing to try and entrap someone who, based on our mutual dealings, I believe to be innocent -- or standing up to fight for what I believe is right,” Kinnucan wrote in the Times. “I chose the latter.”

He said the type of research he provides to clients “is pervasive in the financial community” and that “research providers are constantly struggling with the question of what constitutes appropriate information.”

The case is U.S. v. Chu, 10-Mag-02625, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-30/holder-says-u-s-is-conducting-very-serious-investigation-of-wall-street.html

[sandi66]

* Frank26 Post: KTF Missions 11/29/10
November 29, 2010 09:29 pm · Posted in CHATS / POSTS · Comments Off
Good evening Family,

T minus 33……or less.

May I share some things with you Family?

If you go to the CBI website under financial institutions in Iraq then scroll down to the new financial companies I want you to notice ……..”NOBILITY”. Patterns……..I study them. Especially those that I create…….I learn from them. This is a new company that opened in Iraq which specializes in software connected with Forex to help traders with an improved and reformed banking system. If you look carefully you will find their website. Please double check but I believe it is http://www.noble_forex.com. This is very important IMO because Iraq has always sought a market for its goods and CURRENCY outside of Iraq! This is a huge preparation. The infrastructure needs to grow. Many say that because of this need ……….the IQD has no chance to RI at 3+. Many compare Saudi Arabia with Iraq and say there is no chance for a 3+. You see Saudi currency it at about .27 to the dollar. How can the IQD go 3.86 to the dollar when they only depend on oil and have no infrastructure yet? Family…….Saudi is internationalized ………they do not allow investors in their country…….contracts are by invitation only which is far and few. To limit investors to come into your country limits the growth of your currency ……..value and stability of it. Saudi’s currency has been suffocated. Saudi has the largest welfare system in the world ……..they like to keep control of their country and people. Slow or no growth of the people empowers………a government. They closed their own doors a long time ago. The 255 billion barrels of oil that Saudi has is based on almost all of their land surveyed already. The GCC unionthat Saudi belongs to is running dry and they beg Iraq to join them. Yet Iraq’s currency is toilet paper. You see you cannot compare Saudi to Iraq when it comes to their currency. They may look alike…….oil that is……but they are separated by a gulf of this same oil. Iraq only has about 10% of their land surveyed for oil ….the other 90% will explode the IQD even without it being out of the ground yet. “NOBILITY” knows this…….and you should too. Iraq has fertile farm land that will feed the masses and investors that are being recruited like blue chip athletes. Saudi is autonomous ………Iraq is not. Iraq is returning to the Seven Wonders of the World and tourists are flocking back to visit. The wetlands attract much attention. The ruins and monuments of their history interest many. Look at KU their currency is at 3.55. Did we not apply The Plan in the 90’s to KU? We apply the same thing to Iraq in ’00. It was a joke to consider KU coming back at 3+ in the 90’s. There is no future probability in Saudi Arabia unless a company wins a contract by some miracle to refine oil. But there is EXTREME POTENTIAL IN IRAQ RIGHT NOW. I will never stand down from saying that the IQD will RI at 3.22 or RV at 3.86 if they add the 20% that they promised. But no matter what…….it will be 3+. Question is when? Let’s talk about that later. For now look at this video more than once! It was brought to our forum by DUBLIN and I thank them very much. Family this video talks of investors flooding Iraq……….this is why the IQD is about to go up in value. Please enjoy.

www.cnbc.com/id/15840232/?video=1662081869&play=1

A look at the impact on the Iraqi markets now that King Abdullah temporarily handed over control to Crown Prince Sultan, with David Tafuri, Patton Boggs partner.

RUDY …….will be on the BH conference call tonight and I thank him for sharing the following with me as we investigated it. Lloyds of London who is a global equity insurer has more purchases on insurance to hedge 700 million dollars of service on a NON TRADABLE CURRENCY. That’s 700 contracts that have just been dropped into insurance hedging. Family……..which currency do you think they are protecting? This product is to go into effect on December 12th. M is targeting a time frame of December 10th to the 15th. If you wish to learn more about this join Rudy tonight on the BH CC. He is going to do a report for us and post it on Wednesday concerning this subject.

DELTA and team report:

They gave me the CBI site info that I just shared with you.

Iraqi TV shows M saying he is on schedule and set to go from the 10th to the 15th. They are also saying that the 2011 budget is in parliament right now and being read and working towards ratification. A public announcement will be made once they finish the budget. They are reporting that normally the President and PM of Iraq have two VP’s. M is asking for three. There will be three VP’s for T and three VP’s for M. The Minister of Oil Shahristani will be one of these VP’s. The MOF is being talked about and appears to be gaining ground to keeping his position. It was asked directly to M ……..what if you do not finish in your target frame of the 10th to the 15th? He said……..there will be no delay I have all the names I need to finish. (keep in mind Family Shabibi said as soon as the GOI is announced he will give them the rate) It is looking like 10 days before a………WHITE Christmas. BUT !!! S wants the GOI announced …….he knows they are already seated………so keep that in mind Family. Finally……..TV says that the CBI has given license to 5 local banks in Iraq to open. I know the article said 4 Family…….but Team reports 5. (Hmmm…….maybe I should call Ali LOL)

Well I said I would not post until December 6th …….but I also told you that I am a greater sinner than you. My apologies for allowing my emotions to become undisciplined. I do not and will not ever rain on your parade. But I will tell you not to lean on me and allow God to REIGN over your life. We are many at KTFM that once were magnets separated by great distances that God has pulled together by the attraction……..of His love and grace. I am proud of you Family………I hope you are proud of KTFM. My Christian love and Aloha.

KTF,

Frank

theiraqidinar.com/category/chats-posts/

[sandi66]

* Central Bank: The foreign banks operating in Iraq under the umbrella of the Iraqi civil Banks
November 30th, 2010 12:45 am · Posted in NEWS
Central Bank: The foreign banks operating in Iraq under the umbrella of the Iraqi civil Banks ÇáãÍÑÑ: OK | OT Editor: OK | OT ÇáÇËäíä 29 Ê2 2010 19:11 GMT Monday, 29 v 2 2010 19:11 GMT
.ÛÏÇÏ Alsumaria News / Baghdad

.. The Central Bank of Iraq, Monday, that foreign banks operating in Iraq do not work independently, but under the umbrella of the local community banks, indicating that the investments of the regional countries in Iraq with a commercial character and lacks the international standards. .É”. The adviser said the Central Bank of Iraq, the appearance of Mohammed Saleh, said in an interview for “Alsumaria News”, Monday, that “the investment bank foreign troops in Iraq operating under the umbrella of the banks, Iraqi civil,” noting that it “does not work explicitly sinks foreign, which, if any, actual the form of branches of foreign banking companies is not strong compared to corporate banking world. ” æßÇäÊ .. The number of Arab and foreign banks made after the issuance of the Banking Act No. 94 of 2004 to get licenses for the establishment of private banks in Iraq, whether by 100%, or in partnership with banks, a local Iraqi, or to open branches to work in Iraq, but security conditions have prevented it , with the exception of some few posts that have been made with a number of national banks.

.å. And Saleh, said that “all the investments coming from the regional countries and dominated by Turkish investments in the first place, and Iranian second class are of a nature purely commercial, and depend for their work on manufacturing outside the border, and assembly within the country, decreases thus the possibility of running labor Iraqi them,” adding that “Investing in Iraq is similar or identical to a normal commercial activity,” he says.

.”. He attributed the benefit of “the reason that to attract well known international companies to invest in Iraq, internal and external factors, are external ones that Iraq is still under Chapter VII, which is considered threatened state of peace, the opposite of the truth as he looked forward to development and economic progress, while the internal factors is that the environment investment also remains unattractive, since the majority of the investment laws are incomplete, as well as the difficulties faced by large investors such as the allocation of plots of land for projects and a lot of other obstacles. ” .”. He also called for “to provide an incubator at the economic, legal, and at the level of international relations, to attract international investments to Iraq.”

.. The Iraqi parliament approved in October 2006, the investment law, but he did not give investors the right to ownership of the property the project, Fassaoy between Iraqi investors and foreign investment in each concession, with the exception of real estate ownership, while giving foreign investors the right to lease land for 50 years subject to renewal.

.Çð. The Council amended the House of Representatives on 13 October 2009, so that gave the right of the investor Iraqi and foreign ownership of land and property belonging to the State allowance determined in accordance with special regulations, as well as give him the right to own land and property belonging to the mixed and private sectors to establish housing projects exclusively.

.. Iraq had announced in October of this year that will facilitate the work of companies wishing to invest in Iraq through legislation a set of laws, with the Investment Authority confirmed it was considering 600 projects $ 600 billion Iraqi dinars, will be the priority sectors of education and housing.

theiraqidinar.com/2010/11/30/central-bank-the-foreign-banks-operating-in-iraq-under-the-umbrella-of-the-iraqi-civil-banks/

[travelbugaz]

Exclusive: WikiLeaks Will Unveil Major Bank Scandal
by Andy Greenberg
Monday, November 29, 2010

ShareretweetEmailPrintFirst WikiLeaks spilled the guts of government. Next up: The private sector, starting with one major American bank.

In an exclusive interview earlier this month, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told Forbes that his whistleblower site will release tens of thousands of documents from a major U.S. financial firm in early 2011. Assange wouldn't say exactly what date, what bank, or what documents, but he compared the coming release to the emails that emerged in the Enron trial, a comprehensive look at a corporation's bad behavior. More from Forbes.com:

• Inside the World of WikiLeaks

• Banks Still Running On Taxpayers' Dime

• America's Most Generous Companies

"It will give a true and representative insight into how banks behave at the executive level in a way that will stimulate investigations and reforms, I presume," he told me.

"You could call it the ecosystem of corruption," Assange added. "But it's also all the regular decision making that turns a blind eye to and supports unethical practices: the oversight that's not done, the priorities of executives, how they think they're fulfilling their own self-interest."

WikiLeaks recent priority has clearly been the publication of hundreds of thousands of government documents: 76,000 classified documents from the war in Afghanistan, another 392,000 from Iraq, and on Sunday, the first piece of an ongoing exposure of what will likely be millions of diplomatic messages sent between the U.S. State Department and its embassies.

But that government focus doesn't mean WikiLeaks won't embarass corporations, too. Since October, WikiLeaks has closed its submissions channel; Assange says the site was receiving more documents than it could find resources to publish. And half those unpublished submissions, Assange says, relate to the private sector. He confirmed that WikiLeaks has damaging, unpublished material from pharmaceutical companies, finance firms (aside from the upcoming bank release), and energy companies, just to name a few industries.

Whether and when those secrets come out is solely a matter of Assange's discretion. "We're in a position where we have to prioritize our resources so that the biggest impact stuff gets released first."

Copyrighted, Forbes.com. All rights reserved

finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/111440/exclusive-wikileaks-will-unveil-major-bank-scandal

[sandi66]

U.S. Rep. King: Offers amendment to protect taxpayers from billion dollar Pigford fraud
11/30/2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: John Kennedy
Office: 202.226.2384

Congressman King’s efforts to safeguard $1.15 Billion blocked by Rules Committee

Washington D.C.- Congressman Steve King (R-IA) today issued the following statement after an amendment he offered to prevent an additional $1.15 billion from being spent on the fraud-riddled Pigford settlement program was blocked from further consideration by the Rules Committee. King’s amendment to H.R. 4783, the Claims Resolution Act of 2010, sought to delete bill language appropriating $1.15 billion for the controversial Pigford settlement program. The House Rules Committee blocked King’s amendment from further consideration on Monday night.

“The unaccountable lame duck Congress is preparing to put Americans on the hook for an additional $1.15 billion in spending on a Pigford II settlement program that is rife with fraud despite the fact that current law caps the amount to be spent on these claims at $100 million,” said King. “To make matters worse, the Democrats who temporarily control the Rules Committee will not even allow my amendment protecting taxpayers from this excessive and fraudulent spending to be presented on the House floor for a vote. By cutting off consideration of my amendment, and by refusing to investigate serious allegations of Pigford fraud prior to voting on legislation allocating an additional $1.15 billion to the program, the lame duck Congress is, in effect, enabling Pigford fraud and this calls for an investigation by the 112th Congress.”

www.iowapolitics.com/index.iml?Article=219304

[sandi66]

November 30, 2010
Cobell, Pigford Settlements Get Final Approval From Congress
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 256-152 today to approve two multibillion-dollar settlement agreements that have been winding their way through Congress and that would benefit minority groups with claims against the federal government.

Legislation authorizing the settlements now heads to President Barack Obama, who is expected to sign it. As The National Law Journal reported today, administration officials made a last-minute push to see that the settlements won final approval from lawmakers.

Under debate rules pushed through by Democrats, the House made no changes to the legislation that senators approved Nov. 19. The legislation authorizes a $3.4 billion settlement with American Indians, including lead plaintiff Elouise Cobell, who say the U.S. Interior Department mismanaged trust accounts for natural resource royalties. It also authorizes $1.15 billion, in a case named for plaintiff Timothy Pigford, for black farmers who say they were discriminated against by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Debate among House members this afternoon was heated and partisan.

“We did the wrong thing, and all of us acknowledge it is never too late to do the right thing,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), speaking in favor of the settlements.

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) spoke against money for the Pigford plaintiffs. He called the settlement “modern-day reparations” for slavery, and he said the standards for filing a claim to be part of the settlement were too loose. “It’s gotta be fraud,” he said.

legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2010/11/cobell-pigford-settlements-get-final-approval-from-congress.html

[sandi66]

House Approves $4.6 Billion Settlement for Indian, Black Farmers
By Chad Pergram

Published November 30, 2010

The House of Representatives approved a decades-old settlement worth $4.6 billion Tuesday that resolves two class-action suits filed against the federal government by black farmers and Native Americans.

The thousands who joined the suit argued that the government discriminated against them as they applied for loans for agricultural ventures.

The House approved the package 256-to-152.

Black farmers would receive $1.2 billion, after they alleged they were cheated out of loans from the Agriculture Department. The government will direct $3.4 billion to American Indians who say the Interior Department swindled them out of royalties from natural resources like gas and timber.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., opposed the settlement. She says that many of the programs designed to accommodate black farmers are easy targets for fraud.

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, tried to delete money from the program with an amendment but was blocked by the House Rules Committee.

"By cutting off consideration of my amendment, and by refusing to investigate serious allegations of Pigford fraud prior to voting on legislation allocating an additional $1.15 billion to the program, the lame duck Congress is, in effect, enabling Pigford fraud and this calls for an investigation by the 112th Congress," King said in a statement.

The legislation is often referred to as "Pigford." Timothy Pigford, a black farmer from North Carolina, brought the original claim.

www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/11/30/house-approves-billion-settlement-indian-black-farmers/

[sandi66]

U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd's Farewell Speech On Senate Floor; Recalls Sitting In Family Gallery At Age 14 To See His Father; Opposes Changing Senate Rules After 30 Years There

By Christopher Keating on November 30, 2010 4:01 PM

The following is the prepared text of U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd's farewell speech on the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon.

Dodd did not seek re-election this year, and he will be stepping down in January after 36 years in Washington, D.C., including 30 years in the Senate.

"For more than 200 years, a uniquely American story has unfolded here in the chamber of the United States Senate - a fascinating, inspiring, and often tumultuous tale of conflict and compromise, reflecting the awesome potential of our still young democracy--and its occasional moments of agonizing frustration.

For much of my life, this story has intersected with my own in ways that have been both thrilling and humbling.

As a 14-year-old boy, I sat in the family gallery of this chamber, watching as my father took the oath of office as a new Senator.

A few years later, in 1962, I sat where these young men and women sit today, serving as a Senate page. John F. Kennedy was our president and Lyndon Johnson presided over this body.

Eighteen years later, in the autumn of 1980, the people of Connecticut gave me the honor of a lifetime when they asked me to give voice to their views, electing me to serve as their United States Senator.

For the past thirty years I have worked hard to sustain their trust. I am proud of the work I have done, but it is time for my story and that of this institution, which I cherish so much, to diverge.

Thus, Mr. President, I rise to give some valedictory remarks as my service as a United States Senator from Connecticut comes to a close.

Now, it is common for retiring Senators to say the following; ―I'll miss the people - but not the work.

Mr. President, you won't hear that from me. Most assuredly, I will miss the people of the Senate. But I will miss the work, as well.

Over the years, I have both witnessed and participated in some great debates--moments when statesmen of both parties, gathered together in this hall to weigh the great questions of our time.

And while I wish there had been more of those moments, I will always remember the Senate's debates on issues like Central America and Iraq, campaign finance reform and securities litigation, health care and financial reform.

And when I am home in Connecticut, I see the results of the work we did every day.

I see workers coming off their shifts at Pratt & Whitney, Electric Boat, and Sikorsky, the lifeblood of a defense manufacturing sector so critical to our national security, and to the economic well being of my state.

I see communities preparing for high-speed rail and breaking ground on new community health centers,

I see the grants we fought for helping cities and towns to build sustainable communities and promote economic development.

When I am home, I meet parents who, because of the Family and Medical Leave Act, don't have to choose between keeping their jobs and taking care of sick children.

I visit with elderly folks who will no longer have to choose between paying for their prescription drugs and paying for their heat.

I hear from consumers who have been victimized by unfair practices on the part of credit card companies--and who will no longer be subject to those abuses.

And I meet young children who, through Early Head Start or access to afterschool programs, have blossomed academically in spite of difficult economic circumstances.

As proud as I am of the work that has made these stories possible over the last three decades, I am keenly aware that I did not do any of it alone.

Until this last Congress, with rare exceptions, every major piece of legislation I authored that became law, including the ones just mentioned, had a Republican cosponsor as well as support from my Democratic caucus.

So, to my Democratic and Republican Senate colleagues who joined me in all these efforts, I say thank you.

I also want to thank the unsung heroes of this institution: the Senate staff and my personal staff.

It would be a grievous understatement to say simply that they make the trains run on time. Without them, the trains would never make it out of the station.

The floor staff, the cloakroom professionals, and the hundreds of unknown and unseen people who show up every day to make this critical institution of our democracy function--without them, no Senator could fulfill his or her obligation to the American people.

Many of my personal staff and Committee staff are present in the Senate gallery today. And neither I, nor the millions of Americans whose lives you have enriched and whose burdens you have lightened, can ever thank you enough. I only hope that your time with me has been half as fulfilling as my time with you.

Of course, I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the people of Connecticut whose confidence, patience, and spirit has given my life and its work meaning. As rich as our common language is, words cannot come close to capturing the depth of my affection for and appreciation of the people of Connecticut.

For almost four decades - three terms in the House of Representatives, and five terms in the Senate - you have entrusted me to labor on your behalf. I thank you.

And lastly, my family. My parents are long since deceased, but their guidance, inspiration and example have never departed.

For the past 30 years, I have sat at this same desk occupied by my father during the 12 years he served here.

His courage, character, and conviction have been a constant reminder of what it means to be a United States Senator.

I thank my siblings and their children and other relatives for their enthusiastic support, particularly during the rough patches. From time to time, we all need the safe harbor of family at the darker moments.

To Jackie, Grace and Christina, who have supported and inspired me every day: You mean more to me than I could ever say in these few short moments, so come January, I'm glad I'll have more time to say it more often.

And to Jackie in particular: You have been my anchor to windward in the rough and turbulent waters of public service. When it was the darkest - you were the brightest. So to you and my two young ladies: I love you more than life.

As this chapter in my career comes to a close, a new chapter in the Senate's history is beginning. When this body is gaveled to order in January, nearly half its members will be in their first term.

And even though I could spend hours fondly recalling a lifetime of yesterdays, this new Senate -- and the nation -- must confront an uncertain tomorrow.

So, rather than recite a long list of personal memories or revisit the video highlights of my Senate service, I'd like to take this brief time to offer a few thoughts to those who will write the Senate's next chapter.

I will begin by stating the sadly obvious: Our electoral system is a mess. Powerful financial interests, free to throw money about with little transparency, have corrupted the basic principles underlying our representative democracy. And, as a result, our political system at the federal level is completely dysfunctional.

Those who were elected to the Senate, just a few weeks ago, must already begin the unpleasant work of raising money for their reelections six years hence.

Newly-elected Senators will learn that their every legislative maneuver, their every public utterance, and even some of their private deliberations, will be fodder for a 24 - 7 political media industry that seems to favor speculation over analysis and conflict over consensus.

This explosion of new media brings with it, its own benefits and drawbacks--and it is occurring at the same time the presence of traditional media outlets are declining.

So while the corridors of Congress are crowded with handheld video and cell phone cameras, there is a declining role for newspaper, radio and network journalists reporting the routine deliberations taking place inside subcommittee hearings.

Case in point: Ten years ago, 11 or 12 reporters from Connecticut covered the delegation's legislative activities. Today, there is only one doing the same work.

Meanwhile, intense partisan polarization has raised the stakes in every debate and on every vote, making it difficult to lose with grace, and nearly impossible to compromise without cost.

Americans' distrust of politicians provides compelling incentives for Senators to distrust each other, to disparage this very institution, and disengage from the policy making process.

These changes have already had their effect on the Senate. The purpose of insulating one half of the national legislature from volatile shifts in the public mood has been degraded.

And while I strongly favor reforming our campaign finance system, revitalizing and rehabilitating our journalistic traditions, and restoring citizen faith in government and politics, I know that wishes won't make it so.

I have heard some people suggest that the Senate as we know it simply can't function in such a highly charged political environment, that we should change Senate rules to make it more efficient, more responsive to the public mood, more like the House of Representatives, where the majority can essentially bend the minority to its will.

I appreciate the frustration many have with the slow pace of the legislative progress. And I certainly share some of my colleagues' anger with the repetitive use and abuse of the filibuster. Thus, I can understand the temptation to change the rules that make the Senate so unique -- and, simultaneously, so frustrating.

But whether such a temptation is motivated by a noble desire to speed up the legislative process, or by pure political expedience, I believe such changes would be unwise.

We one hundred Senators are but temporary stewards of a unique American institution, founded upon universal principles. The Senate was designed to be different, not simply for the sake of variety, but because the framers believed the Senate could and should be the venue in which statesmen would lift America up to meet its unique challenges.

As a Senator from the State of Connecticut -- and the longest serving one in its history -- I take special pride in the role two Connecticut Yankees played in the establishment of this body.

It was Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth, delegates from Connecticut to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 who proposed the idea of a bicameral national legislature.

The Connecticut Compromise, as it came to be known, was designed to ensure that no matter which way the political winds blew, or how hard the gusts, there would be a place for every voice to be heard.

The history of this young democracy, the Framers decided, should not be written solely in the hand of the political majority. In a nation founded in revolution against tyrannical rule, which sought to crush dissent, there should be one institution that would always provide a space where dissent was valued and respected.

E Pluribus Unum - out of many, one. And though we would act as one, the Framers believed that our political debate should always reflect, that in our beliefs and in our aspirations, we are, in fact, many.

In short, our Founders were concerned not only with what was legislated, but, just as importantly, with how we legislated.

Now in my years here, I have learned that the appreciation of the Senate's role in our national debate, is an acquired taste.

Therefore, to my fellow Senators who have never served a day in the minority, I urge you to pause in your enthusiasm to change Senate rules.

And to those in the minority who routinely abuse the rules of the Senate to delay or defeat almost any Senate decision, know that you will be equally responsible for undermining the unique value of the United States Senate, a value greater than that which you might assign to the political motivations driving your obstruction.

But in the end, this isn't about the filibuster. What will determine whether this institution works or not, what has always determined whether we will fulfill the Framers' highest hopes or justify the cynics' worst fears, is not the Senate rules, the calendar, or the media.

It is whether each of the one hundred Senators can work together - living up to the incredible honor that comes with the title, and the awesome responsibility that comes with the office.

Politics today seemingly rewards only passion and independence, not deliberation and compromise as well.

It has become commonplace to hear candidates for the Senate campaign on how they are going to Washington to shake things up -- all by themselves.

May I politely suggest that you are seeking election to the wrong office. The United States Senate does not work that way, nor can it, or should it.

Mayors, governors, and presidents can sometimes succeed by the sheer force of their will. But there has never been a Senator so persuasive, so charismatic, so clever, or so brilliant that they could make a significant difference, while refusing to work with other members of this body.

Simply put, Mr. President, Senators cannot ultimately be effective alone.

As I noted earlier, until last year's health care bill, there had not been a single piece of legislation I had ever passed without a Republican partner.

Of course, none of those victories came easily. The notion that partisan politics is a new phenomena, or that partisan politics serve no useful purpose, is just wrong.

From the moment of our founding, America has been engaged in an eternal and often pitched partisan debate. That's no weakness. In fact, it is at the core of our strength as a democracy and success as a nation.

Political bipartisanship is a goal, not a process.

You don't begin the debate with bipartisanship - you arrive there. And you can do so only when determined partisans create consensus - and thus bipartisanship.

In the end, the difference between a partisan brawl and a passionate, but ultimately productive, debate rests on the personal relationships between Senators.

A legislative body that operates on unanimous consent, as does the Senate, cannot function unless the members trust each other. There is no hope of building that trust unless there is the will to treat each other with respect and civility, and to invest the time it requires to create that trust and strengthen those personal bonds.

No matter how obnoxious you find a colleague's rhetoric or how odious you find their beliefs, you will need them. And despite what some may insist, you do no injustice to your ideological principles when you seek out common ground. You do no injustice to your political beliefs when you take the time to get to know those who don't share them.

I've served with several hundred Senators under every partisan configuration imaginable: Republican presidents and Democratic presidents, divided government and one-party control.

And as odd as it may sound in the present political environment, in my three decades here, I cannot recall a single Senate colleague with whom I could not work.

Sometimes those relationships take time, but then, that is why the Framers gave us six-year terms: so that members could build the social capital necessary to make the Senate function.

Under our Constitution, Senators are given six years, but only you can decide how to use them. And as one Senator who has witnessed what is possible here, I urge each of you: Take the time to use those years well. I pledge to you, your tenure here will be so much more rewarding.

More importantly, you will be vindicating the confidence that the Framers placed in each person who takes the oath of office, as Senator, upholding a trust that echoes through the centuries.

I share the confidence that Roger Sherman, Oliver Ellsworth, and the Framers placed in this body and in its members. But I am not blind. The Senate today, in my view, is not functioning as it can and should.

But look around you. This moment is difficult, not only for this body, but for the nation it serves. And, in the end, what matters most in America is not what only happens within the walls of this chamber, but rather the consequences of our decisions across the nation and around the globe.

Our economy is struggling, and many of our people are experiencing real hardship - unemployment, home foreclosures, endangered pensions.

Meanwhile, our nation faces real challenges: a mounting national debt, energy, immigration, nuclear proliferation, ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq and so much more. All these challenges make the internal political and procedural conflicts we face as Senators seem small and petty.

History calls us to lift our eyes above the fleeting controversies of the moment, and to refocus our attention on our common challenge and common purpose.

By regaining its footing, the Senate can help this nation to regain confidence, and to restore the sense of optimism.

We must regain that focus. And, most importantly, we need our confidence back - we want to feel that same optimism that has sustained us through more than two centuries.

I am not naïve. I am aware of the conventional wisdom that predicts gridlock in the Congress.

But I know both the Democratic and Republican Leaders. I know the sitting members of the Senate. And my confidence is unshaken.

Why? Because we have been here before. The country has recovered from economic turmoil. Americans have come together to heal deep divides. And the Senate has led by finding its way through seemingly intractable political division. We have proven time and time again that this Senate is capable of meeting the test of history. We have evidenced the wisdom of the Framers who created its unique rules and set its high standards.

After all, no other legislative body grants so much power to each member, nor does any other legislative body ask so much of each member.

Just as the Senate's rules empower each member to act like a statesman, they also require statesmanship from each member.

But these rules are merely requiring from us the kind of leadership that our constituents need from us, that history calls on us to provide in difficult times such as these.

Maturity in a time of pettiness, calm in a time of anger, and leadership in a time of uncertainty - that is what the nation asks of the Senate, and that is what this office demands of us.

Over the past two centuries, some 1900 men and women have shared the privilege of serving in the Senate. Each of us has been granted a temporary, fleeting moment in which to indulge either our political ambition and ideological agenda, or, alternatively, to rise to the challenge and make a constructive mark on our history.

My moment is now at an end, but to those whose moments are not yet over, and to those whose moments will soon begin, I wish you so much more than mere good fortune.

I wish you wisdom. I wish you courage. And I wish for each of you that, one day, when you reflect on your moment, you will know that you have lived up to the tremendous honor and daunting responsibility of being a United States Senator.

But now, to quote St. Paul ―...the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

So Mr. President, it is with great pride, deep humility and incredible gratitude, as a United States Senator, that I yield the floor.

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