Bilderberg.org

[marektysis]

Portuguese Gold Sale Urged by German Lawmakers

Mark O'Byrne
Published 5/4/2011

Gold is mixed while silver is down some 1.5% again today. Weakness is being attributed to profit taking, momentum-driven traders and rumors regarding selling of gold and silver by George Soros’s fund.
The Soros rumors came from unidentified sources (“people close to the matter” – see news), are unsubstantiated at this stage and should be viewed cautiously until there is official confirmation and or we see the SEC filings showing Soros Fund Management has been selling their gold and silver ETF holdings .

It should be remembered that this may be a case of simply taking profits and reducing allocations. There may also be the possibility that Soros Fund Management is selling some of their gold and silver ETF holdings in order to buy bullion in allocated accounts as Eric Sprott, David Einhorn and some other hedge fund managers and pension funds have been doing.

Those calling gold a bubble know little or nothing about economic and monetary history and monetary economics today. Gold is increasingly being seen as a monetary asset and as an important reserve currency by central banks internationally.

http://www.resourceinvestor.com/News/2011/5/Pages/Portuguese-Gold-Sale-Urged-by-German-Lawmakers.aspx

[marektysis]

Feldstein at AEI Dinner: Being ‘Global Policeman’ Won’t Bankrupt U.S.
By Bridget Johnson

May 3, 2011, 8:00 pm The address given by Irving Kristol Award recipient Martin Feldstein at tonight’s AEI Dinner covered many bases, but contained a pointed message for legislators on the Hill eager to slash budgets: Watch it with defense cuts.

Interventionism, the Harvard professor argued, is worth the cost, especially when weighing America’s moral obligation to defend our allies.

“There are those who say the United States should not be the global policeman. …There are also those who say we cannot afford to be the global policeman,” Feldstein said at the annual AEI event at the National Building Museum. “But should we really be deterred from that role when the cost of our entire military budget—including the actions in Iraq and Afghanistan—is now less than 5 percent of our GDP? There is no danger of bankrupting ourselves by so-called ‘imperial overreach’ when we spend less than 5 percent of GDP on defense.”

While Feldstein focused much of his address on China as a blossoming super power, and the military and trade challenges posed by the rapid growth of China’s total GDP, he stressed that “the United States now faces current global threats that cannot be ignored.”

“…The president’s proposal to shrink defense spending to less than 4 percent of GDP in the current decade threatens our capabilities and sends the wrong message about our future strength.”

Feldstein, who sat on the president’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board from 2007 to 2009, said that while there is undoubtedly waste in defense budgets that is “unfortunately inherent” to lawmakers pushing such bills through appropriations, “cutting the defense budget would reduce our military capabilities rather than just removing waste.”

The former chief economic adviser to President Reagan who now sits on President Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board also didn’t give a pass to the commander in chief’s renewed focus on tax reform that hikes rates on upper income levels and encourages a “fair” society.

“While a fair distribution of tax burdens is important, we should reject the spiteful egalitarianism of those who would use high tax rates to reduce income inequality,” Feldstein said. “We should insist that reducing poverty and maintaining income mobility, not limiting inequality, are the appropriate goals of government policy.”

He added that “it is clear that we need tax reform to lower marginal tax rates and improve incentives for saving and investment.”

“Reforming all aspects of our tax system should be combined with bringing our budget deficits under control,” he said. “The unprecedented deficits that are now projected for the current decade and beyond will absorb most of private saving, crowding out productive investment and keeping the United States dependent on unreliable capital inflows from abroad.”

The president emeritus of the National Bureau of Economic Research also dove into the often-taboo Washington topic of entitlement reform.

“We cannot eliminate those deficits and the resulting explosion of the national debt by faster economic growth or by inflation,” Feldstein said. “We have to slow the growth of spending, particularly of the so-called entitlement programs for the future aged.”

Feldstein also gave an indirect hat tip to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) in advocating education reform that increased American productivity, saying that while higher education in America is good, primary and secondary schools are failing mainly due to lack of choice and “the power of monopoly teachers unions.”

“The recent willingness of state governors to stand up to public unions over budget issues gives me some optimism that someday they will focus on the seniority rules and other features that handicap our educational system,” Feldstein said.

http://blog.american.com/2011/05/feldstein-at-aei-dinner-being-global-policeman-wont-bankrupt-u-s/

[marektysis]

CARL BILDT
Declared Holdings
Relationship/Company Reported Shares Value
Director
Legg Mason, Inc. N/A
* Indicates shares held indirectly
******

Is Legg Mason ( not of left feet i hope) interested in military
furniture??? are they other shares possessed by him?
which are the Holding(look at the 's' of the title)?

Marek Tysis
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/lm/insiders?pid=16718

[marektysis]

Undersecretary of State Robert Hormats said on Tuesday such enterprises enjoy financial support and regulatory privileges and benefit from government efforts to limit foreign investment in certain sectors. -- PHOTO: GOLDMAN, SACHS & CO

WASHINGTON - A SENIOR US official has voiced concern about privileges enjoyed by China's state-backed enterprises and is saying a level playing field is necessary for American companies.

Undersecretary of State Robert Hormats said on Tuesday such enterprises enjoy financial support and regulatory privileges and benefit from government efforts to limit foreign investment in certain sectors.

He said such policies distort competition, and the US was raising the issue with China and encouraging them to adopt international standards.

Mr Hormats said 41 Chinese state-owned enterprises are among the Global Fortune top 500 companies.

He was speaking at the US Chamber of Commerce ahead of a high-level dialogue next week between the US and China on economic and strategic issues. -- AP

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Money/Story/STIStory_664629.html

[marektysis]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SCOREBOARD: Metals benderAdam Carr

Published 7:37 AM, 6 May 2011

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Something is seriously afoot in commodities land and there is simply no use in trying to rationalise it from a macroeconomic point of view. These moves have nothing to do with fundamentals – and they are huge. Crude fell 9.7 per cent on both Brent and WTI – that’s 9.7 per cent - the largest fall since the GFC. So currently, Brent stands at $109 while WTI is at $98, about $16 lower over two days. Truly remarkable. Silver was off another 11 per cent, gold fell about $50 to $1470 and copper was off 3.7 per cent.

Speculators have been scared off, but by what I don’t know – panic profit taking is the term being bandied. What I do know is that the headlines are way off the mark - the US data is not that bad, do not signal a sharp slowing in activity and indeed last night’s spike in jobless claims to 474,000 (week to April 30) from 431,000 was distorted by Easter. And just to show you how wonderfully powerful and awesome Easter actually is – US same-store chain sales rose by a whopping 8.5 per cent year-on-year in the month. The March-April period is the strongest sales period since 1999 apparently, not that this is being plugged in the press mind you.

Now regular readers will know my view that extremely loose monetary policy around the world has been a key factor driving commodities higher, some would argue that a correction was long overdue, bubbles were clearly underway it was a crowed trade etc, and that’s fine, it’s all true. But interest rates haven’t really changed so why correct now? That’s the bit I can’t figure out. I’ll put it down to the Bilderberg group for now – that’s the best I can come up with. So if you’ve got any insights please email me. It’ll be a welcome change from all the hate mail I usually get (other economists, retailers, hippies, crack addicts etc). I do think that the magnitude of the sell-off, certainly the speed, is overdone and we are facing a great buying opportunity if you're in for the longer term.

A higher US dollar is usually associated with weaker commodity prices and we certainly saw a stronger greenback last night – markedly so. The US dollar index was up 1.8 per cent with euro off over three big figures, that’s three, to 1.4527. Australian dollar was down 155 pips to 1.0571 (4 cents over the week), sterling dropped 162 pips to 1.6377 and the yen was little changed at 80.20. Huge moves, and they would have weighed on commodities but the issue is causality. Was US dollar buying just another symptom? I mean there were good reasons to see euro offered. The ECB held rates steady last night and rate hike expectations were pushed out after Trichet signalled that June was not on the cards– but three big ones? C’mon they’re still in tightening mode and they were always going to take it easy on the way up. Not sure it’s that much of a shock. The BoE held rates steady as well, but that wasn’t a surprise. After all, the BoE governor implies that the new bank target is the government’s fiscal stance.

I guess I don’t need to point out that equities didn’t exactly have a great session – nor that energy (-2.2 per cent) and basic materials (-1.5 per cent) led the way. At the close, the S&P 500 was off 0.9 per cent (1335) having been up 0.3 per cent at the high - no sector was spared. The Dow lost 139 points to sit at 12,584, the Nasdaq fell 0.5 per cent (2,814), while the SPI fell 0.7 per cent (4,717). European equities ranged between 1.1 per cent down on the FTSE and 0.04 per cent up on the Dax.

And finally for the price action, US treasuries were bid again for the sixth day in a row. From 1630, and on average volumes (approx), the yield on the 2-year fell 1bp to 0.58 per cent, the 5-year was down 5bps to 1.88 per cent and the 10-year was off 6bps to 3.16 per cent. Aussie futures were up 4 ticks on a 5-6 tick range. The 3s are at 94.99 and the 10s at 94.66.

Bits and pieces otherwise. Canadian building permits surged 17 per cent in March after a 9.8 per cent spike, but then the Ivy PMI dropped to 57.8 from 73.2 (which was a record high). The Fed’s Kocherlakota (been a dove lately) suggests the Fed should hike by year-end if forecasts materialise, but Lockhart reckons it’s premature to be looking at policy removal.

That’s about the lot. Today we get the RBA’s Statement on Monetary policy (1130). Look for upgrades to inflation and even longer term GDP forecasts, noting that short-term growth will be weak. Magnitude is key – how much will they revise up inflation? Well I’ll be stunned if they can keep headline under 3 this year and core will likely be revised up to 2.5 per cent mid year and 3 per cent by year-end (at the very least by June 2012). One thing I don’t expect them to discuss, as I heard one gumby on TV do this morning, is the prospect of an Australian recession.

Tonight look out for German industrial production and US payrolls – market looking for 180,000 in April with the unemployment rate expected to remain unchanged at 8.8 per cent.

Adam Carr is senior economist at ICAP Australia. See Business Spectator's glossary for definitions of technical terms used in SCOREBOARD article.

See Business spectator article dated may 6,2011
Marek tysis

[marektysis]

Greece Considers Exit from Euro Zone
By Christian Reiermann


REUTERS
A protest against austerity measures in Athens. Greece is considering leaving the euro zone, according to sources in the German government.
The debt crisis in Greece has taken on a dramatic new twist. Sources with information about the government's actions have informed SPIEGEL ONLINE that Athens is considering withdrawing from the euro zone. The common currency area's finance ministers and representatives of the European Commission are holding a secret crisis meeting in Luxembourg on Friday night.

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Greece's economic problems are massive, with protests against the government being held almost daily. Now Prime Minister George Papandreou apparently feels he has no other option: SPIEGEL ONLINE has obtained information from German government sources knowledgeable of the situation in Athens indicating that Papandreou's government is considering abandoning the euro and reintroducing its own currency.


Alarmed by Athens' intentions, the European Commission has called a crisis meeting in Luxembourg on Friday night. The meeting is taking place at Château de Senningen, a site used by the Luxembourg government for official meetings. In addition to Greece's possible exit from the currency union, a speedy restructuring of the country's debt also features on the agenda. One year after the Greek crisis broke out, the development represents a potentially existential turning point for the European monetary union -- regardless which variant is ultimately decided upon for dealing with Greece's massive troubles.

Given the tense situation, the meeting in Luxembourg has been declared highly confidential, with only the euro-zone finance ministers and senior staff members permitted to attend. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Jörg Asmussen, an influential state secretary in the Finance Ministry, are attending on Germany's behalf.

'Considerable Devaluation'

Sources told SPIEGEL ONLINE that Schäuble intends to seek to prevent Greece from leaving the euro zone if at all possible. He will take with him to the meeting in Luxembourg an internal paper prepared by the experts at his ministry warning of the possible dire consequences if Athens were to drop the euro.

"It would lead to a considerable devaluation of the new (Greek) domestic currency against the euro," the paper states. According to German Finance Ministry estimates, the currency could lose as much as 50 percent of its value, leading to a drastic increase in Greek national debt. Schäuble's staff have calculated that Greece's national deficit would rise to 200 percent of gross domestic product after such a devaluation. "A debt restructuring would be inevitable," his experts warn in the paper. In other words: Greece would go bankrupt.

It remains unclear whether it would even be legally possible for Greece to depart from the euro zone. Legal experts believe it would also be necessary for the country to split from the European Union entirely in order to abandon the common currency. At the same time, it is questionable whether other members of the currency union would actually refuse to accept a unilateral exit from the euro zone by the government in Athens.

What is certain, according to the assessment of the German Finance Ministry, is that the measure would have a disastrous impact on the European economy.

"The currency conversion would lead to capital flight," they write. And Greece might see itself as forced to implement controls on the transfer of capital to stop the flight of funds out of the country. "This could not be reconciled with the fundamental freedoms instilled in the European internal market," the paper states. In addition, the country would also be cut off from capital markets for years to come.

In addition, the withdrawal of a country from the common currency union would "seriously damage faith in the functioning of the euro zone," the document continues. International investors would be forced to consider the possibility that further euro-zone members could withdraw in the future. "That would lead to contagion in the euro zone," the paper continues.

Banks at Risk

Moreover, should Athens turn its back on the common currency zone, it would have serious implications for the already wobbly banking sector, particularly in Greece itself. The change in currency "would consume the entire capital base of the banking system and the country's banks would be abruptly insolvent." Banks outside of Greece would suffer as well. "Credit institutions in Germany and elsewhere would be confronted with considerable losses on their outstanding debts," the paper reads.


The European Central Bank (ECB) would also feel the effects. The Frankfurt-based institution would be forced to "write down a significant portion of its claims as irrecoverable." In addition to its exposure to the banks, the ECB also owns large amounts of Greek state bonds, which it has purchased in recent months. Officials at the Finance Ministry estimate the total to be worth at least €40 billion ($58 billion) "Given its 27 percent share of ECB capital, Germany would bear the majority of the losses," the paper reads.

In short, a Greek withdrawal from the euro zone and an ensuing national default would be expensive for euro-zone countries and their taxpayers. Together with the International Monetary Fund, the EU member states have already pledged €110 billion ($159.5 billion) in aid to Athens -- half of which has already been paid out.

"Should the country become insolvent," the paper reads, "euro-zone countries would have to renounce a portion of their claims."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,761201,00.html

You 'll have to insist to get this article

[marektysis]

Kissinger on Obama,
Osama, and Af-Pak

The question is not exit strategy, but war aims.




As the champagne is shelved and the United States confronts a post–bin Laden world, Henry Kissinger foresees challenges for President Obama.

The looming question, Kissinger says in an interview with National Review Online, is whether the president can articulate broad foreign-policy objectives. Taking out the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks, he says, is impressive, but it is not the finish line.

“As a general proposition, the administration has lacked a strategic design, or a discernible strategic design,” Kissinger says. “It has operated more on the tactical than on the strategic level. But with its standing having been improved by the operation against bin Laden, they may have an opportunity to rectify this, to some extent.”
Kissinger, who served as the chief foreign-policy architect for presidents Nixon and Ford, applauds the president for deciding to withhold the photos of bin Laden. “I agreed with that,” Kissinger says. “The issue if the photos are released isn’t so much fear of retaliation — those who want to retaliate don’t need much additional incentive. But it is not in our interests to create, by a deliberate governmental policy, a picture that can be used for martyrdom around the Islamic world.”

Kissinger would like to see Obama continue in this vein, reasserting U.S. aims and sidestepping minor political scuffles. “Relations of the United States with the Islamic world will depend on the general perception that we are conducting policies that show that we are master of events,” he says. “To the extent that the killing of Osama bin Laden reflects this, it may create opportunity. On the whole, I think that it has been an extremely positive development.”

At first blush, Kissinger points out that the end of bin Laden means little in terms of snuffing out al-Qaeda. Instead, he argues, the windfall from the successful mission will be a renewed sense of American influence in a region where U.S. policy has at times come up short.

“Operationally, the general view seems to be that bin Laden was not in active operational control anymore. But symbolically, as the head of the movement, his death has a blighting effect,” Kissinger observes. In the Arab world, “the anti-American outburst that one could have expected has not taken place. That, too, is a very positive result.”

This does not mean that Obama should coast on the initial goodwill. The president, he says, must use his political capital to sharpen his administration’s policy in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/266599/kissinger-obama-osama-and-af-pak-robert-costa

[marektysis]

Eni's Board of Directors appoints Paolo Scaroni as Chief Executive Officer and the members of the Bo
06/05/2011 09:24 (1 Day 05:13 minutes ago)

The FINANCIAL -- Rome , May 6 2011 – Eni's Board of Directors today appointed Paolo Scaroni as Chief Executive Officer and General Manager.
In this role he will be responsible for the management of the company, with the exception of specific responsibilities that are reserved for the Board of Directors and those that are not to be delegated according to the current legislation.

Eni's Board has confirmed the continuation of the powers of Giuseppe Recchi, the Chairman, to identify and promote integrated projects and international agreements of strategic importance, as provided for under the By-Laws.

The Board also ascertained, on the basis of the declarations released by the Directors and of the information available to the Company, that all Directors have the requirements of honour as required by current law, that causes for their ineligibility and incompatibility do not exist and that all Directors (in particular Gatto, Lorenzi, Marchioni, Petri, Profumo, Resca and Taranto) have, except for the President and the Chief Executive Officer, the independence requirements set by law and Eni's Corporate Governance Code.

In particular, with reference to the marital relationship of the Director Profumo with an employee of the Company, the Board considered that this relationship does not absolutely compromise the independence requirements requested by Eni Corporate Governance Code, in consideration of the ethical and professional rigour of this Director and of his international reputation.

The Board of Directors has also appointed Mario Resca (as Chairman), Carlo Cesare Gatto, Roberto Petri and Alessandro Profumo as members of the Compensation Committee, all non-executive and independent directors as requested by Eni's Corporate Governance Code; Alessandro Lorenzi (as Chairman), Carlo Cesare Gatto, Paolo Marchioni and Francesco Taranto as members of the Internal Control Committee, all non-executive and independent directors as requested by Eni's Corporate Governance Code; Alessandro Profumo (as Chairman), Alessandro Lorenzi, Paolo Marchioni, Roberto Petri, Mario Resca and Francesco Taranto as members of the Oil - Gas Energy Committee, all non-executive and independent directors as requested by Eni's Corporate Governance Code.

The Board also ascertained that the auditors met the requirements of honour as set out by the Ministerial Decree no. 162 of March 30, 2000, as specified by art. 28.1 of the by-laws, as well as the independence requirements as set by law and by Eni's Corporate Governance Code.

http://finchannel.com/news_flash/Banks/86396_Eni's_Board_of_Directors_appoints_Paolo_Scaroni_as_Chief_Executive_Officer_and_the_members_of_the_Bo/

[marektysis]

Europe's test in north Africa
By Peter Sutherland
06.05.2011 / 12:33 CET
Europe needs policies that help train north Africans and allow them to circulate more freely between Europe and their home countries.
Europe's reaction to the historic revolutions in north Africa has vacillated between exhilaration and fear. The natural instinct to celebrate and support democratisation across the Mediterranean has been tempered by concerns that the crisis will spill onto European shores.
A few leaders have invoked the post-Second World War Marshall Plan as a model for large-scale European development assistance for the region, the aim being to ensure the sustainability of a democratic transformation and generate long-term political and economic benefits for Europe. But the mainstream reaction has been much more fearful: media and politicians throughout the European Union are obsessing about the threat of waves of migrants reaching their borders.

Such a threat should not be taken lightly. Already, the controversy over Tunisian migrants in Italy has started to fray the political underpinnings that allow free movement in the Schengen area. The war in Libya, meanwhile, could lead to many more thousands of civilians fleeing the violence and needing international protection.

So far, nearly 400,000 people have filled refugee camps in Tunisia and Egypt, and an estimated 20,000 have reached Italy's shores. Dealing with any surge of asylum-seekers will require the EU to strengthen its capacity to offer temporary protection – and possibly to reconsider how its overall asylum system works. That the Union has been moving towards a common approach to border security, most visibly with the expansion of the Frontex border agency, will be of help here.

But if Europe allows itself to be consumed by the short-term crisis, it risks squandering an extraordinary long-term opportunity. By using this moment strategically and wisely, the EU would have a chance to reframe its relationship with the southern Mediterranean (as it is being redubbed) to promote generational development and growth in ways that can address Europe's interests, too.

Incentives
The best way to allay European fears and prevent uncontrolled migration is to establish positive incentives, and the practical means, for potential migrants to stay home – most significantly by creating jobs in the southern Mediterranean. After all, the vast majority of migrants leave home reluctantly.

Yet, at the same time, as its baby-boomers retire en masse in the coming decade, Europe will need workers at all skill levels. The southern Mediterranean can be the source of this labour, given its huge youth bulge. The trick will be to ensure that migrants are given the chance to acquire the skills that European employers need, and that they have the chance to move in a safe, legal, and orderly fashion.

Policies that help train the next generation of north Africans, and allow them to circulate more freely between Europe and their home countries, are a much smarter solution than the current approach, which sustains illegal migration without meeting Europe's labour needs. This is an argument not for more migration, but for better migration – well thought out and planned.

Of course, if Europe helps north Africa build sustainable, prosperous democracies, this would be the greatest long-term deterrent to illegal migration of all. It is worth recalling that 50 years ago, the largest immigrant populations in northern Europe hailed from Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain. As those countries prospered, the émigrés returned home: their countries eventually became engines of European growth, and major export markets for Germany, France, and other EU member states. The same arc of development can and should be limned for the southern Mediterranean.

Strengthening ties

Fortunately, research on migration and development in recent years has helped foster a range of policy tools that Europe should be considering. Experts and policymakers have been devising many innovative programmes, including low-cost remittances from migrants to their home countries, efforts to strengthen ties between diasporas and their homelands, and initiatives that help skilled migrants find proper employment, so that qualified surgeons are not driving taxis.

In thinking about how to reframe the EU's relationship with the southern Mediterranean, we should draw on these ideas as expansively as possible. In order to connect our societies in positive ways, we should seriously consider liberalising trade regimes, opening new avenues for legal migration, and vastly expanding the number of students from the region who come to Europe for education and professional training.

After all, it was the youth of north Africa, both at home and abroad, whose notions of freedom helped bring down dictators in Egypt and Tunisia. Their talents and energy should now be cultivated and harnessed to help rebuild their societies.

Responding to the challenges and opportunities of this moment demands the creation of strong partnerships among states, international institutions, and non-governmental actors. Since its inception in 2006, the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) has provided a much-needed platform for dialogue among states and other stakeholders on issues related to migration and development. Its annual plenary sessions facilitate the exchange of experiences and good practices in a way that transcends traditional ‘North-South' conflicts.

Among other changes that it has spurred, the GFMD has compelled governments to understand migration more holistically, and to develop a ‘whole of government' approach to addressing the opportunities and challenges that it poses. It also has highlighted the importance to development of protecting migrant rights and of fighting illegal migration.

The Global Forum has done its job by generating and fostering ideas that can make migration benefit the development of countries of origin and destination. It is high time that these ideas are implemented. There could be no greater opportunity for doing so than this strategically crucial window in the history of Europe and the southern Mediterranean. If we do not seize this moment for action, history could well pass us by.

Peter Sutherland is special representative of the United Nations secretary-general for migration, a former director-general of the World Trade Organization and a former European commissioner. © Project Syndicate, 2011.
http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/2011/may/europe-s-test-in-north-africa/71008.aspx

[marektysis]

Please write to Mr Zachariah Fareed...if the were not behind closed
doors, it should be a banal conference.He invites us to ask him questions.do it and report here...

Marek Tysis
*******************************************
Why do we embrace conspiracy theories?
by Fareed Zakaria, CNN

A number of you on Facebook and Twitter have been asking
me about the “birthers” and “deathers” (the former question
Obama’s birth; the latter question bin Laden’s death).
These questions got me thinking about the prevalence of conspiracy theories in America and around the world.
Here’s what I think:

The propensity of Americans to embrace conspiracy
theories has long been attributed to their great suspicion
of state authority. America was founded as a revolt against centralized power and there has always been a fear of coordinated action taking place in the dark behind closed doors. American conspiracy
theories implicate Wall Street, the Federal Reserve,
the U.S. government, the intelligence community and
many others. But conspiracy theories are certainly not
confined to the United States.
Pakistan is rife with them. A leading Pakistani journalist,
Jugnu Mohsin (who will be on GPS this Sunday at 10am ET/PT), attributes conspiracy theories in her country to a population that feels
deeply disenfranchised. There are so many double and
triple games being played on them by the Pakistani military
and the Pakistani establishment that it breeds conspiracy theories.
The Arab world is also full of conspiracy theories and many analysts blame them on the prevalence of dictatorships.

Conspiracy theories are indeed an odd phenomenon since
they are widely present in the world’s leading democracies
and the world’s leading dictatorships. They can’t be entirely
related to political institutions.

There must be something deep in the human psyche that
makes us believe there are patterns to events – order, purpose and meaning.


The simplest alternate explanation to a conspiracy
theory is usually incompetence. When people say,
“Why did these things happen?” and then point to a series
of seemingly implausible events, it’s usually because
the government messed up. The right arm didn’t know
what the left arm was doing. Government is made
of human beings. They are remarkably ordinary
in their ability to make mistakes.

There is also a certain amount of life which is luck, chance,
coincidence and happenstance. You can’t always divine some larger pattern from the fact that two events seem related or happened in the same month. Often it is just chance.

As you see, I’m not particularly partial to conspiracy theories.

I can’t tell you how many times people ask me about
the conspiracy of the Bilderberg Group. It is a conference I’ve occasionally been invited to and have attended once or twice.

If only the people who wrote the alarmist treatises on the Bilderberg Group were allowed in. They would be so utterly disappointed.
It’s just a conference like dozens of others around the world.
And anyway, the idea that a finance minister or a banker would say something with a group of 150 people that is any different
than what he would say in public is crazy in today's world
where everything leaks instantly. In my experience,
they say the same fairly banal platitudes inside as they say outside.
So on the few occasions in my life when I’ve been inside centers of the conspiracy, I’ve been disappointed and relieved
to find they were pretty much like the world on the outside.

Those are my thoughts. I invite you to join me on
Facebook and Twitter to pose questions and continue
the conversation.

Post by:

CNN's Fareed Zakaria
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/06/why-do-we-embrace-conspiracy-theories/

[marektysis]

THE SECRET CABAL
PART 10
[ have a look on the site and add it as favourite]


By Dr. Stanley Monteith
May 7, 2011
NewsWithViews.com

Last time, we discussed the origin of World War I. Cecil Rhodes, Alfred Milner, and most of the members of their cabal, were either Masons, or involved in other occult organizations. In addition, a German Mason told the Kaiser the Grand Orient Freemasonic lodge orchestrated the events that led up to the Great War.

I believe both groups were involved, but they were aided by leaders in other nations who were involved in the occult. [1]

What part did the Milner Group (Rhodes' secret society) play? Sir Edward Grey, the British Foreign Secretary, was closely affiliated with the Milner Group; he got Russia and France to sign secret agreements that committed them to join England if there was a major war in Europe. Several years later, when World War I was imminent, Sir Edward Grey denied the existence of the secret agreements because the Cabinet and the British people didn't want to be involved in a European war. [2]

Professor Quigley researched that period. He admired the idealistic goal of the Milner Group (the Cecil Bloc), but they weren't concerned about the consequences of their actions. Professor Quigley wrote (in his book, The Anglo-American Establishment):

"The second generation of the Cecil Bloc was famous at the time. . . . This group, flitting about from one great country house to another or from one spectacular social event to another in the town houses of their elders, has been preserved for posterity in the auto- biographical volumes of Margot Tennant Asquith. . . . "The frivolity of this group can be seen in Margot Tennant's statement that she obtained for Milner his appointment to the chairmanship of the Board of Inland Revenue in 1892 merely by writing to Balfour and asking for it after she had a too brief romantic interlude with Milner in Egypt. As a respected scholar of my acquaintance has said, this group did everything in a frivolous fashion including entering the Boer War and the First World War." [3]

Professor Quigley described the terrifying power of the Milner Group:

"The influence of Chatham House appears in its true perspective, not as the influence of an autonomous body but as merely one of many instruments in the arsenal of another power. When the influence which the Institute wields is combined with that controlled by the Milner Group in other fields - in education, in administration, in newspapers and periodicals - a really terrifying picture begins to emerge. This picture is called terrifying not because the power of the Milner Group was used for evil ends. It was not. On the contrary, it was generally used with the best intentions in the world - even if those intentions were so idealistic as to be almost academic. The picture is terrifying because such power, whatever the goals at which it may be directed, is too much to be entrusted safely to any group. . . . No country that values its safety should allow what the Milner Group accomplished in Britain - that is, that a small number of men should be able to wield such power in administration and politics, should be given almost complete control over the publication of the documents relating to their actions, should be able to exercise such influence over the avenues of information that create public opinion, and should be able to monopolize so completely the writing and the teaching of the history of their own period." [4]

Very little has changed since that time. Cecil Rhodes' secret society incited the Boer War and spawned the Milner Group (1902), the Milner Group spawned the Round Table Group (1909), the Round Table Group incited World War I and spawned the Royal Institute of International Affairs (1919) and the Council on Foreign Relations (1921), and the CFR and the RIIA spawned the Bilderberg Group in 1954, and the Trilateral Commission in 1973. At the present time the organizations (the CFR, the RIIA, the Bilderberg Group, and the TC), have "almost complete control over the publication of the documents relating to their actions," they "exercise . . . influence over the avenues of information that create public opinion," and they "monopolize . . . completely the writing and the teaching of the history of their own period." [5]

How did Sir Edward Grey precipitate the First World War? Kaiser Wilhelm wrote;

"Declasse also has a large share in the guilt for the World War, and Grey an even larger share, since he was the spiritual leader of the 'encirclement policy,' which he faithfully pushed forward and brought to completion." [6]


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Dr. Dennis Cuddy researched that period, and wrote:

"June 28: Austrio-Hungarian archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated, and this serves as the catalyst for the beginning of World War I. On July 20 and 29, (1914 - ed) British secretary of state Sir Edward Grey ('close to the Milner Group politically, intellectually, and socially,' according to Prof. Quigley) will make certain statements to the German ambassador to England (Prince Karl Max Lichnowsky) that do not make it clear Britain will enter the conflict (World War I) if Germany goes to war." [7]

Sir Edward Grey devised the "encirclement policy" that led to World War I in 1905. He implemented the policy when he became Foreign Secretary in 1906, and he deceived the Kaiser in 1914 because Grey didn't want the Kaiser to mediate the dispute between Serbia and Austria. [8]

One of the best sources of information on the events that took place at that time is Ambassador Gerard's book, My First Eighty-three Years in America. James Gerard was U.S. Ambassador to Germany in 1914, and, although he wasn't aware of the covert agenda of the Milner Group, he recognized the fact that Sir Edward Grey precipitated the Great War.

Ambassador Gerard wrote:

"In this question of the outbreak of war, it must be noted that Sir Edward Grey missed a great opportunity. If, in the beginning, he had told the German Ambassador that England would go to war against Germany . . . the world might have been spared a great war - a war which sowed the seeds of another and greater one twenty-five years after." [9]

Austria declared war on Serbia on July 28, Germany invaded Belgium on August 3, and Ambassador Gerard visited Kaiser Wilhelm on August 10.

Ambassador Gerard wrote:

"Early in August 1914 President Wilson sent me a message through the State Department stating that the United States stood ready at any time to mediate between the warring powers. He directed me to present this proposal to the Emperor in person. An audience with the Emperor (the Kaiser - ed) was arranged for me for the morning of August 10. The Emperor was seated at an iron table in the little garden of the palace in Berlin. . . . In formal language I made my offer. It was declined.
Then the Emperor asked me to sit down and talk to him. . . .

The Emperor, on one of the few occasions that I saw him in a thoughtful mood, hesitated for a moment and then said slowly, 'No, the coming in of the English has changed the whole situation.
They are an obstinate race. They will never stop fighting.'



After some further discussion the Emperor said he would send a personal message to President Wilson in answer to his offer. He then wrote in pencil, on some large telegraph blanks lying on the table, a personal message to the President. . . . Of the most historical interest is that part of the message referring to Sir Edward Grey, the British Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the violation of Belgian neutrality.

The message was as follows:

For the President of the United States personally: 10/VIII 14.

1. H.R.H. Prince Henry was received by his Majesty King George V in London, who empowered him to transmit to me verbally, that England would remain neutral if war broke out on the Continent involving Germany and France, Austria and Russia. This message was telegraphed to me by my brother from London after his conversation with H.M. the King, and repeated verbally on the twenty-ninth of July." [10]

The King's message convinced Kaiser Wilhelm there wouldn't be a major war, so the Kaiser didn't try to mediate the dispute between Serbia and Austria. Why did the King of England deceive his cousin? [11] More about that next week.

Footnotes:

1. Carroll Quigley, The Anglo-American Establishment, Books in Focus, 1981, p. 31.
2. Viscount Grey of Fallodon, Twenty-Five Years: 1892-1916, Frederick A. Stokes Company, Volume II, New York, 1926, pp. 15-17. See Also this.
3. Quigley, op. cit., p. 31.
4. Ibid., p. 197.
5. Barry Goldwater, With No Apologies, William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1979, pp. 280-286.
6. Wilhelm II, The Kaiser's Memoirs, Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York, 1922, p. 257.
7. Dr. Dennis Cuddy, The Globalists: The Power Elite Exposed, Hearthstone Publishing, P.O. Box 815, Oklahoma City, 2001, p. 32.
8. Bertrand Russell, Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, Routledge, New York, 1967, p. 156.
9. James W. Gerard, My First Eight-three Years in America, Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1951, p. 218.
10. Ibid., p. 217.
11. First world war.

Click here for part -----> 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, (continuation)

© 2011 Dr. Stanley Monteith - All Rights Reserved
http://www.newswithviews.com/Monteith/stanley109.htm

[marektysis]

Foundations: New form of public corruption
Published• Sun, May 08, 2011
By Shea Howell
Special to Michigan Citizen

We need a moratorium on corporate charter schools.

This week, the Center for Public Integrity and “Newsweek” published an analysis of the effectiveness of philanthropy in improving education. They conclude that these efforts have failed. Evidence does not support the idea that corporate charter schools will do anything to improve the education of our children.

The report raises serious questions about the vision for public education that is being forced on us through the manipulations of the emergency manager.

DPS EM Robert Bobb needs to slow down before he destroys many of the most loved, supported, visionary and needed public schools in Detroit.

The drive to charterize schools appears to stem from the egos of men with money, none of whom has any experience in education. “Newsweek” explains “the billionaires boys club” of Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Eli Broad and the Walton Family have directed $4.4 billion in tax-free foundation dollars at public education.

What have they achieved? According to the new study, “The results, though mixed, are dispiriting proof that money alone can’t repair the desperate state of urban education. For all the millions spent on reforms, nine of the 10 school districts studied substantially trailed their state’s proficiency and graduation rates — often by 10 points or more.”

The article documents the $900 million tax-free dollars spent on charter schools by these four foundations and concludes, “The charters failed to outperform traditional schools.” In Milwaukee, “reading scores were mostly flat over the past five years … in math, elementary and middle-school gains were stronger than in the rest of Wisconsin, but high school proficiency dropped two points.”

This is one more study informing us that the relentless drive to charterize schools by foundations and Bobb is an ill thought-out move. It is a move based on bad reasoning and is not supported by any evidence.

There is a more sinister reason than ego for the push to charterize. Money. Corporations are using foundations to expand their businesses. Gates and Dell have found new markets in the charter schools they use foundations to push.

A few days before the Center for Public Integrity/”Newsweek” study was released questioning the effectiveness of charters, the New York Times reported on a Gates Foundation partnership with the Pearson Foundation, related to Prentice Hall textbooks.

Together they are creating “online reading and math courses aligned with the new academic standards that some 40 states have adopted.” These new standards are called the “common core” and were heavily promoted by Gates. Now he is developing digital materials that have the potential to “fundamentally change the way students and teachers interact in the classroom.”

So we see a future of computer-based classes set up in charter schools, where public money is used to buy Microsoft software and Dell computers for every child, so they can advance on their standardized tests, also provided by foundation partners. The decisions to use the software and computers are being made by people who are paid by the Broad Foundation, in schools endorsed by them. And the Broad Foundation is supported by the Gates Foundation.

All of this is especially important in Detroit because Broad-paid Bobb has hired the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA). This so-called non-profit organization will decide who gets charters in Detroit. NACSA is funded by Gates, Dell, Walton and Robertson Foundations.

This is a new form of public corruption. It makes the robber barons of old seem benign. In the guise of educating our children, these new robber barons have found a way to use tax-free money to capture public dollars to fuel corporate profits.
http://michigancitizen.com/foundations-new-form-of-public-corruption-p9787-1.htm

[marektysis]

Harvard-Connected Lobbying Group Confesses to Illegally Helping Gaddafi
Monday, May 09, 2011

Mark Fuller, resgned as Monitor CEO last week The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating a Harvard-connected consulting firm for helping the government of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi without complying with federal law.

Monitor Group, an international consulting firm headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has admitted it violated the Foreign Agent Registration Act by failing to register that it was lobbying on behalf of Gaddafi’s regime.

In one document released by The National Conference of the Libyan Opposition, Monitor stated that one of its goals was “to introduce Muammar Qadhafi as a thinker and intellectual, independent of his more widely-known and very public persona as the Leader of the Revolution in Libya.”

The firm earned millions of dollars for directing Libya’s publicity campaign after it was revealed that Libyan forces tortured Bulgarian nurses doing humanitarian work in Libya. Monitor Group also advised the regime on restructuring the Libyan secret police to make it more efficient, and it arranged for prominent Americans and others to visit Libya and meet with Gaddafi. These included Joseph Nye, the former Dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard; Robert Putnam, a professor at Harvard; Richard Perle, who was Chairman of the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee under President George W. Bush; and political economist Francis Fukuyama.

One of Monitor Group’s founders is Harvard professor Michael Porter, who helped the firm secure deals with Libya. Some university faculty members have called for Porter’s censure after learning of his work helping the Libyan dictatorship.
-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

Monitor Group Admits Breaking Federal Law with Illegal Lobbying for Libya (by Michael Richardson, Boston Progressive Examiner)
Law Expert Says Monitor Group Likely Under Probe by Dept. of Justice over Libya (by Michael Richardson, Boston Progressive Examiner)
Justice Department Ignored Monitor Group Failure to Disclose Libya Connection (by Michael Richardson, Boston Progressive Examiner)
http://www.allgov.com/US_and_the_World/ViewNews/Harvard_Connected_Lobbying_Group_Confesses_to_Illegally_Helping_Gaddafi_110509

[marektysis]

http://www.daylife.com/photo/01nv9Do0CQceo?__site=daylife

[marektysis]

10 May 2011
Ministry for Foreign Affairs


Carl Bildt to attend meeting on future of Arctic in Greenland
How should the world respond to climate change in the Arctic? And how should we deal with increased demand for the natural resources hidden below the ice? This week, foreign ministers from the countries surrounding the North Pole are to meet to discuss these and other decisive issues facing the region. The meeting, which takes place on 12 May in the Greenland capital, Nuuk, is part of the work of the Arctic Council, which Sweden is soon to lead.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt arrives in Greenland on Wednesday evening. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergej Lavrov are also expected to attend the meeting. The five Nordic countries, along with the US, Russia, Canada and representatives of indigenous peoples, participate in the Arctic Council. Among the issues on the agenda are the momentous changes in the climate, the life of indigenous peoples, and how joint sea rescue operations can be coordinated.

The climate issue in particular is especially acute in the Arctic, since temperatures have risen twice as fast there compared with the rest of the world. And when the ice melts, larger areas are opened up to exploitation. During the two-year Swedish Chairmanship, which begins when the foreign ministers meeting is rounded up on Thursday, Sweden wants to see a coherent policy for dealing with these issues.

"The Arctic is facing decisive changes at present. A responsible, joint policy for the region is the alpha and omega, and not only for the countries around the North Pole," says Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt.

On Thursday, the same day as the ministerial meeting, Sweden is to launch the priorities for its Chairmanship as well as a national strategy for the Arctic. The texts will be posted on ud.se/arctic on Thursday morning, just after 09.00.

There will be opportunities for telephone interviews with Carl Bildt and Arctic Ambassador Gustaf Lind in connection with the ministerial meeting. Please contact Press Secretary Anna Charlotta Johansson for more information. A press conference will be held in connection with the meeting in Nuuk when Sweden assumes the Chairmanship, at approximately 17.00 (local time) on Thursday.

Video footage from the press conference, as well as interviews with Carl Bildt and other participating foreign ministers, will be posted on thenewsmarket.com/swedenchannel. If the internet connection in Nuuk allows, this will material be posted on Thursday afternoon and evening (Swedish time).

Contact
Anna Charlotta Johansson
(journalists only) Press Secretary to Carl Bildt
work +46 8 405 54 73
cell +46 70 356 30 32
email to Anna Charlotta Johansson
http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/14759/a/168132