What is very interesting about this is that Mack is the only guy on Wall Street the Chinese leadership really trusts. There is no real difference between Goldman Sachs, Citi-Bank (the original Black Eagle Trust holder) and Morgan, although Mack does seem considerably more classy, and perhaps more able to get a grip on reality going into the future.
Phi Beta Iota: We are NOT making this up. People from around the world are starting to send us this stuff, and we love it–this clearly demonstrates the power of public intelligence in the aggregate, and the importance of multiniational information-sharing and multinational sense-making, the bulk of which is not now and never will be “secret.” We would not be at all surprised to start seeing Goldman Sachs and Bank of New York executives dying like flies, with former Secretaries of the Treasury and Chairs (and NY Governors) of the Federal Reserve having pride of place on the hit list. The Russians and Chinese (and soon the Indians) all have a right to take “extreme exception” to the state-sponsored crimes the above document discusses.
BullionVault says: Accredited custodians only take in bars from other accredited vaults, and metal only enters the system from accredited refiners. Even when they bear the correct bar stamps, large gold bars are not usually accepted from people outside the Good Delivery circuit, which is why taking a Good Delivery bar into private possession seriously dents its value.
Phi Beta Iota: Hubris cannot be discounted, and since the Federal Reserve is part of the Good Delivery Circuit and its integrity has been severely impugned, this issue must join the matter of pre-9-11 gold evacuation from the World Trade Center as requiring further investigation.
Phi Beta Iota: Read the report and draw your own conclusions. On balance we give it a C+ [this is actually a complement] in part because it cost too much to get to this point, neglects all Chinese and other language sources, neglects or is unaware of the non-military capabilites, and is completely lacking in context–the Chinese are NOT emphasizing attack IW as much as capture and exploit IW, in all the languages we do not comprehend, and for the purpose of waging peace and conquering, with soft power, the entire Southern Hemisphere. Our two-pager on Chinese Irregular Warfare is free and more policy-relevant. See also:
On Oct. 21, the incoming commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, Adm. Robert F. Willard, made a little-noticed but astonishing accusation to reporters in Seoul:
“I would contend that in the past decade or so, China has exceeded most of our intelligence estimates of their military capability and capacity every year. They've grown at an unprecedented rate in those capabilities.”
Michael Gaddy LouRockwell.com October 20, 2009Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of our quest for empire over the past six decades realizes that Obama’s contemplation of whether to send additional troops to Afghanistan is simply those who control him providing Obama with the opportunity to look “presidential.” The decision to send additional troops was reached prior to the situational comedy of General McChrystal’s leaked “confidential report” to the Washington Post and Obama’s National Security Advisor’s public admonishment of McChrystal’s failure to follow the chain of command. All of this is nothing but a well-rehearsed, though poorly camouflaged hoax. Additional troops will be sent to Afghanistan within a very short period of time and Obama really has no say in the matter. The question is: why?
The United States should first put an end to the war. The anti-terror war, which the former US administration of George W Bush launched in 2001, has turned out to be the source of ceaseless turbulence and violence in the past years.
To promote much-needed reconciliation among the parties concerned, the US should end its military action. The war has neither brought the Islamic nation peace and security as the Bush administration originally promised, nor brought any tangible benefits to the US itself. On the contrary, the legitimacy of the US military action has been under increasing doubt.
Full Story Online
India Comments: China maps an end to the Afghan war
The China Daily makes several important points. First, it bluntly calls on Washington to forthwith bring the US military operations in Afghanistan to an end. There are no caveats here while making this demand, no alibis. Simply put, the war has only resulted in aggravating the political and social turmoil Afghanistan causing great turbulence and violence and it has brought neither peace and stability as the administration promised nor any “tangible benefits” to the US itself. “On the contrary, the legitimacy of the US militaryaction has been under increasing doubt.”
Clearly, therefore, the urgent necessity arises to promote reconciliation among the warring Afghan groups and this effort needs to commence with the US forthwith ending its military operations.
Phi Beta Iota: The USA would appear to be in a quagmire of its own making, one very likely to terminate the Obama Administration's aspirations for a second term.
Phi Beta Iota: First, tip of the hat to the New York Times for open persistent URLs. Bravo! We strongly recommend a reading of the entire pieceat the NYT website. Shame on the USA for not living up to the Founding Father's aspirations for a wise government and an engaged public. No one now working for the White House can recite the ten high-level threats, the twelve core policies that must be harmonized, or the eight demographic challengers–including China–who we should be helping devise the World Brain with embedded EarthGame. US voters are slow to anger, but that anger will rise in 2010 and crest in 2012.
Op-Ed Contributor: Eight Idas Behind China's Success
By ZHANG WEI-WEI, Published: September 30, 2009
EXTRACT: Critics of China like to claim that despite its economic success, the country has no “big ideas” to offer. But to this author, it is precisely big ideas that have shaped China’s dramatic rise. Here are eight such ideas:
