The G20 Moves the World Closer to a GLOBAL Currency
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A single clause in Point 19 of the communiqué issued by the G20 leaders amounts to revolution in the global financial order.
"We have agreed to support a general SDR allocation which will inject $250bn (£170bn) into the world economy and increase global liquidity," it said. SDRs are Special Drawing Rights, a synthetic paper currency issued by the International Monetary Fund that has lain dormant for half a century.
In effect, the G20 leaders have activated the IMF's power to create money and begin global "quantitative easing". In doing so, they are putting a de facto world currency into play. It is outside the control of any sovereign body. Conspiracy theorists will love it.
It has been a good summit for the IMF. Its fighting fund for crises is to be tripled overnight to $750bn. This is real money.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the managing director, said in February that the world was "already in Depression" and risked a slide into social disorder and military conflict unless political leaders resorted to massive stimulus.
He has not won everything he wanted. The spending plan was fudged. While Gordon Brown talked of $5 trillion in global stimulus by 2010, this is mostly made up of packages already under way.
But Mr Strauss-Kahn at least has resources fit for his own task. He will need them. The IMF is already bailing out Pakistan, Iceland, Latvia, Hungary, Ukraine, Belarus, Serbia, Bosnia and Romania. This week Mexico became the first G20 state to ask for help. It has secured a precautionary credit line of $47bn.
Gordon Brown said it took 15 years for the world to grasp the nettle after Great Crash in 1929. "This time I think people will agree that it has been different," he said.
President Barack Obama was less dramatic. "I think we did OK," he said. Bretton Woods in 1944 was a simpler affair. "Just Roosevelt and Churchill sitting in a room with a brandy, that's an easy negotiation, but that's not the world we live in."
There will be $250bn in trade finance to kick-start shipping after lenders cut back on Letters of Credit after September's heart attack in the banking system. Global trade volumes fell at annual rate of 41pc from November to January, according to Holland's CPB institute – the steepest peacetime fall on record.
Euphoria swept emerging markets yesterday as the first reports of the IMF boost circulated. Investors now know that countries like Mexico can arrange a credit facility able to cope with major shocks – and do so on supportive terms, rather than the hair-shirt deflation policies of the old IMF. Fear is receding again.
The Russians had hoped their idea to develop SDRs as a full reserve currency to challenge the dollar would make its way on to the agenda, but at least they got a foot in the door.
There is now a world currency in waiting. In time, SDRs are likely evolve into a parking place for the foreign holdings of central banks, led by the People's Bank of China. Beijing's moves this week to offer $95bn in yuan currency swaps to developing economies show how fast China aims to break dollar dependence.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the summit had achieved more than he ever thought possible, and praised Gordon Brown for pursuing the collective interest as host rather than defending "Anglo-Saxon" interests. This has a double-edged ring, for it suggests that Mr Brown may have traded pockets of the British financial industry to satisfy Franco-German demands. The creation of a Financial Stability Board looks like the first step towards a global financial regulator. The devil is in the details.
Hedge funds deemed "systemically important" will come under draconian restraints. How this is enforced will determine whether Mayfair's hedge-fund industry – 80pc of all European funds are there – will continue to flourish.
It seems that hedge funds have been designated for ritual sacrifice, even though they played no more than a cameo role in the genesis of this crisis. It was not they who took on extreme debt leverage: it was the banks – up to 30 times in the US and nearer 60 times for some in Europe that used off-books "conduits" to increase their bets. The market process itself is sorting this out in any case – brutally – forcing banks to wind down their leverage. The problem right now is that this is happening too fast.
But to the extent that this G20 accord makes it impossible for the "shadow banking" to resurrect itself in the next inevitable cycle of risk appetite, it may prevent another disaster of this kind.
The key phrase is "new rules aimed at avoiding excessive leverage and forcing banks to put more money aside during good times." This is more or less what the authorities agreed after the Depression. Complacency chipped away at the rules as the decades passed. It is the human condition, and we can't change that.
The G20 moves the world a step closer to a global currency - Telegraph
Holland Sex Drugs & Democracy [google]-465648840778949581[/google]
Quote:
[SIZE=-1]WRITE THE TRUTH ON THE MONEY!!
Only write on the light border of all your bills, as not to deface them, subsequently keeping them in circulation. Use their own control and tyranny against them. Allow our founding fathers to speak of freedom once again and the paper will leave your hand carrying true value, knowledge.
Write things like, “9/11 was an inside job. Osama works for the CIA. That's why they Cut & Run whenever they are close to catching him”, etc. anything to get the message out and inspire people to open their eyes.
Do not deface the bills as they will be destroyed[/SIZE]
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111135/
Police Warn of G20 Protest Scale Anyone going down to this?
Known activists are planning in an "unprecedented" way ahead of next month's G20 summit in London, the Metropolitan Police have warned.
Cdr Bob Broadhurst, in charge of the policing operation, said anarchists and environmentalists were plotting a series of demonstrations.
Groups active in the late 1990s were re-emerging and forming new alliances to protest at the meeting, he said.
The operation will involve thousands of officers and cost an estimated £7.2m.
He said there was no intelligence to suggest there was a terrorist attack planned, but there was evidence that groups not seen since the 1990s, such as direct action exponents Reclaim the Streets and the Wombles, were re-forming and planning activity.
Students were also involved in larger numbers than before, he said, and there was some evidence that foreign activists were heading to the UK to take part in the protests.
Police are expecting activists to block streets and hold demonstrations heading in several directions at once.
"Hitting us at the same time for a day, that is the stretch, that is causing the issues, rather than protecting people, which is our core business," said Cdr Broadhurst.
He added: "There will be times when protest comes up against security and they are not always happy bedfellows."
Cdr Broadhurst said police were facing a particular challenge during the G20 because it falls in the same week as a state visit from the president of Mexico, the England football team's games against Slovakia and Ukraine at Wembley and the Boat Race.
Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson admitted policing the summit and protecting the 20 world leaders and 40 delegations was a "huge challenge".
:bounce_flash:
BBC NEWS | UK | Police warn of G20 protest scale12
1st + 2nd April – Protest / Carnival Against G20 Taken from [URL="http://www.g-20meltdown.org:"]g-20meltdown.org[/URL]
On April 1st, we'll show the G20 what meltdown means.
Lost your home? Lost your job? Lost your savings or your pension? This party is for you!
Capitalism has been heating up our world for years, melting the icecaps, burning up the rainforests, pushing the planet to tipping point. Now we're going to put the heat on them. At the London Summit , the G20 ministers are trying to get away with the biggest April Fools trick of all time. Their tax-dodging, bonus-guzzling, pension-pinching, unregulated free market world's in meltdown, and those fools think we're going to bail them out. They've gotta be joking!
We can't pay, we won't pay and we are taking to the streets
Many, many imaginative actions will be taking place across London on April 1st. One major focus will be four separate carnival parades culminating in direct action against the financial follies in the City of London among them carbon trading.
Full circle back to 1649? 'A very English revolution!'
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse will lead themed processions starting at 11 a.m. from the following rail stations:
Moorgate: Red horse against War;
Liverpool St: Green horse against Climate chaos
London Bridge: Silver horse against Financial crimes
Cannon Street: Black horse against land enclosures and borders in honour of the 360th full circle anniversary of the Diggers
At 12 noon, April 1st, we're going to reclaim the City, thrusting into the very belly of the beast: the Bank of England.
Early a.m. April 2nd, we're going to bang on their hotel doors, @ the Excel Centre, Canning town to deliver our message of a world beyond capitalism.
For more info: g-20meltdown.org
Noam Chomsky on Geithner’s Economic Plan
Please see our video interview with Prof. Noam Chomsky of MIT. Feel free to post this video on your site.
The Real News Network team
Geithner's Plan is a Recycled Version of Bush/Paulson Program
"The plan is a win-win situation for investors and a lose-lose situation for American taxpayers"
With Timothy Geithner firing his opening salvos aimed at restoring America's badly broken financial system and turning it into what he calls a “better, smarter, tougher regulation”, lobbyists and interest groups in Washington have already begun their efforts to modify and block certain sections of the new regulations that they see contrary to their interests.
Today, the Real News Network, starts the first segment of a multi-segment interview with Prof. Noam Chomsky on Timothy Geithner's recently announced plans for the banks and clearing of their toxic assets. In this interview Prof. Chomsky mainly argues that the plan keeps the institutional structure intact without any meaningful reforms in it. Geithner's plan, based on Chomsky's assertion, essentially bribes investors and bankers in return for opening the credit markets to consumers and businesses.
Prof. Chomsky also states that Geithner's plan avoids the measures that might get to the heart of the problem, therefore avoiding the costs of changing the institutional structure. In the course of the interview Chomsky points out to the sense of contempt and ridicule that bankers and financial managers have had for the public even in the face of receiving the TARP money. He then calls for a serious commitment by financial institutions and corporations to be responsible to their stakeholders with direct public engagement on how these institutions distribute their money.
Watch the first segment of this interview on The Real News Networkand stay tuned for the following segments:
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The Real News Network - Chomsky on Geithner
Reza Akhlaghi
The Real News Network
The Jade Goody Saga Is anyone else getting sick of this media frenzy over Jade Goody impending demise? Yeah it's sad that she's dying (more so because she has children) but do we really need to see her progress of death in a day by day story in all major papers. :crazy_diz
I have also read that she plans a Princess Diana style funeral so the masses can grieve publicly. Does anyone else see something slightly wrong with this? I mean a year ago she was (in the eyes of the media) the most hated of people, a fucking evil racist bigot some called her. Now because she's dying she has become the equivalent of a chavvy Mother Teresa. :you_crazy
Don't think me heartless now, i don't wish death on anyone and i do feel genuinely sorry for her. I'm just sick of this media frenzy and general sickness that encircles it.
Also why i bring this up, i said similar stuff at work today and afterwards it was like i had taken a shit on a dying giraffe, People looked at me like i was the offspring of hitler and a one eyed panda, I was getting evil stares off quite a few people and this annoyed me greatly. It's like no ones allowed to have a negative view of Jade now that she's dying, whatever happened to free speech eh. I might even try and get the day off work when she dies even though it'll most likely be a day of national mourning,. :crazy:12…45
China Blocks YouTube BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | China 'blocks YouTube video site'
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By Quentin Sommerville
BBC News, Beijing
China is reported to have blocked the YouTube video-sharing website because it has been carrying video of soldiers beating monks and other Tibetans.
The date and location of the footage, posted by a Tibetan exile group, cannot be ascertained.
A Chinese government spokesman would not confirm whether YouTube had indeed been blocked.
China has a history of blocking websites which carry messages it views as politically unacceptable.
In most of China, YouTube has suddenly become inaccessible.
The site has been carrying a graphic video released by Tibetan exiles, which shows hundreds of uniformed Chinese troops swarming through a Tibetan monastery - a group of troops beat a man with batons.
In another scene a group of men, including a monk, are beaten, kicked and choked, while they lie on the ground. Some have their hands tied others appear to be unconscious.
The date and locations of the footage cannot be confirmed. Beijing maintains that it dealt lawfully with last years protests in Tibet.
On Tuesday, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said that China "is not afraid of the internet". However, he was unable to confirm if YouTube had been blocked.
Since we have some Chineese users on here now I would like to hear a comment on this if its possible... PM me, so no-ones security is breeched.
Dannish Supreme Court Finds Fighters + Lovers Guilty Supreme Court finds Fighters + Lovers guilty - Politiken.dk
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Supreme Court finds Fighters + Lovers guilty
The Danish Supreme Court has ruled that six members of the Fighters+Lovers group are guilty of supporting terrorism.
The Danish Supreme Court has returned its verdict in the appeal case of six members of the Fighters+Lovers group who were charged with providing financial support to two armed terrorist organisations – the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC).
Six members of the group were handed down suspended sentences. Two of the group had their High Court sentences of six months in prison reduced to suspended sentences.
T-shirts
At the centre of the case was the sale by the organisation of T-shirts with PFLP and FARC logos at DKK 170 each, DKK 37 of which was sent on to the two movements.
In 2007, the lower court acquitted Fighters+Lovers members. Although the lower court found that the PFLP and FARC did carry out actions that could come under terrorism legislation, it could not be proved that they were attempting to overthrow a government.
That decision was appealed to the High Court which sentenced two of the Fighters+Lovers group to six months in prison, while the rest of the group was either found not guilty or given suspended sentences of 2 to 4 months.
The group was given leave to appeal to the Supreme Court, which returned its verdict today.
Ministerial confusion
As the group awaited its final verdict in the Danish legal system, some doubts were raised as to whether there is a difference between an organisation fighting an undemocratic regime or a power of occupation.
In an answer to the left-wing Unity List Party, Justice Minister Brian Mikkelsen said that: “terrorism is defined in relation to a legitimate state which builds on the principles of democracy and the Rule of Law. Part of the evaluation is also whether an act is targeted at, among others, an occupation power.”
The prosecution in the case has argued that the defining factor is whether civilians are killed, irrespective of whether a national government is democratic.
Defence rejects claims
While the prosecution has maintained that the PFLP and FARC are terrorist organisations, defence attorneys said that human rights organisations do not see the two as such.
The defence has also claimed that civilian deaths attributed to the organisations are not part of a conscious strategy.
The PFLP and FARC are listed as terrorist organisations by the EU, Canada and the United States.
Edited by Julian Isherwood
the last word in this case aint said yet me thinks. I will try to keep you updated along the way. There are some response in alternative media, but that needs a translation... To sum up the activists sez "the law is faul and dirty!"
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