Filed under: Ahmadinejad, airstrikes, Big Banks, Britain, Congress, Coup, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dick Cheney, dollar peg, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Europe, european union, False Flag, food crisis, food prices, France, gas prices, George Bush, gold, gordon brown, Great Depression, Greenback, Hugo Chavez, Inflation, Iran, Israel, military strike, north korea, Nuke, Oil, OPEC, Petrol, Preemptive Strike, preemptive war, Propaganda, Russia, Sanctions, Saudi Arabia, Shock and Awe, Tehran, UN, United Kingdom, US Economy, Venezuela, War On Terror, wheat, WMD, WW3, ww4 | Tags: Mohsen Talaie, OFID
Britain To Freeze Iranian Bank Assets
AP
June 16, 2008
Britain will freeze assets of Iran’s largest bank in a further move to discourage the country from developing nuclear weapons, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday.
Brown, speaking at a news conference with President Bush, said Britain will work to persuade Europe to follow suit.
The British leader said that assets of Iran’s Bank Melli would be frozen. Last year, the United States accused the bank of providing services to Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
“Action will start today in new phase of sanctions on oil and gas,” Brown said. “We will take any necessary action so that Iran is aware of the choice it needs to make.”
The U.S. and some of its allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies that, saying its atomic program is aimed at using nuclear reactors to generate electricity.
The U.N. Security Council has imposed three sets of limited sanctions against Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment, a technology that can both produce nuclear fuel and turn out the material needed for nuclear warheads.
The third round of U.N. sanctions passed in March introduced financial monitoring of Bank Melli and another bank with purported links to suspect Iranian nuclear activities, Bank Saderat.
Brown said his government wanted to do all it could to maintain a dialogue with Tehran.
“But we are also clear that if Iran continues to ignore (United Nations) resolutions, to ignore our offers of partnership, we have no choice but to intensify sanctions,” the prime minister said.
“I will repeat that we will take any necessary action so that Iran is aware of the choice it has to make — to start to play its part as a full and respected member of the international community, or face further isolation.”
Bush urged Tehran to accept a new package of incentives and said it should accept a Russian proposal to enrich uranium on Iran’s behalf.
“When the Iranians say we have a sovereign right to have one, the answer is ’You bet you have a sovereign right, absolutely’,” Bush said, referring to a civilian nuclear program.
“But you don’t have the trust of those of us who have watched you carefully when it comes to enriching uranium, because you have declared that you want to destroy democracies in the neighborhood.”
Brown said he will press European colleagues at a summit in Brussels, Belgium later this week to agree a tougher package of European Union sanctions against Iran, including the freezing of Bank Melli’s assets.
The EU imposes its own set of measures against Iran, in addition to U.N.- backed sanctions, which include a total arms embargo and travel bans against a number of named individuals and organizations.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has previously called for the EU to target more companies — particularly in the banking sector — and other individuals who do not now face visa bans under current EU penalties.
Iran Withdraws $75B From Europe
Reuters
June 16, 2008
Iran has withdrawn around $75 billion from Europe to prevent the assets from being blocked under threatened new sanctions over Tehran’s disputed nuclear ambitions, an Iranian weekly said.
Western powers are warning the Islamic Republic of more punitive measures if it rejects an incentives offer and presses on with sensitive nuclear work, but the world’s fourth-largest oil exporter is showing no sign of backing down.
“Part of Iran’s assets in European banks have been converted to gold and shares and another part has been transferred to Asian banks,” Mohsen Talaie, deputy foreign minister in charge of economic affairs, was quoted as saying.
Iranian officials were not immediately available to comment on the report in Shahrvand-e Emrouz, a moderate weekly, which did not specify the time period for the withdrawals which it said were ordered by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“About $75 billion of Iran’s foreign assets which were under threat of being blocked were wired back to Iran based on Ahmadinejad’s order,” the weekly said.
Iran’s Etemad-e Melli newspaper, also quoting Talai, last week also reported the country was withdrawing assets from European banks but did not give any figures.
Iran Urges OPEC To Dump Dollar
Press TV
June 17, 2008
Iran urges the OPEC member states again to convert their cash reserves into a basket of currencies rather than the tumbling US dollar.
Speaking at a ceremony to open the 29th ministerial meeting of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeated his proposal made about six months ago in a rare summit of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’s heads of states.
“The fall in the value of US dollar is one of the pressing problems of the world today,” warned the Iranian president at the conference in Isfahan on Tuesday.
He further expressed concern over the adverse effect of the dollar depreciation on the international community, especially energy exporting countries through increasing the price of commodities like wheat, rice and oilseeds.
Ahmadinejad said he warned six months ago in the summit conference in Riyadh that there were many indications pointing to continued fall in the value of the greenback.
“And we see that this continues to happen and the resources and wealth of OPEC member countries have been hugely damaged.
“I again repeat my previous proposal; we should have a basket of different international hard currencies as the basis or the member countries should come up and produce a new hard currency for petroleum contracts,” he stressed.
“They get our oil and give us a worthless piece of paper,” Ahmadinejad said earlier after the close of the summit in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.
The comments by the Iranian president gained backing from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as he said at the same event, “The empire of the dollar has to end.”
On the soaring oil prices, the Iranian president said, “At a time when the growth of consumption is lower than the growth of production and the market is full of oil, prices are rising and this trend is completely fake and imposed.”
“As you know the decrease in the dollar’s value and the increase in energy prices are two sides of the same coin which are being introduced as factors behind the recent instability,” Ahmadinejad added.
http://www.niacouncil.org/index.ph..&task=view&id=1141&Itemid=2
Israeli Ministers Mull Plans for Military Strike against Iran
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Iran: No decision for new sanctions
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=60394§ionid=351020101
EU To Issue Stronger Iran Sanctions
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20..yoz_9cR3Dd4WvnVDpQUewgF
Bush threatens Iran with military action, again
http://www.independent.co.uk/news..an-with-military-action-848488.html
Alert?! Cheney Winning the Inside Battles Again
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2008/06/alert_cheney_wi/
Iran and North Korea may have bought nuclear missile blueprints
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new.._and_americas/article4144317.ece
Iran Nuke Laptop Data Came from Terror Group
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41416
Coup on Iran & False Flag News Archive
Filed under: Alan Greenspan, central bank, Chicago, China, citigroup, Credit Crisis, DEBT, dollar peg, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, Federal Reserve, gas prices, george soros, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, henry paulson, imf, Inflation, Oil, Paulson, Petrol, platinum, silver, south africa, Stock Market, UAE, US Economy, washington mutual
Gold hits highs of $940, Current Price is $924
IBT Times
April 11, 2008
Gold pushed as high as $940 just before the open of the New York session on Thursday, then fell off until the noon hour, but then reversed field once again, moving higher to finish at $929.40/oz., down $4.60. Overnight, gold has edged lower.
Platinum was higher in the European markets, but declined in New York, to end at $2026/oz., unchanged. Overnight, platinum has slipped lower.
Silver peaked at $18.40 in early London trading, fell off until mid-morning in New York, then traded sideways for the rest of the day, closing at $17.95, down 22 cents. Overnight, silver has been flat.
It was a mixed day for the precious metals, with early weakness giving way to a spate of buying later in the day, and no major changes by the end.
Oil Prices Above $112 As Supplies Fall, Current Price $110
AP
April 9, 2008
The price of oil has surged to a new record, with a barrel a crude trading above $112 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
A government report that oil and fuel supplies were lower than expected last week gave crude a push past its latest milestone. But months of buying by speculators and by investors seeking refuge from a falling dollar have also lifted oil to its new heights.
Light, sweet crude for May delivery has traded as high as $112.16, surpassing the previous trading record of $111.80 set ast month.
US Dollar Hits New Record Low Against Euro
RTT
April 10, 2008
The US dollar declined against its major counterparts in early deals on Thursday, hitting a fresh record low against the euro. Against its other major counterparts, the dollar weakened to new multi-day low during this time period.
The US trade balance, initial jobless and continuing claims are the major economic events slated for release later in New York morning.
The US dollar plummeted to new record low of 1.5915 against the euro at about 5:10 am ET Thursday, compared to yesterday’s closing value of 1.5832.
The dollar may face $1.65 against the euro by October
Bloomberg
April 7, 2008
Optimism for a dollar rebound that pervaded the currency market at the start of the year is fading.
Futures traders doubled bets against the greenback in the past two months, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in Washington show. Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, which handle almost 40 percent of global foreign exchange trading, say the currency may slump to $1.65 per euro by October.
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South Africa: Analysts Say Gold Can Top $1000 Again
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Greenspan: I have no regrets on Federal Reserve’s past policies
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The Great Chinese Crash of 2008
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Soros: USD Won’t Be World’s Reserve Currency
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Soros sounds the alarm again on world economy
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Federal Credit Cards Misused
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U.S. Economy: Consumer Sentiment Drops to 26-Year Low
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Gas, Diesel Prices Hit New Records
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Gas Tops $4 In Chicago
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G24: IMF Regulatory Failures Caused Crisis
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Official: UAE to maintain dollar-peg policy
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WaMu gets $7 billion infusion, cuts jobs, sees big loss
IMF: Mortgage Crisis May Cost $945 Billion
Dollar Falls Against Euro, Heads for Weekly Decline, Before G-7
US Fed prepares to replenish war chest
US trade deficit jumps despite weak dollar
Pound falls to 80p against the euro
IMF Says U.S. Crisis Biggest Since 1930s
IMF: Global Intervention Needed On Credit Crisis
Current crisis is worst since Great Depression: Soros
Soros Predicts End Of Easy Borrowing
Govt Expects Gas To Hit $4
Filed under: bear sterns, bernanke, Big Banks, Britain, central bank, China, Credit Crisis, DEBT, dollar peg, Dow, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Europe, Federal Reserve, food prices, gas prices, gas tax, global economy, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, imf, Inflation, interest rate cut, interest rate cuts, job market, Lehman Brothers, Oil, OPEC, Paulson, Petrol, rate cut, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, tax, tax rebates, United Kingdom, US Economy, Venezuela, yuan | Tags: John Lipsky, Nigel Gault
America is ALREADY in recession, say top economic global experts – and that spells trouble for the UK
Daily Mail
March 21, 2008
Experts have accused the International Monetary Fund of “driving the car using the rear view mirror” after the global body warned the U.S. was on the verge of a recession.
The world’s biggest economy is already in a recession, they claim, as a draft version of the IMF’s World Economic Outlook declared the U.S. economy is “very weak”. Nigel Gault, chief US economist at Global Insight, a worldwide economic forecasting and consultancy firm, said he believed the US was in recession already – and that spelt problems for other countries, including the UK.
He said: “The US has, for years, been the primary motor for growth in the global economy. However, now consumer spending in the US has seen a downturn, the tables are turned, and the US is looking to the rest of the world for support, through strong export growth, and cutting imports.
“This is happening, US exports are doing extremely well, but it’s not enough to keep the economy out of recession.
“We do not expect to see the problems in the housing market in the US bottoming out before 2009, and while spending will be helped by tax rebates to be given this summer, that may give only temporary relief, and in the first quarter next year growth may dip back close to zero.
“The longer either the recession or period of weak growth goes on, the longer the US market is going to be weak, and very difficult for anybody trying to sell goods to it.”
Jeremy Batstone, head of research at stockbrokers Charles Stanley, said the IMF “has a history of driving the car using the rear view mirror”.
He added: “For the whole of 2007, it was not looking through the windscreen, it was merely reporting what the prevailing economic data releases were telling it.
“This report suggests nothing has changed, the IMF using backward-looking data is taking the view that the US economy might be in recession.
“Recent economic releases make it entirely clear that the US economy is already in recession, it’s confirmed by diverse economic statistics, including retail sales, sharply falling house prices, rising unemployment, deteriorating industrial production and manufacturing output.
“The 64,000-dollar question, indeed the 64-trillion dollar question, is not what happened in the first quarter, but what might happen in the second quarter, and beyond that.
“The hope among economists is that radical action by the US Federal Reserve might be enough to nip this crisis in the bud, and maybe there can be gradual recovery in the second quarter of the year, but at the moment we just don’t know.
“I do find myself becoming a little more hopeful, as the hour is darkest before the dawn. Just maybe radical action will prove that in the second quarter – or the third quarter if we are unlucky – that the storm abates.”
The draft version of the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook concluded the US economy “remains very weak, certainly close to a possible recession”.
The report is due to be published ahead of a meeting next month, and was leaked to Italian news agency Ansa.
The verdict comes after the cash crisis and cut-price rescue of troubled US investment bank Bear Stearns sent markets plummeting at the beginning of the week.
The Federal Reserve, the US central bank, dropped its main interest rate by three quarter-points on Wednesday – the latest in a series of cuts which have seen the rate trimmed by 2 per cent in the first three months of this year – and 3 per cent since the credit crunch first erupted in global markets last August.
The moves come as the Fed attempts to rescue the world’s biggest economy from the brink of recession and ease the pressure on the banking system.
IMF: Think The Unthinkable
CNBC
March 19, 2008
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) today warned authorities worldwide to “think the unthinkable” in planning to cope with a mounting crisis in the global financial system.
John Lipsky, IMF first deputy managing director, called for “decisive policy action” amid a credit crunch that stems from the US real estate meltdown and is spreading throughout the financial markets.
The coordinated actions by the US Federal Reserve and other global central banks on Tuesday to further pump billions of dollars of liquidity into financial markets were “helpful” but stronger measures may be necessary.
Policy actions worldwide to date “may not prove to be adequate” to deal with the “low-probability but high-impact events” that may materialize and undermine global financial stability, Lipsky said in an address at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington think tank.
“Policy makers as a matter of course need to ’think the unthinkable,’ and to consider how they would plan to react if contingencies arise. The need to prepare more systematically for potential risks has been demonstrated amply during the past few months,” he said.
“By now, there is little doubt that risks of further escalation of this crisis are rising and decisive policy action will be required to put the global financial system and economy on a firmer footing.” He said the first priority was to reverse the spreading strains in global financial markets and to restore the normal functioning of the financial system in advanced economies.
If contingent risks materialize, the central banks together with financial supervisors and regulators will be the first line of defence. The second line of defence lies with fiscal authorities. Finally, public intervention will be considered as a third line of defence, Lipsky said. The IMF “stands ready to use its record liquidity if needed to help cushion the global economy,” Lipsky said, adding, “we must keep all options on the table.”
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Filed under: Abu Dhabi, Alan Greenspan, Alex Jones, asia, bernanke, bonds, central bank, China, Credit Crisis, DEBT, dollar peg, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, Federal Reserve, food crisis, food market, food prices, George Bush, Great Depression, Greenback, gulf, imf, Inflation, interest rate cuts, Joseph Stiglitz, liquidation, rate cut, sterling, Stock Market, UAE, US Economy, US Treasury, World Bank
Traitor Greenspan Urges Gulf States To Abandon Dollar
Former Fed chief’s insistence that Arab nations dump greenback peg could lead to economic chaos in America
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
February 26, 2008
Alan Greenspan has again exposed himself as a traitor working against the interests of the American people by urging Gulf states to abandon the dollar peg, a move that could result in financial chaos and an economic depression in America.
The dollar peg mandates Gulf nations to price their assets in U.S. dollars and follow U.S. monetary policy at a time when the Fed is cutting interest rates, a system that has produced a boom in oil revenues but led to high inflation as the dollar weakens.
“It [de-pegging] is probably the most useful thing that can be done to stop the increasing influence of foreign assets on the monetary system and therefore the monetary base which is basically the major force in inflationary pressures,” Greenspan told the Abu Dhabi Corporate Leadership Forum yesterday.
“In the short term free floating … will not fully dissipate inflationary pressure, although it would significantly do so,” added Greenspan, giving a green light for Gulf states to drop the dollar peg.
According to Economist editor Pam Woodall, Greenspan’s comments heralded the beginning of the end for the US dollar as the currency of choice for foreign exchange reserves.
“If Asian central banks hold today more than 80 per cent of the global foreign exchange reserves, which indicates the shift of the global economy domination towards Asia, it seems quite awkward that the UAE still maintains the peg of its currency to the US dollar,” she told Gulf News.
Greenspan’s zeal to destroy the dollar is evident in numerous public statements he has made predicting the replacement of the dollar with the Euro as the world reserve currency.
The former Fed chairman has repeatedly badmouthed the dollar and hyped the inevitability of economic chaos at a time when market confidence is in the toilet. Greenspan’s rhetoric matches that of the IMF, who in October of last year bizarrely slammed the dollar as “overvalued” at the same time the greenback hit its all time low against the Euro.
A decision on behalf of the Gulf states to abandon the dollar peg would have disastrous consequences for the greenback and the American economy.
Such a move could lead the likes of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to diversify their foreign exchange holdings out of dollars. This would amount to a vote of “no confidence” in the dollar and may cause other countries with large dollar reserves, such as China and Japan, to follow suit and begin dumping the greenback en masse.
China has threatened repeatedly to use the “nuclear option” and liquidate its vast holding of US treasuries in response to continued pressure on the Communist state to force a yuan revaluation. According to a widely-read London Telegraph report, such an event “could trigger a dollar crash” and also “cause a spike in US bond yields, hammering the US housing market and perhaps tipping the economy into recession.”
Runaway inflation would also ensue, making the cost of living unaffordable to even middle class Americans as food prices skyrocket and international aid organizations like the World Food Programme predict rationing and food riots.
The dollar has held firm against the Euro and recovered some losses against Sterling over the past two months, but it has still lost 12 per cent of its value against the trade-weighted index over the last two years and has plunged by a whopping 60 per cent against the Euro since Bush entered the White House.
Stiglitz Blames Greenspan For Recession
Former World Bank Chief Economist says US probably already in recession
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
February 26, 2008
Former chief economist of the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz, has said that the US economy is already in recession and is pointing the finger of blame directly towards former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan.
Remarking that the economy is “probably” now in recession, Stiglitz told Bloomberg Television that “There is a very significant slowdown in the U.S. economy… The housing bubble has broken and housing prices are coming down. Most experts think they will have to come down substantially more.”
Stiglitz stressed that Alan Greenspan “is right that this downturn is going to be the worst downturn in a quarter century, but he’s largely to blame,” adding “It’s not just that he was asleep at the wheel, he actively looked the other way”.
Stiglitz’s comments come on the back of news that Greenspan has been actively urging Gulf states to abandon the dollar peg, a move that could result in financial chaos and a further economic depression in America. We have previously reported on Greenspan’s penchant for working to destroy the US economy.
Stiglitz also took a swipe at current Fed chairman Ben S. Bernanke, charging him with failing to counter the deterioration of the real-estate market by procrastinating over interest rate cuts.
“The dramatic lowering of the main interest rate by 75 basis points [last month] was a panic not a prudent measure.” Stiglitz said.
The Nobel-prize winning economist also cited the $3 trillion cost of the Iraq war as a key factor in the economic downturn, saying it has increased the budget deficit and consumed resources that would otherwise promote growth.
In contrast, the president last week stated that the war in Iraq has had no bearing on the economic slump.
Stiglitz is no stranger to speaking out against the establishment on the economy. In October 2001 he caused controversy when he exposed rampant corruption within the IMF and blew the whistle on their nefarious methods of inducing countries to fall under their debt before stripping them of sovereignty and hollowing out their economies.
Sixteen months ago, on the nationally syndicated Alex Jones radio show, Stiglitz predicted a global economic crash would occur within 2 years.
noworldsystem.com 