Sweden's Olof Palme "cooperated with officials from the CIA and U.S. Embassy on several occasions early in his career as a student leader and political activist."
Palme became Prime Minister of Sweden.
“Olof Palme’s cooperation with the Americans and the CIA was well known throughout the military intelligence service,” said Ingemar Engman, a former employee in Sweden’s secret military intelligence service IB. (CIA attempted to recruit young Olof Palme - The Local)
Jonas Store is Norway's Foreign Minister.
Is he an agent of the CIA?
1. Norway has troops in Afghanistan.
Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has thanked Norway for "the enormous efforts" that the Norwegian military have made in Afghanistan. (Cached )
2. In 2008, A PLANE believed to be carrying CIA prisoners stopped over at a small airport in southwestern Norway, local media reported. The suspected 'rendition' flight was made from Brno in the Czech Republic to Sola airport near Stavanger. (Suspected CIA rendition flight sparks concern NEWS.com.au)
3. Jonas Store has criticised Russian actions on Georgia and acted to help Georgia.
4. Jonas Store has joined the NATO-CIA attempt to undermine the case for Scottish independence.
A week before the crucial Glenrothes by-election, Jonas Store has disputed the Scottish National Party's claim that an independent Scotland would prosper if it followed Norway by setting up its own oil fund.
Jonas Gahr Støre, the Norwegian Foreign Minister, told a Scottish newspaper that he would be “upset” if he thought that his country was being used as a “source of division or strife in other countries”. (SNP 'humiliated' by Norway's rebuke to Salmond)
2. Ridiculed the German government for worrying about highly leveraged hedge funds.
3. Ignored warnings from the IMF that Britain risked a credit and housing bust.
Now the UK is having to borrow a lot of money.
According to the Financial Times, 21 October 2008, the UK government borrowed an extra £37.6bn in the first half of the year.
This half-year borrowing figure is the highest since the second world war.
And the situation is expected to get worse as the economy weakens and tax revenues decline. (Brown set to borrow more)
And Gordon Brown has outraged shareholders of Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland (HBOS) by arranging a most unsuitable merger.
Mr David McLachlan, in a letter to the Financial Times, 21 October 2008, writes:
"Lloyds TSB has never needed to be rescued – it has a sound business model, is conservatively funded, and is highly profitable and well able to withstand the current recession... If... the takeover of HBOS proceeds... then a very substantial amount of the value in Lloyds TSB will have been transferred needlessly, and arguably illegally, from existing shareholders to the government." - Outraged Lloyds shareholder not alone
The purpose of the merger seems to be political - to help to damage the Scottish economy and frustrate the nationalists.
Gordon Brown is not the first UK politician to get into financial difficulties.
Anthony Barber, in the early 1970s, liberalised the banking system and this contributed to boom followed by bust.
Nigel Lawson, in the 1980s, produced tax cuts which led to a housing bubble which eventually burst.
There is to be a by-election in Glenrothes in Scotland and it might seal the fate of Gordon Brown, the UK prime minister.
“I’ve always voted Labour but I've decided I’ve had enough of them,” says Mr George Smiley Fulton, a former government employee who has worked in Saigon, East Berlin and Washington.
“The Scottish National Party seem the only alternative.
"Given what’s happened with Labour wrecking the economy, I’m sure I'll vote SNP.
"If Ireland and Norway and even Singapore can rescue their banks, then so can Scotland.”
Labour’s own private polling shows that the Nationalists will finish 5,000 votes ahead.
Gordon Brown, the prime minister in London, does not have the money to help the Bank of Scotland.
He will have to borrow the money.
The UK budget deficit may soon climb to at least 92 billion pounds ($159 billion).
An independent Scotland, in a worst case scenario, would have a deficit that was very tiny in comparison.
When oil prices rise again, Scotland will have a huge surplus.
Scotland, with its oil wealth, could, if independent, borrow the money needed for the banks.
At the recent SNP conference, companies such as Coca-Cola, trade unions and media groups all jockeyed for position.
SNP membership and donations are on the rise.
An independent Scotland could produce a fund from North Sea oil revenues to shelter the country in times of trouble. Norway has a fund of £200 billion.
According to SNP leader Alex Salmond:
“All countries, large and small, are affected by this.”
“The prime minister keeps saying it originated in the United States. Seventeen financial institutions have failed in the United States, the largest economy in the world. For unionists to say this is something just affecting small countries is daft.
“And to besmirch the reputation of Norway and Ireland to try and get a point against the SNP . . . it used to be that unionists only ran down Scotland, but now they are busy running down other countries as well.”
Iceland, said Salmond, had “very particular problems” and a population only half the size of Glasgow, while Norway was among the best-placed countries in Europe to get through these turbulent times, and Ireland was moving into recession at a point where it was 40% more prosperous per head than the UK, and would probably emerge with a similar margin.
Finland, Denmark and Norway were all forecast to avoid recession, while Ireland had taken early action to stabilise its banking sector.
“By my reckoning that gives us three countries that will do better than the UK, one which has very similar problems to the UK and Ireland, and Iceland which is a particular example of a country very badly affected.”
Marc Coleman, an Irish-based former economist at the European Central Bank, said of Ireland: “After 15 years of record-busting growth, some froth is being blown off the Guinness. But the glass remains very much almost full,” he said.
“Ireland’s economy grew by almost 90% in the past 10 years, four times faster than the EU and three times faster than countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.”
The Cuban government has announced that there may be more than 20bn barrels of recoverable oil in offshore fields in Cuba's share of the Gulf of Mexico
Now, you can imagine how the CIA might try to get its hands on that oil.
The CIA might tell the people of Cuba, through various CIA controlled media outlets:
"Oil is down in price and so Cuba cannot survive.
"Cuba had better join up with the USA which has a very successful economy and no debts."
"We're interested in Iraq's oil" - British outside Baghdad 1941
Scotland has lots of oil.
"The North Sea has almost as much oil left as has already been extracted, a BBC Scotland investigation has been told. Experts believe between 25 and 30 billion barrels could still be recovered over the next 40 years." (BBC - Oil reserves 'will last decades')
You can imagine the lies that might come from the security services:
"Scotland needs England, which has a successful economy and no debts."
The truth is that the UK has the biggest budget deficit of any major economy in the world.
England needs Scotland.
UK Government borrowing could reach £100bn this year.
The Sunday Times, 19 October 2008, claims "A slump in oil prices means an independent Scotland could expect to face a budget deficit of £800m...
"Five months ago when the price of oil soared to $120 (£70) a barrel, Grant Thornton, the leading city accountancy firm, calculated that Scotland would have a budget surplus of £4.4 billion, making it one of the wealthiest small countries in the world.
"Using the Grant Thornton model, a new analysis by The Sunday Times, based on the price of oil falling to about $75 a barrel last week, found Scotland would be in the red."
We don't think many people will be conned by the Sunday Times when it fails to mention that an independent Scotland would be MUCH better off than poor old England.
In 1975, economist Gavin McCrone presented a report on Scotland's oil to the Cabinet office. (How black gold was hijacked.)
McCrone made clear that an independent Scotland's budget surpluses, as a result of the oil boom, would be so large as to be "embarrassing".
Scotland's currency "would become the hardest in Europe, with the exception perhaps of the Norwegian Kronor." Scotland would be in a position to lend heavily to England.
Cuba is very much wealthier than Haiti which the USA tries to keep as a sort of colony.
Cuba is very much safer than Jamaica which has its drugs gangs.
"Compared to neighboring Haiti, the favelas of Brazil or even post-Katrina New Orleans, for that matter, Cuba is Switzerland...
"I don't compare Cuba with Sweden, France, Lichtenstein or Canada. I compare it with Jamaica, Brazil and... Mississippi. It comes off quite well in comparison with other territories in the 'arc of slavery'". - Fidel CastroDavid Seaton's News Links
Cubans have high life expectancy and literacy. Cubans do not use much oil.
A study of 93 nations has found that only one nation - Cuba - is developing sustainably.
Cuba is the only nation which: (1) provides a decent standard of living for its people and (2) does not consume more than its fair share of the world's resources.
"An international team led by Mathis Wackernagel of the Global Footprint Network looked at how the living conditions and ecological footprints of 93 nations have changed in the last 30 years.
"They used the ecological footprint (EF) index, a tool devised in 1993 by Wackernagel and William Rees, his PhD supervisor at the University of British Columbia, Canada. EF quantifies the area of land required to provide the infrastructure used by a person or a nation, the food and goods they consume, and to reabsorb the waste they produce, using available technology."
People may be wakening up to the plots of the bad guys?
On 16 October 2008, George Shanks wrote in The Scotsman about UK prime minister Gordon Brown's actions on banks (Brown and Scotland's bail-out blues ):
"Saying Mr Brown has had a good credit crisis is akin to saying Earl Haig had a good First World War."
"The opportunity to take over Scotland's two banks, and thus spike the Scottish National Party's guns, whilst at the same time raising his own status as the self-professed saviour of the world's economy, was too good to miss...
"He talked down the value of HBOS shares while arranging for the smaller Lloyds TSB bank (in England) to take over Scotland's national bank.
"Then, and only then, did he make short-selling of shares illegal."
Hector Sants is the head of the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
On 15 October 2008, he indicated that Bank of Scotland (HBOS) could survive as an independent bank.
The Scotsman asked six key questions about Gordon Brown's £37 billion banking bail-out.
"Last night, the Bank of England and the Treasury were yet to respond to The Scotsman's challenge.
The questions were:
1. Why were the recapitalisation proposals for Lloyds TSB and HBOS not considered and presented separately?
2. Why was there a presumption in favour of a Lloyds TSB takeover – particularly when shareholders of both banks have not yet had an opportunity to vote on it?
3. Why should the government be supporting a solution that stands to trigger many more job losses than those already necessary?
4. Why have assurances not been sought on the retention of key functions in Scotland?
5. What protection will there be for bank customers and consumers as a result of loss of competition across the UK, and particularly in Scotland?
6. Has the government considered alternative options for HBOS? Why could the group not be supported like RBS and given the opportunity to trade out of its current difficulties over the next three years?
What happened to the Scottish regiments?
Famous names such as the Cameronians, the Argylls and the Black Watch have gone.
Gordon Brown's labour government does not want there to be a Scottish identity.
Scottish and Newcastle
Some suspect there is a conspiracy to undermine the Scottish economy and prevent Scotland from becoming independent.
1. Scotland has enormous oil wealth and it pays its own way.
The London government and the London media have repeatedly lied about this.
2. In 2003, the Herald newspaper, based in Scotland, was taken over by the American company Gannett (Newsquest).
Since then the editorial staff has been cut from 186 to 113.
In July 2008, the editor of the Herald newspaper, left his job.
Today's Herald is full of anti-Scottish and pro-American propaganda.
The media can block out the truth
3. In 2001, Scottish Provident was taken over by the English Abbey National.
4. In 2007, Scottish Power was taken over by Spanish company Iberdrola
5. In 2007, Scottish and Newcastle Breweries was taken over by Carlsberg.
6. In 2008, it was announced that Halifax - Bank of Scotland was to be taken over by the English Lloyds TSB.
Scottish Colony
One of the biggest setbacks for the Scottish economy came just before Scotland lost its independence in 1707.
Scotland's Darien Scheme involved the setting up of a Scottish colony on the Isthmus of Panama in the hope of trading with both the East and the West. (the same principle later led to the building of the Panama Canal.)
The English Government did everything it could to make the scheme fail.
English investors withdrew their money.
English ships were forbidden to help the colonists.
The Scotsman, 15 October 2008, (The Scotsman) asks some questions and gives us some answers:
Would an independent Scotland have been able to bail out the two Scottish banks RBS and HBOS?
1. Would an independent Scotland have the £37 billion required by the banks.
The Scotsman points out that the UK government does not have the money!
The UK government will have to borrow the £37 billion from the world money markets in the form of a gilt auction.
An independent Scotland could presumably have done the same.
2. Would RBS and HBOS have got into such trouble had Scotland been independent?
The Scottish National Party has argued that Scotland would have better financial regulation.
Politics professor John Curtice has suggested that an independent Scotland might have prevented the Bank of Scotland from being merged with the Halifax.
3. Would an independent Scotland have been able to cope with the banking crisis in general?
Scottish Nation Party leader Alex Salmond says that an independent Scotland would have acted as decisively as the Irish government, which moved to guarantee all deposits in its banks.
The London government dithered.
4. When we look at the small European countries like Ireland and Norway, is there an "arc of prosperity" or an "arc of insolvency"?
The "arc of prosperity" was supposed to include Norway, Iceland and Ireland.
Norway is expecting its economy to grow for the next couple of years.
Irish economic expert Marc Coleman has pointed out that Ireland is well ahead of the UK in economic terms.
5. Had an independent Scotland been in the eurozone, would it have made a difference?
Being in the eurozone has cushioned the Irish economy from the worst effects of the credit crunch. Iceland is not in the Eurozone.
1. Ireland's government has protected bank deposits.
2. At 25%, Ireland's debt-to-GDP ratio is the second-lowest in the European Union.
Recapitalising Irish banks will add seven percentage points to that, bringing it to perhaps the fourth-lowest.
3. EU and euro membership and a business-friendly tax regime, make Ireland a world beater in foreign direct investment and a home to leading high-technology multinationals.
4. Scotland's genius has given the world the television, the telephone, penicillin, much modern industrial practice and, of course, the science of economics.
5. The "arc of indifference", encompassing Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
In Scotland, London imposes policies designed for the south of England.
6. Ireland's economy grew by almost 90% in the past ten years, four times faster than the EU and three times faster than countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Ireland's average economic performance in the first decade of the millennium will remain streets ahead of the EU, OECD and UK.
The Business Plot was a fascist conspiracy involving wealthy businessmen to overthrow Roosevelt in 1933.
Details came to light when General Smedley Butler testified before a Congressional committee that a group of men had attempted to recruit him to serve as the leader of a plot.
Butler testified before the McCormack-Dickstein Committee in 1934 .
Today, JP Morgan Chase is part of the Rockefeller empire.
(Chase Manhattan Banks Right wing Relationship - Click Here)
3. Why did one of the world's top banks, Royal Bank of Scotland, get into such deep trouble?
On 19 Jun 2008, the Royal Bank of Scotland advised clients 'to brace for a full-fledged crash in global stock and credit markets.' (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/alert.html)
4. But, were the right people in charge of Royal bank of Scotland?
Sir Fred Goodwin was chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) from 2001 to 2008.
After University, he joined accountants Touche Ross.
Reportedly, Touche Ross has had links to the CIA (Cached)
Goodwin, while working for Touche Ross, was chief operating officer of the worldwide liquidation of BCCI, Bank of Credit and Commerce International, in 1990.
"RBS has been involved in an increasing number of environmental and human rights controversies since Sir Fred Goodwin took the helm in 2001.
"RBS is heavily involved in financing large oil, gas and mining projects world-wide that environmental organizations like BankTrack, PLATFORM , Pacific Environment, The Cornerhouse, and Rainforest Action Network call 'dodgy deals' that they say severely damage the environment and local communities, and that contribute significantly to climate change.
Sir Fred Goodwin has been a regular visitor to his friend, UK prime minister Gordon Brown. "Goodwin is one of a small handful of City grandees that the Chancellor relies on to give him advice." (Profile: Sir Fred Goodwin - Telegraph)
Could Sir Fred have had links to the wrong sort of people?
5. What about the other directors of Royal Bank of scotland?
The Directors of Royal Bank of Scotland (early October 2008) include:
Sir Tom McKillop (Who reportedly attended the last Bilderberg meeting)
Sir Fred Goodwin, appointed 1998.
Gordon Pell, formerly group director of Lloyds TSB UK Retail Banking.
Guy Whittaker, appointed to the Board in February 2006, after spending 25 years with Citigroup.
Lawrence Fish, an American, appointed to the Board in January 1993, previously a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
Charles 'Bud' Koch, an American, was chairman, president and chief executive officer of Charter One Financial, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Charter One Bank, N.A.
Joe MacHale, appointed to the Board in September 2004, held a number of senior executive positions with JP Morgan between 1979 and 2001, and was latterly chief executive of JP Morgan Europe, Middle East and Africa Region.
John McFarlane, appointed to the Board on 1 October 2008, was at one time head of Citicorp/Citibank in the UK and Ireland.
Sir Steve Robson, appointed to the Board in July 2001, a non-executive director of JP Morgan Cazenove Holdings.
Arthur (Art) Ryan, appointed to the Board on 1 October 2008, previously held a senior position with the former Chase Manhattan Bank NA.
Peter Sutherland, appointed to the Board in January 2001, is chairman of BP plc and Goldman Sachs International. He was formerly a director general of the World Trade Organisation.
Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, of the Scottish National Party, said that:
1. Norway, had been able to come up with a £35 billion rescue package for its banks.
2. Norway was protected by a £200 billion sovereign oil fund.
3. "By contrast with the UK, Norway is a sea of stability. This crisis has taken place within existing UK constitutional arrangements. It is just fanciful and self-serving nonsense for anyone to pretend that large countries haven't been affected by this."
There is a suspicion that the two Scottish banks, HBOS and RBS, were brought down as part of a conspiracy to weaken Scotland.
On 17 september 2008, the Financial Services Authority declared that HBOS was still "a well-capitalised bank that continues to fund its business in a satisfactory way." (HBOS: The questions that must be answered)
The Scotsman newspaper, 19 September 2008, asks the following:
1. Why was action not taken earlier to prevent short sellers hijacking a sound financial institution?
2. Why was the Financial Services Authority so ineffectual as the crisis unfolded?
The Scotsman points out that the Bank of England could have offered financial assistance while weaker parts of the business were sold off.
Reportedly, Tom McKillop, Chairman, The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, attended the 2008 Bilderberg meeting. (Cached)
What decisions might have been taken there about weakening Scotland and its SNP government?
"The Bilderberg group - which took its name from a Dutch hotel - was founded in 1954 by Prince Bernhard from the Netherlands. German-born Bernhard was a card-carrying Nazi and member of the SS...
"Serbs, not without some reason, blamed Bilderberg for the 1999 Balkan war and the fall of Slobodan Milosevic: after all, the US needed to control vital, Balkan pipeline routes.
"Bilderberg 2002 - although not without controversy - is thought to have cemented the invasion and conquest of Iraq...
"In... A Century of War: Anglo-American oil politics and the New World War, F William Engdahl details what happened at Bilderberg 1973 in Sweden...
"'They determined to use their most prized weapon - control of the world’s oil flows. Bilderberg policy was to trigger a global oil embargo, in order to force a dramatic increase in world oil prices.'
"Saudi petrodollars then moved to the 'right' banks in London in New York to finance US government deficits."
In a 9 page classified CIA document called “Current Situation in Iceland” published 18 October 1949 and declassified 23 January 1978, the CIA makes political observations regarding security, the communist threat and the economic status of the country:
“Icelanders are opposed to the establishment of foreign military bases on their island in time of peace, but would probably be willing to receive NATO forces if war or the threat of war made Iceland’s involvement seem imminent.
“Solely because of its strategic location, Iceland has been drawn into the current of world affairs, albeit unwillingly and hesitantly. Icelanders desire only to be left alone, but it is as clear to them as to others that their island will not be left alone in war; perhaps not even in peace."
4. 21 August 2008: "Iceland is to join the growing rush of countries aiming to tap into the potentially vast oil and gas reserves of the Arctic. Reykjavik is hoping to attract investment from some of the world's biggest oil companies as it finalises the terms for its first offshore licences." (Iceland to offer offshore drilling licences in race for Arctic's ...)
Drilling licences for big untapped oilfields that Iceland shares with Norway were last month offered to prospectors and oil companies. US and Russian companies are sure to be interested. (Nato fears as Iceland turns to Moscow for £3bn loan Mail Online)
Who wants to control Scotland's oil and keep Scotland in NATO?
Alex von Ungern-Sternberg , former group treasurer of Deutsche Bank, joined a number of top business people in questioning the HBOS - Bank of Scotland takeover by English bank Lloyds TSB.
"The non-retail asset side of the balance sheet should be run down to a level safely funded whilst interim funding gaps are plugged, using for example the Bank of England's special liquidity scheme. This would be in everyone's interest."
Others who have questioned the wisdom of the HBOS takeover deal include:
Sir Donald Mackay, the chairman of the Scottish Mortgage Trust; Sir George Mathewson, a former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland; Sir Peter Burt, a former governor and chief executive of Bank of Scotland; Keith Skeoch, the chief executive of Standard Life Investments; and David Alexander, the owner of Edinburgh-based property firm DJ Alexander; analysts from JP Morgan and Société Générale.
1. A leading City figure, Keith Skeoch, the chief executive of Standard Life Investments, has suggested there has been an abuse of the stock market market rules in the case of HBOS.
Keith Skeoch said there had been a delay before the talks were formally announced.
Stock market rules insist that companies in advanced talks should make a formal announcement to the stock exchange, with trading in their shares being suspended.
If news of the talks been announced earlier, HBOS shares would not have crashed.
And, if HBOS had survive until Thursday night, when news of the United States government's plan to buy toxic debt was announced, the bank could still be independent.
Mr Skeoch in a BBC Radio 4 interview said: "I think we should be asking ourselves who was in the possession of that information and why it wasn't released to the market and why it was made available to the market via the BBC."
2. A source at the Bank of England has said that the Bank of England had sufficient funds to help HBOS stay independent.
The source suggested the deal was a "purely commercial decision" and nothing to do with HBOS's survival.
The Gordon Brown government waived competition rules only because it claimed this was about HBOS's survival.
3. Archie Kane, the chief executive of Scottish Widows (owned by Lloyds TSB) said "This deal was done for commercial reasons. We would not have got into the situation otherwise. We operate on behalf of our shareholders, we do the best thing for our key stakeholders."
4. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) failing to stop the practice of short-selling in time to save HBOS. Why?
5. The SNP MSP Alex Neil, a former economic consultant, is demanding an inquiry into the alleged abuse of the market.
He said: "It appears that there has been a serious breach of stock market rules, which must be investigated...
"If what appears to be coming out of the Bank of England is true, and this was a purely commercial decision, then we have to ask why HBOS is being sold. If it is true it needed to be rescued, then both the Bank of England and FSA failed HBOS."
6. The UK Shareholders Association (UKSA) has said that HBOS appeared to be profitable.
It said that if indeed it was a "good deal" for HBOS shareholders to sell the bank at about the current market price, the directors had a lot of explaining to do.
There are doubts whether HBOS shareholders will back the merger.
A spokesman for the UKSA, said: "Only if HBOS shareholders receive an adequate explanation that convinces them that a sale of the bank was essential should they approve the takeover by voting for it."
Gordon Brown whose leadership bid was "bankrolled" by Sir Ronald Cohen
"We're hearing that tomorrow's Financial Times will write a piece about HBOS. It won't be pretty, likely to focus on £128billion of non-customer liabilities that must be rolled in the next three months. This will raise the spectre of a run on the bank."
The information was false.
But £3 billion was wiped off the value of HBOS shares.
Labour prime minister Harold Wilson, whose friends included Montague Meyer, Joe Kagan and Rudy Sternberg.
Gordon Brown and the London and Washington establishments do not want Scotland to become a successful independent country.
Has there been an Establishment plot to destroy HBOS and thus weaken Scotland?
The Bank of Scotland began in 1695 and later became known as HBOS.
On 18 September 2008, it was announced HBOS is to be 'taken over' by an English bank, Lloyds TSB.
On 17 september 2008, the Financial Services Authority declared that HBOS was still "a well-capitalised bank that continues to fund its business in a satisfactory way." (HBOS: The questions that must be answered)
Certain hedge funds got to work short-selling HBOS.
Robert Maxwell, another Jewish Labour Party figure who did some strange deals.
Philip Falcone's Harbinger Capital Partners is said to have made £280 million by gambling that HBOS's share price would go down. (Hedge funds clipped by short-selling ban)
The Scotsman newspaper, 19 September 2008, asks the following:
1. Why was action not taken earlier to prevent short sellers hijacking a sound financial institution?
2. Why was the Financial Services Authority so ineffectual as the crisis unfolded?
The Scotsman points out that the Bank of England could have offered financial assistance while weaker parts of the business were sold off.
Manning
Sir David Manning is on the board of Lloyds Halifax, which now includes what used to be Halifax - Bank of Scotland (HBOS).
Manning, who is Jewish, was HM ambassador to Israel between 1995 and 1998, foreign policy adviser to Blair from 2001 to 2003 and HM ambassador to the USA from 2003 to 2007.
On 31 July the Times disclosed that Sir David Manning was in the United States on 9 11. (Cached)
The Guardian described Manning as Britain's 'national security adviser' ". The BBC said that Manning was "head of the cabinet office defence and overseas secretariat" and was already "well known and respected in the White House".
Blank
Sir Victor Blank is the chairman of Lloyds Halifax which now includes what used to be the Bank of Scotland (HBOS).
Blank is the first Jew to chair a major UK clearing bank, Lloyds Halifax.
Blank is involved with the Labour Friends of Israel and is a governor of Tel Aviv University.
He is a promoter of business links between the UK and Israel. (Cached)
Blank is a member of the Jewish Leadership Council, which promotes Jewish interests.
Other members of the Jewish leadership Council include: Sir Ronald Cohen, Lord Janner and Lord Levy.
Blank was chairman of UJS (Union of Jewish Students) Hillel, an organisation which supports Jewish students.
Reportedly, the Union of Jewish Students is a zionist organization. (Cached)
Blank is a former Director of The Royal Bank of Scotland.
On 15 September 2008, Gordon Brown discussed HBOS with Sir Victor Blank.
Photo of Soros taken by Jeff Ooi. Posted to LensaMalaysia.com
In 1997, banks got into difficulty in Asia.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad thought he knew who was behind it all: George Soros, Jewish currency trader. (MAHATHIR VS. SOROS)
In 1992, the UK had the crisis of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.
The Bank of England was forced to abandon efforts to stabilize the pound sterling.
A certain Jewish gentleman claimed that he had personally made over $1 billion in speculation against the British pound.
Up to 1997, the fundamentals of the Indonesian economy looked sound.
But, the Asian economies had been urged by the West to liberalise and deregulate markets and allow in lots of European and Japanese money.
Huge sums of money did flow in.
Then speculators shouted ‘fire’.
And the money flowed out."
There was a suspicion that the money-men in New York and London were taking advantage of events and that a lot of banks and businesses in South East Asia would end up in American and British hands
Scotland's first minister, Alex Salmond, has attacked the "spivs and speculators" who have targeted Scottish-based bank HBOS. (Salmond attacks financial 'spivs')
Salmond told BBC Scotland that HBOS was soundly based.
He said that financial regulators should have acted to prevent the speculative attack.
HBOS is to merge with Lloyds TSB after its share price plummeted.
A union has warned the merger could be "catastrophic" for the 17,000 HBOS staff based in Scotland
Salmond said the financial regulators the Financial Services Authority left HBOS vulnerable to speculative attack by failing to act.
He said HBOS was properly funded and had a good capital ratio.
"I am very angry that we can have a situation where a bank can be forced into a merger by basically a bunch of short-selling spivs and speculators in the financial markets," he said.
"We should not have situations where well capitalised, properly funded financial institutions are subject to incredible speculative attack, and that drives them into decision making which they otherwise might not have done.
"You have got to put the hems on that sort of activity, otherwise we will have a succession of companies going through the same process. All financial regulators have got to wake up to where we are at the present moment."
Reportedly, Tom McKillop, Chairman, The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, attended the 2008 Bilderberg meeting. (Cached)
What decisions might have been taken there about weakening Scotland and its SNP government?
Scott Reid, Deputy Business Editor of Glasgow's Herald newspaper (now American owned) reports that the chief executive and chairman of Lloyds Halifax will have the whip hand in the merged bank. (Scott Reid's blog: My part in HBOS's downfall)
Scotland will lose a major plc head office and lots of high street branches.
"Already Edinburgh, its business community, its band of lawyers, accountants and advisors will have been left reeling by the enormity of this week's events", writes Reid.
Reid mentions market murmurs of a possible HSBC/ Royal Bank of Scotland tie-up.
Reid comments: "the last person to leave Edinburgh: please turn off the light."
1. Gordon Brown has "presided over what has become the biggest economic disaster of our lifetime."
2. "It was in Britain, not America, where families borrowed more than any in the world."
3. "Our Government could and should have used the good years of global growth to set aside money for a rain day...
"That's what many governments did by building up budget surpluses, such as they did in Australia and Sweden...
"In Britain, Gordon Brown racked up the biggest budget deficit in the western world."
According to an article at Wikipedia, Brown has not helped the poor and has not reduced taxes on the poor:
1. Anti-poverty: The Centre for Policy Studies found that the poorest fifth of households, which accounted for 6.8% of all taxes in 1996–7, accounted for 6.9% of all taxes paid in 2004-5. Meanwhile, their share of state benefit payouts dropped from 28.1% to 27.1% over the same period. (Poor lose out in Brown's tax reforms)
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