Gold Man Sacks: Satan Clause ~ The Anti-Santa

Dan Fogleberg
The Power of Gold

On June 19th of this year I ran this post:

Goldman Sachs Double Speak ~ 3 Wood

This was the article 3 Wood was commenting on in that post:

Hormats calls for U.S. global policy restructuring:

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - As the world's economies become more globalized and the U.S. dollar competes with a stronger euro, America needs to restructure its global policies to attract more foreign capital, Robert Hormats, vice president of Goldman Sachs International, said Wednesday.

The next U.S. administration will need to make "important policy changes to take advantage of new global opportunities," Hormats said during a speech at an Asian banking and finance conference at the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank.

Those changes include realizing the U.S. needs to accelerate improvements in its trade balance to reduce dependence on foreign money, boost competitiveness by reasserting the Doha Round global effort and be a leader in global policy creation, he said.

The collapse of U.S. domestic savings, compounded by a widening trade deficit and increased consumer borrowing, have contributed to U.S. dependence on foreign capital, Hormats said. "Exports are rising at a much more rapid rate than imports," Hormats said, citing that 95% of the world's consumers now are outside the U.S. "About one-third of the profits of S&P 500 companies come from activities abroad."

Hormats also said the Doha Development Round, a set of international negotiations to promote free world trade, is stalling, and the U.S. needs to take initiative to open global markets for goods and services.

"If this round falters, and I think in the current moment there's a good chance that it will ... then the U.S. and other trading nations would do well to devote their efforts to improving -- and ensuring firm adherence to --- existing rules and dispute settlement procedures," Hormats said. He said the U.S. needs to focus on improving itself economically, but it also should become a leader in crafting international economic policies.

"We have to give if we want to get, which means negotiations," he said, adding that "the changing global landscape demands new institutions, new patterns of cooperation within existing institutions and new ways of ensuring that greater cooperation among institutions take place when their responsibilities overlap."

Dig the language in it.
In hindsight you can clearly see they were telegraphing big time what was to come in October.

To remind you, Czar Paulson, his Igor, Kashkari & the current head of the World Bank, Zoellick, are all from Goldman.

SPLEEN SEARCH: GOLDMAN SACHS

Many times since October I have said here that if you watch carefully what the Gold Man Sacks buys, sells, values, devalues, and publicly announces, you can accurately predict many future events and thus prepare for them.


Gold Man Sacks Missing Links for the past week or so:

Goldman Sachs, CDH invest nearly 100 mln usd in China's Himin Solar

Turkish markets firm, eyes on Goldman results

Goldman says investment in China will accelerate

Goldman's Stand in Japan Crumbles

Goldman, Deutsche Bank Are Said to Cut Jobs in Japan

Goldman Sachs sees oil at $30 a barrel in next three months

Goldman Sachs predicts fall in oil prices to $45 a barrel - not $200

Goldman Sachs turns bearish on oil in 2009

Barel Karsan: Goldman Sachs' Wonky Oil Predictions

Crude gives back 9% as US auto-rescue plan founders

Sector roundup: Utilities, auto parts suppliers

Valeo Rises on Goldman Sach’s Upgrade

Goldman Sachs cuts Caterpillar to sell

Apple downgraded to neutral at Goldman Sachs

Bally Technologies Upgraded By Goldman Sachs

Goldman cuts AT&T to neutral

Telstra Drops as Goldman Sachs Cut Rating

Goldman Sachs upgrades Baidu.com

Goldman adds Viacom to conviction buy list

Goldman Sachs upgrades US Gaming sector to attractive

Goldman Sachs Poised to Sell Sanyo Stake to Panasonic

Goldman Sachs, economy, Best Buy, fertilizers

Goldman Sachs ups gold forecast on dollar view, haven appeal

Investors focusing on energy, currency and rates

Default won’t bring an end to dollarization, Goldman Sachs’ Ramos said
dollarization?

Goldman, AT&T ‘Apologize’ to Democrats With Post-Election Gifts

Goldman Sachs cites global recession, new-product pause

Goldman, The Fed, The Future and ETFs

US Stocks Advance on Rate-Cut Speculation; GE, Goldman Gain

ADRs surge after US rate cut, Goldman

Big Loss For Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs workers net $2.6bn bonuses despite losses

Goldman's Loss Is Europe's Gain

Only One Bank Cites a Loan From TARP Money

Moody's cut Goldman Sachs ratings one notch to "A1"

Goldman Sachs’s Tax Rate Drops to 1%, or $14 Million

Who Aided And Abetted Madoff, Mr. Ponzi?

Goldman Sachs Outlines 2009 Financial & Credit Expectations

Once again, 'follow the money'

Advent and Eschaton and Apocalypse

Spandau Ballet
Gold

UPDATES:

Former Goldman Sachs official Gensler to be CFTC head
'Financial regulatory reform will be a top priority of mine.'
— President-elect Barack Obama

Zero - Goldman Sachs, Federal Reserve, Depression, Stocks


Paulson Takes Lead in Auto Rescue Talks

Gold Man advises on Arab banking merger

ARAB BANKERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA:

OK... WHOTF IS DAVID LEUSHEN?

Mr. Leuschen is a Founder and Managing Director of Riverstone. Mr. Leuschen has extensive M&A, financing and investing experience in the energy and power sector. Prior to founding Riverstone, Mr. Leuschen was a Partner and Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and founder and head of the Goldman Sachs Global Energy & Power Group.

Mr. Leuschen joined Goldman Sachs in 1977, became head of the Global Energy & Power Group in 1985, became a Partner of the firm in 1986 and remained with the firm until leaving to found Riverstone. Mr. Leuschen was responsible for building the Goldman Sachs energy and power investment banking practice into one of the leading franchises in the global energy and power industry. During this period, Mr. Leuschen and his team participated in a large number of the major energy and power M&A transactions worldwide. Mr. Leuschen also was a founder of Goldman Sachs' leading Master Limited Partnership franchise.

Mr. Leuschen also served as Chairman of the Goldman Sachs Energy Investment Committee, where he was responsible for screening potential private equity capital commitments by Goldman Sachs in the energy and power industry. Further, Mr. Leuschen was responsible for establishing and managing the firm's relationships with senior executives from leading companies in all segments of the energy and power industry, including Amerada Hess, Anadarko Petroleum, Apache, BP Amoco, Chevron, Cross Timbers, ENI, Kinder Morgan, Koch Industries, Kuwait Petroleum, Lasmo, Mobil, Phillips, PDVSA, Union Pacific Resources, Santa Fe International, Transocean SedcoForex, Unocal, and many others. Mr. Leuschen has served as a Director of Cambridge Energy Research Associates, Cross Timbers Oil Company, J. Aron Resources, Mega Energy, Inc. and Natural Meats Montana. He currently serves on the board of directors of Belden and Blake Corporation, Mariner Energy, Inc., Seabulk International, Inc., Frontier Drilling ASA and Mega Energy LLC.

He is also president of Switchback Ranch LLC and has served on a number of nonprofit boards of directors. Mr. Leuschen received his A.B. degree from Dartmouth and his M.B.A. from Dartmouth's Amos Tuck School of Business.

Mapping The People's Republic of Goldman Sachs

Lisa Stansfield
All Around The World

Hat Tip: Comrade Amanda

From Muckety.com:
Goldman Sachs’ network extends around the world

After U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson named protege Neel Kashkari to head the $700-billion bailout, some commentators grumbled that the entire U.S. financial system seemed to be under the stewardship of Goldman Sachs alumni.

In fact, Goldman’s reach through a network of former officials extends worldwide - a fact that could help foster global cooperation as Paulson and other U.S. officials reach out to foreign powers to calm financial markets, but which could also foster conflicts.

Former Goldman Sachs execs now in top positions in key world institutions include:

* Mark J. Carney, former managing director in Goldman’s Toronto office, who is governor of the Bank of Canada after having served as a senior official in Canada’s Finance Ministry.

* Michael Cohrs, former head of Goldman’s equity capital markets, now the head of global banking for Deutche Bank.

* Former Managing Director Mario Draghi, governor of the Bank of Italy.

* Former vice chairman Robert B. Zoellick, now the head of the World Bank.

Executives at Goldman Sachs say it has so many alumni in government posts and central banks around the world because the firm tends to push partners out after they’ve made a lot of money but while they’re still young. The average tenure for a partner is only eight to 10 years, which means high-powered people are leaving while still in their 40s and looking for second careers.

“Goldman Sachs cares passionately about the intersection of Wall Street and public policy,” a former Treasury Department official told Politico. “They place a huge premium on engagement in both domestic and international policy circles.”

Others, however, are less sanguine about the implications of a globe-girdling Goldman network.

As far back as two years ago, Bloomberg News columnist Matthew Lynn argued the concentration of so much power in a group of people who shared similar backgrounds and training was unhealthy:

A clan of former senior Goldman staffers is now in a position to help steer the dollar, the euro and the pound. There needn’t be anything sinister about that - though financial conspiracy theorists could have a field day with some of the connections. The issue is that they are likely to have a uniform set of preconceptions and prejudices. In any area of endeavor, it is healthy to have a wide diversity of views. Global monetary policy is no exception.

All that clout does breed discomfort and jealousy - especially when Goldman is one of the only major Wall Street investment firms left standing in this country, besides Morgan Stanley.

“Even before Mr. Kashkari’s appointment, there were a lot of Goldman people involved,” complained the editorial board of the New York Times:

Mr. Paulson, after all, was urged to join the Bush administration by Joshua Bolten, President Bush’s chief of staff and a former Goldman executive director of legal and government affairs.

In October of 2006, Mr. Paulson recruited Robert Steel, a former vice chairman at Goldman to be his right hand man as Under Secretary of the Treasury for domestic finance. Mr. Steel left the Treasury in July to become the boss at Wachovia, then one of the nation’s biggest banks.

Earlier this year, Fortune magazine aired a complaint from an anonymous Wall Street money manager who complained that Goldman’s connections enabled it to weather the economic storm by getting information that others didn’t have.

Other questions are bound to surface when so many of the banks who stand to benefit from infusions of government cash are headed by Goldman alumni, among them Citigroup, where former co-chairman Robert E. Rubin is a director; Bank of America, where former Goldman president John Thain will head global banking, securities, and wealth management after the acquisition of Merrill Lynch; and of course Goldman itself, headed by Paulson’s successor, Lloyd Blankfein.

See Muckety’s earlier post on the Goldman Sachs network.

Missing Links vs the Willingness to Harm

ATHENA ~ For Real
Turkish EuroVision Entrant 2004

Olmert & Abbas will met Tuesday to discuss the future of Jerusalem and the PA demand that millions of foreign Arabs move to Israel ~ Kadima will vote the following day on a successor to Olmert

Ukraine's Government Collapses, Elections Loom

Yushchenko's party, which wants to forge closer ties with the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, quit the coalition on Sept. 3, after Timoshenko's bloc teamed up with the pro-Russian opposition to strip the president of some powers. The parties had 10 days to re-unite.

2004 ~ Remember? Yushchenko was poisoned

Ukraine's geographic position, linking East and West, while also holding critical warm water ports on the Black Sea, has made the country a trade link of growing importance between the former Soviet Union and Europe for energy and other goods.

Russia–Ukraine gas dispute

Russian navy top brass want to keep Ukraine port

Russia wants to extend friendship agreement with Ukraine, says Chernomyrdin

EU likes Russian supplied heat and hot water...

Europe's competition chief promised on Tuesday she would give urgent consideration to whether new Polish plans to rescue its historic Baltic shipyards meet European Union state aid rules. If Brussels rejects the plans, three Polish shipyards -- including the Gdansk yard where the pro-democracy Solidarity movement was born -- will have to repay aid totalling more than 2.3 billion euros ($3.22 billion), forcing them into bankruptcy.

EU leaders met in Paris on September 9, with the president of Ukraine. The talks ended with an EU offer to establish a special partnership agreement with Kiev . But the 27-member block did not offer Ukraine EU membership.

NATO bolsters links with Tbilisi

7/19/08: Russia's energy drive leaves US reeling

FYI: Georgian 5 Day War started 8/7/08

MEND Declares Oil War in Nigeria

MEND Claim to Sabotage Royal Dutch Oil Pipeline

WhoTF is MEND?

MEND hearts Jimmah

Crypto Nazi Cravenly Co-opts Oriana's Bones as Beard

Five Big Dhimmis Dancing a DaWa of Death

Who was Condi's "Mentor" again, Babba?

Who's The Smartest Guy McCain Knows?

Bush says economy strong

McCain maintains economic conditions are 'fundamentally strong'

Comrade McCain says:
It's Corrupt Wall Street
VS
Pure American Workers

Obama and McCain Suck Up to the Bankers

AIG seeks $75-billion loan from Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan

US, European banks struggle to rescue Goldman Sachs by mergers

Big banks join forces to create emergency fund

OBAMA'S MONEY CLASS:

When you break it out by individual companies, you find that employees of Goldman Sachs gave more to Obama than workers of any other employer. The Goldman Sachs geniuses are followed by employees of the University of California, UBS, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, National Amusements, Lehman Brothers, Harvard and Google. At many of these workplaces, Obama has a three- or four-to-one fund-raising advantage over McCain.

JUNE 2008:

What's more, there have been fears that the old way of doing business on Wall Street is nearing extinction - investment banks are relying less on leverage to boost their returns and have been cutting jobs to deal with the credit crisis.

Wall Street firms also now face the threat of greater regulatory oversight after the Federal Reserve decided to open its discount lending window to prevent failure among investment banks.

APRIL 2006: Free Market Advocates Ask President Bush Not to Consider Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson for Treasury Secretary

Today, a coalition of free market-based policy groups sent a letter to President Bush asking him not to nominate Goldman Sachs Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Henry Paulson as Treasury Secretary given his controversial stand on environmental issues.

The letter was signed by the National Legal and Policy Center, the Free Enterprise Action Fund, Capital Research Center, National Center for Public Policy Research, and Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise.

Media reports indicate that the current Treasury Secretary John Snow will soon leave office and Paulson has been mentioned as a possible successor. However, many of Paulson’s environmental views are opposed to the positions of the Administration.

Paulson is also Chairman of the Nature Conservancy, an environmental activist group that endorses the Kyoto Treaty that would require the U.S. to make economically-drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to combat the scientifically-unproven global warming threat.

JUNE 2006: Zoellick leaves State Department to join Goldman Sachs

JUNE 2006: President Bush Nominates Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson to be the Next Treasury Secretary

JULY 2006: Paulson Sworn in as Treasury Secretary

JULY 2006:

Incoming U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was awarded an $18.7 million cash bonus for six months of work as Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s chief executive, the investment bank said Monday.

MAY 2007: Bush Taps Zoellick as World Bank President

MAY 2008: Fed's Direct Loans to Banks Climb to Record Level

MAY 2008: Will Bush Join the Housing Bailout Bunch?

I can tell you that many Republicans who were against the bill report getting an earful from constituents who view the measure as a bailout to folks who may have lied to get a cheap mortgage or were just plain financially stupid. On the other hand, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke—as well as John McCain—has already put his imprimatur on the general idea.

JANUARY 2008:

Shares of French industrial power and transport equipment maker Alstom rose more then 5 percent in early trade on Friday after Goldman Sachs raised its rating on the shares to "neutral" from "sell"

JANUARY 2008: Russia’s OJSC “Atomenergomash” and French Alstom successfully complete transaction to establish Nuclear Energy joint venture

MAY 2008:
Prosecutors probe Alstom for contract corruption

French prosecutors suspect engineering giant Alstom, builder of power stations and high-speed trains, of bribing foreign officials to win contracts, a judicial source said Tuesday. Prosecutors started an investigation on November 7 into suspected "corruption of foreign public agents" and "abusive use of assets," the source said.

The source spoke after The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported evidence that the company had "paid hundreds of million dollars in bribes to win contracts in Asia and South America between 1995 and 2003."

Alsom told the paper its offices had been searched by French authorities but that no charges had been laid. The company told AFP on Tuesday that the newspaper report was based on "hypotheses and speculation" and that "there is no judicial procedure accusing the company of corruption."

Brokers however took the allegations seriously and the price of Alstom shares fell 2.17 percent to 147.03 euros at mid-day.

The French judicial source said the investigation was the result of information provided by Swiss judicial authorities in May, but no-one had yet been charged. The WSJ said its report that Alstom was under investigation in Switzerland and France was based on information from people involved in the matter.

The report was also based on findings by auditing firm KPMG which, it said, came across evidence by chance while working for the Swiss Federal Banking Commission on an audit of a small private Swiss bank. The auditors allegedly found evidence that Alstom had circulated about 20 million euros (31 million dollars) to "shell companies" in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, which was transferred to marketing people working for Alstom in Singapore, Indonesia, Venezuela and Brazil, "in stacks of 100-dollar bills."

The audit found that Alstom also set up accounts in Liechtenstein, Switzerland, the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bahrain and Thailand. These were used "to transfer more than 12 million dollars (7.74 million euros) to individuals in Venezuela, Singapore, Thailand and China," the report alleged, referring to the audit.

The newspaper noted that paying "commissions" to foreign officials was legal and even tax deductible in many European countries until the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development began a campaign against the practice in 1997. France made such payments illegal in July 2000. Until then, French law permitted tax deduction of commissions of up to 7.5 percent if they were declared to local tax authorities.

Alstom was saved from bankruptcy in 2004 by state intervention orchestrated by the then finance minister Nicolas Sarkozy, now French president. One probe concerned a budget of 200 million dollars (129 million euros) for suspected commissions of 15 percent to win a contract for a power plant in Brazil which was completed in 2001.

Another probe concerned a 45-million-dollar contract for the Sao Paolo subway, and others covered payments of about 200 million dollars for projects in Brazil, Venezuela, Singapore and Indonesia, the report alleged. The newspaper said some of the projects concerned had also involved financing from the World Bank, which had declined to comment.

In Paris, Credit Mutuel-CIC brokers commented in a client note with a reference to an investigation in Germany into alleged suspicious payments by German engineering group Siemens. It said that although it was too early to know the facts of the matter at Alstom, the Siemens case "leads one to think that we may be set for a media-judicial saga lasting years."

Natixis brokers said that some investors "may fear that this is only the tip of the iceberg" but that others might consider this to be an old story concerning a previous management. The newspaper interviewed one former Alstom consultant, named as Michel Mignot, who said: "I never took a cent for myself." He said: "I didn't think the transactions were illegal, because they were done to get civil engineering contracts around the world."

AUGUST 2008: Swiss arrest 1 in Alstom investigation raids

Swiss police searched premises linked to French engineering company Alstom SA and made one arrest as part of an investigation into suspected corruption and money laundering, federal prosecutors said Friday.

Alstom, a maker of high-speed trains and power stations, was saved from bankruptcy in 2004 when French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was finance minister then, organized a state bailout for the ailing firm.

"A document officially registering the Alstom-Atomenergomash joint venture in Russia will be signed in Paris," Mariya Korobova said.

Russia's state controlled nuclear power corporation will have a 51%-share in the JV, which will operate on the platform of the machine-building firm ZIO Podolsk in the Moscow Region.

The JV ZIO Podolsk is the main supplier of equipment to the Bushehr nuclear power plant under construction in Iran.

The future joint venture will manufacture the entire conventional array of equipment used in nuclear power plants, drawing on Alstom's "Arabelle" half-speed turbine technology. Alstom will transfer technology to the joint-venture company, namely for the manufacture of its "Arabelle" steam turbine and generator.

The joint venture, expected to reach full capacity in three years, will benefit from the best available technology for conventional equipment for its nuclear power plants, and will have exclusive access to the fast-growing Russian nuclear power plant market.

Alstom is the world leader in conventional nuclear facilities, with 175 either already in service or in the course of being built in twelve countries around the world, including France, South Africa, China, South Korea and Sweden. Alstom technology is present in more than a quarter of conventional nuclear facilities around the globe

Teapacks ~ Push the Button
Israeli EuroVision Entrant 2007

Teapacks - Push the button (English translation)

The world is full of terror
If someone makes an error
He's gonna blow us up to biddy biddy kingdom come
There are some crazy rulers
They hide and try to fool us
With demonic, technologicwillingness to harm

They're gonna push the button, push the button

There's a lot of suffering
In the streets there's too much violence
And we stand a good chance of staying alive, even unscathed
Tactical advancement of a fanatical regime
A tragic situation that brings tears to my eyes

And I don't wanna die
I wanna see the flowers bloom
Don't wanna go kaput kaboom
And I don't wanna cry
I wanna have a lot of fun just sitting in the sun
But nevertheless

He's gonna push the button, push the button

Messages are exploding on me
Missiles are flying are also landing on me
Cops and robbers are running all over me
And they're jumping me, getting on my case
Alas, alas, answer me, my God, hi
This nightmare is too long
When I'm barely alive and everyone is aiming at me
Maybe it's too late to sing that I gave her my life

Police, rescue team
It made it to the Kdam, a song with no peace
Red is not just a colour, it's more like blood
Again I'm stopping the breathing in my heart
So I won't drop dead
First it's a war, now it's resuscitation

Boom boom, that's what is happening now
In between a rocket and a machete, a viewer and a reporter
Underhanded opportunism and a kidnapee, rain and a heatwave
An escalation in the levels is setting up camp

Nothing, nothing, that's what everyone is doing
Hardliners become more extreme and officers more serious
The naive become more moderate, waiting for the data
And reply (that everyone is helpless)

A world full of demons where we are nothing but pawns
And champions with gambling chips decide the outcome
Sluggish management, a ship filled with water
And everyone is drinking to good health, and drowning

Maybe it's too sharp
We should sing palm tree songs, desert songs with no flags
I'm still alive, alive, alive
And if it keeps on being scary, only then will I say:

I'm gonna push the button, push the button

Floatin' Powa News Service vs The Power of Evil

Earth, Wind & Fire
Evil

Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.
~ Luke 18:14

OIC intelligence ministers meet in Morocco

OIC Sez: Muslim Ummah awaits Obama’s vision, pledges beyond America

Iran Urges OIC Members to Avoid Using Word "Israel"

Iran to launch legal action against Israel over Gaza

US envoy vows 'direct' nuclear diplomacy with Iran

Susan Rice told reporters that President Barack Obama's administration looked forward to "engaging in vigorous diplomacy that includes direct diplomacy with Iran, as well as continued collaboration and partnership with" the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany.

Top commander supports Ahmadinejad

Iran's top military commander endorses President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's candidacy in the upcoming elections

It could get messy.....

Obama’s special Middle East troubleshooter, (Mitchell) was chairman of a law firm that was paid about $8 million representing Dubai’s ruler in connection with a child-trafficking lawsuit

Hamas and Fatah Meet in Cairo

Hamas Says Abbas Must End Its Peace Talks with Israel

EU aid chief in Gaza condemns Israel and Hamas

Hamas said it was "shocked" at his comments.

Israel? Not so shocked.

EU for "Palestinian unity with Abbas in charge"

Israel stymies French push to lift Hamas boycott

Noam Schalit to Paris to meet Sarkozy

Israel mulling 1000-for-1 prisoner exchange

"There was no ban," [on journali sts entering the Gaza Strip –Ed.] Seaman declared, "Israel did not want to endanger the lives of the workers at the crossings so we didn't open them, not for humanitarian reasons and not for foreign journalists."

Janitor pleads guilty in Tenn. nuclear parts theft

Man pleads guilty in Iranian military parts case

Prosecutors say Keshari, a 48-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen who was living in California, was a middleman between Iranian buyers and a supplier based in South Florida. The supplier also has been charged and is scheduled to go to trial in May.

Obama phones leaders in Germany, Russia, France

...And he gives his first interview as POTUS to Al Arabiya TV:

Dhimmah Carter Sez: US Can Get NK to Give Up Its Nuclear Weapons

Dhimmah's NAKBA:

Jimmy Carter said Monday that Israel will face a "catastrophe" unless it revives the Mideast peace process and establishes an independent Palestinian state.

In an interview with The Associated Press, he said Arabs will outnumber Jews in the Holy Land in the foreseeable future.

Funny, that's just what Rabbi Kahane used to say...

Russian foreign ministry delegation in NK

North Korea denounces South's unification minister

N. Korea says Seoul plans invasion

Raul Castro to visit Russia Jan. 28

NATO head, Russia's Ivanov to discuss resuming ties Feb. 6

Russia's king of crude

EU Parliament Official Sez: Let Iran participate in Nabucco

Gazprom officials met with Budapest ahead of Nabucco gathering

Gazprom eyes 30-year contract with Ukraine

Ukraine-Russia gas deal could be overturned

Gazprom looks at offshore arctic

Russia's Severstal to idle Ohio steel furnace

Severstal (CHMFq.L), Russia's largest steel maker, said on Monday it will idle its Mingo Junction, Ohio electric arc furnace next month because of poor steel market conditions.

New Delhi supports TAPI pipeline

Tajiks face electricity rationing in capital city

Lead Chevron Lawyer Discusses the Rigors of Defending Big Oil

Indonesia to get natural gas from Chevron, ExxonMobil

Clinton: Energy security a major US foreign policy element

The following was released today by the Republican National Committee:

Goldman Sachs Economist Alec Phillips Said Preliminary Estimates Show That Only $250 Billion Of The $825 Billion Stimulus Will Make It Into The Economy In 2009.

"'As the size of the overall package grows, estimates of the amount of stimulus Congress will provide appear to be shrinking,' said Goldman Sachs economist Alec Phillips. 'Preliminary estimates imply that of the $825 billion Congress is considering, only $250 billion will make it into the economy in the current calendar year.'" (Emily Kaiser, "Economy To President Obama: Help Me Now," Reuters, 1/25/09)

Goldman Sachs' Report: "Preliminary estimates imply that of the $825 billion Congress is considering, only $250 billion will make it into the economy in the current calendar year. This could still change as the package works its way through Congress, but these estimates highlight the political and practical challenges in enacting an effective fiscal package, particularly in 2009." (NBC's "Meet The Press," 1/25/09)

[SNIP]

Gold Man Sacks Sez: US Banks May Be the New Utilities

Goldman sours further on banks

"Charity venture firm" hires former Goldman Sachs exec

Pfizer’s bid is being financed by banks that received fed bailout $: Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup & Bank of America

Perella Weinberg Hired by FDIC as Bank Bailout Strategy Adviser

In the 1980s, the FDIC hired New York-based Morgan Stanley as an adviser when the agency decided to sell its stake in Continental Illinois, the Chicago-based bank that had to be rescued in 1984 with a $4.5 billion government bailout. Continental had hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as an adviser.

Senate OKs careless taxpayer Geithner to run Obama's Treasury

Massive Trial in Turkey Provides Look into 'Deep State'

In India, Clues Unfold to a Fraud’s Framework

Satyam to get training award from US body

A US-based professional body is ignoring the almost surreal events in recent weeks at Satyam Computer Services and bestowing the troubled software company with an award that recognises the internal training that Satyam conducts for its employees. The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) said the Hyderabad company was chosen for the award in December before it was engulfed in the financial scandal on January 7.

OOOOOoooOOooooo, Lookie:

SEARCH: The American Society for Training and Development / Goldman Sachs

2001: Goldman Sachs Hires Laura Liswood to Focus On Global Leadership and Workforce Diversity

Ms. Liswood has worked with Goldman Sachs for the past three years, facilitating employee workshops and advising the firm on issues relating to diversity in the workplace. She is the author of Women World Leaders, which chronicles the careers of 15 current and former women world leaders. She is the co-founder and Secretary General of the Council of Women World Leaders located at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Ms. Liswood's experience includes being the CEO/President of the American Society for Training and Development, holding executive positions at Rainier National Bank and in the airline industry

Etc., Etc., Etc.

Drug Money Keeping Global Banks Afloat

The United Nations' crime and drug watchdog has indications that money made in illicit drug trade has been used to keep banks afloat in the global financial crisis, its head was quoted as saying on Sunday.

2 prominent Saudi firms establish Sharia-compliant real estate finance co

Albaraka Bank Syria will be established with a capital of $100 million, which will be subscribed to by the promoters and shareholders in a public offering

SEARCH: Albaraka /Goldman Sachs

Malaysia's Bank Islam identifies potential M&A partner

SEARCH: Malaysia Bank Islam/Goldman Sachs

'Stewmaker' Stirs Horror in Mexico

MEXICO CITY, Jan. 26 As the nation's drug war rages on, with its weekly tallies of headless torsos, it is getting harder to produce a shock wave in the Mexican media. But the gruesome recipes of "The Stewmaker" have gripped public attention here, as authorities describe how a "disposal expert" working for a Tijuana drug cartel boss allegedly got rid of hundreds of bodies by dissolving the corpses in vats of acid.

Alaska's Redoubt volcano threatens eruption

5.6 in the Aleutian Islands

Active Volcano Erupted in Europe

5.9 in Indonesia

Thousands displaced by Sunday's China/Kazakh border 5.0

5.3 in Bolivia

Bolivia faces crisis as Evo Morales wins referendum

Bolivia is facing a political crisis after President Evo Morales won a decisive victory in a referendum designed to enhance his own powers and turn the country into a quasi-Socialist state

Earth, Wind & Fire
Power

Unusual & Exigent Missing Links

I'm Against It & I Always Get My Man
Grouch Marx in "Horsefeathers" ~ 1932

OCTOBER 1:

Leaders and economists from Western Europe to East Asia Tuesday urged the United States to go beyond reviving a failed domestic bailout and start working on a new global financial system. Associated Press Traders at MICEX, the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange, watch and wait during a tense session in Moscow on Tuesday when stock indexes sank despite a two-hour trading halt.

"The Americans don't have a choice — they must absolutely have a global plan," Christian Noyer, head of the French central bank, said in Paris.

David Smick, a global strategist and author of "The World Is Curved: Hidden Dangers of the Global Economy," said the next U.S. president should immediately call for a second "Bretton Woods" conference to devise a new doctrine of international finance.

Preparing to rebuild the international economic system as World War II was still raging, 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations gathered at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, for the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference. The delegates deliberated upon and signed the Bretton Woods Agreements during the first three weeks of July 1944.

Setting up a system of rules, institutions, and procedures to regulate the international monetary system, the planners at Bretton Woods established the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) (now one of five institutions in the World Bank Group) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). These organizations became operational in 1945 after a sufficient number of countries had ratified the agreement.

All your pie are belong to them

TODAY: Bush calls International Emergency Finance Summit

Towards a new economic world order

We will look back on the banking crisis of September 2008 as a defining moment for economic globalization

Peter Mandelson, European Union Commissioner for Trade, wrote the above linked article. Here are some edfying recent quotes of his:

We are seeing a huge reordering of the global economy and politics. Rising powers are reshaping the post war world and existing institutions like the WTO, like multilateral negotiations have to adapt to these new realities. We must all adapt

It would be better while operating on a country by country basis, we did so in a coordinated way and we brought a collective European view. We are all interlocked. We are in this together

And it's an international system in which not just the G7 or G8 and the OECD will be reaching out and inviting the so-called emerging economies in for a cup of tea

China is keeping a level head as a trusted partner

[globalisation] is the biggest eliminator of poverty and creator of opportunity the world has ever seen

We have nothing to gain by shutting down financial globalisation. But the networks that make up globalisation will keep transmitting the shocks along with the benefits unless we take a tougher line with excessive risk and strengthen the multilateral instruments that govern the global financial system

China has always acted in an objective and responsible way through the use of its sovereign wealth

The globalization demands a new regulatory paradigm

In this difficult economic and political climate, it is transparency, openness, and cooperation that will help us weather the storm. The EU and China need to resist protectionism and forge a positive trade and investment agenda

Note: The picture at left comes from the World Bank site

UNESCO regional meeting opens in Isfahan

WTF is "World Evolutionary Humanism" & Why Should You Care?

Council of Europe and Alliance of Civilizations agree on future co-operation

Goldman Sachs Made More Than $100 Million on Fewer Days in Quarter

Goldman Sachs raises $10.5 billion for new fund

Neel Kashkari, the $700 Billion Man

Goldman Sachs Leads $12 Million Investment in Nimsoft

Nimsoft is a "network monitoring"company.....

Giant bank Goldman Sachs invests in ATS red-light camera operator

OK. I want you to stop a moment and ponder why GS obviously considers these things safe, good money making investments....

Goldman Sachs Downgrades Major Solar Stocks To "Sell"

Dick Fuld’s Vendetta Against Short-Sellers and Goldman Sachs

US financial bailout: It is rocket science

PUTIN: DUMP THE DOLLAR, TRADE IN RUBLES

Obama interviewed by Brokaw at private Goldman Sachs dinner last year

Obama's Brand of socialism was clearly telegraphed in that "debate"

The center of his economic universe is the budget of the federal government

Obama received endorsement of Marxist coalition

Naturally!

FATAH milks Iran and USA simultaneously

In a message to the State Department, President Bush declared, "I hereby certify that it is important to the national security interests of the United States to waive" the restrictions

Der Beatles ~ Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand

GRAMMY CRACKER: OBITUARY FOR A REPUBLIC