Antony Loewenstein

6 Responses to “Quote of the week”

1. 1 smiths
   Jun 29th, 2006 at 12:52 pm

   in the end, white bankers black money runs with brown terrorists black through the same tubes,
   start monitoring the tubes too closely and you’ll notice the real crimes,

   the new york times is protecting its own, cos its the same old song

2. 2 smiths
   Jun 29th, 2006 at 1:16 pm

   addamo, in response to your question about italy,

   it all starts on aprill 11th

   Tuesday, 11 April 2006, 12:10 GMT 13:10 UK
   Prodi hails Italy poll ‘victory’
   Romano Prodi has already proclaimed victory in the election
   Italy’s centre-left leader Romano Prodi says he has won the right to become the country’s prime minister following a narrow victory in the general election.
   http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4897994.stm

   nine hours later

   Tuesday, 11 April 2006, 21:24 GMT 22:24 UK
   ‘Top Mafia boss’ caught in Italy
   Bernardo Provenzano is taken to a police building in Palermo, southern Italy
   Provenzano had been on the run for more than half his life
   The man considered to be the head of the Sicilian Mafia, Bernardo Provenzano, has been arrested after more than four decades on the run.
   http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4898930.stm

   June 14, 2006, The Associated Press
   Prodi signals Berlusconi era is over
   ROME Romano Prodi, Italy’s new center-left prime minister, visited European partners this week, taking what he hoped would be a reassuring message - the Silvio Berlusconi era is over.
   In the days before the European Union summit meeting in Brussels on Thursday, Prodi stopped in Vienna, Paris and Berlin, saying he was intent on fostering EU integration and cleaning up Italy’s shaky finances. He also clearly is ending the kind of backslapping personal diplomacy favored by his flamboyant predecessor.
   http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/06/14/news/italy.php

   Friday, 16 June 2006, 23:35 GMT 00:35 UK
   Son of Italy’s last king arrested
   Victor Emmanuel’s return to Italy ended 56 years of family exile
   Prince Victor Emmanuel, the son of Italy’s last king, has been arrested as part of an investigation into corruption and prostitution.
   http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5089462.stm

   June 20, 2006
   52 arrested in mafia crackdown
   From: Agence France-Presse
   FIFTY-two people, including the alleged heads of 13 mafia families, were arrested at dawn today in Sicily in a major crackdown on organised crime.
   Anti-mafia prosecutor Piero Grasso told Italian news agency Ansa that the investigation had uncovered evidence “linking mafia cells with businessmen and politicians”, including a list of candidates in recent elections whom the crime group deemed “reliable”.
   http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19534808-23109,00.html

   Times Online, June 22, 2006
   Top Italian football teams charged with fraud
   Four of Italy’s top football teams were indicted tonight in a match-fixing scandal that has besmirched a national passion and shaken the stock market.
   Thirty other football officials, including referees, were indicted for “sporting fraud” but their names were withheld “for reasons of privacy,” the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) said. They are believed to include Franco Carraro, the former President of the Italian Football Federation, and Adriano Galliani, the manager of AC Milan.
   http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2238023,00.html

   Friday, 24 June, 2005, 16:01 GMT 17:01 UK
   Italy seeks ‘CIA kidnap agents’
   US military base of Aviano, northern Italy
   The imam was allegedly driven to a US military base after his abduction
   Italian authorities have issued arrest warrants for 13 people they claim are agents “linked to the CIA”.
   http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4619377.stm

   i dont know about anyone else but it looks like some sort of clean out to me

3. 3 Ian
   Jun 29th, 2006 at 3:33 pm

   SWIFT may be news to Valeriani but it probably isn’t to bin Laden and friends. Its been mentioned in anti terrorism circles for some time, the U.S. even mentioned in a publically available report to the UNSC back in 2002:

   http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N02/725/72/PDF/N0272572.pdf?OpenElement

   Para 31 states:

   “The settlement of international transactions is usually handled through correspondent banking relationships or large-value message and payment systems, such as the SWIFT, Fedwire or CHIPS systems in the United States of America. Such international clearance centres are critical to processing international banking transactions and are rich with payment information. The United States has begun to apply new monitoring techniques to spot and verify suspicious transactions. The Group recommends the adoption of similar mechanisms by other countries.”

   (my emphasis)

4. 4 Pete
   Jun 29th, 2006 at 3:34 pm

   I agree that “The New York Times and other newspapers to publish the story about the Administration’s money-tracing program [is] really irresponsible” but its hardly as bad as “…giving Anne Frank’s address to the Nazis.”

   Valeriani is clearly manufacturung a newswothy phrase.

   Pete

5. 5 smiths
   Jun 29th, 2006 at 7:20 pm

   since you guys seem absolutely intent on ignoring the jist of my post,
   and continue to look at the story as being about publishing details of the Administration’s money-tracing program i am forced to link and expand,
   the new york times is interested in protecting the real money flows from scrutiny and its got fuck all to do with terrorists

   heard anything about Clearstream lately? check the french news

   The purpose of Clearstream is to facilitate money movements around the world, particularly by handling the resolution of sales of European stocks and bonds, in which market Clearstream was a major player, with an estimated 40% market share until May 2004 - together with its competitor Euroclear, the two firms settle 70% of European transactions [3]. Furthermore, in January 2006, Clearstream was the 18th biggest employer in Luxembourg [4].

   Clearstream does not hold a monopoly in this market: Euroclear, owned by Euronext, and SWIFT are competitors. However, SWIFT mainly assures routing, while only Euroclear and Clearstream supply cross-borders securities clearing and settlement services; Clearstream’s quasi-monopoly is demonstrated by this European Union statement declaring that “Clearstream Banking AG is an unavoidable trader partner” [5].

   Euroclear was created by JP Morgan in 1968 in Brussels (Belgium). By the end of 2000, JP Morgan had extricated itself from Euroclear, but JP Morgan still is one of the 120 international banks which own shares in Euroclear. In 2000, Euroclear processed 145 million transactions, dealing with a total of 100,000 billion euros [6].
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearstream_scandal

   Tracking Terrorist Money — Too Hot For U.S. to Handle?
   October 4, 2001

   “A controversial European book that might help authorities track terrorist funding sources remains unpublished and relatively unknown in the United States.
   Entitled “Revelation$,” it exposes a secret banking system that might be used by terrorists. At the center is a clearinghouse in Luxembourg called Clearstream, which transfers money for international banks and major companies.

   Authors Ernest Backes — a former banker who helped design and install the clearinghouse’s computerized accounting system in the 1970s — and investigative reporter Denis Robert described a potential money laundering and tax evasion system that uses unpublished accounts to provide investors with a veil of secrecy.

   Clients of Clearstream can be bankers, investment managers, offshore companies, tax evaders, officials of secret services, the CEOs of multinationals — or terrorists.

   Among the international banks with the most secret accounts are: Citibank (271); Barclays (200); Credit Lyonnais (23); and the Japanese company Nomura (12).

   There are 2,000 investment companies, banks and subsidiaries of banks — principally British, German American, Italian, French or Swiss — with Clearstream unpublished accounts based in tax havens such as the Cayman Islands, which in turn offer local secret accounts — a double layer of secrecy.
   http://alternet.org/story/11650/

6. 6 Pete
   Jun 30th, 2006 at 2:50 pm

   smiths

   I admit that “white bankers black money runs with brown terrorists black through the same tubes” had me wondering.

   So thanks for clarifying in your latest comment. Looks like the CIA’s finance tracking campaign may be overly selective and turn a blind eye to many established financial interests.

   Pete

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