The Road to the Euro: Birth Pangs of Globalism
Currencies / Euro Dec 20, 2012 - 01:42 AM GMTBy: Rob_Kirby
From an historical context – it may be argued that global domination begins and ends – FIRST - with control of Europe. The unification of Europe, or global domination as a concept, is perhaps as old as war itself. Put simply, you cannot ‘rule the world’ unless you first ‘rule Europe’. History is littered with many examples of ‘would-be’ aggressors ***** oppressors who have set their sights on European conquest. While not exhaustive – here’s a list of a few:
The Roman Empire – one of Europe’s longest lived hierarchies - included most of what would now be considered Western Europe. The empire was conquered by the Roman Army and a Roman way of life was established in these conquered countries. The main countries conquered were England/Wales (then known as Britannia), Spain (Hispania), France (Gaul or Gallia), Greece (Achaea), the Middle East (Judea) and the North African coastal region.
- The Mongol invasion of Europe in the 13th century involved the destruction of East Slavic principalities, such as Kiev and Vladimir, the invasion of the Kingdom of Hungary (in the Battle of Mohi) and fragmentation of Poland (in the Battle of Legnica). The operations were masterminded by General Subutai and commanded by Batu Khan and Kadan, both grandsons of Genghis Khan. As a result of the successful invasions, many of the conquered territories would become part of the Golden Horde empire.
- The Ottoman wars in Europe were a series of military conflicts relating to the Ottoman Empire's attempt to expand its territorial holdings in Europe. They began with the Byzantine–Ottoman Wars in the 13th century, continuing with the Bulgarian–Ottoman Wars and the Serbian-Ottoman Wars in the 14th century, whereupon the Ottoman Empire rapidly conquered the Balkans. The initial Croatian–Ottoman Wars and the Ottoman–Hungarian Wars led to a further expansion of the Ottomans into Central Europe. The expansion was significantly checked in the Siege of Vienna (1529), starting the Ottoman–Habsburg wars, and the Holy League of Christian states were able to reverse many Ottoman conquests in the Great Turkish War (late 17th century). Internal rebellions such as the Second Serbian Uprising (1815-1817) and the Greek War of Independence (1820-1822), coupled with continuous war with Russia and Poland atrophied the empire, which collapsed on the conclusion of World War I.
- Napoleon was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815. He established hegemony over most of continental Europe and sought to spread the ideals of the French Revolution, while consolidating an imperial monarchy which restored aspects of the deposed Ancien Régime. Due to his success in these wars, often against numerically superior enemies, he is generally regarded as one of the greatest military commanders of all time, and his campaigns are studied at military academies worldwide.
- The October Revolution of 1917 in Russia sparked a revolutionary wave of socialist and communist uprisings across Europe, most notably the German Revolution, the Hungarian Revolution, Biennio Rosso and the revolutionary war in Finland with the short lived Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic, which made large gains and met with considerable success in the early stages
- The Nazi rise to power brought an end to the Weimar Republic, a parliamentary democracy established in Germany after World War I. Following the appointment of Adolf Hitler as chancellor on January 30, 1933, the Nazi state (also referred to as the Third Reich) quickly became a regime in which Germans enjoyed no guaranteed basic rights. After a suspicious fire in the Reichstag (the German Parliament), on February 28, 1933, the government issued a decree which suspended constitutional civil rights and created a state of emergency in which official decrees could be enacted without parliamentary confirmation. In the first months of Hitler's chancellorship, the Nazis instituted a policy of "coordination"--the alignment of individuals and institutions with Nazi goals. Culture, the economy, education, and law all came under Nazi control. The Nazi regime also attempted to "coordinate" the German churches and, although not entirely successful, won support from a majority of Catholic and Protestant clergymen. Extensive propaganda was used to spread the regime's goals and ideals. Upon the death of German president Paul von Hindenburg in August 1934, Hitler assumed the powers of the presidency.
Hitler had the final say in both domestic legislation and German foreign policy. Nazi foreign policy was guided by the racist belief that Germany was biologically destined to expand eastward by military force and that an enlarged, racially superior German population should establish permanent rule in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
Pre-Cursors for the Euro
History - The precursor to the European Union was established after World War II in the late 1940s in an effort to unite the countries of Europe and end the period of wars between neighbouring countries. These nations began to officially unite in 1949 with the Council of Europe. In 1950 the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community expanded the cooperation. The six nations involved in this initial treaty were Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Today these countries are referred to as the "founding members."
During the 1950s, the Cold War, protests, and divisions between Eastern and Western Europe showed the need for further European unification. In order to do this, the Treaty of Rome was signed on March 25, 1957, thus creating the European Economic Community and allowing people and products to move throughout Europe. Throughout the decades additional countries joined the community.
In 1979, the word "economic" was ominously dropped in favour of the description "European Community" (EC) and then in 1992 the Treaty of Rome was effectively “renamed” the Maastricht Treaty which formalized the [largely financial] conditions or benchmarks – ‘set-the-bar’, if you will - for entry into the Euro currency unit.
Parallel Efforts in the Americas
While a United Europe was being ‘organised’ – parallel Globalist’s efforts, organized largely along banking lines had also been proceeding in the Americas for some time – as evidenced by the establishment of such bodies as The Federal Reserve [1913] and then the supra-national bodies: The Council on Foreign Relations [CFR, circa 1921], the United Nations [1945] along with the I.M.F. and World Bank [1945] as outgrowths of the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference. The creation of these institutions served to ‘pave-the-way’ for Globalism in the Americas – by subverting the U.S. Constitution as evidenced / admitted by James Paul Warburg who gained notice in a February 17, 1950, appearance before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in which he said,
"We shall have world government, whether or not we like it. The question is only whether world government will be achieved by consent or by conquest.”
The experience gained from numerous global conflicts [particularly WWI and WWII] no doubt lessened the Globalists’ appetite for achievement through MASS CONFLICT – instead, giving rise to a preference for regional conflict[s] and the more favoured approach - that of attainment of goals through economic means.
The Maastricht Treaty, the ERM and More
The preceding historical account is meant to serve as background or a “jumping-off” point for the timeframe surrounding the formal implementation of the Euro currency unit. The Maastricht Treaty was signed in February 1992 and entered into force on 1 November 1993. It outlined 5 convergence criteria which EU member states had to adopt and adhere to - to gain entry into the Euro currency unit:
- HICP inflation (harmonized index of consumer prices [CPI],12-months average of yearly rates): Shall be no more than 1.5% higher.
- Government budget deficit: The ratio of the annual government deficit to gross domestic product (GDP) must not exceed 3% at the end of the preceding fiscal year.
- Government debt-to-GDP ratio: The ratio of gross government debt to GDP must not exceed 60% at the end of the preceding fiscal year.
- Exchange rate: Applicant countries should have joined the exchange-rate mechanism (ERM / ERM II) under the European Monetary System (EMS) for two consecutive years, and should not have devalued its currency during the last two years, meaning that the country shall have succeeded to keep its monetary exchange-rate within a 15% range from an unchanged central rate.
- Long-term interest rates (average yields for 10yr government bonds in the past year): Shall be no more than 2.0% higher, than the unweighted arithmetic average of the similar 10-year government bond yields in the 3 EU member states with the lowest HICP inflation.
It was September 16, 1992, a date known as Black Wednesday, when the British Government was forced to withdraw the pound sterling from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) after they were unable to keep it above its agreed lower limit. George Soros, the most high profile of the currency market investors, made over US$1 billion profit by short selling sterling. Failure to comply with point 4 [above] effectively “knocked” Britain out of the Euro in the early going.
Mario Draghi, LTCM, Goldman and the Italian Job
Later on in the 1990’s, there is evidence that Italy was having a great deal of difficulty in complying with points 2, 3 and 5 above [Government Deficit, Debt to GDP and Long Term Interest Rates]. Had Italy not been able to conform to points 2, 3 and 5 – not only would Italy have been disqualified from Euro membership – it WOULD HAVE have cast doubt on the viability of the Euro itself being a realistic or ‘workable’ proposition. From a Globalist’ perspective – this would not be allowed to happen. Mario Draghi was the head of the Italian Treasury from 1991 – 2001.
There is further evidence that Italy sought out the expertise of Long Term Capital Management [LTCM] in regards to point 5 above [pdf pg. 356-57]:
“LTCM became heavily involved in the Italian capital markets, which became a particularly important site of arbitrage, not just by LTCM but by leading US investment banks, in the late 1990s. Traditionally, the fiscal efficiency of the Italian state was regarded as poor by international (and many local) investors, who would therefore purchase Italian government bonds only at low prices (and therefore high yields). These yields, in turn, contributed to Italy’s budgetary difficulties by making the cost of servicing its government debt high. However, with growing European integration, especially the prospect of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), arbitrageurs began to believe that Italy’s capital-market idiosyncrasies might be temporary. This belief may have been performative, in that the resulting flow of capital into Italian government bonds, and consequent reduced debt-service costs, helped Italy qualify for EMU under the Maastricht criteria.”
To qualify for entry into the EMU, Italy HAD TO ‘narrow yields’ between their 10 yr. bonds and those of other “better credit” EMU participants – like Germany. LTCM and their ‘chief banker’ [Goldman ‘Hannibal Lecter’ Sachs] whose head was none other than Jon ‘the MF Global slime’ Corzine – along with unimaginable leverage - rode to the rescue.
In addition to the Draghi / LTCM / Goldman nexus regarding “narrowing Italian Bond yields – there also exists anecdotal evidence that Italy began playing “footsie” with their sovereign gold reserves to aid in “doctoring” points 2 and 3 above. The Italian central bank consists of two institutions - of which the central government has no equity holdings in either:
* The Banca d’Italia [BI]
* Ufficio Italiano dei Cambi [UIC]
The Italian government DOES receive 60% of profits generated by the BI and 25% of profit generated by the UIC. In 1996 - the UIC purchased 540 tonnes of gold from the BI to “secure” a 2 billion dollar loan from the German Bundesbank. This was an internal accounting / paper shuffle in sovereign Italian bullion accounts - that, when reversed one year later - generated a capital gain [profit] for the BI of 7,600 billion lire.
The Italian government’s “SHARE” of the profit generated by this “paper transaction” was some 3,400 billion lire - a number that amounted to .2 % of Italian GDP. This is all explained in greater detail in the book [Making the EMU] at this link, pages 124 - 127].
Ladies and gentlemen, this constitutes accounting fraud and reprehensible conduct concerning the accurate reporting of sovereign reserves. Specifically, Italy’s conduct regarding their sovereign gold reserves demonstrates a proclivity to use their sovereign gold reserves in an undeclared, nefarious manner.
Additionally, much has been written on the Bank of Italy, LTCM and gold – like this excerpt from Embry / Hepburn back in 2004 at pg. 29:
….in September 1999, TheStreet.com quoted Nesbitt Burns gold analyst Jeff Stanley as saying on a conference call: "We've learned Long Term Capital Management is short 400 tons."74
In addition, Frank Veneroso stated:
“I have received many testimonies that LTCM had extensively used gold borrowings to fund its leveraged positions, and believe it likely that the Fed removed these shorts from LTCM's books in the course of the bailout of LTCM.”75
Reg Howe also spoke of the apparent LTCM gold short position:
“Recent confidential information from a highly reliable source confirms rumors that at the time of its collapse, LTCM was short a substantial amount of gold (300 to 400 tonnes is the range most often mentioned), and that this position was covered in some type of arranged off-market transaction.”76
Anecdotally, for a host of reasons [see endnotes], it is doubtful that LTCM borrowed Italian gold. Given the state of sovereign Italian finances it is much more likely that The Bank of Italy was instructed to lease said gold [thank you Mr. Draghi and Goldman Sachs] and invest the proceeds with LTCM to earn superior returns. Sovereign gold leasing just so happens to serve the “dual purpose” of stealthy provision of physical metal to a world market which Frank Veneroso identified in the 1990’s as being in chronic deficit [see end notes]
When sovereign gold is lent / leased – this is done through A BULLION BANK [like Goldman Sachs] whereby, physical bullion is sold into the market to raise cash balances which are then reinvested.
LTCM inadvertently collapsed when they took a highly leveraged position in sovereign Russian bonds and Russia defaulted. If a public ‘work-out’ of LTCM would have ensued – the true state of sovereign Italian finances, as well as the criminal actions of Goldman ‘Hannibal Lecter’ Sachs would have been on public display for the whole world to see – the the Euro would very likely have been still-borne.
For his part in this CRIMINAL FIASCO – Super Mario Draghi was rewarded by being made Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs International in 2002 and later, in 2011 was appointed president of the European Central Bank [ECB] which on December 13, 2012, was granted exclusive regulatory power over ALL EUROPEAN BANKS:
Europe deepens union with ECB as chief bank watchdog
(Reuters) - Europe clinched a deal on Thursday to give the European Central Bank new powers to supervise euro zone banks from 2014, embarking on the first step in a new phase of closer integration to help underpin the euro…..
Draghi is also a trustee at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey and also at the Brookings Institution, in Washington, D.C. Never has such a long, dark shadow been cast over these hallowed institutions.
Absolutely UNTHINKABLE seditious acts have been committed by the banking community against sovereign nations and their debt markets AS WELL AS rigging of the gold and other strategic commodity markets around the world. These heinous acts have all been committed in the name of Mr. Warburg’s “World Government”.
Economic means have apparently been shown to be more powerful than bullets – and to think Eisenhower told us all to be wary of the military industrial complex? Economists seem to be a more dangerous adversary.
May god help us all.
End Notes
Host of Reasons: In the late 1990’s LTCM chief legal counsel – James Rickards – drafted and published an affidavit stating that LTCM had not engaged in any gold trading what-so-ever:
“James G. Rickards, who sent us [GATA] a letter, along with an affidavit from Principal, Eric Rosenfeld. Rickards stated that Long Term Capital Management denies any involvement in the manipulation of the gold market and Rosenfeld said to the Cafe, "None of LTCM, LTCP, nor their affiliates, has ever entered into any transaction involving the purchase or sale of gold, including without limitation, spot, forwards, options, futures, loans, borrowings, repurchases, coin or bullion, long or short, physical or derivative or in any other form whatsoever."
Rickards’ affidavit would not dismiss the mobilization of Italy’s sovereign gold – but would reason that any mobilization that occurred - was done in the name of Bk. of Italy as principal. As chief legal counsel for LTCM and self-described “point man” for the Federal Reserve’s rescue of LTCM – it is UNTHINKABLE that James Rickards did not know – arising from Know Your Client [KYC] fiduciary duties - that one of their major contributors – Italy – leased gold to raise the funds for their participation to the fund.
Goldman Sachs has a documented history of assisting other would-be Euro members, LIKE GREECE, CRIMINALLY SIDESTEP convergence criteria for entry into the Euro. As stated in the New York Times:
“As worries over Greece rattle world markets, records and interviews show that with Wall Street’s help, the nation engaged in a decade-long effort to skirt European debt limits. One deal created by Goldman Sachs helped obscure billions in debt from the budget overseers in Brussels. “
The Jon ‘the M.F. Global slime’ Corzine angle [chairman of Goldman 1994 – 99] re: Goldman and LTCM assisting Italy appearing to be compliant with EMU qualifications is also consistent with globalist controlled regulators “giving him a pass” in the face of outright “stealing” in the case of MF Global. He is “untouchable” for a reason - because he knows where all the bones are buried.
Frank Veneroso – through intimate dialogue with the Bank of England’s gold guru – Terry Smeeton – became acutely aware of the level of clandestine – publicly undeclared - Central Bank gold leasing programs. It was Smeeton who himself surmised back in the late 1990’s – in documents only released under FOI requests/court demands [at pg. 2 of 7 pdf]:
“Smeeton, however, was bearish on the near-term prospects for the ~~of gold. Central banks were running low inflation policies that made gold less attractive to investors. A second worry surrounded the EMU process, and the expectation that European central banks would sell gold to help meet Maastrict debt targets. The recent Dutch sale had only aggravated this worry. The ongoing rumors of selling by the Dutch and Belgian central banks, and the change in attitude toward gold by the Swiss National Bank, had created an environment where hedge funds and others found it attractive to play gold from the short side.”
Got physical gold yet?
By Rob Kirby
http://www.kirbyanalytics.com/
Rob Kirby is proprietor of Kirbyanalytics.com and sales agent for Bullion Custodial Services. Subscribers to the Kirbyanalytics newsletter can look forward to a weekend publication analyzing many recent global geo-political events and more. Subscribe to Kirbyanalytics news letter here. Buy physical gold, silver or platinum bullion here.
Copyright © 2012 Rob Kirby - All rights reserved.
Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any trading losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors before engaging in any trading activities.
Rob Kirby Archive |
© 2005-2022 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.
