After a study published last year labeled viewers of Fox News as grossly misinformed, the researchers who conducted the poll have expanded their work and now confirm, again, that the network’s audience might want to consider changing the channel.
Researchers at Fairleigh Dickinson University conducted a study last year that yielded some inarguably unsurprising information about Fox News’ viewership. At the time, researchers concluded that, based off of a study that sampled residents of New Jersey, people that only watch Fox News are less informed on current events than people that don’t watch cable news at all. Now only months later, the school’s researchers have published their finding of a similar study that calls on a sample of participants from coast-to-coast and, according to the results, confirm that their earlier report wasn’t a fluke.
According to the latest study, Americans who watch only Fox News to learn about current events are indeed less informed than most everyone else.
The report reveals that, on average, American’s are able to correctly answer 1.8 out of 4 questions on international news and 1.6 of 5 questions when quizzed on domestic issues. For those that disregard the television for taking in daily newscasts, they averaged 1.22 answers correctly.
Fox viewers, of course, were a different story.
“[S]omeone who watched only Fox News would be expected to answer just 1.04 domestic questions correctly – a figure which is significantly worse than if they had reported watching no media at all,” reveals the study.
“On the other hand, if they listened only to NPR, they would be expected to answer 1.51 questions correctly; viewers of Sunday morning talk shows fare similarly well. And people watching only The Daily Show with Jon Stewart could answer about 1.42 questions correctly.”
In last year’s New Jersey-centric study, the same researchers revealed that “people who watch Fox News are 18-points less likely to know that Egyptians overthrew their government” and “6-points less likely to know that Syrians have not yet overthrown their government” compared to those who watch no news.
“Because of the controls for partisanship, we know these results are not just driven by Republicans or other groups being more likely to watch Fox News. Rather, the results show us that there is something about watching Fox News that leads people to do worse on these questions than those who don’t watch any news at all,” Fairleigh Dickinson Professor Dan Cassino explained in an accompanying statement at the time back in November.
By broadening the study, though, can the university conclude that people that get theire news from Comedy Central are more informed that Fox viewers? The short — and for now, seemingly indisputable answer — is yes.
On March 15, over 1,500 beekeepers and anti-GMO protesters marched through the streets of Warsaw, depositing thousands of dead bees on the steps of the Ministry of Agriculture in protest of genetically modified foods and their pesticides which are together largely responsible for the killing off of bees, butterflies, moths and other beneficial pollinators in great numbers.
Later that day the Minister of Agriculture, Marek Sawicki, announced plans to ban MON810, which has already produced millions of hectares of pesticide resistant “superweeds” in the US.
The Polish Beekeepers Association organized the protest, joining forces with International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside (ICPPC) and the Coalition for a GMO Free Poland. Targeting Monsanto’s MON810 GM corn in particular, they also called for a complete ban on all genetically engineered crops as well as the pesticides found to be most damaging to the environment (and particularly to bees).
In 2008, the Polish Parliament banned GM feed, including both the planting and importing of GM crops. “Despite this progressive step,” reports Food Travels, “the European Commission has refused to accept regional bans on GMOs, keeping Polish farmers, producers, and activists on the offensive.”
Regardless, says the ICPPC, “None of the nine European Union countries that have already prohibited MON 810 did so by asking the permission of the EU.”
There was a great variety of attire as beekeepers dressed in their work bee suits and masks and ran their hive smoke guns as they marched, many wore yellow jackets with the famous Einstein quote, and many more original signs, props, and costumes. Go here for more photos.
The ICPPC is asking Polish residents to write Minister of Agriculture Marek Sawicki, demanding that he implement an immediate moratorium on GM crops, without waiting for EU approval.
Monarch Programming is a method of mind control used by numerous organizations for covert purposes. It is a continuation of project MK-ULTRA, a mind-control program developed by the CIA, and tested on the military and civilians. The methods are astonishingly sadistic (its entire purpose is to traumatize the victim) and the expected results are horrifying: The creation of a mind-controlled slave who can be triggered at anytime to perform any action required by the handler. While mass media ignores this issue, over 2 million Americans have gone through the horrors of this program. This article looks at the origins of Monarch programming and some of its methods and symbolism.
NOTE: This article contains disturbing elements and might trigger Monarch survivors.
Monarch programming is a mind-control technique comprising elements of Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) and Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD). It utilizes a combination of psychology, neuroscience and occult rituals to create within the slaves an alter persona that can be triggered and programmed by the handlers. Monarch slaves are used by several organizations connected with the world elite in fields such as the military, sex slavery and the entertainment industry. This article will look at the origins of Monarch programming, its techniques and its symbolism.
Origins
Throughout the course of history, several accounts have been recorded describing rituals and practices resembling mind control. One of the earliest writings giving reference to the use of occultism to manipulate the mind can be found in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. It is a compilation of rituals, heavily studied by today’s secret societies, which describes methods of torture and intimidation (to create trauma), the use of potions (drugs) and the casting of spells (hypnotism), ultimately resulting in the total enslavement of the initiate. Other events ascribed to black magic, sorcery and demon possession (where the victim is animated by an outside force) are also ancestors of Monarch programming.
It is, however, during the 20th century that mind control became a science in the modern sense of the term, where thousands of subjects have been systematically observed, documented and experimented on.
One of the first methodical studies on trauma-based mind control were conducted by Josef Mengele, a physician working in Nazi concentration camps. He initially gained notoriety for being one of the SS physicians who supervised the selection of arriving prisoners, determining who was to be killed and who was to become a forced labourer. However, he is mostly known for performing grisly human experiments on camp inmates, including children, for which Mengele was called the “Angel of Death”.
Joseph Mengele, 1935
Mengele is infamous for his sordid human experiments on concentration camps prisoners, especially on twins. A part of his work that is rarely mentioned however, is his research on mind control. Much of his research in this field was confiscated by the Allies and is still classified to this day.
“DR. GREEN (Dr. Joseph Mengele): The most significant programmer, perhaps one could give him the title of the father of Monarch Programming was Joseph Mengele, an ex-Nazi Concentration Camp doctor. Thousands of Monarch mindcontrolled slaves in the U.S. had “Dr. Green” as their chief programmer. “1
“Dr. Joseph Mengele of Auschwitz notoriety was the principle developer of the trauma-based Monarch Project and the CIA’s MK Ultra mind control programs. Mengele and approximately 5, 000 other high ranking Nazis were secretly moved into the United States and South America in the aftermath of World War II in an Operation designated Paperclip. The Nazis continued their work in developing mind control and rocketry technologies in secret underground military bases. The only thing we were told about was the rocketry work with former Nazi star celebrities like Warner Von Braun. The killers, torturers, and mutilators of innocent human beings were kept discretely out of sight, but busy in U.S. underground military facilities which gradually became home to thousands upon thousands of kidnapped American children snatched off the streets (about one million per year) and placed into iron bar cages stacked from floor to ceiling as part of the ‘training’. These children would be used to further refine and perfect Mengele’s mind control technologies. Certain selected children (at least the ones who survived the ‘training’) would become future mind controlled slaves who could be used for thousands of different jobs ranging anywhere from sexual slavery to assassinations. A substantial portion of these children, who were considered expendable, were intentionally slaughtered in front of (and by) the other children in order to traumatize the selected trainee into total compliance and submission 2.
Mengele’s research served as a basis for the covert, illegal CIA human research program named MK-ULTRA.
MK-ULTRA
Declassified MK-Ultra document
Project MK-ULTRA ran from the early 1950s to at least the late 1960s, using American and Canadian citizens as its test subjects. The published evidence indicates that Project MK-ULTRA involved the use of many methodologies to manipulate individual mental states and alter brain functions, including the surreptitious administration of drugs and other chemicals, sensory deprivation, isolation, and verbal and physical abuse.
The most publicized experiments conducted by MK-ULTRA involved the administration of LSD on unwitting human subjects, including CIA employees, military personnel, doctors, other government agents, prostitutes, mentally ill patients, and members of the general public, in order to study their reactions.
However, the scope of MK-ULTRA does not however stop. Experiments involving violent electroshocks, physical and mental torture and abuse were used in a systematic matter on many subjects, including children.
Declassified picture of a young MK-ULTRA subject, 1961.
Although the admitted goals of the projects were to develop torture and interrogation methods to use on the country’s enemies, some historians asserted that the project aimed to create “Manchurian Candidates”, programmed to perform various acts such as assassinations and other covert missions.
MK-ULTRA was brought to light by various commissions in the 1970s, including the Rockefeller Commission of 1975. Although it is claimed that the CIA stopped such experiments after these commissions, some whistle-blowers have come forth stating that the project simply went “underground” and Monarch Programming has become the classified successor of MK-ULTRA.
The most incriminating statement to date made by a government official as to the possible existence of Project MONARCH was extracted by Anton Chaitkin, a writer for the publication The New Federalist. When former CIA Director William Colby was asked directly, “What about monarch?” he replied angrily and ambiguously, “We stopped that between the late 1960s and the early 1970s.” 3.
Monarch Programming
Although there has never been any official admittance of the existence of Monarch programming, prominent researchers have documented the systematic use of trauma on subjects for mind-control purposes. Some survivors, with the help of dedicated therapists, were able to “deprogram” themselves to then go on record and disclose the horrifying details of their ordeals.
Monarch slaves are mainly used by organizations to carry out operations using patsies trained to perform specific tasks, who do not question orders, who do not remember their actions and, if discovered, who automatically commit suicide. They are the perfect scapegoats for high-profile assassinations (see Sirhan Sirhan), the ideal candidates for prostitution, slavery and private movie productions. They are also the perfect puppet performers for the entertainment industry.
“What I can say is I now believe that ritual-abuse programming is widespread, is systematic, is very organized from highly esoteric information which is published no-where, has not been on any book or talk show, that we have found it all around this country and at least one foreign country.
People say, “What’s the purpose of it?” My best guess is that the purpose of it is that they want an army of Manchurian Candidates, ten of thousands of mental robots who will do prostitution, do movies, smuggle narcotics, engage in international arms smuggling, all sorts of very lucrative things, and do their bidding and eventually the megalomaniacs at the top believe they’ll create a Satanic Order that will rule the world”. 4
Monarch programmers cause intense trauma to subjects through the use of electroshock, torture, abuse and mind games in order to force them to dissociate from reality – a natural response in some people when then are faced with unbearable pain. The subject’s ability to dissociate is a major requirement and it is ,apparently, most readily found in children that come from families with multiple generations of abuse. Mental dissociation enables the handlers to create walled-off personas in the subject’s psyche, which can then be programmed and triggered at will.
“Trauma-based mind control programming can be defined as systematic torture that blocks the victim’s capacity for conscious processing (through pain, terror, drugs, illusion, sensory deprivation, sensory over-stimulation, oxygen deprivation, cold, heat, spinning, brain stimulation, and often, near-death), and then employs suggestion and/or classical and operant conditioning (consistent with well-established behavioral modification principles) to implant thoughts, directives, and perceptions in the unconscious mind, often in newly-formed trauma-induced dissociated identities, that force the victim to do, feel, think, or perceive things for the purposes of the programmer. The objective is for the victim to follow directives with no conscious awareness, including execution of acts in clear violation of the victim’s moral principles, spiritual convictions, and volition.
Installation of mind control programming relies on the victim’s capacity to dissociate, which permits the creation of new walled-off personalities to “hold” and “hide” programming. Already dissociative children are prime “candidates” for programming”. 5
Monarch mind control is covertly used by various groups and organizations for various purposes. According to Fritz Springmeier, these groups are known as “The Network” and form the backbone of the New World Order.
ORIGINS OF THE NAME
Monarch mind control is named after the Monarch butterfly – an insect who begins its life as a worm (representing undeveloped potential) and, after a period of cocooning (programming) is reborn as a beautiful butterflies (the Monarch slave). Some characteristics specific to the Monarch butterfly are also applicable to mind control.
“One of the primary reasons that the Monarch mind-control programming was named Monarch programming was because of the Monarch butterfly. The Monarch butterfly learns where it was born (its roots) and it passes this knowledge via genetics on to its offspring (from generation to generation). This was one of the key animals that tipped scientists off, that knowledge can be passed genetically. The Monarch program is based upon Illuminati and Nazi goals to create a Master race in part through genetics. If knowledge can be passed genetically (which it is), then it is important that parents be found that can pass the correct knowledge onto those victims selected for the Monarch mind control.” 6
“When a person is undergoing trauma induced by electroshock, a feeling of light-headedness is evidenced; as if one is floating or fluttering like a butterfly. There is also a symbolic representation pertaining to the transformation or metamorphosis of this beautiful insect: from a caterpillar to a cocoon (dormancy, inactivity), to a butterfly (new creation) which will return to its point of origin. Such is the migratory pattern that makes this species unique.” 7
METHOD
The victim/survivor is called a “slave” by the programmer/handler, who in turn is perceived as “master” or “god.” About 75% are female, since they possess a higher tolerance for pain and tend to dissociate more easily than males. Monarch handlers seek the compartmentalization of their subject’s psyche in multiple and separate alter personas using trauma to cause dissociation.
The following is a partial list of these forms of torture:
1. Abuse and torture
2. Confinement in boxes, cages, coffins, etc, or burial (often with an opening or air-tube for oxygen)
3. Restraint with ropes, chains, cuffs, etc.
4. Near-drowning
5. Extremes of heat and cold, including submersion in ice water and burning chemicals
6. Skinning (only top layers of the skin are removed in victims intended to survive)
7. Spinning
8. Blinding light
9. Electric shock
10. Forced ingestion of offensive body fluids and matter, such as blood, urine, feces, flesh, etc.
11. Hung in painful positions or upside down
12. Hunger and thirst
13. Sleep deprivation
14 Compression with weights and devices
15. Sensory deprivation
16. Drugs to create illusion, confusion, and amnesia, often given by injection or intravenously
17. Ingestion or intravenous toxic chemicals to create pain or illness, including chemotherapy agents
18. Limbs pulled or dislocated
19. Application of snakes, spiders, maggots, rats, and other animals to induce fear and disgust
20. Near-death experiences, commonly asphyxiation by choking or drowning, with immediate resuscitation
22. Forced to perform or witness abuse, torture and sacrifice of people and animals, usually with knives
23. Forced participation in slavery
24. Abuse to become pregnant; the fetus is then aborted for ritual use, or the baby is taken for sacrifice or enslavement
25. Spiritual abuse to cause victim to feel possessed, harassed, and controlled internally by spirits or demons
26. Desecration of Judeo-Christian beliefs and forms of worship; dedication to Satan or other deities
27. Abuse and illusion to convince victims that God is evil, such as convincing a child that God has abused her
28. Surgery to torture, experiment, or cause the perception of physical or spiritual bombs or implants
29. Harm or threats of harm to family, friends, loved ones, pets, and other victims, to force compliance
30. Use of illusion and virtual reality to confuse and create non-credible disclosure 8.
“The basis for the success of the Monarch mind-control programming is that different personalities or personality parts called alters can be created who do not know each other, but who can take the body at different times. The amnesia walls that are built by traumas, form a protective shield of secrecy that protects the abusers from being found out, and prevents the front personalities who hold the body much of the time to know how their System of alters is being used. The shield of secrecy allows cult members to live and work around other people and remain totally undetected. The front alters can be wonderful Christians, and the deeper alters can be the worst type of Satanic monster imaginable–a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde effect. A great deal is at stake in maintaining the secrecy of the intelligence agency or the occult group which is controlling the slave. The success rate of this type of programming is high but when it fails, the failures are discarded through death. Each trauma and torture serves a purpose. A great deal of experimentation and research went into finding out what can and can’t be done. Charts were made showing how much torture a given body weight at a given age can handle without death.” 9
“Due to the severe trauma induced through ECT, abuse and other methods, the mind splits off into alternate personalities from the core. Formerly referred to as Multiple Personality Disorder, it is presently recognized as Dissociative Identity Disorder and is the basis for MONARCH programming. Further conditioning of the victim’s mind is enhanced through hypnotism, double-bind coercion, pleasure-pain reversals, food, water, sleep and sensory deprivation, along with various drugs which alter certain cerebral functions”. 10
Dissociation is thus achieved by traumatizing the subject, using systematic abuse and using terrifying occult rituals. Once a split in the core personality occurs, an “internal world” can be created and alter personas can be programmed using tools such as music, movies (especially Disney productions) and fairy tales. These visual and audio aids enhance the programming process using images, symbols, meanings and concepts. Created alters can then be accessed using trigger words or symbols programmed into the subject’s psyche by the handler. Some of the most common internal images seen by mind control slaves are trees, Cabalistic Tree of life, infinity loops, ancient symbols and letters, spider webs, mirrors, glass shattering, masks, castles, mazes, demons, butterflies, hour glasses, clocks and robots. These symbols are commonly inserted in popular culture movies and videos for two reasons: to desensitize the majority of the population, using subliminals and neuro-linguistic programming and to deliberately construct specific triggers and keys for base programming of highly-impressionable MONARCH children. 11 Some of the movies used in Monarch programming include The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio and Sleeping Beauty .
The movie The Wizard of Oz is used by Monarch handlers to program their slaves. Symbols and meanings in the movie become triggers in the slave’s mind enabling easy access to the slave’s mind by the handler. In popular culture, veiled references to Monarch programming often use analogies to The Wizard of Ozand Alice in Wonderland.
In each case, the slave is given a particular interpretation of the movie’s storyline in order to enhance programming. For example, a slave watching The Wizard of Oz is taught that “somewhere over the rainbow” is the “happy place” dissociative trauma slaves must go to in order to escape the unbearable pain being inflicted upon them. Using the movie, programmers encourage slaves to go “over the rainbow” and dissociate, effectively separating their minds from their bodies.
“As mentioned before, the hypnotist will find children easier to hypnotize if they know how to do it with small children. One method that is effective is to say to the small children, “Imagine you are watching a favorite television show.” This is why the Disney movies and the other shows are so important to the programmers. They are the perfect hypnotic tool to get the child’s mind to dissociate in the right direction. The programmers have been using movies since almost day one to help children learn the hypnotic scripts. For children they need to be part of the hypnotic process. If the hypnotist allows the child to make up his own imagery, the hypnotic suggestions will be stronger. Rather than telling the child the color of a dog, the programmer can ask the child. This is where the books and films shown the child assist in steering its mind in the right direction. If the hypnotist talks to a child, he must take extra precaution not to change the tone of his voice and to have smooth transitions. Most of the Disney films are used for programming purposes. Some of them are specifically designed for mind-control.” 12
LEVELS OF MONARCH PROGRAMMING
The levels of Monarch Programming identify the slave’s “functions” and are named after the Electroencephalography (EEG) brainwaves associated with them.
Types of brain waves in EEG
Monitoring brain waves through the scalp
Regarded as “general” or regular programming, ALPHA is within the base control personality. It characterized by extremely pronounced memory retention, along with substantially increased physical strength and visual acuity. Alpha programming is accomplished through deliberately subdividing the victims personality which, in essence, causes a left brain-right brain division, allowing for a programmed union of Left and Right through neuron pathway stimulation.
BETA is referred to as “sexual” programming (slaves). This programming eliminates all learned moral convictions and stimulates the primitive instinct, devoid of inhibitions. “Cat” alters may come out at this level. Known as Kitten programming, it is the most visible kind of programming as some female celebrities, models, actresses and singers have been subjected to this kind of programming. In popular culture, clothing with feline prints often denote Kitten programming.
DELTA is known as “killer” programming and was originally developed for training special agents or elite soldiers (i.e. Delta Force, First Earth Battalion, Mossad, etc.) in covert operations. Optimal adrenal output and controlled aggression is evident. Subjects are devoid of fear and very systematic in carrying out their assignment. Self-destruct or suicide instructions are layered in at this level.
THETA – Considered to the “psychic” programming. Bloodliners (those coming from multi-generational Satanic families) were determined to exhibit a greater propensity for having telepathic abilities than did non-bloodliners. Due to its evident limitations, however, various forms of electronic mind control systems were developed and introduced, namely, bio-medical human telemetry devices (brain implants), directed-energy lasers using microwaves and/or electromagnetics. It is reported these are used in conjunction with highly-advanced computers and sophisticated satellite tracking systems. 13
In Conclusion
It is difficult to remain objective when describing the horrors endured by Monarch slaves. The extreme violence, the abuse, the mental torture and sadistic games inflicted on victims by “notable scientists” and high-level officials prove the existence of a true “dark side” in the powers that be. Despite the revelations, the documents and the whistle-blowers, a great majority of the population ignores, dismisses or avoids the issue altogether. Over two million Americans have been programmed by trauma mind-control since 1947 and the CIA publicly admitted its mind control projects in 1970. Movies such as The Manchurian Candidate have directly referred to the subject, even depicting actual techniques, such as electroshock, the use of trigger words and microchip implementation. Several public figures we see on our TV and movie screens are mind control slaves. Famous people such as Candy Jones, Celia Imrie and Sirhan Sirhan have gone on record and disclosed their mind control experiences…and yet the general public claims that it “cannot exist”.
The research and funds invested in project Monarch do not however only apply to mind control slaves. Many of the programming techniques perfected in these experiments are applied on a mass scale through mass media. Mainstream news, movies, music videos, advertisements and television shows are conceived using the most advanced data on human behavior ever compiled. A lot of this comes from Monarch programming.
Fritz Springmeier, The Illuminati Formula to Create a Mind Control Slave ↩
This video provides the facts about psychotropic drugs and the huge profits they create for the pharmaceutical industry. These drugs are not safe and have not been on the market long enough to provide sufficient long term studies regarding their effects. These drugs do cause addiction, however most “doctors” would call this dependence because you do not have to take an increasing dose over time. They are completely fine with you being addicted to the same amount of any given drug on a daily basis. Over half of the people that commit suicide in the United States are prescribed to psychotropic drugs. (Ex: Paxil (Paroxetine), Zoloft (Sertraline), Prozac, Wellbutrin (Bupropion), Effexor, Seroquil, Ultram (Tramadol), etc.)
Joe Banister is the first and thus far only IRS Criminal Investigation Division Special Agent ever to conduct, while serving as a special agent, an investigation into allegations that the IRS illegally administers and enforces the federal income tax. He respectfully reported the results of his investigation to his IRS superiors, up to and including the IRS Commissioner. Rather than address the legitimate concerns raised by one of their own distinguished investigators, his IRS superiors suspiciously refused to address the chilling evidence of IRS wrongdoing raised in his report and instead encouraged him to resign from his position. Observing that IRS management intended to cover up the deceit and illegal conduct alleged in his report, Banister chose to resign from his position so that he could report his findings to the American public. In effect, Banister had to resign from his position in order to abide by his oath to support and defend the U.S. Constitution.
It’s not enough that the biotech industry — led by multinational corporations such as Monsanto, Dow, Syngenta, BAS, and Dupont — is poisoning our food and our planet. It’s also poisoning young minds.
In a blatant attempt at brainwashing, the Council for Biotechnology Information(CBI) has widely circulated what it calls a Biotechnology Basics Activity Bookfor kids, to be used by “Agriculture and Science Teachers.” The book — calledLook Closer at Biotechnology — looks like a science workbook, but reads more like a fairy tale. Available on the council’s Web site, its colorful pages are full of friendly cartoon faces, puzzles, helpful hints for teachers — and a heavy dose of outright lies about the likely effects of genetic engineering on health, the environment, world hunger and the future of farming.
CBI’s lies are designed specifically for children, and intended for use in classrooms.
At a critical time in history when our planet is veering toward a meltdown, when our youth are suffering the health consequences (obesity, diabetes, allergies) of Big Ag and Food Inc.’s over-processed, fat-and sugar-laden, chemical-, and GMO-tainted foods, a time when we should be educating tomorrow’s adults about how to reverse climate change, how to create sustainable farming communities, how to promote better nutrition, the biotech industry’s propagandists are infiltrating classrooms with misinformation in the guise of “educational” materials.
Brainwashing children. It’s a new low, even for Monsanto.
You don’t have to read beyond the first page ofLook Closer at Biotechnology to realize that this is pure propaganda:
Hi Kids! Welcome to the Biotechnology Basics Activity Book. This is an activity book for young people like you about biotechnology — a really neat topic. Why is it such a neat topic? Because biotechnology is helping to improve the health of the Earth and the people who call it home. In this book, you will take a closer look at biotechnology. You will see that biotechnology is being used to figure out how to: 1) grow more food; 2) help the environment; and 3) grow more nutritious food that improves our health. As you work through the puzzles in this book, you will learn more about biotechnology and all of the wonderful ways it can help people live better lives in a healthier world. Have fun!
Before we take a closer look at the lies laid out in Look Closer at Biotechnology — lies that are repeated over and over again, the better to imprint them on young minds — let’s take a closer look at the book’s publisher. The Council for Biotechnology Information describes itself as “a non-profit 501(c)(6) organization that communicates science-based information about the benefits and safety of agricultural biotechnology and its contributions to sustainable development.”
According to the Internal Revenue Service, a 501(c)(6) organization is a “business league” devoted to the improvement of business conditions of one or more lines of business. The mission of a 501(c)(6) organization “must focus on the advancement of the conditions of a particular trade or the interests of the community.”
The bottom line is that CBI exists to advance the interests of the corporations that it was formed to promote — in this case, the biotech industry. While it purports to communicate “science-based information,” in fact, that’s not its mission at all. Its mission is to maximize the profits of Monsanto and the biotech industry.
Not surprisingly, CBI is funded largely by the biotech, chemical, pesticide, and seed industry giants: BASF, Bayer CropScience, Dow Agro Sciences, Dupont, Monsanto, and Syngenta.
There’s nothing new about corporations lying to the public. Corporations routinely lie to their employees. They lie in advertising. They lie in the lopsided so-called studies and research projects that they self-fund in order to guarantee the outcomes that support their often false, but self-serving premises. They buy off politicians, regulatory officials, scientists, and the media.
Although here we’re focusing on the biotech industry trying to brainwash our kids, CBI certainly does not limit its propaganda to just children. CBI recently contributed $375,000 to the Coalition Against the Costly Labeling Law — a Sacramento-based industry front group working to defeat the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act of 2012. If passed in November, this citizens’ ballot Initiative will require food manufacturers and retailers to label foods containing genetically engineered ingredients, as well as ban the routine industry practice of labeling or advertising GE-tainted foods as “natural” or “all natural.” CBI, the Farm Bureau, and the Grocery Manufacturers Association are campaigning furiously to preserve their “right” to keep consumers in the dark about whether their food has been genetically engineered or not, and to preserve their “right” to mislabel gene-altered foods as “natural.”
Clearly, the Council for Biotechnology Information has little or no regard for “science-based” information. But lies aimed directly at kids — under the guise of science education? In our schools?
Let’s take a closer look at the claims made in Look Closer at Biotechnology.
Lie #1: “Biotechnology is one method being used to help farmers grow more food.” (page 7)
This statement is patently false.
In 2009, in the wake of similar studies, the Union of Concerned Scientists examined the data on genetically engineered crops, including USDA statistics. Their report — Failure to Yield — was the first major effort to evaluate in detail the overall yields of GE crops after more than 20 years of research and 13 years of commercialization in the United States. According to the definitive UCS study, “GE has done little to increase overall crop yields.” A number of studies indicate in fact that GE soybeans, for example, actually produce lower yields than non-genetically engineered varieties.
Research conducted by the India research group, Navdanya, and reported in The GMO Emperor Has No Clothes turns up the same results:
Contrary to the claim of feeding the world, genetic engineering has not increased the yield of a single crop. Navdanya’s research in India has shown that contrary to Monsanto’s claim of Bt cotton yield of 1500 kg per acre, the reality is that the yield is an average of 400-500 kg per acre. Although Monsanto’s Indian advertising campaign reports a 50-percent increase in yields for its Bollgard cotton, a survey conducted by the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology found that the yields in all trial plots were lower than what the company promised. (Page 11).
The claim that GE crops increase agricultural yields is a blatant lie. Equally untrue is the industry’s claim that it is motivated by the desire to feed the hungry of the world. As the Union of Concerned Scientists points out: “For the most part, genetic engineering techniques are being applied to crops important to the industrialized world, not crops on which the world’s hungry depend.” Where does all the genetically engineered soy and corn — two of the largest GE crops — end up? In animal feed, processed junk foods — and school lunchrooms. Precious little goes to feed the hungry in impoverished regions.
One of the sub-arguments related to increasing yields is the biotech industry’s claim that GMO crops are more resistant to pests — hence more of the crops survive. In Look Closer at Biotechnology kids are told that agricultural biotechnology is a “precise way to make seeds with special qualities. These seeds will allow farmers to grow plants that are . . . more resistant to pests . . .” In fact widespread commercialization of herbicide-resistant and Bt-spliced GE crops has engendered a growing army of superweeds and superpests, oblivious to all but the most powerful and toxic pesticides.
What we should be teaching kids in science class is what scientists have been warning for years — that any attempt to increase resistance to pests through genetic engineering will ultimately fail. Insects — and diseases — will build up a tolerance over time, and evolve into stronger and stronger strains. That’s how nature works — and even Monsanto can’t fool Mother Nature. Organic agriculture, on the other hand, utilizing crop rotation, biodiversity, natural fertilizers, and beneficial insects, reduces crop loss from pests and weeds, without the collateral damage of toxic pesticides and fertilizers.
Recently, 22 leading scientists told the US Environmental Protection Agency that it should act with “a sense of urgency” to urge farmers to stop planting Monsanto’s genetically engineered Bt corn because it will no longer protect them from the corn rootworm. Bt corn is genetically engineered with bacterial DNA that produces an insecticide in every cell of the plant, aimed at preventing corn rootworm. Except that corn rootworms have now developed resistance to these GE mutants.
Just as scientists had predicted years ago, a new generation of insect larvae has evolved, and is eating away at the roots of Monsanto’s Bt corn — a crop farmers paid a high price for on Monsanto’s promise that they would never have to worry about corn rootworm again. Scientists are now warning of massive yield loss and surging corn costs if the EPA doesn’t act quickly to drastically reduce Bt crops’ acreage and ensure that Monsanto makes non-GMO varieties of corn available to farmers.
“Massive yield loss” doesn’t sound like “more food” — whether you’re 12 years old or 112.
What we should be telling kids is what responsible scientists and farmers — experts at the United Nations — have been saying all along: Eco-farming candouble food output. According to a UN study:
Eco-farming projects in 57 nations showed average crop yield gains of 80 percent by tapping natural methods for enhancing soil and protecting against pests.
Projects in 20 African countries resulted in a doubling of crop yields within three to 10 years.
Sound ecological farming can significantly boost production and in the long term be more effective than conventional farming.
Lie #2: “Biotechnology can help farmers and the environment in many ways.” (page 8)
Two lies for the price of one.
Biotechnology — specifically genetic engineering — helps neither farmers nor the environment, according to the majority of legitimate scientists and economists. In fact, the opposite is true. Genetic engineering of seeds has wreaked havoc on the environment and brought misery to hundreds of thousands of small farmers all over the world.
The majority of farmers in developing countries struggle to afford even the most basic requirements of seeds and fertilizers. Their survival depends on the age-old practice of selecting, saving and sharing seeds from one year to the next. When multinational corporations move into areas previously dominated by small farmers, they force those farmers to buy their patented seeds and fertilizers — under pretense of higher yields, and under threats of lawsuits if they save or share the seeds. Every year, they’re forced to buy more seeds and more chemicals from corporations — and when the promises of higher yields and higher incomes prove empty, farmers go bankrupt.
Compounding their corporate crimes, when Monsanto’s patented seeds contaminate the non-GMO crops of small farmers (because the seeds drift across property lines) Monsanto routinely sues farmers for growing their patented seeds illegally, even though the seeds were actually unwanted trespassers. Further, the company has ruined the livelihoods of small farmers by harassing them for illegally growing patented seeds, even in cases where no patented seeds have been grown, either knowingly or by accident.
As Monsanto and others have expanded worldwide, into India, China, Pakistan, and other countries, the effect on small farmers has been devastating. In India, for instance, after World Trade Organization policies forced the country in 1998 to open its seed sector to companies like Cargill, Monsanto and Syngenta, farmers quickly found themselves in debt to the biotech companies that forced them to buy corporate seeds and fertilizers and pesticides, destroying local economies. Hundreds of thousands of India’s cotton farmers have committed suicide.
And according to a Greenpeace report, poorer farmers in the Philippines were sold Monsanto’s Bt corn as a “practical and ecologically sustainable solution for poor corn farmers everywhere to increase their yields” only to find the opposite was true: Bt corn did not control pests and was “not ecologically sustainable.”
Which brings us to one more of the Council for Biotechnology Information’s lies to kids: That agricultural biotechnology is good for the environment.
Study after study, over more than a decade, has warned us of just the opposite. Even the pro-biotech USDA has admitted that GE crops use more pesticides, not less than non-GE varieties. Genetic engineering results in evermore pesticides being dumped into the environment, destroying soil and water, human and animal health, and threatening the biodiversity of the planet.
How about telling kids instead that numerous reports, including one from theGerman Beekeepers Association, have linked genetically engineered Bt corn to the widespread disappearance of bees, or what is now referred to as Colony Collapse Disorder? And while we’re at it, maybe we should remind kids of the Albert Einstein’s quote: “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.”
Maybe we should also tell them that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s herbicide, Roundup, the most widely used herbicide in the world, kills Monarch butterflies, fish, and frogs, destroys soil fertility, and pollutes our waterways and drinking water.
The fact is, widespread use of Monsanto’s Roundup in all agricultural and urban areas of the United States is destroying the environment, pure and simple. US Geological Survey studies released this month show that Roundup is now commonly found in rain and rivers in agricultural areas in the Mississippi River watershed, where most applications are for weed control on GE corn, soybeans and cotton. Here’s the real truth, from an article published this past week: Monsanto’s Roundup is actually threatening the crop-yielding potential of the entire biosphere. According to the article, new research published in the journalCurrent Microbiology highlights the extent to which “glyphosate is altering, and in some cases destroying, the very microorganisms upon which the health of the soil, and — amazingly — the benefits of raw and fermented foods as a whole, depend.”
Lie #3: “Scientists are using biotechnology to grow foods that could help make people healthier.” (page 11)
This is the perhaps the most outrageous lie of all. Telling kids that GE foods are more nutritious is tantamount to telling them Hostess cupcakes and Coca-Cola are health foods.
Genetic engineering — of human food and food for animals that humans eat — has been linked to a host of diseases and health issues, including auto-immune disorders, liver and kidney damage, nutritional deficiencies, allergies, accelerated aging, infertility, and birth defects.
There’s a growing and alarming body of research indicating that GMO foods are unsafe, and absolutely no research whatsoever proving that they are safe. And yet the USDA and FDA continue to approve, and just this past month even agreed tospeed up approval of these crops that scientists and physicians increasingly link to poor health.
Instead of force-feeding kids lies in bogus activity books, how about having them read some truthful articles?
The studyBt Toxin Kills Human Kidney Cells says Bt toxins are not “inert” on human cells, and may indeed be toxic, causing kidney damage and allergies observed in farmers and factory workers handling Bt crops. The article supportsprevious studies done on rats, showing that animals fed on three strains of GE corn made by Monsanto suffered signs of organ damage after only three months.
It is abundantly clear that both GMOs made to be resistant to herbicides (aka “Roundup Ready”) and those made to produce insecticides have damaging impacts on the health of mammals who consume them, particularly in the liver and kidneys. We already know that from the trials of 90 days and less. In looking a little deeper into the info, we found a number of issues that point to a probable increased level of toxicity when these foods are consumed over the long term, including likely multi-generational effects.
Multi-generational effects. Eating GMO foods harms not only our health, and our kids’ health — but quite possibly their kids, too — even if we stop eating them today.
In a recent report to the United Nations General Assembly Human Rights Council by Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, Schutter outlines the case for sustainable agricultural practices (the antithesis of industrial agribusiness, with its GE crops and heavy reliance on chemical fertilizers and pesticides). He also addresses the links between health and malnutrition. In the report, Schutter shows why undernutrition, micronutrient deficiency and overnutrition are different dimensions of malnutrition that must be addressed together through a life-course approach. From the report’s summary:
Existing food systems have failed to address hunger, and at the same time encourage diets that are a source of overweight and obesity that cause even more deaths worldwide than does underweight. A transition towards sustainable diets will succeed only by supporting diverse farming systems that ensure that adequate diets are accessible to all, that simultaneously support the livelihoods of poor farmers and that are ecologically sustainable.
Corporate greed plus a complicit government have allowed for the rampant poisoning of our food and environment, and the demise of sustainable agriculture practices — practices sorely needed if we are going to feed the world’s population, and avoid a world health crisis. And we’ve exported the same misery and destruction to foreign countries far and wide.
Propaganda like the CBI’s Look Closer at Biotechnology has brainwashed many of our kids into thinking that the biotech industry has people — not profits — in its best interests. The book’s claims are laughable. But framing blatant lies as “science” for children in schools borders on criminal.
For parents and teachers out there, here’s an alternate lesson plan. Because world hunger is a concern, because saving our planet does matter, and because better health is a worthy and achievable goal, let’s ask our kids to think critically, instead of accepting at face value “information” attractively packaged by multinational corporations.
Don M. Huber, emeritus soil scientist of Purdue University puts it in terms everyone, kids included, can understand. Huber talks about a range of key factors involved in plant growth, including sunlight, water, temperature, genetics, and nutrients taken up from the soil. “Any change in any of these factors impacts all the factors,” he said. “No one element acts alone, but all are part of a system.” “When you change one thing,” he said, “everything else in the web of life changes in relationship.”
This is what we should be teaching the future stewards of our planet.
This is my daughter. She gave this speech at a businees meeting in front of 600 people. Her eyes have been opened to a scam that is being perpetrated upon Canadians and the rest of the world.
Feel free to use it freely without altering the content in a manner that would draw conclusions unintended by the speech but please redirect people back to the original post.
Please also see these great resources for more information and people who are trying their best to enact the necessary change in our country and the world:
A vast global transportation network is required by the food industry in order to connect its numerous parts. These include suppliers, manufacturers, warehousing, retailers and the end consumers. There are also companies that add vitamins, minerals, and other necessary requirements during processing to make up for those lost during preparation. Wholesale markets for fresh food products have tended to decline in importance in OECD countries as well as in Latin America and some Asian countries as a result of the growth of supermarkets, which procure directly from farmers or through preferred suppliers, rather than going through markets.
The constant and uninterrupted flow of product from distribution centers to store locations is a critical link in food industry operations. Distribution centers run more efficiently, throughput can be increased, costs can be lowered, and manpower better utilized if the proper steps are taken when setting up a material handling system in a warehouse. [1]
Retail
With populations around the world concentrating in urban areas,[5] food buying is increasingly removed from all aspects of food production. This is a relatively recent development, having taken place mainly over the last 50 years. The supermarket is the defining retail element of the food industry, where tens of thousands of products are gathered in one location, in continuous, year-round supply. Restaurants, Cafes, Bakeries and Mobile trucks are also ways consumers can purchase food.
Food preparation is another area where change in recent decades has been dramatic. Today, two food industry sectors are in apparent competition for the retail food dollar. The grocery industry sells fresh and largely raw products for consumers to use as ingredients in home cooking. The food service industry by contrast offers prepared food, either as finished products, or as partially prepared components for final “assembly”.
Food industry technologies
Sophisticated technologies define modern food production. They include many areas. Agricultural machinery, originally led by the tractor, has practically eliminated human labor in many areas of production. Biotechnology is driving much change, in areas as diverse as agrochemicals, plant breeding and food processing. Many other areas of technology are also involved, to the point where it is hard to find an area that does not have a direct impact on the food industry. Computer technology is also a central force, with computer networks and specialized software providing the support infrastructure to allow global movement of the myriad components involved.
Marketing
As consumers grow increasingly removed from food production, the role of product creation, advertising, and publicity become the primary vehicles for information about food. With processed food as the dominant category, marketers have almost infinite possibilities in product creation.
Media & Marketing
A key tool for FMCG marketing managers targeting the supermarket industry includes national titles like The Grocer in the U.K., Checkout in Ireland, Progressive Grocer in the U.S., and Private Label Europe for the entire of the European Union.it
Snopes receives funding from an undisclosed source. The source is undisclosed because Snopes refuses to disclose that source. The Democratic Alliance, a funding channel for uber-Leftist (Marxist) Billionaires (George Soros etc.), direct funds to an “Internet Propaganda Arm” pushing these views. The Democratic Alliance has been reported to instruct Fundees to not disclose their funding source.
For the past few years www.snopes.com has positioned itself, or others have labeled it, as the ‘tell-all final word’ on any comment, claim and email. But for several years people tried to find out who exactly was behind snopes.com. It is run by a husband and wife team – that’s right, no big office of investigators and researchers, no team of lawyers. It’s just a mom-and-pop operation that began as a hobby. David and Barbara Mikkelson in the San Fernando Valley of California started the website about 13 years ago and they have no formal background or experience in investigative research.
The reason for the questions – or skepticisms – is a result of snopes.com claiming to have the bottom line facts to certain questions or issue when in fact they have been proven wrong. Also, there were criticisms the Mikkelsons were not really investigating and getting to the ‘true’ bottom of various issues.A few months ago, when my State Farm agent Bud Gregg in Mandeville hoisted a political sign referencing Barack Obama and made a big splash across the Internet, ‘supposedly’ the Mikkelson’s claim to have researched this issue before posting their findings on snopes.com. In their statement they claimed the corporate office of State Farm pressured Gregg into taking down the sign, when in fact nothing of the sort ‘ever’ took place. I personally contacted David Mikkelson (and he replied back to me) thinking he would want to get to the bottom of this and I gave him Bud Gregg’s contact phone numbers – and Bud was going to give him phone numbers to the big exec’s at State Farm in Illinois who would have been willing to speak with him about it. He never called Bud. In fact, I learned from Bud Gregg that no one from snopes.com ever contacted anyone with State Farm.
Yet, snopes.com issued a statement as the ‘final factual word’ on the issue as if they did all their homework and got to the bottom of things – not!Then it has been learned the Mikkelson’s are very Democratic (party) and extremely liberal. As we all now know from this presidential election, liberals have a purpose agenda to discredit anything that appears to be conservative. There has been much criticism lately over the Internet with people pointing out the Mikkelson’s liberalism revealing itself in their website findings. Gee, what a shock?
So, I say this now to everyone who goes to snopes.com to get what they think to be the bottom line fact ‘proceed with caution.’ Take what it says at face value and nothing more. Use it only to lead you to their references where you can link to and read the sources for yourself. Plus,you can always search a subject and do the research yourself.I have found this to be true also! Many videos of Obama I tried to verify on Snopes and they said they were False. Then they gave their liberal slant! I have suspected some problems with snopes for some time now, but I have only caught them in half-truths. If there is any subjectivity they do an immediate full left rudder.I have recently discovered that Snopes.com is owned by a flaming liberal and this man is in the tank for Obama. There are many things they have listed on their site as a hoax and yet you can go to You tube yourself and find the video of Obama actually saying these things. So you see, you cannot and should not trust Snopes.com, ever for anything that remotely resembles truth! I don’t even trust them to tell me if email chains are hoaxes anymore.
A few conservative speakers on MySpace told me about Snopes.com. A few months ago and I took it upon myself to do a little research to find out if it was true. Well, I found out for myself that it is true. Anyway just FYI please don’t use Snopes.com anymore for fact checking and make your friends aware of their political leanings as well. Many people still think Snopes.com is neutral and they can be trusted as factual. We need to make sure everyone is aware that that is a hoax in itself.
Thank you,
Alan Strong
Alan Strong CEO/Chairman
Commercial Programming Systems, Inc.
4400 Coldwater Canyon Ave. Suite
200 Studio City, CA. 91604-5039
Energy-intensive industrial farming practices that rely on toxic chemicals and genetically engineered crops are not just undermining public health–they’re destroying the planet. Here’s how:
#1 Generating Massive Greenhouse Gas Pollution (CO2, Methane, Nitrous Oxide) and Global Warming; While Promoting False Solutions Such as Industrial Biofuels, So-Called Drought-Resistant Crops, and Genetically Engineered Trees
Evaluations of corn grown for ethanol show that whatever reduction in emissions you get from burning corn instead of oil in the gas tank is more than offset by the fact that producing biofuel from corn requires as much fuel as it could replace.
Corn production, like the production of all of the crops (corn, cotton, canola, soy, and now, sugar beets and alfalfa) that Monsanto has so successfully industrialized through its business model of selling patented GMO seeds to increase the use of its pesticides, is very fossil fuel intensive.
But that’s just the beginning of Monsanto’s contribution to agriculture’s green house gas emissions. With ever-increasing acreage, where are all those GMO crops going? They’re being fed to animals, and when you look at emissions from factory farms, you’ll wish we burned them in the gas tank instead!
Added to the greenhouse gas emissions from crop production and factory farms is the pollution related to heavily processed food and the fact that food in the U.S. travels anywhere from 1500 to 3000 miles to reach your plate and must be either cooled or frozen in transit or storage. That’s fossil fuel intensive, too.
Before we total the life cycle contribution of Monsanto’s crops to greenhouse gas emissions, we have to take several steps back and acknowledge that clearing land to grow GMO crops for animal feed is the biggest driver of forest and wetland destruction, which generates 20% of all climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases.
All told, the production and processing of Monsanto’s GMO crops, from deforestation to fossil-fuel-based pesticides and fertilizers, polluting factory farms, and fuel-intensive food processing and distribution, is estimated to produce up to 51% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
#2 Polluting the Environment and the Soil-Food Web with Pesticides, Chemical Fertilizers, and Persistent Toxins, Including Dioxin
Industrial agriculture’s heavy reliance on pesticides and fertilizers is responsible for the release of many dangerous toxins into our environment, but since Monsanto first commercialized genetically engineered crops in the 1990s, we’ve been exposed to one more than any other. It’s common name is glyphosate, but Monsanto markets it as RoundUp and has created “RoundUp Ready” crops to promote it. RoundUp Ready crops are genetically engineered to withstand endless amounts of RoundUp. The success of Monsanto’s business model has made RoundUp the most-used pesticide in the history of the world.
The trouble is, RoundUp is very toxic. It’s known to cause cancer, birth defects and infertility. In fact, some scientists are now saying it’s more dangerous than DDT.
It only took about 15 years for the RoundUp Ready technology to begin to fail, with RoundUp-tolerant super-weeds springing up across the country and farmers having to resort to more and more toxic pesticides for weed control. The biotech industry says it has a solution: replace RoundUp Ready crops with a new type of GMO, “2,4-D Ready” crops.
As dangerous as RoundUp is turning out to be, the only thing worse would be 2,4-D replacing RoundUp’s as the most popular pesticide in the world. The use of 2,4-D releases dioxin. Dioxin is what has made Agent Orange, which contained 2,4-D, a source of horrific birth defects in Vietnam to this day. Genetically engineered 2,4-D-tolerant crops would be a disaster of untold proportions.
#3 Turning Farmland into Desert, Draining Aquifers and Wetlands
In the U.S., the soil’s capability to sequester carbon has been severely deteriorated due to the enormous increase in the use of nitrogen fertilizers, mostly to raise Monsanto’s genetically engineered crops for animal feed. The soil should be a sink for excess carbon but has lost about 50% of its organic matter, making it is less than half as effective as it used to be. Many of our most productive agricultural lands have been degraded or desertified because of industrial production.
Recent studies on the University of Illinois Morrow plots (the oldest continuously farmed experimental plots in the U.S.) have shown that since 1955, when synthetic nitrogen was first used, 40-190% too much nitrogen was applied, yet yields dropped and organic matter declined dramatically. These problems on the Morrow plots are writ large on millions of acres of agricultural soils that have been degraded by synthetic fertilizer all over this country.
Synthetic nitrogen fertilizer kills soil life, including earthworms and microorganisms. In addition to reduced yields, degraded and deadened soils produce less nutritious food.
Contrary to Monsanto’s marketing claims that their business is about “squeezing more out of a drop of water,” their genetically engineered crops are notoriously thirsty. It takes twice as much water to produce a pound of a RoundupReady crop soybean plant treated with RoundUp herbicide, as it does with a soybean plant that’s not treated with RoundUp.
#4 Poisoning Drinking Water, Acidifying the Oceans
Synthetic nitrogen fertilizer is also responsible for the nitrate poisoning of two-thirds of the U.S. drinking water supply. Synthetic nitrogen fertilizer is the major cause of the 405 oceanic dead zones around the world (including the Gulf of Mexico, the Chesapeake Bay, and the coasts of California and Oregon). Monsanto’s genetically engineered corn uses more fertilizer than any other crop.
#5 Chopping Down the Rainforests for Monoculture GMO Crops, Biofuels and Cattle Grazing
Clearing land to grow GMO crops for animal feed is the biggest driver of forest and wetland destruction, which generate 20% of all climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases. In Argentina and Brazil, Monsanto’s genetically engineered soy is the main cause of deforestation.
Argentina has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world with an average of 0.8% of the forest cut down each year, against a global rate of 0.23%. During the period 2002-2006, 1,108,669 hectares of forest were lost. That is 277,000 hectares per year, equivalent to 760 hectares per day or 32 hectares per hour. The speed with which Córdoba’s forests are disappearing is unmatched worldwide, it even surpasses that of tropical forests in poor countries. This is a ecological tragedy for the primitive forests which shelter a biodiversity found nowhere else on the planet.
In Brazil, the soy output increased 7.2 percent in 2011, causing deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon to jump sixfold.
#6 Increasing the Cost of Food, While Reducing Nutrition and Biodiversity
The business press unabashedly links Monsanto’s profits to record-high global food prices and increases in the costs of farm inputs, especially Monsanto’s patented genetically engineered seeds. Monsanto’s profits go up as hunger increases and families lose their farms to insurmountable debt.
Nowhere has the connection between Monsanto’s fortunes and farmers’ misfortunes been so clear as in India where 200,000 farmers have committed suicide since 1997. For many Indian farmers growing Monsanto’s genetically engineered Bt cotton, suicide is their only means of escaping the debt they’ve accrued to obtain the seeds and pesticides.
Monsanto has made food and farming more expensive, while reducing the nutrition and variety of food available to the average consumer. The world’s farmers are increasingly growing more of fewer number of crops (especially Monsanto’s genetically engineered corn, cotton, soy, canola, sugar beets and alfalfa). The result is that we’re eating a lot more of these few genetically engineered crops, mostly in the form of animal products, oils & fats, and sugars. The most notorious genetically engineered ingredients are high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated vegetable oils, and processed meats.
The concentration of power in the hands of a few chemical companies like Monsanto and the industrial producers who can most easily afford their products, has resulted in a global food system dominated by two extremes: on one hand, a plenitude of industrially produced junk foods, on the other, regular food shortages and drastic price hikes. This leaves a billion people saddled with obesity and diet-related disease, even as more than a billion don’t know where their next meal is coming from.
#7 Spawning Pesticide-Resistant “Super” Bugs and Weeds, and Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
Genetically engineered crops designed to produce insecticides or tolerate herbicides have proven a failure. Herbicide-resistant “superweeds” have increased farmers’ weed-control costs to $50/acre, as they battle weeds that can stand up to the most toxic chemicals ever invented, including RoundUp (glyphosate), 2,4-D, dicamba, atrazine, ALS inhibitors, PPO inhibitors, HPPD inhibitors and synthetic auxins. Monsanto’s Bt corn and cotton are being mowed down by resistant insectsfrom Iowa to India.
On farms raising animals for food, the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics has created a serious threat to the longevity and effectiveness of certain classes of antibiotics used to treat a host of human illnesses. Doctors concede that antimicrobial drug resistance due to use in animal feed has already cost thousands of lives. In 2006, the EU banned the use of antibiotics in water and feed, proving that raising livestock without drugs is possible.
Ban Monsanto’s RoundUp! Experts Say It’s Worse than DDT! Tell the EPA to Ban Glyphosate
Can You Imagine a World without Antibiotics? Tell the FDA to Protect Human Health and Regulate Antibiotics in Animal Feed
#8 Generating New and More Virulent Plant, Animal and Human Diseases
The following is a summary of a must-watch interview (Part 1, Part 2) that Dr. Joseph Mercola conducted with Dr. Don Huber.
The way Monsanto’s RoundUp herbicide (glyphosate) kills weeds and plants is by compromising their defense mechanisms, making them very susceptible to soil borne organisms. It’s not a direct killer, but it has a debilitating effect on the weed’s immune system, much like the human disease AIDS.
Monsanto’s RoundUp Ready gene, which enables crops to withstand glyphosate, doesn’t solve the problem of a debilitated immune system, all it does is make it possible for the plant to survive and to accumulate more glyphosate. RoundUp Ready crops aren’t killed immediately by the soil diseases RoundUp makes them susceptible to, because they’ve been engineered with genes from a resistant bacteria, but they are still more likely to succumb to disease than plants that aren’t exposed to RoundUp.
Among these disease-causing pathogens are fusaria, which causes sudden death syndrome in soybeans and is a major disease-causing organism for most of our crops. In crops sprayed with RoundUp, we find an increase of up to 500 percent in root colonization by this fungus.
While glyphosate promotes the growth of more virulent pathogens, it also kills off beneficial bacteria that might keep such pathogens in check in the soil and in the guts of animals and humans that ingest the crop.
Scientists have discovered a brand new organism in genetically engineered animal feed, an organism that has since been linked to infertility and miscarriage in cattle, horses, pigs, sheep, and poultry. We can anticipate that, with such a broad spectrum of animal species, which is extremely unusual, that humans will face the same problem, and there has been an increasing frequency of miscarriage and a dramatic increase in infertility in humans in just the last eight to 10 years.
The organism was initially identified by veterinarians around 1998, about two years after the introduction of Roundup Ready soybeans, which is one of the staple feeds. The vets were puzzled by sudden high reproductive failure in animals. While sporadic at first, the phenomenon has continued to increase in severity. Dairies are reporting rates of spontaneous as high as 70 percent.
The cause-effect relationship between high reproductive failure and this new microbial entity has been established, but the research has not yet been published. The reason for the delay is because they really do not know what the organism is. It’s not a fungus. It’s not bacteria. It’s not a mycoplasma or a virus. It’s about the same size of a small virus; you have to magnify it 40,000 times.
When the veterinarians wanted to find the source for this new organism, they went to the feed. The first place where they found high concentrations was in the soybean meal. Since it has been found it in corn and in silage, only where there is a genetically engineered crop that has had glyphosate applied to it. The organism is also found in manure when the animals have been given feeds with high glyphosate residues. When that manure is applied to pastures and cattle graze on it, we also see high infertility rates there.
The organism is found in the placenta, in the fetus, and in the sperm. In the dairy industry, it sometimes takes twice as much semen to get a conception and as many as four to eight inseminations rather than the typical 1.2 to 1.5. One bull breeder had to pull 40 percent of his bulls out of service, because of fertility.
If we continue to douse our crops with ever increasing amounts of glyphosate, we will inevitably see the same effect on human health as we’re seeing in plants and animals.
Glyphosate gets inside the plant; it cannot be washed off. Once you eat it, it ends up in your gut, where 80 percent of your immune system resides. Glyphosate can wreak havoc with your health by upsetting the healthy ratio of good and bad stomach bacteria.
Because organically-farmed fields are not doused with glyphosate, organic fields still contain beneficial soil bacteria that actually hinder pathogens in and on the food from multiplying out of control. This may be yet another reason why organic foods are less prone to be contaminated with disease-causing pathogens than conventionally-grown foods.
Pathogens such as E. coli have a high tolerance for glyphosate compared to their natural biological controls. What this means is that it may not be the presence or absence of pathogens per se that determines the safety of our food supply, but rather the presence or absence of the natural control organisms, which are effectively destroyed by glyphosate. Salmonella, Clostridium, and a lot of these disease organisms are ubiquitous. They’re everywhere. Our health is dependent on keeping them in check. If we’re eliminating that check, we’re going to see an increase in Alzheimer’s, thyroid problems, autism, Parkinson’s — any disease that has a tie with either the endocrine system or nutrient availability.
Genetically engineered crops are supposed to be nutritionally equivalent to conventional foods, but they’re not. On the contrary, they’re nutritionally inferior due to glyphosate’s herbicidal mechanism, which blocks absorption of micronutrients. Genetically engineered crops contain about 50 percent less manganese and up to 70 percent less zinc. They also contain less copper, iron and magnesium, just to name a few. This affects the overall health of the plant, and its reproductive ability, and when you eat this nutritionally inferior food, you’re not getting the micronutrients your body needs for proper function either. Animal products are similarly affected when they’re from animals raised on genetically feed.
Studies of pet rats are exposing behavioral differences in animals given genetically engineered feed, as opposed to normal food. The non-GMO-fed rats are docile. They can be pulled out of their cages and patted just like a cat. But try and reach in to the cage where the rats are being fed the genetically engineered feed. The rats are irritated. They don’t get along together. They always go off into their own little world. They do backflips. They crawl up and run around the cage. They can’t get any peace, can’t settle down. That is very typical of what you’d see with autism.
Doctors working with autistic children are noting many correlations between the rats fed genetically modified feed and autistic children. When you look at the stomachs of the GMO-fed animals, they have all of the severe allergy responses, the inflammation and the reddening. The intestinal lining is deteriorating. The smell of the intestinal contents is very rank. The biology has been drastically changed. Doctors say that’s exactly what they’re seeing with autistic children.
Another effect of the new mystery organism associated with genetically engineered crops is premature aging. Research done in Iowa three years ago showed that prime beef from a two-year old cow had to be downgraded to that from a 10-year old cow.
Glyphosate can also disrupt a number of other biological systems, including liver function, blood function, and hormonal function. Glyphosate is a potent endocrine disruptor that can affect the endocrine system, thyroid function, and pituitary function.
TAKE ACTION
Ban Monsanto’s RoundUp! Experts Say It’s Worse than DDT! Tell the EPA to Ban Glyphosate
#9 Utilizing Wasteful Fossil Fuel-Intensive Practices and Encouraging the Expansion of Natural Gas Fracking and Tar Sands Extraction (Which Destroy Forests, Aquifers, and Farmland)
The industrialized food system is responsible for more than half of greenhouse gas emissions, making Big Ag one of Big Oil’s biggest customers. We could deprive the oil and gas industry of a significant amount of income by making the shift from polluting, fossil-fuel-intensive factory farms to carbon-sequestering organic and local agriculture.
Until we do make the shift, we need to acknowledge that the old adage “you are what you eat” applies to energy and the climate, as well as the body. It isn’t just Hummers that are pushing the expansion of natural gas fracking and tar sands extraction, it’s also Big Macs.
The worst thing about agriculture’s wasteful ways that the more fossil fuels we use to produce our food, the more farmland will be destroyed in the search for new sources of that fuel.
Natural gas fracking pumps many millions of gallons of hydrocarbons and volatile organic compounds, including known carcinogens and endocrine disruptors, into the ground during the drilling process, and into the air from evaporation tanks. Pollution of water, air and food from the gas drilling industry is exempt from federal pollution laws, including the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Clear Air Act, thanks to Dick Cheney’s 2005 Energy Policy Act and its ‘Halliburton Exemption.’
In upstate New York, the three million acres of superior grasslands which are currently unused are threatened by natural gas fracking. This is enough pasture land to raise local, grass-fed cattle to replace all the factory farmed beef sold in New York City.
The Keystone XL pipeline would carry toxic tar sands oil 1,700 miles from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The pipeline would cross the massive Ogallala aquifer, which supplies drinking water in 8 US states, and irrigation for millions of acres of farmland. We’ve already seen the damage the thick tar sands oil laden with volatile compounds can do from spills in the Yellowstone River and the Kalamazoo River. The first Keystone pipeline, developed with state-of-the-art technology, has already spilled 12 times in its first year in operation.
#10 Stealing Money From the 99% to Give Huge Subsidies to the 1% Wealthiest, Most Chemical and Energy-Intensive Farms and Food Producers
The following is a summary of Donald Carr’s must-read article, “Why the 2012 Farm Bill is a Climate Bill.”
In the 2012 Farm Bill, Congress is poised to cut 7 million acres from the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). The CRP is administered through the U.S. Department of Agriculture and pays farmers to keep highly erodible land out of production.
Putting land into conservation programs leads to cleaner water, healthier soil, and robust wildlife habitat, and also plays a major role in fighting climate change. According to the USDA [PDF], one acre of protected land sequesters 1.66 metric tons of carbon every year, carbon that would otherwise end up in the atmosphere. The 7 million acres about to be cut from the CRP have been putting 11.6 million metric tons of carbon into the soil every year.
The Environmental Protection Agency says that this amount of carbon is equivalent to the annual emissions of 2 million passenger vehicles. All that stored carbon will be sent back into the atmosphere if those 7 million acres are plowed under to plant more genetically engineered corn for ethanol and livestock feed.
Meanwhile lavish government payments to highly profitable mega-farms continue, and farm state lawmakers and agribiz lobbyists are working toward newer programs that could increase taxpayers’ burden, along with agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Save the Planet From Monsanto! It’s not enough to stop eating genetically engineered food. If we want a liveable planet we’ve got to boycott all factory farmed food and make the Great Transition from energy and chemical-intensive agriculture to a re-localized and organic system of food and farming. The World According to Monsanto is a recipe for disaster. Monsanto and Big Ag contaminate every link in the food chain, threatening the very foundation of life: living nutrient-rich soil, clean water, resilient crops, healthy animals, stable climates, and diverse food sources. The good news is that agro-ecological and organic methods can reverse this threat and sustain food production for future generations, but we don’t have much time to turn things around.
Why did Jay-Z and Beyoncé name their kid “Blue Ivy”? What was the deal with Madonna’s Super Bowl halftime show? Why did Whitney Houston die? Some people might say that “famous people are weird and sad” is the answer to all three questions. But no, the answer is: The Illuminati. Who? Allow us to explain.
Note: to best service our readers, we’ve divided this guide into two sections — first, the believer’s guide; second, the skeptic’s guide.
The Believer’s Guide
What is the Illuminati?
The Illuminati is an ancient and shadowy group of elites who control nearly every aspect of life on this planet — from finance and government to religion and culture.
Who is in the Illuminati?
The Illuminati is made up of the world’s political and financial elite, and also, rappers. Theoretically, membership rolls are kept secret, but most YouTube intellectuals agree that the following people are members:
What do the Illuminati do?
Oh, you know, conspiracy stuff. Assassinations, currency manipulation, Super Bowl halftime shows. All executed through puppet institutions and groups like the Federal Reserve, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Freemasons, and Def Jam Recordings. And all carefully controlled and hidden to ensure that their meddling in world affairs will remain secret.
This is sounding more plausible by the minute. What’s the end goal of the Illuminati?
The end goal of the Illuminati is to establish a one-world authoritarian government known as the New World Order.
…and then?
Here, theories differ. Some of the internet’s finest minds, writing on scholarly websites like Yahoo Answers, believe that forced conversion to homosexuality will be a top agenda item in the New World Order. Others claim the first order of business will be to round all non-Illuminati up into FEMA camps, possibly as part of a deal struck with aliens in Roswell. Many, if not most, experts believe that the New World Order will be a front for the rise of the Antichrist.
The Antichrist?
Yes. The Illuminati is made up of Satanists.
Even the Pope?
I can see how it’s confusing. The Pope is actually a Satanist, just like Jay-Z and the Queen of England. (He might even be the Antichrist.) In fact, the whole Catholic church is just a continuation of Babylonian paganism, didn’t you know? They keep demons trapped inside the Pentagon, which is why it’s, you know, pentagonal.
Okay. How can I tell who’s in the Illuminati?
I know this sounds counterintuitive, but prominent Illuminati members frequently flag their Illuminati connections. Like how in Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” video, there’s that goat head-shaped star formation? Or have you ever seen Jay-Z’s video for “On to the Next One“? It has agoat skull in it. Goats, bro.
Goat heads are an Illuminati symbol?
Goat heads represents Baphomet, the goat-headed god beloved by 19th-century occultists. It’s not the only weird occult reference in “On to the Next One.” The creepy guy with the crow, Jay throwing devil horns, the, uh, actual Masonic symbol — all of Hov’s (that’s right: Hov) videos are filled with Illuminati and occult symbolism. So are Lady Gaga’s: that pink triangle and unicorn that you thought was some campy gay reference? Actually symbols of the immaculate conception of a new order of humanity. So are Kanye’s videos, especially “Power.”
But how will the Illuminati possibly pull off their plan for secret world domination if they’re constantly advertising their own existence?
Hey! Did I tell you about Madonna’s Super Bowl halftime show?
Ooh, no, tell me.
It was obviously a Satantic ritual. The color scheme was red and black. She had horns on her helmet. The show happened within 48 hours of the full moon. Her male dancers formed a pyramid, a Masonic symbol. It ended with the phrase “World Peace” — as in, “New World OrderPeace.” And LMFAO was there.
LMFAO is Illuminati?
Can you think of any other reason for their success?
But why would the Illuminati hold a Satanic ritual during the biggest television even of the year?
To celebrate the upcoming assassination of Whitney Houston.
Who else have the Illuminati killed?
Oh, you name it — J.F.K., 2Pac, Bob Marley, Michael Jackson. Heath Ledger’s death was a ritualistic sacrifice. Aaliyah was killed by Dame Dash so he could become famous.
Wow. That makes sense.
I know. And there’s stuff we haven’t even covered!
What is the Illuminati?
A defunct German secret society of freethinkers, humanists and Enlightenment academics, founded in 1776 and infiltrated and shut down by Bavarian authorities about a decade later.
There hasn’t been an Illuminati in 200 years?
Well, it’s been in use as a conspiracy theory ever since it was first founded, mostly by monarchists, right-wingers, and religious Christians looking for explanations as to why things aren’t going their way.
So who believes in the Illuminati?
Generally speaking, Ron Paul voters, people who are in militias, washed-up rappers, teenage R&B fans on Twitter, and that one guy from high school who is always posting links to Erowid “experiences” to Facebook.
That’s kind of a broad range of people, isn’t it?
Yeah. Weird, huh?
I don’t get it. If it’s this right-wing Christian conspiracy, how do rappers start believing in it?
That’s kind of the million-dollar question. Columbia professor Marc Lamont Hill says that conspiracy theories are a natural response by African-Americans to their disenfranchisement: “There have always been questions and conspiracies about the structure and nature of power by African-Americans, and naturally those questions have made their way into hip-hop,” he told the Philadelphia Weekly in 2010. “[In the 1990s] people were going to black book stores… and buying books like Behold a Pale Horse… They were talking about the Illuminati and the Rothschilds and Bilderbergs.”
So Alex Jones and Prodigy were reading the same fucked-up conspiracy books? That’s wild, man.
Dude, Prodigy is going to to vote for Ron Paul.
Monsanto only cares about bee’s so they can figure out how to make them only pollinate Monsanto GMO crops. Whistle-blower testimony and supporting evidence will confirm that Monsanto seeks ultimate agricultural world domination through most incomprehensible and nefarious means. -Anonymous
Monsanto, the massive biotechnology company being blamed for contributing to the dwindling bee population, has bought up one of the leading bee collapse research organizations. Recently banned from Poland with one of the primary reasons being that the company’s genetically modified corn may be devastating the dying bee population, it is evident that Monsanto is under serious fire for their role in the downfall of the vital insects. It is therefore quite apparent why Monsanto bought one of the largest bee research firms on the planet.
It can be found in public company reports hosted on mainstream media that Monsanto scooped up the Beeologics firm back in September 2011. During this time the correlation between Monsanto’s GM crops and the bee decline was not explored in the mainstream, and in fact it was hardly touched upon until Polish officials addressed the serious concern amid the monumental ban. Owning a major organization that focuses heavily on the bee collapse and is recognized by the USDA for their mission statement of “restoring bee health and protecting the future of insect pollination” could be very advantageous for Monsanto.
In fact, Beelogics’ company information states that the primary goal of the firm is to study the very collapse disorder that is thought to be a result — at least in part — of Monsanto’s own creations. Their website states:
While its primary goal is to control the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) infection crises, Beeologics’ mission is to become the guardian of bee health worldwide.
What’s more, Beelogics is recognized by the USDA, the USDA-ARS, the media, and ‘leading entomologists’ worldwide. The USDA, of course, has a great relationship with Monsanto. The government agency has gone to great lengths to ensure that Monsanto’s financial gains continue to soar, going as far as to give the company special speed approval for their newest genetically engineered seed varieties. It turns out that Monsanto was not getting quick enough approval for their crops, which have been linked to severe organ damage and other significant health concerns.
Steve Censky, chief executive officer of the American Soybean Association, states it quite plainly. It was a move to help Monsanto and other biotechnology giants squash competition and make profits. After all, who cares about public health?
“It is a concern from a competition standpoint,” Censky said in a telephone interview.
It appears that when Monsanto cannot answer for their environmental devastation, they buy up a company that may potentially be their ‘experts’ in denying any such link between their crops and the bee decline.
Some defended Goldman, however, there really is no defense. Worse yet, the problem goes far beyond Goldman to Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and for that matter everywhere else one looks.
I will get into specifics in a bit, but first consider an email from Timothy who writes
Hello Mish,
I just had to comment on your post. My dad lost 100’s of thousands in GM bonds. He was a 30 year client of Merrill Lynch.
His portfolio is always 100% invested. That’s the Wall Street psychology.
Timothy
Yes Timothy, that is the philosophy because it benefits Wall Street, not the client. Moreover, I am not surprised in the least by the pimping of GM.
Underwriters get paid to pimp garbage. They do not care what fools, pension plans, or widows on their last dime they sucker in. All they are concerned with is pimping the bond, pimping the IPO, and pimping whatever “trading” portfolio the corporation has to whatever suckers they can find.
On June 25, 2007, Wall Street powerhouse Morgan Stanleyput out a “buy” recommendation with respect to General Motors’ common stock. Robert Barry, Morgan Stanley’s star analyst, proclaimed a 52-week target price of $42 per share. Less than five months later, on November 7, 2007, Wall Street analysts were stunned by General Motors’ staggering third-quarter (9/30/07) loss of $39 billion — one of the largest bookkeeping losses in history, which was mostly related to the writedown of deferred tax assets.
Fifty-three weeks after Morgan Stanley’s buy recommendation, GM’s stock hit a 54-year low of $9.98 per share — on July 2, 2008, after Merrill Lynch’s recommendation had gone from a “buy” to “underperform” (i.e., sell) on that day. In one sweeping move overnight, Merrill Lynch analyst John Murphy cut his target price on GM by a whopping 75%, reducing the target price from $28 to $7. So how is it that GM suddenly went from respectability to mediocrity — in one analyst’s mind — overnight? In fact, why did it take until July 2008 to concede that GM was on life support? Wall Street, belatedly, is willing to acknowledge the fact that General Motors is teetering on theverge of bankruptcy.
Accordingly, key questions come to the forefront. How did any stock analyst, worth his salt, get blindsided by the aforementioned $38.3 billion writedown of deferred tax assets? Are Wall Street’s Ivy League-educated MBAs able to comprehend advanced accounting and finance? Has rigorous security analysis, on Wall Street, been supplanted by self-serving cheerleading and inane platitudes with the objective of transferring wealth from the masses to the Wall Street elites?
For Wall Street analysts to claim “surprise” at GM’s massive deferred tax asset writedown, during fiscal year 2007, and to finally discuss (in mid-2008) General Motors’ financial condition in terms of a possible bankruptcy, indicate that low-level fluff is easily passed on to Main Street “investors” under the guise of serious analysis.
The point here is that GM is so unprofitable that its top-level management realized they had to come clean and write down the value of its deferred tax assets because it became completely unpredictable as to when the company would actually return to making a profit, and thus use that tax asset against any future tax liability it incurs.
So, just how savvy are some of Wall Street’s best and brightest analysts? Nine days before GM’s deferred tax asset writedown bombshell, UBS upgraded its rating of GM to a “buy.” On September 13, 2007, Citigroup initiated coverage and issued a buy recommendation. Other Wall Street heavyweights, in 2007, that had weighed in with “upgraded” opinions of GM included Banc of America Securities, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Lehman Brothers, and Deutsche Securities. One must heed Graham and Dodd’s words as to what purpose is behind a securities analyst’s recommendation. But then again, Wall Street analysts long ago abandoned their roles of providing independent expertise, and instead turned to selling their firm’s investment banking services.
Blatant Fraud, Not Rampant Stupidity
I invite you to read the rest of that damning exposé because there is plenty more to the story. Moreover, the story goes far beyond what is credible for a simple “stupidity” explanation.
Unfortunately, the pimping of GM stocks and bonds when GM was clearly headed towards bankruptcy is exactly the kind of “semi-soft fraud” that no one can prove.
A Word on Conflict of Interest and Bias
I am biased. So is John Hussman; So is Barry Ritholtz; So is Marc Faber; So is Jim Chanos; So is everyone else. We all are. It’s impossible to not be biased by something.
However, no one in the above group gets paid to underwrite securities. No one in the above group to the best of my knowledge gets paid commissions on transactions.
Therein lies the rub. Wall Street pimps and whores have no fiduciary responsibility to clients but they do have a vested interest to peddle compete garbage to anyone and everyone.
For that reason, I am strongly in favor of a “hard” wall between giving investment advice and offering securities to trade. Clearly the “soft promise” by Wall Street that “we won’t do it” is insufficient.
Some may suggest this goes against my Libertarian principles. I disagree. No Libertarian should be against laws that preserve property rights and no Libertarian should be against laws designed for the explicit purpose of preventing fraud.
Interestingly, independent investment advisors such as myself do have a hard legal requirement of fiduciary responsibility.
However, Wall Street pimps and whores do not have a legal requirement for fiduciary responsibility. Instead they duck and hide under “suitability” clauses.
That does not mean I will always be right, and indeed I guarantee you in advance I won’t be. However, I will guarantee you that I will not recommend anything I do not believe to be in the best interest of clients.
GM bonds, rating agency garbage, IPO mania, Beat-the-Street hype, and “Strong Buy” hysteria while insiders unload and firms actually bet against advice given to clients are proof of the pudding.
Despite overwhelming public support and support from a clear majority of Vermont’s Agriculture Committee, Vermont legislators are dragging their feet on a proposed GMO labeling bill. Why? Because Monsanto has threatened to sue the state if the bill passes.
The popular legislative bill requiring mandatory labels on genetically engineered food (H-722) is languishing in the Vermont House Agriculture Committee, with only four weeks left until the legislature adjourns for the year. Despite thousands of emails and calls from constituents who overwhelmingly support mandatory labeling, despite the fact that a majority (6 to 5) of Agriculture Committee members support passage of the measure, Vermont legislators are holding up the labeling bill and refusing to take a vote.
Instead, they’re calling for more public hearings on April 12, in the apparent hope that they can run out the clock until the legislative session ends in early May.
What happened to the formerly staunch legislative champions of Vermont’s “right to know” bill? They lost their nerve and abandoned their principles after Monsanto representative recently threatened a public official that the biotech giant would sue Vermont if they dared to pass the bill. Several legislators have rather unconvincingly argued that the Vermont public has a “low appetite” for any bills, even very popular bills like this one, that might end up in court. Others expressed concern about Vermont being the first state to pass a mandatory GMO labeling bill and then having to “go it alone” against Monsanto in court.
What it really comes down to this: Elected officials are abandoning the public interest and public will in the face of corporate intimidation.
Monsanto has used lawsuits or threats of lawsuits for 20 years to force unlabeled genetically engineered foods on the public, and to intimidate farmers into buying their genetically engineered seeds and hormones. When Vermont became the first state in the nation in 1994 to require mandatory labels on milk and dairy products derived from cows injected with the controversial genetically engineered Bovine Growth Hormone, Monsanto’s minions sued in Federal Court and won on a judge’s decision that dairy corporations have the first amendment “right” to remain silent on whether or not they are injecting their cows with rBGH – even though rBGH has been linked to severe health damage in cows and increased cancer risk for humans, and is banned in much of the industrialized world, including Europe and Canada.
Monsanto wields tremendous influence in Washington, DC and most state capitals. The company’s stranglehold over politicians and regulatory officials is what has prompted activists in California to bypass the legislature and collect 850,000 signatures to place a citizens’ Initiative on the ballot in November 2012. The 2012 California Right to Know Act will force mandatory labeling of GMOs and to ban the routine practice of labeling GMO-tainted food as “natural.”
All of Monsanto’s fear mongering and intimidation tactics were blatantly on display in the House Agriculture Committee hearings March 15-16.
During the hearings the Vermont legislature was deluged with calls, letters, and e-mails urging passage of a GMO labeling bill – more than on any other bill since the fight over Civil Unions in 1999-2000. The legislature heard from pro-labeling witnesses such as Dr. Michael Hansen, an expert on genetic engineering from the Consumers Union, who shredded industry claims that GMO’s are safe and that consumers don’t need to know if their food is contaminated with them.
INTERNET giant Facebook is accessing smartphone users’ personal text messages, an investigation revealed today.
Facebook admitted reading text messages belonging to smartphone users who downloaded the social-networking app and said that it was accessing the data as part of a trial to launch its own messaging service, The (London) Sunday Times reported.
Other well-known companies accessing smartphone users’ personal data – such as text messages – include photo-sharing site Flickr, dating site Badoo and Yahoo Messenger, the paper said.
It claimed that some apps even allow companies to intercept phone calls – while others, such as YouTube, are capable of remotely accessing and operating users’ smartphone cameras to take photographs or videos at any time.
Security app My Remote Lock and the app Tennis Juggling Game were among smaller companies’ apps that may intercept users’ calls, the paper said.
Emma Draper, of the Privacy International campaign group, said, “Your personal information is a precious commodity, and companies will go to great lengths to get their hands on as much of it as possible.”
More than 400,000 apps can be downloaded to Android phones, and more than 500,000 are available for iPhones – with all apps downloaded from Apple’s App Store covered by the same terms and conditions policy.
According to a YouGov poll for the newspaper, 70 per cent of smartphone users rarely or never read the terms and conditions policy when they download an app.
Qorvis Communications is a “Public Relations” / lobbying firm based in Washington, DC which specializes in representing high-profile overseas clients – including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Brunei. They are fond of editing Wikipedia to make themselves look better, as documented by Business Insider and Project PM.
According to a media release on 9 Aug, 2000, Qorvis was:
‘Formed through the merger of three well-known and highly regarded companies: The Poretz Group, an investor relations firm serving technology companies; The Weber/Merritt Company, a public affairs and grassroots firm; and JAS Communications, a public relations and marketing communications company. Main mover in the formation of Qorvis was Michael Petruzzello, former CEO of Shandwick North America, who will be the new firm’s managing director. The company launches with approximately $14 million in revenues and 22 employees. In addition, powerhouse law firm Patton Boggs has established an exclusive strategic alliance with Qorvis and is the company’s lead investor.’[1]
Qorvis acquired its Bahrain account from Bell Pottinger in July 2010, for whom it served as a subcontractor until August 2011. [2] In its November 2011 FARA statement, the firm declared having rendered the following services to the Kingdom:
monitoring daily media coverage relevant to Bahrain;
conducting press activities for government officials
drafting/distributing fact sheets, op-ed pieces speeches and news articles by e-mail in order to position Bahrain as a committed player in the war on terror, an agent of peace in the Middle East and other unspecified issues “pertinent to the Kingdom.”[3]
Service began approximately one month prior to a major crackdown on Shiite opposition figures and domestic media outlets.[4] The New York Times speculated that the clampdown was part of the lead-up to the October 2010 parliamentary elections in which the Sunni establishment was expected to lose power to representatives of the Shiite demographic majority.[5]
Qorvis sparked criticism in March, 2011, after issuing a misleading press release on behalf of the Bahraini government.[6] After a draconian crackdown in which security forces in the Bahraini capital violently dispersed unarmed demonstrators, interrupted telecommunications services and reportedly hindered the treatment of injured civilians, Hilary Clinton issued a strong criticism of the government’s actions.[7] Qorvis responded by issuing a press release that emphasized Clinton’s positive comments by presenting them out of context, while completely skirting her critical statements:[8]
PARIS, March 19, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today emphasized the
commitment of the United States toward Bahrain and her hope for the success of the National Dialogue in the island
kingdom. She also affirmed the "sovereign right" of Bahrain to invite security forces from allied countries, and
stated that the U.S. shared the goals of the GCC regarding Bahrain.
Since the uprising in Bahrain began, Bahrain's Crown Prince has called on all parties to engage in a dialogue to
reconcile differences. Secretary Clinton said the goal of the United States is "a credible political process that can
address the legitimate aspirations of all the people of Bahrain."
Ambassador Houda Nonoo appreciated the Secretary's comments that dialogue should unfold in a peaceful, positive
atmosphere that ensures that students can go to school, businesses can operate and people can undertake their normal
daily activities. Said Ambassador Nonoo, "The government of Bahrain has consistently maintained that differences
should be resolved peacefully around the negotiating table, but unfortunately, the opposition has not responded to
this offer and instead has chosen to continue along the path of violence and disruption of normal life in Bahrain. It
is my government's belief that wisdom will prevail among the opposition and they will come to the negotiating table to
resolve all differences peacefully."
This has been issued by Qorvis Communications on behalf of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the United States.
SOURCE Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the United States*
Recent media:
‘How Bahrain works Washington’ from Salon (Dec 9, 2011)[9]
‘Meet Bahrain’s Lobbyists’ from The Hill (Dec 9, 2011)[10]
In May, 2011, Bahrani human rights activist Maryam al-Khawaja was invited to speak as part of a panel discussion ‘Dawn of a New Arab World’ at the Oslo Freedom Forum.[11] Writing in the Huffington Post, Oslo Freedom Forum founder and CEO Thor Halvorssen[12] notes that ‘the Bahraini government has been aided by a coterie of “reputation management” experts, including professionals from the Washington, D.C., offices of Qorvis Communications and the Potomac Square Group, in addition to Bell Pottinger out of their offices in London and Bahrain.’ He goes on to describe:
‘Within minutes of Maryam’s speech (streamed live online) the global Bahraini PR machine went into dramatic overdrive. A tightly organized ring of Twitter accounts began to unleash hundreds of tweets accusing Maryam of being an extremist, a liar, and a servant of Iran. Simultaneously, the Oslo Freedom Forum’s email account was bombarded with messages, all crudely made from a simple template, arguing that Maryam al-Khawaja is an enemy of the Bahraini people and a “traitor.” Most of the U.S.-based fake tweeting, fake blogging (flogging), and online manipulation is carried out from inside Qorvis Communication’s “Geo-Political Solutions” division.
The effort is mechanical and centrally organized, and it goes beyond the online world. In fact, right before Maryam was to give her speech, she noticed two young women in the crowd who stalk her speeches and heckled her a few days earlier at an event in the U.S.
More so than intimidation, violence, and disappearances, the most important tool for dictatorships across the world is the discrediting of critics like Maryam.’[13]
An earlier Huffington Post article on Qorvis, linked to by Halvorssen, states:
‘One of the methods used by Qorvis and other firms is online reputation management — through its Geo-Political Solutions (GPS) division, the firm uses ‘”black arts” by creating fake blogs and websites that link back to positive content, “to make sure that no one online comes across the bad stuff,” says the former insider. Other techniques include the use of social media, including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.’[14]
Attacks made on Maryam al-Khawaja through Twitter were numerous at that time and this, from @ActivateBahrain, is representative: #OFF2011 Maryam Al Khawaja is presenting a falsified presentation in #oslo about #Bahrain it is a package of lies and exaggerations.[15]
Another, from @Dand00na86, and posted to the #Bahrain hashtag included two phone numbers and the message Let Maryam Al-Khawaja know what you think of her lies by calling her direct![16]
Thor Halvorssen also writes that a second Bahrani blogger, Ali Abdulemam, had also been invited to speak at the 2011 Forum:
‘Ali was imprisoned by his government in September 2010 for “spreading false information.” After being released on February 23, he enthusiastically accepted his speaking invitation and plans were made for his travel. And then he disappeared. No one has seen or heard from him since March 18.’
The Geo-Political Solutions division of Qorvis is under the supervision of partner Matt J Lauer.
To date, Qorvis’ work in Yemen has come about through their association with UK firm Bell Pottinger which is reported to have held contracts with Yemen’s National Awareness Authority and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[17]
On November 29, 2010, Qorvis’ lodged a statement with the US Department of Justice’s register of lobbyists which outlined its role as a subcontractor to Bell Pottinger on a ‘one off basis’[18]. The work required Qorvis ‘to place an opinion article by a Yemeni official in a news outlet’.[19]
A secong statement was lodged on August 4, 2011. Qorvis was to be ‘subcontracted to provide media outreach for print and television media and strategic communications consulting’ and this would last ‘for the duration of Bell Pottinger’s engagement by Yemen’. The contract was worth a ‘payment of $30,000 monthly’[20].
[edit] Involvement With Saudi Government’s 9/11 Response
Three of Qorvis’s founding partners – Judy Smith, Bernie Merritt and Jim Weber – left in December 2002, probably due to the firm’s taking $200,000 a month from the Saudi government to aid in downplaying the links between Saudi Arabia and Al Qaeda after September 11th, 2001.[21]
Sam Dealey – Former editor of the Washington Times, the newspaper funded by the CIA and the Unification Church that eschews both profitability and truth-seeking in favor of sucking Ronald Regan zombie dick.
Ron Faucheux
Greg Lagana – Former SVP for communications and marketing @ DynCorp International; worked for Bush 2 at the Coalition Information Center prior to that.
Matt J Lauer – Former executive director of U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy @ Department of State.
Rich Masters – Talking head. Manages client teams for the House of Saud as well as big pharma and the sugar industry.
John Reid – Partner and managing director for the Middle East.
‘Yemen’s butcher, Ali Saleh hires PR firm Bell Pottinger (& Qorvis) amid murder of journo and protesters’[22]
‘Lobbyists Jump Ship In Wake Of Mideast Unrest’[23]
‘PR Mercenaries, Their Dictator Masters, And The Human Rights Stain’[24]
‘Extreme Makeover: Mideast Autocrat Edition: From Moammar Qaddafi to the house of Saud, six repressive rulers who hired PR firms to help clean up their images’[25]
BEIJING — As the Chinese government forges ahead on a multibillion-dollar effort to blanket the country with surveillance cameras, one American company stands to profit: Bain Capital, the private equity firm founded by Mitt Romney.
Chinese cities are installing surveillance systems with hundreds of thousands of cameras like these at a Beijing building site.
In December, a Bain-run fund in which a Romney family blind trust has holdings purchased the video surveillance division of a Chinese company that claims to be the largest supplier to the government’s Safe Cities program, a highly advanced monitoring system that allows the authorities to watch over university campuses, hospitals, mosques and movie theaters from centralized command posts.
The Bain-owned company, Uniview Technologies, produces what it calls “infrared antiriot” cameras and software that enable police officials in different jurisdictions to share images in real time through the Internet. Previous projects have included an emergency command center in Tibet that “provides a solid foundation for the maintenance of social stability and the protection of people’s peaceful life,” according to Uniview’s Web site.
Such surveillance systems are often used to combat crime and the manufacturer has no control over whether they are used for other purposes. But human rights advocates say in China they are also used to intimidate and monitor political and religious dissidents. “There are video cameras all over our monastery, and their only purpose is to make us feel fear,” said Loksag, a Tibetan Buddhist monk in Gansu Province. He said the cameras helped the authorities identify and detain nearly 200 monks who participated in a protest at his monastery in 2008.
Mr. Romney has had no role in Bain’s operations since 1999 and had no say over the investment in China. But the fortunes of Bain and Mr. Romney are still closely tied.
The financial disclosure forms Mr. Romney filed last August show that a blind trust in the name of his wife, Ann Romney, held a relatively small stake of between $100,000 and $250,000 in the Bain Capital Asia fund that purchased Uniview.
In a statement, R. Bradford Malt, who manages the Romneys’ trusts, noted that he had put trust assets into the fund before it bought Uniview. He said that the Romneys had no role in guiding their investments. He also said he had no control over the Asian fund’s choice of investments.
Mr. Romney reported on his August disclosure forms that he and his wife earned a minimum of $5.6 million from Bain assets held in their blind trusts and retirement accounts. Bain employees and executives are also among the largest donors to his campaign, and their contributions accounted for 10 percent of the money received over the past year by Restore Our Future, the pro-Romney “super PAC.” Bain employees have also made substantial contributions to Democratic candidates, including President Obama.
Bain’s decision to enter China’s fast-growing surveillance industry raises questions about the direct role that American corporations play in outfitting authoritarian governments with technology that can be used to repress their own citizens.
It also comes at a delicate time for Mr. Romney, who has frequently called for a hard line against the Chinese government’s suppression of religious freedom and political dissent.
As with previous deals involving other American companies, critics argue that Bain’s acquisition of Uniview violates the spirit — if not necessarily the letter — of American sanctions imposed on Beijing after the deadly crackdown on protests in Tiananmen Square. Those rules, written two decades ago, bar American corporations from exporting to China “crime-control” products like those that process fingerprints, make photo identification cards or use night vision technology.
Most video surveillance equipment is not covered by the sanctions, even though a Canadian human rights group found in 2001 that Chinese security forces used Western-made video cameras to help identify and apprehend Tiananmen Square protesters.
Representative Frank R. Wolf, Republican of Virginia, who frequently assails companies that do business with Chinese security agencies, said calls by some members of Congress to pass stricter regulations on American businesses have gone nowhere. “These companies are busy making a profit and don’t want to face realities, but what they’re doing is wrong,” said Mr. Wolf, who is co-chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.
In public comments and in a statement posted on his campaign Web site, Mr. Romney has accused the Obama administration of placing economic concerns above human rights in managing relations with China. He has called on the White House to offer more vigorous support of those who criticize the Chinese Communist Party“Any serious U.S. policy toward China must confront the fact that China’s regime continues to deny its people basic political freedoms and human rights,” according to the statement on his Web site. “The United States has an important role to play in encouraging the evolution of China toward a more politically open and democratic order.”
In recent years, a number of Western companies, including Honeywell, General Electric, I.B.M. and United Technologies, have been criticized for selling sophisticated surveillance-related technology to the Chinese government.
Other companies have been accused of directly helping China quash perceived opponents. In 2007, Yahoo settled a lawsuit asserting that it had provided the authorities with e-mails of a journalist who was later sentenced to 10 years in prison for sending an e-mail that prosecutors charged contained state secrets.
Cisco Systems is fighting a lawsuit in the United States filed by a human rights group over Internet networking equipment it sold to the Chinese government. The lawsuit asserts that the system, tailored to government demands, allowed the authorities to track down and torture members of the religious group Falun Gong.
Bain defended its purchase of Uniview, stressing that the Chinese company’s products were advertised as instruments for crime control, not political repression. “China’s increasingly urban population will face growing needs around personal safety and property protection,” the company said in a statement. “Video surveillance is part of the solution to that, as it is anywhere in the world.” The company also said that only one-third of Uniview’s sales were to public security bureaus.
William A. Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council in Washington, said it was up to the American government, not individual companies, to set the guidelines for such business ventures. “A lot of the stuff we’re talking about is truly dual use,” said Mr. Reinsch, a former Commerce Department official in the Clinton administration. “You can sell it to a local police force that will use it to track down speeders, but you can also sell it to a ministry of state security that will use it to monitor dissidents.”
But Adam Segal, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and an expert on the intersection of technology and domestic security in China, said American companies could not shirk responsibility for the way their technology is used, especially in the wake of recent controversies over the sales of Western Internet filtering systems to autocratic rulers in the Arab world. “Technology companies have to begin to think about the ethics and political implications of selling these technologies,” he said.
Uniview is proud of its close association with China’s security establishment and boasts about the scores of surveillance systems it has created for local security agencies in the six years since the Safe Cities program was started.
“Social management and society building pose new demands for surveillance and control systems,” Uniview says in its promotional materials, which include an interview with Zhang Pengguo, the company’s chief executive. “A harmonious society is the essential nature of socialism with Chinese characteristics,” Mr. Zhang says.
Until now, Bain’s takeover of Uniview has drawn little attention outside China. The company was formerly the surveillance division of H3C, a joint venture between 3Com and Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant whose expansion plans in the United States have faced resistance from Congress over questions about its ties to the Chinese military.
In 2010, 3Com, along with H3C, became a subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard in a $2.7 billion buyout deal.
H3C also sells technology unrelated to video surveillance, including Internet firewall products, but it was the video surveillance division alone that drew Bain Capital’s interest.
In December, H3C announced that Bain had bought out the surveillance division and formed Uniview, although under terms of the buyout, H3C provides Uniview with products, technical support and, for a period of time, the use of its brand name. Bain controls Uniview but says it has no role in its day-to-day operations.
Bain is, however, well positioned to profit. According to the British firm IMS Research, the Chinese market for security camera networks was $2.5 billion last year, a figure that is expected to double by 2015, with more than two-thirds of that demand coming from the government. Uniview currently has just 1 percent of the market, the firm said.
Chinese cities are rushing to construct their own surveillance systems. Chongqing, in southwest China, is spending $4.2 billion on a network of 500,000 cameras, according to the state news media. Guangdong Province, the manufacturing powerhouse adjacent to Hong Kong, is mounting one million cameras. In Beijing, the municipal government is seeking to place cameras in all entertainment venues, adding to the skein of 300,000 cameras that were installed here for the 2008 Olympics.
By marrying Internet, cellphone and video surveillance, the government is seeking to create an omniscient monitoring system, said Nicholas Bequelin, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch in Hong Kong. “When it comes to surveillance, China is pretty upfront about its totalitarian ambitions,” he said.
For the legion of Chinese intellectuals, democracy advocates and religious figures who have tangled with the government, surveillance cameras have become inescapable.
Yang Weidong, a politically active filmmaker, said a phalanx of 13 cameras were installed in and around his apartment building last year after he submitted an interview request to President Hu Jintao, drawing the ire of domestic security agents. In January, Ai Weiwei, the artist and public critic, was questioned by the police after he threw stones at cameras trained on his front gate.
Li Tiantian, 45, a human rights lawyer in Shanghai, said the police used footage recorded outside a hotel in an effort to manipulate her during the three months she was illegally detained last year. The video, she said, showed her entering the hotel in the company of men other than her boyfriend.
During interrogations, Ms. Li said, the police taunted her about her sex life and threatened to show the video to her boyfriend. The boyfriend, however, refused to watch, she said.
“The scale of intrusion into people’s private lives is unprecedented,” she said in a phone interview. “Now when I walk on the street, I feel so vulnerable, like the police are watching me all the time.”
Update January 2009: It seems that Svali is alive and safe. Please click here for more details.
In these unusual circumstances, however, we have decided to retain her tribute here, as her story is so extremely important and she has demonstrated such exceptional courage in speaing out as she did in previous years. Update February 2010: The archive of extremely important articles by Svali about Illuminati ritual abuse and other subjects, written in 2000-2002, is now back online here.
Of all the courageous warriors for truth to whom we pay tribute on these pages, Svali is an exception. Her name is a pseudonym, and it is not known whether she is dead or in hiding. But her testimony is so shocking, and of such critical importance, that in our view it is utterly clear that we must honor her here.
Svali is, or was, an American woman born into an Illuminati bloodline. When she was twelve years old, she was taken to the Vatican for a ceremony she was told would be very important. What she witnessed – an actual child sacrifice (the child was 3 or 4 years old, and appeared to be compliant) on an obsidian slab over a large pentagram in a basement catacomb – is told in her extraordinary interview with Greg Szymanski. Everyone visiting our site must hear this:
All Illuminati children are heavily conditioned to be obedient, patient, self-controlled, and totally loyal to the “family”. Some are groomed for the military or politics; others are prepared for business – or even ‘businesses’ such as prostitution. Marriages are arranged, one reason being to strengthen ties between different bloodlines. All the members of the families have respectable fronts as “normal” people to the degree that no-one who is not in the group would ever suspect the duality of their character and of their life. Meetings often occur at night. In these meetings children are “trained” using drugs, hypnosis, and shock-reward conditioning. They can, in Svali’s words, all handle and fire a weapon with deadly accuracy by the age of 8.
Higher levels of politics are heavily Illuminati occupied and controlled, in all western countries. In the United States, the population is about 1% Illuminati or Illuminati assets. Do the math: that’s about 3 million people. You may even know some of them, and have never suspected.
Svali is also an exception in that very few Illuminati members ever leave. The conditioning is just too great… and to leave means abandoning spouse, parents, children, house, money, everything. Very few people make the break. Svali reports that she was only able to leave after it dawned on her that, because she was telling lies to the Illuminati children as an Illuminati “trainer” (her role or job in the “family”), she must have been lied to herself when she was young. She converted to Christianity (‘real’ Christianity: she described various Christian churches as heavily Illuminati controlled) and this gave her the strength to leave. She gave one major radio interview, and had a website (suite101.com) which has now been taken down. She wrote prolifically for a while, but has not been heard from since 2006.
There is a lot of information on her on the internet: Google ‘Svali’ and start reading. Click here for one of the most important interviews you will ever hear, mentioned above.
Click here for the transcript, which was prepared by our friend David Wilcock, who corresponded with Svali before she disappeared, and appears briefly on Greg Szymanski’s interview.
The simplest summary of the entire Illuminati agenda and net of control is probably Henry Makow’s 2002 article here. It is reproduced below.
Illuminati Defector Details Pervasive Conspiracy
By Henry Makow Ph.D.
October 14, 2002
reprint
If you detect the devil’s hand in current events, you may be closer to the truth than you think.
A woman who was raised in the Illuminati cult describes a powerful secret organization comprising one per cent of the U.S. population that has infiltrated all social institutions and is covertly preparing a military takeover. Her revelations cast the “war on terror” and “homeland security” in their true light.
“Svali” is the pseudonym of the woman, age 45, who was a mind “programmer” for the cult until 1996. She was the sixth head trainer in the San Diego branch and had 30 trainers reporting to her. She has risked her life to warn humanity of the Illuminati’s covert power and agenda.
She describes a sadistic Satanic cult led by the richest and most powerful people in the world. It is largely homosexual and pedophile, practises animal sacrifice and ritual murder. It works “hand in glove” with the CIA and Freemasonry. It is Aryan supremacist (German is spoken at the top) but welcomes Jewish apostates. It controls the world traffic in drugs, guns, pornography and prostitution. It may be the hand behind political assassination, and “terrorism”, including Sept. 11, the Maryland sniper and the Bali bomb blast.
It has infiltrated government on a local, state and national level; education and financial institutions; religion and the media. Based in Europe, it plans a “world order” that will make its earlier attempts, Nazism and Communism, look like picnics. One other detail: these people are not happy.
Svali’s courageous testimony explains why our children are no longer taught civic values, why they are being habituated to homosexuality and violence, and why our “culture” is descending into nihilism and sexual depravity. It raises the possibility that George W. Bush and his Administration are Illuminists and much of the world “elite” is engaged in a mind-boggling criminal conspiracy.
In March 2000, Svali began writing a monthly column for survivors of Illuminati ritual abuse at Suite101.com. In December 2000, H.J. Springer, the editor of CentrExNews.com contacted Svali and conducted an extended 18-part interview with her by email, which is reproduced on line and is copyrighted.
[Project Camelot note: the suite101.com articles are here. 13 of the 18 parts of Springer’s interview are reproduced here.]
“I am convinced she is the real McCoy,” Springer wrote to me. “I have personally relayed numerous email messages to her from other members — ritually abused, brainwashed, raped, sexually abused people & you name it — some of them confirming to me her story. So I have absolutely no doubt that Svali has been part of the Illuminati since childhood.”
I also trust Svali’s testimony because it confirms my intuition and intensive research. Everything fits: from the dead hand that seems to suppress humanity to why Clinton gave secret technology to the Chinese, to persistent reports of concentration camps in the US. It explains why people I know behave in a conspiratorial way. I thank Svali for giving me a frightening but incredible key to understanding the world.
A friend urged me to beware of a hoax and offered to help confirm Svali’s personal story. I accepted. I invite you to read her entire testimony and make up your own mind. Read “Part 1” to “Part 18” first, starting at the middle of the list and working up.
With their permission, here are some highlights of Svali’s correspondence with CentrExnews.com’s H.J. Springer. I have also included material from her article Are the Illuminati Taking Over the World?
Pervasive Presence
Svali:
“The Illuminati are present in every major metropolitan center in the United States. The Illuminati believe in controlling an area through its: banks and financial institutions (guess how many sit on banking boards? You’d be surprised) Local government: guess how many get elected to local city councils? Law: children are encouraged to go to law school and medical school. Media: others are encouraged to go to journalism school, and members help fund local papers.
Beliefs
Svali:
“The Illuminati is a group that practices a form of faith known as “enlightenment”. It is Luciferian, and they teach their followers that their roots go back to the ancient mystery religions of Babylon, Egypt, and Celtic druidism. They have taken what they consider the “best” of each, the foundational practices, and joined them together into a strongly occult discipline. Many groups at the local level worship ancient deities such as “El”, “Baal”, and “Ashtarte”, as well as “Isis and Osiris” and “Set”…. I do know that these people teach and practice evil.”
Weishaupt
Svali:
“Weishaupt did not create the Illuminati, they chose him as a figurehead and told him what to write about. The financiers, dating back to the bankers during the times of the Templar Knights who financed the early kings in Europe, created the Illuminati. Weishaupt was their “go fer”, who did their bidding.”
Military Takeover
Svali:
“Briefly, each region of the United States has “nerve centres” or power bases for regional activity. The United States has been divided up into seven major geographical regions. Each region has localities within it that contain military compounds and bases that are hidden in remote, isolated areas or on large private estates.
These bases are used intermittently to teach and train generational Illuminati in military techniques, hand- to- hand combat, crowd control, use of arms, and all aspects of military warfare. Why? Because the Illuminists believe that our government, as we know it, as well as the governments of most nations around the world, are destined to collapse. These will be planned collapses, and they will occur in the following ways:
The Illuminati has planned first for a financial collapse that will make the great depression look like a picnic. This will occur through the manoeuvring of the great banks and financial institutions of the world, through stock manipulation, and interest rate changes. Most people will be indebted to the federal government through bank and credit card debt, etc. The governments will recall all debts immediately, but most people will be unable to pay and will be bankrupted. This will cause generalized financial panic, which will occur simultaneously worldwide, as the Illuminists firmly believe in controlling people through finances.
Doesn’t sound pleasant, does it? I don’t know the exact time frame for all of this, and wouldn’t want to even guess. The good news is that if a person is debt-free, owes nothing to the government or credit debt, and can live self sufficiently, they may do better than others. I would invest in gold, not stocks, if I had the income. Gold will once again be the world standard, and dollars will be pretty useless (remember after the Civil War? Our money will be worth about what confederate money was after the collapse).
Next there will be a military takeover, region by region, as the government declares a state of emergency and martial law. People will have panicked, there will be an anarchical state in most localities, and the government will justify its move as being necessary to control panicked citizens. The cult trained military leaders and people under their direction will use arms as well as crowd control techniques to implement this new state of affairs. …Military bases will be set up, in each locality (actually, they are already here, but are covert). In the next few years, they will go above ground and be revealed. Each locality will have regional bases and leaders to which they are accountable. The hierarchy will closely reflect the current covert hierarchy.
About five years ago, when I left the Illuminati, approximately 1% of the US population was either part of the Illuminati, sympathetic to it, or a victim of Mind Control (and therefore considered useable). While this may not sound like many, imagine 1% of the population highly trained in the use of armaments, crowd control, psychological and behavioral techniques, armed with weapons and linked to paramilitary groups.”
Leadership
Svali:
“The national council [consists of] influential bankers with OLD money such as: The Rockefellers, the Mellon family, the Carnegie family, the Rothschild family etc. I know I shouldn’t name names, but I will.
The “Supreme World Council” is already set up as a prototype of the one that will rule when the NWO comes into being. It meets on a regular basis to discuss finances, direction, policy, etc. and to problem-solve difficulties that come up. Once again, these leaders are heads in the financial world, OLD banking money. The Rothschild family in England, and in France, have ruling seats. A descendant of the Hapsburg dynasty has a generational seat. A descendant of the ruling families of England and France have a generational seat. The Rockefeller family in the US holds a seat.
This is one reason that the Illuminati have been pretty “untouchable” over the years. The ruling members are very, very, very wealthy and powerful. I hope this information is helpful. How do I know this? I was on a local leadership council (a head trainer), but I talked to those on regional. Also, every Illuminati child is taught who their “leaders” are, and told to take an oath of allegiance to them and the “New Order to come”.”
Royalty
Svali:
“The Illuminati leadership state that they are descended from royal bloodlines, as well as unbroken occult heritage.
See, there were two definitions of “royalty” used. Open royalty that is currently seen now, and “hidden royalty” of royal lineage and extreme occult power. Sometimes the two were concurrent, such as with the Prince of Wales.
I never thought of which country/line held the most power, since I was just a peon busily doing my job. But my understanding was: The Hanoverian / Hapsburg descendants rule in Germany over the Bruderheist. They are considered one of the strongest lines for occult as well. The British line is just under them, with the royal family. Definitely, they rule the UK branch under the Rothschilds in the occult realm, even though parliament rules the country openly.
In France, again, descendants of the royal families are also in power in the occult realm, but the French Rothschilds hold the reigns over all of them.”
Rank of the US
Svali:
“The U.S. is considered lower, and younger, than the European branches. …Germany, France, and the UK form a triumvirate that rules in the European cult. The USSR is considered important, and has the strongest military groups. The USSR has been promised fourth position in the New World Order, BEFORE the role the U.S. would have, because the USSR has been more helpful and cooperative over the years with furthering the agenda.
The descendants of the former ruling families there are also involved in the occult leadership, along with the newer ones. There is no Marxism in the cult. China will be ranked after the USSR, then the U.S. But a lot of the current U.S. leadership will be in Europe when the change occurs, and many have homes there. They will be “changing nationalities” overnight, as it were. This is the little that I do remember. Wish I had been a better student of this stuff, but I was too busy trying to stay alive when I was in it.
Russia will be the military base and powerhouse of the group, since their military commanders (Illuminist) are considered the best in the world, and very, very disciplined. China, because of its roots in oriental occultism, and its large population, will also be considered a higher power than the US. But again, the real power will reside in Europe, according to what I was taught when part of the group.
The United Nations
Svali:
“The UN was created early in this century in order to help overcome one of the biggest barriers to a one-world government …That barrier is the one of nationalism, or pride in one’s country. This is why it was NOT a popular concept when first introduced, it took years of country bashing in the media and the destruction of any sense of national pride by a (not so subtle) media campaign over the years.
The UN is a preparation, but it is not the real power in the world, and will be relatively unimportant when the NWO comes into being. The real councils will then step forward. But as a means of getting the general public to accept the idea of a “global community” and the “one world community” the UN is a stepping stone in their working towards the NWO.”
Israel
Svali:
“The conflict in the Middle East is only to the advantage of the Illuminists. They HATE Israel, and hope one day to see it destroyed, and are biding their time. One of the olive branches offered by the UN when it takes over is that they will prevent war in the Middle East, and this will be greeted with joy by many.
At the same time, the Illuminati covertly supply guns and funds to BOTH sides to keep the conflict fuelled. They are very duplicitous people. They used to funnel guns through the USSR to Palestine, for example, in the name of promoting “friendliness” between the USSR and this state and other Arab nations. Then, the US Illuminists would help funnel guns to Israel, for the same reason.
These people love the game of chess, and see warfare between nations as creating an order out of chaos. The USSR is going to get stronger again. It has too strong a military both openly, and covertly (ALL Illuminati military trainers have visited Russia to learn from them) to sit quietly and quiesciently to the side. In the NWO, they will be stronger than us.”
Is the Illuminati a Jewish conspiracy?
Svali:
“Absolutely not. In fact, Hitler and his people (especially Himmler and Goebbels) were top Illuminists. The Illuminati are racist in the extreme, and as a child, I was forced to play “concentration camp” both on my farm in Virginia, and also in Europe in isolated camps in Germany.
The Jews historically fought against the occult (see Deuteronomy and the Old Testament for how God through the Jewish people tried to cleanse the land of the occult groups that were operating there, such as those who worshipped Baal, Ashtarte, and other Canaanite and Babylonian gods.
[from an email to Henry Makow]
Yes, there are some very powerful Jewish people in this group. For instance, the Rothschild family literally runs the financial empire in Europe (and indirectly the States), and are a well-known Jewish family. I have also known people whose parents were Jewish diamond merchants in the group, and at every level. But to rise to power in the Illuminati, a Jewish person at night would be forced to renounce their faith, and to give their first allegiance to Lucifer and the beliefs of the Illuminati. In return for this betrayal, they believe that power (financial) and rewards come; and in one sense they do, but at too high a price (losing their eternal soul).
The Nazi/concentration camp mentality is very strong, though, and I was told that Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels, and others were high-ranking German members of the group (Himmler was higher than the other two), and Mengele their paid puppet as well, who later worked as a high trainer of the American branch between his periods of hiding in South America. They honestly believed that they were acting as agents of their ‘gods’ to exterminate the Jewish race, and I am so, so sorry that this group has enacted so many horrors on the earth (and so, so glad that I left it).
I hope this helps you. I have always wondered this, though, why some of the highest ranking financial families in the group (baron Rothschild of France is one of the 13 European lords, or “kings” that run the group in Europe, and sits on the World Council) are Jewish, yet the group espouses hatred of their own race.”
Are they racist?
Svali:
“Lots of Illuminists have Fourth Reich programming inside. The Illuminati are racist, and have a very “Aryan” outlook. They believe strongly in the rule of the “pure” and “intelligent” by their definitions, and in their ceremonies, there will occasionally be minorities killed in ceremonies.
They are trying to breed a “genetically superior” race to rule, with their children and descendants. They are also followers of Plato’s Republic, and believe that they will be the ones to usher in this “Utopian” rule with the NWO in their opinion. In their Utopia, the intelligentsia will rule, and the sheep like masses will follow their leaders (that is their view of the world; that the occult leaders are “enlightened’ and intelligent, while the average person is a “sheep” to be led by the nose).”
Freemasonry
Svali:
“The Freemasons and the Illuminati are hand in glove. I don’t care if this steps on any toes, it’s a fact. The Masonic temple at Alexandria, Virginia (the city itself was named after Alexandria, Egypt, and is a hotbed of Illuminati activity) is a centre in the Washington, DC area for Illuminati scholarship and teaching. I was taken there at intervals for testing, to step up a level, for scholarship, and high ceremonies. The leaders in this Masonic group were also Illuminists.
This has been true of every large city I have lived in. The top Freemasons were also top Illuminists. My maternal grandparents were both high ranking Masons in the city of Pittsburgh, Pa. (president of the Eastern Star and 33rd degree Mason) and they both were also leaders in the Illuminati in that area.
Are all Masons Illuminati? No, especially at the lower levels, I believe they know nothing of the practices that occur in the middle of the night in the larger temples. Many are probably fine businessmen and Christians. But I have never known a 32 degree or above who wasn’t Illuminati, and the group helped create Freemasonry as a “front” for their activities.”
CIA, FBI are all infiltrated. So are Mormons, etc.
Svali:
“Many of the administrators and directors at the FBI are also Illuminists. The CIA helped bring over German scientists after WWII. Many of these were also Illuminati leaders in their own country, and they were welcomed with open arms by the U.S. group. They also funnelled all information they were learning to the Illuminati.
The Mormons affiliated years ago in a meeting with Illuminati leadership in the 1950s. The same with the Jehovah’s Witnesses.”
The Cold War
Svali:
“Russia was never really a threat to us. Marxism was funded by the Illuminati, and espoused as a counterbalance to capitalism. The Illluminati believe strongly in balancing opposing forces, in the pull between opposites. They see history as a complex chess game, and they will fund one side, then another, while ultimately out of the chaos and division …, they are laughing because they are ultimately beyond political parties. A top western financier will secretly meet with an eastern or Russian “adversary” during those years, and have a good laugh at how the “sheep” were being deluded. I am sharing here what I was taught, and also observed.
They are truly an international group, and the group’s agenda supersedes any nationalistic feelings. There is also a lot of trading back and forth of members in these groups. A Russian trainer might come to the US for awhile, complete a job, then go back, or vice-versa.”
Assassin Training
Svali:
“Here is how it is done (how it was done to me):
[1] When the child is 2 years old, place them in a metal cage with electrodes attached. Shock the child severely.
[2] Take the child out, and place a kitten in its hands. Tell the child to wring the kitten’s neck. The child will cry and refuse.
[3] Put the child into the cage, and shock them until they are dazed and cannot scream any more.
[4] Take the child out, and tell them again to wring the kitten’s neck. This time the child will shake all over, cry, but do it, afraid of the torture. The child will then go into the corner and vomit afterwards, while the adult praises them for “doing such a good job”.
This is the first step. The animals get bigger over time, as the child gets older. They will be forced to kill an infant at some point, either a set up in VR (virtual reality), or in reality. They will be taught by age 9 to put together a gun, to aim, and fire on target and on command. They will then practice on realistic manikins. They will then practice on animals. They will then practice on “expendables” or in VR. They will be highly praised if they do well, and tortured if they don’t comply.
The older the child or teen, the more advanced the training. By age 15, most children will also be forced to do hand to hand combat in front of spectators (high people who come to watch the “games” much as the ancient gladiators performed). These matches are rarely done to the death, usually until one child goes down. They use every type of weapon imaginable, and learn to fight for their lives. If a child loses a fight, they are heavily punished by their trainer, who loses “face”. If they win, they are again praised for being “strong’ and adept with weapons. By the time they are 21, they are well trained combat/killing machines with command codes to kill and they have been tested over and over to prove that they WILL obey on command. This is how children in the German Illuminati are brought up, I went through it myself.”
Trust in Family
Svali:
“They tell their children as they are torturing them, “I am doing this because I love you.” To them, the greatest love is to make a child strong, and fit to lead or to move higher in the group, by whatever means it takes.
If a leader sees a child, and wants it as a prostitute, the loving parents will give it away, happy that their child will rise in status. Also, again, they view betrayal as the greatest good. They will do set up after set up to teach their children to never openly trust others.
I remember hundreds of agonizing set ups and betrayals, and hearing when I was betrayed or wounded, “And such is the heart of man.” Those doing this to me thought they were teaching me something of value, that would help me. And because of the vicious and political nature of the group, in one sense they were right; the naive get stepped on and wounded. I have known parents who tried to spare their children some of this out of love, but often they were overruled by other family members, who viewed these parents as “weak” and “unfit” to teach their child.”
Morale
Svali:
“Most of them are wounded, abused victims, who don’t realize that it is possible to leave the group. There is a lot of discontent in the ranks, and there would be a mass exodus if the members believed it were really possible to get out (and live). Many of the trainers I knew (I know, wicked, torturing pedophiles) were NOT happy with what they did. They would whisper quietly, or give a look, to show that they disagreed with what they had to do. They would resignedly do their jobs, in the hope of advancement.
Know what one of the biggest carrots offered to those who advance up in the group is? That you don’t have to hurt people anymore, and that you can’t be abused (it’s true: only those higher than you in the group can abuse you, so everyone wants to move up, where the pool of candidates becomes smaller). Of course, people can choose to abuse anyone beneath them, and that motivates.
The Illuminati are a very political and back stabbing group, a “dog eat dog” mentality; everyone wants to move up. These are NOT nice people and they use and manipulate others viciously. They cut their eyeteeth on status, power, and money.
They never openly disclose their agenda, or their cult activities, as often they are amnesic to them. These are well-respected, “Christian” appearing business leaders in the community. The image in the community is all-important to an Illuminist; they will do anything to maintain a normal, respected facade, and DESPISE exposure. ….
None of the Illuminists that I have known, had unkind, or evil appearing, persona in their daytime lives, although some were dysfunctional, such as being alcoholics. The dissociation that drives the Illuminists is their greatest cover … Many, if not most, of these people are completely unaware of the great evil that they are involved in, during the night.”
TV
Also, remember those studies that stated that “TV violence doesn’t affect children’s behaviour” years ago? Guess who funded them? They are a bunch of bullcrud. What a person watches DOES influence them, and this is well known by the behaviourists in the group. In fact, they know that TV is a tool that they purposely use to influence “the masses”. It cannot create a total personality change in the average citizen, but it can desensitize us increasingly to violence, pornography and the occult, and influence the perceptions of young children.
Rock Music
I believe that Britney Spears, Eminem, and others are being used by them to sing lyrics they like (ever notice that he wears a Neo-Nazi look and sings hate lyrics? This is NOT by chance). In fact, many of the top pop singers come from an internship with the “Mickey Mouse club” (yep, good old Walt the Illuminist’s Empire) and I believe they are offered stardom in exchange for allegiance or mind control.
How many lyrics advocate suicide, violence, despair, or New Age spirituality in pop/rock today? Or just get a copy of the words and read (but be aware that many are possibly triggering to survivors of mind control).
Illuminati Weaknesses
Svali:
“1. Their arrogance (I think I mentioned this before) is their weakness. These people think they are untouchable, and this could make them careless.
2. If by a miracle, enough people took this SERIOUSLY and started organizing in some way to stop the Illuminati take over, with prayer and God’s guidance, perhaps they could be stopped. I hope so, with all of my heart.
3. Stopping pornography and child prostitution and drug smuggling and gun running would take out a huge chunk of their profits. Maybe they would slow down. But honestly, stopping the above would be as difficult as stopping the group.”
Public’s Denial Mechanism
Svali:
“The evidence is there, but in my opinion, the average person does NOT want to know, and even when confronted with it, will look the other way.
The Franklin case is a point. How much evidence has come out? Or the MK-Ultra documents that have been declassified, shown as real, and people ignore it.
Okay, I’ll get off my soapbox. But I believe that the media that downplays ritual abuse is feeding into a deep need in the average person to NOT know the reality. In fact, how can a person face the fact of great evil in mankind, unless they have either a strong faith in God, or are faced with insurmountable evidence? We as human beings want to believe the BEST of our race, not the worst, IMHO.
I really don’t believe people will do anything about the Illuminati even if they know. Sorry for the cynicism, but it is based on a lifetime of experience.
The Illuminists don’t care who prints this stuff, or if they are “exposed” because they are counting on the majority not believing it, having done a pretty good job with a media blitz campaign (seen any articles in Newsweek or Time lately that addresses this other than as a laughable conspiracy theory? Guess who owns Time-Warner?).
I have heard them laughing about this very thing in leadership meetings five years ago, and I doubt their attitude has changed much since then. If people DID believe this, if action could be taken, then I would be very surprised and quite happy.”
On March 6, 2012, I wrote an article entitled “Mass Banking Resignations Signal A Purging Has Begun?” where I included a list of banking directors, CEOs, and board members of both national and international financial institutions standing who have resigned from their post since September 2011. The data was collected and compiled by independent blog American Kabuki and posted online complete with a description of the individual, location, and link to the resignation announcement where it was covered in the mainstream media.
At the time my article was posted, the list had already topped 122. This prompted many, including myself, to question whether or not 122 was actually such a large number, given that there are many national and international institutions across the globe, as well as the fact that these resignations took place within a span of a period of about five months.
Certainly, the number seemed enormous.
Apparently American Kabuki had the same questions. Only a few weeks after the initial posting, the blogger posted a chart that included the number of resignations filed with the SEC, as required by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, going back to 2008 and in to the fourth quarter of 2011. Tracing the resignations back to 2008 would, obviously, provide something close to a representative sample of the normal rate of resignation over a period of three years.
What these statistics revealed was a staggering increase in the number of resignations announced around the second and third quarters of 2011.
However, chart or no chart, the recently revised number regarding resignations from financial firms, banks, etc. seems to put many of the questions to rest.
Indeed, a recent post by American Kabuki now shows that the number of resignations stand at 358, almost triple the number originally posted.
The revised list of resignations will be included at the end of this article along with the links to the announcements.
With all of this in mind, and, if the research provided by American Kabuki is correct, then the only question really left for us to ask is “Why?”
Why are so many bankers, CEOs, fund managers, and investors resigning all at once? Why now?
One might be tempted to ask whether or not there is a coming investigation that these individuals are trying to avoid but, given the track record of the regulatory system, this is not our most likely option. Considering the current state of the economy, it might seem more logical to ask if these individuals are not trying to abandon ship before the collapse of the world financial system finally takes place.
Or it could be something entirely different. At this point, we simply do not know. Regardless, something big is obviously happening in the financial world and the forces behind it are acting on information that the general public is unaware of.
List of resignations as compiled by American Kabuki:
9/01/11 (USA NY) Bank of New York Mellon Chief Robert P. Kelly Resigns in a Shake-UP http://goo.gl/NdW7q
9/06/11 (BELGIUM) Dexia confirmed that its CEO Stefaan Decraene had left the company. Its exposures to sovereign debt in the PIIGS nations are larger than its core Tier 1 capital. http://goo.gl/vuhvd
9/09/11 (GERMANY) European Central Bank (ECB) governing board member Jürgen Stark, who has resigned http://goo.gl/t83S4
9/12/11 (HONG KONG) HSBC Group Hang Seng Bank Non-Executive Director Mark McCombe resigns http://goo.gl/mCTgi
9/14/11 (USA NJ) Columbia Bank CEO Raymond G. Hallock Announces Retirement http://goo.gl/UjUZY
9/14/11 (NEW ZELAND) AMP NZ Office Limited (ANZO), Mark Verbiest has resigned as a director. His resignation arises due to his desire to devote the necessary time and energy to his prospective new role as Chairman of Telecom, assuming the Telecom demerger is sanctioned by Telecom shareholders. http://goo.gl/LjSI0
9/15/11 (USA NY) Morgan Stanley, Chairman John Mack resigns http://goo.gl/jWWv7
9/18/11 (JORDAN) Central Bank governor Faris Sharaf resigns over policy http://goo.gl/8yU5N
9/20/11 (SCOTLAND) SCOTTISH WIDOWS (RETIREMENT INVESTMENT SAVINGS FUND) There could be no Scottish representative on the board of Lloyds Banking Group, owner of Bank of Scotland, in future after it announced the departure of Lord Sandy Leitch, the chairman of Scottish Widows and group deputy chairman. http://goo.gl/Dx8qs
9/21/11 (AUSTRALIA & NZ) JP Morgan Australia and New Zealand Worldwide Securities Services CEO Jane Perry resigned http://goo.gl/Qx0Va
9/25/11 (SWITZERLAND) UBS CEO Oswald Gruebel quits over £1.5bn rogue trader crisis http://goo.gl/WCeqB
9/25/11 (USA CA)Douglas E. Tow, Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer, will retire from the Company http://goo.gl/24aAU
9/28/11 (SWITZERLAND) SNB Bank Council: Fritz Studer resigns as per end-April 2012 http://goo.gl/7dNiD
9/29/11 (UK) Barclays, Head of UK & European Retail Banking Deanna Oppenheimer resigned. http://goo.gl/o63jO
9/29/11 (USA NM) New Mexico Pension Fund Director Terry Slattery Resigns http://goo.gl/BzLn4
9/30/11 (SINGAPORE) AIMS AMP CAP INDUSTRIAL REIT, Ms Tang Buck Kiau resigned. http://goo.gl/VGxjv
10/01/11 (USA MO) Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Thomas M. Hoenig retired on Oct. 1, 2011 http://goo.gl/B8WK7
10/03/11 (INDIA) The of Euram Bank Asia, president Arun Panchariya, has resigned after being implicated in a stock trading scandal in India. http://goo.gl/yh2bF
10/03/11 (GHANA) Intercontinental Bank Ghana Limited, Managing Director and CEO Albert Mmegwa resigned. http://goo.gl/Vc252
10/03/11 (USA FL) Quantek Opportunity Fund, portfolio manager Javier Guerra. Arbitration awarded $1 million damages to Aris Multi-Strategy Fund. Quantek Asset Management made false statements to Aris. http://goo.gl/udpBA
10/05/11 (UK) UBS co-chief François Gouws of global equities had resigned after last month’s revelation of a $2.3 billion loss from unauthorized trading. http://goo.gl/OuUjr
10/05/11 (UK) UBS co-chief Yassine Bouhara of global equities had resigned after last month’s revelation of a $2.3 billion loss from unauthorized trading. http://goo.gl/OuUjr
10/10/11 (BELGIUM) Dexia (Franco-Belgian bank) its chairman Jean-Luc Dehaene will give up his role on the board of Dexia’s Belgian division, which is being sold to the Belgian state as part of a rescue deal, the group said on Monday. http://goo.gl/vyldE
10/11/11 (UK) BlackRock, head of sterling portfolios and manager of the Corporate Bond fund, Paul Shuttleworth, has resigned after 11 years at the firm. http://goo.gl/FMBjw
10/11/11 (UK) Dynamic Funds, portfolio manager David Taylor has resigned. http://goo.gl/GZCt5
10/11/11 (CHINA) China Construction Bank Non-Executive Direct Sue Yang resigns for personal reasons. http://goo.gl/ip8Un
10/13/11 (UK) Cogent Partners co-head research department Katita Palamar resigned. http://goo.gl/TVLWO
10/13/11 (UK) Cogent Partners co-head research department Bill Farrell resigned. http://goo.gl/TVLWO
10/14/11 (USA TX) Deutsche Bank Investment Advisor Griffin Perry resigns, SEC regulations prevented him from campaigning for his father Rick Perry’s Presidential campaign. http://goo.gl/R0PgH
10/23/11 (USA) Fairholme Capital Management LLC, Director Charles Fernandez stepped down for personal reasons. Fairholme Fund has lost 26 percent of its net asset value due to bets that have backfired on AIG Inc, Bank of America Corp and Florida-based landowner and developer St Joe Co. http://goo.gl/vzTbY
10/24/11 (ICELAND) Icelandic State Financial Investments board members of Icelandic State Financial Investments have resigned following “outside interference” with their Sept. 30 decision to hire Pall Magnusson, the former political adviser to the island’s industry minister, as chief executive officer. [names and positions have been requested from the reporter on 3/9/12] http://goo.gl/lEpz2
10/24/11 (SINGAPORE) Keppel Corporation Limited, Teo Soon Hoe will resign from his role as group finance director Jan 1. http://goo.gl/l90be
10/26/11 (INDIA) Beed District Bank (Coop Bank) CEO B S Deshmukh arrested for embezzling Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd payment deposits. http://goo.gl/CXL7Z
10/26/11 (INDIA) Beed District Bank (Coop Bank) former CEO A N Kulkarni arrested for embezzling Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd payment deposits. http://goo.gl/CXL7Z
10/27/11 (USA NY) Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc (KBW) CEO John Duffy stepped aside. Duffy has prostate cancer. http://goo.gl/i1s3E
10/29/11 (CHINA) China Construction Bank Corp Chairman Guo Shuqing resigns http://goo.gl/fdd9v
10/29/11 (CHINA) Agricultural Bank of China Ltd Chairman Xiang Junbo resigns http://goo.gl/yWX9R
10/31/11 (EUROPEAN COMMUNITY) European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, resigns. http://goo.gl/ygG59
11/01/11 (INDIA) Beed District Bank (Coop Bank More directors resign [research still being conducted on the names] http://goo.gl/HD8BQ
11/02/11 (UK) Lloyds Banking Group chief executive, António Horta-Osório, is to take leave of absence on health grounds for six to eight weeks, the BBC has reported. (STILL OUT AS OF 2/24/12 – DEFACTO RESIGNATION) http://goo.gl/3L9gE
11/03/11 (POLAND) Nordea Bank Poland, Wlodzimierz Kicinski resigned from as President of the Management Board of Nordea Bank Poland as of the 10th of November. http://goo.gl/oKUVZ
11/04/11 (USA NY) MF Global, Jon Corzine, stepped down as chairman and CEO, hired criminal attorney to represent him. http://goo.gl/tUaVY
11/10/11 (EUROPEAN COMMUNITY) European Central Bank Lorenzo Bini Smaghi resigned from the European Central Bank’s Executive Board. http://goo.gl/Invjc
11/11/11 (HONG KONG) Goldman Sachs’ Asia Pacific co-head Yusuf Alireza is retiring from the investment bank after 19 years http://goo.gl/pejs3
11/10/11 (INDIA) UBS The head of India operations at UBS AG , Manisha Girotra, has resigned http://goo.gl/3aTh2
11/15/11 (USA NY) Icahn Enterprises LP, senior managing director of health-care investing, Alex Denner, has resigned. http://goo.gl/X1A4i
11/16/11 (EUROPEAN COMMUNITY) International Monetary Fund Europe, director Antonio Borges resigns for personal reasons. http://goo.gl/55CqZ
11/17/11 (NETHERLANDS) Syntrus Achmea (pensions manager), CIO Marjolein Sol is resigning. http://goo.gl/Xqxsr
11/18/11 (SCOTLAND) Scottish Widows Investment Partnership Limited (SWIP) Private Equity Fund, wish to announce the resignation of John Brett from the Board of Directors of the Company, for business reasons. http://goo.gl/MLsp8
11/21/11 (JAPAN) UBS’s Japan Investment Banking Chairman Matsui to Resign http://goo.gl/OiDiq
11/23/12 (USA SC & NC) Bank of the Carolinas, CFO Eric Rhodes resigns for personal reasons. Bank of the Carolinas was delisted from the NASDAQ on 3/9/12 http://goo.gl/oytcD
11/24/12 (IRELAND) AXA Rosenberg Management Ireland Limited, director Simon Vanstone resigns. http://goo.gl/x5Fl6
11/28/11 (LATVIA) Latvia’s chief banking regulator, Irena Krumane, said she resigned today, a week after the state took over Latvijas Krajbanka AS (LKB1R), the Baltic News Service reported. The bank regulator suspended operations at Krajbanka, a subsidiary of Lithuania’s Bankas Snoras AB, on Nov. 21 and said around 100 million lati ($191.8 million) was missing. The Lithuanian government seized Snoras on Nov. 16 saying assets reported on the lender’s balance sheet were missing. http://goo.gl/mUvLF
11/29/11 (USA)R. David Land Submits Resignation from the Boards of Directors of Peoples Bancorp. and Seneca National Bank http://goo.gl/XncOc
11/29/11 (NORWAY) Carnegie ASA’s co-head of investment banking in Norway, Cato Holmsen, has resigned http://goo.gl/utIfy
11/29/11 (FRANCE) AXA Real Estate Investment Managers, Global head of business development, strategy and research for Kiran Patel, has handed in his resignation. Patel was with the firm for 11 years. http://goo.gl/iGjB6
11/30/11 (LITHUANIA) Lithuania Central Bank, Governor Vitas Vasiliauskas fired Kazimieras Ramonas, head of the banking supervision department, after seizing Bankas Snoras AB, the country’s third-biggest deposit bank. http://goo.gl/EiqUC
12/01/11 (SRI LANKA) Sri Lanka’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) head Indrani Sugathadasa resigned. http://goo.gl/6qzny
12/02/11 (PAKISTAN) NIB Bank, Singapore forced resignation of CEO Khawaja Iqbal Hassan, for mismanagement http://goo.gl/ojDcu
12/03/11 (USA SC) South Carolina’s $25 billion pension fund chief investor Robert Borden resigned. Borden’s resignation comes as the SC Retirement System faces a $13 billion deficit, prompting state lawmakers to call for a massive overhaul of the system. http://goo.gl/ypK2G
12/05/11 (BERMUDA) HSBC Bermuda Ltd, chairman of the board and director John Campbell resigns http://goo.gl/peFGD
12/05/11 (BERMUDA) HSBC Bermuda Ltd, CEO Philip Butterfield retires http://goo.gl/peFGD
12/06/11 (USA ) Western Liberty Bancorp CFO George Rosenbaum has resigned. http://goo.gl/ozuwB
12/08/11 (USA) Fidelity Global Special Situations Fund, manager Jorma Korhonen resigned. http://goo.gl/a7Rhw
12/19/11 (CANADA) Holloway Lodging Real Estate Investment Trust (a REIT) CEO Glenn Squires has resigned http://goo.gl/8rAKb
12/19/11 (JAPAN) Citibank Japan CEO, Darren Buckley, resigns after Citibank was punished by regulators for the third time in seven years. http://goo.gl/ScT47
12/19/11 (DENMARK) Danske Bank Peter Straarup, who will retire February 15 http://goo.gl/06c2b
12/19/11 (DENMARK) Danske Bank Eivind Kolding has resigned as Chairman of the Board of Directors and from the three board committees on which he served, He continues as member of Danske Bank’s Board of Directors until he assumes the position of Chairman of the Executive Board on 15 February 2012. On the same day, at the latest, Eivind Kolding will resign from the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group. http://goo.gl/06c2b
12/20/11 (UK) Prudential (UK) Chairman Harvey McGrath has informed the Board of his intention to retire from the Board in 2012 once a successor has been found. http://goo.gl/IPOzf
12/20/11 (USA MA) Century Bancorp, Inc., Director Roger S. Berkowitz resigned. http://goo.gl/bbdeT
12/21/11 (USA MN) Voyager Bank, fired CEO trade accusations, New details have emerged in Voyager Bank’s firing of its CEO in a court filing that accuses him of defrauding the bank of $15 million. The former CEO, Timothy Owens, has sued the bank for wrongful termination and accused the bank of defaming him. http://goo.gl/3Q1Vg
12/23/11 (USA VA) Virginia National Bank (VNB) Chairman Mark Giles quits http://goo.gl/dFDpH
12/23/11 (USA VA) Virginia National Bank (VNB) Board Member Claire Gargalli quits http://goo.gl/kowkW
12/23/11 (USA VA) Virginia National Bank (VNB) Board Member Leslie Disharoon quits http://goo.gl/kstLp
12/23/11 (USA VA) Virginia National Bank (VNB) Board Member Neal Kassell quits http://goo.gl/NrrPZ
12/23/11 (USA) Third Avenue Value Fund, co-manager Marty Whitman is leaving. http://goo.gl/iMe99
1/01/12 (NIGERIA) United Bank for Africa Plc Victor Osadolor resigns http://goo.gl/b6AoA
1/01/12 (ISRAEL) Israel’s Bank Leumi CEO Galia Maor steps down after 16 years http://goo.gl/xwlFt
1/03/12 (GREECE) Marfin Popular Bank Public Co Ltd, Mr Eleftherios Hiliadakis has resigned from the Board of Directors. http://goo.gl/MuFa0
1/03/12 (USA VA) Suffolk Bancorp president and CEO J. Gordon Huszagh steps down http://goo.gl/joExI
1/03/12 (USA WI)Michael Falbo, president and CEO of Southport Bank, has resigned just six months after accepting the position. http://goo.gl/DP1uK
1/03/12 (UK) Arbuthnot Banking Group: Neil Kirton resigned from the Board http://goo.gl/SKE7j
1/03/12 (UK) Arbuthnot Banking Group: Atholl Turrell left the Board. http://goo.gl/bzZtQ
1/05/12 (UK) Saunderson House [Private Bank] CEO Nick Fletcher steps down http://goo.gl/zvo1L
1/05/12 (USA NY) Blackstone/GSO Senior Floating Rate Term Fund and Blackstone/GSO Long-Short Credit Income Fund announced that John R. O’Neill has resigned. http://goo.gl/ZiWGL
1/07/12 (UK) Arab Banking Corporation Intl. Bank (ABCIB) Manama, Bahrain: ABCIB announced retirement of CEO Nofal Barbar from its London office. http://goo.gl/yF0Mm
1/09/12 (SWITZERLAND) SNB Chairman Philipp Hildebrand resigns http://goo.gl/5qsUu
1/09/12 (USA WASHINGTON DC) Whitehouse former banker and Chief of Staff William M. Daley resigned http://goo.gl/34F0B
1/09/12 (USA NY) Morgan Stanley Chief Legal Officer Frank Barron retires. http://goo.gl/XYCwJ
1/09/12 (SWITZERLAND) Temenos Group AG, provider of core banking software announced the resignation of Mark Austen as a member of the Board of Directors. http://goo.gl/l6QzM
1/10/12 (USA IN) Security Bank of Springfield, president and CEO Steve Cour has announced plans to retire at the end of June. http://goo.gl/jFbYA
1/11/12 (KAZAKHSTAN) BTA Bank, CEO Marat Zairov resigns for health reasons. http://goo.gl/yAHgr
1/11/12 (SWITZERLAND)La Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild, CEO Claude Messulam resigns, replaced by Christophe de Backer, Claude Messulam to become a director of the bank holding company. http://goo.gl/vWr3i
1/12/12 (USA) Goldman Sachs, Co-Head Securities Trading Edward K. Eisler retires http://goo.gl/i2TVk
1/12/12 (USA) Goldman Sachs, Co-Head Securities Trading David B. Heller retires http://goo.gl/i2TVk
1/13/12 (IRELAND) National Asset Management Agency, head of lending Graham Emmett is resigning http://goo.gl/GN3h3
1/13/12 (USA DC) World Bank, Vice President for Africa, Oby Ezekwesili will retire from her position at the World Bank in May. http://goo.gl/fiUsU
1/17/12 (CANADA) Cumberland Private Wealth Management CIO John Wilson quit to join another money manager. http://goo.gl/3JuNJ
1/17/12 (HONG KONG) Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (OCBC Bank) CEO David Conner retires. http://goo.gl/83Z1i
1/17/12 (UK) Morgan Stanley Intl, chairman Walid Chammah is retiring. An inside source speculated that it could mean that the company had suffered exposure to European sovereign debt woes under Chammah’s purview. http://goo.gl/e7vS7
1/17/12 (KUWAIT) Commercial Bank of Kuwait S.A.K. Board Member Ali Yousef Al Awwadhy resigned. http://goo.gl/0PoIM
1/17/12 (KUWAIT) Commercial Bank of Kuwait S.A.K. Board Member Miss Anoud Fadhel Al Hathran resigned. http://goo.gl/0PoIM
1/17/12 (KUWAIT) Commercial Bank of Kuwait S.A.K. Board Member Mr. Tarek Farid Al Othman resigned. http://goo.gl/0PoIM
1/17/12 (KUWAIT) Commercial Bank of Kuwait S.A.K. Board Member Mr. Salem Ali Hassan Al Ali resigned. http://goo.gl/0PoIM
1/17/12 (KUWAIT) Commercial Bank of Kuwait S.A.K. Board Member Mr. Majed Ali Oweid Awadh resigned. http://goo.gl/0PoIM
1/17/12 (KUWAIT) Commercial Bank of Kuwait S.A.K. Board Member Mr. Badr Suliman Al Ahmed resigned. http://goo.gl/0PoIM
1/18/12 (USA) Goldman Sachs co-heads of Goldman’s securities business David Heller resigns. http://goo.gl/TMHvx
1/18/12 (USA) Goldman Sachs co-heads of Goldman’s securities business Edward Eisler resigns. http://goo.gl/TMHvx
1/18/12 (USA) Goldman Sachs co-head of its investment management division Ed Forst resigns. http://goo.gl/TMHvx
1/19/12 (UK) Santander, senior director Americas division Francisco Luzón is retiring with a pension pot of about €56m, a package whose generous size is expected to reignite controversy over bankers’ remuneration. http://goo.gl/XMRvP
1/19/12 (EGYPT) Beltone Financial Holding (BTFH) Alaa’ Sabaa resigned from board of directors. http://goo.gl/5Eze1
1/19/12 (EGYPT) Beltone Financial Holding (BTFH) Wael EL Mahgary resigned from board of directors. http://goo.gl/5Eze1
1/20/12 (USA NY) JPMorgan Chase, Mortgage Banking Default organization head Scott Powell has decided to leave the bank. http://goo.gl/TCYpT
1/20/12 (JAPAN) Normura’s head of wholesale banking Jasjit Bhattai quits http://goo.gl/6FuWe
1/20/12 (SOUTH AFRICA) First National Bank’s sharia banking division is in a state of flux after it was hit by a corporate governance scandal in which its chief executive, Ebi Patel, was put on “special leave” for almost a month while an internal probe was conducted. Patel has been reinstated, but is facing disciplinary action. Islamic finance forbids the payment and receipt of interest (riba), and investment in some industries. Sharia law states that interest-bearing transactions result in economic ills such as unemployment and high inflation. Trading in derivatives and speculative investment are also forbidden. Sharia law requires all transactions to be backed by tangible assets. http://goo.gl/NmGJP
1/20/12 (USA) TIAA-CREF executive vice president and president of Asset Management, Scott C. Evans resigned http://goo.gl/f6qLs
1/20/12 (SOUTH AFRICA) South African deputy economic development minister Enoch Godongwana quit his post this week in the face of growing outrage in government circles about his involvement in a company that allegedly defrauded clothing factory workers of R100-million of their pension fund money. http://goo.gl/ZADvn
1/21/12 (UK) Butterfield Private Bank head Danny Dixon Steps Down http://goo.gl/sdY1p
1/21/12 (SINGAPORE) ANZ Asia’s private banking head Nina Aguas resigns as managing director of Asia-Pacific private banking. http://goo.gl/hlHvG
1/21/12 (USA CA) Nara Bancorp (Now called BBCN) President and CEO Min Kim Resigns http://goo.gl/rcfJ3
1/22/12 (KENYA) National Bank of Kenya’s (NBK) managing director, Mr Reuben Marambii, will resign before year end. http://goo.gl/c2n7r
1/24/12 (IRELAND) Deutsche International Corporate Services Limited fund, Paul Shevlin resigned as a director http://goo.gl/OjZFF
1/24/12 (SWITZERLAND) Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Dr. Michel Kazatchkine, a French clinical immunologist and head of the $22.6 billion fund has abruptly resigned, since revelations about corruption and misspending severely rattled some of its biggest donors. The resignation came on the eve of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, which played a role in its creation a decade ago. A dinner for the public-private fund is planned Thursday with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and major backers Bill Gates and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The shakeup resulted from an internal review to address problems highlighted in Associated Press stories last year about the loss of tens of millions of dollars in grant money because of mismanagement and alleged fraud. Its biggest private donor is the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has pledged $1.15 billion and provided it with $650 million so far. http://goo.gl/bqXs8
1/25/12 (UK) SOFIA PROPERTY FUND LIMITED, Gerry Williams has resigned as a Director, following his resignation from Ardel Holdings Limited (“Ardel”) where he was CEO. Ardel is the holding company of Ardel Fund Services Limited which provides administration services in Guernsey to the Company. http://goo.gl/kDfVv
1/25/12 (USA NY) Fortress Private Equity, CEO Daniel Madrid (aka Daniel Mudd) has resigned. Madrid was forced to leave in order to deal with SEC allegations. Prior to joining Fortress, Madrid served as Fannie Mae CEO and was forced to resign. SEC sued Madrid and former Freddie Mac CEO Richard West Long (aka Richard Syron) for hiding hundreds of billions of dollars in subprime loans. Madrid denied the SEC allegations saying the US govt. and investors were informed of Fannie Mae’s loan data. http://goo.gl/u9IdB and http://goo.gl/v94ik and http://goo.gl/tXQwP
1/27/12 (SINGAPORE) AIMS AMP CAP INDUSTRIAL REIT, Mr Graham Sugden resigned. http://goo.gl/VZYHY
1/27/12 (SOUTH AFRICA) ABSA Group COO Alfie Naidoo would be leaving to pursue personal interests http://goo.gl/cVWnA
1/27/12 (SOUTH AFRICA) ABSA Group chief marketing and communication officer Happy Ntshingila, will be taking up an “exciting position” outside banking http://goo.gl/cVWnA
1/27/12 (SOUTH AFRICA) ABSA Group CEO Daphne Motsepe retires at the end of April after a 10-year career at the bank. http://goo.gl/cVWnA
1/29/12 (PORTUGAL) Banco Santander Totta SA executive chairman Nuno Manuel da Silva Amado has resigned http://goo.gl/Glvdn
1/29/12 (NEW ZEALAND) New Zealand Reserve Bank Gov Alan Bollard to Step Down http://goo.gl/BwUgv
1/29/12 (UAE) NBD, Emirates ‘s investment banking division CEO Suresh Kumar is leaving the bank http://goo.gl/S1x0F
1/30/12 (UK) British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA) COO Andrew Graham steps down http://goo.gl/4SDW8
1/31/12 (SCOTLAND) Royal Bank of Scotland former CEO Fred Goodwin Stripped of Knighthood http://goo.gl/CoLVS
2/01/12 (SYRIA) Arab Bank Syria Board member Basma Talal Zein resigns. http://goo.gl/WXxzw
2/01/12 (SOUTH AFRICA) ABSA [Barclay’s Bank] deputy CEO Louis von Zeuner resigns http://goo.gl/IP8nH
2/01/12 (UK) Lloyds Bankging Group head of wholesaleTruett Tate quits http://goo.gl/OqRVo
2/01/12 (UK) Llyods Banking Group Tim Tookey leaving end of February http://goo.gl/vjO5M
2/02/12 (VENEZUELA) Banking Crisis Arne Chacon arrested for Banking Corruption http://goo.gl/bb5sh
2/02/12 (USA) American Perspective Bank, President and CEO Thomas J. Beene resigned. http://goo.gl/K66eb
2/02/12 (USA) NIR Group hedge funds, Corey Ribotsky was forced out of NIR by Pricewaterhouse-Coopers, the court-appointed liquidator, following allegations of fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission. In September, the SEC sued Ribotsky and NIR for taking more than $1 million of investors’ money to buy cars and watches.
2/02/12 (IRELAND) AXA Rosenberg Management Ireland Limited, director Nathalie Savey resigned. http://goo.gl/cXB8u
2/03/12 (UK) VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Ltd, Non-Executive Director Horst Geicke has resigned. http://goo.gl/r955T
2/03/12 (UK) UBS London trader, Kweku M. Adoboli, was arrested and charged with fraud and false accounting, forcing UBS to announce a $2.3 billion trading loss. http://goo.gl/ClTaq
2/05/12 (USA – NY) Morgan Stanley investment banking Tarek Abdel-Meguid quit http://goo.gl/bRv9K
2/06/12 (INDIA) Dhanlaxmi Bank CEO Amitabh Chaturvedi quits: http://goo.gl/OhCEb
2/06/12 (USA NY) TD Ameritrade, head of retail distribution John Bunch resigns. Bunch is leaving to take the top job at a small investment advisory firmin Kansas City. http://goo.gl/kgS7M
2/07/12 (USA) Bank Of America’s Mortgage Business Chief Barbara Desoer Retires http://goo.gl/i7AUY
2/07/12 (IRAN) Iran denies central bank resignation rumor (don’t believe until its denied?) http://goo.gl/PiQSy
2/08/12 (SOUTH AFRICA) Standard Bank Group Ltd – Resignation of Group Secretary Loren Wulfsohn http://goo.gl/K1pfn
2/08/12 (USA OH) Cleveland International Fund (CIF) private equity fund, A.Eddy Zai launched and led the Cleveland International Fund, an investment outfit that pairs wealthy foreign investors hoping for U.S. residency with job-creating projects. Zai resigned from his job this week, before being indicted in a bank-fraud scheme that, according to investigators, contributed to the collapse of a credit union in Eastlake. http://goo.gl/tgamf
2/08/12 (UAE) Emirates NBD makes top-level changes Bank’s deputy chief executive officer Abdul Wahed Al Fahim has resigned. http://goo.gl/JUdNd
2/09/12 (VATICAN) Institute for Religious Works (IOR aka “Vatican Bank”), 62 year old Monsignor Emilio Messina, the Archdiocese of Camerino-San Severino Marche investigated on money laundering by Italian officials. http://goo.gl/uztVU
2/09/12 (VATICAN) Institute for Religious Works (IOR aka “Vatican Bank”), 49 year old Father Don Salvatore Palumbo of the socially popular parish of San Gaetano http://goo.gl/uztVU
2/09/12 (VATICAN) Institute for Religious Works (IOR aka “Vatican Bank”), 37 year old Father Horace Bonaccorsi of Catania, already tried and acquitted in Sicily for money laundering offenses recycling money through accounts at IOR http://goo.gl/uztVU
2/09/12 (VATICAN) Institute for Religious Works (IOR aka “Vatican Bank”), 85 year old Father Don Evaldo Biasini of Rome. Father Don Evaldo Biasini is known as the “Don of Cash”. http://goo.gl/uztVU
2/09/12 (UKRAINE) National Bank of Ukraine deputy governor Volodymyr Krotiuk quits http://goo.gl/8BuXy
2/09/12 (UK) JP Morgan Chinese Investment Trust PLC, non-executive Director Madam Yujiang Zhao resigned http://goo.gl/CPO23
2/09/12 (UK) Alliance Trust Savings (ATS), Robert Burgess is stepping down as CEO. http://goo.gl/ohHG3
2/10/12 (KOREA) Korea Exchange Bank chief Larry Klane steps down http://goo.gl/DBKdc
2/10/12 (INDIA) Tamilnad Mercantile Bank CEO A K Jagannathan resigns http://goo.gl/wMl5g
2/13/12 (KUWAIT) Kuwait Central Bank CEO Sheikh Salem Abdulaziz Al Sabbah resigns http://goo.gl/GFvIy
2/13/12 (UK) Goldman Sachs confirmed on Monday that George N. Mattson, one of the firm’s top deal makers in the industrial sector, will retire. He was a senior relationship banker with a client list that included General Motors, General Electric and Caterpillar. http://goo.gl/vgnq2
2/13/12 (HONDURAS) Honduras finance minister William Chong Wong, resigned on Monday after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the country did not reach its deficit and monetary targets for 2011. http://goo.gl/drgHY
2/14/12 (NICARAQUA) Nicaraqua Central Bank President Antenor Rosales resigns http://goo.gl/iQ0n8
2/14/12 (UK) Social finance pioneer Malcolm Hayday quits Charity Bank http://goo.gl/uHp6C
2/14/12 (PAKISTAN) National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) chairman Syed Ali Raza resigned http://goo.gl/scexo
2/14/12 (USA NY) Goldman Sachs Jeffrey Moslow resigns, an investment banker to companies such as Tyco International Ltd, Nstar, the Boston-based utility, and defense contractor Dyncorp International Inc. http://goo.gl/7h4O7
2/15/12 (SOUTH AFRICA) HPA – Hospitality Property Fund Limited, chairman Frank Berkeley resigned. http://goo.gl/wJmpR
2/15/12 (USA) Boston Properties (REIT), Executive VP and COO E. Mitchell Norvilleto resigned http://goo.gl/AW7X7
2/15/12 (WORLD) World Bank CEO Zoellick resigns http://goo.gl/dHDSm
Did the White House tell the World Bank president that he’s out? http://goo.gl/wUOgb
2/15/12 (CHINA) Morgan non-executive chairman Stanley Stephen Roach will be retiring. http://goo.gl/MQeGW
2/15/12 (SLOVENIA) Nova Kreditna Banka Maribor CEO Andrej Plos resigns http://goo.gl/SNsVI
2/15/12 (SLOVENIA) Nova Ljubljanska Banka d.d. CEO Bozo Jasovic resigns http://goo.gl/TyYiJ
2/16/12 (USA IL) Deerfield Capital Management LLC, CEO Daniel Hattori and CEO of CIFC Corp resigned. http://goo.gl/LLNnD
2/16/12 (USA IL) Deerfield Capital Management LLC, COO Luke Knecht and CEO of CIFC Corp, resigned both positions. http://goo.gl/LLNnD
2/16/12 (UK) The Financial Services Authority Margaret Cole is to step down http://goo.gl/yT6rS
2/16/12 (GHANA) Databank Group Executive Chair Ken Ofori-Atta steps down http://goo.gl/c7PtU
2/16/12 (SAUDI ARABIA) Saudi Hollandi Banks Managing Director Geoffrey Calvert Quits http://goo.gl/CtmOU
2/16/12 (AUSTRALIA) ANZ Bank Australia CFO Peter Marriott resigns http://goo.gl/I7Alo
2/16/12 (UK) Royal Bank of Scotland Sr Equities Trader Jason Edinburgh Arrested http://goo.gl/WczHh
2/16/12 (UK) Royal Bank of Scotland director equities bus. Vincent Walsh director Arrested http://goo.gl/I7Alo
2/16/12 (UK) Marex Spectron senior trader Michael Elsom Arrested http://goo.gl/I7Alo
2/16/12 (AUSTRALIA) Royal Bank of Scotland Austraila CEO Stephen Williams resigns http://goo.gl/4r16D
2/17/12 (SOUTH AFRICA) Coronation Fund Managers CEO Hugo Nelson is stepping down at age of 40. http://goo.gl/I3NY8
2/17/12 (PAKISTAN) PICIC Asset Management Company Limited CFO Ahmed Raza resigns http://goo.gl/K8A2I
2/17/12 (USA NY) Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein out as by summer http://goo.gl/UjpzD
2/17/12 (SWITZERLAND) SNB Council President Hansueli Raggenbass resigns http://goo.gl/1n1Nr
2/17/12 (UK) Insight Investment, asset manager Mike Pinggera has resigned.. http://goo.gl/uDplK
2/17/12 (USA NY) Harbinger Group Inc. CFO Francis T. McCarron has advised the Company of his resignation effective April 30 http://goo.gl/6il4F
2/17/12 (BULGARIA) Bulgaria National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), The managing director Neli Nesheva, resigned after a two-day row about end-of-year bonuses paid by NHIF to its employees. http://goo.gl/7UQxv
2/18/12 (PAKISTAN) The Bank of Azad Jammu and Kashmir executive Zulfiqar Abbasi resigns
http://goo.gl/G0woP
2/19/12 (MALTA) Bank of Valletta, director of the Multi-Manager Fund John C. Ripard, has resigned being reprimanded by the MFSA for disposing of his holdings in the Fund whilst in possession of sensitive information which was not available to the public. http://goo.gl/1li3r
2/20/12 (RUSSIA) Head of Russian Bank Regulator Gennady Melikyan Steps Down http://goo.gl/Unuez
2/20/12 (SWITZERLAND) Credit Suisse Chief Joseph Tan resigns http://goo.gl/F5twL
2/20/12 (ISRAEL) Bank Leumi le-Israel Ltd: Zvi Itskovitch resigns http://goo.gl/aA0RW
2/20/12 (USA WA) First Financial Northwest Director Spencer Schneider Quits http://goo.gl/6Dj0i
2/21/12 (ARGENTINA) Central Bank of Argentina (BCRA) Gen Mgr Benigno Velez, resigns http://goo.gl/DuMrm
2/21/12 (BANGLADESH) Nitol Insurance Co. Ltd director Abdul Matlub resigns
conflict of interest with director seat on unknown bank http://goo.gl/aEmwB
2/21/12 (BANGLADESH) Nitol Insurance Co. Ltd director Selima Ahmad resigns
conflict of interest with director seat on unknown bank http://goo.gl/aEmwB
2/21/12 (BANGLADESH) Nitol Insurance Co. Ltd director Abdul Musabbir Ahmad resigns
conflict of interest with director seat on unknown bank http://goo.gl/aEmwB
2/21/12 (BANGLADESH) City General Insurance Co. Ltd director Geasuddin Ahmad resigns
conflict of interest with director seat on unknown bank http://goo.gl/aEmwB
2/21/12 (BANGLADESH) Social Islami Bank Limited director Taslima Akter resigns
conflict of interest with director seat on Eastland Insurance Company Limited http://goo.gl/aEmwB
2/21/12 (JAPAN) CITIBANK JAPAN: Bakhshi is taking over duties from Brian Mccappin, who the bank said in December would resign after the unit was banned for two weeks from trading tied to the London and Tokyo interbank offered rates. http://goo.gl/Z1rnw
2/22/12 (HONG KONG) DZ BANK project finance head Tim Meaney quits http://goo.gl/ppKno
2/22/12 (SINGAPORE) Macquarie International Infrastructure Fund’s CEO John Stuart to resign http://goo.gl/ji7Q4
2/22/12 (USA NY) Goldman Sachs Hedge Fund Group Chief Howard Wietschner to Retire http://goo.gl/x4Zsr
2/22/12 (UK) UBS AG’s (UBSN) Doug McCutcheon, head of Healthcare Banking in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific region, has left Switzerland’s biggest bank after 25 years at the firm. http://goo.gl/Dnxqh
2/23/12 (UK) Goldman Sachs Nordic M&A banker Luca Ferrari has decided to retire from the firm, clients included the largest telecommunications operator in Spain the Spanish telecommunications. http://goo.gl/qmCh3
2/23/12 (SOUTH AFRICA)Richard Gush resigns from Standard Bank http://goo.gl/DTL5S
2/23/12 (SCOTLAND) Royal Bank of Scotland Group director John McFarlane resigns. http://goo.gl/KoEUI
2/24/12 (GUERNSEY) Spearpoint Limited (SPL) Investment Funds, director Mike Kirby resigns for business reasons. http://goo.gl/9stPB
2/24/12 (INDIA) Breaking: ICICI Bank GC Pramod Rao resigns http://goo.gl/5eUqU
2/24/12 (HONG KONG) Citigroup Pvt Bank Global Real Estate Kwang Meng Quek Resigns http://goo.gl/JIC9A
2/24/12 (NEW ZEALAND) FSF Executive Director Kirk Hope resigns http://goo.gl/6UJau
2/24/12 (USA NY) Evercore Partners Head Eduardo Mestre steps down http://goo.gl/n5RLY
2/25/12 (AUSTRALIA AND NZ) Goldman Sachs Chairman Stephen Fitzgerald quits http://goo.gl/nMTLW
2/25/12 (DENMARK) European Investment Bank (EIB), Mr Sigmund Lubanski, of the Kingdom of Denmark tendered his resignation. http://goo.gl/y4XXF
2/27/12 (GERMANY) Deutsche Bank Americas chief Seth Waugh steps down http://goo.gl/8lxSw
2/27/12 (BAHRAIN) Khaleeji Commercial Bank CEO Ebrahim Ebrahim quits http://goo.gl/yKjzL
2/27/12 (BAHRAIN) – Mumtalakat Holding [Sovereign Wealth Fund] CEO Al Zain resigns http://goo.gl/hhHSm
2/27/12 (FRANCE) Societe Generale’s Investment Banking Chief Michel Péretié Steps Down http://goo.gl/IJ5Lw
2/27/12 (GERMANY) Equiduct chairman Artur Fischer steps down http://goo.gl/Q0dWR
2/27/12 (IRAN) Bank Melli CEO MahmoudReza Khaavari Resigns – Flees to Canada! http://goo.gl/DDEUk
2/27/12 (IRAN) Bank Saderat CEO Mohammad Jahromi resigns http://goo.gl/ZD0mc
2/27/12 (UK) Lloyds Banking Group Glen Moreno steps down http://goo.gl/dsXcE
2/27/12 (SINGAPORE) Standard Chartered Bank, global head of repo and collateralised financing Tanweer Khan resigned. http://goo.gl/hgbuc
2/28/12 (HONG KONG) Hang Seng Bank CEO Margaret Leung Ko May-yee quits http://goo.gl/Uo800
2/28/12 (CHINA) Bank of China International ECM global head Marshall Nicholson quits http://goo.gl/26MYq
2/28/12 (SINGAPORE) DBS security head Jim Pasqurell quits, cites health reasons http://goo.gl/NDJze
2/28/12 (HONG KONG) Bank of America’s Asia-Pac. mrkts Brian Canniffe quits http://goo.gl/cRkCP
2/28/12 (BELGIUM) KBC’s CEO Jan Vanhevel is to retire after a career spanning 41 years. http://goo.gl/1rCWd
2/28/12 (CANADA) Ontario Securities Commission chairwoman Peggy-Anne Brown quits http://goo.gl/HIYXv
2/28/12 (AUSTRALIA) Bank manager Colin John Carleton jailed nine years for $3m theft http://goo.gl/ggPvq
2/28/12 (SRI LANKA) Sri Lanka Com Bank CEO Amitha Gooneratne retires http://goo.gl/YxvNA
2/28/12 (SOUTH AFRICA) REDEFINE INCOME FUND director Gerald Leissner resigns http://goo.gl/F0UgN
2/28/12 (ITALY) UNICREDIT: Chairman Dieter Rampl not available for a new mandate http://goo.gl/7aLRU
2/28/12 (UK) Bank of England Sir David Lees re-appointed Chair of Bank of England and gives notice of resignation at end of 2013 http://goo.gl/LkJhV
2/28/12 (IRELAND) State Street Global Advisors Cash Funds plc Director Keith Walsh resigns http://goo.gl/n6uoM
2/29/12 (AUSTRALIA) Perpetual portfolio manager Matt Williams steps down http://goo.gl/Jh9jd
2/29/12 (UK) Honister Capital CEO Richard Pearson steps down http://goo.gl/014or
2/29/12 (GUYANA) National Investment and Commercial Investments Ltd. (NICIL), Executive Director Winston Brassington resigns, “We feel that (Winston) Brassington knows everything…A to Z about all the transactions,” said Chairman of the Alliance for Change (AFC), Khemraj Ramjattan, as he sounded a warning that controversial figure could be subpoenaed to appear before the Parliamentary Economic Sector Committee. http:// goo.gl/L7I35
3/01/12 (MALAYSIA) RHB Bank Bhd deputy managing director Renzo Viegas quits http://goo.gl/wACrI
3/01/12 (ITALY) Italian Banking Association Chairman Giuseppe Mussari talks to reporters in Rome after he and seven other executives offered to resign in protest over new banking-fee rules included in the government’s legislation on boosting competition. http://goo.gl/3llyT
3/01/12 (USA FL) Florida Venture Forum [Venture Capital] Exec Dir Robin Lester quits http://goo.gl/nA8g9
3/01/12 (USA NY) PineBridge Investments said Win Neuger has resigned as chief executive. Neuger helped build AIG’s third party asset management business, PineBridge still manages AIG assets
http://goo.gl/SI7kT
3/01/12 (SINGAPORE) UBS Singapore – James Tulley is leaving Switzerland’s largest bank, it is not clear where he is going. http://goo.gl/BGugF
3/01/12 (USA NH) Piscataqua Savings Bank CEO Jay Gibson retires http://goo.gl/uEqDV
3/01/12 (ICELAND) Iceland’s Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) fired its director Gunnar Andersen http://goo.gl/VG9q5
3/01/12 (USA OR) Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund (OPERF) senior RE officer Brad Child will retire http://goo.gl/vcERz
3/02/12 (CHINA) China Construction Bank Corp, assistant general manager and head of corporate banking Mickey Mehta quits http://goo.gl/B9dR0
3/02/12 (USA NY) Deutsche Bank Student Loan CEOJohn Hupalo quits to start student loan counseling firm. http://goo.gl/8kZuc
3/02/12 (UK) Bank of England Sir Mervin King resigns in June, Lord Sassoon tipped as replacement. http://goo.gl/ZEUwf
3/02/12(BOTSWANA) Barclays Bank Botswana managing director Wilfred Mpai forced to resign http://goo.gl/npBe2
3/02/12 (HONG KONG) New Century Group Hong Kong Ltd [investment house and leisure group] Wilson Ng resigns http://goo.gl/wFSV8
3/02/12 (USA NY) Citigroup Richard Parsons to step down as chairman http://goo.gl/BhZ0F
3/03/12 (AUSTRIA) Volksbank AG (VBAG) The contract of CEO Gerald Wenzel will not be extended http://goo.gl/w99tD
3/03/12 (ETHIOPIA) Dashen Bank’s board dismisses president Leulseged Teferi http://goo.gl/Y801M
3/04/12 (KOREA) Hana Financial Group Inc, prominent figure in the history of South Korean finance Kim Seung-yu , resigns http://goo.gl/fmNxY
3/04/12 (USA NY) JP Morgan prop trading chief Mike Stewart quits http://goo.gl/gubPj
3/05/12 (SAUDI ARABIA) Al Rajhi Bank CEO Abdullah bin Sulaiman Al Rajhi has resigned http://goo.gl/pNx0l
3/5/12 (UK) Jupiter fund co-manager Tony Nutt steps down http://goo.gl/RPqOp
3/05/12 (UK) Jupiter fund co-manager John Hamilton steps down http://goo.gl/RPqOp
3/05/12 (NEW ZEALAND) Insured Group Bill Jeffries has resigned as chairman and director http://goo.gl/gX7wu
3/05/12 (USA) Reliance Bancshares chairman Patrick Gideon resigned http://goo.gl/u6BT4
3/05/12 (UK) Charterhouse partner Gordon Bonnyman is stepping down. http://goo.gl/iAEYB
3/05/12 (UK) HgCapital, partner Lindsay Dibden is leaving after 20 years. http://goo.gl/iAEYB
3/06/12 (FRANCE) Blackstone Group’s Paris office leader Jean-Michel Steg will step down http://goo.gl/w3Ca5
3/06/12 (JAMAICA) Jamaica Money Market Brokers Limited, Patricia Sutherland has resigned as Executive Director http://goo.gl/oMwv6
3/06/12 (JAMAICA) Jamaica’s Financial Services Commission (FSC), Executive director Rohan Barnett, has resigned the position, the Ministry of Finance, Planning and the Public Service announced this afternoon. http://goo.gl/FBwFo
3/06/12 USA CT) Wells Fargo & Co. said that Mackey McDonald, one of the last remaining directors from Wachovia is retiring. http://goo.gl/F1O4v
3/06/12 (USA PA) USA Technologies Inc Bradley M. Tirpak,a nominee of Shareholder Advocates for Value Enhancement,has resigned from its board subsequent to a settlement agreement with the investing group, according to an SEC filing. Provides a network of wireless non-cash transactions, associated financial/network services and energy management. It provides networked credit card and other non-cash systems in the vending, commercial laundry, hospitality and digital imaging industries. http://goo.gl/8oi7C
3/06/12 (UK) Sterling Green Group has announced that Philip Kanas, a non-executive director, has decided to resign
Sterling Green Group PLC became a cash shell following the disposal of their subsidiaries Taxdebts Ltd, Sterling Green (Mortgages) Ltd and the back books of the clients of Sterling Green Ltd. during December 2011. http://goo.gl/qc3jB
3/06/12 (UK) Aberdeen Asset Management, non-executive director Gerhard Fusenig has resigned from the board. http://goo.gl/ZIkvQ
3/07/12 (GERMANY) Deutsche Bank AG’s (DB) Chief Risk Officer Hugo Baenzigeri to resign http://goo.gl/MWqsH
3/07/12 (GERMANY) Deutsche Bank AG’s (DB) Chief Operating Officer Hermann-Josef Lamberti to resign http://goo.gl/MWqsH
3/07/12 (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES) Dubai Mercantile Exchange announced Thomas Leaver will step down as CEO http://goo.gl/rfhWN
3/07/12 (SCOTLAND) Macfarlane Group Chairman Archie Hunter to step down after 8 years of service http://goo.gl/RHllr
3/07/12 (USA) BlackRock Emerging Markets Fund co-head Daniel Tubbs, has left the group to pursue other opportunities. http://goo.gl/CpEzZ
3/07/12 (UK) Goldman Sachs (GSI) Christopher French resigns from board http://goo.gl/3yQDS
3/07/12 (UK) Goldman Sachs (GSI) David Wildermuth resigns from board http://goo.gl/3yQDS
3/07/12 (UK) Goldman Sachs (GSI) Matthew Westerman resigns from board http://goo.gl/3yQDS
3/07/12 (UK) Goldman Sachs (GSI) co-head of global mergers and acquisitions Yoel Zaoui resigns http://goo.gl/3yQDS
3/07/12 (UK) Goldman Sachs (GSI) Phil Beatty resigned as head of European power and natural-gas trading http://goo.gl/jqbYY
3/07/12 (SINGAPORE) Nikko Asset Management Timothy McCarthy is retiring as chairman and CEO at the end of the month http://goo.gl/v8tcT
3/07/12 (HONG KONG) UBS Senior Asia Economist Jonathan Anderson Departs http://goo.gl/09VqT
3/07/12 (HAITI) FORMER DIRECTOR HAITI CENTRAL BANK SLAIN! ⑆44541444⑈ http://goo.gl/UtVz3
3/07/12 (FRANCE) Société Générale Private Banking, Daniel Truchi is to step down as head of Société Générale Private Banking http://goo.gl/XhgJ9
3/07/12 (AUSTRALIA) Customers Ltd, Tim Wildash has cashed himself out as chief executive of Australia’s largest ATM operator http://goo.gl/eZJMb
3/07/12 (USA CA) CALSTRS, Pascal Villiger, senior private equity portfolio manager at the $145 billion California State Teachers’ Retirement System resigns http://goo.gl/ub0ke
3/07/12 (USA) Astaire quits Bank of America Merrill to dance to Barclays Capital’s tune http://goo.gl/Zv6Ny
3/08/12 (USA NY) Schroders, CIO Alan Brown is steps down http://goo.gl/ZTtYo
3/08/12 (USA IL) CBOE Executive Patrick Fay Put on Leave Amid SEC Probe http://goo.gl/x5snO
3/08/12 (USA NH & RI) Bristol County Savings Bank president E. Dennis Kelly retires after 35 years http://goo.gl/8KVKn
3/08/12 (GERMANY) Clearstream Banking AG – Katja Rosenkranz To Leave Deutsche Börse Group [stockmarket] http://goo.gl/RiVNi
3/08/12 (UK) B&CE CEO Brian Griffiths is to retire later this year http://goo.gl/AV7Sk
3/08/12 (UK) Invesco Trimark Ltd, portfolio manager Dana Love has resigned. http://goo.gl/MyQ90
3/08/12 (ISRAEL) Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer will hand in his shock resignation in the coming days and take up a new position as head of the Bank of Zambia. Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz is believed to be furious with Fischer’s decision. Treasury officials said he even canceled his participation in the office’s annual Purim party in order to convince Fischer to reverse his decision. http://goo.gl/0DlSA
3/08/12 (SOUTH AFRICA) Standard Bank Group Limited (SBK), board member Sir Paul Judge retires. http://goo.gl/SjSPg
3/08/12 (SOUTH AFRICA) Standard Bank Groupl Limited (SBK), board member Sir Sam Jonah retires. http://goo.gl/SjSPg
3/09/12 (MONGOLIA) Mongol Bank President Alag Batsukh submitted his resignation letter to Speaker of Parliament D. Demberel at the end of last month. He described his reason for resigning as a lack of support by Parliament. http://goo.gl/RDmNx
3/09/12 (MONGOLIA) Asia Pacific Securities, General Manager Narantuguldur Saijrakh recently resigned, to focus on his role as Director of Khan Investment Management, investment advisor to the Khan Mongolia Equity Fund – the first open-ended investment vehicle with monthly dealing that invests in Mongolia related equities listed both domestically and internationally. http://goo.gl/2T4R6
3/09/12 (Côte d’Ivoire) Banque Central des Etats d’Afrique de l’Ouest (BCEAO) The Ivorian governor of the multi-billion dollar West Africa Francophone bank, Philippe-Henry Dacoury-Tabley, resigned his post. http://goo.gl/CevLn
3/09/12 (UK) Lazard , co-head of investment banking Alexis de Rosnay quits. De Rosnay specialises in the healthcare sector, he has advised Teva Pharmaceutical and Novartis. http://goo.gl/3gzbi
3/09/12 (UK) Deutsche Bank PWM, UK head of portfolio management Martyn Surguy resigned. http://goo.gl/5Ti2p
3/09/12 (UK) Deutsche Bank PWM, head of discretionary management, Kypros Charalambous, having also stepped down. http://goo.gl/5Ti2p
3/09/12 (HONG KONG) Bank of America Merrill Lynch, K.J. Kim, responsible for Southeast Asia, resigned http://goo.gl/sE7xh
3/09/12 (HONG KONG) Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Jimmy Choi, who was in charge of high-yield debt, resigned. http://goo.gl/sE7xh
3/09/12 (HONG KONG) Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Leonard Ng, a vice-president in Hong Kong resigned. http://goo.gl/sE7xh
3/09/12 (AUSTRALIA) Bank of Queensland CFO Ram Kangatharan plans to leave the bank. http://goo.gl/ieNea
3/09/12 (USA) Cerberus Capital Management LP, CEO Robert Nardelli resigns. http://goo.gl/9uKVx
3/10/12 (AUSTRALIA) WESTPAC, Rob Chapman opted to quit running its regional subsidiary St George Bank. http://goo.gl/G6MD
3/10/12 (TURKEY) Garanti Bank, The deputy CEO of Turkish lender Tolga Egemen, has decided to quit. http://goo.gl/vAMzV
3/10/12 (CHINA) Korea Development Bank, Shanghai unit senior manager Stella Wen resigned. http://goo.gl/55CqZ
3/10/12 (HONG KONG) Deutsche Bank, Johan Sudiman resigns as director. http://goo.gl/6CYGP
3/12/12 (USA) John Lewis Partnership Pension Trust, head of investments Andrew Chapman, resigns http://goo.gl/hevqh
3/12/12 (USA CA) California’s Department of Financial Institutions, commissioner William Haraf resigned. The DFI did not say why he is leaving. http://goo.gl/zquTc
3/12/12 (KUWAIT) Gulf Bank, Chairman Ali Rashaid Al Bader quits http://goo.gl/LDz9b
3/12/12 (UK and IRELAND) Allfunds Bank, head of UK and Ireland Alan Gadd is stepping down from his role at the end of April. http://goo.gl/4DF6i
3/12/12 (USA) ICAP, CEO of the electronic broking business David Rutter step down following a restructuring of the business. http://goo.gl/SUHqW
3/12/12 (UK) SVG Capital, chairman Nicholas Ferguson resigns. His departure left him well placed to succeed James Murdoch as chairman of BSkyB should the latter bow to investor pressure and step down. Other investors in the satellite broadcaster suggested Ferguson might be seen as too close to Murdoch to win the support of institutional shareholders. http://goo.gl/z19wH
3/12/12 (SOUTH AFRICA) The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), CEO Paul Baloyi resigns. http://goo.gl/yX4xo
3/12/12 (USA) Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, CEO Bryan Marsal Resigns Title, Remains on as Adviser http://goo.gl/1K9zV
3/12/12 (USA IL) CME Group Inc, CEO Craig Donohues will step down at year end. http://goo.gl/lvzgC
3/13/12 (USA) Eaton Vance Corp, Treasurer and CFO Robert J. Whelan has stepped down. http://goo.gl/oxmbL
3/12/12 (USA IL) CBOE Holdings Inc. (CBOE), senior compliance executive Patrick Fay has resigned. The options exchange being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Fay had been placed on leave after the SEC began investigating the options-market operator’s oversight of traders. http://goo.gl/gj4W6
3/13/12 (USA) Mithras Investment Trust, chairman Mike Wooderson will step down http://goo.gl/UjO2e
3/13/12 (USA) PHH Mortgage, President Luke Hayden resigned from to pursue what the company calls “other interests.” http://goo.gl/iaqQf
3/13/12 (USA) PHH Mortgage, Treasurer Mark Johnson.resigned http://goo.gl/iaqQf
3/13/12 (AUSTRALIA) WESTPAC, head of corporate affairs after David Bell decided to step down from the role. Bell is the latest top executive to leave the bank. http://goo.gl/FntUz
3/13/12 (UK) Capula’s Systemic Trading Head Qiang Dai to Leave Fund http://goo.gl/zkrN2
3/13/12 (UAE) National Bank of Abu Dhabi, CEO Michael Tomalin, will retire from the post in a few months. http://goo.gl/dzBW8
3/13/12 (ISRAEL) Osem Investments Ltd, CEO Gazi Kaplan has tendered his resignation, effective April 2, citing heath reasons. Nestlé SA owns 58.8% of Osem. http://goo.gl/t032l
3/13/12 (USA) Paulson & Co.’s, partner and head of the global bank team Robert Lacoursiere has quit to form his own hedge fund http://goo.gl/I8UNd
3/13/12 (AUSTRALIA) ASX Ltd, Chairman David Gonski will step down from his role at Australia’s main stock market operator after being appointed to oversee almost A$90 billion ($95 billion) in the nation’s sovereign-wealth funds. http://goo.gl/gJN33
3/13/12 (UK) JP Morgan, Asset Management European chief Jamie Broderick is to step down more than 20 years at the firm. http://goo.gl/MV65V
3/14/12 (SOUTH AFRICA) ABSA chairman Garth Griffin to retire http://goo.gl/Mhjb5
Brandon Turbeville is an author out of Mullins, South Carolina. He has a Bachelor’s Degree from Francis Marion University and is the author of three books, Codex Alimentarius — The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, and Five Sense Solutions. Turbeville has published over one hundred articles dealing with a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, government corruption, and civil liberties. Brandon Turbeville is available for podcast, radio, and TV interviews. Please contact us at activistpost (at) gmail.com.
TODAY is my last day at Goldman Sachs. After almost 12 years at the firm — first as a summer intern while at Stanford, then in New York for 10 years, and now in London — I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.
To put the problem in the simplest terms, the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money. Goldman Sachs is one of the world’s largest and most important investment banks and it is too integral to global finance to continue to act this way. The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for.
It might sound surprising to a skeptical public, but culture was always a vital part of Goldman Sachs’s success. It revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always doing right by our clients. The culture was the secret sauce that made this place great and allowed us to earn our clients’ trust for 143 years. It wasn’t just about making money; this alone will not sustain a firm for so long. It had something to do with pride and belief in the organization. I am sad to say that I look around today and see virtually no trace of the culture that made me love working for this firm for many years. I no longer have the pride, or the belief.
But this was not always the case. For more than a decade I recruited and mentored candidates through our grueling interview process. I was selected as one of 10 people (out of a firm of more than 30,000) to appear on our recruiting video, which is played on every college campus we visit around the world. In 2006 I managed the summer intern program in sales and trading in New York for the 80 college students who made the cut, out of the thousands who applied.
I knew it was time to leave when I realized I could no longer look students in the eye and tell them what a great place this was to work.
When the history books are written about Goldman Sachs, they may reflect that the current chief executive officer, Lloyd C. Blankfein, and the president, Gary D. Cohn, lost hold of the firm’s culture on their watch. I truly believe that this decline in the firm’s moral fiber represents the single most serious threat to its long-run survival.
Over the course of my career I have had the privilege of advising two of the largest hedge funds on the planet, five of the largest asset managers in the United States, and three of the most prominent sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and Asia. My clients have a total asset base of more than a trillion dollars. I have always taken a lot of pride in advising my clients to do what I believe is right for them, even if it means less money for the firm. This view is becoming increasingly unpopular at Goldman Sachs. Another sign that it was time to leave.
How did we get here? The firm changed the way it thought about leadership. Leadership used to be about ideas, setting an example and doing the right thing. Today, if you make enough money for the firm (and are not currently an ax murderer) you will be promoted into a position of influence.
What are three quick ways to become a leader? a) Execute on the firm’s “axes,” which is Goldman-speak for persuading your clients to invest in the stocks or other products that we are trying to get rid of because they are not seen as having a lot of potential profit. b) “Hunt Elephants.” In English: get your clients — some of whom are sophisticated, and some of whom aren’t — to trade whatever will bring the biggest profit to Goldman. Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t like selling my clients a product that is wrong for them. c) Find yourself sitting in a seat where your job is to trade any illiquid, opaque product with a three-letter acronym.
Today, many of these leaders display a Goldman Sachs culture quotient of exactly zero percent. I attend derivatives sales meetings where not one single minute is spent asking questions about how we can help clients. It’s purely about how we can make the most possible money off of them. If you were an alien from Mars and sat in on one of these meetings, you would believe that a client’s success or progress was not part of the thought process at all.
It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off. Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as “muppets,” sometimes over internal e-mail. Even after the S.E.C., Fabulous Fab, Abacus, God’s work, Carl Levin, Vampire Squids? No humility? I mean, come on. Integrity? It is eroding. I don’t know of any illegal behavior, but will people push the envelope and pitch lucrative and complicated products to clients even if they are not the simplest investments or the ones most directly aligned with the client’s goals? Absolutely. Every day, in fact.
It astounds me how little senior management gets a basic truth: If clients don’t trust you they will eventually stop doing business with you. It doesn’t matter how smart you are.
These days, the most common question I get from junior analysts about derivatives is, “How much money did we make off the client?” It bothers me every time I hear it, because it is a clear reflection of what they are observing from their leaders about the way they should behave. Now project 10 years into the future: You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the junior analyst sitting quietly in the corner of the room hearing about “muppets,” “ripping eyeballs out” and “getting paid” doesn’t exactly turn into a model citizen.
When I was a first-year analyst I didn’t know where the bathroom was, or how to tie my shoelaces. I was taught to be concerned with learning the ropes, finding out what a derivative was, understanding finance, getting to know our clients and what motivated them, learning how they defined success and what we could do to help them get there.
My proudest moments in life — getting a full scholarship to go from South Africa to Stanford University, being selected as a Rhodes Scholar national finalist, winning a bronze medal for table tennis at the Maccabiah Games in Israel, known as the Jewish Olympics — have all come through hard work, with no shortcuts. Goldman Sachs today has become too much about shortcuts and not enough about achievement. It just doesn’t feel right to me anymore.
I hope this can be a wake-up call to the board of directors. Make the client the focal point of your business again. Without clients you will not make money. In fact, you will not exist. Weed out the morally bankrupt people, no matter how much money they make for the firm. And get the culture right again, so people want to work here for the right reasons. People who care only about making money will not sustain this firm — or the trust of its clients — for very much longer.
Greg Smith is resigning today as a Goldman Sachs executive director and head of the firm’s United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
For most of us, our experience on Facebook is a benign – even banal – one. A status update about a colleague’s commute. A “friend” request from someone we haven’t seen for years (and hoped to avoid for several more). A picture of another friend’s baby, barely distinguishable from the dozen posted the day before.
Some four billion pieces of content are shared every day by 845 million users. And while most are harmless, it has recently come to light that the site is brimming with paedophilia, pornography, racism and violence – all moderated by outsourced, poorly vetted workers in third world countries paid just $1 an hour.
In addition to the questionable morality of a company that is about to create 1,000 millionaires when it floats paying such paltry sums, there are significant privacy concerns for the rest of us. Although this invisible army of moderators receive basic training, they work from home, do not appear to undergo criminal checks, and have worrying access to users’ personal details. In a week in which there has been an outcry over Google’s privacy policies, can we expect a wider backlash over the extent to which we trust companies with our intimate information?
Last month, 21-year-old Amine Derkaoui gave an interview to Gawker, an American media outlet. Derkaoui had spent three weeks working in Morocco for oDesk, one of the outsourcing companies used by Facebook. His job, for which he claimed he was paid around $1 an hour, involved moderating photos and posts flagged as unsuitable by other users.
“It must be the worst salary paid by Facebook,” he told The Daily Telegraph this week. “And the job itself was very upsetting – no one likes to see a human cut into pieces every day.”
Derkaoui is not exaggerating. An articulate man, he described images of animal abuse, butchered bodies and videos of fights. Other moderators, mainly young, well-educated people working in Asia, Africa and Central America, have similar stories. “Paedophilia, necrophilia, beheadings, suicides, etc,” said one. “I left [because] I value my sanity.” Another compared it to working in a sewer. “All the —- of the world flows towards you and you have to clean it up,” he said.
Who, one wonders, apart from the desperate, the unstable and the unsavoury, would be attracted to doing such an awful job in the first place?
Of course, not all of the unsuitable material on the site is so graphic. Facebook operates a fascinatingly strict set of guidelines determining what should be deleted. Pictures of naked private parts, drugs (apart from marijuana) and sexual activity (apart from foreplay) are all banned. Male nipples are OK, but naked breastfeeding is not. Photographs of bodily fluids (except semen) are allowed, but not if a human being is also shown. Photoshopped images are fine, but not if they show someone in a negative light.
Once something is reported by a user, the moderator sitting at his computer in Morocco or Mexico has three options: delete it; ignore it; or escalate it, which refers it back to a Facebook employee in California (who will, if necessary, report it to the authorities). Moderators are told always to escalate specific threats – “I’m going to stab Lisa H at the frat party” is given as the charming example – but not generic, unlikely ones, such as “I’m going to blow up the planet on New Year’s Eve.”
It is, of course, to Facebook’s credit that they are attempting to balance their mission “to make the world more open and connected” with a willingness to remove traces of the darker side of human nature. The company founded by Mark Zuckerberg in his Harvard bedroom is richer and more populated than many countries. These moderators are their police.
Neither is Facebook alone in outsourcing unpleasant work. Adam Levin, the US-based chief executive of Criterion Capital Partners and the owner of British social network Bebo, says that the process is “rampant” across Silicon Valley.
“We do it at Bebo,” he says. “Facebook has so much content flowing into its system every day that it needs hundreds of people moderating all the images and posts which are flagged. That type of workforce is best outsourced for speed, scale and cost.”
A spokesman for Twitter said that they have an internal moderation team, but refused to answer a question about outsourcing. Similarly, a Google spokesperson would not say how Google+, the search giant’s new social network, will be moderated. Neither Facebook nor oDesk were willing to comment on anything to do with outsourcing or moderation.
Levin, however, estimates that Facebook indirectly employs between 800 to 1,000 moderators via oDesk and others – nearly a third of its more handsomely remunerated full-time staff. Graham Cluley, of the internet security firm Sophos, calls Silicon Valley’s outsourcing culture its “poorly kept dirty secret”.
The biggest worry for the rest of us, however, is that the moderation process isn’t nearly secretive enough. According to Derkaoui, there are no security measures on a moderator’s computer to stop them uploading obscene material themselves. Despite coming into daily contact with such material, he was never subjected to a criminal record check. Where, then, is the oversight body for these underpaid global police? Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Facebook itself is guarding them, according to a previous statement to which the Telegraph was referred. “These contractors are subject to rigorous quality controls and we have implemented several layers of safeguards to protect the data of those using our service,” it read. “No user information beyond the content in question and the source of the report is shared. All decisions made by contractors are subject to extensive audits.”
And yet in the images due for moderation seen by the Telegraph, the name of anyone “tagged” in an offending post – as well as the user who uploaded it – could be clearly discerned. A Facebook spokesman said that these names are shared with the moderators to put the content in context – a context sufficient for Derkaoui to claim that he had as much information as “looking at a friend’s Facebook page”. He admits to having subsequently looked up more information online about the people he had been moderating. Cluley is worried that Facebook users could be blackmailed by disgruntled moderators – or even see pictures originally intended for a small circle of friends pasted all over the web.
Shamoon Siddiqui, chief executive of Develop.io, an American app-building firm that employs people in the developing world for a more generous $7 to $10 an hour, agrees that better security measures are needed. “It isn’t wrong for Facebook to have an Indian office,” he says. “But it is wrong for it to use an arbitrary marketplace with random people it doesn’t know in that country. This will have to change.”
In Britain, for example, all web moderators have to undergo an enhanced CRB check. eModeration, whose clients range from HSBC to The X-Factor, pays £10 an hour and never lets its staff spend too long on the gritty stuff. They wouldn’t go near the Facebook account. The job, says Tamara Littleton, its chief executive, is too big, the moderating too reactive, and they couldn’t compete on cost with the likes of oDesk.
So, if no one can undercut the likes of oDesk, could they not be undermined instead? If Mr Zuckerberg will not dig deeper into his $17.5 billion pockets to pay the street-sweepers of Facebook properly, maybe he could be persuaded by a little moral outrage?
Levin disagrees. “Perhaps a minute percentage of users will stop using Facebook when they hear about this,” he says. “But the more digital our society becomes, the less people value their privacy.”
Perhaps. But maybe disgruntled commuters, old schoolfriends and new mothers will think twice before sharing intimate information with their “friends” – only to find that two minutes later it’s being viewed by an under-vetted, unfulfilled person on a dollar an hour in an internet café in Marrakech.
The United States is threatening nations who oppose Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) crops with military-style trade wars, according to information obtained and released by the organization WikiLeaks. Nations like France, which have moved to ban one of Monsanto’s GM corn varieties, were requested to be ‘penalized’ by the United States for opposing Monsanto and genetically modified foods. The information reveals just how deep Monsanto’s roots have penetrated key positions within the United States government, with the cables reporting that many U.S. diplomats work directly for Monsanto.
The WikiLeaks cable reveals that in late 2007, the United States ambassador to France and business partner to George W. Bush, Craig Stapleton, requested that the European Union along with particular nations that did not support GMO crops be penalized. Stapleton, who co-owned the Dallas/Fort Worth-based Texas Rangers baseball team with Bush in the 1990s, stated:
“Country team Paris recommends that we calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits. The list should be measured rather than vicious and must be sustainable over the long term, since we should not expect an early victory. Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voices.”
The Leaked Political Agenda Behind Monsanto’s GMO Crops
The ambassador plainly calls for ‘target retaliation’ against nations who are against using Monsanto’s genetically modified corn, admittedly linked to organ damage and environmental devastation. Amazingly, this is not an isolated case. In similar newly released cables, United States diplomats are found to have pushed GMO crops as a strategic government and commercial imperative. Furthermore, the U.S. specifically targeted advisers to the pope, due to the fact that many Catholic bishops and figureheads have openly denounced GMO crops. In fact, the Vatican has openly declared Monsanto’s GMO crops as a ‘new form of slavery’.
“A Martino deputy told us recently that the cardinal had co-operated with embassy Vatican on biotech over the past two years in part to compensate for his vocal disapproval of the Iraq war and its aftermath – to keep relations with the USG [US government] smooth. According to our source, Martino no longer feels the need to take this approach,” says the cable.
Perhaps the most shocking piece of information exposed by the cables is the fact that these U.S. diplomats are actually working directly for biotech corporations like Monsanto. The cables also highlight the relationship between the U.S. and Spain in their conquest to persuade other nations to allow for the expansion of GMO crops. Not only did the Spanish government secretly correspond with the U.S. government on the subject, but the U.S. government actually knew beforehand how Spain would vote before the Spanish biotech commission reported their decision regarding GMO crops. The cable states:
“In response to recent urgent requests by [Spanish rural affairs ministry] state secretary Josep Puxeu and Monsanto, post requests renewed US government support of Spain’s science-based agricultural biotechnology position through high-level US government intervention.”
Monsanto has undoubtedly infiltrated the United States government in order to push their health-endangering agenda, and this has been known long before the release of these WikiLeaks cables. The U.S. is the only place where Monsanto’s synthetic hormone Posilac is still used in roughly 1/3 of all cows, with 27 nations banning the substance over legitimate health concerns. Despite Monsanto’s best attempts at incognito political corruption, nothing can stop the grassroots anti-Monsanto movement that is taking over cities and nations alike.
Anthony Gucciardi is an accomplished investigative journalist with a passion for natural health. Anthony’s articles have been featured on top alternative news websites such as Infowars, NaturalNews, Rense, and many others. Anthony is the co-founder of Natural Society, a website dedicated to sharing life-saving natural health techniques. Stay in touch with Natural Society via the following sites Facebook – Twitter – Web
After a study published last year labeled viewers of Fox News as grossly misinformed, the researchers who conducted the poll have expanded their work and now confirm, again, that the network’s audience might want to consider changing the channel.
Qorvis Communications is a “Public Relations” / lobbying firm based in Washington, DC which specializes in representing high-profile overseas clients – including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Brunei. They are fond of editing Wikipedia to make themselves look better, as documented by 
On March 6, 2012, I wrote an article entitled “
