America's Financial Crisis

[Armenian]

Re: America's Financial Crisis

And this is the murder of Dr. David Kelly, a weapons inspector for the British Ministry of Defense who again, simply knew too much, in this case about Washington's and London's evil plans to attack Iraq under false pretenses. Makes you wonder where's the public outcry... This also makes you wonder just how many of their citizens are murdered by the "democratically elected" governments in the West. I suspect most of these murders in question don't even get noticed, even by the underground media.

Armenian

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NEW EVIDENCE PROVES THAT DR DAVID KELLY WAS MURDERED BY BLAIR REGIME!

Dr David Kelly was found dead on 18 July 2003, just three-days after testifying at the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee in respect of fabricated intelligence on Iraq's 'imagined' WMD capabilities.

Thames Valley Police, involved in Operation 'Mason' - which started 12 hours before Dr Kelly was reported missing - failed to find the body of the missing Government scientist despite using a helicopter with heat-seeking equipment and flying over the exact spot where his corpse was later discovered. And, unusually, no inquest into his death has ever been held because it was blocked on the insistence of Tony Blair and Alistair Campbell. Instead, the whitewashed Hutton 'Inquiry' was set up by Tony Blair to investigate the circumstances surrounding his death. It was revelead just days ago that George Bush and Tony Blair deliberately ignored MI6 and CIA intelligence that showed Iraq had no WMDs in the run up to the disastrous illegal invasion of the country which has suffered more under under the illegal invasion that at any time under Saddam Hussein. And the latest damning evidence obtained under the Freedom of Information Act shows that a Police Eurocopter EC135 'failed' to detect Dr Kelly's body in the woodland in which his body was later found by search and rescue volunteers.

July 18, 2003:

1.15am: The latest time Dr Kelly could have died
2.50am: Helicopter with termal imaging equipment(below) flies over copse where his body was found - and 'fails' to spot him
8.30am: Dr Kelly is finally found by searcher on the ground

Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat MP who has written a thoroughly meticulously researched book investigating Dr Kelly’s death, said: ‘Every violent or unusual death warrants a proper inquiry. It is astonishing there has never been an inquest into Dr Kelly’s death. There is no doubt in my mind he was murdered. This information proves his body was not where Lord Hutton thinks it was. The question is, where was it?’ The whitewashed Hutton Report concluded that:

"In light of the evidence which I have heard I am satisfied that Dr Kelly took his own life in the wood at Harrowdown Hill at a time between 4.15pm on 17 July and 1.15am on 18 July 2003. I am satisfied that no other person was involved in the death of Dr Kelly for the following reasons:

* A very careful and lengthy examination of the area where his body was found by police officers and by a forensic biologist found no traces whatever of a struggle or of any involvement by a third party or third parties and a very careful and detailed post mortem examination by Dr Hunt, together with the examination of specimens from the body by a forensic toxicologist, Dr Allan, found no traces or indications whatever of violence or force inflicted on Dr Kelly by a third party or third parties either at the place where his body was found or elsewhere.


* The wounds to his wrist were inflicted by a knife which came from Dr Kelly's desk in his study in his home, and which had belonged to him from boyhood. It is highly unlikely that a third party or third parties could have forced Dr Kelly to swallow a large number of Coproxamol tablets. These conclusions are strongly supported by the evidence of Professor Hawton, Dr Hunt and Assistant Chief Constable Page. I am further satisfied from the evidence of Professor Hawton that Dr Kelly was not suffering from any significant mental illness at the time he took his own life."


According to David Broucher, Britain's Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, in testimony to the Hutton Inquiry, in late February, 2003, he had asked Kelly "What do you think will happen if Iraq is invaded?" Kelly answered, "I will probably be found dead in the woods." In this statement, Kelly implied, according to Broucher, that his death would be by someone else's hands, not his own. Before Parliament and under pressure from the media, Kelly denied almost all of his previous WMD comments to the BBC. Why did Dr Kelly criticise and then, under pressure, totally accept Blair's September 2003 pro-war '45 minutes' spin on Iraq's so called weapons of mass destruction? Moreover, why and how did Dr David Kelly die? Kelly had expressed his earlier (trimmed down) assessments to three BBC reporters and made detailed criticisms of NuLab spin doctors (especially Alistair Campbell) at the Prime Minister's office who were insisting Iraq was a 'clear and present' danger. Kelly expressed the view that there was only a 30% chance that Iraq had any weapons of mass destruction and certainly none that posed an immediate threat to the UK or Iraq's neighbours. And certainly none that could be launched in 45 minutes!

Dr Kelly at the BBC

A month after the end of the war, on May 29, 2003, Andrew Gilligan made the following report on BBC's Radio 4's Today program: "What we've been told by one of the senior officials in charge of drawing up that dossier [Blair's September 2002 speech justifying war on Iraq] was that, actually, the government probably knew that the 45 minute figure was wrong, even before it decided to put it in. What this person [Dr Kelly] says is that, a week before the publication date of the dossier, it was actually rather a bland production. Downing Street, our source says, ordered for it to be 'sexed up', to be made more exciting, and ordered more facts to be discovered ... and essentially, the 45 minute point was probably the most important thing that was added ..." On June 2 and June 4, 2003 Newsnight BBC, Susan Watts quoted from the same source (later revealed to be Dr Kelly) as follows: "The 45 minute point was a statement that was made and it got out of all proportion. They were desperate for information; they were pushing hard for information which could be released. That was one that popped up and it was seized on and it's unfortunate that it was. That's why there is the argument between the intelligence services and the Cabinet Office/Number 10 because they picked up on it and once they've picked up on it, you can't pull it back from them."

Blair's Weapons of Mass Deception

In September 2002, Blair's 'justification' for war was contradicted by many of his own intelligence officers and Dr Kelly…. Blair's Chief of Staff Jonathan Powell wrote to the PM on 17 September 2002, a week before Blair's Speech, saying "We need to make it clear in launching the document that we do not claim we have evidence that Saddam is an imminent threat." Yet, on 24 September 2002, Blair told the British Public "Saddam has existing and active military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons, which could be activated within 45 minutes." Guardian newspaper also learned that Blair's 45 minute claim was based on 'hearsay' information from the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). The revelation that the claim was second hand appeared in an internal Foreign Office document released by the Hutton Inquiry. tremendous pressure from the British Government, Dr Kelly was essentially instructed to 'shut up'. Crumbling to this pressure he completely reversed his previous statements to the BBC when he testified before the Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday, July 15, 2003.

Dr Kelly could no longer remember naming Alistair Campbell as the source of the 45 minute spin (even though he had named Campbell and the Number 10 press office to BBC's Andrew Gilligan and to Susan Watts on audio tape played before the Hutton Inquiry). Kelly was asked, "Do you believe that the document [Blair's September, 2002 speech] was transformed by Alistair Campbell?" Kelly answered, "I do not believe that at all." Kelly was asked (in Question 101) by Andrew MacKinlay: "So you made no comments about the veracity of that document [Blair's September speech] at all to Gilligan. You did not say it was exaggerated, embellished, probably over-egged?" Dr Kelly answered in a very low voice (hard to hear): "No I had no doubt that the veracity of it was absolute." Certainly 'absolute' truth is not the language of currency used by scientists. Question 144 by Chairman Donald Anderson was: "What lessons have you learned from this episode?" Kelly responded, "Never to talk to a journalist again, I think." It was the proper response - in terms of ensuring future State control of 'spin/propaganda' at all times.

In question 131, Richard Ottaway asked if he said the words '45 minutes' to the BBC's Susan Watts. The question was, "You deny that those are your words?" Kelly answered, “Yes!”. An audio tape taken by Susan Watts was given to the Hutton Inquiry.

Question 141 saw Richard Ottaway again ask, "My final question is what sort of threat do you feel Iraq posed to the rest of the world in September 2002?" Kelly replied, "I think I would quote the dossier, that it was a 'serious and current threat.'" (Kelly's reference to the 'dodgy-dossier' was as if quoting chapter and verse from Campbell's poisoned scripture.)

Question 159 witnessed Sir John Stanley going for real blood asking, "Why did you go along with this Parliamentary committee? You were being exploited, were you not?" Kelly, feebly said, "I would not say I was being exploited." But Sir John Stanley did not let up in Question 160. He asked: "Why did you feel it was incumbent upon you to go along with the request that clearly had been made to you to be thrown to the wolves not only to the media, but also, to this committee?" Kelly responded, "I think that is a line of questioning you will have to ask the Ministry of Defence. I am sorry." Kelly suggested the reasons why he agreed to appear were not his own but those of the MoD.

Question 161, Chairman Donald Anderson, wanting to make clear the witness had not been mistreated in any way asked, "Do you feel any concern at the way the Ministry of Defence responded after you volunteered your admission?" Dr Kelly: "I accept what happened."

Question 167, without mercy, Andrew MacKinlay asked: "Have you ever felt like a fall-guy? You have been set up, have you not?" Dr. Kelly: "That is not a question I can answer." And Question 168, Andrew MacKinlay: "But you feel that?" Dr. Kelly, "No, not at all, I accept the process that is going on." Question 169, Chairman: "I'm sorry, you accept… [what]?" Dr. Kelly: "I accept the process that is happening." Question 174, Mr Oliver: "Did you suggest to anyone at all that the intelligence services were unhappy about the September dossier?" Dr. Kelly: "Unhappy? I do not think they were unhappy. I think they had confidence in the information that was provided in that dossier."

Everyone was happy and confident that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction that were ready to launch in 45 minutes. And everyone was 'happily' convinced of the wisdom of Blair and Campbell's September 2002 speech and the subsequent catastrophic war in which over 100,000 people have died. The Ministry of Defence, Tony Blair, Alistair Campbell and then Dr David Kelly all agreed, and yet, the problem remained simply because the truth remained, irrespective of who lined up with whom - the dossier on WMD was fabricated to 'justify' an illegal war. So much for the 'absolute' veracity (honesty, accuracy, truth) of Blair's September speech. And on 30 August 2003, Alistair Campbell, the man who was "heavily involved in producing the September dossier" and the man who "suggested leaking Dr Kelly's name to a journalist," resigned his job as Tony Blair's Director of Communications. Would Campbell have resigned if Dr Kelly had not died and the British anti-war public had not demanded answers?

[...]

Source: http://www.news-alliance.com/_suicide_or_murder.html

[Armenian]

Re: America's Financial Crisis

Murder of important/controversial figures in America is nothing new. While some instances such as Lincoln's, Kennedy's and King's assassinations are well known, others are not. George S. Patton, the famous World War Two general was also a victim of political intrigue. When individuals in the West, regardless of how well known they are, threaten the agenda of the ruling financial/political elite they are murdered. It's that simple. Only lesser nations (developing nations) get to suffer consequences of political murder. Just imagine what would have occurred if Levon Ter Petrosian was murdered by the Armenian authorities before he could realize his bloody insurrection attempt early this year...

Armenian

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General George S. Patton was assassinated to silence his criticism of allied war leaders claims new book

George S. Patton, America's greatest combat general of the Second World War, was assassinated after the conflict with the connivance of US leaders, according to a new book.

The newly unearthed diaries of a colourful assassin for the wartime Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the CIA, reveal that American spy chiefs wanted Patton dead because he was threatening to expose allied collusion with the Russians that cost American lives. The death of General Patton in December 1945, is one of the enduring mysteries of the war era. Although he had suffered serious injuries in a car crash in Manheim, he was thought to be recovering and was on the verge of flying home. But after a decade-long investigation, military historian Robert Wilcox claims that OSS head General "Wild Bill" Donovan ordered a highly decorated marksman called Douglas Bazata to silence Patton, who gloried in the nickname "Old Blood and Guts". His book, "Target Patton", contains interviews with Mr Bazata, who died in 1999, and extracts from his diaries, detailing how he staged the car crash by getting a troop truck to plough into Patton's Cadillac and then shot the general with a low-velocity projectile, which broke his neck while his fellow passengers escaped without a scratch.

Mr Bazata also suggested that when Patton began to recover from his injuries, US officials turned a blind eye as agents of the NKVD, the forerunner of the KGB, poisoned the general. Mr Wilcox told The Sunday Telegraph that when he spoke to Mr Bazata: "He was struggling with himself, all these killings he had done. He confessed to me that he had caused the accident, that he was ordered to do so by Wild Bill Donovan. "Donovan told him: 'We've got a terrible situation with this great patriot, he's out of control and we must save him from himself and from ruining everything the allies have done.' I believe Douglas Bazata. He's a sterling guy." Mr Bazata led an extraordinary life. He was a member of the Jedburghs, the elite unit who parachuted into France to help organise the Resistance in the run up to D-Day in 1944. He earned four purple hearts, a Distinguished Service Cross and the French Croix de Guerre three times over for his efforts. After the war he became a celebrated artist who enjoyed the patronage of Princess Grace of Monaco and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

He was friends with Salvador Dali, who painted a portrait of Bazata as Don Quixote. He ended his career as an aide to President Ronald Reagan's Navy Secretary John Lehman, a member of the 9/11 Commission and adviser to John McCain's presidential campaign. Mr Wilcox also tracked down and interviewed Stephen Skubik, an officer in the Counter-Intelligence Corps of the US Army, who said he learnt that Patton was on Stalin's death list. Skubik repeatedly alerted Donovan, who simply had him sent back to the US. "You have two strong witnesses here," Mr Wilcox said. "The evidence is that the Russians finished the job." The scenario sounds far fetched but Mr Wilcox has assembled a compelling case that US officials had something to hide. At least five documents relating to the car accident have been removed from US archives. The driver of the truck was whisked away to London before he could be questioned and no autopsy was performed on Patton's body.

With the help of a Cadillac expert from Detroit, Mr Wilcox has proved that the car on display in the Patton museum at Fort Knox is not the one Patton was driving. "That is a cover-up," Mr Wilcox said. George Patton, a dynamic controversialist who wore pearl handled revolvers on each hip and was the subject of an Oscar winning film starring George C. Scott, commanded the US 3rd Army, which cut a swathe through France after D-Day. But his ambition to get to Berlin before Soviet forces was thwarted by supreme allied commander Dwight D. Eisenhower, who gave Patton's petrol supplies to the more cautious British General Bernard Montgomery. Patton, who distrusted the Russians, believed Eisenhower wrongly prevented him closing the so-called Falaise Gap in the autumn of 1944, allowing hundreds of thousands of German troops to escape to fight again,. This led to the deaths of thousands of Americans during their winter counter-offensive that became known as the Battle of the Bulge. In order to placate Stalin, the 3rd Army was also ordered to a halt as it reached the German border and was prevented from seizing either Berlin or Prague, moves that could have prevented Soviet domination of Eastern Europe after the war.

Mr Wilcox told The Sunday Telegraph: "Patton was going to resign from the Army. He wanted to go to war with the Russians. The administration thought he was nuts. "He also knew secrets of the war which would have ruined careers. I don't think Dwight Eisenhower would ever have been elected president if Patton had lived to say the things he wanted to say." Mr Wilcox added: "I think there's enough evidence here that if I were to go to a grand jury I could probably get an indictment, but perhaps not a conviction." Charles Province, President of the George S. Patton Historical Society, said he hopes the book will lead to definitive proof of the plot being uncovered. He said: "There were a lot of people who were pretty damn glad that Patton died. He was going to really open the door on a lot of things that they screwed up over there."

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-new-book.html

The Assassination Of General George Patton

An excerpt...

(Note: The translation of the passage below from Joaquin Bochaca's book, "Los Crimenes De Los 'Buenos' " was prepared by a participant on Liberty Forum who writes under the name of "Mugwort." The Book by Bochaca, an Argentinian, appears to be a major writing. I hope it soon becomes available in english translation. The short passage below addresses the assassination of General Patton.)

The abuses committed by the Forces of the Occupation in Germany reached such bestial extremes that various people in the Allied command structure opposed it--or tried to. ... Lindbergh mentioned how the American soldiers burned the leftovers of their meals to keep them from being scavenged by the [starving] Germans who hung around the garbage barrels.

He also wrote: "In our homeland the public press publishes articles on how we 'liberated' the oppressed peoples. Here, our soldiers use the word 'liberate' to describe how they get their hands on loot. Everything they grab from from a German house, everything they take off a German is 'liberated' in the lingo of our troops. Leica cameras are liberated, food, works of art, clothes are liberated. A soldier who rapes a German girl is "liberating " her.

"There are German children who gaze at us as we eat ... our cursed regulations forbid us to give tham anything to eat. I remember the soldier Barnes, who was arrested for having given a chocolate bar to a tattered little girl. It's hard to look these children in the face. I feel ashamed. Ashamed of myself, my people, as I eat and look at those children. How can we have gotten so inhumane?" So wrote Colonel Lindbergh, national hero of the United States, who was proposed as a candidate for the presidency of his country, who fought in the air force of his country, who was not a nazi. Many decent American and British citizens can see that.

General Patton, perhaps the most popular of the American generals, immediately opposed the total or partial application of the Morgenthau Plan in his sector of occupation. Soon, he had a run-in with another general of higher rank: General Eisenhower. It's well-known what extremely violent debates they had about how the civilian population of Germany was to be treated. Patton was SENTENCED TO DEATH by the directors of the scenario.

One day Patton's car was run into by a military truck in what seemed like a very strange accident. The General was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he was observed to have serious, but not life-threatening injuries. But some days later he died of a heart attack.

Patton's death, in any event, was extremely opportune. The General had annnounced that he was thinking of moving to the United States, where he was going to denounce publicly what was taking place in Germany. But he didn't have time. He had fought with too many important people. General Eisenhower had had to pick up the telephone and order that he be halted before he reached Berlin. At Yalta the new "masters of the world" had agreed that the Soviets would be the first to enter the German capital. Patton wanted to prevent the Vandal-like entrance of the Red Army into the capital of the Reich, and made an enemy of Eisenhower. A month before, he could have entered Prague, but was also detained by Eisenhower, leaving him nailed to the ground by an order.

Patton's difficulties with the WAR POWERS over the occupation of Germany were so great that Eisenhower stripped him of his position as Commander of the Third Army, and stuck him with the command of a secondary unit. Patton knew he was in danger of death, and confided as much to his family and close friends. He was feared because of his prestige-he was the most renowned American General, while Eisenhower was nothing more than a political soldier-and his words could alert the public to the reality of what was happening in Germany.

Thus the accident was set up, which was not by any means the first. On the 21st of April 1945, his airplane on which he was being transported to General Headquarters of the Third Army in Feldfield (England) was attacked by what was assumed to be a German fighter-bomber, but it turned out to be a "Spitfire" piloted by an inexpert Polish pilot. Patton's plane was shot up, but was miraculously able to land. On the 3rd of May, some days before the end of the war, the General's jeep was charged by an ox-drawn cart, leaving Patton with light injuries.

October 13, 1945 was when the collision with the truck occurred. When Patton appeared to be getting better from the accident, the "heart attack" occurred. The fact is that after October 13 only the doctors saw Patton, forbidding any other visitors.

Until recently, it was only speculation that Patton had been assassinated. Now it is known for a fact. And it is know for a very simple reason. Because an agent of the well-known OSS (Office of Strategic Services) or American military spy, a certain Douglas Bazata, a xxx of Lebanese origin, announced it in front of 450 invited guests; high ranking, ex-members of the OSS, in the Hilton Hotel in Washington, the 25th of September, 1979. Bazata said, word-for-word:

"For divers political reasons, many extremely high-ranking persons hated Patton. I know who killed him. Because I am the one who was hired to do it. Ten thousand dollars. General William Donovan himself, director of the O.S.S, entrusted me with the mission. I set up the accident. Since he didn't die in the accident, he was kept in isolation in the hospital, where he was killed with an injection."

The tragic fate of Patton convinced other colleagues and their honorable compatriots of the uselessness of fighting against the WAR POWERS. And if any doubts remained, the "Morgan case" was enough to dissipate them. (To be continued.)

Source: http://www.rense.com/general63/patton.htm

[Armenian]

Re: America's Financial Crisis

Deborah Jeane Palfrey's death early this year was another high profile murder that took place in Washington DC.

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Professional Conspiracy Debunker Claims Friendship with Deborah Jeane Palfrey

DC madam suicided? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e2XvoY357Q

Dan Moldea tells us he was Deborah Jeane Palfrey’s friend. Moldea, an an independent crime reporter, wanted to write a book on Palfrey. Now that Palfrey is dead, Moldea tells us she confided in him. “She wasn’t going to jail, she told me that very clearly. She told me she would commit suicide,” Moldea tells Time Magazine. “She had done time once before [for prostitution],” Moldea recalls. “And it damn near killed her. She said there was enormous stress — it made her sick, she couldn’t take it, and she wasn’t going to let that happen to her again.” Instead of enduring anywhere between 71 months to 55 years in prison, Deborah Jeane Palfrey decided instead to kill herself.

Larry Flynt, Hustler publisher and free speech advocate, is having nothing of it. “I think the media should be very cautious in treating this as a suicide,” Flynt told Fox News in a telephone interview from his Beverly Hills office. Fox asked if he believes Palfrey was murdered and Flynt responded, “I personally believe that’s what happened, but I have no proof.” Flynt worked with Moldea, described as an “investigative reporter” by Fox, “to break the story that the phone number of Sen. David Vitter, R-La., was among those numbers in Palfrey’s client list. Flynt targeted Vitter because he had campaigned for office on a family-values platform.” Vitter remains in office and has not been censured, even though he came under intense public criticism.

“She did not have the demeanor of the type of person that would carry certain signs of suicide, like being withdrawn or depressed,” Flynt told Fox. “You know, those are the kinds of signs that you look for. She didn’t display any of those traits… She was very friendly… Very bright. She was by no means a dummy. She knew what she was doing.” Fox headlines the story with Flynt’s comments thus, “Death of ‘D.C. Madam’ Becomes Rich Ground for Conspiracy Theory,” leading the casual reader to conclude that asking obvious questions about a woman who threatened to out VIP clients is nothing short of conspiratorialist hyperbole.

Palfrey told Alex Jones and his audience as recently as March that she would under no circumstances take her own life. She did say however that she was at risk of being killed and that authorities would make it look like suicide. As it now stands, Palfrey’s “friend,” Dan Moldea, is the only source, quoted by numerous newspapers and news websites, most notably Time, to claim an intimate understanding of the mental condition of the so-called D.C. Madam. As should be expected, the corporate media has taken Moldea’s assertions as gospel: Palfrey, unable to face years in prison, killed herself. It is, for the corporate media, a tidy way to close the case and not breach a larger and more far more portentous issue — Deborah Jeane Palfrey, who threatened to release the names of well-known clients of her call girl business in Washington, had made an unknown number of powerful enemies that wanted her dead. She had indicated xxxx Cheney may have been one of her customers.

However, there are problems with the testimony of Dan Moldea, problems that put his assertion about Palfrey in question. “In 1995, Dan Moldea wrote his apologia for the LAPD… for their handling of the Robert F. Kennedy assassination,” writes Jim DiEugenio for Probe. It appears Moldea fabricated a Sirhan B. Sirhan quote. “Moldea had provided Sirhan B. Sirhan a chance to fact-check an eight-page report culled from his visits with the prisoner,” writes DiEugenio. Moldea claims Sirhan had wanted to shoot Kennedy between the eyes, but “that son of a xxxxx turned his head at the last second.” Sirhan denied such an exchange and Sirhan’s brother Adel, present during Moldea’s visit, also denied the exchange took place. Moreover, Lynn Mangan, Sirhan’s chief researcher, found the comment hardly tenable. “I flatly deny making the statement Moldea ascribes to me in his book,” Sirhan declared in a letter to Mangan.

Moldea’s book on the RFK assassination is nothing more than an echo of the official story — Sirhan acted alone — thus cementing his reputation as a “conspiracy debunker,” never mind his sloppy work on RFK and Sirhan. Is it possible he is once again attempting to debunk a “conspiracy,” this time that Deborah Jeane Palfrey did not commit suicide and was in fact killed for what she knew and what she appeared ready to reveal? It is awful suspicious that Dan Moldea suddenly surfaces, within hours of Palfrey’s alleged suicide, to claim friendship and a unique insight into the woman’s mental condition. It is suspicious because Moldea has established his reputation as a “conspiracy” buster and because he has an apparent history of creating quotes out of thin air.

Source: http://www.infowars.com/?p=1873

OK, this breaking news from the US does not have anything to do with Armenian politics... However, ask yourselves this question: How would we Armenians have reacted had something like this occurred in Yerevan? How would have the "democracy" movement in Armenia reacted? Basing my opinion on what I have been able to observe in our people, Armenia would have faced a storm of protests by "independent" media outlets, community activists and commoners alike. Without doubt, official Yerevan would be openly accused of homicide and corruption by entities foreign and domestic. However, since it's the "beacon of light" and "hope of the free world", the US, engaging in the corruption and the murder it somehow goes over people's heads... After all, the authorities did say it was "suicide"... It's gospel, end of story. This reminds me of the biologist in Britain that was murdered several years ago by British secret service because he basically knew too much about the lies that lead to the invasion of Iraq. It was death by "suicide" back then as well, and on one dared to ask questions. I wonder is the horse faced John Hughes of ArmeniaNow will write a scathing article attacking his government in Washington DC and accusing them of corruption and murder, as he seems so fond of doing against Armenian officials in Yerevan.

Armenian

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'DC Madam' found dead in Florida

Deborah Jean Palfrey, the US woman recently convicted for her role as the head of a Washington DC escort agency, has committed suicide, police say. Ms Palfrey, often referred to as "the DC Madam", was found hanged in a shed next to her mother's house in Florida. She was convicted on 15 April of running a prostitution ring, money laundering and mail fraud. The case became famous because of the prominent officials - including Senator David Vitter - who had used the agency.

Ms Palfrey maintained that she had had no knowledge of her escorts engaging in sex acts with their clients. But on 15 April, after hearing testimony from a number of the agency's former employees and clients, a federal jury found her guilty on all counts. She faced a maximum 55-year prison term, but was free pending sentencing on 24 July. Police said that Ms Palfrey had left a suicide note, but did not disclose its contents. "This is a tragic news and my heart goes out to her mother," said Preston Burton, the lawyer who represented Ms Palfrey in her trial.

This would be the second time that someone involved in the scandal has committed suicide. In January, Brandy Britton, a professor at the University of Maryland as well as an employee of the escort service, killed herself before she was due to face trial on prostitution charges. Mr Vitter, a Republican Senator from Louisiana who is married with four children, faced calls to resign when details of his dealings with the escort agency first emerged. The senator apologised for what he described as a "very serious sin", but refused to comment further.

Other patrons of the agency - known as Pamela Martin and Associates - included Nasa officials, top military officers, World Bank and International Monetary Fund executives, as well as the head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Randall Tobias, who stepped down after being named as a client.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7378654.stm

[Armenian]

Re: America's Financial Crisis

On a side note here, I would like to continue highlighting the severe corruption that exists within all levels of US government and society. It seems now that there may have been another murder of a person that simply knew too much in Washington DC. Naturally, however, we would never hear about these allegations in the controlled mainstream news nor in "democracy" spreading media outlets such as Radio Liberty. I hope that asswipes in our communities that love to compare the corruption that exists in developing nations like Armenia to that of the spotless and holy American system would wake up from their stupid fantasies and realize that they have been fooled. Beginning with the defeat of National Socialism in Europe and ending with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US political system has come to represent evil on earth - delivered on a gold plate of democracy. In my opinion, two terrible events happened in world history within a fifty year span: The defeat of National Socialism in 1945 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Comparatively speaking, the worst corruption on earth today exists within the US. Comparatively speaking, politicians with the most blood on their hands today are the ones serving in Washington DC. The American system today is like a bloated, sickly criminal who's life support system is the rest of the world. Unless the world gradually ceases to prolong the life of this sickly beast, it will go down with it. And we still have mentally retarded idiots amongst us (and a few right here on this board) that swear by the post war political system in America. Nonetheless, as the economy worsens, the real face of Washington DC will come to the surface and the people may begin to realize that the worst political system ever imposed upon mankind is the thing called democracy - as preached by Washington DC.

Armenian

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Mystery surrounds death of Bush adviser

Bush adviser's strange death: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvdeMeVrQNE

The US media is buzzing with speculation about the death of presidential adviser Mike Connell, who died on December 19 after his private plane crashed as it prepared to land. Connell worked as an IT adviser to the Republican Party and played a major role in both of George W. Bush’s presidential campaigns. The 45-year-old also advised John McCain in this year’s election. In 2006 he was linked to missing White House emails connected with a string of firings of US attorneys. So the question everybody is asking is whether there could be more to this story than just a plane crash. According to the Free Press, there was something mysterious about the 2000 and 2004 elections.

"..On the night of the 2004 election exit polls and initial vote counts showed John Kerry the clear winner of Ohio's presidential campaign. The Buckeye State's 20 electoral votes would have given Kerry the presidency. But from then until around 2am, the flow of information mysteriously ceased. After that, the vote count shifted dramatically to George W. Bush, ultimately giving him a second term. In the end there was a 6.7 percent diversion - in Bush's favour - between highly professional, nationally funded exit polls and the final official vote count as tabulated by Blackwell and Connell,” The Free Press writes.

Since Mike Connell was IT expert in both of Bush’s presidential campaigns, there is speculation that he could have been involved in what some believe was election rigging. A non-profit group Velvet Revolution, or “VR”, has been investigating Connell’s activities for the past two years. According to the group, “a tipster close to the McCain campaign disclosed to VR in July that Mr Connell’s life was in jeopardy and that Karl Rove [Deputy Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush until August 2007] had threatened him and his wife, Heather”. VR notified the US officials about the threats and insisted that Connell be placed in protective custody. VR also told a close associate of Connell’s “not to fly his plane because of another tip that the plane could be sabotaged”. In the past two months the IT guru, also an experienced pilot, had to cancel two of his flights because there was something wrong with the plane.

On December 19 the father of four was flying himself home from an airport in Maryland when his Piper Saratoga plane crashed near his northern Ohio home. Now there is a concern that there may be a reason behind his death, which came at a time when election protection attorneys and others appeared to be closing in on critical irregularities and illegalities. One of the theories is that Mike Connell posed a risk. He might one day have revealed crucial information about election fixing and the deletion of incriminating emails. Furthermore, he was an insider who at some point in the future might have provided some embarrassing details about Bush’s administration.

Source: http://www.russiatoday.com/features/news/35193

Karl Rove Threatened Connell, Suspected of Sabotage and Murder

"Connell's life was in jeopardy... Rove had threatened him and his wife"

Did Bush's guru Karl Rove order the Murder of Mike Connell because he knew too much? Attorneys for Mike Connell, recently killed in a suspicious 'plane crash', had sought protection for Connell and his family. Connell had been threatened by Karl Rove, the Republican guru, arguably the 'brains' behind Bush's rise to near absolute power in the White House. He is suspect number one.

Connell, who was on John McCain's payroll, had also been 'warned' that his craft had been tampered with.Connell was killed December 19th when the Piper Lance Saratoga he piloted crashed short of the Akron-Canton Airport runway. Sabotage was suspected immediately. Connell was the GOP IT guru who may have rigged Bush's victories in 2000 and, again, in 2004. Certainly, Karl Rove as well as the GOP leadership and George W. Bush have motive. Connell was the man who knew how the GOP steals elections. Connell was the man who knew too much. The fact that Connell was reportedly planning to 'tell all', perhaps implicating the White House, is motive enough for murder.

On October 31, Mr. Connell appeared before a federal judge in Ohio after being subpoenaed in a federal lawsuit investigating the rigging of the 2004 election under the direction of Karl Rove. The judge ordered Mr. Connell to testify under oath at a deposition on November 3rd, the day before the presidential election. Velvet Revolution received confidential information that the White House was extremely concerned about Mr. Connell talking about his illegal work for the White House and two Bush/Cheney 04 attorneys were dispatched to represent him. An associate of Mr. Connell's told VR that Mr. Connell was involved with the destruction of the White House emails and the setting up of the off-grid White House email system.Mr. Connell handled all of John McCain's computer work in the recent presidential campaign. VR has received direct evidence that the McCain campaign kept abreast of the legal developments against Mr. Connell by reading the VR dedicated website, www.rovecybergate.com. VR demands that the Ohio Attorney General and the United States Justice Department conduct a complete investigation into the activities of Mr. Connell and determine whether there was any foul play in his death. VR demands that federal law enforcement officials place the following people under protective custody pending this investigation.

Bush Insider Who Planned To Tell All Killed In Plane Crash: Non-Profit Demands Full Federal Investigation.

This case stinks! If it is not fully investigated, there should be hell to pay. Rove's threats, the stolen elections, Rove's extremely close ties to George W. Bush, himself a war criminal and mass murderer, are just a few factors that demand, that literally scream: investgigate! I should not be surprised if a fair and thorough investigation should implicate George W. Bush and numerous others in the GOP leadership.

A tipster close to the McCain campaign disclosed to VR in July that Mr. Connell's life was in jeopardy and that Karl Rove had threatened him and his wife, Heather. VR's attorney, Cliff Arnebeck, notified the United States Attorney General , Ohio law enforcement and the federal court about these threats and insisted that Mr. Connell be placed in protective custody. VR also told a close associate of Mr. Connell's not to fly his plane because of another tip that the plane could be sabotaged. Mr. Connell, a very experienced pilot, has had to abandon at least two flights in the past two months because of suspicious problems with his plane. On December 18, 2008, Mr. Connell flew to a small airport outside of Washington DC to meet some people. It was on his return flight the next day that he crashed.

On October 31, Mr. Connell appeared before a federal judge in Ohio after being subpoenaed in a federal lawsuit investigating the rigging of the 2004 election under the direction of Karl Rove. The judge ordered Mr. Connell to testify under oath at a deposition on November 3rd, the day before the presidential election. Velvet Revolution received confidential information that the White House was extremely concerned about Mr. Connell talking about his illegal work for the White House and two Bush/Cheney 04 attorneys were dispatched to represent him.

An associate of Mr. Connell's told VR that Mr. Connell was involved with the destruction of the White House emails and the setting up of the off-grid White House email system.

Mr. Connell handled all of John McCain's computer work in the recent presidential campaign. VR has received direct evidence that the McCain campaign kept abreast of the legal developments against Mr. Connell by reading the VR dedicated website, www.rovecybergate.com. VR demands that the Ohio Attorney General and the United States Justice Department conduct a complete investigation into the activities of Mr. Connell and determine whether there was any foul play in his death. VR demands that federal law enforcement officials place the following people under protective custody pending this investigation. Heather Connell who is the owner of GovTech Solutions, Randy Cole, the former President of GovTech Solutions, and Jeff Averbeck, the CEO of SmartTech in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Both GovTech and SmartTech have been implicated in the rigging of the 2000 and 2004 elections and the White House email scandal. Our prior request to have Mr. Connell protected went unheeded and now he is dead. --Velvet Revolution

As I have said repeatedly for over ten years --the GOP is NOT a political party. It is, rather, a crime syndicate, a mob, a kooky cult!

Source: http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/...ll-suspected-o

[Armenian]

Re: America's Financial Crisis

Chinese Savings Helped Inflate American Bubble

“Usually it’s the rich country lending to the poor. This time, it’s the poor country lending to the rich.”

— Niall Ferguson

In March 2005, a low-key Princeton economist who had become a Federal Reserve governor coined a novel theory to explain the growing tendency of Americans to borrow from foreigners, particularly the Chinese, to finance their heavy spending. The problem, he said, was not that Americans spend too much, but that foreigners save too much. The Chinese have piled up so much excess savings that they lend money to the United States at low rates, underwriting American consumption. This colossal credit cycle could not last forever, he said. But in a global economy, the transfer of Chinese money to America was a market phenomenon that would take years, even a decade, to work itself out. For now, he said, “we probably have little choice except to be patient.” Today, the dependence of the United States on Chinese money looks less benign. And the economist who proposed the theory, Ben S. Bernanke, is dealing with the consequences, having been promoted to chairman of the Fed in 2006, as these cross-border money flows were reaching stratospheric levels.

In the past decade, China has invested upward of $1 trillion, mostly earnings from manufacturing exports, into American government bonds and government-backed mortgage debt. That has lowered interest rates and helped fuel a historic consumption binge and housing bubble in the United States. China, some economists say, lulled American consumers, and their leaders, into complacency about their spendthrift ways. “This was a blinking red light,” said Kenneth S. Rogoff, a professor of economics at Harvard and a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. “We should have reacted to it.” In hindsight, many economists say, the United States should have recognized that borrowing from abroad for consumption and deficit spending at home was not a formula for economic success. Even as that weakness is becoming more widely recognized, however, the United States is likely to be more addicted than ever to foreign creditors to finance record government spending to revive the broken economy.

To be sure, there were few ready remedies. Some critics argue that the United States could have pushed Beijing harder to abandon its policy of keeping the value of its currency weak — a policy that made its exports less expensive and helped turn it into the world’s leading manufacturing power. If China had allowed its currency to float according to market demand in the past decade, its export growth probably would have moderated. And it would not have acquired the same vast hoard of dollars to invest abroad. Others say the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department should have seen the Chinese lending for what it was: a giant stimulus to the American economy, not unlike interest rate cuts by the Fed. These critics say the Fed under Alan Greenspan contributed to the creation of the housing bubble by leaving interest rates too low for too long, even as Chinese investment further stoked an easy-money economy. The Fed should have cut interest rates less in the middle of this decade, they say, and started raising them sooner, to help reduce speculation in real estate.

Today, with the wreckage around him, Mr. Bernanke said he regretted that more was not done to regulate financial institutions and mortgage providers, which might have prevented the flood of investment, including that from China, from being so badly used. But the Fed’s role in regulation is limited to banks. And stricter regulation by itself would not have been enough, he insisted. “Achieving a better balance of international capital flows early on could have significantly reduced the risks to the financial system,” Mr. Bernanke said in an interview in his office overlooking the Washington Mall. “However,” he continued, “this could only have been done through international cooperation, not by the United States alone. The problem was recognized, but sufficient international cooperation was not forthcoming.”

The inaction was because of a range of factors, political and economic. By the yardsticks that appeared to matter most — prosperity and growth — the relationship between China and the United States also seemed to be paying off for both countries. Neither had a strong incentive to break an addiction: China to strong export growth and financial stability; the United States to cheap imports and low-cost foreign loans. In Washington, China was treated as a threat by some people, but mostly because it lured away manufacturing jobs. Others argued that China’s heavy lending to this country was risky because Chinese leaders could decide to withdraw money at a moment’s notice, creating a panicky run on the dollar. Mr. Bernanke viewed such international investment flows through a different lens. He argued that Chinese invested savings abroad because consumers in China did not have enough confidence to spend. Changing that situation would take years, and did not amount to a pressing problem for the Americans. “The global savings glut story did us a collective disservice,” said Edwin M. Truman, a former Fed and Treasury official. “It created the idea that the world was doing it to us and we couldn’t do anything about it.”

But Mr. Bernanke’s theory fit the prevailing hands-off, pro-market ideology of recent years. Mr. Greenspan and the Bush administration treated the record American trade deficit and heavy foreign borrowing as an abstract threat, not an urgent problem. Mr. Bernanke, after he took charge of the Fed, warned that the imbalances between the countries were growing more serious. By then, however, it was too late to do much about them. And the White House still regarded imbalances as an arcane subject best left to economists. By itself, money from China is not a bad thing. As American officials like to note, it speaks to the attractiveness of the United States as a destination for foreign investment. In the 19th century, the United States built its railroads with capital borrowed from the British. In the past decade, China arguably enabled an American boom. Low-cost Chinese goods helped keep a lid on inflation, while the flood of Chinese investment helped the government finance mortgages and a public debt of close to $11 trillion.

But Americans did not use the lower-cost money afforded by Chinese investment to build a 21st-century equivalent of the railroads. Instead, the government engaged in a costly war in Iraq, and consumers used loose credit to buy sport utility vehicles and larger homes. Banks and investors, eagerly seeking higher interest rates in this easy-money environment, created risky new securities like collateralized debt obligations. “Nobody wanted to get off this drug,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who pushed legislation to punish China by imposing stiff tariffs. “Their drug was an endless line of customers for made-in-China products. Our drug was the Chinese products and cash.” Mr. Graham said he understood the addiction: he was speaking by phone from a Wal-Mart store in Anderson, S.C., where he was Christmas shopping in aisles lined with items from China.

A New Economic Dance

The United States has been here before. In the 1980s, it ran heavy trade deficits with Japan, which recycled some of its trading profits into American government bonds. At that time, the deficits were viewed as a grave threat to America’s economic might. Action took the form of a 1985 agreement known as the Plaza Accord. The world’s major economies intervened in currency markets to drive down the value of the dollar and drive up the Japanese yen. The arrangement did slow the growth of the trade deficit for a time. But economists blamed the sharp revaluation of the Japanese yen for halting Japan’s rapid growth. The lesson of the Plaza Accord was not lost on China, which at that time was just emerging as an export power. China tied itself even more tightly to the United States than did Japan. In 1995, it devalued its currency and set a firm exchange rate of roughly 8.3 to the dollar, a level that remained fixed for a decade.

During the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98, China clung firmly to its currency policy, earning praise from the Clinton administration for helping check the spiral of devaluation sweeping Asia. Its low wages attracted hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign investment. By the early part of this decade, the United States was importing huge amounts of Chinese-made goods — toys, shoes, flat-screen televisions and auto parts — while selling much less to China in return. “For consumers, this was a net benefit because of the availability of cheaper goods,” said Laurence H. Meyer, a former Fed governor. “There’s no question that China put downward pressure on inflation rates.” But in classical economics, that trade gap could not have persisted for long without bankrupting the American economy. Except that China recycled its trade profits right back into the United States.

It did so to protect its own interests. China kept its banks under tight state control and its currency on a short leash to ensure financial stability. It required companies and individuals to save in the state-run banking system most foreign currency — primarily dollars — that they earned from foreign trade and investment. As foreign trade surged this hoard of dollars became enormous. In 2000, the reserves were less than $200 billion; today they are about $2 trillion. Chinese leaders chose to park the bulk of that in safe securities backed by the American government, including Treasury bonds and the debt of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which had implicit government backing. This not only allowed the United States to continue to finance its trade deficit, but, by creating greater demand for United States securities, it also helped push interest rates below where they would otherwise have been. For years, China’s government was eager to buy American debt at yields many in the private sector felt were too low. This financial and trade embrace between the United States and China grew so tight that Niall Ferguson, a financial historian, has dubbed the two countries Chimerica.

‘Tiptoeing’ Around a Partner

Being attached at the hip was not entirely comfortable for either side, though for widely differing reasons. In the United States, more people worried about cheap Chinese goods than cheap Chinese loans. By 2003, China’s trade surplus with the United States was ballooning, and lawmakers in Congress were restive. Senator Graham and Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, introduced a bill threatening to impose a 27 percent duty on Chinese goods. “We had a moment where we caught everyone’s attention: the White House and China,” Mr. Graham recalled. At the People’s Bank of China, the central bank, a consensus was also emerging in late 2004: China should break its tight link to the dollar, which would make its exports more expensive. Yu Yongding, a leading economic adviser, pressed the case. The American trade and budget deficits were not sustainable, he warned. China was wrong to keep its currency artificially depressed and depend too much on selling cheap goods.

Proponents of revaluation in China argued that the country’s currency policies denied the fruits of prosperity to Chinese consumers. Beijing was investing their savings in low-yielding American government securities. And with a weak currency, they said, Chinese could not afford many imported goods. The central bank’s English-speaking governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, was among those who favored a sizable revaluation. But when Beijing acted to amend its currency policy in 2005, under heavy pressure from Congress and the White House, it moved cautiously. The renminbi was allowed to climb only 2 percent. The Communist Party opted for only incremental adjustments to its economic model after a decade of fast growth. Little changed: China’s exports kept soaring and investment poured into steel mills and garment factories. But American officials eased the pressure. They decided to put more emphasis on urging Chinese consumers to spend more of their savings, which they hoped would eventually bring the two economies into better balance. On a tour of China, John W. Snow, the Treasury secretary at the time, even urged the Chinese to start using credit cards.

China kicked off its own campaign to encourage domestic consumption, which it hoped would provide a new source. But Chinese save with the same zeal that, until recently, Americans spent. Shorn of the social safety net of the old Communist state, they squirrel away money to pay for hospital visits, housing or retirement. This accounts for the savings glut identified by Mr. Bernanke. Privately, Chinese officials confided to visiting Americans that the effort was not achieving much. “It is sometimes hard to change successful models,” said Robert B. Zoellick, who negotiated with the Chinese as a deputy secretary of state. “It is prototypically American to say, ‘This worked well, but now you’ve got to change it.’ ” In Washington, some critics say too little was done. A former Treasury official, Timothy D. Adams, tried to get the I.M.F. to act as a watchdog for currency manipulation by China, which would have subjected Beijing to more global pressure.

Yet when Mr. Snow was succeeded as Treasury secretary by Henry M. Paulson Jr. in 2006, the I.M.F. was sidelined, according to several officials, and Mr. Paulson took command of China policy. He was not shy about his credentials. As an investment banker with Goldman Sachs, Mr. Paulson made 70 trips to China. In his office hangs a watercolor depicting the hometown of Zhu Rongji, a forceful former prime minister. “I pushed very hard on currency because I believed it was important for China to get to a market-determined currency,” Mr. Paulson said in an interview. But he conceded he did not get what he wanted. In late 2006, Mr. Paulson invited Mr. Bernanke to accompany him to Beijing. Mr. Bernanke used the occasion to deliver a blunt speech to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in which he advised the Chinese to reorient their economy and revalue their currency.

[...]

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/wo...on.html?ref=us

[Armenian]

Re: America's Financial Crisis

The population in general is kept dumb and fed disinformation so they are rather easy to manipulate. Everyone is constantly busy watching their TV shows which disconnect their lives from reality and then they tune to the news where the rest of the world is portrayed as some violent, retarded xxxxhole. There is no unity in the "U"SA. The only unison they share is being the united slaves of Israel. Even the most basic form of unity, the family, is brushed aside in such society!

I agree. This is essentially why I am a bit pessimistic about America's longterm prognosis.

[Armenian]

Re: America's Financial Crisis

January is going to be hell on the economy and the country. People watch out ... this is going to be the BIG one...

I also have a feeling that 2009 is going to be nasty.

[robertik1]

Re: America's Financial Crisis

http://www.infowars.com/?p=6779

Analyst: One Third Of Banks Could Collapse In 2009

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Financial analyst Ralph Silva of TowerGroup told CNBC this morning that he expects no less than one third of banks to fail in 2009 and that anything up to a thousand could collapse if they don’t merge.

Silva said that only five or six global banks have enough funds to survive comfortably throughout 2009.

“The rest of the banks, and that means a thousand other banks, don’t have enough money to get themselves through 2009,” added Silva.

(ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)

“In 2009 we’re gonna see one third of the banks in the G8 countries disappear, either being merged, forced or not forced, or completely disappearing,” said Silva.

The analyst predicted that rather than letting banks fail, governments will force them to merge, citing the example of Bradford and Bingley in the UK, which would lead to “very few banks owning quite a bit more.”

Silva warned that banks would not be able to lend any money throughout 2009 because they would be more concerned with merely surviving and being able to pay their own employees.

[Azad]

Re: America's Financial Crisis

January is going to be hell on the economy and the country.
People watch out ... this is going to be the BIG one.

"One of the big worries for stores is what to do with the mounds of items they still have to sell. If 75 percent off before Dec. 25 didn't make people splurge, will even bigger deals afterward do the trick?"

[Federate]

Re: America's Financial Crisis

J.ewish groups reel from losses to Madoff scheme

2 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) — American J.ewish groups were reeling Wednesday from multi-million dollar losses due to investments in the alleged fraud scheme run by Wall Street baron Bernard Madoff.

Among them, the philanthropic foundation run by Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel announced that it had lost nearly all its assets, worth 15 million dollars, due to the Madoff funds' collapse earlier this month.

Madoff, a mainstay of the powerful American J.ewish community who easily gained the trust of the elite in his community, has confessed to losing 50 billion dollars over years of running a pyramid scheme, where new investors were secretly fleeced to pay returns to earlier investors.

"We are writing to inform you that the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity had 15.2 million dollars under management with Bernard Madoff Investment Securities," said the foundation, which aims to combat anti-Semitism, on its website.

"This represented substantially all of the foundation's assets," it said.

"We are deeply saddened and distressed that we, along with many others, have been the victims of what may be one of the largest investment frauds in history."

The statement added that the foundation "remains committed to carrying on the lifelong work of our founder, Elie Wiesel. We shall not be deterred from our mission to combat indifference, intolerance, and injustice around the world."

Wiesel, 80, a prolific author, created the foundation some 20 years ago to foster international dialogue and youth programs to teach tolerance.

He is among dozens of wealthy J.ews to have lost substantial amounts of money to Madoff, the 70-year-old former chairman of the Nasdaq stock market who is currently free on bail of 10 million dollars as police continue their probe.

On Tuesday, representatives of around 30 J.ewish foundations met in New York to discuss potential actions in the wake of the alleged fraud.

"The purpose was to look at the effect of the Madoff scandal and try to determine what the impact has been and try to determine whether there was any possibilities for action," Mark Charendoff of the J.ewish Funders Network told AFP.

He declined to say which groups attended the meeting, but said that those in attendance were determined to "try to reverse some of the harm and try to repair some of the damage."

Adding a tragic twist to the scandal, a French investment banker who lost nearly 1.5 billion dollars in the alleged pyramid scheme was found dead of an apparent suicide in his Manhattan office Tuesday.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iIuhnmxpb816FPlg6N9iSSGW1IRA