Leaked Wikileaks Doc reveals US Military use of IMF, World Bank as “unconventional” weapons

 

WASHINGTON – In a leaked military manual on “unconventional warfare” recently highlighted by WikiLeaks, the U.S. Army states that major global financial institutions — such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) — are used as unconventional, financial “weapons in times of conflict up to and including large-scale general war,” as well as in leveraging “the policies and cooperation of state governments.”

The document, officially titled “Field Manual (FM) 3-05.130, Army Special Operations Forces Unconventional Warfare” and originally written in September 2008, was recently highlighted by WikiLeaks on Twitter in light of recent events in Venezuela as well as the years-long, U.S.-led economic siege of that country through sanctions and other means of economic warfare. Though the document has generated new interest in recent days, it had originally been released by WikiLeaks in December 2008 and has been described as the military’s “regime change handbook.”

Hidden Amongst the Furore: Synchronised Warnings From the BIS and the IMF

It has become a disconcerting trend that as geopolitical events intensify and keep a majority of people engaged in the latest outbreak of political theatre, the words of central bankers fall on increasingly deaf ears.

At a seminar of the European Stability Mechanism this month, Bank for International Settlements General Manager Agustin Carstens delivered a speech called, ‘Shelter from the Storm‘.

Czechs accuse Moscow of ‘most serious wave of cyberespionage’ in years

 

The main domestic intelligence agency of the Czech Republic has accused Russia of “the most serious wave of cyberespionage” to target the country in recent years. The claim was made on Monday in Prague by the Security Information Service (BIS), the primary domestic national intelligence agency of the Czech Republic. Details of the alleged cyberespionage plot are included in the BIS’ annual report, a declassified version of which was released this week.

World’s Most Important Bank Issues Urgent “Zombie Alert”

 

What my research for my book Collusion: How Central Bankers Rigged the World revealed was how central bankers and massive financial institutions have worked together to manipulate global markets for the past decade.

Major central banks gave themselves a blank check with which to resurrect problematic banks; purchase government, mortgage and corporate bonds; and in some cases — as in Japan and Switzerland — buy stocks, too.

They have not had to explain to the public where those funds were going or why. Instead, their policies have inflated asset bubbles while coddling private banks and corporations under the guise of helping the real economy.

BIS warns global economy risks crisis ‘relapse’

© AFP/File | BIS chief economist said central banks around the world had been administering “powerful medicine” to counter the effects of the 2008 crisis, with “unusually and persistently low interest rates,” which came with some “inevitable” side effects

 

ZURICH (AFP) – The Bank of International Settlements said Sunday the global economy risked a “relapse” of the crisis that rocked it a decade ago, warning there was little “medicine” left to treat the patient a second time.

“Things look rather fragile,” BIS chief economist Claudio Borio told reporters in a conference call.

“There is little left in the medicine chest to nurse the patient back to health or care for him in case of a relapse,” he warned.

Russia Buys 300,000 Ounces Of Gold In March – Nears 2,000 Tons In Gold Reserves

 

Russia buys 300,000 ounces of gold in March and nears 2,000t in gold reserves
– Russia now holds just over 1,861 tonnes, more than officially reported by China at 1,842t
– Both Russia and China have the power to destabilise US dollar by dumping dollar-denominated assets
– Turkey has removed all gold held in the U.S. opting for Bank of England and BIS
– Turkey follows trend set by both Germany, Netherlands and others to remove gold reserves stored in the United States
– Central bank decisions regarding gold reserves are examples of countries becoming nervous about the outlook for the dollar under the Trump administration

Russia bought another 300,000 troy ounces of gold in March bringing Russia’s total gold reserves to 1,861 tonnes or 60.8 million troy ounces as of the start of April, the central bank announced loudly at the weekend.

The continuing robust and steady accumulation of gold reserves continues and it was notable how Russian media channels loudly (more loudly than usual it seemed with many outlets covering) pronounced the continuing diversification into gold bullion by the Russian central bank. It suggests that gold is being used as a bulwark to protect Russia from the stealth financial, trade and currency wars which appear to be deepening.

Schäuble Warns of Coming Economic Crisis

 

In his farewell interview for the Financial Times, Federal Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schäuble warned of a new global financial crisis predicated upon the Quantity of Money theory that the central banks had pumped trillions of dollars into the financial system that is creating a risk of “new bubbles”.  Indeed, many just do not comprehend what is going on and are blaming the new highs in share markets on concerns about the increased risks from the accumulation of more and more liquidity and the growth of public and private debt.

Global Debt Bubble Understated By $13 Trillion Warn BIS

 

– Global debt bubble may be understated by $13 trillion: BIS
– ‘Central banks central bank’ warns enormous liabilities have accrued in FX swaps, currency swaps & ‘forwards’
– Risk of new liquidity crunch and global debt crisis
– “The debt remains obscured from view…” warn BIS

Global debt may be under-reported by around $13 trillion because traditional accounting practices exclude foreign exchange derivatives used to hedge international trade and foreign currency bonds, the BIS said on Sunday.

The Monetary Crisis Cycle Comes in Two Flavours

 

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; I attended the Paris conference of the BIS when you were the keynote speaker. You delivered a forecast that was probably too far ahead for its time. You said the euro would go through and it would first drop but then peak with deflation in 2008 after the markets crash from 2007. You elaborated saying currency rises during a crash when people run to cash. You also said the euro would then decline for 13 years into 2021 before a new system will emerge.

That stuck in my mind and I watched it fall then rally into 2008 and the crash of 2007 you forecast some 10 years in advance. My question is simply this. You said, if I remember correctly, that the dollar would soar thereafter and we would see another monetary crisis as we did in 1985. Is this your Monetary Crisis Cycle you will reveal in Orlando?

I, and a few others from that conference, have bought tickets. I hope to shake your hand this time for a job well done for they would not have tried to stop you forecasting if you were like everyone else who are usually wrong.

China facing full-blown banking crisis, world’s top financial watchdog warns

China has failed to curb excesses in its credit system and faces mounting risks of a full-blown banking crisis, according to early warning indicators released by the world’s top financial watchdog.

A key gauge of credit vulnerability is now three times over the danger threshold and has continued to deteriorate, despite pledges by Chinese premier Li Keqiang to wean the economy off debt-driven growth before it is too late.

China warning: Economy set for financial MELTDOWN amid soaring debt levels

CHINA is on course for a full-scale financial meltdown that could cause havoc across the globe, suggest early warning indicators tracked by the world’s central bank watchdog.

The seeds have been sowed for potential financial distress in the world’s second-largest economy, according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

“It’s Coming To A Head In 2016” – Why Bank of America Thinks The Probability Of A Chinese Crisis Is 100%

Some sobering words about China’s imminent crisis, not from your friendly neighborhood doom and gloom village drunk, but from BofA’s China strategist David Cui.

Excerpted from “2016 Year-Ahead: what may trigger financial instability“, a must-read report for anyone interested in learning how China’s epic stock market experiment ends.

China and the ‘Three Warfares’

Beijing is increasingly exploiting information operations for influence in areas of strategic competition.

While China’s foreign policy has traditionally relied on economic leverage and “soft power” diplomacy as its primary means of power projection, Beijing has also been actively exploiting concepts associated with strategic information operations as a means to directly influence the process and outcomes in areas of strategic competition.

In 2003, the Central Military Commission (CMC) approved the guiding conceptual umbrella for information operations for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) – the “Three Warfares” (san zhong zhanfa). The concept is based on three mutually reinforcing strategies: (1) the coordinated use of strategic psychological operations; (2) overt and covert media manipulation; and (3) legal warfare designed to manipulate strategies, defense policies, and perceptions of target audiences abroad.

Next financial crash is coming – and before we’ve fixed flaws from last one

In case you missed it last week:

 

The next financial crisis is coming, it’s a just a matter of time – and we haven’t finished fixing the flaws in the global system that were so brutally exposed by the last one.

That is the message from the International Monetary Fund’s latest Global Financial Stability report, which will make sobering reading for the finance ministers and central bankers gathered in Lima, Peru, for its annual meeting.

BIS Warns of ‘Major Faultlines’ In Global Debt Bubble

– BIS warns “unrealistic and dangerous to expect that monetary policy can cure all the global economy’s ills”

– Bank of International Settlements warns that recent turmoil is not caused by isolated incidents

– Debt levels are now so extreme they threaten the financial system

– Ultra low rates have led to mal-investment and bigger boom/bust cycles

– Emerging markets vulnerable to deeper crises

– ECB easy money may juice markets for a while but reckoning is coming

– BIS acknowledge that central banks rig markets

– Gold and silver protect against crises in financial system

In a stark warning, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the central bank of central banks, has said in its quarterly report that the turmoil that has shaken global stock markets in recent weeks showed how developed and emerging markets were exposed to the unwinding of financial vulnerabilities built up since the 2008 crisis.