Adam LeBor – Tower of Basel

The Shadowy History of the Secret Bank that Runs the World

NE – Naked Emperor Newsletter Feb 6

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Tower of Basel: The Shadowy History of the Secret Bank that Runs the World by Adam LeBor

Tower of Basel is the first investigative history of the world’s most secretive global financial institution. Based on extensive archival research in Switzerland, Britain, and the United States, and in-depth interviews with key decision-makers — including Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve; Sir Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England; and former senior Bank for International Settlements managers and officials — Tower of Basel tells the inside story of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS): the central bankers’ own bank.

Created by the governors of the Bank of England and the Reichsbank in 1930, and protected by an international treaty, the BIS and its assets are legally beyond the reach of any government or jurisdiction. The bank is untouchable. Swiss authorities have no jurisdiction over the bank or its premises. The BIS has just 140 customers but made tax-free profits of 1.17 billion in 2011-2012.

Since its creation, the bank has been at the heart of global events but has often gone unnoticed. Under Thomas McKittrick, the bank’s American president from 1940-1946, the BIS was open for business throughout the Second World War. The BIS accepted looted Nazi gold, conducted foreign exchange deals for the Reichsbank, and was used by both the Allies and the Axis powers as a secret contact point to keep the channels of international finance open.

After 1945 the BIS — still behind the scenes — for decades provided the necessary technical and administrative support for the trans-European currency project, from the first attempts to harmonize exchange rates in the late 1940s to the launch of the Euro in 2002. It now stands at the center of efforts to build a new global financial and regulatory architecture, once again proving that it has the power to shape the financial rules of our world. Yet despite its pivotal role in the financial and political history of the last century and during the economic current crisis, the BIS has remained largely unknown — until now.

You can buy the book here (Amazon link).

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TAP – How else could IBM run the Nazi’s data systems, Ford manufacture their trucks and Standard Telephone produce fighter aircraft for them?  The Bushes (George Bush’s father Prescot Bush) were the main funders of the Nazis.  Read the book World Without Cancer by G Edward Griffin for these and similar fascinating details about about how Wall St funded the Nazis.  I remember being surprised about how big a brand Ford was in Germany in the 1970s when I went on buying trips there – The Ford Taunus for example.  I thought Ford was an American brand with a plant in the UK at Dagenham and had no idea they had larger plants in Germany.  It all makes sense when you realise how big business just carries on in wartime without missing a beat.  Money knows no borders.

It all seemed strange when sanctions were applied to Russia during the Ukraine SMO, and MacDOnalds closed in Russia.  They didn’t close.  They were just rebranded with a symbol very similar to Marriott hotels.