Citigroup Solvency Hangs By A Thread
And three arab bankers are holding the end of the thread.
- DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones) — Mideast sovereign wealth funds may fail to save troubled U.S. banking giant Citigroup Inc. unless more cash is pumped into the lender, the head of a $13 billion Dubai-owned investment firm said Tuesday.
Sameer Al Ansari, Chief Executive of Dubai International Capital told delegates at a private equity conference that it will take more than the combined efforts of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the Kuwait Investment Authority and Saudi investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal to save the bank.
“It’s going to take more than that to rescue Citi,” Ansari said. He added that more write downs are expected and that Gulf investors would be required to bolster Citi.
Like I said, get ready for March 7-14 to be a wild ride with tension so high in Colombia and Venezuela, in Kosovo and Russia. And the fact whether they admit it or not that the Europeans, Russians, Brazilians. the Middle East and China are involved and prepared to further screw with the economy if anything happens. How do you say 300.00 a barrel in Spanish?
Robert Reich made a great point in his radio commentary last week: Deregulation got American government out of American banking; the susequent actions by the unsupervised bankers have let foreign governments in. Score another goal for the brilliance that is conservative public policy.
Al- Yep.
Do you see how independence of action cuts both ways now?
Government Bad. Government tax Jane and Tarzan. Government rules bad.
Government bank rules bad. Bank good. Tarzan no like bank rules.
Government is good, right now it it is hamstrung and so are the bankers.
I think I have a pretty good idea of how Chavez is planning to play this movement. If it works, he will look like a hero to South Americans, if it fails he we are going to have a war, a big war.
I have only watched TV for about a minute today. It was long enough to make me puke. Presdient Bush was on saying what good guys Colombia are. This is a bad move, and Uribe’s government is a narco-dictatorship.
Someone want to catch me up. I hate predictions, but I see this trend, and I want to make some observations. They are just feelings, but I could bet on them…given what I just heard President Bush say. It made me sick and turned off the TV so I do not really know what the whole deal is but I see these connections like the one above that are too connected for me to ignore.
1. I want to bet there will be an OPEC meeting later this week? 2. I want to bet that there is a meeting of ALBA and the Baco-sur later this week? 3. I want to be that China is preparing more currency diversification later this week/month? 4. I also want to be at least a large part of the British Parliment is screaming about Venezuela and Exxon Mobile this week? 5. I want to bet South East Asia is preparing to diversify this week/ month? 6. Russia is preparing to shut off some oil supplies….7. I also want to beet that the middle east is planning something we will not like….
This is all about Exxon-Mobile getting pissed on and our bansk are about pay a big price for their Exxon’s planned fuck up. Halliburton has been planning this one for a while, but there are contingencies this time beyond their direct control. Just- and someone out there fill me in on the above- one question if any of the above is correct what happens when Brazil and Paraguay, Chile and Argentina, Ecuador and inner cities in Latin America and parts of the American Southwest erupt all at once?
Finally I bet a democrat is going to propose we open up the strategic oil reserve- which is already depleted because of Iraq and we get something like 60K-100K barrels a day in it. The fact is and I want to be very clear about this there is no shortage of oil. It is a futures market game of gambling and the Bushites are hauling in the dough by hoarding the common good.
This is all the news I see in the fundementals of the economy so after answering the above questions for me someone want to explain to me how this will work for our benefit?
Here it is, read and begin the weeping:
Latin American governments and regional organizations declared support for Ecuadorian national sovereignty and regional unity, and widely condemned the assault by Colombian armed forces on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Ecuadorian territory early Saturday morning, which resulted in the deaths of 16 insurgents, among them Raúl Reyes, a top level FARC leader and diplomat.
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa made a televised appeal Sunday for international solidarity with Ecuador in the wake of Colombia`s “planned aerial attack” and subsequent “unacceptable aggression” perpetrated by 60 Colombian ground troops “with full conscience that they were violating our sovereignty.”
Correa informed the press that he had already spoken with the leaders of over a dozen Latin American nations, the Organization of American States, and Spain to “impede the internationalization of the conflict in Colombia” and to reiterate the gravity of what he said was the worst act of aggression that the Uribe administration has inflicted on Ecuador.
Investigations conducted by Ecuadorian military and government officials “confirmed irrefutably” that the attack was a premeditated “massacre” that penetrated up to 10 kilometers of Ecuadorian territory, Correa announced.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and Colombian Foreign Secretary Fernando Araújo, gave a different account and claimed that Colombian helicopters flying in southern Colombia were fired upon from inside Ecuadorian territory, justifying the attack, which they claimed was an act of “legitimate defense” conducted from within Colombian territory.
However, Correa said there is no justification for foreign military aggression in Ecuadorian territory, and Colombia`s “mockery of the truth and of the Ecuadorian people” has violated bilateral treaties and international law, “but most of all, the respect and trust that should exist between brotherly countries.”
Colombian Foreign Secretary Araújo appealed to the government of Ecuador to consider the attack as a defense of both countries against the “terrorists” who were illegally taking refuge in foreign territory and causing harm to local populations.
In response, Correa declared that “Colombia is a sovereign nation, and so are we, and international law demands that they inform us, and that it be the public forces of Ecuador which carry out the capture, as has occurred on multiple occasions in the past, always with absolute respect for human rights,” and reiterated that Ecuador does not support the FARC and disapproves of the insurgent`s “actions and methods”.
Ecuadorian Ambassador to Venezuela René Vargas Pazzo declared on the Venezuelan government television channel (VTV) that Colombia`s attack on the sleeping guerrilla encampment had “no military justification,” and that it was rather “a provocation by people or governments who do not want peace, who do not want integration, who want war and that is the path that all South American must oppose, all Latin Americans who want peace, union, and integration.”
The Andean Parliament, a diplomatic organization of the community of Andean nations, echoed Pazzo`s analysis, asserting that Colombia`s military apparatus is being manipulated in the interests of the Pentagon, and that the violations of trust by Colombian officials impede “the creation of unity among southern peoples.”
The attacks were “at odds with the most elemental principles of International Humanitarian Law,” according to the Latin American Association for Human Rights (ALDHU), a 28 year-old international NGO based in Ecuador that works with over 20 nations and is a principle component of the Andean Parliament. Juan de Dios Parra, the general secretary of ALDHU, called the events an “invasion” and a “massacre” which “violated all the international norms regulating the respect for borders”.
In addition, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, told the Chilean press that “we cannot be in agreement with the non-respect of borders and we lament that Ecuador has been assaulted.” She personally spoke with President Correa and asserted that “borders between countries are based on international agreements,” which is why their transgression for “whatever objective, legitimate or illegitimate” is “extremely delicate”.
Statements were also released by the Brazilian administration, which announced its initiation of a multi-national diplomatic effort to “maximally reduce tension and renew initiatives to achieve a humanitarian accord.” Brazilian president Lula da Silva has reportedly consulted with the presidents of Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela. Brazilian Foreign Relations Secretary cancelled diplomatic activities scheduled in Sao Paolo this week to attend to the conflict, which presidential envoy Marco Aurelio García says “has influence on regional destabilization,” therefore “our principle of non-interference cannot mean indifference.”
Statements released from the Argentine foreign relations department expressed that “Argentina is dismayed and very worried about what is evidently a violation of the territorial sovereignty of a country in the region,” and that the country will remain “active and in constant contact…in order to coordinate a common position.”
Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte declared, “Paraguay vindicates the sovereignty of nations, the self-determination of peoples, and condemns all external aggression, all usurpation, all forsaking of the territorial sovereignty of nations.”
Similarly, Peruvian President Alan García expressed “enormous preoccupation” and condemned Colombia`s incursion into Ecuadorian territory as “unacceptable,” calling for urgent action by the Organization of American States (OAS).
Immense concern was also expressed in a statement released by the Bolivian Foreign Relations Ministry which called any act of violation of national sovereignty “unjustifiable,” and called for a “peaceful, long lasting, humanitarian” solution based on “a climate of understanding and mutual respect.” In addition, Bolivia offered to mediate the conflict in line with “peaceful tradition expressed in Bolivian Constitutional Precepts.”
In similar fashion, Mexican President Felipe Calderón urged dialogue and communicated directly with Uribe and Correa to offer his mediation if both countries agree.
Cuba`s former president Fidel Castro unabashedly diagnosed the situation as a “consequence of the genocidal plans of the Yankee empire,” and declared that once again, after a long history of such attacks from the U.S. and its allies, “the trumpets of war are heard mightily in the South of our continent… this is nothing new! It was foreseen!”
José Miguel Insulza, the general secretary of the Organization of American States (OAS), announced Monday that in addition to the ordinary meeting of the OAS Tuesday, there will be a special meeting to treat the conflict related to Colombia`s attacks, petitioned by the Ecuadorian president.
Insulza expressed that this “is a problem among member states that also affects the fundamental values of our constitutive charter,” and withheld further commentary “until the states can converse this Tuesday.”
I think if tensions continue we might have to say adios to Citigroup, and to a few others while China, the EU, the middle east and latin America flex the new found economic muscle of nations that do not like violations of integrity….I wrote about this in my post called the matrix and unrestricted warfare over at Delaware Libertarian but nobody was listening. Better start praying Om Shanti- and hope India does not decide to agree with them.
God, I wish I was able to express this to my government and they would listen to me.
Do you know how much Ansari and the rest of those really rich Saudi’s have invested in Latin America?
“flex the new found economic muscle of nations that do not like violations of integrity….”
OK, I know you mean territorial integrity, cause those guys aint got much else in the integrity department.
This is scary shit. But Brian needs to calm down a bit. Just a bit.
Thanks. I am just worried that they will enact the Doctrina Latina America that all the countries listed above with the exception of Colombia have been hammering out with China, The EU, England, India and the Middle East bankrolling the effort.
The statement by Bush, You are with us or against us will have a lot to say about what happens in all these situation going forward, our standing in the world is at a low ebb, and when countries all over the world start trying to cash all the bad paper we sold them it will only get worse. Costa Rica seems a more viable course of action every day.
More interesting is the question: what the hell was Richard Grasso of the NYSE, doing in Columbia meeting the FARC leader?
Is Wall Street laundering drug money! Columbia has the largest embassy outside Iraq! On the pretext of decades long “war on drugs”.
Another 100 year old occupation? When Uribe came to power 5 years or so ago, Columbians werent safe in the streets. FARC supposed to be holding over 700 people who are suffering from malnutrition, tropical diseases.
It gets curious when pictures of Grasso and the FARC leader appear in an article called, “The Cold Call”.
Now am wondering if Citibank had holdings with FARC or its subsidiaries.
See the list I made above and look for these headlines:
Check 1. Opec met today and is not boosting oil production. Check 2. OAS met and universally decried our action in realtion to Colombia and Venezuela, Check 3. China is preparing to Diversify its investments, Check 4. The international Criminal Court and 50 British Parliment Members complained about the actions of Colombia and the situation there, and check 5 Spain is reinvolving itself in the hemisphere. I hate my brain and intuiative meditation based on my ancestors writings. Now do not blame me for this, I have been telling everyone how to stop it from happening and begging them for peaceful resolutions to these problems, becuase 1. I know how to bring peace to our hemisphere and redefine the scope of our relationships 2. I understand simple sophistication that the Quakers have taught for the last 400 years; 3. I understand how things work outside of our borders and inside of them and know how both sides perceive any situation so can see it simeltaneously from both points of view and synthesize it as quickly even when it seems counter intuative for us here.
I am still praying to the gods of globalism that our intelligence services are the best in the world and can bring about the conditions for peace and prosperity for the people.
Only Barack Obama (or Ron Paul) can fix these problems.
Jason- 2 days and I am correct on five counts. Damn I wish we had a democratic government that listened to its people who have their own wisdom instead of listening to George Popodopolus on CNN. I wish I was a chimp sometimes.
Biden better be Sec. of State; and I hope he or Carper call on me. I will advise them on putting Delaware on the map in relating to a global world from now on. I even Wish- like anything- Howard Dean would call to discuss our apporoach to these issues becuase I think even you have to admit that this use of Quaker and Bayard wisdom is like a flash of lightning in a dark night.
Yes but Brian, your expertise is needed here to combat the surging Foraker candidacy. Think globally, act locally.
Ok what do you need.
LOL….just joking.
Tell me about Foraker.