Report: Russia delivers anti-ship missiles to Syria

MOSCOW - Russia has delivered anti-ship cruise missiles to Syria, the Interfax news agency cited an unnamed military source as saying on Thursday, days after a United Nations commission of inquiry called for an arms embargo on Damascus.

Economic and diplomatic pressure has isolated Syrian President Bashar Assad following a nine-month government crackdown against protesters in unrest the United Nations says has killed more than 4,000 people.

Moscow has spoken out against further sanctions imposed by Western and Arab League states, and it has defended its right to sell Syria weapons -- tens of millions of dollars worth last year.

"The contract was completely fulfilled, almost ahead of time," Interfax cited the source as saying of the deal, estimated at $300 million. The source did not say when the deliveries had taken place.

Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said in February that Moscow was pressing ahead with the deal despite Israeli concerns, indicating the missiles might have been delivered earlier this year.

"This weapon allows coverage of the entire coastline of Syria from possible attack from the sea," Interfax quoted the source as saying.

Russia teamed up with China in October to veto a Western-backed UN Security Council resolution condemning Assad's government. Russia said the resolution could have opened the door to Western military intervention like in Libya, where it says NATO overstepped its Security Council mandate.

A United Nations commission of inquiry said on Monday that in cracking down on protesters, Syrian military and security forces had committed crimes against humanity including murder, torture and rape, and called for an arms embargo on Syria.

Earlier this week, Russian newspaper Izvestia reported that Russia planned to send its aircraft carrier and other ships to Syria.

Besides accounting for 7 percent of Russia's total of $10 billion in arms deliveries abroad in 2010, according to Moscow defense think-tank CAST, Syria also hosts a Russian naval maintenance facility.

Russia traditionally used what influence it still has in the Middle East as a lever indiplomatic maneuvering with Europe and in particular the United States.

Israel has voiced concerns over the contract for sale of the rockets, capable of hitting ships 300 km (190 miles) off Syria's coast. Hezbollah used a surface-to-air missile in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon War to hit the INS Hanit warship, killing four sailors.

Jerusalem Post

Obama invokes Cold War-era national security powers to unmask Chinese telecom spyware

WASHINGTON: The US is invoking Cold War-era national security powers to force telecommunication companies, including AT&T and Verizon Communications, to divulge confidential information about their networks in a hunt for Chinese cyber-spying.

In a survey distributed in April, the US Commerce Department asked for a detailed accounting of foreign-made hardware and software on the companies' networks.

It also asked about security-related incidents such as the discovery of "unauthorised electronic hardware" or suspicious equipment that can duplicate or redirect data, according to a copy of the survey reviewed by Bloomberg News. The survey represents "very high-level" concern that China and other countries may be using their growing export sectors to develop built-in spying capabilities in US networks, said a senior US intelligence official who asked not to be named because he wasn't authorized to speak on the matter.

"This is beyond vague suspicions," said Richard Falkenrath, a senior fellow in the Council on Foreign Relations Cyberconflict and Cybersecurity Initiative. "Congress is now looking at this as well, and they're doing so based on very specific material provided them in a classified setting" by the National Security Agency, he said.

The survey went to dozens of telecommunications companies, software makers and information security companies, including some foreign firms, according to James Lewis, a cyber-security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS, in Washington. Lewis said AT&T and Verizon Communicationswere among the companies that received it.

Several of the companies were hesitant to cooperate because they had learned the Commerce Department unit handling the survey had itself been hacked by the Chinese in 2006, creating the possibility that company data provided might become known to the Chinese, according to a former government official familiar with the discussions.

The Commerce Department refused a request by the companies for specific protocols to protect the data, according to the former official, who declined to be identified because the discussions were confidential. Mark Siegel, a spokesman for Dallasbased AT&T, declined to comment on security issues.

Edward McFadden, a spokesman for New York-based Verizon, said the company had received the survey and declined to comment further. Eugene Cottilli, a Commerce Department spokesman in Washington, had no immediate comment on the survey.

The Economic Times

US offers 'bunker busters' to United Arab Emirates over Iran threat

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration has proposed selling 600 "bunker buster" bombs and other munitions to the United Arab Emirates, which lies across the Gulf from Iran, to deter what it called regional threats.

Iran is widely suspected of seeking to develop nuclear arms through a program that Tehran says is for peaceful power generation only.

The proposed $304 million sale would include 4,900 tail kits built by Boeing Co that turn unguided free-fall bombs into guided weapons and 4,300 "general purpose" bombs, theDefense Department said in a mandatory arms sale notice dated Wednesday.

The deal would boost UAE's ability "to meet current and future regional threats" and to help deter aggression, the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in the note to lawmakers.

The BLU-109 "Hard Target Penetrator" bomb, or bunker buster, is a 2,000-pound (900-kg) weapon designed to smash into buried enemy command posts, munitions depots and other hardened targets before using a delayed fuse to explode.

Iran's nuclear facilities are widely dispersed around the country, some of them in fortified bunkers underground.

Boeing's Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM, is a tail section containing technology that uses global positioning system (GPS) data to home in on a target from up to 15 miles away.

UAE operates Lockheed Martin Corp's F-16 "Block 60" fighter aircraft, the most advanced F-16 model flown.

Lawmakers have 30 days to accept or reject a foreignmilitary sale after formal notification. None has been rejected to date after formal notification.

"The UAE government continues vital host-nation support of US forces stationed at Al Dhafra Air Base, plays an important role in supporting US regional interests, and has proven to be a valued partner in overseas operations," the notice to Congress said.

The top US military officer said on Wednesday he did not know whether Israel would alert the United States ahead of time if it decided to take military action against Iran.

Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Reuters that sanctions and diplomatic pressure was the right path to take on Iran, without ruling outmilitary action as a last resort.
Jerusalem Post

Georgetown students claim China is hiding massive weapons arsenal in underground tunnels

China is hiding nuclear warheads inside a vast network of tunnels, according to a three-year investigation by a group of Georgetown University students.

The Asian Arms Control Project was led by Georgetown Professor Phillip A. Karber, a former top Pentagon strategist. The researchers say they identified locations of the tunnels by combing through hundreds of Chinese military journals and documents as well as studying TV reports and satellite images, according to the Washington Post, which broke the story Tuesday.

Their findings suggest the U.S. has greatly underestimated the size of China's weapons arsenal — but some experts have questioned the study’s methodology.

“It doesn’t make any sense to build ten miles of tunnels to hide one nuclear weapon,” Karber told the Daily News.

And ten miles is a drop in the bucket compared to what China has admitted.

In 2009, as the students were aggressively moving forward with their research, the Chinese military admitted to constructing 3,000 miles of tunnels.

The students’ yet-to-be-released 363-page report is causing a stir in Washington, and prompted a Congressional hearing.

The project has drawn criticism from some analysts for drawing on Chinese blogs and a docudrama about the Chinese military. A member of the Union of Concerned Scientists told the Washington Post that the study’s methodology was “incompetent and lazy.”

"We’re not drawing conclusions from the blogs; they tip us off to areas for further research,” Karber told The News. “How can scientists make these claims when they haven’t even seen our sources?”

He added that the group studied about 200 hours of video, most of it from state-run television stations.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/georgetown-students-claim-china-hiding-massive-weapons-arsenal-underground-tunnels-article-1.985484#ixzz1fOFaTecH

US fears indirect effects of eurozone crisis

US policymakers see few signs of liquidity stress from Europe spreading across the Atlantic so far but they still fear a range of subtle and indirect channels by which the eurozone could drag the world’s largest economy down with it.

Those fears help to explain the Federal Reserve’s part in co-ordinated international action on Wednesday to make sure that banks have access to short-term loans in a range of currencies if they need them.
“US financial institutions currently do not face difficulty obtaining liquidity in short-term funding markets,” said the Fed in its statement. “However, were conditions to deteriorate, the Federal Reserve has a range of tools available to provide an effective liquidity backstop for such institutions.”

The concern is not direct trade links: US exports to Europe are such a small part of the economy that even a vast eurozone recession would barely touch US growth. Instead, the worry is over potential shocks to the US financial system.

“The danger for the US is not trade and, as far as the banks are concerned, it’s not even their direct exposure,” said Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics in Toronto. “It’s more an indirect exposure.”

Even if a large bank in a core European country such as France were to fail, a widespread assumption is that it would be nationalised, and that losses to US banks would be limited.

The much greater danger is contagion via financial markets. Some Fed officials believe that repeated shocks from the eurozone, which have increased uncertainty and volatility in asset markets, are the single largest reason why US growth in 2011 has been so disappointing.

FT

Syria: 'Iranian, N. Korean rocket experts hold Damascus meetings'

Damascus, 1 Dec. (AKI) - Dozens of officials from North Korea and Iran have conducted meetings with representatives of the Syrian government in Damascus to help president Bashar al-Assad obtain weapons following the implementation of sanctions by members of the Arab League and other countries.

The meetings have been taking place in recent days, and were attended by experts in the production of rockets, according to Kuwaiti daily al-Seyassah, citing unnamed intelligence sources.

"The Syrian regime is afraid of losing power so is asking help from these two allies to put in place whatever means are necessary, even if it causes many deaths," an intelligence source told the newspaper. "The only way to stop further bloodshed is for foreign intervention."

Around 4,000 people have died in a government crackdown against protesters amid the uprising that began in March.


IGN

Sen. Rand Paul the loss of rights under the new law

Australia's banks downgraded by S&P

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INVESTMENT bank Macquarie Group was hit with a two-notch cut to its credit rating in a surprise move last night, as the big four were also downgraded.

Standard & Poor's, which measures credit risk, put the ASX-listed investment bank rating at two notches above junk-grade status. While the rating agency maintained a stable A- rating on Macquarie Bank, the Group was hit with the two-step downgrade from A-, through BBB+ to settle at BBB with a stable outlook.

The rating measures are important in financial markets as a measure of credit and counterparty risk. The lower the ratings, the higher the funding costs are for banks -- though S&P and other ratings agencies continue to try to restore their own credibility in the marketplace after failing to properly assess the credit risk of banks and finance houses during the global financial crisis in 2008.



As predicted in The Australian yesterday, S&P also downgraded the big four Australian banks last night -- the Commonwealth, NAB, Westpac and ANZ -- one notch to AA- from AA, reflecting new ratings criteria behind the way S&P assesses risk.


The move is expected to have little impact on the big four's funding costs -- which have been rising sharply in any case lately as credit markets around the world tighten -- but it adds to the negative sentiment among investors thanks to the rolling European sovereign debt crisis.

Yesterday's move by S&P comes despite rival ratings firm Moody's giving a tick to the big four banks; the agency saying it would keep the top four banks on a "stable outlook" with their coveted AA ratings.

But the Macquarie Group action will likely prompt the most discussion in financial markets today; S&P noting that while Macquarie's position was adequate and its operations diversified relative to its size, "many markets in which Macquarie operates are inherently complex and volatile".

"This has a constraining effect on our view of Macquarie's business stability, and in turn our overall view of its business position."

It said it viewed the group's strategy as "sound overall" as the company made a strategic shift following the global financial crisis "toward broadening its business base and reducing its reliance on equity markets".

The Australian

ECB opens door to action, Sarkozy seeks new treaty

BRUSSELS/TOULON, France (Reuters) - The new head of the European Central Bank signaled on Thursday it stood ready to act more aggressively to fight Europe's debt crisis if political leaders agree next week on much tighter budget controls in the 17-nation euro zone.

In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy called for a new treaty incorporating tougher budget discipline, a European Monetary Fund to support countries in difficulty and decisions in the euro area taken by majority vote instead of unanimity.

Addressing supporters in the port city of Toulon, Sarkozy said he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel would meet next Monday to outline joint proposals to put to a December9 EU summit, seen as make-or-break for the 12-year-old single currency.

"Let us not hide it, Europe may be swept away by the crisis if it doesn't get a grip, if it doesn't change," Sarkozy said, warning that a collapse of the euro would make France's debt unmanageable and wipe out people's savings.

"We don't have the right to let such a disaster happen."

ECB President Mario Draghi painted a dark picture of the state of Europe's banking system, speaking a day after the world's major central banks took emergency joint action to provide cheaper dollar funding for starved European banks.

"A new fiscal compact would be the most important signal from euro area governments for embarking on a path of comprehensive deepening of economic integration. It would also present a clear trajectory for the future evolution of the euro area, thus framing expectations," he told the European Parliament.

Draghi did not spell out what action the ECB might take, saying only a commitment by political leaders to stricter budget discipline and binding their economies more closely "is definitely the most important element to start restoring credibility. Other elements might follow, but the sequencing matters."

In the short-term, economists expect the central bank to relieve pressure on banks and an economy heading into recession by cutting interest rates next week and announcing longer-term cheap liquidity tenders with easier collateral rules. Markets are pricing in a 25 basis point cut to 1.0 percent on December 8.

Draghi, who faces some of the toughest decisions in the currency's 12-year history after just one month in the job, said the ECB was aware many European banks were in difficulty because of stress on sovereign bonds, tight inter-bank funding markets and scarce collateral.

"Downside risks to the economic outlook have increased," he said, noting that the ECB's mandate was to maintain price stability "in both directions" -- a rare indication that the bank is concerned about deflation risks as well as inflation.

Sarkozy voiced similar sentiments in words designed to reassure voters anxious about handing more power to Brussels. He called for an "intergovernmental" Europe and made no mention of the stronger role for the European Commission or the European Court of Justice sought by Berlin.

"Sovereignty can only be exercised with others. Europe doesn't mean less sovereignty but more sovereignty because it gives us a greater capacity to act," Sarkozy declared.

His Socialist opponents in next year's presidential election denounced an "austerity treaty" imposed by Germany.

Merkel is due to outline her own vision in an address to parliament in Berlin on Friday. Aides said the leaders conferred by telephone to ensure that their speeches, while different in tone, would not be incompatible.

Sarkozy avoided calling directly for massive ECB action to buy bonds of troubled euro zone states or cut interest rates. But he said: "Naturally the European Central Bank has a decisive role to play ... I am convinced that faced with the risk of deflation with threatens Europe the central bank will act."

Two years into Europe's debt crisis, investors are fleeing the euro zone bond market, European banks are dumping government debt, south European banks are bleeding deposits and a recession looms, fuelling doubts about the survival of the single currency.

The euro and European stocks extended gains after surging on Wednesday upon the joint dollar liquidity move by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the ECB and the central banks of Japan, Britain, Canada and Switzerland.

Markets were cheered by strong demand at Spanish and French bond auctions on Thursday. France's 10-year bond spread over safe haven German Bunds fell below 100 basis points for the first time since October 28 after peaking above 200 bps in mid-November.

A group representing many of the world's top private banks added its voice to the calls for action from the ECB. "The crucial role of the ECB in ensuring normal liquidity conditions in the Euro Area sovereign and financial debt markets cannot be overstated," the Institute of International Finance's market monitoring group said in a statement.

Wikileaks exposes dark secrets of surveillance

France and Germany must take charge of Europe, says Sarko

Europe must be 'refounded' with France and Germany at its heart, Nicolas Sarkozy said last night.

In a major speech on the future of Europe, he said the two countries would campaign together for a new EU treaty, which would deepen integration and abolish a string of national vetoes.

The scale of the French and  German ambition for a new Europe is likely to alarm David Cameron, who travels to Paris today for talks with the French President ahead of next week's summit of EU leaders.

Nicolas Sarkozy will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel next week to try and guarantee the 'future of Europe'

Downing Street yesterday insisted that EU leaders were discussing only 'limited' treaty changes needed to underpin the euro.

Officials refused to be drawn on whether Mr Cameron would even raise Tory demands for the repatriation of powers, such as employment law, from Brussels.

But Mr Sarkozy called for a 'new economic age' in which countries lived within their means.

And he said he would hold crisis talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday to thrash out a package to save the euro from collapse. 'France and Germany, after so many tragedies, have decided to unite their destiny and look to the future together,' he said.

Mr Sarkozy said it was crucial that more control was given to Brussels over national budgets as countries like France were pushed towards recession. And he suggested that EU member states would have to be prepared to abandon many cherished vetoes in order to make Europe more effective.

EU flags fly outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, which has faced calls to be disbanded amid the economic troubles

He added: 'There is a reality that everybody must understand, that everyone has to accept. Sovereignty is only possible with others.'

France and Germany are pressing Mr Cameron to pledge that Britain will not hold a referendum on planned treaty changes.

But the Prime Minister will find it hard to resist Tory pressure if the changes go beyond intervention in the eurozone.

Downing Street has said Mr Cameron's key aim is to 'protect Britain's national interest' – including protecting the City ensuring the UK is not sidelined in key decisions by the powerful new eurozone. But officials played down reports that Mr Cameron had abandoned hopes of using the crisis to achieve a relaxation of the controversial Working Time Directive, which businesses say places a huge burden on Britain.

Tory MP Philip Davies last night said any extension of so-called qualified majority voting (QMV) – under which British interests can be overridden – would be 'unacceptable'.

He said: 'I don't care what France and Germany do, as long as we're not in it. But anything like more QMV which leads to an erosion of our sovereignty is unacceptable, and as far as I am aware it is unacceptable for the Government as well.'

Mr Sarkozy last night warned that the country's debts would double overnight if the single currency collapsed. A 'new economic age' was dependant on debt reduction and seeing public spending cuts, said Mr Sarkozy, admitting that France's 35 hour week, and a retirement age of 60 had been 'serious mistakes'.

Mrs Merkel is expected to call for new rules forcing countries to keep their deficits below two per cent of GDP – a restriction which almost no country in the single currency could meet at present.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2068781/Nicolas-Sarkozy-Angela-Merkel-attend-crisis-meeting-guarantee-future-Europe.html#ixzz1fOCD4A00

European Central Bank's Draghi "Europe must be refounded"

Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, has signalled that the ECB is ready act more aggressively to fight the eurozone debt crisis.

He told the European Parliament that at a summit next week eurozone leaders could restore confidence by agreeing stronger deficit and debt rules.

Such a fiscal union would be "the most important element" in a chain of events, he said. "Sequencing matters."

The ECB is under political pressure to step up its bond-buying programme.

He said: "A new fiscal compact would be the most important signal from euro area governments for embarking on a path of comprehensive deepening of economic integration.

"It would also present a clear trajectory for the future evolution of the euro area, thus framing expectations."

Mr Draghi, in the ECB job for only a month, said a "fundamental restatement" of the region's fiscal rules was essential.

"What I believe our economic and monetary union needs is a new fiscal compact - a fundamental restatement of the fiscal rules together with the mutual fiscal commitments that euro area governments have made."'Repair'

Access to credit had tightened "seriously" in recent months, and, coupled with weakening economic growth, it "does not bode well", he said.

So, we are back to the main issue: will we see the ECB play a bigger role in 'saving' the euro? I think it's inevitable”

"The most important thing for the ECB is to repair the credit channel," he said.

He said the ECB was particularly aware of the "continuing difficulties" for banks in raising capital.

Julian Callow, chief European economist at Barclays Capital, said Mr Draghi "appeared implicitly to hold up the offer of a significantly higher pace of debt purchases" and "potentially other measures, provided that euro-area governments were to commit to a new fiscal pact".

The BBC's economics editor, Stephanie Flanders, said: "Will we see the ECB play a bigger role in 'saving' the euro? I think it's inevitable. And I think Mr Draghi is very carefully preparing the way."

Mr Draghi's comments came ahead of a major speech by the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, who said France and Germany must come together to ensure stability at the heart of Europe.

He said the euro could not continue to exist unless eurozone economies pulled together.

Europe must be "refounded" he said, with France and Germany at its heart to ensure "a zone of stability".

Stricter financial discipline was needed, he added, with more severe sanctions for countries which did not meet their responsibilities.

He and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, are due to meet on Monday to propose measures aimed at resolving the eurozone crisis.Market reaction

On Wednesday, the ECB joined central banks of some of world's biggest economies in a plan to ease tensions within the global financial system by helping commercial banks.

The plan aims to make it easier and cheaper for banks to obtain US dollars. This should, the central banks hope, trickle down and make it easier for businesses and households to get access to finance.

Stock markets saw strong gains on Wednesday as a result of the plan.

This was despite figures showing weak growth in eurozone manufacturing, which fell at its fastest pace for two years in November, according to a closely-watched survey.

Markit's purchasing managers' index (PMI) of activity dropped to 46.4 last month, from 47.1 in October. A reading below 50 indicates contraction.

Also on Thursday, Spain held a bond auction and raised its target of 3.75bn euros ($5.1bn; £3.2bn), but was forced to pay higher interest rates to borrowers than in previous sales.

BBC

Average Foreclosure Time Sets New Record

Foreclosures are setting new records again, this time not in their overall numbers, but in the time it is taking for all of these properties to be processed through the legal system. The average loan in foreclosure has now been delinquent a record 631 days, according to a new report from Florida-based Lender Processing Services.

The after effects of the so-called "robo-signing" foreclosure paperwork scandal, now more than a year old, continue to plague states which require these cases to go before a judge.

The differences in processing times are blatant when you compare judicial versus non-judicial states. Non-judicial state foreclosures inventories are less than half those of judicial states, and foreclosure sale rates in non-judicial states are four to five times that of judicial states. Judges are starting to ramp up the process.

Bank repossessions actually surged in October in many judicial states, up 48 percent in New Jersey and up 73 percent in Indiana month-to-month, according to RealtyTrac. Still the backlog is still enormous. Overall foreclosure inventory is at an all-time high, 4.29 percent of all active loans, according to LPS.

"The discrepancy will go on in perpetuity, as there always has been a difference between judicial and non-judicial timelines," said Kyle Lundstedt, managing director of LPS Applied Analytics. "Even prior to the worst of the crisis, loans were 4-5 months more delinquent in judicial states at time of foreclosure sale. The number today is more like 8 months, but will return to the 4-5 month difference depending on when and how fast foreclosure sales occur.

A record-high inventory of foreclosures in process does not bode well for the near future of the housing recovery. All those distressed properties will sell at a deep discount, likely bringing down the prices of surrounding homes.

They will also add to already historically high existing home inventories, while demand is still weak. While there is considerable investor demand for distressed properties, new foreclosures are still outnumbering foreclosure sales by over 3:1.

In addition to the "robo-signing" delays, we are now beginning to see the effects of ineffective loan modifications. Repeat foreclosures made up nearly 45 percent of new foreclosures in October. Of the 2.1 million modifications since the start of 2008 more than 10 percent were in foreclosure with another 27.4 percent delinquent 30 or more days, as of the end of the third quarter of this year, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Lundstedt said foreclosure moratoria, process/documentation reviews, evaluation for loss mitigation and bankruptcies make up the rest of the repeat foreclosures.

CNBC

Congressman Ron Paul Statement on the Fed's Continued Euro Bailout

From Ron Paul

Statement on the Fed's Continued Euro Bailout

The Fed's latest actions in cooperating with foreign central banks to undertake liquidity swaps of dollars for foreign currencies is another reason why Congress needs enhanced power to oversee and audit the Fed.  Under current law Congress cannot examine these types of agreements.  Those who would argue that auditing the Fed or these agreements with central banks harms the Fed's independence should reevaluate the Fed's supposed independence when the Fed bails out Europe so soon after President Obama promised US assistance in resolving the Euro crisis.

Rather than calming markets, these arrangements should indicate just how frightened governments around the world are about the European financial crisis.  Central banks are grasping at straws, hoping that flooding the world with money created out of thin air will somehow resolve a crisis caused by uncontrolled government spending and irresponsible debt issuance.  Congress should not permit this type of open-ended commitment on the part of the Fed, a commitment which could easily run into the trillions of dollars.  These dollar swaps are purely inflationary and will harm American consumers as much as any form of quantitative easing. 

The Fed is behaving much as it did during the 2008 financial crisis, only this time instead of bailing out politically well-connected too-big-to-fail firms it is bailing out profligate government spending. Citizens the world over deserve better than this. They deserve sound money that cannot be manipulated and created out of thin air by central planners who promise printed prosperity. Fiat money caused this European crisis and the financial crisis before it.  More fiat money is not the cure. The global fiat currency system has proven itself a failure, we need real monetary reform. We need sound money.

Us poker, Iran Chess.....

Ted Anderson: Massive Financial Looting by the mafia Banking cartel