Monthly Archives: January 2009

On Gaza

Israel bombs University
“Gaza’s interior ministry and Islamic University were the latest targets.” (Read more from news.bbc.co.uk)

Israel kills scores in Gaza air strikes
“GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli warplanes pounded the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing at least 229 people in one of the bloodiest days for the Palestinians in 60 years of conflict with the Jewish state.” (Read more from reuters.com)

Gaza facing ‘critical emergency’
“The UN has warned that Palestinians in Gaza are facing a serious health and food crisis, as Israeli air strikes continued for a seventh day.” Read more from news.bbc.co.uk

Jewish Organizations Call For End to Gaza Bombings
“As Israeli air strikes continue to pummel the Gaza Strip for a fourth day and crude homemade rockets launched by Palestinian militants land in Israeli towns near the densely populated and besieged Strip, Jewish groups in the U.S. are taking two distinctly differing tacks at addressing the latest Middle East bloodshed.

Some of what are traditionally thought of as pro-Israel groups are undertaking a major public relations campaign to support the bombing runs against Hamas that have claimed more than 370 Palestinian lives – largely parroting the Israeli government line that the attacks are a justified defense of Israelis. . . .

But instead of offering unquestioning support of Israel’s latest military venture in the decades-long conflict, four major Jewish organizations are calling for an immediate end to the bombings, and for humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip.” (Read more from antiwar.com)

Iranian Jews protest Gaza ‘slaughter’
“Different groups representing Iran’s Jewish community on Tuesday gathered in front of the United Nations office in Teheran in order to protest “Israeli war crimes and the slaughter of the innocent people in Gaza Strip,” the Iranian IRNA news agency reported. The protesters, led by the Jewish representative in Parliament, Siamak Mara-Sedq, carried placards with anti-Israel slogans in both Farsi and Hebrew, the report said. ” (Read more from jpost.com)

Israel mounts PR campaign to blame Hamas for Gaza destruction
“So, while the military marshalled its forces, the foreign ministry honed its message and amassed its staff, ready for Saturday’s attack. Israeli diplomats were recalled from holidays and ordered back to work and in the rocket-bombarded southern Israeli town of Sderot, on Gaza’s northern perimeter, it opened a multilingual media centre to brief foreign journalists. . . .” (Read more from guardian.co.uk)

Israel to mount emergency international PR effort in wake of Gaza campaign
(Read more from Haaretz.com)

White House backs Israel’s attacks on Gaza Strip
(Read more from news.yahoo.com)

Violent protests at Israeli Embassy in London
“Violent confrontations broke out at the Israeli Embassy in London today as up to 1,500 protesters against Israel’s Gaza campaign gathered in a vociferous demonstration. Campaign supporters, Palestinians and British Muslims stood on the pavement of High Street Kensington, west London, and chanted in unison: “Five, six, seven, eight – Israel is a terror state.”” (Read more from timesonline.co.uk)

Protests in NYC
(Pictures at desertpeace.wordpress.com)

Israeli, foreign press more free than America’s on Gaza
“In the usual process, the U.S. government, media here – and most liberal bloggers – are silent or playing down questions about whether Israel overreacted in its massive air strikes on Gaza, while the foreign press, and even Haaretz in Israel, carries more balanced accounts.

Anyone who cares should consult the respected Haaretz site often, if for no other reason than to learn that criticism of Israeli military actions are usually more heated inside that country than in the USA. You may recall the lockstep support (in the U.S.) for Israeli’s invasion of southern Lebanon, which included the use of U.S.-made cluster bombs.” (Read more from huliq.com)

Israeli troops mobilize as Gaza assault widens
“Israel widened its deadliest-ever air offensive against Gaza’s Hamas rulers Sunday, pounding smuggling tunnels and a central prison, sending more tanks and artillery toward the Gaza border and approving a reserves callup for a possible ground invasion.” (Read more from news.yahoo.com)

Gaza’s desperate hospitals overwhelmed by casualties
“Two of Gaza’s highest-ranking security officials are among the victims of Israeli airstrikes. Medical personnel scramble to treat the wounded in facilities left low on supplies by a blockade.” (Read more from latimes.com)

See Also: Sabbah Blog

On Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme

I guess I’m sorry for the charities who lost their money, but with rumors of a $250k minimum to join Madoff’s scheme, it included many of the filthy rich Wall Street types. I keep thinking of the scene at the end of Orwell’s Animal Farm. The animals watch their oppressors – humans who look like pigs, and pigs who look like humans – playing cards. A great squabble erupting two players simultaneously play an ace of spades.

– Overview:

– Madoff: “I’m very close to regulators.”

– SEC Ignored Madoff Scheme whistleblower!
Here’s a tiny sampling of what Markopolos told the SEC in his 21-page November 7, 2005 letter:

“I am a derivatives expert and have traded or assisted in the trading of several billion $US in options strategies for hedge funds and institutional clients. . . (Highly Likely) Madoff Securities is the world’s largest Ponzi Scheme. . . The [Madoff] family runs what is effectively the world’s largest hedge fund with estimated assets under management of at least $20 billion to perhaps $50 billion.”

– Madoff bought influence in Washington Within a day of the Dec. 11 arrest of Wall Street financier Bernard L. Madoff, his Washington lobbyists were scrambling to sever all ties to a man who’s been accused of a $50 billion fraud and who may go down in history as the largest financial scam artist ever.

– List of victims
HSBC HSBC’s direct exposure is believed to be about $1bn in loans provided to clients who invested some $500m of their own funds in Mr Madoff’s venture.
Access International $1.4 billion
Fortis Bank $1.4 billion
Man Group’s RMF division has about $350m invested. (FT)
Tremont Capital Fund of funds. $3.3 billion invested. (FT)
Pioneer Investments, an arm of Italy’s UniCredit, had “substantially all” of $835m invested with Madoff. (FT)
Union Bancaire Privet: $1.1 billion
Benbasset & Cie: $935 million
BBVA: $404 million
Maxam Capital Management LLC. Combined loss of $280 million. “I’m wiped out,” said Sandra Manzke, Maxam’s founder and chairman. The Darien, Conn., fund of hedge funds will have to close as a result of the losses, she said. (WSJ)
Fairfield Greenwich Group. Bloomberg: The biggest loser may be Walter Noel’s Fairfield Greenwich Group, whose $7.3 billion Fairfield Sentry Ltd. invested with Madoff’s eponymous firm, three people familiar with the matter said.
Kingate Management Ltd. Bloomberg says $2.8 billion Kingate Global Fund Ltd. invested with Madoff.
Santander. WSJ: The eurozone’s largest bank by market value, said its clients had an exposure of €2.33 billion ($3.1 billion). €2 billion belongs to institutional investors and international clients of its private-banking business, which provides services to wealthy individuals, it said. The remaining €320 million belongs to private-banking customers in Spain, where Santander is based.
el.”
Members of half-a-dozen country clubs: WSJ: “Mr. Madoff tapped social networks in Dallas, Chicago, Boston and Minneapolis. . . . investors from the two clubs may have invested more than $100 million combined.
(. . . and more)

– Did Barnard Madoff act alone? (Fortune) — Like the conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald was a lone gunman, the theory that Bernard Madoff acted alone is hard to swallow.

True, Madoff has allegedly confessed that he perpetrated a massive fraud that left behind $50 billion in losses; and he claimed to have done this all alone.

– See also: The 10 nastiest ponzi schemes ever.