and the winner is

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Dear reader please take note that, due to a request from one of my esteemed readers, I have added a tool that allows you to print out my musings if you wish to do so. You will find the tool at the beginning and at the end of each post.

In this musings you will find the following information

Economy:
-Unemployment, there is no real solution
-Richard Russell

Gold
-opinions from seasoned analysts

Equity
-we are above 10,000, my musings
- The Dow; Ominous Parallels to the 1929-1930 Era

Banks and Banksters
-Goldman, JPM and Citi

FED
-FED a private bank

USD
-my musings about USD
-Safe harbor no more by Eric Sprott

Bonds
-my musings about bonds

Derivatives
-my musings about derivatives
- From Black Scholes to Black Holes
- Derivatives still pose huge risk, says BIS

Middle East update

Oil
-ODAC Report



Before going to the news, first as usual the overview from www.prudentbear.com

For the week, the S&P500 gained 1.5% (up 20.4% y-t-d), and the Dow added 1.3% (up 13.9%). The Morgan Stanley Cyclicals jumped 2.6% (up 62.8%), and Transports rose 3.8% (up 13.7%). The Morgan Stanley Consumer index gained 1.7% (up 20.1%), and the Utilities added 1.3% (up 0.3%). The Banks slipped 0.3% (up 6.7%), and the Broker/Dealers dipped 0.6% (up 59.1%). The S&P 400 Mid-Caps added 0.8% (up 31.5%), and the small cap Russell 2000 increased 0.2% (up 23.4%). The Nasdaq100 gained 0.7% (up 43.6%), while the Morgan Stanley High Tech index slipped 0.2% (up 58.6%). The Semiconductors declined 1.1% (up 52.2%). The InteractiveWeek Internet index added 0.2% (up 65.5%). The Biotechs jumped 1.9% (up 43.9%). With Bullion adding $3, the HUI gold index traded unchanged (up 47.5%).





Economy

October 16 – Bloomberg (Vincent Del Giudice): “The U.S. government’s annual budget deficit widened to a record $1.42 trillion as the deepest recession since the 1930s crippled tax revenue and the administration increased spending to rescue the economy. The shortfall for the 12 months ended Sept. 30 was more than triple the $455 billion record set a year earlier… During the 2009 fiscal year, revenue declined 16.6% to $2.1 trillion… Fiscal year spending increased 18.2% to $3.5 trillion. Corporate tax receipts declined 54.6% to $138.2 billion during fiscal 2009, and individual income tax collections dropped 20.1% to $915.3 billion.”
Well that doesn’t look good at all and we are just at the beginning.








Unemployment



Unemployment is a real problem, but not much is being done to resolve the problem. On occasion some congressional committee will mention it, but no one has a solution. Rising unemployment means less income for a government and that has certainly been the case in the US. Unemployment will continue to rise well into next year and that means revenues on a federal, state, and municipal level will continue to decline. A number of states and municipalities are on the verge of bankruptcy, so they are laying off workers and that further aggravates the unemployment situation. Consumption drops and companies cut costs meaning they fire people. It’s a self-stoking cycle.




Following an opinion of Richard Russell

Quote
The slow death of the world's reserve currency. Professor Ben Bernanke of Princeton wrote a treatise on the Great Depression. After studying the Great Depression at length, the good Professor believed that he knew why the Depression occurred, and he knew what the Fed had done wrong to bring on the Great Depression. All that was needed, concluded the Professor, was the production of a veritable ocean of Fed-created money, and the Great Depression would not have happened. It was all so simple -- all so obvious.

Let's move forward many years, and lo and behold, the studious Professor has been given the honor of being the new Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Bernanke took over from the man who has been called "the greatest central banker in history," none other than "bubble-maker" Alan Greenspan. Bernanke took over, the housing bubble had burst, and a surprised Ben Bernanke was given a chance to work his magic. Deflationary forces were overwhelming the world. Simple, Bernanke would apply what he had learned from his Depression studies -- he'd halt the deflation with money-creation. How much money? "Whatever it takes."

The Fed created the money -- with the euphemistic "quantitative easing," better know as creating trillions of dollars. Furthermore, the Fed dropped short interest rates to the zero level. The dollar quickly took over from the Japanese yen as the carry-trade favorite. The US dollar became the planet's new "junk money."

For those unfamiliar with the carry trade, people with access to world currencies find the country with the lowest interest rates (the "free money") and borrow that money. With that money, they buy high-yielding paper or even bonds and pocket the difference.

What happens next is that the cheap dollar is dumped on the market in huge quantities. When any currency or any item is created in massive quantities, that item must fall in value. And the dollar is falling. Ah, Professor Bernanke, what do you do now? To make a currency more attractive, you raise the rates that it pays. But raise the Fed Funds and you squeeze that already gasping US economy. Also, when you raise rates you raise the cost of carrying the gigantic US debt. Total public and private debt in the US is around $57 trillion. A one percent rise in interest rates would drain $500 billion each year out of the US economy.

Meanwhile, all the spending by the Government, the trillions that the Fed has created, seems to have gone to
Wall Street. Most of the Fed-created trillions went to bail out and save the giant institutions that were considered "too big to fail." The Fed and Wall Street take care of their own.

The men and women in the streets, America's consumers, are struggling with unemployment, taxes, battered stock portfolios, foreclosures, and the rising cost-of-living. Their consumption represents two-thirds of the GDP of the nation. Where was the hoped-for return that Bernanke was dreaming about? Where was the lift he was waiting for? Easy, consumers needed "boosts." Give em "Cash for Clunkers," give them tax breaks for buying houses, give them anything they need that will inspire them to spend.

But what about saving? Sure, the man in the street is trying to save. But with interest rates literally at zero, what does he do with his savings? Ah, problems, problems, and as the new Fed chief wakes up at midnight from a feverish sleep, Ben Bernanke asks himself, "Why did I take this damn job? I should have stayed happily at Princeton." Back in the 1930s there were no doubts about the much-loved "Yankee dollar." The dollar was "as good as gold." And there were no damn foreign "vigilantes" to warn and pressure the US about spending. Ben never thought about that when he wrote his treatise on the Great Depression.

Meanwhile, unintended consequences are emerging from the massive sums that the Bernanke Fed has created. The stock market is rising in a liquidity bubble. Worse, gold is climbing into all-time high territory, and in so doing, it is advertising to the world that the dollar is sinking and that "something is dreadfully wrong." And the worst of it is that housing prices are not rising, they remain weak. And now commercial real estate is sinking.

Currently, the talk is of "exit strategies." Strategies to undo the damage that the Fed has done. But the Fed isn't finished yet. And the story hasn't been told in full. What happens if a fed-up world decides to exit the dollar? Oil is priced and sold in dollars. What if the oil producers decide that they want a different currency. What happens then? The questions are endless.

The problem -- you can't save the real world with fantasy money. When too much fantasy money is created, knowledgeable people turn to real money -- gold. Which is why central bankers fear and hate gold.

When the world turns to gold, it is turning away from the fantasy ("counterfeit") currency that the central banks create. This terrifies the bankers, whose power comes from their ability to create "money" out of thin air.

Meanwhile, a great bull market starts, it's a bull market that mirrors the demise of the dollar. Gold is priced in dollars, and as the dollar weakens, it takes an increasing amount of fiat dollars to buy an ounce of gold.

Beginning in 1999 gold started up in a primary bull market. In my personal opinion, this is fated to be one of the greatest bull markets in history. It will be a bull market built on not one, but two powerful human emotions -- both greed and fear. The speculative third phase lies ahead. Slowly but surely, the US public will finally realize that the US government is bankrupt both morally and monetarily. People will panic into gold to save what ever they have left from the inflationary intentions of the US government.
Unquote





Gold

I guess, dear reader, reading the title to this post you thought that I will mention Gold to be the winner. Well that of course could have been the case as in fact gold has been over the past 10 years, still is and will be for another couple of years the winner. However the title of this post was not meant to mention gold but is rather referring to something else. First some information about gold

Well dear reader although most of the pundits claim that we are in a bubble when they refer to precious metals, gold is moving up step by step. We now have clearly passed the 1,000 mark. Following some comments about precious metals from seasoned analysts

Russell again

Gold has closed higher for nine consecutive years. And yet, the great majority of investors continue either to ignore or be sceptical of gold. All rallies in gold are labeled by Wall Street and the media as "speculative," all declines are labeled as "overdue." This is the result of 96 years of Federal Reserve propaganda regarding their Federal Reserve Notes (we still call them dollars) being superior to Constitutional money -- gold. It's a testament to the power of mass brain-washing. Why does the Fed and the banks denigrate gold? Simple, they survive and make their living through dealing with and creating fiat currency.



CNBC: James Turk on where gold is headed (10/09/09)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewP6H3-0JOw




THE DYNAMICS OF THE GOLD & SILVER MARKETS?....EXPLOSIVE!
Adrian Douglas
This week gold closed above $1000/oz for the fourth consecutive week and made another all time weekly high close. But the top-callers have come out in their droves declaring that gold is in a bubble that is about to burst, and because
the recession has been declared as over there is no reason to hold such a safehaven asset. All that is nonsense and I will explain why. The dynamics unfolding in the gold and silver markets are nothing short of explosive.
http://www.marketforceanalysis.com/Published%20Articles_2009_assets/DYNAMICS%20OF%20THE%20GOLD%20AND%20SILVER%20MARKETS.pdf

and James Turk Free Gold Money Report
Gold’s short-term and long-term uptrends have now been re-confirmed. The $1010-$1012 area should now act as support, but I doubt if we will see those levels. I don’t expect much of a pull-back here. Two things are happening.
http://www.fgmr.com/gold-october-9-2009.html


Hutchinson "When Money Becomes Worthless,"
"Given the predilections of today's policymakers, it is unfortunately unlikely that they will tighten monetary policy sufficiently to break the commodity flight, whatever the gold price does. Instead, led by the determined Keynesians of the International Monetary Fund, they are much more likely to attempt to control the gold price itself, either surreptitiously by selling off massive quantities of the world's gold reserves, or openly by imposing limits on gold futures trading and possibly, like Franklin Roosevelt in 1933, making it illegal for ordinary individuals to own gold or to buy gold futures.

"That will of course only make matters worse; it would be equivalent to trying to avoid a speeding ticket by smashing the car's speedometer. Manipulating the gold price to pretend that liquidity is not excessive does not stop liquidity from being excessive. Nor does it lead any but the stupidest institutional investor to believe that his urge to invest in physical commodities is misguided. Rather, it will cause commodities investment to be carried out through shell companies in tax havens, away from regulators' radar screens. The effect on global supply chains will be equally damaging, but policymakers will no longer have a straightforward way of determining how to avoid the resulting economic depression."
http://www.prudentbear.com/index.php/thebearslairview?art_id=10296


Equity

Well last week, the DJI was back above 10,000. Are we now moving towards the strong resistance of 10,330, which according to Fibonaccy is the 50% retracement of the initial bear market decline from the all-time high of 14,164 down to 6,469? Maybe. However the question will be, if the Dow can move above 10,330. As long as that does not happen, we still are technically in a bear market. Although hyperinflation and the money printing will have an impact on the stock markets and therefore sooner or later the Dow will move above 10,330, I still believe that the risk of a major correction in the next couple of weeks is high. Therefore I do not yet see any reason why I should change my decision regarding preferring to stay on the sidelines and therefore not being invested in equities for the time being.



The market participants are observing closely the reported earnings. Of course earnings are important, no doubt about it. I think it does not come as a surprise that shareholders want to see higher earnings. However if investors look at earnings in order to decide if they should buy, sell or wait, they are late anyway and dear reader, being in a very special time, there is another issue that we should take into consideration too. What is it? Well it seems that it is not that important to be honest anymore and unfortunately there are in my opinion too many who seem to follow this low ethical standards lately. Looking at earning reports and especially analyzing these earnings reported a bit more in depth; one must say that earnings not necessarily are reported in an honest way. In today’s world earnings are, whatever an accountant wants them to be. Or with other words don’t trust that the earnings reported show the true picture of the respective company. More information about earnings or the way accountants do their work can be found in the article about Citi.

The Dow; Ominous Parallels to the 1929-1930 Era
By Sol Palha
http://www.kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/G+_Articles/Entries/2009/10/3_The_Dow%3B_Ominous_Parallels_to_the_1929-1930_EraBy_Sol_Palha.html


Banks and Banksters

Paul Volcker, Democrat and Chairman of the Presidential Committee of Economic Advisors, stated recently in congressional testimony that the present Treasury plan for financial reform will lead to additional bailouts by designating non-banks as "systemically important." I would add that this action when undertaken would continue the program of socializing losses and privatizing profits.

And the winner is...., well let's see who is the winner.
Well dear reader since last week, the world has a president that won an important award. Not winning the award as such is special but winning this particular award, without really having achieved for what the award is meant for, is definitely really very special. Well he might have achieved some things but definitely nothing that would justify the honor (apart from having been able to convince some people that he is able to achieve something). So we certainly can say that it came as surprise, to say it in a nice way. Maybe he should have received the nobel prize for being a marvelous and convincing servant to his masters but certainly not for not having achieved anything significant at all. Where has all the “Hope and Change” gone? Was it really ever on the agenda?



Well anyway, talking about winning a prize or an award, why shouldn’t the real masters, the ones that really achieved something, win a prize? What have they achieved? Who are they? What prize should they have won? Well many questions indeed. Let’s start with the first question, what is it what he/she or they have achieved? Well what they have achieved is deceive the broad masses worldwide. Is that positive? Well maybe yes but on the other hand, maybe it is not. Yes maybe on the short run and yes for those that were able to make some money. Now the question is, who has been the person or institution that achieved such a “marvelous” task. Well it is the financial industry and especially the big banks and within the category of big banks the US banks are dominantly present. I suppose that we already know why these institutions should win a prize and my guess is that we know which entities should be the winners. Well in some way they have already won their prize because their stock prices went up although the real, dire financial situations does in my opinion not justify higher stock prices. Well for the sake of giving a prize, let’s leave the higher stock prices aside and let’s think about a nice prize that could be awarded to them. How about “Master of deception”? Maybe it could be “Masters of Lobbying”? How about “Masters of influence” or “Masters of sucking money out of the pocket of the taxpayer by using government entities to do so”? Well there are other words coming into my mind, such as “First me” or “unscrupulous” or “who cares about the others” and many more.
Well of course I know there are different opinions about what ethics mean but my guess is that more and more people wake up and start to understand that the way banksters see ethics and the way they behave, is on one side not to the benefit of the people and certainly not according to their understanding of ethics



Following some information about some financial institutions
First of all JPM
Well dear reader if you work with JPM or if you are interested if JPM is really as sound as many believe, the report you can find on the following link is a must read
http://boombustblog.com/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_details&Itemid=103&gid=238
(click on download and read the repot)

Well dear reader, I do not know about you, but I can certainly tell you that I would not sleep well at night if JPM or Goldman (see the following information) would be my counterparty risk, because I would be one of their clients. Of course the government, either the FED or the Treasury will try to bail them out, but I ask myself how sound a quasi government guarantee is if the guarantor itself is already broken? Yes I know that they can print money like there is no tomorrow (well in fact they are already doing it this way maybe because they know there is no tomorrow) but dear reader unless you hold solid physical gold or silver your assets might lose purchasing power anyway. Furthermore, as mentioned, I would not sleep well having one of the big banks as my counterparty risk as they all have enormous exposures to the derivative “time bomb” market. I would especially be worried having JPM as counterparty as this particular financial institution is the bank that has the highest exposure to derivatives. Although the government might be able to keep them alive for some time, I simply would not feel comfortable having them as my trusted custodians. Would you? Well I for my part do not like to run unnecessary risks and less so knowing that they apparently do hold gigantic risks on their books.

Writedowns on Mortgage Servicing Make Even JPMorgan Vulnerable
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aPz0hsBTTR4A
Well the quarter results of JPM and the Goldmans have been fine. The question is are they really as good as they show us? My guess is it is not. What about their off balance sheet risks?

Before going to some information about the Goldmans following an interesting information about Citi

Is Citi Back To Its Old Accounting Tricks;
And Are Accountants Papering Over A $735 Billion Valuation Hole?
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/citi-back-its-old-accounting-tricks-and-are-accountants-papering-over-735-billion-valuation-
Maybe a haircut of 25% is still not enough. Regarding Citi we should not forget that their leverage, including off balance items must be close to 80 which is dangerously toxic. It does not look like Citi will soon improve it’s situation and the risk of getting soon some really bad news about Citi is very high.



Some more information on the following link
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/im-going-try-not-say-i-told-you-so

and now let’s go the golden boys

Do the Goldman Boys receive information others don’t?
The secret to Goldman Sachs' good fortune
It's also about the unparalleled access that Goldman Sachs had to Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, whose mission -- according to his own words -- was to bring Wall Street and market regulators (not to mention decision makers) together, so that they were "seeing the same issues, the same problems and working toward the same solutions." On Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008 -- the day before the one I am writing about -- the stock market performed horribly.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/the_secret_to_goldman_sachs_good_WBlKYEyLfH7GP4zT0vNrEP

The following article dear reader confirms to me, what I have been saying for some time, don’t trust the numbers given to you, be it the government or private entities.
Big Banks: "You Will Cancel FASB 166 So We Can Continue Pretending All Is Good... Or We Will Kill Lending Even More"
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/big-banks-you-will-cancel-fasb-166-so-we-can-continue-pretending-all-good-or-we-will-kill-le


Well dear reader it is easy to make good trading profits if one knows what is going to happen in advance. Isn’t it?




FED

Blind faith in the FED. Is it justified? Well since the FED, a private bank with private shareholders does exist, the US Dollar has lost 95% of it’s purchasing power. This is not really a sign of an excellent job. Well knowing that the FED is in fact owned by private institutions, we possibly should look at the FED in another light. Did they do an excellent job? Well yes they did but not for the taxpayers. The did an excellent job for their masters, the private institutions. It’s a pity that mostly everybody believes that the FED is a Central Bank, which it clearly is not. It’s a pity that still people have full faith in the FED, believing that the FED acts for the US citizens. Well sorry to say, but it definitely is not so. When the masses will find out about the real hidden agenda of the FED some upheaval can be expected, maybe even revolution. My guess is that we are close to this tipping point. If you want to know more about the FED I recommend to read the book “The Creature from Jekyll Island” from G.Edward Griffin. Following a link to a video with a compilation of statements he made from 2005-2007. The question is should we really trust the FED?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ79Pt2GNJo


USD

Well dear reader the dollar is on the way down, no doubt about it. Well could the dollar get stronger? Yes of course that is possible, however I seriously doubt it. Well some argue that a crisis could lead once again to a flight into safety, which they believe is the dollar. Well again, I doubt it. Yes of course in the past the dollar profited from any major crisis as having been regarded as a safe haven, but we are now in a completely different situation. I do not see that China and other countries that have reduced in a considerable way their dollar purchases and are trying hard to get rid of the dollar as fast as possible without provoking the free fall of the dollar, will once again get faith in the dollar. That simply will not happen. For the Dollars bulls this is wishful thinking and nothing else. The dollar bugs (hardcore dollar supporters) most probably will be on the loosing side. How can somebody trust a currency of a country that has already started to default on it’s debt? Well the US, like the United Kingdom are monetizing their debt by the devaluation of their respective currencies and their central banks are printing money at an increasing pace. Just have a look at the growing proportion of the respective central banks buying the bonds of its own government. This proportion is already today above 50%. Yes that is correct. Already today the FED and the Bank of England are buying more than 50% of their governments bonds and this is not only due to the fact that they have an increasing need for more money, as they have, but as well because the previous buyers are not willing to buy these bonds anymore. Forget about giving up quantitative easing. Although they tell us they will do so, they simply cannot. Well dear reader, that’s the road to hyperinflation. Zimbabwe salutes.




Following information about the USD
China announced last week that they were entering into another energy transaction costing a minimum of $2.5 billion US. The march out of dollars into energy, metals, material, agriculture and firms involved therein continues almost on a daily basis. They most certainly are NOT dollar bound and soon the US dollar will become the least percentage of their reserves. It never was even 50%. The talking heads might be amazed to hear that FACT.

Safe harbor no more by Eric Sprott
Despite falling 36% since 2001 (as measured by the US Dollar Index (DXY)), it is only recently that the US dollar’s ‘world reserve currency’ status has been seriously questioned. The media pundits haven’t spent much time discussing this of course, but during the week of September 8th to 11th, the DXY actually fell to new 2009 lows every single day that week. Over the last six months there has also been a substantial increase in anti-US dollar rhetoric from China, Japan, Russia, France, Brazil, and even the United Nations. Reading between the lines, it appears the US dollar hegemony has finally broken, and what happens next will have major consequences for the global economy.
Read on
http://www.sprott.com/Docs/MarketsataGlance/09_09_MAAG.pdf

some more news about the nearing collapse of the USD

Dollar Reaches Breaking Point as Banks Shift Reserves
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a4x9dIJsPn4U

Dollar dump story must have been market rigging by gold bugs
http://www.gata.org/node/7878




Bonds

Well dear reader as mentioned a couple of times, I would for now abstain from buying or holding bonds with longer maturities. Why? Well first of all interests or yields are so low that I do see only two scenarios. One is that interest rates or yields will stay low for a long time and the other is that they will start to increase soon. Well short-term interests might stay low for a considerable time (although central bankers tell us they will have to increase interest rates soon) but yields for medium to long term bonds will soon start to increase in a considerable way. Why is that? Being faced with lack of trust and capital flight (foreigners selling dollars and treasury bonds) US interest rates will have to go up in order to avoid the dearly needed capital flows to dry up soon. Well at least they will try to avoid this situation but I am not really sure if they will be able to do so.
What about other currencies? Well I do expect medium and long-term bond yields to go up in all currencies. Why? Well because there is an increasing need to finance huge worldwide public deficits. That means that there will be an increasing competition to attract capital. Although for some countries it will be easier to attract the capital, most probably even these countries will have to pay higher interests in order to attract sufficient capital. Well countries like the US, the UK, Spain an some others will find out soon that it will get very expensive to attract the needed financial resources. As I do expect higher yields, dear reader, I do avoid for the moment being any investments in debts with maturities above 5 years. Maybe a duration of 2.5 might make sense.


Derivatives

Well dear reader, Warren Buffet once mentioned that Derivatives are weapons of mass destruction of financial assets. The market is still enormous. As I mentioned a couple of times in my post, believing that all contracts could be fulfilled if required is in my opinion very naïve. Of course as long as nothing happens no problem. The contracts simply are rolled over. However once the first domino stone falls the whole mess will implode. The exit doors are to small to allow all players/gamblers to leave at the same time when they would like to do so. The first ones out will be the lucky ones and the rest probably will have to be counted in the column “victims”. Following two excellent articles with some more information about derivatives. Both are in my opinion a must read although the second one might be a bit technical.

Morgan Stanley Sued Over a Bad Derivative Bet
given that the amount of the suit (a mere $245 million) is nothing more than “pocket change” in a derivatives market recently valued at over $1 quadrillion ($1,000,000,000,000,000). Put another way, the derivatives market was/is 4 million times the size of the damages sought after in this suit. However, sifting through the limited details available provides some sobering insights.
To begin with, the statement of claim notes that it only cost Citigroup $750,000 for this credit default swap. It further adds that the damages sought were the net amount owing on this CDS after the “collateral” for this agreement had been “liquidated”. Thus, even after reducing the amount owing by the collateral which covered this obligation, Morgan Stanley would be required to make a greater-than 300:1 pay-out on this CDS.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/163791-morgan-stanley-sued-over-a-bad-derivative-bet

From Black Scholes to Black Holes (part 4- Finance)

Were a modern-day financial Rip Van Winkle to awake today having slumbered for the past 20 years, he would observe a capital market vastly different from the one he knew. Introduction: From Black Scholes to Black Holes

It's been 16 years since the above noted book-a collection of essays explainging how one models the risks associated with certain derivative securities- was published and the introductory statement is more true now than then. In 1992, the notional amount of interest rate derivative exposure in US banks was about 77% of GDP. The graph below shows the growth since.
http://dharmajoint.blogspot.com/2009/10/from-black-scholes-to-black-holes-part.html


Another article about the same topic
Derivatives still pose huge risk, says BIS
The global market for derivatives rebounded to $426 trillion in the second quarter as risk appetite returned, but the system remains unstable and prone to crises, according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/6184496/Derivatives-still-pose-huge-risk-says-BIS.html


Middle East update

Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has handed the Kremlin a list of Russian scientists believed by the Israelis to be helping Iran to develop a nuclear warhead. He is said to have delivered the list during a mysterious visit to Moscow.
Netanyahu flew to the Russian capital with Uzi Arad, his national security adviser, last month in a private jet.
His office claimed he was in Israel, visiting a secret military establishment at the time. It later emerged that he was holding talks with Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, and President Dmitry Medvedev.
“We have heard that Netanyahu came with a list and concrete evidence showing that Russians are helping the Iranians to develop a bomb,” said a source close to the Russian defence minister last week.
....
"Ephraim Sneh, a former Israeli deputy defence minister, warned that time was running out for action to stop the programme. “If no crippling sanctions are introduced by Christmas, Israel will strike,” he said. “If we are left alone, we will act alone.” ..."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6860161.ece#


Oil

ODAC Newsletter - 16 October 2009
http://www.odac-info.org/newsletter/2009/10/16

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