Western European News Digest

German Regulatory Proposal To Be Debated by G-8 Bankers

A German proposal for hedge fund transparency was to be placed prominently on the agenda of the IMFC (International Monetary and Finance Committee) meeting of the G-8 Finance Ministers and central bankers in Washington April 14-15—although for discussion only. The governments of Britain and the USA oppose any regulatory decisions.

Anglo-Dutch Circles Split Over Hedge Funds

Olivier van Royen, former CEO of the Dutch firm Hoogovens, one of the largest steel and aluminum producers in Europe, and former executive director of Nedlloyd (a group of shipping companies descended from the Dutch East India Company), wants a law against the financial locusts, Het Financieele Dagblad reported April 7.

If necessary, he said, we have to put a ceiling on debt which a firm is allowed to incur. Van Royen stated that aggressive private equity funds buy up firms in order to pluck them financially, cutting out anything involving the long term. The risks are transferred to the firms themselves and the employees.

Van Royen criticizes the takeover of Corus (which grew out of the takeover of Hoogovens several incarnations ago) by Tata. Now the firm will get the financial burden of the takeover hung around its neck, with all the concomitant risks.

Is Northern League Fanning Flames of Race Riots in Italy?

A street revolt April 13 in Milan's Chinatown district involved hundreds of Chinese immigrants and the police. There is the suspicion that the racist Lega Nord (Northern League), which is part of the local government, bears responsibility for that. Recently, police started a "zero tolerance" tactic against Chinese retailers which is seen by immigrants as persecutory. Riots started when a policeman fined a Chinese woman who was illegally parked, and then beat her with his stick, despite the fact that she held a baby in her arms. Lega Nord representatives called for "sending the Chinese back home."

German Terror Office Admits Long-Term Security Breach

Germany's Federal Criminal Office (BKA) President Joerg Zierke gave a press conference in Wiesbaden April 12, to reveal that over years, and maybe a more than a decade, internal elements to the BKA have "sold" sensitive information outside, concerning anti-terror investigations. The dimensions of such a "business," Zierke said, is beyond his imagination. It involves, for instance, reports on planned terror attacks in Duesseldorf, and against the Frankfurt Stock Exchange; a planned attack against the U.S. Embassy in Berlin; secret weapons deals by a foreign intelligence service; and information on 48 known Islamists, and flight security in Germany." The source of the leak has not been discovered, Zierke said.

Zierke's press conference was apparently in response to an ARD television program Panorama concerning the case of a Focus magazine journalist, who has been spied upon by the BKA in connection with a case in 2002-2003.

Schwarzenegger To Address 'Green' Tory Convention

British Conservative Party chairman David Cameron announced that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has accepted the Tory invitation to keynote at their annual Blackpool meeting, scheduled to take place in September. Cameron cited Arnie's "tremendous leadership, above all in pioneering measures to protect the environment, reaching out to political opponents in doing so." Schwarzenegger, also a darling of the Tony Blair Labour government, is following a green script for high-profile national and international "bipartisan" action to promote global green swindles of all kinds, especially C02 emissions caps and speculation. This is consistent with the British-U.S. gang who schemed to put him into office in 2003, led by George Shultz; and also in line with the Felix Rohatyn/Democrat side of the political spectrum, likewise backing carbon marketeering.

Are Soccer Riots a British Pincer Movement Against Italy?

On April 4, British-controlled hooligans provoked riots in Rome, after a soccer game. In a drunken state, the hooligans vandalized streets and shops in the center of the city for two days running, and engaged in provocations against local soccer fans, after the game took place. Eighteen people were wounded in the rioting, including three policemen. Only a quick, although admittedly crude, deployment of Italian police prevented any fatalities. The British government and British media then accused the Italian police of having "overreacted," and are now demanding an investigation of the police.

The hooligans involved belonged to radical fan clubs of Roma AC and Manchester United (MU). Both hooligan clubs are controlled by British-trained entities. The Rome hooligans are controlled by entities connected to British-trained Roberto Fiore, a neo-fascist who is politically allied with Benito Mussolini's granddaughter Alessandra. Additionally, 1,500 Manchester United hooligans were smuggled into Rome April 9 without tickets and without police escort, bypassing bilateral agreements. According to Italian authorities, the British police bear direct responsibility for that.

British House of Orange Pushes Green Agenda

On April 18, the environmentally hyperactive Prince Willem of Holland will open the offshore wind farm Egmond aan Zee, 36 wind turbines with a total capacity of 108 mw, built on initiative of the Dutch government, in cooperation with Shell and Nuon. The House of Orange website claims these windmills will reduce CO₂ emissions by 140,000 tons a year. 200 million euros have been invested in this project.

In an address to the Rome conference on World Water Day in March, the Prince, the grandson of the Nazi Prince Bernhard, lauded a water-pumping project launched last September at the Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, where children in the Third World were given merry-go-rounds attached to pumps, to provide their villages with water.

Global Warming 'Fixes' Would Cost Germany Billions

The head of the German Federal Environment Agency, Andreas Troge told Bild am Sonntag April 8 that Germany's quota to "stop global warming" is going to be 4 billion euros per year until 2050.

Green Party leader Reinhard Buetikofer demanded that the government shut down coal production and coal power plants. But Economy Minister Michael Glos (CDU) defended the use of coal and also pushed nuclear power. "It seems to me that we have a large, pro-environmental energy mix. For me, coal and nuclear energy should be part of it."