Tuesday 10 April 2012

Foreign Confidential ™

Foreign News and Analysis Since April 2005 -- formerly China Confidential -- What's Really Happening in the World



Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Fund in Japan Suspected of Being House of Cards


Foreign Confidential™ has learned that a mysterious venture capital fund in Japan is suspected by the country's regulators of being a house of cards--in the shape of a pyramid.

The fund allegedly promised high-net-worth Japanese investors incredibly high returns from a wide range of investments, from listed alternative energy projects to decidedly unlisted--and wildly unrealistic--entertainment ventures. The fund's losses, which are conservatively estimated at over $100 million, are alleged to have been "papered over" with a steady stream of intentionally misleading and, in many cases, completely fictitious financial statements.

The listed companies allegedly presented a special set of problems to the fund managers and promoters, because, in contrast with reported performances and claimed valuations of privately owned enterprises, the financial representations of publicly traded entities are accessible to anyone with an Internet connection and a computer or mobile device.

Sources say that while $100 million or even $200 million in losses may seem insignificant in comparison with some of Japan's recent financial scandals--the $6.25 billion Olympus mega-scandal, for example--a rumor that a member of one of the country's wealthiest, best known families used social and family connections to lure investors to the fund could attract major media attention. The involvement of this individual, who is believed to presently reside outside Japan, is said to have practically eliminated the need for due diligence in the eyes of many check writers.

China's Brash Bo Suspended; Rumors Fly


High-Flying Party Chief of Chongqing,
Wife and Vice Mayor May be Charged


China's Communist Party has suspended former high-flying politician Bo Xilai from its top ranks, four sources said on Tuesday, after a scandal that has shaken a looming leadership succession.

The decision to banish Bo from the Central Committee and its Politburo effectively ends the career of China's brashest and most controversial politician, whose downfall has kindled ideological tension and sparked opposition from leftist sympathizers who insist he is the victim of a plot.


Foreign Confidential™ sources say rumors are rife that investigations underway of Bo's family members and associates could produce charges of murder and treason. [UPDATE: BO'S WIFE SUSPECTED OF MURDER]

From 'Singing the Red, Smashing the Black'
To a Long Prison Term and Possibly Worse

His career is clearly over. The man who ascended to power by "singing the red"--encouraging public singing of old, Mao-era songs--and "smashing the black"--cracking down on organized crime--is likely to soon be facing a long prison sentence or an executioner.

But the "leftist" label is misleading. The conflict between China's supposed economic reformers and so-called New Left, or neo-Maoists, is really between elite camps, or factions, fighting over the control and restructuring of bloated, state-owned firms. Bo stood for helping the left-behind poor to some extent, but mainly for preserving the jobs and privileges of state-sector corporate bureaucrats--and the money flow that the sector produces for certain members of the elite.

There are serious internal tensions and problems in China; amid rising labor unrest and crime, the specter of massive instability haunts the leadership. The military--many see the men in uniforms as the ultimate rulers--maintain a watchful eye on all developments. Not surprisingly, flight capital is pouring out of the country. Rich, well connected Chinese are acquiring dual citizenships or, at the very least, legal, overseas permanent residencies.

N. Korea Rocket Ready to Go


Impoverished, "military first" North Korea is ready to defy the international community and illegally test a ballistic missile under thin cover of a so-called satellite launch. Read the news here.

VOA reports that still and video images of what the North is calling the Unha-3 rocket have given defense analysts and the intelligence community a fresh opportunity to assess the state of Pyongyang's ballistic missile development.

An initial conclusion: North Korea seems to have made significant progress since its failed attempt, three years ago, to conduct a three-stage launch and put a satellite into orbit.

The April 2009 launch was of a Taepodong-2 ballistic missile, believed to be of Soviet design, with a third stage of Chinese origin. The second and third stages fell into the Pacific Ocean about 3,800 kilometers from the launch site, far short of the missile's goal.

Japan Says Rocket Really an ICBM

Retired vice admiral Hideaki Kaneda of Japan's Maritime Self Defense Force says there is no doubt that what is on the Sohae launch pad has military applications.

Kaneda, in an NHK interview, noted an apparent cluster of four rocket engines housed in the first stage. He described that as worrisome because four nozzles in the first stage leave no doubt that this rocket could be utilized as a long-range ballistic missile, capable of not only reaching Japan, but also the U.S. mainland.

North Korea claims the third stage is meant to carry an earth observation satellite into a north-south orbit.

Monday, April 09, 2012

Germany Driving Greeks to Suicide

Echoes of the Nazi Occupation of World War II


Once again, Germans have Greek blood on their hands, as this report shows.

Actually, the article only scratches the surface of what's really going on in Greece. The economic crisis is fast becoming a political crisis, with the potential to spread across Europe and even into the United States, given the banking and financial connections between the EU and the U.S.

Dimitris Christoulas, the 77-year old former pharmacist who killed himself with a handgun last Wednesday morning in Athens’ Syntagma Square, left a suicide note in which he compared Greece’s coalition government, which is imposing extreme austerity measures at the behest of the German-dominated European Union and the International Monetary Fund, to the Greek puppet regime of Georgios Tsolakoglou under Nazi occupation during World War II.

Saying he would rather end his life with dignity than end up “scavenging through garbage looking for food”, Christoulas called on his country's youth to rise up and “hang this country's traitors in arms in Syntagma Square just as the Italians hanged Mussolini in 1945.”

The suicide recalls the self-immolation in December 2010 of Mohammed Bouazizi, the Tunisian vegetable vendor, whose death sparked mass protests that led to the overthrow of the Tunisian regime.

Endnote: In 1939 Greece’s prime minister, General Ioannis Metaxas, said that “the old Europe would end when the swastika flew over the Acropolis.” The Nazi flag did not rise over the Acropolis until April 1941. Metaxas was a dictator; but he was also a patriot who resisted Hitler and Mussolini. Today, many Greeks are effectively saying German domination of their country threatens to end the new Europe.


At Least 200 US, Arab Jets Drill for Iran War

A solid exclusive from DEBKAfile--read it here.

Mofaz Says Iran Nuclear Program Must Stop

Israeli opposition leader Shaul Mofaz told Italy's Prime Minister anyone who thinks Iran's nuclear program is peaceful is "deluding himself." Click here for the story.

Growing Signs of Spying on US Campuses


U.S. universities are being targeted by foreign intelligence services. Click here for the story.

Sunday, April 08, 2012

New Syrian Demands Endanger Peace Plans

A peace deal to stop bloodshed in Syria brokered by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan appeared in jeopardy Sunday, after President Bashar al-Assad's government raised new, last-minute demands that the country's main rebel group quickly rejected.

Damascus said it wanted iron-clad “written guarantees” that insurgents would stop fighting before it withdraws troops from cities.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Syria would not allow a repeat of what happened during the Arab League's observer mission in January, when he said the government pulled its forces back only to see rebels rearm and take control of “entire neighborhoods.”

FSA Refuses to Give Guarantees

However, the commander for the rebel Free Syrian Army, Riad al-Asaad, said Sunday that while his group is ready to abide by the truce set for April 10, it will not give guarantees to the Syrian government.

The foreign ministry's request came as an escalation of violence Sunday reportedly claimed at least 45 lives across Syria. The country's main opposition group said that nearly 130 people — mostly civilians — were killed Saturday. Annan called a surge in violence and atrocities in several towns and villages “unacceptable.”

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has sharply criticized the Assad government for its continued assault on civilians and said the cease-fire deadline “is not an excuse for continued killing.”

U.N. officials say more than 9,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising began 13 months ago.

-VOA
@ 10:20 PM links to this post 

N. Korea Shows Rocket to Reporters

Pyongyang is upgrading its propaganda. Click here for the story.


North Korea will never disarm…. The Kimist regime will continue to develop atomic warheads and bombs--and ICBMs. The "military first" policy will continue; at most, the North will make an effort to modernize its propaganda and rhetoric.

Ex-Mossad Chief Elaborates on His Iran Stance

A fascinating interview--click below to watch it--with Meir Dagan, a highly decorated former IDF officer and former Mossad director.

Dagan is a heroic, legendary figure. The interview is illuminating; however, one wishes the interviewer had focused more on the all-important issue of Iran's intentions and the view that this reporter and others hold that (a) appeasement of and attempts to actually align with the Islamist nation have made war inevitable, absent regime change from within, and (b) such change is increasingly unlikely.


Repercussions for Palestinians in Israeli's Rise


Pinhas Inbari of the WJC reports on the rise of former IDF Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz as head of Israel's Kadima party, replacing MK Tzipi Livni as the official leader of the country's opposition. According to Inbari

Mofaz’ rise to the top of the Kadima party is largely viewed as a negative development by the PLO government in Ramallah. The Palestinian leadership sees Livni’s demise as the loss of a major strategic ally in Israel and a threat to their quest for a political solution along the 1967 borders.

With Livni’s fall, Ramallah rightly or wrongly feels that it is left without an insider friend in Israel. The newly minted leader of Israel’s Labor party, MK Shelly Yachimovich, has forsaken her party’s traditional accent on the peace process and has instead chosen to concentrate on Israel’s social agenda--its version of the Arab Spring….

Mofaz, however, published a peace plan that makes his potential relationship with Abbas more complex. The plan is based on the principle of "a state within interim borders", which Ramallah has persistently rejected over the years, demanding instead to adhere to the recognition of the 1967 borders. Moreover, Ramallah has been irked by Mofaz’ relationship with Palestinian leader Muhammad Dahlan--Abbas’s bitter enemy and political rival.

The Palestinians view Dahlan as Mofaz’ ally in fulfilling the “state within interim borders” plan. While Dahlan has not disputed the official PLO position of rejecting the notion of "a state within interim borders," he has admitted in a rare truthful moment that it was a pity the idea was never seriously offered by the Israelis.

Click here to read the whole article. Inbari is a first-rate analyst and a skilled reporter; and the WJC, which was founded in 1936, is an important organization.