Enslaved by World Bank and IMF

[Firestarter]

This thread is mostly about the effect of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs), and the way they keep the third world enslaved.
I took a lot of time to investigate the arbitration of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) of the World Bank. This gives companies the possibility to “sue” states, so they can get damaged compensated if (democratically elected) parliaments make laws, that they don’t like. This is the corner stone of modern day colonialism
I do not include the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), but instead refer to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Treaty (TTIP). They are similar BITs - the only reason that I include TTIP (and not TPP) is that I survive in the European Union (the TTIP is planned between the USA and EU).


RESERVE REQUIREMENTS BANKS
American banks only have to back up investments (or loans) with a cash reserve ratio of 10%. This means with an American savings account for 10,000 dollar, the banks can invest an additional 90,000 dollar. In the European Union the reserve requirement is even lower with 1%, so European financial institutions can even invest 990,000 for 10,000 dollar. Great Britain has a 0% cash reserve ratio (so British banks can invest without limit).
On the other hand: Brazil has a reserve requirement of 45%, so with 10,000 dollar Brazilian banks can invest “only”12,222 dollar. In 1978 Turkye had a reserve requirement of 62.7%, so with 10,000 dollar it could only invest 5,949 dollar.


EXPLOITATION OF THE THIRD WORLD
The colonial forces still decide how the colonies are exploited, under the guise of international law.
A nice example is the protective measures by the European Union. With tax money the European industry is supported, so that the third world cannot compete with the EU. The EU lets the third world pay with import duties so the third world has to pay to export to the Euro zone. Here’s a description of how the EU uses protective measures against the third world: http://web.archive.org/web/20130208093112/https://www.tcd.ie/iiis/policycoherence/eu-agricultural-policy/protection-measures.php

As a logical result these third world "banana republics" get financial problems, so need to borrow money from the World Bank and IMF to be able to make end meet, for which in return they do exactly what they are told. So their countries can be plundered even better.
One of the best tricks are trade agreements between countries, at the discretion of the white judges. From 1959 on, BITs became ever more popular; in the early years these BITs were based on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) of 1947. In 1995 came the next big development in BITs with the General Agreement on Tariffs in Services (GATS), for investments in services. In March 2001, the WTO would design a system to replace democracy with article VIA of General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The GATS Disputes Panel decides if a law is “more burdensome than necessary”, in which case the WTO can simply set it aside.

From the end of the 1980s on there was some kind of explosion in BITs; no longer only between developed and developing countries, but also among and between developed countries, to exclude developing countries. Developing countries got forced to agree on BITs, because without it they couldn’t export, while foreign investors take all the money.
For the history of international treaties for investment see the story of Vandevelde from 2005: http://jilp.law.ucdavis.edu/issues/volume-12-1/van5.pdf

In the following story Anghie names exploitation of developing countries under the guise of international law "positivism": http://web.archive.org/web/20190519190701/http://law.wisc.edu/gls/documents/tony_anghie_colonialism.pdf

As long as there are crises, the large investors earn extra money. Any idea who cause the crises?


WTO, TABD, TRIPS
Before transitory heads of state (like presidents) meet at the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) provides them with the details of their agenda. TABD pairs influential politicians to powerful CEOs. The corporate directors give the politicians a grade on “the scorecard”. In this way big corporations rule over politrics.
One TABD proposal would reverse the $5 billion judgment against Exxon for the Exxon Valdez oil spill. TABD’s Products Liability Group that, under the guise of eliminating “non-tariff” trade barriers, takes aim at American citizens’ right to sue corporations.

The WTO’s penal system to keep the colonies in slavery is the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The USA unilaterally exempts itself from TRIPS, so US retailers can still import cheap drugs. The WTO requires, on penalty of sanctions, that every nation pass laws granting patents on genetically modified seeds and drugs. When Thailand tried to register traditional medicines as intellectual property, the US Trade Representative wrote that this would “hamper medical research”, so Thailand got nothing.
Goldman Sachs chaired TABD when Peter Sutherland was president of WTO, and Sutherland went to Goldman Sachs after he left WTO.


TTIP/ISDS
Here’s a short list of the consequences of TTIP in the world: http://www.degrowth.de/en/2014/08/tt...hould-be-aware
Here a longer story about the ISDS arbitration: http://corporateeurope.org/2012/11/c...1-introduction

If the EU and the USA sign the TTIP, other areas are excluded and forced to agree on BITs, so the colonial forces can continue to plunder them. According to the following report - the economy of South America would decreases with 1.5 to 5.6% and of Africa with 1.2 to 4% as a result of TTIP. EDIT November 2017 - story has since been removed from the internet.
Here's a "new" link that explains how TTIP will damage the South American economy: https://www.ictsd.org/bridges-news/b...powers-and-the

Based on the arbitration of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) multinationals can sue countries if they think their investments yield too little in return. The effect is that when countries take protective measures for environment, health, workers' rights or human rights, they can be sued by multinationals. If subsidies are granted or if subsidies are dropped, countries can be sued. As far as democratically elected parliaments have something to say, this is even further limited by the ISDS. It is the World Bank that decides on these disputes, in other words: by the ISDS arbitrations, the bankers (the biggest investors) become even more powerful at the expense of the taxpayer.
First the legal team of an investor looks for the most advantageous Treaty and arbitral tribunal for the claims that they were disadvantaged by a country. The ISDS disputes are judged by 3 arbitrators, of which both parties choose 1 arbitrator, who together choose the President of the arbitration tribunal. In order to give the arbitrators the leverage to judge arbitrarily, many treaties are rather vague. 69% of the arbitrators come from North America or Western Europe.

The most indicted country among ISDS is Argentina for hundreds of millions to billions, for the measures it took in 2001, the crisis in Greece was directed by the IMF and the World Bank and Greece was also indicted repeatedly. Most lawyers involved claim an hourly rate of over 500 dollars.
The next quote makes clear how independent the ISDS arbitration is, from a lawyer that bragged:

I've got a case right now in front of [a leading international arbitrator]. Every time I go to a conference, he's there. We read each other's books. My opponent on the case ... well, he hasn't got a clue [...]. Between all the partners in our group [...] we've appeared before every single arbitrator worth knowing. Not just once, but multiple times in the past few years and we have the inside knowledge as a result of that.

To ensure that the people do not know what is going on: both the ISDS provisions and TTIP negotiations are done in secret.


THE COLONIAL WORLD BANK
It is the Board of Governors, in which all 189 countries represented, that makes the decisions in the World Bank. The catch is that these countries have a voting power based on their economic status. This means that countries that became rich by plundering the colonies now reward themselves with extra voting power.
The voting ratio depends on the matter concerned: 1) International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBPRD), 2) International Development Association (IDA), 3) International Finance Corporation (IFC) and 4) Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). I have made a sum of the total voting power for 11 Western European countries with the USA, Canada and Australia. This shows that these 14 countries (with less than 15% of the world's population) have 56% of the voting power on whole. On MIGA these 14 countries account for a whopping 88% of the voting power. Also striking is that the English speaking USA, GB, Canada and Australia - together account for 36% of the total and 69% for MIGA.


KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS
I must be very proud that my home country the Netherlands not only had a starring role in the slave trade, but in 2014 came first in the whole wide world in claims for the ISDS. Theoretically, a company only has to open a mailbox to use Dutch tax law and BITs.
The following advertisement of my favourite law firm De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, shows that the Netherlands is an ideal country to evade taxes and sue countries based on the many beneficial BITs for the rich and corrupt: http://www.debrauw.com/wp-content/up...-Rebergen-.pdf

Venezuela was also indicted from the Netherlands by oil companies ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips (EDIT - only archived version still online): http://archive.is/FtZEx


VENEZUELA
Venezuela, one of the largest oil exporters in the world, for many years has been a country that exports more than it imports for (which should have made this country wealthy). In Venezuela there is both a shortage of products in the supermarkets and power cuts: http://www.infowars.com/scenes-from-the-venezuela-apocalypse-countless-wounded-after-5000-loot-supermarket-looking-for-food/

After Hugo Chávez in 1999 seized power in Venezuela he nationalized the oil industry, because it would be unfair if oil was running out of Venezuela without benefit for the population. In May 2007, he closed the door on the IMF and World Bank. In 2009, Chávez had to beg for a loan from the IMF, which obligated him to devalue the Venezuelan bolivar (causing inflation).
Chávez died in March 2013 and was probably killed by the CIA: http://web.archive.org/web/20170705013318/https://www.pravdareport.com/opinion/columnists/11-03-2013/124025-hugo_chavez_eath-0/

If Chávez was murdered, he didn´t have cancer, but was poisoned and the Cuban doctors, that gave him radiation, chemotherapy and surgery no less than 4 times, were complicit to murder. Eva Golinger suspects a bodyguard of Chávez, Salazar, who after his death was granted asylum and federal protection in the USA: http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2016/03/14/murder-chavez-cia-and-dea-cover-their-tracks.html

In 2013 Nicolás Maduro was helped to the presidency. Maduro effectively hampers the industry so that it produces less and less, then sells the imported goods so cheap that these are exported (back) abroad at a profit, so hyperinflation broke out: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/fea...236836920.html

The next masterful stroke of Maduro: selling oil and gold reserves. I would say that if Venezuela exports oil, it should be as rich as Saudi Arabia. Selling the gold (e.g. to Citibank and Goldman Sachs) means that Venezuela becomes poorer and poorer: http://money.cnn.com/2015/10/29/news...old/index.html

Because the underpriced products are exported to other countries, the crisis can spread across South America.


ECUADOR, PANAMA – ROLDOS AGUILER AND TORIJOS
Ecuadorian President Jaime Roldos Aguiler and Panamanian President Omar Torrijos were also murdered in 1981.
On Aguiler death it’s known that the Panamanian police reported that his plane was brought down by a bomb, near Loja, but then the national government immediately labelled it an “accident”: https://www.cuencahighlife.com/ecuador-investigates-the-death-of-president-jaime-roldos-attorney-general-says-that-it-could-be-tied-to-the-cias-operation-condor/

On Torijos’ murder there’s much more. Col. Roberto Diaz Herrera on 8 June 1987 stated (he was later arrested and wrote a book)

that Noriega had conspired with Lt. Gen. Wallace Nutting, the chief of the U.S. Army’s Southern Command, based in Panama, “and with the CIA, to plant a bomb aboard the aircraft in which [Noriega's predecessor, and Diaz's cousin] General Torrijos was killed when it crashed in the mountains in 1981″

https://www.facebook.com/TheBlackFli...55203134646312
(archived here: http://archive.is/hs0Vu)

Herrera also implicated Col. Alberto Purcell, who reportedly was paid $250,000 by the CIA. Colonel Manuel Noriega had been involved with the CIA since the late 1950s and was closely connected to George H.W. Bush, and was suddenly called a drug lord and dictator. In 1991 Noriega tried to defend himself in court with evidence that the US government was involved in the murder of Torijos and tried to assassinate Noriega himself: http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/199...noriega-panama
(archived here: http://web.archive.org/web/20180119001042/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1991-05-01/news/9101220014_1_frank-rubino-gen-noriega-panama)


DESTROYING - ECUADOR, BOLIVIA, ARGENTINA, CHILE, BRAZIL
The following is a summary of Greg Palast’s The Best democracy money can buy (2002).
The strategy to destroy economies is something like: take money out of circulation to crash the economy, then the big bankers buy the economy pennies for dollars, while in the meantime the country has been indebted, and has to do what the World Bank tells them.
In 1983 the IMF forced Ecuador’s government to borrow $1.5 billion to take over the private debts of Ecuador’s elite. In return Ecuador had to hike prices in electricity and other necessities, and eliminate 120,000 jobs. Then in 2000, 2001 to finish Ecuador off, it was ordered to: 1) raise the price of cooking gas with 80%, 2) eliminate 26,000 jobs, 3) cut wages with 50%, 4) transfer its biggest water system to foreign operators, 5) allow British Petroleum’s ARCO to build an oil pipeline.

In Bolivia some riots broke out, when Bolivians couldn’t get drinking water. To “help” Bolivia: Samuel Soria deposited $10 million on a Citibank account in New York, that never returned to Bolivia. Water prices, could rise with 150% under the new owner, International Waters Ltd (IWL) of London.

In 2001 Argentina got ordered to cut their government budget deficit from $5.3 billion to $4.1 billion. Taking 1.2 billion dollar out of the economy already in recession, did wonders: by the end of March 2001, Argentina’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had already dropped with 2.1% compared a year earlier. Argentina had to reduce jobs, wages, and pensions. While the IMF offered an $8 billion aid package - Argentina had to pay $27 billion a year because of their debt of $128 billion (to the likes of Citibank). The French bought the water system and raised prices up to 400%. And Argentina got threatened with sanctions by the USA to liberalise the pharmaceuticals industry.

In 1973 General Pinochet took dictatorial control of Chile, and destroyed the economy. The CIA, since October 1970, had helped Pinochet to oust president Salvador Allende. US Ambassador to Chile, Edward Malcolm Korry explained that US companies used the CIA as an international collection agency. In 1973 Chile’s unemployment rate was 4.3%; by 1983, after 10 years of free market liberalisation, unemployment was at 22%, while wages had declined by 40%. In 1970 20% of Chile’s population lived in poverty, by 1990 – when dictator Pinochet left office - this number had doubled to 40%. In 1982 and 1983, the GDP dropped with 19%, and foreign companies bought 85% of Chile’s profitable industries. The USA the State Department reported: “Chile is a casebook study in sound economic management”. The respected economist Milton Friedman called this “The Miracle of Chile”.

In 1998 —the World Bank, IMF, Inter-American Development Bank and the International Bank for Settlements — offered $41.5 billion credit to Brazil. The World Bank designed a “Master Plan for Brazil” to create a “flexible public sector workforce”: reduce Salary/Benefits; Pensions; Job Stability; Employment, and increase Work Hours. After the Brazilian real dropped with 40%: British Gas bought the SaoPaolo Gas Company, while Enron and Houston Industries bought the Rio and Sao Paolo electricity companies and a pipeline.


DEREGULATING ELECRICITY
In the 1970s British professor Dr. Stephen Littlechild invented a scheme to privatise British electricity utilities. In 1990 the England-Wales Power Pool, went into business.
From Atlanta headquarters, Southern’s executives learned they could charge in “deregulated” England double the price in Georgia. In 1995, Southern bought up England’s South Western Electricity Board. The cash rolled in and American companies grabbed the majority of the British electricity sector. Although (or because) the British consumers were terribly overcharged, the IMF and World Bank required deregulation of electricity if countries wanted assistance.
The USA had a regulatory system to keep tight lids on utility monopolies’ profits, with the result that Americans had about the lowest electricity prices in the world. In 1996 California tossed out this regulatory system. The parents of Palast saw their energy bill rise with a whopping 379% in the first year of deregulation. California’s electricity watchdog claims that electricity consumers were overcharged by $6.2 billion in 2001. After PG&E bankrupted California consumers had to pay off the speculators for some $35 billion.


GREAT BRITAIN – EVEN WORSE
Palast went undercover and got in touch with LLM and told them that he represented some wealthy American clients.
Derek Draper proudly boasted that LLM had given the US investment bank Salomon Brothers, a week advance knowledge, that the cap on total spending was 2.75% instead of the expected 2.5%. Salomon made a fortune.
PowerGen PLC wanted to buy a regional electricity company in violation of anti-monopoly regulations. Draper arranged a confidential meeting between a top adviser to Chancellor Brown with the chairman of PowerGen, Ed Wallis, which secured the PowerGen merger deal.

Roger Liddle is one of the important men in government, in charge of European affairs. Liddle told Palast that “Derek knows all the right people.” Liddle had been managing director at LLM, before he put his shares into a blind trust. Any new business Liddle gets Draper goes straight into his “blind” trust.
Here are some other deals in Britain Palast found out by going undercover: 1) Rupert Murdoch’s News International got valuable amendments to union recognition bills; 2) Tesco won exemption from a car park tax worth 20 million pounds per year; 3) Enron reversed a government plan to block new gas-fired power stations.

Greg Palast – The Best democracy money can buy (2002): http://web.archive.org/web/20170711062527/http://www.chemtrails911.com/books/The%20Best%20Democracy%20Money%20Can%20Buy%20by%20 Greg%20Palast%20.pdf