Italy's Secret Ships of Poison

Berlusconi, the Mafia and the Radioactive Wrecks

By MICHAEL LEONARDI - November 4, 2009

The colors of the Mediterranean are strong at this time of year on the border of Calabria and Basilicata. The sun shines brightly and low in the sky. The mountains and the sea are beautiful here and rich in traditions of organic agriculture, music and art that date back to the findings of paleolithic man and the Magna Grecia civilization before the Roman Empire. But all is not well. The Mediterranean Sea, calm at times and agitated at others, holds the wrecks of “secret ships,” as it whispers and roars the hidden history of its revolutionary past. These ships are known here as the Navi Dei Veleni (ships of poison), and their contents are kept secret from the population and the world by the Italian Mafia/State. This Berlusconi led Mafia/State with its unconstitutional decrees that violate Article 32 (see note) of the Italian constitution along with others, puts the health of the population at risk through a legacy of toxic and radioactive dumping now coming to light across the sea and landscape. People are worried: about the economy, the flu, the poor conditions of the hospitals, schools constructed with contaminated building materials that poison the young, and a sea full of ships whose cargos lie unknown and uninvestigated on the sea floor.

In the city of Amantea, Calabria, on October 24, there was a mass International demonstration. Simultaneous actions were held in solidarity in France and Spain as well. Over 400 organizations, local and from all across the Italian peninsula joined together to call for an end to the intentional poisoning of our lands and waters by a criminal/political caste submersed in scandals of sex, prostitution, and corruption, both on the left and the right. The October 24th demonstration in Amantea was called by the local organizing committee which takes its name in memory of the former commander of the Italian Navy, Natale De Grazia, who died in 1995 under very mysterious circumstances at the age of 39. Commander De Grazia was at the forefront of the investigation into the trafficking of radioactive and toxic wastes and was the key point person in the investigation of the lost Ships of Poison. The 24th of October rally brought over 30,000 citizens together with buses from all across the region and as far away as Rome. On a day in Amantea where the sea roared loudly, the people voiced their anger in unison at a State that represents the interests of business and criminals before the health of its citizens and the environment.

Much contamination has poisoned the land and water throughout Calabria and Basilicata, with illegal dumpsites and government documentation of elevated levels of cancer-causing substances in the environment. These substances were mixed with building materials in the city of Crotone and toxic materials were discovered on the site of an abandoned textile factory on the shores of the sea in Praia a Mare. There is a profound lack here of effective water treatment facilities along the Calabria’s Tyrrhenian coast, and especially in the summer during high tourist season, tons of raw sewage are dumped directly into the sea. There are thought to be ships with radioactive and toxic waste sunk off the coasts of Cetraro and Maratea, a wild coastline still teaming with sea life that stretches from Calabria to Baslilicata in the north. The ship off Cetraro is though to be the Cunsky and that off of Maratea the Yvonne A. There are many others.The Italian public prosecutor says there are 40 Ships of Poison, Loyds of London says 24 ships, while Bruno Branciforte, the former head of Italian intelligence SISMI (now AISE) on the 25th of September confirmed 55 ships.

In the week following the passionate cry from Amantea, the Italian national government went to work on an investigation of a shipwreck off the coast of Cetraro. This investigation was a follow-up to one already initiated by the region of Calabria. The region’s investigation discovered and filmed a shipwreck that included what seemed to be iron drums on the sea floor. The ship was covered in fishing nets and was in the same area where analyses of fish done by the local health authority ASL (Aziende Sanitarie Locali) showed high levels of arsenic, chrome and other heavy metals. This Regional investigation was initiated in part due to the testimony of Mafia Pentito (turncoat) Francesco Fonti, and in part because fisherman had actually fished out waste drums from the sea’s depths.

The national government’s investigation was led by the National Public Prosecutor’s Anti-Mafia division and the Environmental Minister, Stefania Prestigiacomo. A research ship called the Mare Oceano was hired. The Mare Oceano is the property of a company called Geolab from Naples that is controlled by the Italian Petroleum and Mining Industry Association. Geolab is being paid 43,000 euros a day for the work of Mare Oceano by the Italian Mafia/State as this is being written. The national government’s research has been conducted with no transparency. Local and regional officials, including Calabria’s Assessor of the Environment Silvio Greco – a marine biologist - , were excluded from this investigation as were representatives of national environmental organizations Legambiente and the World Wildlife Federation.

Some of the now “state secret” findings of this investigation called “Operation Cetraro” were reported in the Italian daily La Repubblica on October 29. The Environmental Minister, Prestigiacomo, and Piero Grasso, public prosecutor and head of Italy’s Anti-Mafia division, reported their findings to the media. Equipped with photographs and a short video, they revealed: that the ship under investigation was a passenger ship called the Catania that was sunk in 1917 by a German submarine, that there was no radioactive or toxic cargo, that the mafia pentito (turncoat) Francesco Fonti who said he sank a ship off of Cetraro’s coast was an unreliable source, that the regional government had caused undue alarm in the population and that all is well beneath the waters of Cetraro. They said that the “case is closed.” This same Piero Grasso admitted for the first time this October that the Italian State has negotiated and made agreements with the Mafia to save the lives of government and judicial figures, generating a wave of condemnations and criticism of a State and Mafia working together hand in hand. The revelations of “Operation Cetraro” are not sitting well with the local population here as many discrepancies have arisen and many questions remain as to where this Mafia/State’s real intentions lie.

Italy’s Environmental Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo has a questionable past. She comes from the town of Siracusa in Sicily and was part owner of a company there called Sarplast s.p.a.. This company went into bankruptcy in 1997 as a result of diseases and injuries among its workforce from exposure to toxic chemicals and hazardous working conditions. An investigation by police into the practices of the company documented violations of worker safety regulations. Three of the workers had children with birth defects. During the investigation of this company’s bankruptcy, fraudulent activities were discovered that included the embezzlement of billions of the old Italian monetary unit, the lire. The bankruptcy investigation into this company was halted by the Public Prosecutor of Siracusa because of a law called the maxi amendment, that was made by the Berlusconi government in 2003 and which suspended punishments for these types of corporate legal infractions. Now Prestigiacomo is responsible for protecting Italy’s lands and seas.

After a couple days of media reports that all was well with the sea in Cetraro, this story still hadn’t convinced local, regional and national environmental activists and organizations, the local and regional authorities, Calabria’s Environmental Assessor Silvio Greco, or the leadership of the opposition parties in Italy. Also at the level of the European Parliament, concerns are being raised by the European Green Parties, the European Commission on the Environment and others about the Italian government’s handling of this situation. Government insiders in Rome tell me that the government is playing politics with the health of the people and environment and has only worked to obstruct the truth on the story of these ships. The spokesperson for the Environmental Minister became very defensive and incredulous when I posed the possibility of State and Mafia collusion, but could give me no clear responses to any of my questions. He ducked around the question of whether or not the minister believed that any of these ships really exists, by repeating that they didn’t find any waste on the ship they investigated. Calabria’s Environmental Assessor Silvio Greco is hoping that this story gets out across the world and that the Italian state is followed closely in this investigation by the international community.

On Saturday, October 31, a press conference was held in Cetraro by representatives of the coalition that organized the October 24 demonstration in Amantea. They outlined their concerns about the discrepancies and doubts left by the Italian Mafia/State’s “Operation Cetraro” investigation. There concerns included: notable differences in the videos of the ships from the region and the state, different coordinates for where the research was conducted, and a complete absence of transparency on the part of the national authorities. One notable difference in the State’s video is that the fishing nets are no longer visible and nor are the iron drums. They voiced perplexity as to why the Ministry of the Environment would want to throw water on this and other burning environmental emergencies across the region instead of working on solutions to the grave health risks that face the population here in Calabria. The participants in this press conference included environmental expert Francesco Cirillo who has followed these issues for over a decade, Mauro de Marco of the organization Zero Rifiuti (i.e., Zero Garbage), and Gianfranco Posa representing the Natale de Grazia committee among others.

The health risks here are caused by serious and documented ecological emergencies. In the city of Crotone a school, roads and other buildings were built using materials mixed with toxic wastes. Analyses administered by the local health authorities revealed high levels of cancer causing heavy metals in blood samples taken from children that attend the school, now known as the “School of Poisons” in Crotone. In Praia a Mare near the border of Basilicata and Maratea, an abandoned textile factory sits on lands contaminated by toxic dumping, also on sea coast. In Aiello Calabro near Amantea and along the river Oliva, radiation levels 6 times higher than normal have been measured and a population plagued with cancerous tumors seeks the truth about the cargo of the Jolly Rosso. The Jolly Rosso beached on the shore of Amantea in 1990 after a failed attempt to sink it at sea and then disappeared after two days. Numerous other stories were documented, as well as the analysis of the fish off the coast of Cetraro. The analysis of the fish off Cetraro was done by the regional health authorities ASL and showed levels of heavy metals like arsenic, cobalt and chrome at higher than levels considered safe by Italian standards. In April of 2007, based on the findings of these analyses, the regional health authorities and the head of the Port of Cetraro banned fishing in certain areas. Then in August of 2008 this ban was mysteriously lifted despite the fact that no other analyses of the fish were taken. At the October 31 press conference the participants asked that the entire population of Calabria be given a health screenings to determine the risk factors posed by the environment.

On the first of November, the first major reports of problems with the Italian government’s “Operation Cetraro” began to surface in the regional media. Domenico Micelli reported in the daily newspaper Calabria Ora that there are at least three ships sunk off the coast of Cetraro and the coordinates of the ship investigated by the region did not match those of the ship investigated by the state. On the November 2, the World Wildlife Federation of Italy asked for the case of the ship off Cetraro to be re-opened by Minister Prestigiacomo and Piero Grasso. WWF also pointed out discrepancies in the videos made by the region and the state. They asked for an explanation as to why the coordinates of the area investigated by the Region and the State are over 6 kilometers apart. They call on the government to carry out their investigation with transparency and involvement of independent researchers from national environmental organizations and regional and local governments.

On November 3, this sequence of discrepancies was reported in the national press. The Italian daily La Repubblica reports that a secret document has come to light from 2006 that confirms at least 3 different shipwrecks off the coast of Cetraro, thus bringing into question the State’s quick investigation and closing of the case. There are also serious questions being posed by Environmental Assessor Silvio Greco about the research methods employed by the Mare Oceano, he points out that the research vessel does not have the correct equipment to measure certain types of radionucliedes. There are also discrepancies about the timing of Prestigiacomo’s revelations to the media. She said that the ship was not the presumed Cunsky even before the robot was sent down to shoot the images of the Catania, giving the Mafia/State’s version a prefabricated veneer.

Italy is facing difficult times. The economy shows no signs of rebound and the stagnancy of wages keeps the majority of people struggling to make ends meet. The mass media are dominated by scandalous reports on prostitutes and transsexuals. Berlusconi faces the imminent risk of prison for corruption and fraud and says that even if he is found guilty by the “communist” judges he will not leave his post. On the October 22, after being arrested for having 20 grams of marijuana, a young man named Stefano Cucchi was beaten to death at the hands of state authorities in the Regina Coeli prison in Rome sending shockwaves throughout the peninsula. Social and ecological justice are hard to find in Italy, and while much of the population seems content with their football games and material distractions, a growing and very well informed mass movement is afoot. Here in Calabria the voices are clamoring for the truth about what dangerous secrets the Mafia/State is hiding beneath the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. The restless citizenry here is also proposing their own investigation into this matter and is coming up with all types of creative solutions to the problems facing this area. There is a strong streak of resistance in the people here as they refuse to allow a corrupt political class to play games with the health of the people and the future of our beautiful mountains and sea.

Note: Article 32 [Health]

(1) The republic protects individual health as a basic right and in the public interest; it provides free medical care to the poor.

(2) Nobody may be forcefully submitted to medical treatment except as regulated by law. That law may in no case violate the limits imposed by the respect for the human being.

Michael Leonardi currently lives in Calabria. He teaches English at the University of Calabria in Cosenza and at the Vocational Highschool in Maratea for training hotel and restaurant workers. He can be reached at mikeleonardi@hotmail.com

Source

ADL demands that Goldstone repudiate his own report

ADL director to Goldstone: As a good Jew, repudiate report

November 4, 2009

Anti-Defamation League director Abraham Foxman of ADL called on Goldstone to repudiate his report: "I have had great respect for you over the years. Your work at the head of the South Africa Reconciliation Commission and in helping to find a just solution to the Bosnian conflict deserves the highest commendation.

"Moreover, I know you to be a proud Jew who serves on the Board of Trustees of Hebrew University and who has a daughter living in Israel."

"With this background, I wondered in the first place how you could take on the chairmanship of the investigation of the war in Gaza mandated by the UN Human Rights Council," he said. "After all, the Human Rights Council has repeatedly demonstrated its bias against Israel and in its stated mission for the investigation began with assumptions presuming Israeli guilt."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1125593.html

Hamas denies Israeli allegation about having ballistic missile

03/11/2009 - 07:58 PM

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Movement of Hamas categorically denied an Israeli allegation that it conducted successful experiments on a missile with a range of 60 km that may reach Tel Al-Rabi (Tel Aviv). Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said this allegation is a proactive step taken by Israel to influence the world opinion prior to the discussion of the Goldstone report in the UN general assembly. Spokesman Barhoum added that the adoption of the Goldstone report prompted Israel to fabricate such lies to incite the world and public opinion against Hamas. He also warned that this fabrication could be an attempt by Israel to justify intended crimes against Gaza people. For his part, Abu Obeida, the spokesman for Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, refused to comment on Israeli intelligence reports that the Brigades tested a ballistic missile that could reach Tel Aviv but said that Israel has many malicious goals behind spreading fabricated news. Head of the Israeli military intelligence Amos Yadlin told Tuesday the Knesset foreign affairs and defense committee that Hamas fired successfully a 60-km missile that could hit Tel Aviv.

Israeli military attacks and takes over Iranian ship

November 04, 2009 09:35 - by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

An Iranian ship was attacked in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea by the Israeli navy early on Wednesday morning, while apparently on its way to Lebanon.

According to Israeli media sources, no Cabinet meeting was held in advance of the decision to attack the ship, and a small number of Cabinet officials may have given the go-ahead for the attack.

Israeli officials told the Associated Press that the ship contained weapons including anti-tank missiles, but no official information has been released on the contents of the ship or the reason for its illegal seizure by the Israeli military. Col. Avital Leibovich with the Israeli military confirmed to reporters that the ship had been seized, but gave no details.

The Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, "This is another success in the endless struggle against attempts to smuggle weapons and military equipment whose goal is to strengthen terrorist elements who threaten the security of Israel."

Since the ship was in international waters when it was seized, the takeover could be considered as an act of war, but Israeli officials say that the Iranian ship was disguised as a humanitarian aid ship flying the flag of Antigua. For that reason, analysts say that a response by the Iranian government seems unlikely.

Did you hate right-wing Aznar’s support for Israel ? Wait to see socialist Zapatero’s

By AGUSTIN VELLOSO

1. The 1st anniversary of the Israeli war against Gaza

Almost one year ago, Israel started yet another "war until the end" against the Palestinians, as it was presented by its minister of defence, Ehud Barak, at the end of December 2008. Although the wild bombing over Gaza ended in mid January 2009, the war is not over. It has several fronts and not all combatants shoot from a tank rolling through the Strip. Thousands of kilometres away, some people close ranks with Israel , some with the Palestinians.

The recently published Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, widely known by the name of its leader, Richard Goldstone, devotes almost six hundred pages to the crimes committed by Israel during the war. It also deals with human rights in Palestine .

The table of contents shows the enormity of the crimes committed by Israel and explains worldwide popular demand about taking those responsible to a criminal court: indiscriminate attacks, deliberate attacks against the civilian population, use of certain weapons, destruction of industrial infrastructure, food production, water installations, use of civilians as human shields, use of excessive or lethal force, Palestinians prisoners in Israel jails (1)


2. The other soldiers in the war against the Palestinians: the friends of Israel

It is no secret that Israel has realised that the usually sleepy world public opinion has woke up alarmed by the barbarism that took place in Gaza against a largely unarmed and exhausted population after months of a merciless blockade.

Accordingly, the Israeli government quickly launched a large damage control operation to restore the –once again- tarnished image of its army, in order to try and justify the savage deeds by its soldiers, who followed the orders of their military commanders, who in turn followed the orders of the two highest civilian commanders, the ministry of defence and the prime minister.

In mid October, the Spanish prime minister, Rodríguez Zapatero paid a visit to his Israeli counterpart, Netanyahu, and had the chance to meet with the president, Shimon Peres. On October 15, the Spanish paper of record El País wrote: "Peres thanked [Zapatero] for the legal reform launched by his government in order to prevent the National Court to deal with crimes allegedly committed by the Israeli Army. These words contradict the Spanish government version, which states that the reform of the criminal law dealing with universal jurisdiction simply aimed to increase its effectiveness" (2).

However, gratitude does not come easy from Israel . It is a standard procedure amongst its leaders and ambassadors to regularly demand proof of loyalty from the leaders of "friendly" countries. The same prime minister who is welcome these days in Israel , was reprimanded some days earlier by the Zionist ambassador in Madrid : " Israel will convey to Zapatero its discomfort for the increase of anti-Semitism in Spain ".

Zapatero’s government was also reprimanded some months before for the same sin and, "according to the [Israeli] ambassador’s opinion, the government has taken important steps to combat it, such as the establishment of the Casa Sefarad (Sefarad House), but still a bigger effort is required." (3)

In this amazing occasion, July 20, 2006, "during a breakfast organised by the Foro Nueva Economía (New Economy Forum), with Moratinos as the guest speaker, [the Jewish entrepeneur] Hatchwell expressed 'the indignation’ felt by Spanish Jews because of some statements made by Zapatero on the eve of the breakfast. ´These are anti-Israeli and anti-Semite statements and we can not accept them’".

Questioned about this by the Spanish press, the Israeli ambassador reminded the Spanish government that "the relationship [between Spain and Israel ], although we are celebrating its twentieth anniversary, it is not at its best. There is a very strong criticism, very unjust against Israel , this is contrary to the European Union consensus". (4)

Israel knows how to make a friendly president even friendlier. At a time when even some Jewish people criticise Israel for its war against Gaza, and millions of people from all walks of life ask for international action to end the siege of Gaza, the incoming president of the European Union, Zapatero, will welcome Israeli defence minister, Ehud Barak in Madrid on November 4th.

Now that Barak can visit Spain without fear of being prosecuted for his role in the Gaza war, he will take advantage of the law amendment to sign a new and upgraded military cooperation agreement with Zapatero. Spain will somehow become a partner in the next Israeli aggression against Palestinians.

What about president Abu Mazen? He has made clear that Spain is a friend of the Palestinians. No problem. Zapatero will soon send him some money and security personnel to train Palestinian policemen, and later on some trucks with band aids, crutches, tents and canned food just in case.

3. Popular reaction against the pro-Zionist role of the Spanish government: BDS

Despite the efforts made by the Israeli embassy in Madrid through its propaganda agents, in order to try and change Spaniards’ opinion about the Palestinian conflict, which is contrary to its government position, people resist –as it happens all over the world.

With that aim, Israeli agents attend political, social and cultural acts, participate in TV shows, lectures and conferences, write in newspapers and establish educational, social and economic links with Spanish civil servants, journalists and businessmen.

Casa Sefarad-Israel is the flagship. The house is "a public institution established by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Madrid Autonomous Government and Madrid Townhall." (5)

In other words, several Spanish authorities collect citizens’ money via taxes and the Israeli government takes some it to try and convince these that in Israel "coexists dozens of nationalities, languages, religions and races", according to the house information. (6)

Not everything is lost. With this enormous Hasbara effort, Israel is also clearly saying that it has not only failed in its military campaign against Gaza, but that it has also failed to convince people that it was a defensive war and that Israel is acting in favour of international law, peace with its neighbours, and the human rights of people living in Palestine.

The answer of the Spaniards who question Israeli actions, indeed its place in the international community, is increasingly to join the international boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign –BDS- and make it grow in Spain . This is the best way to show both support for the Palestinian cause and contempt for its oppressors.

Footnotes

(1) http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsessio
n/9/docs/UNFFMGC_Report.pdf

(2) http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/Zapatero/promete/refor
zar/proceso/paz/presidencia/UE/elpepuesp/20091015elpepunac_3 ...

(3) http://www.lavanguardia.es/politica/noticias/20091006/537987
88482/israel-trasladara-a-zapatero-su-malestar-por-el-aument ...

(4) http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/Moratinos/ve/intolerab
le/comunidad/judia/tache/antisemita/Zapatero/elpepiesp/20060 ...

(5) http://www.casasefarad-israel.es/noticias/Cinco-medicos-espa
noles-mostraran-la-realidad-de-Israel-en-una-docu-serie-grab ...

(6) Idem

Source

Population Growth and Hunger: Is there a relationship?

November 3, 2009

Are there too many people?

There is "a staggering fertility decline.

"In the 1970s only 24 countries had fertility rates of 2.1 or less, all of them rich.

"Now there are over 70 such countries, and in every continent, including Africa." (Fertility: Go forth and multiply a lot less)

People are starving?

"Experts estimate that corruption in India indirectly kills more than 8,000 people a day by diverting money from food programs into the pockets of crooked officials." (India's New Anti-Corruption Laws May Not Work )

We still have the feudal system.

Bangladeshis making cheap clothes for supermarkets are paid as little as 3p an hour.

(Stunning Photos: ZORIAH - PHOTOGRAPHER'S BLOG.)

The book World Hunger: Twelve Myths (12 Myths About Hunger.) tells us the following:

1. The world produces enough food.

But low incomes prevent many people from getting enough to eat.

The elite (A) prevent the poor from owning land (B) pay starvation wages.

2. Climate is a factor.

In America many homeless people die from the cold every winter.


Rich people in Kenya will not starve. Kenya exports food.

3. Birth rates are falling rapidly worldwide.

In countries like Nigeria, Brazil and Bolivia, lots of food is grown but many people are too poor to buy a decent meal.

The Netherlands has little land per person but manages to feed its people and export food.

Countries like Cuba and Sri lanka have managed to greatly reduce population growth rates.

They have done this by improving the lives of the poor, especially poor women.

4. Efforts to feed the hungry are not causing the environmental crisis.

Large corporations are mainly responsible for deforestation.

Most pesticides are applied to export crops.

Cuba overcame a food crisis through self-reliance and sustainable, virtually pesticide-free agriculture.


5. We must fight the prospect of a ‘New Green Revolution' based on biotechnology, which threatens to further accentuate inequality.

6. Large landowners often leave much land idle.

A World Bank study of northeast Brazil estimates that redistributing farmland into smaller holdings would raise output an astonishing 80 percent.

7. The market only works efficiently when everyone has a decent income.


8. As a result of 'Free Trade', Brazil exports soybean ­to feed Japanese and European livestock.

Export crop production squeezes out basic food production.

Since NAFTA there has been a net loss of jobs in the USDA and Mexico.

9. Poor people, such as the Zapatistas in Chiapas, seek change.

We should remove the obstacles often created by large corporations, U.S. government, World Bank and IMF policies.

10. Most U.S. aid works directly against the hungry.

US aid is used to keep repressive governments in power.

11. Low wages ­in the Third World may mean cheaper bananas, shirts, computers and fast food for Americans and Europeans.

But the system leads to greater poverty for the majority.

Corporations seek cheaper and cheaper labour.

12. ­The 'right to unlimited accumulation of wealth' ­is in conflict with 'ending hunger'.

Source

Arundhati Roy on resistance, democracy and India

Indian author Arundhati Roy interviewed on the Riz Khan program discussing politics in contemporary India, from the Maoists to Kashmir.

Part One (12.07)

Part Two (10.39)
Hat tip - Pulse Media

Kuwait supports Iran's nuclear program

Press TV - November 3, 2009 22:40:24 GMT

Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah says Iran's nuclear program is peaceful and Tehran has the right to continue its nuclear program.

"All countries have the right to use peaceful nuclear technology, and we believe that Iran's activities are in the area of peaceful nuclear energy, and we support such a program," IRNA quoted al-Sabah as saying in a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in Kuwait on Tuesday.

During the meeting, Mottaki and al-Sabah discussed the latest bilateral and regional issues.

The Kuwaiti emir also stated that Iran's security enhances the security of the Middle East region.

"We regard Iran's security as our own security," al-Sabah added.

Iran not seeing US-promised changes

Press TV - November 3, 2009 11:14:56 GMT

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution says the US approach toward Iran has been in contradiction with the slogan of bringing 'change' to its policy.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran decided from the very beginning not to prejudge and to instead consider the slogan of 'change'. But what we have witnessed in practice during this period of time has been in contradiction with the remarks that have been made,” Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei told Iranian students on Tuesday.

The Leader added that the US was seeking its own predetermined results from the talks.

“On the one hand, Americans talk of negotiations. On the other hand, they continue to threaten and say the negotiations must have our desired results or we will take (punitive) measures.”

Ayatollah Khamenei added that “such relation [with the US] was that of 'sheep and wolf', which the late Imam (founder of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini) said we do not want.”

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday called on Iran to accept an IAEA-backed proposal for nuclear cooperation, reiterating that the offer will not be changed.

"We continue to press the Iranians to accept fully the proposal that has been made, which they accepted in principle because we are not altering it," Clinton said.

The Leader however reiterated that the Iranian nation will not bow to any conditions which would undermine its rights.

“If anyone intends to violate the rights of the Iranian nation, the nation will firmly stand up to them and will make them kneel down.”

Ayatollah Khamenei added that as long as the US wanted “to turn back the time and seek dominance over Iran”, it could by no means compel the Iranian nation to retreat.

Under a proposal discussed in Vienna in mid-October, the United States, France and Russia wanted Iran to send most of its domestically-produced low enriched uranium (LEU) abroad to be converted into more refined fuel for the Tehran reactor that produces medical isotopes.

The world powers introduced the plan, which was first floated by the Obama administration.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Monday that Iran's 'technical and economic' concerns must be taken into account regarding the draft deal.

"We have examined this proposal, we have some technical and economic considerations on that," Mottaki told reporters in the Malaysian capital on Monday.

Mottaki also called for the establishment of a technical commission to review and reconsider Iran's stated issues.

Goldman left foreign investors holding the subprime bag

By Greg Gordon | McClatchy Newspapers | November 3, 2009

NEW YORK — Inside the thick Goldman Sachs investment circular were the details of a secret, $2 billion deal channeled through a Caribbean tax haven.

The Sept. 26, 2006, document offered sophisticated U.S. and European investors an opportunity to buy into a pool of supposedly high-grade bonds backed by residential, commercial and student loans. The transaction was registered through a shell company in the Cayman Islands.

Few of the potential investors knew it, but the ratings of many of the mortgage securities hid their true risks and, in some cases, Goldman's descriptions exaggerated their quality.

The Cayman offering — one of perhaps dozens made through the British territory — occurred as Goldman began to ditch the subprime mortgage business before the U.S. housing market collapsed under an avalanche of homeowner defaults.

In all, Goldman sold more than $57 billion in risky mortgage-backed securities during a 14-month period in 2006 and 2007, including nearly $39 billion issued from mortgages it purchased. Meanwhile, the firm peddled billions of dollars in complex deals, many of them tied to subprime mortgages, in the Caymans and other offshore locations.

Many of those securities later soured, but the sales allowed Goldman to become the only major U.S. investment bank to escape the brunt of the subprime meltdown.

One bond analyst who reviewed the 2006 Cayman deal dismissed it in a report to clients as "a not so cleverly disguised way for Goldman Sachs & Co. to unload its unwanted exposures to the subprime real estate market onto foreign investors."

Goldman spokesman Michael DuVally said that the firm "sold mortgage securities only to sophisticated investors" and disclosed "all the appropriate information available."

McClatchy also found at least two instances in which Goldman appeared to mislead investors. In one, the firm said that $65.3 million in securities were backed by safe "prime" mortgages when the same loans had been labeled a cut below prime in a U.S. offering. In the other, Goldman listed $10 million as "midprime" loans when the underlying mortgages had been made to subprime borrowers with shaky finances.

DuVally said that the descriptions were consistent with the standards set by Moody's, the bond-rating agency.

The secret Cayman Islands deals provide a window into one method that Goldman and other Wall Street firms used to draw European banks and other foreign financial institutions into investing hundreds of billions of dollars in securities tied to risky U.S. home loans.

Experts estimate that Wall Street investment banks sold 25 percent to 50 percent of these bonds and related securities overseas, resulting in massive losses in Europe and elsewhere when the market collapsed.

Last spring, the International Monetary Fund projected that global write-downs on "U.S.-originated assets" stemming from the subprime disaster could reach $2.7 trillion.

Underscoring the role of tax havens as a Wall Street marketing tool, a Treasury Department report found that as of June 30, 2008, $164 billion in U.S. mortgage-backed securities were held in the Cayman Islands and $22 billion more were held in Luxembourg, another tax-friendly zone.

Gary Kopff, a securitization expert who analyzed unpublished industry data, said that Goldman packaged or marketed offshore deals worth at least $83 billion from 2002 to 2008. These deals, called collateralized debt obligations, amounted to a $1.3 trillion global market, and Goldman reaped as much as $1.66 billion for assembling and selling them.

Some of Goldman's subprime mortgage securities wound up in the hands of financially struggling Eastern European governments such as those in Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Slovenia, said a Wall Street expert involved in trading those types of securities who declined to be identified because of the matter's sensitivity. This person said that one Slovakian bank's multimillion-dollar investment wound up worthless.

DuVally said the company could find no record of marketing the bonds in those countries, but that the securities may have gotten there through the resale market.

Subprime-backed mortgage securities that were sold at the crest of the housing market in 2006 and 2007 have shown the most precipitous drop in value, with default rates on the underlying mortgages exceeding 30 percent. For many cash-strapped borrowers, it was easy to walk away from soaring monthly payments when their mortgage balances exceeded the lower value of their homes.

The 2006 Cayman deal was part of a flurry of Goldman activity in the hidden, unregulated parts of the securities industry. Goldman's traders also made huge bets that those securities would lose value by buying insurance-like contracts, called credit-default swaps, with private parties. Beginning early in 2007, they bought swaps on a London-based exchange.

Every Goldman bet on the exchange's subprime index, which was run by the London-based financial services company Markit, was on a basket of bonds that included a bundle of its own subprime-related securities.

Germany's Deutsche Bank, the trustee holding mortgages for scores of Goldman's bond offerings, also lists more than 50 private Goldman deals on its Web site. Of those, 42 were backed by risky mortgages.

In marketing exotic deals that typically include subprime mortgage-backed securities, Goldman and other Wall Street firms have long used the Caymans as a gateway to European investors, said an official of a German bank, who wasn't authorized to speak publicly and declined to be identified.

The 2006 Cayman deal was outside the reach of U.S. tax laws and free of U.S. regulation. Goldman circulated the deal under the names of Cayman-based Altius III Funding Ltd., and a sister firm registered in Delaware, both created for the sole purpose of facilitating the transaction.

The offering drew a scornful reaction from the bond analyst who warned investment clients to stay away. The analyst's report, a copy of which was obtained by McClatchy, described Goldman as "a single underwriter solely interested in pushing its dirty inventory onto unsuspecting and obviously gullible investors."

". ... In this case, it is a foregone conclusion that many relatively senior bondholders will suffer severe losses," said the analyst's report, which was made available on the condition of anonymity because the offering barred unauthorized disclosure.

McClatchy also learned of a second private Goldman deal, in which it sought in May 2007 via another Cayman company to sell $44.6 million in bonds related to subprime loans written by New Century Financial, a mortgage lender that weeks earlier had careened into bankruptcy after California regulators closed it.

For foreign banks, the lure was spelled AAA. Under both public and private deals, experts said, 80 percent or more of the bonds carried top grades from financial rating companies, assuring investors that the securities were among the safest plays in the financial world.

The triple-A rating was "the clincher," said an official of another German bank, who also wasn't authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity.

Few investors, however, knew that Goldman and other Wall Street dealers were paying the biggest U.S. financial ratings firms for grading the risky bonds.

Sylvain Raynes, a former analyst for Moody's Investors Service, the largest U.S. rating firm, likened the Wall Street firms' relationships with the rating agencies to hiring "a high-class escort service."

Typically, he said, an investment banker would meet with analysts for a ratings agency, describe a mortgage pool "and propose his dream result."

"The agency would call back after the meeting and intimate that they 'could get there' sight unseen," Raynes said. "Both parties understood what that meant, and the agency would be hired to rate the deal."

After bestowing untold numbers of triple-A ratings on subprime-backed bonds, Moody's and the second- and third-largest rating agencies, Standard & Poor's and Fitch, began to downgrade hundreds of pools of the securities in the summer of 2007, including the offshore deals known as collateralized debt obligations.

That set off a chain reaction that culminated in last year's Wall Street meltdown. Since then, both Moody's and S&P have downgraded slices of the Altius III deal several times.

U.S. pension funds that have lost money on subprime mortgage-backed bonds have filed suits accusing Goldman, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch of failing to inform them of the bonds' true risks. (Merrill is now part of Bank of America.)

Many European institutions that lost money on the securities, however, have fewer legal options.

Few of them are pointing fingers at Goldman or other U.S. investment banks. McClatchy contacted several European banks about their subprime losses and got similar responses when the banks were asked where they'd bought them.

Germany's IKB Deutsche Industriebank, whose 2007 near-collapse from subprime losses awakened Europe to the impending financial crisis, has written off about $19 billion (in current U.S. dollars) related to U.S. mortgages. A spokeswoman for the bank declined to say which investment banks sold it bonds.

Several of Germany's seven regional "landesbanks," or land banks, also took a pounding. With $7.2 billion in aid from the state of Bavaria, Munich-based Bayern LB, Germany's sixth-largest bank, has reserved $8.95 billion for losses in its asset-backed securities portfolio, which includes subprime loans. A Bayern spokesman declined to say who sold the bank the risky bonds.

Spokespeople for the Royal Bank of Scotland, which bought a Dutch subprime subsidiary and has reported tens of billions of dollars in losses, and the French bank Societe General, which lost more than $6 billion, also declined to identify any U.S. investment banks as the source of their problems.

"Are we angry against the U.S. banks?" a German bank official said, requesting anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity. "We looked at the triple A's like the other banks, and we bought this, yeah. It doesn't help much to be angry."

(Tish Wells contributed to this article.)