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The Democrats Bow to Bush on War: How the Anti-War Movement Failed
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Today's Stories June 4, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Diana Johnstone Susan Rosenthal, MD Richard Ward
June 2 / 3, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Marc Levy Martin Smith Diana Johnstone John Ross Uri Avnery Sunsara Taylor Richard Neville P. Sainath Missy Comley
Beattie Nisrine Abiad Rannie Amiri Margot Pepper Eric Stewart Ralph Nader Dan Bacher Shaun Harkin Richard Rhames Frederick Hudson Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
Dave Marsh Saul Landau David Phinney Robert Jensen Stanley Heller Yifat Susskind Robert Weissman Paul Buchheit William S.
Lind Sherwood Ross Stephen Lendman Website of the Day
Robert Bryce Patrick Cockburn Gary Leupp Kathy Kelly Marjorie Cohn Chris Kutalik
Corporate Crime Reporter Dave Lindorff Website of the Day
May 30, 2007 James Ridgeway Franklin Lamb Terrence E. Paupp Uri Avnery Alan Maass Rock and Rap
Confidential Ralph Nader Nirmal Ghosh Jean Daniels Tom Barry Website of the Day
Stephen Soldz Eliza Ernshire Ron Jacobs Dave Lindorff Evelyn Pringle Mike Whitney David Swanson John Holt Cynthia McKinney Martha Rosenberg Website of the Day
Bill Quigley Col. Dan Smith Cindy Sheehan Dr. Susan Block Jeeni Criscenzo Douglas Valentine Website of the Day
May 26 / 27, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Michael Donnelly Patrick Cockburn Franklin Lamb Jean Bricmont Gary Leupp James Petras William Peace Judith and John Sharpe Saul Landau Paul Craig Roberts Democracy in Iraq, Tyranny at Home? Jonathan M.
Feldman Dave Lindorff Missy Beattie Mike Whitney Badruddin Khan Ron Jacobs Zoe Blunt Arjun Chowdhury, Heather Gray N. D. Jayaprakash Joe Allen Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
Robert Jensen David Vest John Stauber Evelyn Pringle Corporate Crime Reporter Susan Rosenthal,
MD Roberto Rodriguez Steve Fournier Patrick McElwee Robert Weissman Website of the Day
Franklin Lamb Corporate Crime
Reporter Robert Fantina Norman Solomon Dave Lindorff Sen. Russell
Feingold Fred Gardner Mike Whitney Kevin Parsneau, Arjun Chowdhury
and Mark Hoffman Caroline Paul Eva Liddell Website of
the Day
Patrick Cockburn Rev. William
Alberts Joe DeRaymond Sudhanva Deshpande
Paul Craig Roberts Glen Ford Rannie Amiri China Hand Zoe Blunt Nivien Saleh Website of the Day
Robert Fisk Joshua Frank Harvey Wasserman David Mos Masumoto Sonja Karkar Conn Hallinan Dave Lindorff Jeffrey Kolakowski Evelyn Pringle Jim Baumer Website of the Day
Patrick Cockburn Nicole Colson John Ross Stephen Fleischman M. Shahid Alam Ron Jacobs Peter Rost, MD Alan Farago Paul Buchheit Website of
the Day
May 19 / 20, 2007 Andrew Cockburn Uri Avnery Peter Gelderloos Saul Landau Robert Fantina Fred Gardner Ralph Nader Jean Daniels Reza Fiyouzat Missy Beattie Robert Alvarez Sonja Karkar Dave Lindorff Jeff Sher Julian C. Holmes Clancy Sigal Prairie Miller James Murren Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
May 18, 2007 Adam Jones Sharon Smith Christopher Brauchli Peter Rost,
MD Denise Maloney Pictou David Swanson Ali Khan Susan Rosenthal,
M.D. Samer Assad CP News Service Website of the Day
May 17, 2007 Tariq Ali Yifat Susskind Dave Zirin Brian J. Foley W. John Green Eric Johnson-DeBaufre Badruddin Khan Martha Rosenberg China Hand Dan Vojir Website of the Day
Patrick Cockburn Ashley Dawson Joshua Frank Corporate Crime
Reporter Ray McGovern Glen Ford Joe Bageant Sonja Karkar Mickey S. Huff John Chuckman Kaz Dziamka Website of
the Day
May 15, 2007 Michael Neumann Patrick Cockburn Ashley Smith Marc Gardner Dave Lindorff Ben Terrall Ron Jacobs Harvey Wasserman Marcus Mabry Dr. Susan Block Website of the Day
May 14, 2007 Jennifer Roesch Jeffrey St.
Clair George Bisharat Diane Wachtell Ramzy Baroud Rosemary and
Walter Brasch Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed Roberto Rodriguez Jonathan Culp Website of
the Day
May 12 / 13, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Patrick Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Diane Farsetta Ralph Nader Jean Bricmont Marcus Breen Joe Bageant Conn Hallinan Fred Gardner Juan Santos
Eve Bachrach Missy Comley
Beattie Ron Jacobs Niranjan Ramakrishnan Susie Day Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend May 11, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Kathleen Christison Mike Ferner John Holt Laurie Hasbrook Christopher
Brauchli Margaret Kimberley Dave Lindorff Nicole Colson John V. Walsh Website of the Day
May 10, 2007 Tariq Ali Patrick Cockburn Neve Gordon Marjorie Cohn David Rosen Alan Farago John Hellman Kathy Rentenbach BANCO Richard Rhames Website of the Day
Jeff Leys Patrick Cockburn Glen Ford Paula Rothenberg Kathryn Weber John Chuckman Jordan Flaherty Dave Lindorff Stephen Lendman Website of
the Day
May 8, 2007 Dave Lindorff Patrick Cockburn Corporate Crime Reporter Ralph Nader Malini Johar Schueller Juan Santos Dave Zirin Joshua Frank Evelyn Pringle Eamonn McCann Website of the Day
May 7, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Monica Benderman Greg Moses Rannie Amiri Fitrakis / Wasserman Fred Wilhelms Ramzy Baroud Bruce K. Gagnon T. W. Croft Sonja Karkar Website of the Day
Alexander Cockburn William Blum Uri Avnery Franklin Lamb Fred Gardner Lawrence R.
Velvel Missy Beattie Robert Fantina Carla Blank Linn Washington,
Jr. Stephen F. Jackson P. Sainath Anthony Papa James T. Phillips John Ross Stephen Lendman Ben Terrall CounterPunch
Newswire Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
May 4, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Col. Dan Smith Norman Solomon Azmi Bishara Ron Jacobs Dave Lindorff Kevin Zeese Bob Fitrakis Janet Kauffman Website of
the Day
May 3, 2007 Jeff Halper Christopher
Brauchli Dave Zirin Corporate Crime
Reporter Robert Fisk Mike Ferner Mike Whitney Pham Binh Dave Lindorff Michael A.
Johnson Website of the Day
May 2, 2007 Saul Landau Dr. Susan Block Carla Blank Margaret Kimberly Kevin Zeese Carlos Villareal Michael Dickinson Tim Shorrock Alevtina Rea William S.
Lind Website of the Day
Andrew Cockburn Fred Gardner Chase Madar Ralph Nader John V. Walsh Joshua Frank Leslie Radford Shaun Harkin Dave Lindorff Peter Rost,
MD Peter Linebaugh Website of
the Day
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June 4, 2007 About Those North Korean Benjamin Franklins ...A Drop in the BucketBy CHINA HAND The Federal Reserve Board has debunked allegations of large-scale laundering of the notorious North Korean "Supernote" $100 bills. In my previous post about alleged North Korean counterfeiting, I wrote that the U.S. Secret Service had reported that only $50 million in Supernotes had been seized over the last 15 years. This meager haul provides little evidentiary or logical support for the idea that North Korea was funding its current account deficit through counterfeiting. The counterfeiting allegation is an important part, perhaps a central pillar, of the hardliners' case for aggressive action against the North Korean state. It's difficult to make the case for North Korea as a "Soprano state" relying on hundreds of millions of dollars in profits (not revenues, mind you) from criminal activity to finance its current account shortfall through counterfeit cigarettes, narcotics, and pharmaceuticals trafficking alone. But with the allegation of counterfeiting-and the picture of North Korean printing presses cranking out hundreds of millions of dollars of fake US currency every week-these difficulties would seem to evaporate. Also, in contrast to illicit production of cigarettes and drugs -- which could be plausibly if not convincingly blamed on rogue elements inside the North Korean economic and security apparatus--the massive effort, expense, and difficulty of counterfeiting and distributing Supernotes in large quantities could only be undertaken with the knowledge of the North Korean government. Finally, while North Korea's other alleged criminal activities primarily impact China, Japan, and other Asian countries, Supernote counterfeiting can be considered a direct affront, even a threat, to the United States. Indeed, counterfeiting another nation's currency has been declared a casus belli under international law by David Asher, architect of the Illicit Activities Initiative against North Korea--although I have as yet been unable to find an independent citation supporting this position. In light of the insignificant quantity of Supernotes seized, I wrote that conspiracy theorists would need an alternate explanation to justify an aggressive campaign against North Korea: that there were hundreds of millions in undetected Supernotes out there, and this theory would necessarily require collusion by some big financial guns especially since the only way to pass a significant, obviously suspicious wad of hundreds of millions or billions in US currency, even if the bills were perfectly undetectable, would be with the collusion of Chinese or Russian banks-and their governments. I don't know if Mr. Asher would take such a big step [as confronting China on the pretext of an investigation against Banco Delta Asia] on the shaky assumption that North Korea was grinding out hundreds of millions of dollars in absolutely undetectable Supernotes. I suppose we'll have to await the publication of his memoirs to learn his true feelings on the subject and whether I am pummeling a straw man on this subject. Well, impatient readers need wait no longer...and straw men can retire unmolested to their hayricks. David Asher, architect of the anti-money laundering campaign against Banco Delta Asia and North Korea, apparently does not believe the North Korean government can produce undetectable Supernotes. However, he does make the assertion that detectable Supernotes can circulate in the world economy undetected-and through the vagaries of the world financial system and the connivance of bankers-leaving the door open for continued allegations that the Chinese are assisting the North Korean in injecting significant amounts of counterfeit currency into the global market. Unfortunately for Mr. Asher, this position has been authoritatively debunked by the U.S. government-four times. In remarks to a Heritage Foundation seminar in April 2006, David Asher stated:
I would say that Mr. Asher is taking the logically risky tactic of starting with a negative - that trade statistics provide no clear evidence about how North Korea is covering its current account deficit-to make a dubious assumption-that North Korea is counterfeiting currency - and, in order to deal with the objection that very little counterfeit currency has been detected, takes that second negative - the absence of counterfeit currency - to posit a new interpretation of currency flows in which large amounts of counterfeit currency are knowingly injected into a parallel global cash economy by venal bankers. Mr. Asher's chain of reasoning is logically shaky and also contradicted by analysis by people who probably know more about it that he does: the Federal Reserve Board. In connection with introduction of the new, difficult to counterfeit US currency-the NCD or New Currency Design-the Federal Reserve Board and the Treasury Department undertook a massive, multi-year effort to understand the nature and vulnerabilities of the international demand for US currency. A 2002 paper entitled Estimating the Worldwide Volume of Counterfeit U.S. Currency: Data and Extrapolation, by Ruth Judson and Richard Porter, was prepared for the Division of Monetary Affairs of the Federal Reserve System, and later formed the basis for a series of three reports to Congress by the Treasury Department. It analyzed the statistics on counterfeit confiscations and analyzed the worldwide flow of US$ cash. The authors concluded that there was no significant "parallel economy" insulated from the big money center banks. Contra Mr. Asher's apparently undocumented assertions concerning his understanding of the world currency markets, I particularly enjoyed this passage:
Believers in the North Korean counterfeit story may try to extract some comfort from the fact that the Fed team didn't visit Macau. However, the point of the report is that it is impossible for counterfeit currency injected into an open economy such as Macau's to be quarantined from the banking system. "Consider the circulation lives of $100 notes. Genuine notes circulate, return to Reserve Banks, and sometimes recirculate; their average lifespan is about eight years. In contrast, counterfeits end their lives when they are detected, which at the very latest is on their first (and only) trip to a Federal Reserve Cash Office....we assume that on average counterfeits could remain in circulation at most for one year, with a few months being much more likely." The authors make the interesting point that cash is exchanged, on the average, once a week, and the probability of a note finding its way to a bank after 22 weeks of circulation is 95%. They conclude:
I recently corresponded with individuals familiar with the issues addressed in this report, and they advised that they have not come across any new evidence that would lead them to question its conclusions concerning the magnitude or character of counterfeit US currency circulation in the world economy. In a footnote, the North Korean counterfeiting conspiracy theory is addressed:
In other words, the existence of North Korean counterfeits could be concealed from the world financial system-if they are only circulated in North Korea. So, if North Korea is counterfeiting vast quantities of US currency, maybe Kim Jung Il is doing it to build a palace from bricks of hundred dollar bills; an offense against good taste, perhaps, but hardly a casus belli. Bottom line is, Mr. Asher's allegation that Supernotes of the type that have already been detected are circulating in large quantities thanks to the vagaries of the international cash system and the cupidity of bankers is extremely implausible. And, parenthetically, where are our counterfeits coming from? The number one source of counterfeits (measured by counterfeits seized) for the last four years running: Colombia. How 'bout that! Counterfeiting is apparently an attractive business for narcotics traffickers, using similar distribution networks but with decreased risks and legal penalties. The main markets are in Latin and South America, where use of the dollar is widespread (Ecuador and El Salvador went so far as to dollarize their economies), but packages of counterfeit bills also end up in the U.S. The 2006 report provides the enticing news that a large number of Supernotes entered the Peruvian economy in early 2005, but provides no information on the amount or their origin. The 2003 report also describes a high level of Chinese expertise in detecting counterfeits:
For perspective, China accounts for about 20 per cent (second behind Russia) in overseas holdings of U.S. currency, in other words about $50 billion. As to whether North Korea is involved in Supernote production, even if it is not passing a significant number, the 2006 report on counterfeiting states:
I would like to think of the U.S. Secret Service as unpoliticized, interested in genuine enforcement issues, and conservative in its conclusions. So I find the statement attributed to the Secret Service that the DPRK is involved in Supernotes persuasive, despite the seemingly immense technical and logistical difficulties involved in making Supernotes in North Korea, let alone continually redesigning them to track changes in the legit currency. Well, maybe the Supernotes aren't being made in North Korea. And a not-too-convoluted parsing of the statement might beg the question, why didn't they say the Supernotes are produced in North Korea? Instead they said the notes are "linked" to the DPRK and "produced and distributed with the full consent and control of the North Korean government". Maybe somebody in another country is cranking out some Supernotes for North Korea. I'd vote Russia instead of China, simply because the Chinese seem to have their spooks under control, while the lid came off in Russia and there might be some skilled and connected forgers over there who would be willing to run off small orders of Supernotes for Kim Jung Il. Or maybe the U.S. government is confident about North Korean involvement in Supernotes because it provided them some detectable, traceable Supernotes in a sting, which would be...funny, but not the kind of smoking gun the international enforcement community would be looking for. In any case, the Treasury Department reports Supernotes remain a drop in the bucket. Since 1996, only $22.4 million have been confiscated while being passed, while $50 million worth have been seized. $75 million in $100 notes represents a stack of currency smaller than a refrigerator. Kim Jung Il may have more stashed in his palace. Maybe when there's an opportunity-like the faulty currency-checking system that existed in Peru for a few months-he takes a desperate risk to pass some Supernotes through a criminal gang. Nevertheless, the bottom line is, it can be said with considerable confidence that Supernotes are not a significant source of revenue-or focus of money laundering-for the North Korean government. This state of affairs leads believers in the North Korean counterfeit story to an awkward place. It's a place where the investigations of the U.S. government itself-hey, the Treasury Department itself!-indicate there is no significant flow of Supernotes into the world economy. It's a place where the only argument for massive North Korean counterfeiting would have to rest on their ability to forge undetectable Supernotes. That's a place no Treasury official committed to protecting the viability of the US dollar as a world currency is willing to go. That's a place no American diplomat interested in preserving his or her credibility is willing to go. Heck, it doesn't even seem to be a place David Asher wants to go, as his apparent acceptance of the detectability of Supernotes (see above, "supernote definitely can be detected ") seems to indicate. And that leaves his allegations of significant North Korean counterfeiting of Supernotes ... nowhere. So I would pronounce the story of collusive money laundering of counterfeits by Macau banks-and a large part of the justification for the BDA action and the effort to confront China over alleged complicity in laundering of hundreds of millions in North Korean Supernotes-DOA. Without the counterfeiting angle, Mr. Asher must now rely on counterfeit cigarettes, counterfeit pharmaceuticals, trade in endangered species, weapons sales, and provision of money laundering services to support his business model of North Korea financing an annual current account deficit of $500 million through illicit activities-and justify his allegation that Chinese banks in Macau are laundering hundreds of millions of dollars of illicit North Korean proceeds. With an important element of his seductive narrative of the North Korean criminal state largely discredited, the burden of proof is shifting to Mr. Asher to demonstrate that the move against Macau banks was inspired by compelling evidence of extensive money-laundering of North Korean criminal proceeds-and not lazy, unproven assumptions of criminality exploited to disrupt North Korea's legitimate access to the international gold markets, South Korean financial aid, overseas cash remittances, and its bona fide government and personal forex accounts. China Hand edits the very interesting website
China Matters.
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The Gang's All Here: Judy Miller, Bob Woodward, Jeffrey Goldberg, Rupert Murdoch, Bill O'Reilly...End Times Leaves No Reputation Unstained!  Buy End Times Now! CounterPunch Books! Saul Landau's Bush and Botox World with a Foreword by Gore Vidal  Click Here to Order!  Michael Neumann's Devastating Rebuttal of Alan Dershowitz Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair           The Occupation by Patrick Cockburn   Humanitarian Imperialism By Jean Bricmont             CITY BEAUTIFUL By Tennessee Reed        Bruce Springsteen On Tour By Dave Marsh                   |
