Running the JSF fighter jet currently 'too expensive' says minister

DutchNews.nl, Thursday 28 March 2013

Defence minister Jeanine

Hennis

The cost of using the JSF fighter jet in the long term is a ‘major concern’ and will be ‘unaffordable’ for the US military, defence minister Jeanine Hennis quotes a US audit office and Pentagon report as saying.

‘The current figures show the annual cost of running the JSF will be 60% higher than current US fighter jets,’ Hennis said in a briefing to parliament.

The Netherlands has committed to buying two test planes and Hennis will take a final decision on replacing the Dutch armed forces' F-16s with the JSF at the end of this year.

Costs

The US authorities are looking into how to lower the cost, the minister said.

A report by the Clingendael foreign policy institute earlier this year said an armed forces which includes the controversial JSF jet fighter is the least attractive scenario for the future of the Dutch military.

Clingendael says the JSF will only be needed if the Netherlands wants to take part in the opening phase of military interventions. But the high cost of the JSF will lead to ‘serious limitations’ to the country’s maritime operations – such as the role the Netherlands currently plays in protecting commercial shipping against pirates.

The Netherlands would also have less capacity to take part in human rights and humanitarian missions, the institute says.

Related Articles:

US manufacturer expects major JSF fighter jet sales

Iraq, Afghan wars to cost US up to $6 trillion: study


SaluSa channelled by Mike Quinsey – March 29, 2013

“.. The darkness will eventually play itself out and is already losing its power to create more fear. In this respect, in spite of the apparent threat of war, know that it will no longer be allowed. The Galactic Federation of Light is aware of the intentions of all Superpowers and we will prevent any attempts to start a global war. ..”

"The Time Capsule of Gaia" – Feb 9, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Text version)

“…  Tesla the Man

There was a point in time when humanity almost stumbled, by the way. You were having a hard time with electricity. So a man came along who was way ahead of his time and was available and his name was Nikola Tesla. He gave you a principle that today you call alternating current. Dear ones, I challenge you to understand this principle. Most of you can't, because it is not in 3D. The attributes are still considered "genius-level thinking" to this day. The whole idea of the kind of electricity you use today comes from this man's quantum mind.

That was all he was allowed to do. Tesla himself was a kind of time capsule, delivered at the right time. He had more, but alternating current was all that was allowed to be given to the planet at that time. Oh, he tried to give you more. He knew there were other things, but nothing was able to be developed. If I told you what else he had discovered, you might not be aware of it at all, since it was never allowed to get out of the box. Earth was not ready for it.

Tesla discovered massless objects. He could alter the mass of atomic structure using designer magnetics, but he never could control it. He had objects fly off his workbench and hit the ceiling, but he couldn't duplicate or control it. It just wasn't time yet. Do you know what else he was known for? It was seemingly the failure of the transmission of electricity. However, he didn't fail at all.

There are pictures of his tower, but every time a Human Being sees a tower, there is a biased assumption that something is going to be broadcast through the air. But in the case of Tesla, he had figured out how to broadcast electricity through the ground. You need towers for that because they have to pick up the magnetics within the ground in a certain way to broadcast them and then collect them again from the nodes of the planet's magnetic grid system. We talked about this before. He was utilizing the grid of the planet that is in the earth itself! He was on the edge of showing that you could use the whole grid of the planet magnetically to broadcast electricity and pick it up where you need it, safely, with no wires. But the earth was not ready for it.

Tesla died a broken man, filled with ideas that would have brought peace to planet Earth, but he was simply not allowed to give any of them to you.

Now I'll tell you why he was stopped, dear ones, and it's the first time we have ever told you – because these inventions were too easy to weaponize. Humanity just isn't ready for it. You're not ready for massless objects, either, for the principles are too easy to weaponize.

"So," you might say, "when will we be ready for it?" I think you already know the answer, don't you? At the time when Human consciousness reaches a point where that which is most important is unification and not separation, it will happen. A point where conquering and power are not desirable ideas or assets. A point where humanity will measure the strength of its population by how healthy they are and not by economic growth. A point where coming together with your neighbor is the main objective to social consciousness, and not conquering them or eliminating them. That's coming, dear ones. It's a ways away, but it's coming. Look around the planet at the moment. The old energy leaders are obvious, are they not? It's like they are relics in a world of thinking that is passing them by.  ….”

"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa,Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein are back, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism, Higgs Boson), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version)

Albert Einstein: The Brick Wall that Science Faces – AE in An Hour with an Angel - New

E=MC²  (MC2 to infinity [∞])

"... That one little symbol is rather important, is it not? For it speaks to the continuity and the infinite nature of creation and the universe. And here I had tried to squeeze it into a manageable form, when it was never intended to be so small.

So, I come this day in a very public forum to share that, not so much with light-workers, but this is the forum I am given to speak to the scientists, and so I take it and I give this to them..."

Tesla's Tower

Nikola Tesla was Murdered by Otto Skorzeny

Strapped Spanish city to tax church activities

Deutsche Welle, 30 March 2013

Besides prayer and charity, nuns at a Spanish convent run a side business selling candied almonds. A Spanish city's decision to tax those operations has called Spain's relationship to the Church into question.

Off a cobblestone street in the historic city of Alcalá de Henares, the birthplace of Cervantes, roughly 30 kilometers from Madrid, a 400-year-old convent, El Convento de Clarisas de San Diego, awaits its next customer.

When the doorbell rings, a nun cries out, "Holy Mary, the immaculate!"

"Good afternoon!" a customer says. "May I have four boxes of roasted almonds, please?"

Since a nun's vow of chastity means she can't be seen in public, the four delicately-wrapped almond tins are pushed through a rotating wooden turnstile. "That will be 19 euros ($25)," the nun says, and the transaction is completed.

Profits from the nuns' almond enterprise are likely minimal. But that's beside the point, says a group of lawmakers in Alcalá. A part of the convent is being used by nuns for commercial purposes, the city council believes, and for that, the church must pay.

"We're studying whether any church properties that have long been listed as charities are actually being used for commercial activities," city councilman Anselmo Avendaño told DW. "If that's the case, they'll have to start paying taxes."

A question of 'tradition'

 Spanish Premier Mariano Rajoy says taxing
the church violates a 1979 treaty

Avendaño and his colleagues passed a motion last summer to re-evaluate church holdings by square footage. Now, if one of a convent's 30 rooms is used to sell sweets, it will have to pay taxes on that room.

In truth, the tax system is supposed to work that way already. Those tax laws, however, have until now not been enforced.

The city of Alcalá's campaign has ruffled feathers throughout Spain. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy told reporters last year that any efforts to press the Church for more taxes would violate a 1979 treaty with the Vatican.

"I insist, we will not renounce an international agreement adopted in 1979," the prime minister said. "It would be irresponsible. We need to dedicate ourselves to more important things."

Councilman Avendaño, a Catholic himself, believes the real issue is not about tradition but cash-strapped municipalities.

"We're not questioning the Church's good works - charity for the elderly, or poor, or infirm. What we want is to re-examine property the Church uses to make a profit; for example, rental apartments, parking lots and garages that it owns. Those are businesses."

The ranks of jobless Spaniards in Alcala de Henares are rising

Land holdings

The Catholic Church owns approximately half of the property in Alcalá. The city of 200,000, meanwhile, has debts of more than 300 million euros.

"Some of the Catholic schools have swimming pools, and they charge a fee to area residents to swim there on weekends," councilman Ricardo Rubio told DW. "So the school should be paying taxes on that activity. But they haven't been."

Juanjo Pico, a spokesman for Europa Laica, a Spanish group that lobbies for the separation of church and state, sees Alcalá as a symbol of a much larger problem. If the Catholic Church had to pay taxes on all its property in Spain, he says, it could owe up to $3 billion euros a year.

"These days, towns are cutting their budgets for healthcare, education, infrastructure and welfare," Pico told DW. "But the Catholic Church hasn't had to make a single cut. [That's] because it gets money from the state."

When Spaniards file their tax returns, they can check a box to donate money to the Church. The state then deducts it automatically. That transaction, too, is coming under scrutiny, particularly as Spain becomes increasingly secular.

"Something like 15 percent of Spaniards attend weekly mass," Hamilton Stapell, a historian and expert on Spain at the State University of New York at New Paltz, told DW. "A couple of years ago, there was a report out. Less than five percent of Spaniards thought the Church was one of the top three valued institutions in society."

History doesn't raise enough money: A statue of Don Quijote in Alcala de
Henares, the birthplace of Cervantes

Non-profit

For their part, Catholic Church officials believe their institution has been unfairly singled out.

"Why isn't this debate about all non-profit groups?" asked Fernando Giménez Barriocanal, the financial director of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, in an interview with DW. He says the Church has the same tax deal as the Red Cross and other NGOs.

In scale, however, the Catholic Church dwarfs those institutions. It is also Spain's biggest landowner - and by extension, potential tax target.

Yet the Church is also Spain's largest charity. At a time when public welfare programs are being cut and unemployment tops 26 percent, it provides important services to those in need.

"Obviously, we'd have to direct more of our money to pay those taxes," Barriocanal said. "The Church would still want to help those in need, but we'd have less money to do that."

Still, the Alcalá city council aims to complete its land survey by the end of the year - and, if things continue according to plans, to serve the Catholic Church with a slightly updated tax bill.

Pope washes prisoners' feet in unprecedented Easter rite

Google – AFP, Dario Thuburn (AFP), 28 March 2013

Pope Francis washes the feet of a young offender on March 28, 2013 

(Osservatore Romano/AFP)

ROME — Pope Francis washed the feet of 12 young offenders including two girls and two Muslims at a Rome prison on Thursday in an unprecedented version of an ancient Easter ritual, seen as part of efforts to bring the Catholic Church closer to those in need.

The pope knelt down, washing and kissing the young prisoners' feet in the first Holy Thursday ceremony of its kind performed by a pontiff in prison, and the first to include women and Muslims.

"Whoever is the most high up must be at the service of others," Francis said at the mass in the Casal del Marmo youth prison, a fortnight after being elected Latin America's first pope.

"I do this with all my heart because it is my duty as a priest, as a bishop. I have to be at your

Guards salute as Pope Francis arrives

 in a convoy at the prison on March 28,

 2013 in Rome (AFP, Andreas Solaro)

service. I love doing it because this is what the Lord has taught me," the 76-year-old said.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said many of the participants broke down in tears at the ceremony, which was open only to Vatican media. One young man had to be replaced at the last moment because he was too overcome with emotion.

Video footage from the ceremony showed the pope pouring water over the feet -- one of them with tattoos -- bending down to kiss them and looking each of the 12 prisoners in the eye before moving on.

Lombardi said that while this was the first time a pope had washed women's feet, Francis had performed this type of ceremony in his native Argentina many times before becoming pope including in jails, hospitals and old people's homes.

The Holy Thursday ceremony is usually held in a basilica in the city centre and commemorates the gesture of humility believed to have been performed by Jesus Christ before his death to his 12 disciples at their last meal.

Popes performing the ritual have usually washed the feet of priests.

Catholic traditionalists are likely to be riled by the inclusion of women because all of Jesus' disciples were male -- the same justification used to explain why only men can be Catholic priests.

This handout picture released by the

 Vatican on March 28, 2013 shows Pope 

Francis kissing the feet of a young offender 

(Osservatore Romano/AFP)

Francis has already broken with several Vatican traditions with his informal style, although he is yet to begin tackling the many problems assailing the Roman Catholic Church including reform of the scandal-ridden Vatican bureaucracy and bank.

Local prison chaplain Gaetano Greco said he hoped the ritual would be "a positive sign in the lives" of the young offenders at the prison, which has around 50 inmates aged between 14 and 21.

Earlier on Thursday, the pontiff told Catholic priests at a mass in St Peter's Basilica to stop their "soul-searching" and "introspection".

"We need to go out... to the outskirts where there is suffering, bloodshed, blindness that longs for sight and prisoners in thrall to many evil masters," he said.

-- Via Crucis --

The former archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was known in Argentina for his strong social advocacy during his homeland's devastating economic crisis, his own humble lifestyle and his outreach in poor neighbourhoods.

Holy Thursday is the first of four intensive days in the Christian calendar culminating in Easter Sunday, which commemorates Christ's resurrection.

This handout picture released 

by the  Vatican on March 28, 

2013 shows Pope Francis

washing the feet of a young 

offender (Osservatore

Romano/ AFP)

On Friday, Francis will recite the Passion of Christ -- the story of the last hours of Jesus's life -- in St Peter's Basilica, before presiding over the Via Crucis -- Way of the Cross -- ceremony by the Colosseum, where thousands of Christians were believed killed in Roman times.

While a frail Benedict, now 85, presided over last year's celebrations from under a canopy next to the Colosseum, Francis is expected to take part in the procession and even carry the wooden cross on his shoulder for part of the way.

On Saturday, the pontiff will take part in an evening Easter vigil in St Peter's Basilica. The Vatican has not yet said whether Francis will follow the tradition of baptising eight adult converts to the Catholic Church during the service.

On Sunday the Vatican's first non-European pope in nearly 1,300 years will celebrate Easter mass in front of tens of thousands of pilgrims in St Peter's Square and then pronounce the traditional "Urbi et Orbi" blessing to Rome and the world.

Related Articles:

Pope Francis uses Easter address to denounce 'greed looking for easy gain'

Pope appeals to non-believers at first Easter vigil

Dutch authorities probe RBS over Irish banker's €4.9m Amsterdam house

Independent, Mark Keeman, 28 March 2013

John Hourican: bought property in prestigious area

ROYAL Bank of Scotland (RBS) says it is co-operating with Dutch authorities investigating the bank's €4.9m purchase of a house from top Irish banker John Hourican in 2009.

Mr Hourican, a Dubliner, stepped down as head of the UK state-owned bank's global capital markets arm last month in the wake of the Libor rigging scandal.

He was not implicated in the interest-rate manipulation but took the fall as the executive in overall charge of the division of RBS that was involved.

Now it's a €4.9m sale of Mr Hourican's former home that is being looked at by the Dutch authorities.

Questions have been raised in the Netherlands over the true value of the property at the time when it was sold to his empl-oyer, RBS, in 2009.

Mr Hourican had bought the former residence of the late Wim Duisenberg, a prominent Dutch politician and the first head of the European Central Bank, for €4.7m in 2007, when he was transferred by RBS to work as CFO of ABN Amro, a Dutch bank that had been bought by his employer.

In 2009, after the bank had recalled Mr Hourican to London, the home was sold to RBS for €4.9m.

RBS placed it on the market soon afterwards for €3.9m and tried to sell the property over a period of years.

However, it remained unsold, despite the fact that it's location on Amsterdam's Diepenbrockstraat, one of the capital's most sought-after and prestigious residential addresses.

The bank eventually offloaded it in 2011 for a price that has since been reported as €3.25m in the Dutch press.

A spokesman for RBS told the Irish Independent: "We are not prepared to comment, other than to state that we are respectful of the investigation by the Dutch authorities and are co-operating fully with it."

Mr Hourican was not available for comment but his spokesman told this newspaper that he had lost money on the Dutch property.

"John bought the house and spent a lot of money on it, including stamp duty and the cost of refurbishment," said the spokesman.

The Netherlands sells London embassy due to budget cuts

DutchNews.nl, Thursday 28 March 2013

Dutch embassy in London

The Dutch embassy building in central London is to be sold as part of foreign ministry efforts to save €40m on its foreign network.

The embassy is located on Hyde Park and has not yet been formally put up for sale, the NRC reported.

'I can confirm we will sell our current building as it is too big and not suitable for modern diplomacy,' London paper the Standard quoted an embassy spokesman as saying.

The new Dutch embassy will be located in Nine Elms, near Vauxhall, where a new diplomatic quarter is being created, the Standard said. It says the previous Dutch government bought the land which is close to the site of the new US embassy.

Dutch finance ministry denies Starbucks tax secrecy claims

DutchNews.nl, Thursday 28 March 2013

The Netherlands has denied claims by a Starbucks executive that the Dutch tax office asked it not to release details of its tax agreements, the Financial Times reports.

The coffee company’s chief financial officer told a British parliamentary inquiry in November he was bound by confidentiality agreements not to say what tax rate Starbucks pay in the Netherlands.

But junior finance minister Frans Weekers has now told parliament this is not true and companies are not required to keep tax agreements secret.

‘There is no hindrance from the Dutch government or tax authorities for individual companies to publicise their arrangements,’ the FT quoted the minister as saying. Weekers also said he is to contact the British parliamentary committee to make this clear.

Dutch hearings

According to the FT, Dutch MPs are to press Starbucks to explain its tax rulings in the Netherlands at hearings of their own.

Starbucks' European headquarters and its roasting facility for Europe, the Middle-East and Africa are located in Amsterdam.

British MPs are angry Starbucks UK pays a 4.7% fee to the coffee giant's Dutch arm for the right to use its branding and coffee recipe. The fee, which the paper says has been as high as 6%, reduces its UK tax bill.

Earlier stories

• Spanish, Italian, Portuguese firms use Dutch tax route
• Research into tax schemes is biased, say critics
• Multinationals and French state firms use Dutch tax deals
• Starbucks under fire in Britain over Dutch tax deal
• EU wants an end to letterbox companies
• Letterbox companies largely exempt from tougher rules
• The Netherlands is a popular tax haven for FTSE 100 firms
• Holland no longer a US tax haven
• More tax levied over tax haven income

Related Articles:

Australia to force multinationals to disclose tax arrangements - New

Shell and state bank ABN Amro are 'masters in tax avoidance': Volkskrant

Labour leader says letterbox companies will be tackled

George Osborne in pledge to help world's poor fight tax abuse

Starbucks to review UK tax arrangements

“.. A 6% premium had previously been charged by the business in the Netherlands. But this was negotiated down to 4.7% by Starbucks and the Dutch authorities. A similar negotiation could take place with HMRC. …”

Starbucks tax offer angers critics

Starbucks agrees to pay more corporation tax

Vince Cable criticises Starbucks over 'tax dodging'

Starbucks to slash paid lunch breaks and sick leave

Starbucks avoiding tax has a knock-on effect on homegrown business

Offshore Secrets

Leaks reveal secrets of the rich who hide cash offshore - New

Offshore secrets revealed: the shadowy side of a booming industry

$21tn: hoard hidden from taxman by global elite

Bank run fears keep eurozone on edge

Deutsche Welle, 27 March 2013

As banks in Cyprus prepare to reopen, experts say financial institutions need to regain depositors' trust. They insist events in Cyprus won't be repeated in other euro countries.

Depositors in Cyprus have lost faith in banks. Although Cypriot officials said all banks in the country would open on Thursday, fears of a bank run - when bank customers withdraw their saving en masse - continue to plague the country.

"A bank run is a question of trust," Thomas Schuster of the Cologne Institute for Economic Research told DW. "If everyone believes their money is not safe then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Trust needs to be established."

Trust is the key

But until this trust can be re-established, authorities in Cyprus will take other measures in an attempt to protect financial institutions - and their employees.

 Controls will be placed on how much
Cypriots will be able to take from their\
savings each day

Cypriots can count on limits remaining in place on how much they are allowed to withdraw from their accounts. When banks open on Thursday the daily limit will be 300 euros. A key factor will be ensuring that businesses have enough access to money to pay their employees at the end of the month.

Dangerous levy

Experts blame discussions about a levy on deposits under 100,000 euros for Cypriots' loss in trust in the banking system. Although those with savings less than 100,000 euros will no longer be required to contribute to Cyprus' rescue effort, it was bad enough that this was even raised as a realistic possibility.

"From the very beginning, the tax on deposits was a non-starter," he said, adding that money is the world's most mobile product. "If someone taxes or wants to tax money then it goes somewhere else right away."

The bill for rescuing banks will be paid first by the banks' own funds, then shareholders will be held responsible and only if their money is insufficient will the state be forced to contribute.

In order to increase its income the government will place higher taxes on industries that cannot easily move away, Schuster said. He said he supported raising income, capital gains, property and value added taxes rather than a levy on deposits.

Hard times ahead

Regardless of how the state comes up with the necessary funds, hard times loom ahead for Cyprus.

"We are going to suffer from a serious recession for the next two or three years," George Michael, managing director of IMH, Cyprus' leading business publisher, told German daily "Die Welt."

Estimates suggest consumption will fall by 10 to 20 percent in 2013 and the country's gross domestic product will likely decrease by 20 percent.

"The die has been cast Cyprus for some time now," Martin Hellmich, of the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, told DW. Measured in absolute terms, Cyprus is too small to endanger the entire eurozone's financial system.

"It is much more important to make clear that Cyprus is a unique case that will not repeat in Italy or Spain," Hellmich said. "That's the deciding factor."

Depositors in Germany are also concerned about events in Cyprus. Some 54 percent of Germans do not believe Chancellor Angela Merkel's statement that savings in Germany are safe, according to a Forsa survey.

People queue outside a Laiki bank branch in Nicosia.

Photograph: Patrick Baz/AFP/Getty Images

Related Articles:

Cypriots show patience and pragmatism as banks reopen

Cyprus strikes last-minute EU bailout deal

Matthew message (Channelled by Suzanne Ward, Feb 18, 2013)

"... The Rothschild faction of the Illuminati, which governed its empire from London and the Vatican, lost its media foothold along with its other powers in that part of the world. A section of the Illuminati’s Rockefeller faction, headquartered in Washington, DC, and New York City, still has influence on major media in the US as well as on Wall Street; and their lingering foothold in Congress is evident in the intransigence that has stagnated progress. .."

In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore

Romano,  cardinals attend a meeting at the Vatican, Monday,

March 4, 2013. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)

Archangel Michael on the World’s Movement into the Golden Age, March 24, 2013 – Part 2/2 - New

“… GW: Shifting to events that are taking place in Europe at this point in time, it seems that the events in Europe are reaching or about to hit a breaking point of some kind. Several leaders, including Nigel Farage and allegedly Russian Prime Minister Medvedev have suggested that people should be removing their money from their accounts as the cabal may attempt a last ditch grab for money.

Now, I know, and perhaps many know, that the current system is corrupt and that there will have to be a degree of change in the current system before people will be willing to embrace the new system.

I don’t wish this question to sound alarmist to people, but is what is happening now one of the final, if not the final, straw that will help expose the banking cabal and allow the new system to be implemented? Is this new system ready? Or is it already being implemented? Or is it still only limited to preparatory work?

AAM: No, it is already underway. It is already being implemented. And yes, we do not wish to sound alarmist either, and so we also wish people to know that their resources, what they think of as their money, for those who have saved and put their faith in banking systems, they will be protected to a certain extent. So do not think that you have need to run out and remove all your monies, or that it will be completely gone. But yes, this is the beginning of a transition.

The expression of the lack of faith in particularly the European banking system causes enormous disruption, more significant perhaps than anywhere else. And so yes, it does have a domino effect, but it is not one simply shutting down [the old system] and a new system emerging. It is coming into balance with the new emerging as the old simply fades away.

Is it a last ditch effort on the part of those who have clung to the old paradigm of the 3rd, what you call the cabal? Yes, it is. But it matters not, because it is not going to work for them. Seldom are things such as this situation so black and white. There is always room for free choice and free movement and adjustment.

But in this situation it is simply evolution and expansion. And the expansion of the new, of the new paradigm, of what you think of as Fifth-Dimensional financial systems does not allow for systems that are based on greed and theft and control — and unfairness, basic unfairness, usury.

So, it is rather clearly defined. You have an expression that you use on Earth, “Out with the old.” And this is one of those situations where it is, in fact, the truth.

GW: Okay. So, along the lines of the leadership, or at least some of the leadership of what’s taking place in the financial sector globally, it has been reported that the apartment of the IMF managing director Christine Lagarde was raided last week.

Was this an attempt to expose her as part of the banking cabal, or was it an attempt to stop her from fulfilling the reforms that she is allegedly trying to bring to the international banking system?

AAM: It was an attempt to gather information and perhaps even destroy documentation that she is trying to bring forth for the reform of the financial situation. It was an unsuccessful raid.

GW: Okay. So what I’m hearing in your answer, then, is that Christine Lagarde is working for, I guess, the forces of light to bring the greater change to the IMF. Am I correct?

AAM: Yes. This one has had a real turn-around. No, we do not ever categorize individuals or groups or people as light or dark. But this one has truly committed herself to reformation.

She sees and she has the experience very clearly of knowing what does not work. And therefore she has committed her mission, her purpose to this reformation.

GW: Okay. And could the same be said about the new US Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew? Is he on board with all the changes and working for the reformation as well with Lagarde?

AAM: He is an agent and an angel of change. He could not be simply on board. He is a moving force. ‘…‘’

Scottish government approves windfarm opposed by Donald Trump

Billionaire property magnate attacks decision to build experimental offshore windfarm near his golf course as 'purely political'

guardian.co.uk, Severin Carrell, Tuesday 26 March 2013

The US businessman's Trump International golf course at Menie Estate also
 caused controversy, not least for building on an area of protected dunes.
Photograph: Murdo Macleod

Scottish ministers have given the go-ahead to an experimental offshore windfarm site near Aberdeen after ignoring Donald Trump's angry threats of legal action to block the project.

Trump has repeatedly attacked the European offshore wind deployment centre (EOWDC) proposal, alleging the turbines will ruin the view from his £750m golf resort, which overlooks the North Sea and sits several kilometres north of the site's boundary.

The billionaire property magnate again threatened to use his financial muscle to oppose the 11-turbine project in the courts using "every legal means" to defeat it. Despite recently announcing plans to build a second 18-hole golf course at his resort, he repeated his threat to put his entire project on hold because the windfarm threatened the financial viability of his resort.

In a statement, the developer attacked his former friend and ally Alex Salmond, the first minister. "This was a purely political decision," Trump said.

"As dictated by Alex Salmond, a man whose obsession with obsolete wind technology will destroy the magnificence and beauty of Scotland. Likewise, tourism, Scotland's biggest industry, will be ruined. We will spend whatever monies are necessary to see to it that these huge and unsightly industrial wind turbines are never constructed.

"All over the world they are being abandoned, but in Scotland they are being built. We will put our future plans in Aberdeen on hold, as will many others, until this ridiculous proposal is defeated. Likewise, we will be bringing a lawsuit within the allocated period of time to stop what will definitely be the destruction of Aberdeen and Scotland itself."

Fergus Ewing, the Scottish energy minister, said the £230m project would be capable of generating up to 100MW of power, enough for nearly half of Aberdeen's homes.

But he added that the project was chiefly designed to test and evaluate advanced new offshore wind power designs, potentially helping to find new breakthrough technologies. Scottish and UK ministers, who also support the project, believe it could be crucial to helping the UK exploit the £100bn offshore wind industry.

The 11 turbines, which have been reduced in number and location after objections from fisheries and aviation interests, are expected to be of different heights and designs. The project, owned by the Swedish power giant Vattenfall and a local business and university consortium, still needs marine consents and planning consent for an onshore sub-station.

Ewing said: "Offshore renewables represent a huge opportunity for Scotland; an opportunity to build up new industries and to deliver on our ambitious renewable energy and carbon reduction targets.

"The proposed European offshore wind deployment centre will give the industry the ability to test and demonstrate new technologies in order to accelerate its growth. [It] secures Aberdeen's place as the energy capital of Europe."

The scheme has been made subject to a series of fresh conditions, to protect defence and civil aviation radar systems, avoid a military firing range at Black Dog, on environmental management and on protecting shipping and fishing in the area.

Trump's opposition to the project led to open hostilities between him and Salmond, who had originally been a prominent cheerleader for Trump's golf resort and hotel development and played a crucial role in it securing planning approval.

Trump's attacks on Salmond's vigorous support for wind power have put the two men in direct conflict and also soured Trump's relationships with some of his most influential supporters in Aberdeen.

Several major figures and institutions who supported Trump's resort – the North Sea engineering millionaire Sir Ian Wood, Robert Gordon University and Aberdeenshire council – are also directly involved in the EOWDC project.

They believe it could substantially support Aberdeen's attempts to benefit from the billions of pounds being spent on renewable energy investment, particularly as an alternative to North Sea oil and gas.

Iain Todd, a spokesman for the project, made this clear, stating: "The Scottish government's most welcome approval for the EOWDC is extremely positive news for both Scotland and the UK's offshore wind industry as it helps position Scotland, the UK and Europe at the global vanguard of the sector.

"The decision also confirms Aberdeen city and shire's status as a world-class energy hub, bringing with it significant economic benefits which will be pivotal to ensuring the region's long-term prosperity."

Richard Dixon, director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: "Offshore wind will be a huge part of our energy future and this scheme is a big step forward.

"Well done to the Scottish government for standing up to Donald Trump's threats and bluster."