The Global finaincial Crisis of 2008,2009: The Role of Greed, Fear and Oligarchs

When the Soup Kitchens Begin to Die

There is a special kind of cruelty in watching not only a society collapse, but also the last institutions keeping it alive. For nearly three years, Gaza's humanitarian lifeline has increasingly been reduced to a queue for a single meal. Parents no longer ask their children what they would like to eat. They ask whether there will be anything to eat at all. Childhood has become measured not in birthdays, classrooms, or family gatherings, but in ration lines, empty cooking pots, and the uncertain arrival of humanitarian assistance. Now even those fragile lifelines are disappearing. The gradual closure and scaling back of World Central Kitchen (WCK) operations reflects a convergence of financial pressures, operational insecurity, and restrictions affecting humanitarian access. According to World Central Kitchen and the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, kitchens that once produced approximately one million meals each day have been progressively reduced, leaving only a han...

The Cracks Are No Longer Hairline

For decades, Washington treated support for Israel as something beyond debate. It was political scripture. Republicans defended it. Democrats defended it. Presidents came and went, wars came and went, thousands died, settlements expanded, Gaza burned, and the checks kept arriving. Questioning the arrangement was once political suicide. Now the walls are cracking. This week, more than half of House Democrats either voted to end U.S. aid to Israel or refused to oppose doing so. The amendment failed, but something far more important succeeded. The illusion collapsed. For years, American politicians insisted that criticism of Israeli government policy belonged only to "the fringe." Apparently the fringe has become half the Democratic caucus. History has an unusual sense of humor. The same establishment that spent years dismissing students, academics, humanitarian workers, doctors, journalists, and millions of protesters as naïve, radical, or antisemitic now finds itself strugglin...

Deutsche Bank's AML Failures: A Case Study in Regulatory Enforcement

German regulator BaFin has withdrawn its special monitor from Deutsche Bank, initially installed due to unresolved money-laundering control deficiencies . This monitor had been in place since 2018 , with its mandate extended to October 2024 earlier this year, threatening fines if improvements weren't made . Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest bank, acknowledged its compliance issues and stated it was cooperating with regulators . However, another monitor remains active , overseeing the bank's consumer service issues at its Postbank unit. Neither BaFin nor Deutsche Bank commented on the withdrawal report Part I Federal Financial Supervisory Authority of Germany. What were the specific deficiencies in Deutsche Bank's money-laundering controls? Deutsche Bank has faced significant deficiencies in its anti-money laundering (AML) controls , primarily highlighted by: - Inadequate Customer Due Diligence: The bank failed to perform sufficient due diligence on customer...

Morgan Stanley's ex-terrorism specialist ( Valentina Soria) joins UBS in London

by Alex McMurray "(Valentina) Soria, an Italian based in London, joins UBS as its global head of cyber threat intelligence and adversarial threat modelling. She was at Morgan Stanley for six and a half years, starting as the EMEA cyber threat intelligence lead and rising to head of global threat intelligence. Prior to that she was head of intelligence at the Bank of England. She leaves at a tumultuous time for the US bank as other senior London officials are reportedly included in its 3000 person job cuts." SOURCE: https://www.efinancialcareers.com/news/2023/05/morgan-stanley-ubs-intelligence

When the President Sounds the Alarm, But the Government Looks Away.

A President's Moral Warning Israeli presidents traditionally avoid political confrontation. Their role is largely ceremonial and symbolic, intended to unify rather than divide. Yet Herzog chose to speak openly about something many observers have documented for years: the erosion of moral restraints. His language was unusually severe. Warning of what he called " a terrible process of brutalization " within Israeli society, Herzog lamented that " there are segments among us that are barely shocked by violence anymore " while " certain other segments treat it lightly." Perhaps most alarming was his warning that extremist conduct is no longer confined to society's fringes. Such behavior, he said, is " threatening to enter the mainstream ." The significance of the speech lies not merely in what was said, but in who said it. When a country's ceremonial head of state feels compelled to warn that brutality is becoming normalized, the ...

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