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Ten Facts About Switzerland, The Vatican, The CIA (holy C) And "Neutrality" You Are Not Allowed To Know..

10 Reasons Why Switzerland is Home to the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency)

Posted: March 31, 2015 in CIA in SwitzerlandCIA TerrorSwiss Terror

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AUTHOR’S NOTE: The following information was first published on December 21, 2014 in “Greenland Theory: Apocalypse Now” (2014), a book and website by David Chase Taylor. Due to its shocking revelations, especially in respect to the CIA in Switzerland, it’s naturally being censored on an international level. Consequently, it is imperative to share this information in order to bring the country of Switzerland and its murderous CIA to justice for centuries of war crimes against humanity.

David Chase Taylor
March 31, 2015
Truther.org

SWITZERLAND, Zurich — Located in central Europe, Switzerland is home to the one and only “Central Intelligence Agency” (CIA). The CIA, which operates under the alias Holy See (i.e., the “Holy C”), was founded 40 years afterConfoederationis Helveticae (i.e., Switzerland), roughly 755 years ago.

By employing deductive reasoning, it can be deduced that Switzerland is in fact home to the CIA. The first step in this process is to follow the money which leads directly to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel, Switzerland, an organization which secretly funds the CIA’s nefarious activities.

Switzerland is very unique from every other country on Earth, something expected from a nation which harbors the CIA. Because Switzerland and its CIA are ultimately responsible for engineering the incessant assassinations, terror attacks and wars around the globe, it is naturally free of such mayhem.

In other words, Switzerland is the eye of the global storm—free of financial crises, free of state-sponsored terrorism, and free of war for over 500 years. After all, terrorists working for the CIA need a sanctuary, a place of peace and safety where they can return to after executing black operations around the world.

Said terrorists also need a place where they can avoid prosecution, hence Switzerland’s allegedly neutral position within the international community. This is precisely why the notorious bankers, pirates and terrorists formerly known as theKnights Templar and the Order of Saint John (see below) originally fled to the Alps, founding what is known today as Switzerland.

Because the CIA is in command and control of each country’s respective intelligence agencies and military, they are responsible for engineering the assassinations, terror attacks and wars seen around the world today. This is originally where the concept of the Swiss Army Knife came from for Switzerland has virtually every political and military option at their respective disposal.

Although Switzerland is famous for its mercenaries who were strategically placed by the CIA in foreign armies, courts and governments in order to conduct assassinations and espionage, 99% of Swiss citizens have absolutely no idea that their country is home to the CIA.

SWITZERLAND IS CIA:

1. Switzerland located in central Europe 
2.
 Switzerland only neutral nation on Earth
3. Switzerland only sovereign nation on Earth
4. Switzerland home to Onyx Interception System
5. Switzerland home to Holy See (i.e., the Holy C-I-A)
6. Switzerland home to Bank for International Settlements (BIS)
7.
 Names for Switzerland (i.e., CH and Suisse) equate to CIA and SS
8. Swiss National Day same date as the anniversary of Temple of Spies
9. Switzerland intimately tied to dictators (e.g., Hitler, Mussolini, Jong-Un, etc.)
10.
 Switzerland originally founded by the Knights Templar and Order of Saint John

1198px-Switzerland_in_Europe_(-rivers_-mini_map).svg

1. CIA Located in Central Europe
It is imperative to note that the notorious CIA of the United States provides the necessary political cover for black operations (i.e., Special Ops) orchestrated by the CIA in Switzerland. In other words, America takes the blame for what Switzerland is ultimately responsible for. Although there are indeed Central Intelligence Agency Headquarters in Langley, Virginia, they are just the local headquarters of the CIA within the United States. In order to sell the world on the notion that the CIA is American in nature, the words “CIA Headquarters” are always followed by “Langley, Virginia” in virtually all Hollywood movies. However, Langley, Virginia is not located in central Virginia, nor is the state of Virginia centrally located within the United States. Switzerland on the other hand is located in central Europe, hence the name “Central Intelligence Agency”. The term central is defined in part by Merriam-Webster as “in the middle of something” or “located in the center of a thing or place”, definitions which are indicative of Switzerland, not Langley, Virginia. The term “central” is also defined in part as “controlling all other parts” and “having power over the other parts”, for the CIA in Switzerland is ultimately in command and control of all 206 countries and territories of the underworld. Although said countries and territories have different flags, languages and races, they all operate at the behest of the CIA in Switzerland.

2. Switzerland Only Neutral Nation on Earth
Switzerland is the only permanently neutral country on Earth. Neutrality is defined in part as “a sovereign state which officially declares itself to be neutral towards the belligerents”. However, if an allegedly sovereign state is funding said belligerents, it is not neutral. Although Switzerland has been neutral since the end of its expansion in 1515, theCongress of Vienna fully re-established Swiss independence in 1815, making Swiss neutrality permanently recognized. Consequently, Switzerland has remained free of terror attacks and war for over 500 years. By remaining neutral, Switzerland can be intimately involved in the day to day business of every country on Earth while publically appearing to be benign. Switzerland is also the only neutral country which actively engages in armed neutrality. Consequently, theSwiss Armed Forces has roughly 200,000 to 400,000 active-duty soldiers, one of the largest standing armies in the world. The armed neutrality of Switzerland only makes sense when it’s understood that Switzerland is home to the CIA. In the event that Switzerland’s political cover is blown and they are fingered as the progenitor of assassinations, terror attacks and war, its military will be able to defend itself again any attack or potential invasion.

Swiss Flag

3. Switzerland Only Sovereign Nation on Earth
Switzerland is the only sovereign nation on Earth. This relatively unknown fact is confirmed by the flag of Switzerland, one of only two square sovereign-state flags, the other being the flag of Vatican City which is coincidentally protected by the Swiss Guard. While the flags of all other countries (e.g., flag of Chinaflag of Russiaflag of the United States, etc.) are rectangular in shape, the flags of Switzerland and Vatican City are geometrically square for they represent the only sovereign states on Earth. The term sovereignty is defined as a state or a governing body that has the full right and power to govern itself without any interference from outside sources or bodies. In political theory, sovereignty is a substantive term designating supreme authority over some polity. In other words, Switzerland is the only country in the world (aside from Vatican City) which is in control of its own destiny. Consequently, the other 204 countries and territories of the underworld are not sovereign; meaning that another country (i.e., Switzerland) is ultimately responsible for its fate.

Onyx (2)

4. Switzerland Home to Onyx Interception System
If Switzerland were in fact a neutral country, it would not be home to the Onyx Interception System which is operated by the Federal Intelligence Service (FIS), the official name for the CIA in Switzerland. Considering that Onyx is admittedly “controlled by an independent [unnamed] control authority composed of members of the federal administration”, it can be deduced that is it under the command and control of the CIA. The stated goal of Onyx is to “monitor both civil and military communications, such as telephone, fax or internet traffic, carried by satellite”, effectively allowing Switzerland to spy on the rest of the world. That being said, it’s highly likely that Onyx is also used as a secure and encrypted means of communication between CIA Headquarters in Switzerland and its respective offices and detention facilities (i.e., black sites) around the world. Despite the fact that Onyx is a global system, the only admitted locations within Switzerland are found in HeimenschwandLeuk and Zimmerwald. Although the CIA still employs thousands of secret agents around the world, a majority the espionage they conduct is done electronically via state-of-the-art technologies (e.g., cell phones, drones, GPS, internet, satellites, watches, etc.) which are collectively linked to and monitored by Onyx.

Curia Confoederationis Helveticae

5. Switzerland Home to Holy See
The Holy See (i.e., the “Holy C-I-A”) is the official name of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a term evidently derived from Confoederationis Helveticae, an original name for Switzerland. Although the Holy See is allegedly located in Italy, its name suggests otherwise. Consonantly speaking, the term “Holy” (H+L) was evidently derived from the “Hel” (H+L) as in “Helveticae”, while the term “See” (i.e., “C”) is an apparent acronym for “Confoederationis”. Founded roughly 40 years after the establishment of Switzerland in 1300 AD, the Holy See is touted as the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church. The Holy See is the central point of reference for the Catholic Church and admittedly the focal point of communion due to its prominence. Consequently, the Holy See is viewed as the central government of the Roman Catholic Church. Diplomatically speaking, the Holy See acts and speaks for the whole Catholic Church. In other words, the Holy See is the highest form of government within the Catholic Church, just as the CIA is the highest form of government in the world. Similar to Switzerland, the Holy See is viewed as a sovereign state, having a centralized government entitled the Roman Curia. Coincidentally, the Federal Palace of Switzerland in the Swiss capital of Bern is entitled “Curia Confoederationis Helveticae”, further inferring that Switzerland and the Holy See are in fact one and the same entity. The term “See” found within Holy See was derived from the Latin word “sedes” meaning “seat”, a reference to the Episcopal throne (cathedra) of the Catholic Church. In other words, the Holy See is the “Holy Seat” or the “Holy Throne” of the Greco-Roman Empire in the underworld.

BIS (2)

6. Switzerland Home to Bank for International Settlements
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel, Switzerland is the financial backbone of the CIA, secretly funding its nefarious operations around the world. Admittedly “the world’s oldest international financial organization”, the BIS funds 60 central banks (e.g., Bank of China, Bank of England, Federal Reserve Bank, etc.), which collectively make up  95% of the world’s GDP (gross domestic product). Although the BIS bills itself as an international organization ofcentral banks which attempts “to foster international cooperation in those areas and to act as a bank for central banks“, it is solely responsible for orchestrating the world’s financial crises simply due to the fact that it alone has the power to create money. In other words, the BIS is responsible for creating and distributing the world’s fiat money supply which is in turn used to fund the world’s respective governments, intelligence agencies and militaries, as well as the assassinations, terror attacks wars they engage in at the behest of the CIA. As the financial wing of the Central Intelligence Agency in Switzerland, the BIS is fiscally responsible for funding virtually all of the armed conflicts witnessed around the world today.

Swastika and SS

7. Names for Switzerland Equate to CIA & SS
Because Switzerland is home to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), their respective names are intimately linked in numerology. According to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which is coincidentally located in Switzerland, the country code of Switzerland is CH (i.e., “Chi”), an acronym derived from Confoederationis Helveticae, an original name for Switzerland. When employing Jewish Gematria in respect to the Roman Score (i.e., the Roman alphabet) and/or the modern-English alphabet, the acronym “CH” numerically and consonantly equates to the acronym “CIA”. For example, the numbers/letters found within “CH” (i.e., C=3 and H=11) equate to “311” as the “H” symbol equates to the number “11” in the Roman Score. Conversely, the numbers/letters found within “CIA” (i.e., C=3, I=1, and A=1) numerically equate to “311” as the “I” symbol equates to the number 1 in the Roman Score. Since the letter “A” doubles as a Chevron symbol (i.e., “Ʌ”), the number/letter used to depict the letters “C” and “K” in the Roman Score, the acronym “CIA” equates to “CIɅ”, an acronym which can be depicted in a variety of different ways (i.e., CIC, CIK, KIC, KIK, CIɅ, ɅIC, KIɅ, ɅIK, ɅIɅ, etc.). The double “Ʌ”, “C” and “K” are grammatically and numerological tributes to Chania, Crete, the birthplace of the Greco-Roman Empire which now rules the world via the CIA in Switzerland. This is why the coat of arms of the Holy See (i.e., the official name of the CIA in Roman Catholic Church) depicts two keys or two K’s (i.e., “KK”), for the term “Key” (K) consonantly equates to the letters “C” and “K”, symbolically depicting the name of the CIA (i.e., KIK). Considering that the CIA is predominately staffed by males of Jewish decent, the derogatory term for Jews is “Kike” (C/K+C/K), a term which consonantly equates to “CIA” when the letter “A” is deciphered as a Chevron symbol (i.e., “Ʌ”). Unbeknown to most, Switzerland is also home to the World Jewish Congress, an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations which is curiously never mentioned as an active political body. Whether the World Jewish Congress is part of the CIA is not known, but it’s highly likely considering the secretive nature of the group. One of the original names for Switzerland is Suisse, its current name in French. Consonantly speaking, the term Suisse (S+S) equates to “SS” or “CC” (pronounced “See See”) as the letter “C” routinely doubles as the letter “S” in the English language (e.g., cent, century, citrus, etc.). Consequently, a double “SS” equates to a double “CC” which is, as previously stated, is representative of the CIA (i.e., CIɅ). Historically speaking, the “SS” is found in the names of symbols of various groups which were and are being used by the CIA to kill and terrorize billions of people around the world. For example, the letters “SS” were used by the Schutzstaffel (i.e., SS), the largest and most powerful paramilitary organizations in Hitler’s Third Reich, as well as the Waffen-SS, the multi-national military force of Nazi Germany. Said organizations also donned the Swastika, a symbol which in the letter “S” is superimposed upon another letter “S”, resulting in an “SS”. In modern times, the Swastika is used by the CIA’s neo-Nazi groups around the world. Lastly, similar to the tem Suisse, the name of the state-sponsored terror group ISIS (S+S) contains a double “SS”, a grammatical tribute to the CIA in Switzerland which is using the group to terrorize the world.

FIS

8. Swiss National Day is Anniversary of Temple of Spies
Swiss National Day is the birthday/national day of Switzerland, a holiday which is celebrated annually on August 1, marking the foundation of the Swiss Confederacy. Coincidentally, August 1 is also the anniversary of the Temple of Spes (i.e., Spies). Spes (pronounced “ˈspeːs” as in “spies”) was the goddess of Hope in Roman mythology and religion because the Greco-Roman Empire hoped they would find out about potential threats and invasions prior to them manifesting in reality. Because Switzerland and its CIA spy on the underworld on behalf of the Greco-Roman Empire in Greenland, their respective birthday/national holiday is celebrated on the same day as the anniversary of the Temple of Spies. That is why the logo of the Federal Intelligence Service (FIS), which operates under the aliases of theNachrichtendienst des Bundes (NDB), the Service de renseignement de la Confédération (SRC), and the Servizio di Intelligence Federale (SIF), depicts an outline of Switzerland superimposed upon an eye for the FIS is the official name for the CIA in Switzerland. Lastly, in what appears to be a modern tribute to espionage conducted by the state of Switzerland, the logo of Spy Optic sunglasses depicts a Greek Cross which is coincidentally found in the flag of Switzerland.

Mussolini and Hitler

9. Switzerland Intimately Tied to Dictators
Switzerland is intimately linked, albeit in a de facto manner, to a number of notorious dictators, namely Napoleon BonaparteAdolf HitlerBenito Mussolini, and Kim Jong-un. In the case of Napoleon, Switzerland served as the staging ground for French battles against the Austrians and Russians. Despite being temporarily occupied by French troops, Switzerland was never attacked or invaded by Napoleon’s troops. Although 3.5 million deaths are attributed to Napoleon, Switzerland remained unscathed. Despite the infamous Operation Tannenbaum (i.e., “Operation Christmas Tree”), the allegedly planned but cancelled invasion of Switzerland by Nazi Germany during World War II, Hitler never attacked or invaded Switzerland despite having the country virtually surrounded. Although 7 to 9 million deaths are attributed to Hitler during World War II, Switzerland reportedly only suffered 100 casualties. In 1902, future dictatorBenito Mussolini emigrated to Switzerland where he participated in a series of meetings that organized the communist revolutions and insurrections that later swept through Europe. Similar to his counterpart Hitler, Mussolini never attacked Switzerland despite the fact that it borders Italy to the north. Although 454,600 deaths are attributed to Mussolini during World War II, Switzerland reportedly only suffered 100 casualties.
Why Napoleon, Hitler and Mussolini did not attack or invade Switzerland (the richest country on Earth) while they raped and pillaged Europe only makes sense when it is understood that these dictators were funded and/or groomed by the CIA in Switzerland. Lastly, although North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is routinely portrayed as mentally unstable, he is under the mind-control of the CIA in Switzerland and acts accordingly. Similar to Mussolini before him, Jong-un lived his “handler” in Switzerland where he was “spotted” a number of times while attending a so-called “private school” where he was likely being groomed for his eventual role as dictator of North Korea. Consequently, any causalities incurred by Jong-un and North Korea are squarely on the shoulders of the CIA in Switzerland.

Knights-Templar-17

10. Switzerland Founded by Knights Templar & Order of St. John
The Knights Templar and the Order of Saint John (e.g., the Hospitallers, Knights of Saint John, Knights of Rhodes,Knights HospitallersSovereign Military Order of Malta, etc.) were two medieval Roman Catholic Orders whose merger ultimately spawned the creation of Switzerland around 1300 AD. Consequently, the respective colors and symbols of said Orders are now depicted in the flag of Switzerland. These notorious military Orders routinely engaged is assassinations, piracy, terror attacks and war, traits currently exhibited by the CIA in Switzerland. According to legend, the Order of Saint John wore black surcoats with a white cross during its crusades with the Muslims. However, in 1248,Pope Innocent IV approved a new standard military dress for the Order of Saint John which consisted of a red surcoat emblazoned by a white cross, the exact same color scheme and symbol now depicted in the flag of Switzerland. Interestingly, the flag of Switzerland is now synonymous with neutrality and innocence, an apparent tribute to Pope Innocent IV who sanctified the Order. The Order relocated to Switzerland shortly after the Protestant Reformation (c. 1170) when its leaders in the Margraviate of Brandenburg declared their continued loyalty to the Order of Saint John while publically accepting Protestant theology. The Protestant branches of the Order admittedly spread throughout Europe, including “Hungary, Poland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, France, Austria, the United Kingdom, and Italy”. After going undercover in the Alps, “It was established that the [Order of Saint John] should remain neutral in any war between Christian nations”. Since the flag of Switzerland bears the exact same color scheme and symbol as the Order of Saint John, and it’s the only permanently neutral country on Earth, it can be deduced that the Order of St. John became founded what is now known as Switzerland. Similar to the Order of Saint John, the Knights Templar were known for their white mantles with a red cross, a color scheme and symbol now depicted in the logo of the International Red Cross in Geneva, Switzerland, as well as in the flag of Switzerland, albeit the colors are reversed. The notion that the Knights Templar established Switzerland is corroborated by numerousscholars who believe that the “Templars fled into the Swiss Alps”. Since both the Knights Templar and the Order of Saint John admittedly relocated to Switzerland, and the color schemes and symbols of both Orders are evident in the flag of Switzerland, it can be deduced that the country of Switzerland was specifically founded so that these Roman Catholic military orders could fund and orchestrate assassinations, piracy, terror attacks and wars around the world under the guise of neutrality. Due to the wealth the Knights Templar confiscated during their centuries of conquests, the non-combatant members of the Order began to develop a massive economic infrastructure within Europe, creating financial techniques that became the earliest forms of banking, something Switzerland is now famous for. In 1150, the Templars began generating letters of credit for pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land, an innovative arrangement that became the earliest form of banking, leading to the formal system known today as checks. Consequently, the Order of the Knights Templar became the world’s first multinational corporation. Templar involvement in banking grew to the point where they began to practice usury, charging interest on money lent. Templar usury is still evident today in the form of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) which is located in Basel, Switzerland. In short, the BIS creates money out of thin air and then charges countries (and their respective citizens) interest on said money, keeping the world in a perpetual state of debt and slavery. Since interest rates can always be manipulated, no country can ever escape from their current economic status, regardless of how hard they work.

About the Author
David Chase Taylor is an American journalist and the editor-in-chief of Truther.org, a state-sponsored terror whistle-blower website. Taylor lives in Zurich, Switzerland where he is currently in the process of applying for political asylum since the release of The Nuclear Bible, a book credited with foiling a nuclear terror attack upon Super Bowl XLV in Dallas, Texas on February 6, 2011. Taylor recently authored Greenland Theory: Apocalypse Now, a book and website exposing the true power structure of the world, especially in respect to Greenland and its primary proxy state of Switzerland which is home to the CIA. Taylor has also published The Bio-Terror Bible, a book and website exposing the global bio-terror pandemic planned for 2015. To date, Taylor has blown the whistle on over 100 state-sponsored terror plots, including the 2012 Democratic National Convention Terror Plot, the 2011 Super Bowl Nuclear Terror Plot, the2014 Super Bowl Nuclear Terror Plot, the Terrorgate Scandal, the 2014 Memorial Day Massacre, the man-made asteroid attack planned for 2014, and the drone strike which killed “Fast and Furious” star Paul Walker. Taylor was also the first to expose Alex Jones’ treacherous links to STRATFOR and is noted for the 10 reasons why the Rosetta Comet landing was a hoax.

READ: In the Event of My Death Prior to July 19, 2015—An Open Letter by J...

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Comment by CHRISTINA on April 15, 2015 at 6:40am

this can only happen because people have allowed this.

NOT ME !!!

i do not consent to all of this

i do not consent to all of this

i do not consent to all of this

so be it !!!

Comment by CHRISTINA on April 15, 2015 at 6:33am

bis:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-11/meet-secretive-group-runs-...

The following is an excerpt from TOWER OF BASEL: The Shadowy History of the Secret Bank that Runs th...by Adam LeBor.  Reprinted with permission from PublicAffairs.

The world’s most exclusive club has eighteen members. They gather every other month on a Sunday evening at 7 p.m. in conference room E in a circular tower block whose tinted windows overlook the central Basel railway station. Their discussion lasts for one hour, perhaps an hour and a half. Some of those present bring a colleague with them, but the aides rarely speak during this most confidential of conclaves. The meeting closes, the aides leave, and those remaining retire for dinner in the dining room on the eighteenth floor, rightly confident that the food and the wine will be superb. The meal, which continues until 11 p.m. or midnight, is where the real work is done. The protocol and hospitality, honed for more than eight decades, are faultless. Anything said at the dining table, it is understood, is not to be repeated elsewhere.

Few, if any, of those enjoying their haute cuisine and grand cru wines— some of the best Switzerland can offer—would be recognized by passers-by, but they include a good number of the most powerful people in the world. These men—they are almost all men—are central bankers. They have come to Basel to attend the Economic Consultative Committee (ECC) of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), which is the bank for central banks. Its current members [ZH: as of 2013] include Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve; Sir Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England; Mario Draghi, of the European Central Bank; Zhou Xiaochuan of the Bank of China; and the central bank governors of Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Canada, India, and Brazil. Jaime Caruana, a former governor of the Bank of Spain, the BIS’s general manager, joins them.

In early 2013, when this book went to press, King, who is due to step down as governor of the Bank of England in June 2013, chaired the ECC. The ECC, which used to be known as the G-10 governors’ meeting, is the most influential of the BIS’s numerous gatherings, open only to a small, select group of central bankers from advanced economies. The ECC makes recommendations on the membership and organization of the three BIS committees that deal with the global financial system, payments systems, and international markets. The committee also prepares proposals for the Global Economy Meeting and guides its agenda.

That meeting starts at 9:30 a.m. on Monday morning, in room B and lasts for three hours. There King presides over the central bank governors of the thirty countries judged the most important to the global economy. In addition to those who were present at the Sunday evening dinner, Monday’s meeting will include representatives from, for example, Indonesia, Poland, South Africa, Spain, and Turkey. Governors from fifteen smaller countries, such as Hungary, Israel, and New Zealand are allowed to sit in as observers, but do not usually speak. Governors from the third tier of member banks, such as Macedonia and Slovakia, are not allowed to attend. Instead they must forage for scraps of information at coffee and meal breaks.

The governors of all sixty BIS member banks then enjoy a buffet lunch in the eighteenth-floor dining room. Designed by Herzog & de Meuron, the Swiss architectural firm which built the “Bird’s Nest” Stadium for the Beijing Olympics, the dining room has white walls, a black ceiling and spectacular views over three countries: Switzerland, France, and Germany. At 2 p.m. the central bankers and their aides return to room B for the governors’ meeting to discuss matters of interest, until the gathering ends at 5.

King takes a very different approach than his predecessor, Jean-Claude Trichet, the former president of the European Central Bank, in chairing the Global Economy Meeting. Trichet, according to one former central banker, was notably Gallic in his style: a stickler for protocol who called the central bankers to speak in order of importance, starting with the governors of the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, and the Bundesbank, and then progressing down the hierarchy. King, in contrast, adopts a more thematic and egalitarian approach: throwing open the meetings for discussion and inviting contributions from all present.

The governors’ conclaves have played a crucial role in determining the world’s response to the global financial crisis. “The BIS has been a very important meeting point for central bankers during the crisis, and the rationale for its existence has expanded,” said King. “We have had to face challenges that we have never seen before. We had to work out what was going on, what instruments do we use when interest rates are close to zero, how do we communicate policy. We discuss this at home with our staff, but it is very valuable for the governors themselves to get together and talk among themselves.”

Those discussions, say central bankers, must be confidential. “When you are at the top in the number one post, it can be pretty lonely at times. It is helpful to be able to meet other number ones and say, ‘This is my problem, how do you deal with it?’” King continued. “Being able to talk informally and openly about our experiences has been immensely valuable. We are not speaking in a public forum. We can say what we really think and believe, and we can ask questions and benefit from others.”

The BIS management works hard to ensure that the atmosphere is friendly and clubbable throughout the weekend, and it seems they succeed. The bank arranges a fleet of limousines to pick up the governors at Zürich airport and bring them to Basel. Separate breakfasts, lunches, and dinners are organized for the governors of national banks who oversee different types and sizes of national economies, so no one feels excluded. “The central bankers were more at home and relaxed with their fellow central bankers than with their own governments,” recalled Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, who at- tended the Basel weekends. The superb quality of the food and wine made for an easy camaraderie, said Peter Akos Bod, a former governor of the National Bank of Hungary. “The main topics of discussion were the quality of the wine and the stupidity of finance ministers. If you had no knowledge of wine you could not join in the conversation.”

And the conversation is usually stimulating and enjoyable, say central bankers. The contrast between the Federal Open Markets Committee at  the US Federal Reserve, and the Sunday evening G-10 governors’ dinners was notable, recalled Laurence Meyer, who served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve from 1996 until 2002. The chairman of the Federal Reserve did not always represent the bank at the Basel meetings, so Meyer occasionally attended. The BIS discussions were always lively, focused and thought provoking. “At FMOC meetings, while I was at the Fed, almost all the Committee members read statements which had been prepared in advance. They very rarely referred to statements by other Committee members and there was almost never an exchange between two members or an ongoing discussion about the outlook or policy options. At BIS dinners people actually talk to each other and the discussions are always stimulating and interactive focused on the serious issues facing the global economy.”

All the governors present at the two-day gathering are assured of total confidentiality, discretion, and the highest levels of security. The meetings take place on several floors that are usually used only when the governors are in attendance. The governors are provided with a dedicated office and the necessary support and secretarial staff. The Swiss authorities have no juridisdiction over the BIS premises. Founded by an international treaty, and further protected by the 1987 Headquarters Agreement with the Swiss government, the BIS enjoys similar protections to those granted to the headquarters of the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and diplomatic embassies. The Swiss authorities need the permission of the BIS management to enter the bank’s buildings, which are described as “inviolable.”

The BIS has the right to communicate in code and to send and receive correspondence in bags covered by the same protection as embassies, meaning they cannot be opened. The BIS is exempt from Swiss taxes. Its employees do not have to pay income tax on their salaries, which are usually generous, designed to compete with the private sector. The general man- ager’s salary in 2011 was 763,930 Swiss francs, while head of departments were paid 587,640 per annum, plus generous allowances. The bank’s extraordinary legal privileges also extend to its staff and directors. Senior managers enjoy a special status, similar to that of diplomats, while carrying out their duties in Switzerland, which means their bags cannot be searched (unless there is evidence of a blatant criminal act), and their papers are inviolable. The central bank governors traveling to Basel for the bimonthly meetings enjoy the same status while in Switzerland. All bank officials are immune under Swiss law, for life, for all the acts carried out during the discharge of their duties. The bank is a popular place to work and not just because of the salaries. Around six hundred staff come from over fifty countries. The atmosphere is multi-national and cosmopolitan, albeit very Swiss, emphasizing the bank’s hierarchy. Like many of those working for the UN or the IMF, some of the staff of the BIS, especially senior management, are driven by a sense of mission, that they are working for a higher, even celestial purpose and so are immune from normal considerations of accountability and transparency.

The bank’s management has tried to plan for every eventuality so that the Swiss police need never be called. The BIS headquarters has high-tech sprinkler systems with multiple back-ups, in-house medical facilities, and its own bomb shelter in the event of a terrorist attack or armed conflagration. The BIS’s assets are not subject to civil claims under Swiss law and can never be seized.

The BIS strictly guards the bankers’ secrecyThe minutes, agenda, and actual attendance list of the Global Economy Meeting or the ECC are not released in any form. This is because no official minutes are taken, although the bankers sometimes scribble their own notes. Sometimes there will be a brief press conference or bland statement afterwards but never anything detailed. This tradition of privileged confidentiality reaches back to the bank’s foundation.

“The quietness of Basel and its absolutely nonpolitical character provide a perfect setting for those equally quiet and nonpolitical gatherings,” wrote one American official in 1935. “The regularity of the meetings and their al- most unbroken attendance by practically every member of the Board make them such they rarely attract any but the most meager notice in the press.”8 Forty years on, little had changed. Charles Coombs, a former foreign exchange chief of the New York Federal Reserve, attended governors’ meetings from 1960 to 1975. The bankers who were allowed inside the inner sanctum of the governors’ meetings trusted each other absolutely, he recalled in his memoirs. “However much money was involved, no agreements were ever signed nor memoranda of understanding ever initialized. The word of each official was sufficient, and there were never any disappointments.”

What, then, does this matter to the rest of us? Bankers have been gathering confidentially since money was first invented. Central bankers like to view themselves as the high priests of finance, as technocrats overseeing arcane monetary rituals and a financial liturgy understood only by a small, self-selecting elite.

But the governors who meet in Basel every other month are public servants. Their salaries, airplane tickets, hotel bills, and lucrative pensions when they retire are paid out of the public purse. The national reserves held by central banks are public money, the wealth of nations. The central bankers’ discussions at the BIS, the information that they share, the policies that are evaluated, the opinions that are exchanged, and the subsequent decisions that are taken, are profoundly political. Central bankers, whose independence is constitutionally protected, control monetary policy in the developed world. They manage the supply of money to national economies. They set interest rates, thus deciding the value of our savings and investments. They decide whether to focus on austerity or growth. Their decisions shape our lives.

The BIS’s tradition of secrecy reaches back through the decades. During the 1960s, for example, the bank hosted the London Gold Pool. Eight countries pledged to manipulate the gold market to keep the price at around thirty-five dollars per ounce, in line with the provisions of the Bretton Woods Accord that governed the post–World War II international financial system. Although the London Gold Pool no longer exists, its successor is the BIS Markets Committee, which meets every other month on the occasion of the governors’ meetings to discuss trends in the financial markets. Officials from twenty-one central banks attend. The committee releases occasional papers, but its agenda and discussions remain secret.

Nowadays the countries represented at the Global Economy Meetings together account for around four-fifths of global gross domestic product (GDP)— most of the produced wealth of the world—according to the BIS’s own statistics. Central bankers now “seem more powerful than politicians,” wrote The Economist newspaper, “holding the destiny of the global economy in their hands.” How did this happen? The BIS, the world’s most secretive global financial institution, can claim much of the credit. From its first day of existence, the BIS has dedicated itself to furthering the interests of central banks and building the new architecture of transnational finance. In doing so, it has spawned a new class of close-knit global technocrats whose members glide between highly-paid positions at the BIS, the IMF, and central and commercial banks.

The founder of the technocrats’ cabal was Per Jacobssen, the Swedish economist who served as the BIS’s economic adviser from 1931 to 1956. The bland title belied his power and reach. Enormously influential, well connected, and highly regarded by his peers, Jacobssen wrote the first BIS annual reports, which were—and remain—essential reading throughout the world’s treasuries. Jacobssen was an early supporter of European federalism. He argued relentlessly against inflation, excessive government spending, and state intervention in the economy. Jacobssen left the BIS in 1956 to take over the IMF. His legacy still shapes our world. The consequences of his mix of economic liberalism, price obsession, and dismantling of national sovereignty play out nightly in the European news bulletins on our television screens.

The BIS’s defenders deny that the organization is secretive. The bank’s archives are open and researchers may consult most documents that are more than thirty years old. The BIS archivists are indeed cordial, helpful, and professional. The bank’s website includes all its annual reports, which are downloadable, as well as numerous policy papers produced by the bank’s highly regarded research department. The BIS publishes detailed accounts of the securities and derivatives markets, and international banking statistics. But these are largely compilations and analyses of information already in the public domain. The details of the bank’s own core activities, including much of its banking operations for its customers, central banks, and international organizations, remain secret. The Global Economy Meetings and the other crucial financial gatherings that take place at Basel, such as the Markets Committee, remain closed to outsiders. Private individuals may not hold an account at BIS, unless they work for the bank. The bank’s opacity, lack of accountability, and ever-increasing influence raises profound questions— not just about monetary policy but transparency, accountability, and how power is exercised in our democracies.

* * *

WHEN I EXPLAINED to friends and acquaintances that I was writing a book about the Bank for International Settlements, the usual response was a puzzled look, followed by a question: “The bank for what?” My interlocutors were intelligent people, who follow current affairs. Many had some interest in and understanding of the global economy and financial crisis. Yet only a handful had heard of the BIS. This was strange, as the BIS is the most important bank in the world and predates both the IMF and the World Bank. For decades it has stood at the center of a global network of money, power, and covert global influence.

The BIS was founded in 1930. It was ostensibly set up as part of the Young Plan to administer German reparations payments for the First World War. The bank’s key architects were Montagu Norman, who was the governor of the Bank of England, and Hjalmar Schacht, the president of the Reichsbank who described the BIS as “my” bank. The BIS’s founding members were the central banks of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and a consortium of Japanese banks. Shares were also offered to the Federal Reserve, but the United States, suspicious of anything that might infringe on its national sovereignty, refused its allocation. Instead a consortium of commercial banks took up the shares: J. P. Morgan, the First National Bank of New York, and the First National Bank of Chicago.

The real purpose of the BIS was detailed in its statutes: to “promote the cooperation of central banks and to provide additional facilities for international financial operations.” It was the culmination of the central bankers’ decades-old dream, to have their own bank—powerful, independent, and free from interfering politicians and nosy reporters. Most felicitous of all, the BIS was self-financing and would be in perpetuity. Its clients were its own founders and shareholders— the central banks. During the 1930s, the BIS was the central meeting place for a cabal of central bankers, dominated by Norman and Schacht. This group helped rebuild Germany. The New York Times described Schacht, widely acknowledged as the genius behind the resurgent German economy, as “The Iron-Willed Pilot of Nazi Finance.” During the war, the BIS became a de-facto arm of the Reichsbank, accepting looted Nazi gold and carrying out foreign exchange deals for Nazi Germany.

The bank’s alliance with Berlin was known in Washington, DC, and London. But the need for the BIS to keep functioning, to keep the new channels of transnational finance open, was about the only thing all sides agreed on. Basel was the perfect location, as it is perched on the northern edge of Switzerland and sits al- most on the French and German borders. A few miles away, Nazi and Allied soldiers were fighting and dying. None of that mattered at the BIS. Board meetings were suspended, but relations between the BIS staff of the belligerent nations remained cordial, professional, and productive. Nationalities were irrelevantThe overriding loyalty was to international finance. The president, Thomas McKittrick, was an American. Roger Auboin, the general manager, was French. Paul Hechler, the assistant general manager, was a member of the Nazi party and signed his correspondence “Heil Hitler.” Rafaelle Pilotti, the secretary general, was Italian. Per Jacobssen, the bank’s influential economic adviser, was Swedish. His and Pilotti’s deputies were British.

After 1945, five BIS directors, including Hjalmar Schacht, were charged with war crimes. Germany lost the war but won the economic peace, in large part thanks to the BIS. The international stage, contacts, banking networks, and legitimacy the BIS provided, first to the Reichsbank and then to its successor banks, has helped ensure the continuity of immensely powerful financial and economic interests from the Nazi era to the present day.

* * *

FOR THE FIRST forty-seven years of its existence, from 1930 to 1977, the BIS was based in a former hotel, near the Basel central railway station. The bank’s entrance was tucked away by a chocolate shop, and only a small notice confirmed that the narrow doorway opened into the BIS. The bank’s managers believed that those who needed to know where the BIS was would find it, and the rest of the world certainly did not need to know. The inside of the building changed little over the decades, recalled Charles Coombs. The BIS provided the “the spartan accommodations of a former Victorian-style hotel whose single and double bedrooms had been transformed into offices simply by removing the beds and installing desks.”

The bank moved into its current headquarters, at 2, Centralbahnplatz, in 1977. It did not go far and now overlooks the Basel central station. Nowadays the BIS’s main mission, in its own words, is threefold: “to serve central banks in their pursuit of monetary and financial stability, to foster international cooperation in these areas, and to act as a bank for central banks.” The BIS also hosts much of the practical and technical infrastructure that the global network of central banks and their commercial counterparts need to function smoothly. It has two linked trading rooms: at the Basel headquarters and Hong Kong regional office. The BIS buys and sells gold and foreign exchange for its clients. It provides asset management and arranges short-term credit to central banks when needed.

The BIS is a unique institution: an international organization, an extremely profitable bank and a research institute founded, and protected, by international treaties.The BIS is accountable to its customers and shareholdersthe central banks—but also guides their operations. The main tasks of a central bank, the BIS argues, are to control the flow of credit and the volume of currency in circulation, which will ensure a stable business climate, and to keep exchange rates within manageable bands to ensure the value of a currency and so smooth international trade and capital movements. This is crucial, especially in a globalized economy, where markets react in microseconds andperceptions of economic stability and value are almost as important as reality itself.

The BIS also helps to supervise commercial banks, although it has no legal powers over them. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, based at the BIS, regulates commercial banks’ capital and liquidity requirements. It requires banks to have a minimum capital of eight percent of risk-weighted assets when lending, meaning that if a bank has risk-weighted assets of $100 million it must maintain at least $8 million capital. The committee has no powers of enforcement, but it does have enormous moral authority. “This regulation is so powerful that the eight percent principle has been set into national laws,” said Peter Akos Bod. “It’s like voltage. Voltage has been set at 220. You may decide on ninety-five volts, but it would not work.” In theory, sensible housekeeping and mutual cooperation, overseen by the BIS, will keep the global financial system functioning smoothly. In theory.

The reality is that we have moved beyond recession into a deep structural crisis, one fueled by the banks’ greed and rapacity, which threatens all of our financial security. Just as in the 1930s, parts of Europe face economic collapse. The Bundesbank and the European Central Bank, two of the most powerful members of the BIS, have driven the mania for austerity that has already forced one European country, Greece, to the edge, aided by the venality and corruption of the country’s ruling class. Others may soon follow. The old order is creaking, its political and financial institutions corroding from within. From Oslo to Athens, the far right is resurgent, fed in part by soaring poverty and unemployment. Anger and cynicism are corroding citizens’ faith in democracy and the rule of law. Once again, the value of property and assets is vaporizing before their owners’ eyes. The European currency is threatened with breakdown, while those with money seek safe haven in Swiss francs or gold. The young, the talented, and the mobile are again fleeing their home countries for new lives abroad. The powerful forces of international capital that brought the BIS into being, and which granted the bank its power and influence, are again triumphant.

The BIS sits at the apex of an international financial system that is falling apart at the seams, but its officials argue that it does not have the power to act as an international financial regulator. Yet the BIS cannot escape its responsibility for the Euro-zone crisis. From the first agreements in the late 1940s on multilateral payments to the establishment of the Europe Central Bank in 1998, the BIS has been at the heart of the European integration project, providing technical expertise and the financial mechanisms for currency harmonization. During the 1950s, it managed the European Payments Union, which internationalized the continent’s payment system. The BIS hosted the Governors’ Committee of European Economic Community central bankers, set up in 1964, which coordinated trans-European monetary policy. During the 1970s, the BIS ran the “Snake,” the mechanism by which European currencies were held in exchange rate bands. During the 1980s the BIS hosted the Delors Committee, whose report in 1988 laid out the path to European Monetary Union and the adoption of a single currency. The BIS midwifed the European Monetary Institute (EMI), the precursor of the European Central Bank. The EMI’s president was Alexandre Lamfalussy, one of the world’s most influential economists, known as the “Father of the euro.” Before joining the EMI in 1994, Lamfalussy had worked at the BIS for seventeen years, first as economic adviser, then as the bank’s general manager.

For a staid, secretive organization, the BIS has proved surprisingly nimble. It survived the first global depression, the end of reparations payments and the gold standard (two of its main reasons for existence), the rise of Nazism, the Second World War, the Bretton Woods Accord, the Cold War, the financial crises of the 1980s and 1990s, the birth of the IMF and World Bank, and the end of Communism. As Malcolm Knight, manager from 2003–2008, noted, “It is encouraging to see that—by remaining small, flexible, and free from political interference—the Bank has, throughout its history, succeeded remarkably well in adapting itself to evolving circumstances.”

The bank has made itself a central pillar of the global financial system. As well as the Global Economy Meetings, the BIS hosts four of the most important international committees dealing with global banking: the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the Committee on the Global Financial System, the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems, and the Irving Fisher Committee, which deals with central banking statistics. The bank also hosts three independent organizations: two groups dealing with insurance and the Financial Stability Board (FSB). The FSB, which coordinates national financial authorities and regulatory policies, is already being spoken of as the fourth pillar of the global financial system, after the BIS, the IMF and the commercial banks.

The BIS is now the world’s thirtieth-largest holder of gold reserves, with 119 metric tons—more than Qatar, Brazil, or Canada. Membership of the BIS remains a privilege rather than a right. The board of directors is responsible for admitting central banks judged to “make a substantial contribution to international monetary cooperation and to the Bank’s activities.” China, India, Russia, and Saudi Arabia joined only in 1996. The bank has opened offices in Mexico City and Hong Kong but remains very Eurocentric. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Slovenia, and Slovakia (total population 16.2 million) have been admitted, while Pakistan (population 169 million) has not. Nor has Kazakhstan, which is a powerhouse of Central Asia. In Africa only Algeria and South Africa are members—Nigeria, which has the continent’s second-largest economy, has not been admitted. (The BIS’s defenders say that it demands high governance standards from new members and when the national banks of countries such as Nigeria and Pakistan reach those standards, they will be considered for membership.)

Considering the BIS’s pivotal role in the transnational economy, its low profile is remarkable. Back in 1930 a New York Times reporter noted that the culture of secrecy at the BIS was so strong that he was not permitted to look inside the boardroom, even after the directors had left. Little has changed. Journalists are not allowed inside the headquarters while the Global Economy Meeting is underway. BIS officials speak rarely on the record, and reluctantly, to members of the press. The strategy seems to work. The Occupy Wall Street movement, the anti-globalizers, the social network protesters have ignored the BIS. Centralbahnplatz 2, Basel, is quiet and tranquil. There are no demonstrators gathered outside the BIS’s headquarters, no protestors camped out in the nearby park, no lively reception committees for the world’s central bankers.

As the world’s economy lurches from crisis to crisis, financial institutions are scrutinized as never before. Legions of reporters, bloggers, and investigative journalists scour the banks’ every move. Yet somehow, apart from brief mentions on the financial pages, the BIS has largely managed to avoid critical scrutiny. Until now.

Comment by CHRISTINA on April 10, 2015 at 2:11pm
Comment by CHRISTINA on April 10, 2015 at 2:02pm

thanks besimi.

Comment by Besimi on April 9, 2015 at 1:42pm

:) I reposted the same,with photos.
..indeed interesting post . thnx Christina.

Comment by Besimi on April 9, 2015 at 1:24pm

Dirty Suisse,Yep !
..most people know that something is fishy with Switzerland, but they don't know to this extend, ..not in these details.

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