Bilderberg Leader Mario Monti Takes Over Italy in “Coup”

by Alex Newman   

Italy’s new Prime Minister Mario Monti (with wife at left), who rose to power in what critics called a “coup d’etat,” is a prominent member of the world elite in the truest sense of the term. In fact, he is a leader in at least two of the most influential cabals in existence today: the secretive Bilderberg Group and David Rockefeller’s Trilateral Commission.

 Nicknamed “Super Mario,” Monti is also an “international advisor” to the infamous Goldman Sachs, one of the most powerful financial firms in the world. Critics refer to the giant bank as the “Vampire Squid” after a journalist famously used the term in a hit piece. But its tentacles truly do reach into the highest levels of governments worldwide. 

Italy’s Political Crisis

 Following the Italian government’s descent into the economic abyss that saw bond yields soar to record highs as the euro-zone began to come apart at the seams, ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi decided to step down. And late last week, President Giorgio Napolitano asked Monti to form a new government.

 On November 16, the new Prime Minister — who will also serve as Italy’s “Economy Minister” — announced that he was appointing an array of bankers, technocrats, and lawyers to lead the emerging government. After unveiling proposed reforms later this week Monti and his unelected team will face Parliament in a confidence vote.

 Some of the nation’s political parties have already said they support the new leadership. But others, including loyal members of Berlusconi’s party, complained of a “coup d’etat” engineered by bankers and the European Union. 

“The truth is that there was a big operation, an ‘Italian Job,’ to get Berlusconi out of the way by forcing him to resign,” complained former Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, comparing Berlusconi’s ouster to the movie of that same name made in1969 and remade in 2003. While the ex-Prime Minister was not technically forced to resign, he said it was an act of “responsibility.” 

Monti: Insider Extraordinaire

 Listed as a member of the “steering committee” on the official Bilderberg website, critics say Monti has “establishment” written all over him. The shadowy group he helps lead includes a roster of the world’s real power brokers — media magnates, royalty, military leaders, big bankers, heads of state and government, key CEOs, and more.

 The elite members gather once a year in total secrecy, sparking innumerable theories and widespread concern. In 2011 the group met in Switzerland and attracted more scrutiny than in the past.
 But despite the attendance of influential reporters, editors, and media power houses, very little of substance was publicly revealed. It is known, however, that Bilderberg played a crucial role in erecting the increasingly powerful supranational regime in Brussels. 

 Monti is also the European Group chairman of the infamous Trilateral Commission, according to the organization‘s website. The secretive group, which also lists among its members some of the most influential members of the world elite, was supposedly founded to bring about closer “cooperation” between North America, Europe, and Japan.

 The Commission was founded in 1973 by the infamous banker and power-broker David Rockefeller. "Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure — one world, if you will,” Rockefeller wrote in his 2002 autobiography. “If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.”  

Monti is also a prominent leader of more than few smaller “think tanks” promoting more “integration,” big government, and globalism. He has been a long-time and consistent supporter of an “economic government” for the EU, as well as more Brussels meddling in social policies.

 His career has included academia, politics, banking, and more. And he has held several prominent positions within the European Union apparatus including the job of European Commissioner for Internal Market, Financial Services, Financial Integration, and Taxation.

The Rescue Plan

 "I would like to confirm my absolute serenity and conviction in the capacity of our country to overcome this difficult phase," Monti proclaimed recently. And he will have plenty of help.
 The European Central Bank has started to do everything possible to rescue the profligate Italian government - albeit quietly. According to Bloomberg, the ECB began buying up huge quantities and sizes of the regime’s bonds this week.

“There are no real buyers,” European interest-rate strategy chief Mohit Kumar with Deutsche Bank told the news service. Analysts suspected that the ECB move was designed to bolster confidence in the new Italian government and its leader.

 Monti’s first task will be to satisfy EU rulers by imposing massive new taxes on the Italian people. Tough “austerity” measures will follow soon after that. He said more growth — a tough task with new and higher taxes — will be his priority.

 "I hope that, governing well, we can make a contribution to the calming and the cohesion of the political forces," Monti explained after meeting with union bosses.

 The Italian government is currently drowning in trillions of euros worth of debt — well over 100 percent of GDP. And the market seems largely unwilling to loan it more money without EU prodding, guarantees, and huge yields.

 EU and euro-zone advocates are doing everything possible to avoid a calamity that could bring down their precious supranational government and its regional currency. But Italy, as the third-largest euro-zone economy, is simply too big to bail out, according to experts — even with the emerging “dictatorship” mechanism designed to save bankrupt governments and banks using taxpayer money.

 Monti could have until 2013 — the next scheduled election — to implement his “reforms,” assuming he gets his way. Critics, however, are calling for new elections to be held as soon as possible.

Critics, Greece & the Future

 While Italy will now be governed by the very definition of an “insider,” Greece faces a similar situation. Its new Prime Minister, Lucas Papademos, was the vice president of the ECB and even worked for the Federal Reserve. He has also been a member of the Trilateral Commission for over a decade.

 But critics are outraged. “The rise of bankers and unelected technocrats to power in Greece and Italy shows how the unfolding crisis of the euro-zone is undercutting democracy,” complained Costas Panayotakis, a professor of sociology at the New York City College of Technology at CUNY.

 Italian activists had harsh words for Monti, too. “The proposed new coalition government headed by Mario Monti can be a fatal trap for Italy's future,” explained Campaign for World Bank Reform leader Antonio Tricarico. “If most of political forces from the right and the left would support it, the European Commission and the European Central Bank - whose agenda Monti represents - will rule Italy without any opposition for the years to come, beyond any minimum standard of democratic accountability.”

Analysts said installing pro-EU and single-currency rulers in Greece and Italy was aimed at quieting the growing calls for the euro-zone to be dismantled. But it remains unclear whether they will succeed as the economic crisis continues to spiral out of control across Europe.

Computerised contact lens will keep you up to date with news and texts

  

• Prototype could create hands-free information
• Was placed into a rabbit’s eye without causing any health problems
• Inventor also looking to incorporate sensors to pick up important medical data
• Meanwhile, Britons to try out bionic eye which could end blindness

 By Fiona Macrae

  

Imagine catching up with your texts, social networking and perhaps the news without having to log on to a computer or even glance at a smartphone.

Messages and images would simply appear in front of your eyes, generated by a computerised contact lens.

Of course, you may not always want to be bothered by such messages if you are doing anything so quaint as – for instance – reading a book or going out walking and enjoying the scenery.

But until now the concept of info-vision – the ability to stream information across a person’s field of vision – had belonged to the realms of science fiction, featuring in films such as the Terminator series or TV shows such as Torchwood.

However, scientists have developed a prototype lens that could one day provide the wearer with all kinds of hands-free information.

It could also be used to display directions and TV programmes

The lenses, which would be inserted and removed like normal contacts, could also be handy if you are indeed enjoying the great outdoors, allowing you to zoom in on distant views.

While the amount of information that could appear in front of our faces is tantalising, the researchers insist all the components are tiny and the normal field of vision will not be obstructed.

 

The super-lenses are the brainchild of Professor Babak Parviz, a contact lens-wearing engineer who specialises in making parts on the nanoscale, thousands of times thinner than a human hair.

 

So far, he has created a lens which is implanted with tiny components, including a single LED light, an antenna that picks up power and information through a wireless connection, and an electronic circuit.

The lens was placed into a rabbit’s eye without causing any problems to its health and the light came on.

Professor Parviz, of the University of Washington in Seattle, said: ‘We have got a rudimentary display with one dot. If you had several dots, you could maybe create arrows, to give people directions.’

The professor envisions that one day we will be able to stream all the information we need directly on to the contact lens.

He is also investigating the idea of incorporating sensors that will pick up blood sugar levels and other potentially important medical information.

He told the Mail: ‘The surface of the eye is covered in live cells and the body has to keep them alive, so they are in direct contact with the bloodstream.’

Meanwhile, Britons to try out bionic eye that could put an end to blindness

A bionic eye that could restore the sight to the blind is to be tested on Britons.

Small-scale trials on the Continent have already produced ‘quite astonishing’ results.

The tiny implantable microchip allowed men and women who thought they would never be able to see again to read a clock and identify everyday objects.

 

Now, the wafer-thin device is to be implanted in Britons for the first time, with the first operations due within weeks.

 

Up to 12 men and women will be treated, with the surgery taking place in Oxford and London.

If these, and similar operations in Europe, prove the device from German firm Retina Implant to be safe and effective it could be on the market by 2013.

Most of the Britons treated will be middle-age and all will have retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary disease that destroys the light-sensitive retina at the back of the eye.

A microchip packed with 1,500 light sensors designed to replace those lost to disease is implanted in the back of the eye.

The sensors convert light to electrical signals. These stimulate nerves in the retina which pass signals down the optic nerve to the brain to turn into an image.

Robert MacLaren, the surgeon who will lead the Oxford arm of the trial, cautioned that the surgery is still experimental and the device does not work in all cases.

Thrill Is Gone? Matthews Turns On Obama; ‘I Hear Stories That You Would Not Believe’

China could overtake US economy by 2027

Jim O'Neill, the head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, has predicted that China could overtake the United States as the world's largest economy by 2027 and urged a fundamental rethink of the operation of the G7 which he believes is too dominated by the West.

By Kamal Ahmed / The Telegraph

In his long awaited update to his seminal 2001 paper on the BRIC economies of Brazil, India, Russia and China, Jim O'Neill says that the economies he highlighted have exceeded even his expectations in the way they have become global powerhouses.

Mr O'Neill says that the four countries should no longer be considered "emerging" economies but rather "growth" economies and should be given their rightful place as the top table of power.

A decade ago, Mr O'Neill sparked a new way of looking at the global economy when he coined the term BRIC. A decade on, his new book The Growth Map reveals the next stages in the progress of the non-Western economies which have come to dominate corporate life across the world.

The book is serialised in The Sunday Telegraph today with further extracts in tomorrow and Tuesday's Daily Telegraph and online at telegraph.co.uk. "Our updated research suggests that China's economic output – its gross domestic product – could match that of the US as early as 2027, and perhaps even sooner," he writes.

"Since 2001, China's GDP has risen fourfold, from $1.5 trillion to $6 trillion [£949bn to £3.7trillion] Economically speaking, China has created three new Chinas in the past decade. And it's likely that the combined GDP of the four BRIC nations will exceed that of the US sometime before 2020."

Mr O'Neill, once described by Businessweek as "Goldman's rock star", runs a division of Goldman that has $800bn assets under management and is one of the world's most in-demand economists. "Back in 2001, it was obvious to me that the institutional framework for running the world economy needed an overhaul," he said. "When I coined the acronym BRICs I argued that the G7, G8 and IMF [International Monetary Fund] were no longer suitable entities to deal with the challenges of the new world. Today it is even more obvious.

"There is more than national or political pride at stake here. Unless the BRICs are embraced more fully by the powers that now dominate the world's economic policy councils, we cannot enjoy the full benefits of their growth."

Mr O'Neill said that the G7 group of nations – America, Germany, Canada, UK, Italy, France and Japan – were "hardly representative" of the global economic order. He said the huge changes to the world since the G7 was founded in 1975 had not been reflected in its make-up. Only Russia, of the BRICs, has been asked to join an expanded G8.

"Back then, China was economically irrelevant," he said. "Today it is the second-largest economy in the world. Brazil is bigger now than Italy. France, Germany and Italy share a single currency. Each of Brazil, India and Russia is bigger than Canada. Yet the G7 still meet and their leaders still behave as though their nations dominate the world.

"If the G7 were being formed today it would have to include China. A case could easily be made for Brazil, India or Russia over Canada, and since the introduction of the euro as a common currency in 1999, there seems little logic behind the individual participation of three eurozone members in the G7, especially the smallest of them, Italy."

Mr O'Neill said that the European Union should consider asking Russia to join and that the G7 should have a mechanism – possibly overseen by the International Monetary Fund – for ejecting countries which are less economically relevant.

"The days of a 'Western' club of democracies is well past its sell-by date," he said. "One obvious step towards streamlining the management of the G7 and G20 would be merging the memberships of France, Germany and Italy into a single EU common currency membership," he said.

"Canadian and British membership of the G7 might also soon come under scrutiny, but I see nothing wrong with that. Political pride might lead them to argue that exclusion from the G7 would diminish them internationally and economically. But I would disagree."

OWS Protesters Calling For 3-Course Meal Of Demonstrations Thursday Throughout NYC

'Day Of Action' Will Involve 'Good-Sized' Numbers, Impacting All 5 Boroughs

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – It’s not over yet. In fact, it may be just beginning.

New York City leaders are warning that thousands of protesters could converge on Manhattan on Thursday. The NYPD is now getting ready for the next stage of “Occupy Wall Street” protests, reports CBS 2′s Marcia Kramer.

It may have looked peaceful at Zuccotti Park during what was a soggy Wednesday afternoon, but city officials are sounding alarm about Thursday, warning of mass disruptions in all five boroughs.

And it may not be pretty.

“We are certainly anticipating tens of thousands of people protesting, aimed at significant disruptions of the lives of the people of this city,” Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson said.

It was an unusual impromptu press conference called by City Hall to share intelligence about an international “day of action” by Occupy Wall Street on the movement’s two-month anniversary. Deputy Mayors Cass Holloway and Wolfson said they expect it to be big, but they said the NYPD is ready.

“Make no mistake, public safety is first and foremost, and we have to ensure that the city can run. People need to drive down the streets and use essential services,” Holloway said.

“Any time you have a situation in which you are anticipating tens of thousands of people protesting on a massive scale, you take it seriously and our forces will be deployed accordingly,” Wolfson added.

Already angry over their eviction from Zuccotti Park, the protesters are planning breakfast, lunch, and dinner protests on Thursday:

The breakfast plan is to “shut down” Wall Street. It’s all expected to start with a rally in Liberty Square starting at 7 a.m. to “put an end to Wall Street’s reign of terror.”

The lunch menu will feature protesters looking to “occupy” the subways in all five boroughs. They plan on gathering at 16 subways stations to take their message to the trains.

And dinner is set up as a takeover of Foley Square, followed by a march to the Brooklyn Bridge