Swiss refusing Iran & Syria's money

[Clio]

People speak of dots - 'filling out the picture'.

This one today is about as big as dots come.

http://tinyurl.com/c6llf

AP

Swiss Bank UBS Halts Iran, Syria Business

Sunday January 22, 3:36 pm ET

Swiss Banking Giant UBS AG Says It Has Stopped Doing Business With Iran and

Syria

ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) -- Swiss banking giant UBS AG said Sunday it has

stopped doing business with Iran because of the company's economic and risk

analysis of the situation in the country.

UBS will no longer deal with individuals, companies or state institutions

such as Iran's central bank, company spokesman Serge Steiner said. A similar

policy is also being implemented in the case of Syria, he said.

All existing business with customers in Iran will be canceled, but Iranians

in exile are not affected by the decision, Steiner said, confirming an

article in Swiss weekly SonntagsZeitung.

Iran is ... mindful of the freezing of its U.S. assets after the 1979

seizure of the American Embassy in Tehran. The nation has an estimated $50

billion in European banks and Iran's Central Bank governor said over the

weekend that it will move its reserves quickly if it deems it necessary to

do so.

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I do not at all understand all the ramifications of this story.

In the first place the Swiss will take anyone's money - including the gold out of the teeth of Holocaust victims - so I can't imagine what pressure or

prudence would cause them to make this move.

Secondly - where in the world can Iran move its assets? Gold would be good - but we are talking paper.

But- I can tell you this - when the Swiss start turning down money

that is about as big news as the story a while back about the Jewish bankers getting out of setting the gold standard.

Now to what I see as a related story.

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Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad, President of Iran and Lt. General Shaul Mofaz, Israeli Minister of Defense have been trading public barbs with great forcefulness for the last two days.

Mofaz is in a conference that continues for another day and has repeatedly said that Israel will take care of Iran if necessary but prefers that the rest of the world do so diplomatically.

Ahmadi-Nejad says that if Israel tries to act militarily that it will be the biggest mistake that it has ever made.

Even Russia and the US during the prime of the Cold War seldom made such bare faced threats to one another - although even on that front things have been intensifying as of late - with each disallowing former treaties

and increasing their armament systems.

In the meantime lots of Iranian troop movement - plus Israeli arms in Turkey - and US troops lining up on the Syrian border.

Mutual defense agreement now in place between Iran and Syria and their presidents and diplomats flitting back and forth in heavy talks.

Mofaz says that recent terrorist attacks on Israel funded by Iran and organized in Syria.

Again - nothing subtle about that.

Once again - what would usually be a month or months of geopolitical / diplomatic / activity happening in a single day's time to such an extent

that it completely overshadows what would otherwise be dramatic events

in the Russian, Chinese, North Korean, South American, spheres.