November 27, 2008

A Thanksgiving Prayer, by William S. Burroughs

A Thanksgiving Prayer, by William S. Burroughs


For John Dillinger In hope he is still alive Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1986
Thanks for the wild turkey and the Passenger Pigeons, destined to be shit out through wholesome American guts thanks for a Continent to despoil and poison —
thanks for Indians to provide a modicum of challenge and danger —
thanks for vast herds of bison to kill and skin, leaving the carcass to rot —
thanks for bounties on wolves and coyotes —
thanks for the AMERICAN DREAM to vulgarize and falsify until the bare lies shine through —
thanks for the KKK, for nigger-killing lawmen feeling their notches, for decent church-going women with their mean, pinched, bitter, evil faces —
thanks for "Kill a Queer for Christ" stickers —
thanks for laboratory AIDS — thanks for Prohibition and the War Against Drugs —
thanks for a country where nobody is allowed to mind his own business —
thanks for a nation of finks —
yes, thanks for all the memories... all right, let's see your arms... you always were a headache and you always were a bore —
thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of the last and greatest of human dreams.

November 26, 2008

UBS clients seek amnesty on U.S. taxes: report

The logo of Swiss bank UBS is pictured on a building in Zug October 17, 2008.

 

 

(Reuters) – Some wealthy clients of UBS AG are coming forward to make amends with U.S. tax authorities after a former UBS private banker was indicted, a sign that U.S. efforts to battle offshore tax evasion are having the desired effect, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website.

UBS said it did not comment on market speculation and rumor, when asked about the report by Reuters.

The UBS clients are hiring tax lawyers and pursuing amnesty through an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) voluntary disclosure program, the paper said.

Under the program, U.S. citizens would be allowed to avoid criminal prosecution if they acknowledge evasion and agree to pay taxes and penalties, the paper said.

The moves come as UBS, U.S. authorities and the Swiss government have accelerated talks aimed at releasing data on the offshore accounts of U.S. taxpayers, the paper said, citing people familiar with the matter. U.S. authorities believe some 20,000 U.S. citizens worked with UBS private bankers to avoid taxes.

The IRS is considering a national settlement that would speed up the process for UBS clients to come forward en masse and is likely to be based on a 2003 landmark offshore credit-card and tax-fraud deal with stiffer penalties, according to the paper.

Such a settlement could obviate the need to gain the cooperation of the Swiss government, which has been reluctant to turn over private-bank client information, the paper said.

Switzerland has a narrower definition of tax fraud than the United States and will only exchange account data with foreign authorities if they can prove tax fraud.

U.S. authorities have requested broad access to thousands of accounts at UBS held by U.S. clients as part of their investigation.

Earlier this month, U.S. authorities charged UBS board member Raoul Weil with helping Americans hide $20 billion from the IRS. [nLD494952]

A spokesman for UBS told the Journal that the bank "is treating these still ongoing investigations with the utmost seriousness and will address and correct any issues raised in the investigations, including by taking appropriate disciplinary action."

(Reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore; Editing by Kim Coghill)

How to understand Globalization

  1. Follow the money, follow the power
  2. Discern illusion from reality, especially with media outlets
  3. Listen to experts who offer a meaningful critique
  4. Study & verify sources and footnotes
  5. Apply liberal doses of common sense

What is Globalization? It is the collective effect of purposeful and amoral manipulation that seeks to centralize economic, political, technological and societal forces in order to accrue maximum profit and political power to global banks, global corporations and the elitists who run them.

"Free Trade" is the central mantra. Globalization is set against national Sovereignty, closed borders, trade tarrifs and anything that would restrict its goals and methods used to achieve them.

Globalization promotes regional and global government, a one-world economic system of trade and a form of fascism where global corporations and their elite control the policies and directives of individual governments.

The original and primary perpetrators of modern-day globalization number only in the 100's, representative of which, but not exclusively, are members of The Trilateral Commission.

To understand the genesis of the Trilateral Commission, read the transcript of the 1979 radio show between Antony C. Sutton, Patrick M. Wood and George S. Franklin, Jr. -- Coordinator of the Trilateral Commission!

Where did Globalization come from? The "New International Economic Order" was the coinage of the Trilateral Commission starting in 1973. This purpose was stated repeatedly in its papers, journals and conferences.

New World Order

In 1991, President George H.W. Bush, a member of the Trilateral Commission, began to openly talk about the New World Order, which expanded the concept to include governance as well as economic unity. Click on the movie to hear Bush in his own words!

New World Order

 

Source: August Review

The Trilateral Commission Executive Committee

The Trilateral Commission
Executive Committee

Europe

North America

Pacific Asian

Peter Sutherland, Chairman

Joseph S. Nye, Jr, Chairman

Yotaro Kobayashi, Chairman

Herve De Carmoy, Deputy Chairman

Allan E. Gotlieb, Deputy Chairman

Han Sung-Joo, Deputy Chairman

Andrezej Olechowski, Deputy Chairman

Lorenzo H. Zambrano, Deputy Chairman

Shijuro Ogata, Deputy Chairman

North American Group

Richard L. Armitage, President, Armitage International LLC, Washington, DC; former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State

James L. Balsillie, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Research in Motion, Ltd., Waterloo, ON

Alan R. Batkin, Vice Chairman, Eton Park Capital Management, New York, NY

Nani Beccalli-Falco, President and Chief Executive Officer, GE International, Brussels, Belgium

*C. Fred Bergsten, Director, Peterson Institute for International Economics, Washington, DC; former U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs

Catherine Bertini, Professor of Public Administration, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY; Senior Fellow, Agricultural Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; former Under Secretary-General for Management, United Nations; former Executive Director, UN World Food Program.

Robert D. Blackwill, President, BGR International, Washington, DC; former Deputy Assistant to President George W. Bush and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Planning; former Ambassador to India

Adm. Dennis C. Blair, U.S. Navy (retired), John M. Shalikashvili Chair in National Security Studies, National Bureau of Asian Research; Omar Bradley Chair of Strategic Leadership, Army War College and Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA; former Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Command

Herminio Blanco Mendoza, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Soluciones Estratégicas, Mexico City, NL; former Mexican Secretary of Commerce and Industrial Development

David G. Bradley, Chairman, Atlantic Media Company, Washington, DC

Lael Brainard, Vice President and Founding Director, Global Economy and Development Center, The Brookings Institution, Washington, DC

Harold Brown, Counselor and Trustee, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC; former General Partner, Warburg Pincus & Company, New York, NY; former U.S. Secretary of Defense

*Zbigniew Brzezinski, Counselor and Trustee, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC; Robert Osgood Professor of American Foreign Affairs, Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University; former U.S. Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs

Sylvia Mathews Burwell, President, Global Development Programs, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA

Louis C. Camilleri, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Altria Group, Inc., New York, NY

Kurt Campbell,  Chief Executive Officer, Center for a New American Security (CNAS), Washington, DC; Director of the Aspen Strategy Group; former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asia and the Pacific

Raymond Chrétien, Strategic Advisor, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Montreal, QC; Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Center for International Studies of the University of Montreal; former Associate Under-Secretary of State of External Affairs; former Ambassador of Canada to the Congo, Belgium, Mexico, the United States and France

William T. Coleman, Jr., Senior Partner and the Senior Counselor, O’Melveny & Myers, Washington, DC; former U.S. Secretary of Transportation; Lifetime Trustee, Trilateral Commission

      Richard N. Cooper, Maurits C. Boas Professor of International Economics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; former Chairman, U.S. National Intelligence Council; former U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs

E. Gerald Corrigan, Managing Director, Goldman, Sachs & Co., New York, NY;  former President, Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Lee Cullum, former regular commentator, "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," and columnist, Dallas, TX

H. Lawrence Culp, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer, Danaher Corporation, Washington, DC

Gerald L. Curtis, Burgess Professor of Political Science, Columbia University, New York, NY; Visiting Professor, Graduate Research Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo

Lynn Davis, Director, Washington Office, The RAND Corporation, Arlington, VA; former U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security

Arthur A. DeFehr, President and Chief Executive Officer, Palliser Furniture, Winnipeg, MB

André Desmarais, President and Co-Chief Executive Officer, Power Corporation of Canada, Montréal, QC; Deputy Chairman, Power Financial Corporation

John M. Deutch, Institute Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA; former Director of Central Intelligence; former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense

Jamie Dimon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, JPMorgan Chase & Co., New York, NY

Peter C. Dobell, Founding Director, Parliamentary Centre, Ottawa, ON

Wendy K. Dobson, Professor and Director, Institute for International Business, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON; former Canadian Associate Deputy Minister of Finance

Thomas Donilon, Partner, O’Melveny & Myers, LLP, Washington, DC

      Kenneth M. Duberstein, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Duberstein Group, Washington, DC; former Chief of Staff to President Ronald Reagan

Peggy Dulany, Founder and Chair, Synergos Institute, New York, NY

Robert Eckert, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mattel, Inc., El Segundo, CA

Jessica P. Einhorn, Dean, Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC; former Managing Director for Finance and Resource Mobilization, World Bank

Diana Farrell, Director, McKinsey Global Institute, San Francisco, CA

Dianne Feinstein, Member (D-CA), U.S. Senate

Martin S. Feldstein, George F. Baker Professor of Economics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; President Emeritus, National Bureau of Economic Research; former Chairman, U.S. President’s Council of Economic Advisors

Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer, TIAA-CREF, New York, NY; former Member of the Executive Committee, Head of Financial Services Products, and Chairman of Swiss Re America Holding Corporation; former Vice Chairman, Board of Governors, U.S. Federal Reserve System

Stanley Fischer, Governor of the Bank of Israel, Jerusalem; former President, Citigroup International and Vice Chairman, Citgroup, New York, NY; former First Deputy Managing Director, International Monetary Fund

*Thomas S. Foley, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan; former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; former North American Chairman, Trilateral Commission, Washington, DC

Kristin J. Forbes, Associate Professor of Economics, MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, MA; former Member of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisors

Michael B.G. Froman, Managing Director, Head of Infrastructure and Sustainable Development, Citi Alternative Investments, Citigroup Inc., New York, NY

Francis Fukuyama, Bernard L. Schwartz Professor International Political Economy, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC

Dionisio Garza Medina, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, ALFA, Garza Garcia, NL

Richard A. Gephardt, Senior Counsel, DLA Piper, Washington, DC; former Member (D-MO), U.S. House of Representatives

David Gergen, Professor of Public Service and Director of the Center for Public Leadership, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; Editor-at-Large, U.S. News and World Report

Timothy F. Geithner, President, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, New York, NY

Francisco Gil-Díaz, Executive President, Telefónica de España-México and Central América, Mexico City, DF

Peter C. Godsoe, retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Scotiabank, Toronto, ON

*Allan E. Gotlieb, Senior Advisor, Bennett Jones LLP, Toronto, ON; Chairman, Sotheby’s, Canada; former Canadian Ambassador to the United States; North American Deputy Chairman, Trilateral Commission

Bill Graham, Chancellor, Trinity College, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON;  former Member of  Canadian House of Commons; former Minister of Foreign Affairs and former Minister of Defence

Donald E. Graham, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Washington Post Company,

Washington, DC

Richard N. Haass, President, Council on Foreign Relations, New York, NY; former Director, Policy Planning, U. S. Department of State; former Director of Foreign Policy Studies, The Brookings Institution

James T. Hackett, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Anadarko Petroleum Corp., The Woodlands, TX

John J. Hamre, President, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC; former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense and Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)

Richard F. Haskayne, Board Chairman Emeritus, University of Calgary, AB; past Chairman of the Board of  TransCanada Corporation

Carlos Heredia, Economist, Mexico City, DF; Advisor to the Governor of Michoacán

*Carla A. Hills, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Hills & Company, International Consultants, Washington, DC; former U.S. Trade Representative; former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

*Karen Elliott House, Writer, Princeton, NJ; Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; former Senior Vice President, Dow Jones & Company, and Publisher, The Wall Street Journal

Gen. James L. Jones, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.), President and Chief Executive Officer, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for 21st Century Energy, Washington, DC

Alejandro Junco de la Vega, President and Director, Grupo Reforma, Monterrey, NL

Robert Kagan, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, DC

Arnold Kanter, Principal and Founding Member, The Scowcroft Group, Washington, DC; former U.S. Under Secretary of State

Charles R. Kaye, Co-President, Warburg Pincus LLC, New York, NY

James Kimsey, President and Executive Director, The Kimsey Foundation, Washington, DC

Henry A. Kissinger, Chairman, Kissinger Associates, Inc., New York, NY; former U.S. Secretary of State; former U.S. Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs; Lifetime Trustee, Trilateral Commission

Michael Klein, Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer, Citi Markets & Banking; Vice Chairman, Citibank International plc; New York, NY

Steven E. Koonin, Chief Scientist, BP, London, UK

Enrique Krauze, General Director, Editorial Clio Libros y Videos, S.A. de C.V., Mexico City, DF

Robert W. Lane, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Deere & Company, Moline, IL

Fred Langhammer, Chairman, Global Affairs, The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc., New York, NY

Winston Lord, Chairman Emeritus and former Co-Chairman of the Board, International Rescue Committee, New York, NY; former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs; former U.S. Ambassador to China

E. Peter Lougheed, Counsel, Bennett Jones, Barristers & Solicitors, Calgary, AB; former Premier of Alberta

*Roy MacLaren, former Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom; former Canadian Minister of International Trade; Toronto, ON

John A. MacNaughton, Chairman, Business Development Bank of Canada, and Chairman of Canadian Trading and Quotation System Inc., Toronto, ON

Antonio Madero, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, San Luis Corporacion, S.A. de C.V., Mexico City, DF

John Manley, Senior Counsel, McCarthy Tétrault LLP, Ottawa, ON; former Canadian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance

*Sir Deryck C. Maughan, Managing Director and Chairman, KKR Asia, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., New York, NY; former Vice Chairman, Citigroup

Jay Mazur, President Emeritus, UNITE (Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, and President, ILGWU's 21st Century Heritage Foundation, New York, NY

Robert S. McNamara, former President, World Bank; former U.S. Secretary of Defense; former President, Ford Motor Company; Lifetime Trustee, Trilateral Commission

James Moore, Member from British Columbia, Canadian Parliament, Ottawa, ON; Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada and the Pacific Gateway and Vancouver 2010 Olympics

Marc H. Morial, President and Chief Executive Officer, National Urban League, New York, NY; former Mayor, New Orleans, LA

Heather Munroe-Blum, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, McGill University, Montreal, QC

*Indra K. Nooyi, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, PepsiCo, Inc., Purchase, NY

*Joseph S. Nye, Jr., University Distinguished Service Professor and former Dean, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; former Chair, National Intelligence Council and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs; North American Chairman, Trilateral Commission

Meghan O'Sullivan, Lecturer in Public Policy, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; former Special Assistant to President George W. Bush and Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan, National Security Council, The White House

Thomas R. Pickering, Vice Chairman, Hills & Company, International Consultants, Washington, DC; former Senior Vice President, International Relations, The Boeing Company, Arlington, VA; former U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs; former U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation, India, Israel, El Salvador, Nigeria, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and the United Nations

Martha C. Piper, former President and Vice-Chancellor, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC

Richard Plepler, Co-president, HBO, New York, NY

Gen. Joseph W. Ralston, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), Vice Chairman, The Cohen Group, Washington, DC; former Commander, U.S. European Command, and Supreme Allied Commander NATO; former Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Department of Defense

Charles B. Rangel, Member (D-NY), U.S. House of Representatives

Federico Reyes Heroles, Writer and Political Analyst, Chairman of the Board of Este Pais Magazine,  and Chairman of the Board, Transparencia Mexicana, Mexico City, DF

*Susan Rice, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies and Global Economy and Development Programs, Brookings Institution, Washington, DC; former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs; former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs, National Security Council

Hartley Richardson, President, James Richardson & Sons, Ltd., Winnipeg, MB

Joseph E. Robert, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Office, J.E. Robert Companies, McLean, VA

David Rockefeller, Founder, Honorary Chairman, and Lifetime Trustee, Trilateral Commission, New York, NY

John D. Rockefeller IV, Member (D-WV), U.S. Senate

Kenneth Rogoff, Professor of Economics and Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; former Chief Economist, International Monetary Fund, Washington, DC

Charles Rose, Host of the Charlie Rose Show and Charlie Rose Special Edition, PBS, New York, NY

Irene B. Rosenfeld, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Kraft Foods, Inc., Northfield, IL

Dennis Ross, Counselor and Ziegler Distinguished Fellow, The Washingon Institute for Near East Policy, Washington, DC; former Special Middle East Coordinator in President Clinton’s Administration

*Luis Rubio, President, Center of Research for Development (CIDAC), Mexico City, DF

Arthur F. Ryan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Prudential Financial, Inc., Newark, NJ

Jaime Serra, Chairman, SAI Consulting, Mexico City, DF; former Mexican Minister of Trade and Industry

Dinakar Singh, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, TPG-Axon Capital, New York, NY;

former Co-head, Principal Strategies Department, Goldman Sachs

Anne-Marie Slaughter, Dean, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ

Gordon Smith, Director, Centre for Global Studies, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC; Chairman, Board of Governors, International Development Research Centre; former Canadian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Personal Representative of the Prime Minister to the Economic Summit

Donald R. Sobey, Chairman Emeritus, Empire Company Ltd., Halifax, NS

Ronald D. Southern, Chairman, ATCO Group, Calgary, AB

James B. Steinberg, Dean, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas, Austin, TX; former Vice President and Director of the Foreign Policy Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, Washington, DC; former U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor

Jessica Stern, Academic Director, Program on Terrorism and the Law, Harvard Law School, and Lecturer on Law and Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Barbara Stymiest, Chief Operating Officer, RBC Financial Group, Toronto, ON

John J. Sweeney, President, AFL-CIO, Washington, DC

George J. Tenet, Distinguished Professor, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Washington, DC; former U.S. Director of Central Intelligence

*Paul A. Volcker, former Chairman, Wolfensohn & Co., Inc., New York; Frederick H. Schultz Professor Emeritus, International Economic Policy, Princeton University; former Chairman, Board of Governors, U.S. Federal Reserve System; Honorary North American Chairman and former North American Chairman, Trilateral Commission

William H. Webster, Senior Partner, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, Washington, DC; former U.S. Director of Central Intelligence; former Director, U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation; former Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

Fareed Zakaria, Editor, Newsweek International, New York, NY

*Lorenzo H. Zambrano, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, CEMEX, Monterrey, NL; North American Deputy Chairman, Trilateral Commission

Ernesto Zedillo, Director, Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, Yale University, New Haven, CT; former President of Mexico

Mortimer B. Zuckerman, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, U.S. News &  World Report, and Publisher, New York Daily News; Founder and Chairman of Boston Properties, Inc.; New York, NY

Former Members In Public Service

Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United States

Paula J. Dobriansky, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs

Luis Téllez, Secretary of Communications and Transport of Mexico

Robert B. Zoellick, President, World Bank

European Group

Paul Adams, Chief Executive, British American Tobacco, London

Urban Ahlin, Member of the Swedish Parliament and Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Stockholm

*Edmond Alphandéry, Chairman, Caisse Nationale de Prévoyance, Paris; former Chairman, Electricité de France (EDF); former Minister of the Economy and Finance

Jacques Andréani, Ambassadeur de France, Paris; former Ambassador to the United States

Jorge Armindo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Amorim Turismo, Lisbon

Jerzy Baczynski, Editor-in-Chief, Polityka, Warsaw

Patricia Barbizet, Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of Directors, Artémis Group, Paris

Estela Barbot, Director, AGA; Director, Bank Santander Negocios; Member of the General Council, AEP -- Portuguese Business Association, Porto; General Honorary Consul of Guatemala, Lisbon

*Erik Belfrage, Senior Vice President, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken; Director, Investor AB, Stockholm

Marek Belka, Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Geneva; former Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Poland, Warsaw; former Ambassador-at-Large and Chairman, Council for International Coordination, Coalition Provisional Authority, Baghdad

Baron Jean-Pierre Berghmans, Chairman of the Executive Board, Lhoist Group, Limelette, Belgium

*Georges Berthoin, International Honorary Chairman, European Movement; Honorary Chairman, The Jean Monnet Association; Honorary European Chairman, The Trilateral Commission, Paris

Nicolas Beytout, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, D.I. Group; Former Editor of Le Figaro and Les Echos, Paris

Carl Bildt, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden; former Chairman, Kreab Group of public affairs companies; former Chairman, Nordic Venture Network, Stockholm; former Member of the Swedish Parliament, Chairman of the Moderate Party and Prime Minister of Sweden; former European Union High Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina & UN Special Envoy to the Balkans

Manfred Bischoff, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Daimler AG, Munich; former Member of the Board of Management, Daimler AG; former Chairman, EADS

Antonio Borges, International Advisor and former Managing Director and Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs International, London

Ana Patricia Botin, Executive Chairman, Banesto;  Vice Chairman, Urbis; Member of the Management Committee, Santander Group, Madrid

Jean-Louis Bourlanges, Member, State Audit Court (Cour des Comptes), Paris; Associated Professor, Institute for Political Studies in Paris; former Member of the European Parliament, Brussels; former President of the European Movement in France, Paris

*Jorge Braga de Macedo, President, Tropical Research Institute, Lisbon; Professor of Economics, Nova University at Lisbon; Chairman, Forum Portugal Global; former Minister of Finance

Lord Brittan of Spennithorne, Vice Chairman, UBS Investment Bank, London; former Vice President, European Commission

Jean-Louis Bruguière, EU High Representative to the United States on the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme (TFTP/SWIFT); Judge, Paris

Robin Buchanan, Dean, London Business School; former Senior Partner, Bain & Company, London

*François Bujon de l'Estang, Ambassadeur de France; Chairman, Citi France, Paris; former Ambassador to the United States

Edelgard Bulmahn, Member of the German Bundestag and Chairwoman of the Committee on Economic Affairs; former Federal Minister, Berlin

Sven Burmester, Writer and Explorer, Denmark; former Representative, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Beijing; former World Bank Deputy Secretary and Representative in Cairo

Richard Burrows, Governor, Bank of Ireland; Director, Pernod Ricard; Chairman, the Scotch Whisky Association; former President, IBEC (The Irish Business and Employers Confederation), Dublin

*Hervé de Carmoy, Chairman, Almatis, Frankfurt-am-Main; former Partner, Rhône Group, New York & Paris; Honorary Chairman, Banque Industrielle et Mobilière Privée, Paris; former Chief Executive, Société Générale de Belgique

Salvatore Carrubba, Director of Strategies and Columnist, Il Sole 24 Ore, Milan; former Culture Alderman, Municipality of Milan

Carme Chacon Piqueras, Minister for Defence; former Minister of Housing; former First Vice-President of the Spanish Parliament, Madrid

Jürgen Chrobog, Chairman, BMW Herbert Quandt Foundation, Munich; former German Deputy Foreign Minister and Ambassador to the United States

Luc Coene, Minister of State; Deputy Governor, National Bank of Belgium, Brussels

Sir Ronald Cohen, Chairman, Portland Capital & The Portland Trust; former Founding Partner and Executive Chairman, Apax Partners Worldwide, London

Bertrand Collomb, Honorary Chairman, Lafarge; Chairman, Institut des Hautes Etudes pour la Science et la Technologie (IHEST); Chairman, Institut Français des Relations Internationales (IFRI); Member of the Institut de France, Paris

Iain Conn, Member of the Board of Directors and of the Executive Management Team, BP, London

Richard Conroy, Conroy Diamonds & Gold, Dublin; Member of Senate, Republic of Ireland

Eckhard Cordes, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Management Board, Franz Haniel & Cie., Duisburg; Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Management Board, Metro; former Member of the Board, DaimlerChrysler, Stuttgart

Alfonso Cortina, Chairman, Colonial; former Chairman, Repsol-YPF Foundation, Madrid

Eduardo Costa, Executive Vice Chairman, Banco Finantia, Lisbon; Member, Forum Portugal Global

Enrico Tomaso Cucchiani, Member of the Board of Management, Allianz SE, Munich; Chief Executive Officer, Allianz S.p.A., Trieste

Michel David-Weill, Former Chairman, Lazard LLC, worldwide; Chairman of the Supervisory Board, EURAZEO, Paris

*Vladimir Dlouhy, Senior Advisor, ABB; International Advisor, Goldman Sachs; former Czechoslovak Minister of Economy; former Czech Minister of Industry & Trade, Prague

*Bill Emmott, Former Editor, The Economist, London

Pedro Miguel Echenique, Professor of Physics, University of the Basque Country; President, Foundation Donostia International Physic Center (DIPC); former Basque Minister of Education, San Sebastian

Oscar Fanjul, Vice Chairman, Omega Capital, Madrid

Grete Faremo, Director of Law and Corporate Affairs for Western Europe, Microsoft Norway; former Executive Vice President, Storebrand; former Norwegian Minister of Development Cooperation, Minister of Justice and Minister of Oil and Energy, Oslo

*Nemesio Fernandez-Cuesta, Executive Director of Upstream, Repsol-YPF; former Chairman, Prensa Española, Madrid

Jürgen Fitschen, Member of the Group Executive Committee, Deutsche Bank, Frankfurt-am-Main

Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger, Foreign Editor, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurt am Main

Louise Fresco, University Professor, University of Amsterdam; Member of the Board of non-executive Directors, RABO Bank, Utrecht; former Assistant Director-General, Head of Agriculture Department, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome

Hugh Friel, Chairman, Tourism Ireland; former Chief Executive Officer, Kerry Group, Tralee, Co. Kerry, Ireland

Lykke Friis, Pro-Rector, University of Copenhagen

*Michael Fuchs, Member of the German Bundestag, Berlin; former President, National Federation of German Wholesale & Foreign Trade

Lord Garel-Jones, Managing Director, UBS Investment Bank, London; Member of the House of Lords; former Minister of State at the Foreign Office (European Affairs)

*Antonio Garrigues Walker, Chairman, Garrigues Abogados y Asesores Tributarios, Madrid

Wolfgang Gerhardt, Member of the German Bundestag; Chairman of the Friedrich-Naumann Foundation; former Chairman of the Free Democratic Party, Berlin

Lord Gilbert, Member of the House of Lords; former Minister for Defence, London

Esther Giménez-Salinas, Rector, Ramon Llull University; Professor of Criminal Law, ESADE Law School, Ramon Llull University, Barcelone

Dermot Gleeson, Chairman, AIB Group, Dublin

Elisabeth Guigou, Member of the French National Assembly; former Minister for European Affairs, Paris

General The Lord Guthrie, Director, N M Rothschild & Sons, London; Member of the House of Lords; former Chief of the Defence Staff, London

Antti Herlin, Chairman of the Board, KONE Corporation, Helsinki

Helga Hernes, Senior Advisor, PRIO (International Peace Research Institute Oslo); Chair, Norwegian Parliamentary Intelligence Oversight Committee, Oslo; former Norwegian Ambassador

Nigel Higgins, Co-Head of Global Investment Banking, N M Rothschild & Sons, London

Wolfgang Ischinger, Global Head of Government Relations, Allianz SE, Munich; Chairman, the Munich Security Conference on Security Policy; former European Member of the Troïka on the Kosovo Status Determination and German Ambassador to the United Kingdom

*Mugur Isarescu, Governor, National Bank of Romania, Bucharest; former Prime Minister

*Baron Daniel Janssen, Honorary Chairman, Solvay, Brussels

Trinidad Jiménez, International Relations Secretary of the Socialist Party (PSOE) & Member of the Federal Executive Committee; Secretary of State for Latin America, Madrid

Lady Barbara Judge, Chairman, UKAEA (United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority); former US Securities Exchange Commissioner

*Béla Kadar, Member of the Hungarian Academy, Budapest; Member of the Monetary Council of the National Bank; President of the Hungarian Economic Association; Former Ambassador of Hungary to the O.E.C.D., Paris; former Hungarian Minister of International Economic Relations and Member of Parliament

Robert Kassai, General Vice President, The National Association of Craftmen’s Corporations, Budapest

*Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, Deputy Chairman, Royal Dutch Shell plc; Member of the House of Lords, London; former British Ambassador to the United States; former Secretary General, European Convention

*Sixten Korkman, Managing Director, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (ETLA) & Finnish Business and Policy Forum (EVA), Helsinki

Arpad Kovacs, President, State Audit Office of Hungary, Budapest

Gabor Kovacs, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Bankar Holding; Founder, KOGART (the Kovacs Gabor Art Foundation), Budapest

Jerzy Kozminski, President and Chief Executive Officer, Polish-American Freedom Foundation; former Ambassador to the United States; former First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Warsaw

Ivan Krastev, Chairman of the Board and Programme Director for Political Research, Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia; Editor-in-Chief, Bulgarian Edition, Foreign Policy

Jiri Kunert, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, UniCredit Bank Czech Republic; President of the Czech Association of Banks, Prague

Ulysses Kyriacopoulos, Chairman, S&B Group; former Chairman, Federation of Greek Industries, Athens 

*Count Otto Lambsdorff, Partner, Wessing Lawyers, Düsseldorf; former Chairman, Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Berlin; former Member of German Bundestag; Honorary Chairman, Free Democratic Party; former Federal Minister of Economy; former President of the Liberal International; Honorary European Chairman, The Trilateral Commission, Paris

Kurt Lauk, Member of the European Parliament (EPP Group-CDU); Chairman, Globe Capital Partners, Stuttgart; President, Economic Council of the CDU Party, Berlin; Former Member of the Board, DaimlerChrysler, Stuttgart

Anne Lauvergeon, Chairperson of the Executive Board, Areva; Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Cogema, Paris

Ulrich Lehner, Chairman of the Board, Henkel, Düsseldorf

Pierre Lellouche, Member of the French National Assembly and of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Paris; former President, NATO Parliamentary Assembly

Enrico Letta, Under State Secretary, Office of the Prime Minister, Italy; former Minister of European Affairs, Industry, and of Industry and International Trade, Rome

Thomas Leysen, Chief Executive Officer, Umicore, Brussels

*Marianne Lie, former Director General, Norwegian Shipowner’s Association, Oslo

Erkki Liikanen, Chairman of the Board, Bank of Finland, Helsinki; former Finnish Minister of Finance; former European Commissioner

Count Maurice Lippens, Chairman, Fortis, Brussels

Peter Löscher, Chief Executive Officer, Siemens, Munich

Helge Lund, Chief Executive Officer of the Norwegian Oil Company, Statoil, Oslo

*Cees Maas, Honorary Vice Chairman of the ING Group and former Chief Financial Officer, Amsterdam; former Treasurer of the Dutch Government

Peter Mandelson, Member of the European Commission (Trade), Brussels; former Member of the British Parliament; former Secretary of State to Northern Ireland and for Trade and Industry

Abel Matutes, Chairman, Empresas Matutes, Ibiza; former Member of the European Commission, Brussels; former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Madrid

Francis Maude, Member of the British Parliament; Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster; Director, Benfield Group; former Shadow Foreign Secretary, London

Friedrich Merz, Member of the German Bundestag; former Member of the European Parliament; former Chairman of the Parliamentary Group of the CDU/CSU in the Bundestag, Berlin

Peter Mitterbauer, Honorary President, The Federation of Austrian Industry, Vienna; President and Chief Executive Officer, Miba, Laakirchen

Pietro Modiano, General Manager & Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Intesa Sanpaolo, Turin

Dominique Moïsi, Special Advisor to the Director General of the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI), Paris

Mario Monti, President and Professor Emeritus, Bocconi University, Milan; Chairman of BRUEGEL and of ECAS, Brussels; former Member of the European Commission (Competition Policy)

Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, Chairman, Fiat, Turin; former Chairman, Confindustria (Italian Confederation of Industry), Rome

Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Chairman, The Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Chairman, Anglo American; former Chairman, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, London

Klaus-Peter Müller, Chairman of the Board, Commerzbank, Frankfurt-am-Main; President, Association of German Banks (BDB), Berlin

Harald Norvik, Chairman and Partner, ECON Management; former President and Chief Executive, Statoil, Oslo

Ewald Nowotny, former Chief Executive Officer, BAWAG P.S.K., Vienna

Arend Oetker, President, German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP); Vice Chairman, Federation of German Industries; Managing Director, Dr. Arend Oetker Holding, Berlin

*Andrzej Olechowski, Founder, Civic Platform; Former Chairman, Bank Handlowy; former Minister of Foreign Affairs and of Finance, Warsaw

Richard Olver, Chairman, BAE Systems, London

Janusz Palikot, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Polmos, Lublin; Vice President, Polish Confederation of Private Employers; Co-owner, Publishing House slowo/obraz terytoria; Member of the Board of Directors, Polish Business Council, Warsaw

Dimitry Panitza, Founding Chairman, The Free and Democratic Bulgaria Foundation; Founder and Chairman, The Bulgarian School of Politics, Sofia

Lucas Papademos, Vice President, European Central Bank, Frankfurt-am-Main; former Governor of the Bank of Greece

Lord Patten of Barnes, Chancellor of the University of Oxford; Chairman, International Crisis Group, Brussels; former Member of the European Commission (External Relations), Brussels; former Governor of Hong Kong; former Member of the British Cabinet, London

Volker Perthes, Chairman and Director, German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), Berlin

Carlo Pesenti, Managing Director, Italcementi, Bergamo

Dieter Pfundt, Personally Liable Partner, Sal. Oppenheim Bank, Frankfurt-am-Main

Josep Piqué, Chairman of the Popular Party of Catalunya, Barcelona; Member of the Parliament of Catalunya; Member of the Spanish Senate; former Minister of Foreign Affairs

Benoît Potier, Chairman of the Management Board, Air Liquide, Paris

Alessandro Profumo, Chief Executive Officer, UniCredit Group, Milan

Luigi Ramponi, Member of the Italian Senate; former Chairman of the Defence Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, Rome; former Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Italian Army)

Denis Ranque, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Thales, Paris

Juha Rantanen, President and Chief Executive Officer, Outokumpu Group, Espoo, Finland

Wanda Rapaczynski, Advisor to the Supervisory Board and former President of the Management Board, Agora, Warsaw

Heinz Riesenhuber, Member of the German Bundestag; former Federal Minister of Research and Technology, Berlin; Chairman of the Supervisory Boards of Kabel Deutschland and of Evotec

Gianfelice Rocca, Chairman, Techint Group of Companies, Milan; Vice President, Confindustria, Rome

H. Onno Ruding, Chairman, Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Brussels; Former  Vice Chairman, Citibank; former Dutch Minister of Finance

Ferdinando Salleo, Vice Chairman, MCC (Mediocredito Centrale), Rome; former Ambassador to the United States

Jacques Santer, Honorary State Minister, Luxembourg; former Member of the European Parliament; former President of the European Commission; former Prime Minister of Luxembourg

*Silvio Scaglia, Founder, Chairman and Financial backer, Babelgum, London; Chairman, S.M.S. Finance S.A., Luxembourg; former Chairman, Fastweb, Milan

Paolo Scaroni, Chief Executive Officer, ENI, Rome

*Guido Schmidt-Chiari, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Constantia Group; former Chairman, Creditanstalt Bankverein, Vienna

Henning Schulte-Noelle, Chairman of the Supervisory Board and former Chief Executive Officer, Allianz, Munich

Karel Schwarzenberg, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Founder and Director, Nadace Bohemiae, Prague; former Member of the Czech Senate; former Chancellor to President Havel; former President of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights

*Carlo Secchi, Professor of European Economic Policy and former Rector, Bocconi University; Vice President, ISPI, Milan; former Member of the Italian Senate and of the European Parliament

*Tøger Seidenfaden, Editor-in-Chief, Politiken, Copenhagen

Maurizio Sella, Chairman, Gruppo Banca Sella, Biella; former Chairman, Association of Italian Banks (A.B.I.), Rome

Slawomir S. Sikora, Chief Executive Officer and Citigroup Country Officer for Poland, Bank Handlowy w Warszawie, Warsaw

Stefano Silvestri, President, Institute for International Affairs (IAI), Rome; Commentator, Il Sole 24 Ore; former Under Secretary of State for Defence, Italy

Lord Simon of Highbury, Member of the House of Lords, Deputy Chairman of Unilever; Non-Executive Director of Suez Group; Senior Adviser of Morgan Stanley Europe;  former Minister for Trade & Competitiveness in Europe;  former Chairman of BP, London

Nicholas Soames, Member of the British Parliament, London

Sir Martin Sorrell, Chief Executive Officer, WPP Group, London

*Petar Stoyanov, Former President of the Republic of Bulgaria; Member of Bulgarian

Parliament; Chairman of Parliamentary Group of United Democratic Forces; Chairman of Union of Democratic Forces, Sofia

Peter Straarup, Chairman of the Executive Board, Danske Bank, Copenhagen; Chairman, the Danish Bankers Association

*Peter Sutherland, Chairman, BP p.l.c.; Chairman, Goldman Sachs International; Chairman of the London School of Economics; UN Special Representative for Migration and Development; former Director General, GATT/WTO; former Member of the European Commission; former Attorney General of Ireland

Pavel Telicka, Partner, BXL-Consulting, Prague

Jean-Philippe Thierry, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, AGF (Assurances Générales de France), Paris

*Harri Tiido, Undersecretary for Political Affairs, Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tallinn; former Ambassador of Estonia and Head of the Estonian Mission to NATO

Andreas Treichl, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Erste Bank der Oesterreichischen Sparkassen, Vienna

Marco Tronchetti Provera, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Pirelli & C., Milan; Deputy Chairman, Confindustria, Rome; former Chairman, Telecom Italia

Elsbeth Tronstad, Executive Director, Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO); former Vice President, ABB, Oslo

Loukas Tsoukalis,  Special Adviser to the President of the European Commission; Professor at the University of Athens and the College of Europe; President of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), Athens

Mario Vargas Llosa, Writer and Member of the Royal Spanish Academy, Madrid

*George Vassiliou, Former Head of the Negotiating Team for the Accession of Cyprus to the European Union; former President of the Republic of Cyprus; Former Member of Parliament and Leader of United Democrats, Nicosia

Jeroen van der Veer, Chief Executive, Royal Dutch Shell, The Hague

Franco Venturini, Senior Editorial Commentator on Foreign Affairs, Corriere della Sera, Rome

Janne Virkkunen, Senior Editor-in-Chief, Helsingin Sanomat, Helsinki

*Marko Voljc, Chief Executive Officer, K & H Bank Zrt, Budapest; former General Manager of Central Europe Directorate, KBC Bank Insurance Holding, Brussels; former Chief Executive Officer, Nova Ljubljanska Banka, Ljubljana

Alexandr Vondra, Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs; former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prague

Joris Voorhoeve, Member of the Council of State; former Member of the Dutch Parliament; former Minister of Defence, The Hague

*Panagis Vourloumis, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (O.T.E.), Athens

Marcus Wallenberg, Chairman of the Board, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB), Stockholm

Serge Weinberg, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Accor; Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Weinberg Capital Partners; former Chairman of the Management Board, Pinault-Printemps-Redoute; former President, Institute of International and Strategic Studies (IRIS), Paris

*Heinrich Weiss, Chairman, SMS, Düsseldorf; former Chairman, Federation of German Industries, Berlin

Nout Wellink, President, Dutch Central Bank, Amsterdam

Hans Wijers, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Akzo Nobel, Arnhem

Emilio Ybarra, former Chairman, Banco Bilbao-Vizcaya, Madrid

Former Members in Public Service

John Bruton, European Union Ambassador & Head, Delegation of the European Commission to the United States

Lene Espersen, Minister of Justice, Denmark

Toomas Hendrik Ilves, President of the Republic of Estonia, Tallinn

Pedro Solbes, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy and Finances, Spain; former Member of the European Commission

Karsten D. Voigt, Coordinator of German-American Cooperation, Federal Foreign Ministry, Berlin

Pacific Asian Group

Note: Those without city names are Japanese Members.
Korean names are shown with surname first
.

Narongchai Akrasanee, Director and Chairman of Board of Executive Directors, Export Import Bank of Thailand; former Minister of Commerce of Thailand; Bangkok

Ali Alatas, Advisor and Special Envoy of the President of the Republic of Indonesia; former Indonesian Minister for Foreign Affairs; Jakarta

Philip Burdon, Former Chairman, Asia 2000 Foundation; New Zealand Chairman, APEC; former New Zealand Minister of Trade Negotiations; Wellington

Fujio Cho, Chairman, Toyota Motor Corporation

Cho Suck-Rai, Chairman, Hyosung Group, Seoul

Chung Mong-Joon, Member, Korean National Assembly; Vice President, Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA); Seoul

Barry Desker, Dean, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies; Vice Chairman, Singapore Business Federation; Honorary Advisor to the Minister for Trade and Industry, Singapore

Takashi Ejiri, Lawyer, Nishimura Asahi Law Office

Jesus P. Estanislao, Chairman, Institute of Corporate Directors; President and Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Solidarity in Asia, Manila; former Philippine Secretary of Finance

Hugh Fletcher, Chancellor, The University of Auckland; former Chief Executive Officer, Fletcher Challenge

Hiroaki Fujii, Advisor, The Japan Foundation; Chairman, Mori Arts Center; former Japanese Ambassador to the United Kingdom

Shinji Fukukawa, Chairman, TEPIA, The Machine Industry Memorial Foundation

Yoichi Funabashi, Chief Diplomatic Correspondent and Columnist, The Asahi Shimbun

Carrillo Gantner, Director, The Myer Foundation; Melbourne

Ross Garnaut, Professor of Economics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra

*Toyoo Gyohten, President, Institute for International Monetary Affairs; Senior Advisor, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd.

*Han Sung-Joo, Chairman, The Asan Institute for Policy Studies; former President, Korea University, Seoul; former Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs; former Korean Ambassador to the United States; Pacific Asia Deputy Chairman, Trilateral Commission

*Stuart Harris, Professor of International Relations, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra; former Australian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs

Azman Hashim, Chairman, AmBank Group, Kuala Lumpur

John R. Hewson, Executive Chairman, Elderslie Finance Corporation, Ltd.; Chairman, The John Hewson Group, Sydney; Former Leader of the Federal Opposition, Australia; Special Adviser to the Under Secretary of UNESCAP

Ernest M. Higa, President and CEO, Higa Industries

Hong Seok Hyun, former Chairman and CEO, Joong Ang Ilbo; former Korean Ambassador to the United States; Seoul

Shintaro Hori, Chairman, Bain Capital Japan, Inc.

Murray Horn, Managing Director, Institutional Banking, ANZ (NZ) Ltd., Sydney; Chairman, ANZ Investment Bank; former Parliament Secretary, New Zealand Treasury

Hyun Hong-Choo, Senior Partner, Kim & Chang, Seoul; former Korean Ambassador to the United Nations and to the United States, Seoul

Hyun Jae-Hyun, Chairman, Tong Yang Group, Seoul

Shin’ichi Ichimura, Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University; former Director, International Centre for the Study of East Asian Development, Kitakyushu

Nobuyuki Idei, Chairman of the Advisory Board of Sony Corporation; Board of Directors, Baidu

Noriyuki Inoue, Chairman and CEO, Daikin Industries, Ltd.

Dato Seri Mohamed Jawhar, Chairman and CEO, Institute of Strategic International Studies (ISIS), Malaysia

Motoo Kaji, Professor Emeritus, University of Tokyo

Kasem Kasemsri, Honorary Chairman, Thailand-U.S. Business Council, Bangkok; Chairman, Advisory Board, Chart Thai Party; Chairman, Thai-Malaysian Association; former Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand

Koichi Kato, Member, Japanese House of Representatives; former Secretary-General, Liberal Democratic Party

K. Kesavapany, Director, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

Kim Kihwan, International Advisor, Goldman Sachs, Asia, Seoul; Chair, Seoul Financial Forum; former Korean Ambassador-at-Large for Economic Affairs

Kim Kyung-Won, President Emeritus, Seoul Forum for International Affairs, Seoul; former Korean Ambassador to the United States and the United Nations; Senior Advisor, Kim & Chang Law Office

Kakutaro Kitashiro, Senior Advisor, IBM Japan, Ltd.; Chairman, KEIZAI DOYUKAI (Japan Association of Corporate Executives)

Shoichiro Kobayashi, Advisor, Kansai Electric Power Company, Ltd.

*Yotaro Kobayashi, Chief Corporate Advisor, Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.; Pacific Asia Chairman, Trilateral Commission

Akira Kojima, Chairman, Japan Center for Economic Research ( JCER )

Koo John, Chairman, LS Cable Ltd.; Chairman, LS Industrial Systems Co.; Seoul

Kenji Kosaka, Member, Japanese House of Representatives; former Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology

*Lee Hong-Koo, Chairman, Seoul Forum for International Affairs, Seoul; former Korean Prime Minister; former Korean Ambassador to the United Kingdom and the United States

Lee In-ho, University Professor, Myongji University, Seoul; former President, Korea Foundation; former Korean Ambassador to Finland and Russia

Lee Jay Y., Vice President, Corporate Strategy Office, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Seoul

Lee Kyungsook Choi, President, Sookmyung Women's University, Seoul

Lee Shin-wha, Professor & Director of PEL (Politics, Economics and Law) Program, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Korea University, Seoul

Adrianto Machribie, Chairman, PT Freeport Indonesia, Jakarta

*Minoru Makihara, Senior Corporate Advisor, Mitsubishi Corporation

Hiroshi Mikitani, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Rakuten, Inc.

Yoshihiko Miyauchi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, ORIX Corporation

Isamu Miyazaki, Honorary Advisor, Daiwa Institute of Research, Ltd.; former Director-General of the Japanese Economic Planning Agency

Yuzaburo Mogi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Kikkoman Corporation

Mike Moore, former Director-General, World Trade Organization, Geneva; Member, New Zealand Privy Council, Auckland; former Prime Minister of New Zealand

Hugh Morgan, Principal, First Charnock, Melbourne, Australia

Moriyuki Motono, former President, Foreign Affairs Society; former Japanese Ambassador to France

Jiro Murase, Managing Partner, Bingham McCutchen Murase, New York

*Minoru Murofushi, Counselor, ITOCHU Corporation

Osamu Nagayama, President and CEO, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

Masao Nakamura, President and Chief Executive Officer, NTT Docomo Inc.

Masashi Nishihara, President, Research Institute for Peace and Security

Roberto F. de Ocampo,Chairman, Board of Advisors, RFO Center for Public Finance & Regional Economic Cooperation, Manila; former Philippine Secretary of Finance

Sadako Ogata, President, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA); former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

*Shijuro Ogata, former Deputy Governor, Japan Development Bank; former Deputy Governor for International Relations, Bank of Japan; Pacific Asia Deputy Chairman, Trilateral  Commission

Sozaburo Okamatsu, President, Industrial Property Cooperation Center; former Chairman, Research Institute of Economy, Trade & Industry (RIETI)

*Yoshio Okawara, President, Institute for International Policy Studies; former Japanese Ambassador to the United States

Yoichi Okita, Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies

Ariyoshi Okumura, Chairman, Lotus Corporate Advisory, Inc.

Anand Panyarachun, Chairman, Thai Industrial Federation; Chairman, Saha-Union Public Company, Ltd.; former Prime Minister of Thailand; Bangkok

Ryu Jin Roy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Poongsan Corp., Seoul

Eisuke Sakakibara, Professor, Waseda University; former Japanese Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs

SaKong Il, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Institute for Global Economics, Seoul; former Korean Minister of Finance

Yoshiyasu Sato, Advisor, Tokyo Electric Power Co. Ltd.; former Japanese Ambassador to China

Yukio Satoh, President, The Japan Institute of International Affairs; former Japanese Ambassador to the United Nations

Sachio Semmoto, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, EMOBILE, Ltd.

Masahide Shibusawa, President, Shibusawa Ei’ichi Memorial Foundation

Yasuhisa Shiozaki, Former Chief Cabinet Secretary; former Senior Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs; Member, Japanese House of Representatives; former Parliamentary Vice Minister for Finance

Arifin Siregar, Chairman of the Governing Board, Indonesian Council on World Affairs (ICWA); former International Advisor, Goldman Sachs (Pacific Asia) LLC; former Ambassador of Indonesia to the United States; Jakarta

Jacob Soetoyo, Director and Shareholder of P.T.Gesit Maju Corporation; Jakarta

Shigemitsu Sugisaki, Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs Japan Co., Ltd.; former Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Tsuyoshi Takagi, President, JTUC-Rengo (Japanese Trade Union Confederation)

Keizo Takemi,Former Member, Japanese House of Councillors; former State Secretary for Foreign Affairs; former Vice Minister for Health, Labour and Welfare, Tokyo; Research Fellow, Harvard School of Public

Akihiko Tanaka, Professor, University of Tokyo

Hitoshi Tanaka, Senior Fellow, Japan Center for International Exchange; former Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs

Naoki Tanaka, President, Center for International Public Policy Studies

Teh Kok Peng, President, GIC Special Investments Private Ltd., Singapore

Kiyoshi Tsugawa, Executive Adviser & Member of Japan Advisory Board, Lehman Brothers Japan, Inc.; Member of the Board, Aozora Bank

Junichi Ujiie, Chairman, Nomura Holdings, Inc.

Sarasin Viraphol, Executive Vice President, Charoen Pokphand Co., Ltd., Bangkok; former Deputy Permanent Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Thailand

Cesar E. A. Virata, Corporate Vice Chairman and Acting Chief Executive Officer, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), Manila; former Prime Minister of Philippines

*Jusuf Wanandi, Vice Chairman, Board of Trustees, Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Jakarta

Etsuya Washio, President, The Foundation for Workers Welfare and Cooperative Insurance; former President, Japanese Trade Union Confederation (RENGO)

Koji Watanabe, Senior Fellow, Japan Center for International Exchange; former Japanese Ambassador to Russia

Osamu Watanabe, Executive Vice President, Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., Ltd.

Taizo Yakushiji, Executive Member, Council for Science and Technology Policy of the Cabinet Office of Japan

Tadashi Yamamoto, President, Japan Center for International Exchange; Pacific Asia Director, Trilateral Commission

Noriyuki Yonemura, Chairman, Japan Small and Medium Enterprise Management Consultants Association 

Former Members in Public Service

Hisashi Owada, Judge, International Court of Justice

Participants from Other Areas

“Triennium Participants”

André Azoulay, Adviser to H.M. King Mohammed VI, Rabat, Morocco

Morris Chang, Chairman, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Taipei, Taiwan

Omar Davies, Member of the Jamaican Parliament and Opposition Spokesman on Finance, Kingston, Jamaica; former Minister of Finance and Planning

Hüsnü Dogan, General Coordinator, Nurol Holding; former Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Development Foundation of Turkey; former Minister of Defence, Ankara, Turkey

Alejandro Foxley, Chilean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Valparaiso, Chile

Jacob A. Frenkel, Vice Chairman, American International Group, Inc. (AIG) and Chairman, AIG's Global Economic Strategies Group, New York, NY; Chairman, Group of Thirty; former Chairman, Merrill Lynch International London; former Governor, Bank of Israel

Victor K. Fung, Chairman, Li & Fung; Chairman, Prudential Asia Ltd., Hong Kong

Frene Ginwala, former Speaker of the National Assembly, Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa

H.R.H. Prince El Hassan bin Talal, President, The Club of Rome; Moderator of the World Conference on Religion and Peace; Chairman, Arab Thought Forum, Amman, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

Ricardo Hausmann, Professor of the Practice of Economic Development, Center for International Development, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA;  former Chief Economist, Inter-American Development Bank; former Venezuelan Minister of Planning and Member of the Board of the Central Bank of Venezuela

Sergei Karaganov, Dean, School of World Economics and International Affairs, State University–Higher School of Economics; Chairman, Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy; Chairman, Editorial Board, “Russia in Global Affairs,” Moscow

Jeffrey L.S. Koo, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Chinatrust Investment, Bank, Taipei, Taiwan

Richard Li, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Pacific Century Group Holdings Ltd., Hong Kong

Ricardo Lopez Murphy, Visiting Research Fellow, Latin American Economic Research Foundation, Buenos Aires, Argentina; former Argentinian Finance Minister and Defence Minister

Andrónico Luksic Craig, Vice Chairman, Banco de Chile, Santiago, Chile

Qin Yaqing, Vice President, China Foreign Affairs University, Beijing, China; Vice President, China National Association for International Studies

Itamar Rabinovich, Ettinger Chair of Contemporary Middle Eastern History, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel; Charles and Andrea Bronfman Distinguished Fellow at the Saban Center, The Brookings Institution; Distinguished Global Professor at New York University; Visiting Professor, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; former Ambassador to the United States

Rüsdü Saracoglu, President of the Finance Group, Koç Holding; Chairman, Makro Consulting, Istanbul, Turkey; former State Minister and Member of the Turkish Parliament; former Governor of the Central Bank of Turkey

Roberto Egydio Setubal, President and Chief Executive Officer, Banco Itaú S.A. and Banco Itaú Holding Financeira S.A., Sao Paulo, Brazil

Stan Shih, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Acer Group, Taipei, Taiwan

Wang Jisi, Dean, School of International Studies, Peking University, Beijing, China

Gordon Wu, Chairman and Managing Director, Hopewell Holdings Ltd., Hong Kong

Wu Jianmin, President, China Foreign Affairs University; Executive Vice President, China National Association for International Studies, Beijing, China

Grigory A. Yavlinsky, Chairman and Co-Founder of the Russian Democratic Party “Yabloko” and former Member of the State Duma; Chairman of the Center for Economic and Political Research, Moscow, Russian Federation

Yu Xintian, President, Shanghai Institute for International Studies, Shanghai, China

Yuan Ming, Vice Dean, School of International Studies, Peking University, Beijing, China

Zhang Yunling, Director, Academic Division of International Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Beijing, China

RUSSIAN ANALYST PREDICTS DECLINE AND BREAKUP OF USA

A leading Russian political analyst has said the economic turmoil in the United States has confirmed his long-held view that the country is heading for collapse, and will divide into separate parts.
Professor Igor Panarin said in an interview with the respected daily IZVESTIA published on Monday: "The dollar is not secured by anything. The country's foreign debt has grown like an avalanche, even though in the early ***0s there was no debt. By 1998, when I first made my prediction, it had exceeded $2 trillion. Now it is more than 11 trillion. This is a pyramid that can only collapse."
The paper said Panarin's dire predictions for the U.S. economy, initially made at an international conference in Australia 10 years ago at a time when the economy appeared strong, have been given more credence by this year's events.
When asked when the U.S. economy would collapse, Panarin said: "It is already collapsing. Due to the financial crisis, three of the largest and oldest five banks on Wall Street have already ceased to exist, and two are barely surviving. Their losses are the biggest in history. Now what we will see is a change in the regulatory system on a global financial scale: America will no longer be the world's financial regulator."
When asked who would replace the U.S. in regulating world markets, he said: "Two countries could assume this role: China, with its vast reserves, and Russia, which could play the role of a regulator in Eurasia."
Asked why he expected the U.S. to break up into separate parts, he said: "A whole range of reasons. Firstly, the financial problems in the U.S. will get worse. Millions of citizens there have lost their savings. Prices and unemployment are on the rise. General Motors and Ford are on the verge of collapse, and this means that whole cities will be left without work. Governors are already insistently demanding money from the federal center. Dissatisfaction is growing, and at the moment it is only being held back by the elections and the hope that Obama can work miracles. But by spring, it will be clear that there are no miracles."
He also cited the "vulnerable political setup", "lack of unified national laws", and "divisions among the elite, which have become clear in these crisis conditions."
He predicted that the U.S. will break up into six parts - the Pacific coast, with its growing Chinese population; the South, with its Hispanics; Texas, where independence movements are on the rise; the Atlantic coast, with its distinct and separate mentality; five of the poorer central states with their large Native American populations; and the northern states, where the influence from Canada is strong.
He even suggested that "we could claim Alaska - it was only granted on lease, after all." Panarin, 60, is a professor at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and has authored several books on information warfare.

Source: http://www.drudgereport.com/flashrur.htm

November 12, 2008

American Express to Become Bank Holding Company

 

By ERIC DASH

American Express, the nation’s last big independent credit card company, said late Monday that it would transform into a bank holding company to strengthen its position in the market turmoil.

Federal Reserve banking regulators said they approved its application because of the “unusual and exigent circumstances” roiling financial markets and the company’s interest in tapping up to $3.8 billion in government money. As a full-fledged bank, American Express would gain greater access to the Treasury Department’s bailout plan for banks, a move that might allow it to lend more freely and perhaps acquire a larger deposit-taking institution.

American Express customers are unlikely to notice the changes. But Monday’s announcement may also represent the end of financial companies operating a single line of business and depending on the capital markets for financing.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley recently transformed themselves from investment banks to bank holding companies after being battered by the markets. Big lenders like GMAC, the finance company partly owned by General Motors, and General Electric’s financial subsidiary have similarly been considering becoming banks.

American Express executives have publicly maintained they did not need to become a bank holding company, although they also never completely ruled out that option. But when their financing costs soared as the commercial paper markets froze , the company increasingly recognized it needed to diversify its sources of financing. The company applied for banking holding company status about two or three weeks ago, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation.

Federal Reserve regulators sped up American Express’s request because of the market turbulence and the company’s desire to apply for the government investment program, which had a Nov. 14 deadline. Typically, the process can take 45 days or more; American Express got its license in about half that time.

American Express had already operated a commercial bank and a savings bank supervised by federal regulators. But the bulk of its assets were not in those institutions. As a bank holding company, these assets are now under federal supervision, a move that expands the amount of financing it can request from the government. That means the bank could qualify for up to $3.6 billion of the Treasury Department’s money, instead of just a small portion.

“Given the continued volatility in the financial markets, we want to be best positioned to take advantage of the various programs the federal government has introduced or may introduce,” said Kenneth I. Chenault, the chairman and chief executive of American Express. “We will continue to build a larger deposit base to broaden our funding sources.”

His announcement came as American Express reported a 24 percent drop in third-quarter profit and said it would slash 10 percent of its work force as it prepared to write off a larger pool of credit card loans. American Express wrote off about 5.9 percent of these loans in the third quarter.

November 2, 2008

Distant star's demise previews our sun's death

By Robert S. Boyd | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Astronomers at 25 observatories around the world began aiming their telescopes this week at a preview of our sun's eventual death.

Their target is a slowly cooling "white dwarf" star in the constellation Virgo that eventually will become a cold, black cinder.

A similar fate is forecast for the sun, but not to worry. That won't happen for at least 4 billion years.

"Someday the sun will be a white dwarf," said Judith Provencal, an astronomer at the University of Delaware in Newark. "It's forming the white dwarf in its core right now."

Most stars become white dwarfs after they exhaust their nuclear fuel. They aren't burning anymore, as the sun is, but glowing like embers in a dying fire. Dwarfs are extremely dense, holding as much material as the sun in a body the size of our planet. Astronomers say that a teaspoon of white dwarf material would weigh about a ton on Earth.

The series of white dwarf observations, scheduled to run until May 1, is a project of an international astronomical network known as the Whole Earth Telescope.

The viewings began Wednesday night at the Southern African Large Telescope, a 39-foot-wide mirror in Sutherland, South Africa. Observatories in Spain, Delaware, Texas, Arizona, Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, China and so on around the globe will provide around-the-clock coverage, ending May 1 in Brazil.

"We like to have two telescopes at each longitude," said Provencal, the coordinator of the project. "That way, if one is cloudy, hopefully the other won't be." A trial run at four European observatories last November failed because Europe was socked in by snow and clouds the entire month.

The target, a white dwarf known as IU Vir, some 300 trillion miles from Earth, alternately brightens and dims as huge blobs of material in its interior rise and fall, rather like a lava lamp.

The goal of the observations is to determine the rate of changes in the star's brightness over time, which will let astronomers figure out how fast it's cooling. The rate slows slightly as the star cools.

"Once a white dwarf forms, all it does is sit there and cool," Provencal said. "So we can measure the temperature of a white dwarf, and we can figure out how long it took to cool to that temperature and hence determine how old it is."

Currently, the temperature of IU Vir is thought to be about 21,500 degrees Fahrenheit. The coolest known white dwarf is about 2,500 degrees.

Astronomers think that white dwarfs are the final stage in the evolution of a low- or medium-mass star, such as our sun. When the sun burns up all its hydrogen, it will swell into an enormous "red giant" that will swallow everything in the solar system as far out as Mars.

In time, the red giant will shed its outer layers, forming a ringlike object called a planetary nebula. Its core will be a white dwarf.

By the time that happens, the Earth will have been destroyed and mankind with it, unless our descendants have found a way to reach a planet circling another, younger star.

ON THE WEB

More information from the Delaware Asteroseismic Research Center.

An animation of a sunlike star becoming a white dwarf.