Chinese buy into conspiracy theory

Chinese buy into conspiracy theory
Note that, unfortunately, City of London corporation is not being targeted by terrorists. If there were 'terrorists' out there (rather than paramilitary forces financied by Fed/City of London/Bundesbank to protect their oil pipelines and rewarded with the heroin trafficking industry as a perk) --that are 'called' "terrorists" ... the "terrorists" certainly would've nuked City of London corporation world syndicate headquarters of the worlds' criminal banking dynasties by now.

The Battle of Waterloo. The deaths of six US presidents. The rise of Adolf Hitler. The deflation of the Japanese bubble economy, the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis and even environmental destruction in the developing world.

In a new Chinese best-seller, Currency Wars , these disparate events spanning two centuries have a single root cause: the control of money issuance through history by the Rothschild banking dynasty.

Even today, claims author Song Hongbing, the US Federal Reserve remains a puppet of private banks, which also ultimately owe their allegiance to the ubiquitous Rothschilds.

Such an over-arching conspiracy theory might matter as little as the many fetid tracts that can still be found in the west about the “gnomes of Zurich” and Wall Street’s manipulation of global finance.

But in China, which is in the midst of a lengthy debate about opening its financial system under US pressure, the book has become a surprise hit and is being read at senior levels of government and business.

“Some senior heads of companies have been asking me if this is all true,” says Ha Jiming, the chief economist of China International Capital Corp, the largest local investment bank.

The book also gives ammunition, however hay-wire, to many in China who argue that Beijing should resist pressure from the US and other countries to allow its currency, the renminbi, to appreciate.

The book’s publisher, a unit of the state-owned CITIC group, said Currency Wars had sold nearly 200,000 copies, with an estimated 400,000 extra pirated copies in circulation as well.

Mr Song, an information technology consultant and amateur historian who has lived in the US since 1994 and is now based in Washington, says his interest was sparked by trying to uncover what lay behind the Asian crisis in 1997.

After he began blogging some of his findings, his friends suggested he find a publisher for a longer work. He professes himself surprised by the book’s success.

“I never imagined it could be so hot and that top leaders would be reading it,” he says during a book tour in Shanghai. “People in China are nervous about what’s going on in financial markets but they don’t know how to handle the real dangers. This book gives them some ideas.”

The thing that most shocked him, he says, was his “discovery” that the Fed is a privately owned and run bank. “I just never imagined a central bank could be a private body,” he says.

The Fed does describe itself “as an unusual mixture of public and private elements”. While its seven governors are all appointed by the US president, private banks do hold shares in its 12 regional reserve banks.

But Mr Song ignores the government’s role and argues that the Fed’s key functions are ultimately controlled by five private banks, such as Citibank, all of which have maintained a “close relationship” with the Rothschilds.

Mr Song is defensive about his focus on the Rothschilds and what the book depicts as their Jewish clannishness.

“The Chinese people think that the Jews are smart and rich, so we should learn from them,” he says. “Even me, I think they are really smart, maybe the smartest people on earth.”

Jon Benjamin, chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, is not impressed. “The Chinese have the highest regard for what they see as Jewish intellectual and commercial acumen, with little or no concurrent culture of antisemitism. This claim, however, plays to the most discredited and outmoded canards surrounding Jews and their influence. That it should gain currency in the world’s most important emerging economy is a great concern.”

The book has been ridiculed in internet postings in China, for exaggerating the lingering influence of the Rothschilds and being a re-write of existing conspiracy theories in the west.

Mr Ha puts the book’s popularity down to the decade-long stagnation in Japan and the Asian financial crisis, which he says had a profound impact on many Chinese policymakers.

Such officials remain deeply suspicious of advice from western countries to open up the financial system and float the currency. “They think it is just a new way of looting developing countries,” Mr Ha says.

Mr Song himself has been commissioned to write a number of new books to capitalise on his success, on the yen, the euro and also on China’s financial system.

But in conversation, he sounds hesitant about the line his future tomes might take. “This book may be totally wrong, so before the next one, I have to make sure my understanding is right,” he says.

“Before this book, I was a nobody, so I could say anything I liked, but now the situation has changed.”

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October 2, 2008, 5:28 pm
China, Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theories and Wall Street

Hung Huang is the chief executive of the China Interactive Media Group, a Beijing publishing company. We asked her to write about how people in China are reacting to the United States financial crisis.

About a year and half ago, a book titled “The Currency War” came out in China. It was written by a Chinese graduate student who returned from the United States. The book was anti-Semitic and probably the most fantastic “conspiracy theory” about Wall Street. The basic claim was that the Rothschilds and other Jews wanted to control the world by manipulating the international financial system. The book read more like a script for a James Bond movie than a serious dissertation on Wall Street.

However, it was a best seller in China. A lot of professionals were worried about the popularity of the book, and how it might give the public the wrong impression of the international financial system. Also, it was reported that the book was read by the highest-ranking Chinese government leaders. This actually prompted the magazine Finance to publish a critique of the book, written by a leader of Goldman Sachs in Asia. Unfortunately, more people read the book than the critique.

As the market came crashing down and the subprime crisis became headline news in China, “The Currency War” (also translated as “Currency Wars,” or Huobi Zhanzheng) climbed back up the best-seller list. I was recently at a dinner at the Beijing Hong Kong Jockey Club. A very established lifestyle magazine publisher was recommending the book to people as a way of understanding why the crisis happened.

This is scarier than the crisis itself. First of all, China has just become a serious player in the international financial market. Secondly, our own financial reform is still under way. Therefore, the kind of conspiracy theory offered by “The Currency War” will only increase xenophobia and halt our own financial reform.

Having said that, most Chinese watched with amazement as the United States Congress vetoed the first bailout plan. It seems unfathomable that such a democratic process can actually work against itself sometimes. Such lack of rallying at a time of crisis certainly does not speak positively for the democratic system.

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[edit on 10-11-2008 by counterterrorist]

i have read this book , and its excellent , i suggest you read it too

why use the word theory when it is fact?

Its not entirely true that terrorists havent targeted the ruling elite. Since more than a century the ruling elite is said to reside in London and New Your City. Both have been targeted by the so far largest terrorist attacks of the 21st Century.

Its not that easy to access London City for undercover activity. Ever seen all the public cameras there?

reply to post by Skyfloating


I lived there at one time in the early 90's

camera's everywhere, scary stuff but most people take it for granted and somehow go about their daily lives knowing they are being watched 24/7