Now you can buy your way off the terrorist list

I suppose it's always been so one way or another. But now it's just direct and up front.

Sudan has paid $335m to compensate victims of past attacks against the United States as part of an agreement that removed the struggling country from Washington’s list of “state sponsors of terrorism” – also known as its “terror blacklist” – Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

Khartoum’s transitional, civilian-backed government provided the funds for survivors and victims’ families from attacks including the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania by al-Qaeda, which was backed by Sudan’s then-leader, Omar al-Bashir.

[...]

The compensation will also cover the 2000 attack by al-Qaeda on the USS Cole off Yemen’s coast and the killing of US development worker John Granville in Khartoum in 2008.

Some legislators have also pushed for Sudan to pay compensation to the victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US.

[...]

Sudan agreed to the package last year as it desperately sought to free itself from the designation, which severely hindered investment in a country still grappling with unrest and tough economic conditions.

  alJazeera

They're tougher now that they owe the US $355 million. But wait - there's more.

Last week the US said it had assisted Sudan with more than $1bn in credit to clear debt, making the country again eligible for support from the World Bank and IMF.

How kind. We don't want anyone to not be able to borrow money from the World Bank and the IMF.

Common Sudanese can suffer. Their leaders won't.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

She's good with numbers

White House adviser Ivanka Trump says that President Trump asked her if she wanted to lead the World Bank, but she told him no.

Trump said in an Associated Press interview published Wednesday that her father asked her “a question” about whether she wanted to work for the international financial institution, but that she is “happy with the work” she does currently.

[...]

Donald Trump's oldest daughter also told the AP she does not plan to run for office in the future.

  The Hill

If you'd asked her this time last year, she might have been amenable.

Asked if the president had offered her any other positions, Ivanka Trump told the AP she'd "keep that between" the two of them.

"What do you want, honey?  Name it.  I can give you anything now."

WTF

Washington (CNN) World Bank President Jim Yong Kim abruptly resigned nearly three years ahead of schedule on Monday, setting up an opening for President Donald Trump to fill -- and a potential clash with other countries over the long-standing practice of the US making the appointment.

Trump has repeatedly voiced disdain for multilateral institutions and questioned US foreign aid commitments, making it likely his authority to name a new president will be challenged by emerging economies that have in recent decades grown increasingly opposed to US dominance over the global development bank.

The White House did not immediately say on Monday whether Trump plans to name a new president or provide a list of potential candidates. 

If Kim had served out his tenure, Trump would have had an opportunity to name a successor only during a potential second term in the White House. A statement from the bank said the outgoing president would join a firm focusing on infrastructure investments in the developing world and return to the board of a health organization he founded three decades ago.  

CNN https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/01/07/politics/world-bank-resignation-trump/index.html?__twitter_impression=true

What does Trump have on him?

Breaking Free

The [BRICS] group of emerging economies signed the long-anticipated document to create the $100 bn BRICS Development Bank and a reserve currency pool worth over another $100 bn. Both will counter the influence of Western-based lending institutions and the dollar.

The new bank will provide money for infrastructure and development projects in BRICS countries, and unlike the IMF or World Bank, each nation has equal say, regardless of GDP size.

  RT

Damned commies.

The BRICS bank will be headquartered in Shanghai, India will preside as president the first year, and Russia will be the chairman of the representatives.

[...]

The $100 billion crisis lending fund, called the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), was also established. China will contribute the lion’s share, about $41 billion, Russia, Brazil and India will chip in $18 billion, and South Africa, the newest member of the economic bloc, will contribute $5 billion.

The idea is that the creation of the bank will lessen dependence on the West and create a more multi-polar world, at least financially.

“This mechanism creates the foundation for an effective protection of our national economies from a crisis in financial markets," Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

Thinking ahead (and back).

Russia has also proposed the countries come together under an energy alliance that will include a fuel reserve, as well as an institute for energy policy .

Privatizing the Water Supply

As you know, the world banking industry has its hands in most third world countries' economies, making loans on the condition that the countries introduce extreme austerity and privatization of public resources, including water supplies.

This article will explain the water privatization issue and its obvious problems. The money quote  (pun unintended, but you are welcome to it) for me:

In addition, financing by the IFC, which is both investor and adviser on these projects, poses a conflict of interest. On the one hand, the IFC is advising governments to privatize the sector; on the other, it’s investing in the corporations getting those contracts. “It’s self-dealing: setting up a project that it’s in a position to profit from,” Naficy told me. When the IFC was established in 1956, it was expressly prohibited from purchasing corporate equity to avoid this sort of conflict, but the board amended this rule a few years later, allowing these kinds of deals.

  alJazeera

See any problem there?...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

National Security

US President Barack Obama has called on the National Security Agency to halt spying on the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in conjunction with a review of surveillance activities, Reuters reported.

[...]

The NSA’s surveillance of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington was previously unknown based on the classified nature of such programs.

  RT

Two well-known terrorist organizations, apparently.

Top officials with US intelligence agencies have admitted economic espionage in the past, but a former senior US intelligence official said the Obama administration has put more effort than previous administrations into gathering economic data.

Donkey Hotey

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Sruprise!

Okay, not. US nominated American Jim Yong Kim is the new World Bank president. The Ivy League university president beat out two actual financial people - Colombian finance head Jose Antonio Ocampo, and Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.  It wouldn't do to have a financial person at the head of the World Bank, now would it?  Oh, you think it might be something about them being Colombian and Nigerian?  Yeah, that would never do, either.

Position Available: President, World Bank

A US-nominated Korean-born president of an Ivy League university, Nigeria's finance minister and a Colombian economist have been confirmed as the three candidates contesting to become the next leader of the World Bank.

US President Barack Obama, whose country traditionally selects the president of the global lender, said on Friday that it was nominating Jim Yong Kim for the role.

  alJazeera

Because the other choices are black and Latino? (A finance minister, or an economist for the World Bank position?  Gasp!)  And if the US “traditionally” selects the president, why does anyone else bother to “contest”? Jim, or Kim, may have been born in Korea, but he's been in the US since he was five years old and is the president of Dartmouth College. He is also big in health organizations, so how that qualifies him for heading up the World Bank, I do not know, but I suppose it's as good a background as Paul Wolfowitz had.

US economist Jeffrey Sachs, who had also been put forward for the job by a group of smaller countries, withdrew and threw his support behind Kim.

He had cast his uphill candidacy as an effort to break Washington's penchant for political appointments.

A Canadian government source said Canada would back Kim and South Korea, his childhood home, also indicated support.

Russia has refrained from publicly backing a non-US candidate and has instead called for a greater role for emerging market countries in other top positions at global financial institutions.

India said it wanted to consult the other so-called BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa - before deciding, and Mexico also said it was keeping an open mind.

The World Bank board of member countries has promised to make a decision by the time of the IMF and World Bank semi-annual meetings on April 21.

What do think? Jim Yong Kim?

Take a look at the list of past presidents.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.