Tracking finances

[Chris Burford <cburford@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Macdonald Hastings, the right wing British newspaper editor who specialises
in military matters, said Tuesday night on BBC2 Newsnight that the language
of war was wrong: the taks is essentially one of global policing.

I suggest this means that the talk about a global coalition is raising the
issues of global governance to a new level of attention. It means that in
the skirmishing now to see how much the US feels it must take on board
needs of the widespread coalition, since, unfortunately, there are no
beaches to be stormed (GWB), a new concept of global justice is being
hammered out in a very pragmatic fashion.

Take the fact that it is probably easier to trace the financial trails than
safe paths throught the minefields of Afghanistan!

Just supposing the precedents opened up by the following item (from the
World Bank Clipping service, thanks to DH), lay the international
structures to track all major financial movements.....  Even hedge
funds.......  even....

What would become of the sacred rights of private ownership of the means of
production?

And if this were to coincide with a move to track financial transfers for
purposes of a Tobin tax, Global Capital would be only a few computer
programmes away from becoming socially accountable.

To whom?



> U.K. TO IMPROVE WAYS OF TRACKING TERRORIST FINANCES. The British
> government has proposed measures to improve the mechanisms for tracking
> the flows of funds that finance terrorism, including tougher requirements
> on banks to report suspicious transactions, reports the Financial Times
> (p.6). Britain believes it has greater expertise in cutting off
> terrorists' sources of finance because of its 30 years of experience with
> Northern Irish terrorism, and will call on other countries to follow its lead.
>
> One recommendation is that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the
> international group intended to combat money laundering, should be more
> specifically focused on tracking down terrorist funds. International banks
> are currently required to report only funds they suspect may stem from
> criminal activity. The British government is suggesting that they should
> also be compelled to report flows of funds from legitimate businesses they
> suspect may be used to finance terrorist activity: a requirement that
> already exists in Britain.
>
> Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown also hopes to use the informal
> Ecofin meeting of European finance ministers this weekend to call on the
> European Parliament to speed up implementation of the EU's directive on
> combating money laundering. This has been delayed because of concerns
> about the threat to lawyers' client confidentiality.
>
> "There can be no safe havens for terrorists, and no hiding place for the
> funds they sue to carry out their atrocities," said a British government
> official.


Chris Burford

London