Free Republic

Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh has been accused of sexual assault. The alleged victim had contacted Democratic members of Congress months ago anonymously with Democrats revealing the matter after Kavanaugh's nomination hearings ended.... In Sochi, Russia today President Vladimir Putin is meeting the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss Syria..... Over the weekend a Russian general said that militants have moved canisters of chlorine into a village in Idlib in preparation for a false flag chemical attack that would be used to justify an attack on Syria by the US and allied nations..... Israel's Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman...

Investors are increasingly concerned Latin America's third-largest economy could soon default as it struggles to repay heavy government borrowing. The peso is down more than 45 percent against the greenback this year, exacerbating pre-existing fears over the country's weakening economy and inflation running at 25.4 percent this year. "I know that these tumultuous situations generate anxiety among many of you ... I understand this, and I want you to know I am making all decisions necessary to protect you," Macri said. Argentina is struggling to cope with yet another financial crisis. Investors are increasingly concerned Latin America's third-largest economy could...

Ecuador is ready to hand over the WikiLeaks founder to the UK in “coming weeks or even days,” RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan said citing her own sources, as prospects of his eviction from the embassy are back in the media. “My sources tell [Julian] Assange will be handed over to Britain in the coming weeks or even days,” Simonyan wrote in a recent tweet which was reposted by WikiLeaks. “Like never before, I wish my sources were wrong,” she continued. Simonyan's message comes, as speculations Ecuador is in talks with the UK over the future of Assange are back again...

IMF creates Global Private and Public Debt Database for all countries going back to 1950s. https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2018/05/14/Global-Debt-Database-Methodology-and-Sources-45838

The International Monetary Fund has urged Ukraine to end months of delay over the creation of an independent anti-corruption court seen as key to combating widespread graft in the country after a visit to Kiev last week. In a statement on Monday, the FundÂ’s representative in Ukraine stressed that further progress on the court, natural gas pricing, and fiscal policy changes were necessary conditions to unlock more loans from a derailed $17.5bn assistance package. Nearly $9bn has been received by Ukraine from the IMF package so far, and future tranches are seen as key to boosting the countryÂ’s economy. Goesta...

The United States is projected to grow 2.7 percent in 2018 as President Trump’s tax cuts boost growth, the International Monetary Fund said in a new report Monday, delivering more positive economic news as the president passes his one-year mark in the White House. But deep inequality remains in the country and the IMF does not expect the growth to last long. “We certainly should feel encouraged by the strengthened growth, but we should not feel satisfied. There are still too many people who are left out of that recovery and acceleration," said Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF on...

It also said that economic activity in Europe and Asia was surprisingly stronger than expected last year, and global growth in 2017 was now estimated to have reached 3.7 percent, 0.1 percentage point higher than the Fund projected in October. “The U.S. tax policy changes are expected to stimulate activity, with the short-term impact in the United States mostly driven by the investment response to the corporate income tax cuts,” the IMF said in the update, which was released on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “The effect on the U.S. growth is estimated to be...

SHIFT IN THOUGHT   In a world awash in red ink, Argentina’s reforms since 2015 show how attitudes can shift toward excessive debt. The world’s largest economies are awash in red ink, the International Monetary Fund reported in October. And they are hard-pressed to service their debts, which on average amount to more than twice their domestic output. China accounts for much of this global rise in debt. After a leadership reshuffle this week, Beijing may start to finally tackle the problem. But one country in particular, Argentina, has shown how to change attitudes and turn around an unhealthy dependence...

The pro-Russian hacker site “Cyber Berkut” published links between the Ukrainian government and the Hillary Clinton Campaign today. Wikileaks posted the image. BOOM! Pro-Russia Hacker Site “Cyber Berkut” Publishes Links Between Ukraine and Clinton Jim Hoft Jul 13th, 2017 10:33 am 89 Comments The pro-Russian hacker site “Cyber Berkut” published links between the Ukrainian government and the Hillary Clinton Campaign today. Wikileaks posted the image. THIS IS AMAZING— Cyber Berkut published this damning news today. Hillary Clinton campaign and the Ukrainian government! According to Cyber Berkut the Ukrainian foundation transferred 10 to 25 million dollars to the Clinton Foundation. Ukraine...

I. INTRODUCTION 1. De-cashing is defined as the gradual phasing out of currency from circulation and its replacement with convertible deposits. This initiative does not in any way target the abolition of money as an institution, but is, rather, a sweeping reduction of the role of currency, its cash component, in favor of transferrable deposits, its non-cash component. The monetary authorities in many countries have already taken steps towards de-cashing. These steps include abolishing large denomination bills, imposing ceilings on cash transactions, introducing declaration requirements on the carriage of cash in and out of the country, reporting requirements for cash...

The IMF employee received hand and face injuries, and staff were evacuated. IMF director Christine Lagarde condemned the "cowardly act of violence" against IMF staff.

Spain's anti-corruption prosecutor on Friday allowed former IMF chief Rodrigo Rato to remain free and without judicial supervision despite a jail sentence of four years and six months for embezzlement. Rato, who is also a former Spanish economy minister, will now remain at liberty until the court rules definitively on his case. Rato was sentenced on February 23 for misusing funds when he was the boss of two Spanish banks. He was tried with 64 other former executives and board members, accused of misusing €12 million ($12.7 million) between 2003 and 2012. He is expected to file an appeal.

The International Monetary Fund said Saturday it had reached a preliminary agreement with Ukraine that could see the war-scarred and cashed-starved nation receive fresh aid in the first half of the year. The news was particularly good for the ex-Soviet republic because the IMF statement referred to a loan of $1 billion (0.9 billion euros) and not the lesser sums discussed in earlier months. Ukraine also gets the reprieve of not having to go though the unpopular measure of raising its pension age to get the cash.

Meeting this week at the annual "World Government Summit" in the United Arab Emirates, under the shadow of a replica monument from the false god Baal's temple, top globalists and establishment leaders from around the planet offered a series of stunning revelations about their agenda. From the socialist new UN secretary-general and the embattled boss of the International Monetary Fund to national government leaders and tax-funded crony capitalists, over a hundred prominent speakers lectured thousands of attendees on the supposed necessity of globalism, multiculturalism, statism, Big Government, social engineering, "sustainability," and more. One speaker, tax-funded billionaire Elon Musk, even claimed...

IMF chief Christine Lagarde goes on trial in France on Monday over a massive state payout to a flamboyant tycoon when she was finance minister in a case that risks tarnishing her stellar career. Lagarde denies the charges of negligence, arguing she was acting "in the state's interest" in making the payment to Bernard Tapie, the former owner of sportswear giant Adidas and Olympique Marseille football club. If found guilty, Lagarde could receive a one-year prison sentence and a 15,000 euro ($15,900) fine.

see link below

The world is swimming in a record $152 trillion in debt, the IMF said on Wednesday, even as the institution encourages some countries to spend more to boost flagging growth if they can afford it. Global debt, both public and private, reached 225 percent of global economic output last year, up from about 200 percent in 2002, the IMF said in its new Fiscal Monitor report. The IMF said about two thirds of the 2015 total, or about $100 billion, is owed by private sector borrowers, and noted that rapid increases in private debt often lead to financial crises. While...

World finance leaders on Thursday decried a growing populist backlash against globalization and pledged to take steps to ensure trade and economic integration benefited more people currently left behind. Their comments at the start of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank fall meetings signaled frustration with persistently low growth rates and the surge of public anger over free trade and other pillars of the global economic system. The meetings are the first since Britain voted in June to leave the European Union and U.S. billionaire Donald Trump secured the Republican presidential nomination with a campaign that attacked trade deals....

see link below

The International Monetary Fund’s top staff misled their own board, made a series of calamitous misjudgments in Greece, became euphoric cheerleaders for the euro project, ignored warning signs of impending crisis, and collectively failed to grasp an elemental concept of currency theory. This is the lacerating verdict of the IMF’s top watchdog on the fund’s tangled political role in the eurozone debt crisis, the most damaging episode in the history of the Bretton Woods institutions. It describes a “culture of complacency”, prone to “superficial and mechanistic” analysis, and traces a shocking breakdown in the governance of the IMF, leaving it...