Recorded, March 23, 2008
MP3: 30-Minute Segment
REALAUDIO NB: This RealAudio stream contains both FTR #630 and FTR #631 in sequence. Each is a 30 minute broadcast.
Beginning with discussion of the downfall of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, the program notes speculation by syndicated columnist Robert Novak that GOP operative Roger Stone may have somehow arranged the gambit. The program sets forth speculation that a Spitzer associate named Dietrich (“Dieter”) Snell may have helped grease the skids for his ostensible ally. Snell has proved less than vigorous in his role as Senior Counsel to the 9/11 Commission. Whether or not it is relevant to Snell’s association with Spitzer, Mr. Emory notes that Spitzer’s dalliance with a call girl surfaced when programs designed to spotlight potential terrorist money transfers disclosed Spitzer’s activities. The circumstances surrounding the sting of Governor Spitzer for frequenting call girls suggests that Spitzer’s enemies—numerous and powerful—may have engineered his downfall. Recall that Spitzer had earned a well-deserved reputation as a tough opponent of chicanery in the corporate and financial realms. Spitzer’s downfall occurred as he was preparing to go after some of the culprits in the subprime crisis. The program concludes with columnist Paul Krugman’s ruminations about the possibility of a depression stemming from the failure of financial institutions in the wake of the subprime meltdown.
Program Highlights Include: Krugman’s observation that the stage for the current financial crisis was set by the financial industry’s gradual erosion of safeguards implemented during the New Deal in response to the Great Depression.
1. Beginning with discussion of the downfall of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, the program notes speculation by syndicated columnist Robert Novak that GOP operative Roger Stone may have somehow arranged the gambit. “ . . . Republican political operative Roger Stone, Eliot Spitzer’s longtime antagonist, predicted his political demise more than three months in advance. ‘Eliot Spitzer will not serve out his term as governor of the state of New York,’ Stone said Dec. 6 on Michael Smerconish’s radio talk show. He gave no details. Spitzer’s entrapment by federal authorities investigating a prostitution ring raised speculation that Stone, with a 40-year record as a political hit man, somehow was behind it. . . .”
(“Intrigue: Novak Suggests GOP Operative behind Spitzer Fall” by John Byrne; therawstory; 3/17/2008.)
2. A Spitzer associate named Dietrich (“Dieter”) Snell may have helped grease the skids for his ostensible ally. Snell has proved less than vigorous in his role as Senior Counsel to the 9/11 Commission. In connection with Dietrich Snell, Mr. Emory poses a question: “What did the SS teach their children to do?” In particular, what did the many SS officers imported into the United States teach their children to do? What is Dietrich Snell’s background? [For more information on this subject, see FTR#465—among other programs—for information about the Crusade For Freedom, which grafted many SS officers and fascist war criminals onto the American political infrastructure, the GOP in particular. In addition, check out FTR#583, which discusses the career of the son of Tscherim Soobzokov, one of the SS officers who came to the U.S. to work for the CIA. For a deeper understanding of the Third Reich’s plans for its postwar underground phase, read The Nazis Go Underground, available for download for free on the Spitfire website. To gain a measure of understanding about the successful execution of those plans, read Martin Bormann: Nazi in Exile, available for download for free on the Spitfire website. A synoptic account of the book can be found in the description for FTR#305.] “As the sex scandal hurricane engulfed Eliott Spitzer last week, one of his closest advisors at the eye of the storm was Dietrich ‘Dieter’ Snell. An ex U.S. Attorney from the same office conducting the prostitution probe, Snell is now defending Spitzer in the ‘Troopergate’ scandal and reportedly raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees for the international law firm he joined last year. A former Southern District prosecutor who later became Senior Counsel to the 9/11 Commission, Snell is also one of the ex Feds who rewrote history in the Commission’s ‘Final Report’ by relying entirely on the tortured ‘confession’ of 9/11’s purported ‘mastermind’ to pinpoint the origin of the ‘planes as missiles’ plot. He’s the same investigator who dismissed as not ‘sufficiently credible’ the testimony of a decorated Navy Captain who was part of a secret data mining operation that uncovered evidence of 9/11 hijackers in the U.S. more than a year before the attacks. . . .
(“Spitzer’s Mouthpiece Has His Own Secrets to Hide” by Peter Lance; therawstory; 3/18/2008.)
3. An Asia Times column echoes Mr. Emory’s view that the wrong public figure resigned. Note that the circumstances surrounding the sting of Governor Spitzer for frequenting call girls suggests that Spitzer’s enemies—numerous and powerful—may have engineered his downfall. Recall that Spitzer had earned a well-deserved reputation as a tough opponent of chicanery in the corporate and financial realms. In light of Spitzer’s association with Dietrich Snell (see above), it is also interesting and possibly significant that financial regulations intended to catch terrorist money transfers were used to ensnare Spitzer. “ . . . In another one of those nice coincidences that seem to happen whenever Wall Street is down and out, the unpopular governor of New York was found consorting with prostitutes through a Federal investigation that has all the hallmarks of a ‘hit job’ ordered from the very top. Spitzer was deeply unpopular in the corridors of power, and especially with the current Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, for daring to take various Wall Street firms down a few notches earlier this decade. ‘ . . . After also hitting other sacred cows such as large insurance companies, Spitzer was readying ammunition to strike at the heart of the current subprime crisis by attacking the monoline insurers and rating agencies. It is almost too convenient that the disclosures of his extracurricular activities came this week. Still, let us take everything said at face value and not attempt to conjecture any conspiracy behind all this. . . .”
(“Forget Spitzer, Fire Bernanke” by Chan Akya; Asia Times; 3/15/2008.)
4. Ominous echoes of the Great Depression were mentioned by columnist Paul Krugman. Krugman notes that the severity of the Great Depression stemmed primarily from the runs on banks. He feels that the “the shadow banking system” that has been devastated by the subprime meltdown might well experience a “run”, not unlike what was seen in the 1930’s. The financial turmoil has resulted from Americans having ignored the historical lessons of the Great Depression and insisted on “partying like it’s 1929.”
(“Partying Like It’s 1929” by Paul Krugman, New York Times; 3/21/08.)
Discussion
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