2015/09/25

La Croix des Pénitents: financement participatif pour filmer un documentaire

Je reprends un message de Jean-Pierre Petit publié le 9 septembre 2015, à propos d'un projet de financement participatif pour la réalisation d'un nouveau documentaire sur la Croix des Pénitents.

C'est exactement le type d'initiative que nous avons encouragé le 17 août dernier.

La séquence de 10 mn de l'émission PACA Matin sur "La Croix des Mées" qui figura pendant 6 jours en replay sur FR3-Méditerranée n'est plus disponible sur ce site.
Elle est désormais accessible ici.

La productrice et réalisatrice Sonia Barkallah serait intéressée pour faire un documentaire nettement plus consistant sur ce sujet de la Croix des Pénitents, et un tel sujet le mérite largement.  
Sonia Barkallah est notamment connue pour son excellent documentaire "Faux Départ" disponible sur Youtube en haute définition, sur les expériences de mort imminente. 
Mais pour lancer un projet de documentaire, il faut un peu d'argent. Si vous avez quelques euros à utiliser vous pouvez faire un don par chèque à : 
S17 PRODUCTION
364 av. Roger Salengro,
BP 10089,
 13133 Berre l'Etang Cedex 
Si vous faites ce geste, précisez "Pour le documentaire sur les Mées" au dos du chèque. Votre nom figurera alors sur le générique. 
Cette aventure de la Croix des Mées, puisque ça c'en est une, ne fait que redémarrer après 47 années de "sommeil complet " (...). C'est en effet en 1968 que [Jean-Pierre Petit] j'avais été le premier à approcher cette croix de bois, perchée à 65 mètres, dans une grotte, en descendant en rappel mais sans pouvoir la toucher, puisque c'était en surplomb. 
Cela ne vous étonnera donc pas que, pour que cette datation sérieuse du morceau de cette croix ramené en 1968 par Patrick Cordier soit effectuée en 2015, concluant à son âge entre le VIIIème et le Xème siècle de notre ère soit une moyenne de 1130 ans d'âge, il a fallu que Bruno Paul finance de sa poche cette analyse réalisée aux Etats-Unis, à hauteur de 500 euros, opération à laquelle ont également contribué ses parents. [NDR: la Mairie des Mées et l'association des Amis des Mées ont réglé leur participation après la conférence que nous avons animé avec un grand succès.]
Donc, pour que des choses bougent, il faut de l'argent. Bruno est en train de monter une association pour impulser ces recherches. Dans cette optique, la réalisation d'un documentaire solide serait un atout utile. 
A vos tirelires.....

La Croix des Pénitents: investigations photographiques


Nous avions présenté à notre conférence du 17/08 quelques photos de la Croix réalisées par M. Jacob.
Quelques jours plus tard le club photographie des Mées représenté à cette occasion par MM. Jacob et Dhal a réalisé une nouvelle séance de prises de vue le 25/08 à 17h30 avec un appareil plus performant.
Voilà les images plus détaillées qui en résultent. Les connaisseurs apprécieront la netteté de ces images sachant la difficulté de ces prises de vues (distance, luminosité, contraste, inclinaison).

Je n'affiche ici que des captures d'écran des parties les plus intéressantes. Les fichiers originaux jpg complets font 11, 18 et 25 Mo.
Les paramètres techniques de la prise de vue étaient les suivants : 
- lieu : rue du Moulin, légèrement à gauche du rocher qui porte la Croix ; ciel : nuages épars, pas de lumière du soleil directe
- appareil : trépied avec un Sony SLT-A77V (v1.07); 6000*4000 pixels; largeur CCD: 16.5; priorité  ouverture; pose: 1/45 s; ouverture: 5.49; F: f/6.7; 400 ISO; vitesse: 5.49; luminosité: 5.59; correction d'exposition: 0.5; mode d'exposition: automatique
- objectif : 150-600 mm F5-6.3 SSM; longueur focale: 600 mm; longueur focale d'un film 35 mm: 900 mm

Voici ci-dessous le zoom (1) sur la voûte rocheuse qui nous intéresse. Nous avons augmenté la luminosité de l'image originale dans le logiciel Picasa.

zoom 1

On note toujours la pierre d'apparence rectangulaire, plus claire. Cependant un zoom détaillé (2) de son insertion dans la roche ne permet pas d'affirmer qu'il s'agit d'un galet équarri posé par l'homme.

zoom 2;  ce fragment est à un facteur de zoom de 100% sur l'image d'origine

On note aussi sur le zoom 1 les zones les plus sombres (tâches noires) qui surplombent la "vire" couverte de fientes de corbeau. Elle correspondent à des parties plus creuses. C'est dans cet espace (zoom 3) que les corbeaux ont la place de s'engager sur leurs pattes pour être complètement masqués. Jusqu'à quelle profondeur s'étend cet espace? Mystère...

zoom 3

Nous avons ensuite traité l'image reçue par le filtre "simulation de points chauds" du logiciel Picasa, pour vérifier si certains détails supplémentaires apparaissaient. Voici le résultat de la voûte en fausses couleurs, qui n'abrite pas un soleil ;) :


La couleur claire de la pierre rectangulaire la fait ressortir, ainsi que certaines autres de formes plus arrondies. On note des continuités de couleur qui nous font penser à des volutes de diffusion d'un fluide dans un autre fluide de caractéristiques différentes. 
Une hypothèse serait que la couleur beaucoup plus sombre de la voûte pourrait être causée par un développement bactérien et de micro-lichens au cours des âges, à partir des bordures de la cavité. Cette croissance serait plus forte dans les zones les moins éclairées par la lumière indirecte du jour, et qui sont ici signalées par la couleur verte. 

Il est maintenant peu probable qu'une prise de vue rapprochée par un drone puisse nous éclairer davantage, sachant qu'il ne pourra pas s'approcher ni surplomber la cavité en haut de la voûte.

Par contre l'utilisation d'un télémètre laser asservi pour mesurer les altitudes de plusieurs points critiques serait très utile pour obtenir un profil 3D de la voûte, et estimer la hauteur de l'entrée de la cavité... en attendant de pouvoir aller y jeter un œil.

Le 26/07 Michel Jacob avait réussi le premier cliché avec un corbeau nichant devant la cavité au dessus des fientes:

Nikon D200, pose 1/60, longueur de focale 105 mm (éq. 157 mm) et doubleur de focale; ce fragment issu du cliché initial est rehaussé par un effet HDR.

Quelques minutes plus tard, l'instant critique était capturé : la disparition entière du corbeau dans la fameuse cavité.

Trouvez les 2 différences entre ces clichés pris à 10 secondes d'intervalle.

Dernier concours lancé par M. Jacob ce même jour : prendre le cliché qui présente la plus grande longueur d'éclairage direct du soleil sur la Croix.

L'image ci-dessous prise par M. Jacob le 25/08/2015 -outre qu'elle illustre bien l'absence complète de renfort à la base des montants de la Croix qui reste depuis plus de 11 siècles dans un équilibre stupéfiant- montre que le soleil couchant n'éclaire qu'une minuscule partie des montants. Rappelons que l'anfractuosité est orientée plein nord, avec les montants en retrait, et avec des sommets élevés en direction des levers et couchers du soleil. Ce faible rayonnement direct a sans doute été un facteur de la préservation du bois sur une durée aussi longue. 
Rendez-vous au prochain solstice d'été, à l'aube ou au coucher du soleil, pour un prochain record.  


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[Mise à jour le 25/06/2016]

Le challenge a été relevé !
M. Paul Pierre a pris les clichés ci-dessous le 22 juin 2016 à l'aide d'une simple tablette Samsung Galaxy Tab4.
Heure de lever de soleil civil : 5h53mn (sans prendre en compte le relief local);
Heure de la prise de vue : 6h17mn, au premier rayon de soleil apparu au dessus du village de Malijai, dans l'axe de la vallée de la Bléone. Le soleil est derrière à droite de la prise de vue.



Le zoom effectué sur l'image capturée permet d'affirmer que le soleil levant ne vient jamais éclairer directement les montants de la Croix, pour aucun jour de l'année.

Et le même soir, le soleil s'étant couché sur un horizon sans nuages:
Heure de coucher de soleil civile : 21h23mn (sans prendre en compte le relief local);
Heure de la prise de vue : 20h53mn, à la dernière minute de soleil avant sa disparition complète derrière la montagne de Lure, à droite de la prise de vue. Pour le solstice ce coucher de soleil, vu du pied de la Croix des Pénitents, a lieu exactement au sommet de la Montagne (station de ski et relais hertzien, à 1826 m d'altitude). En apparence -vu sa proximité- la Montagne de Lure est d'ici le point le plus élevé sur le tour de l'horizon observable.



Le zoom effectué sur l'image capturée permet d'affirmer que le soleil couchant parvient au mieux de sa course annuelle à éclairer directement les montants de la Croix situés à gauche de l'intersection des bois. Cette illumination directe sur les bois dure au maximum 1h40 par jour seulement, quand le soleil ne se couche pas dans les nuages et que l'on est proche du solstice d'été (voir ci-après). J'estime que la période annuelle où cette illumination directe est possible (sur une longueur variable de bois) doit être de 4 mois, entre fin avril et fin août environ.

Il est troublant de s'apercevoir que l'emplacement de l'intersection, qui est décalée sur la gauche car la croix n'est pas symétrique, marque justement le point maximum éclairé sur les bois par le solstice d'été!
Pour l'instant, voyons-y une simple coïncidence...

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[Mise à jour le 4/07/2016]

Le grand jeu des lumières!

Nous avons vérifié le 4/07/2016 que la durée d'illumination directe de la Croix était de 1h40: début de l'illumination directe à 19h16, fin à 20h55 avec un coucher sans nuages. 

Mais nous avons surtout été surpris par un autre fait : alors que le coucher de soleil 13 jours après s'était déjà bien décalé sur l'horizon par rapport au 22/06, le point maximum éclairé sur les bois le 4/07 est encore l'intersection de la Croix! 

Emplacement des couchers de soleil sur l'horizon de Lure, vu du pied de la Croix

Au dernier rayon de soleil du 4/07

L'explication doit vraisemblablement résider dans la courbure très particulière de la paroi à droite de la niche. On remarque grâce à la lumière rasante qu'elle est très différente de la paroi à gauche -comme taillée sur mesure? Cette paroi arrondie intercepte les rayons du soleil couchant et projette un cône d'ombre avec un angle minimum constant pendant plusieurs soirs d'affilée autour du solstice d'été, sachant que ce cône d'ombre est justement sécant à la Croix au niveau de l'intersection...  Un joli problème de géométrie à modéliser!

2015/09/03

Enregistrement, émission et compte-rendu de notre conférence sur le mystère de la Croix des Pénitents


Voici le support de la conférence du 17/08/2015 au format PDF (recommandation: utilisez Firefox pour une meilleure compatibilité) :


19/08/2016 : après une première mise en ligne réalisée en septembre 2015, l'enregistrement vidéo intégral de la conférence de 2015 (lien) en streaming est désormais disponible sur YouTube ; durée: 1h45 (cette vidéo fonctionne avec tous les navigateurs modernes si vous activez le javascript, mais vous pouvez rencontrer des difficultés avec IE version 8 ou antérieure). Un grand merci à Michel Jacob pour le matériel de prise de vue et l'encodage!

En complément indispensable, voir plus bas la mise à jour du 28 octobre 2016. 


Les suites de la conférence de 2015:

Tout d'abord un premier petit reportage diffusé lors des JT de France3 le 17 août à 19h et 18 août à midi.

Voici le compte-rendu par le journal Haute-Provence Info du 21 août de notre conférence :



Le journal "La Provence" a également publié un long article le 26 août en page 4, dans les pages régionales, qui a le mérite de rappeler que la datation se rapproche de certains aspects de la légende
On se rapportera au PDF et à l'enregistrement pour corriger certains détails: par exemple au lieu de 910 il faut comprendre 885; pour les "deux datations" il ne s'agit que de la plage d'incertitude donnée par le laboratoire par rapport à la courbe de calibration.





Voici un reportage beaucoup plus long lors d'une émission sur France3, diffusée en direct sur la TV et sur le web:
Jean-Pierre Petit a représenté notre association pour présenter les résultats et enjeux de cette recherche historique lors de l'émission PACA Matin sur France 3 le 8 septembre à 10h15.


Vous pouviez visionner cette émission en différé pendant 6 jours sur ce lien, à partir du repère 2:10.
Depuis le 25/09 elle est accessible sur YouTube.

L'émission commence par une rapide rediffusion du reportage réalisé à la Toussaint 1968 avec la fin de l'escalade réussie sous le regard de la caméra par Patrick Cordier (archives INA), qui a ramené l'échantillon dont nous avons analysé un fragment. D'après Sylvain Jouty, que j'ai eu le plaisir de rencontrer lors de la journée du 17 août, aucun des alpinistes de cette cordée (ni aucune personne de mon entourage) ne connaissait ces images. On reconnait Claude Deck avec ses cheveux blonds (29 ans à l'époque), et on voit brièvement Sylvain Jouty (19 ans). Ce dernier a notamment dirigé la rédaction collective du Dictionnaire encyclopédique des Alpes paru en 2006.

Signalons aussi une prochaine chronique de Claude Deck sur ce sujet, qui a été contacté par l'intermédiaire de Sylvain Jouty à son initiative, laquelle devrait être publiée dans La Montagne et Alpinisme, revue trimestrielle de la fédération des Clubs alpins français. 

[Mise à jour le 10 septembre 2015: j'ai reçu ce jour un chèque de la Mairie des Mées et de l'Association des Amis des Mées, qui contribuent conformément à leurs engagements quant au financement de l'analyse.]

Si vous voulez contribuer financièrement à cette aventure archéologique, voir ici.

[Mise à jour le 27 décembre 2015: Après autorisation de son propriétaire, j'ai exploré ce jour avec mon frère un ancien tunnel privé aux Mées qui conforte la possibilité de creuser de longues distances dans le poudingue avec peu de moyens.
Il s'agit d'un tunnel de captage de sources pour alimenter la fontaine d'une ferme. Il présente une longueur de 102 m d'après nos mesures, dont les premiers 78 m sont pratiquement rectilignes. Il est pratiquement horizontal, en légère pente positive pour que l'eau s'écoule. Sauf les premiers mètres qui sont creusés dans la terre, il est entièrement creusé manuellement dans le poudingue. La hauteur sous plafond atteint jusqu'à 2 m, pour environ 70 cm de large. Il n'y a aucun soutènement, aucun étais ni trace d'emplacement pour en poser. Le plafond est arrondi en une légère voûte régulière. Le plafond est en très bon état sans trace d'écroulement.
Il a été creusé en plusieurs époques, remontant au moins au XVIIème siècle, pour capter progressivement de nouveaux filons d'eau. Aujourd'hui ces points de captage sont pratiquement taris. Il s'agit d'un ouvrage qui n'a nécessité que le travail d'une famille et pas de tout le village, au sein duquel son existence n'est connue que d'une poignée de personnes. Il est resté strictement privé depuis sa création.]

Cette enquête historique et archéologique continue par le volet des investigations photographiques.

[Mise à jour le 28 octobre 2016]
J'ai animé un an plus tard une deuxième conférence, cette fois privée, sur ce sujet au Monastère de Ganagobie.
Voici le support utilisé, intégrant nos dernières investigations :





[Mise à jour le 15/09/2019]

Pourquoi une Croix en forme de X ?
L'étude exceptionnelle de Thierry Murcia sur Marie Madeleine contient des éléments forts intéressants à ce propos, p.55 et suivantes :
"- Le chiasme portait plusieurs noms en grec : khi, khiasma, khiaston, c’est-à-dire : X (lettre Khi), « croix », « disposé en croix ». Et on le représente d’ailleurs par une figure en croix puisque c’est le sens précis du mot « chiasme » en grec. [...]
- Quoi d’autre ?
- Pour reconnaître une dette, dans l’Antiquité, il suffisait de tracer une simple lettre sur un document officiel. Le plus souvent, on annulait cette dette en la barrant d’une croix, c’est-à-dire au moyen de la lettre
Χ. Paul, dans ses épîtres, fait allusion à cette pratique. Chez Jean, la disposition en croix des personnages formant un Khi (Χ) vient donc se superposer à la Croix – en Τ ou en † – la confirmer et la barrer d’une autre croix semblable au signe qui notifie que plus rien n’est dû.
 
- Une confirmation de la Rédemption, en quelque sorte ?
- Absolument. Notez bien qu’en l’occurrence – et ce ne peut être, encore une fois, le simple fait du hasard – la dette est payée au moyen du Khi –
Χ – qui est également ici l’initiale de celui qui l’acquitte et qui vaut donc doublement signature : Christ (Χριστός).
 
- Vous pensez vraiment que tout ça a été savamment réfléchi ?
- J’en suis intimement convaincu. Chez Jean, les dernières paroles de Jésus en Croix ont un double sens en hébreu et en araméen (et, dans une moindre mesure, en grec) que la traduction « tout est achevé » ou « c’est achevé » ne rend pas.
Shalam (shalem, en hébreu) veut effectivement dire être « achevé », « complété ». Mais s’il est question d’une dette cela signifie qu’elle est « complètement payée ». La formule traduite par « c’est achevé » ne signifie donc pas seulement que les prophéties sont accomplies mais également que la dette est totalement acquittée. [...]
- Et tout ça n’est rien ! En fait, les rapports établis, d’une part, entre le X et le salut, et, d’autre part, entre le X et la Croix, trouvent leur origine dans l’Ancien Testament : plus précisément dans le livre d’Ézéchiel et dans son exégèse. Le livre de l’Apocalypse en garde clairement la trace. Vous n’ignorez sans doute pas que le nombre 666, dont il est également question dans cet écrit, correspond au signe de la bête…
- Évidemment non.
- Mais saviez-vous que le sceau salvifique de Dieu, dont il est aussi fait mention, n’est rien d’autre qu’un X ?
- Vous voulez dire un Khi ?
- Oui et non. D’un côté, la lettre grecque Khi (X), initiale de Christ. Mais, d’un autre côté, la lettre hébraïque Taw, devenue T – Tau – chez les Grecs, et qui signifie « signe » en hébreu. Dans l’ancienne écriture hébraïque (paléo-hébreu/phénicien), cette lettre avait elle aussi la forme d’un X.
- Vous parlez de la dernière lettre de l’alphabet hébraïque ?
- C’est bien ça. Le Taw renvoie à la fois au salut et à la Croix mais également à Dieu lui-même.
- Pourquoi ça ?
- Car si, en grec, Dieu est l’Alpha et l’Oméga, en hébreu, la langue de la Bible, il est l’Aleph et le Taw, c’est-à-dire « le principe et la fin ».
- Et y a-t-il également un rapport avec le signe de croix ?
- Il y en a un. Ce signe en X, symbole de salut, et qui remonte au livre d’Ézéchiel, était d’utilisation courante dans l’Église des premiers siècles, y compris chez les Juifs convertis. Lors du baptême, on procédait à une triple immersion, à une onction d’huile, et ce signe était tracé sur le front du nouveau baptisé. Les chrétiens ont longtemps porté une croix de ce type peinte en rouge ou tatouée au milieu du front. Elle était à la fois pour eux signe de Salut et de reconnaissance.
- Il ne s’agissait pas plutôt, en ce cas, d’une croix latine ou d’une croix en T ?
- Vous savez, c’est du pareil au même puisque la lettre T, le Tau des Grecs, avait primitivement la forme d’un X... En définitive, qu’il s’agisse d’un Khi ou d’un Taw, c’est bien toujours le même « chiasme » qui sauve. "
Dans cette logique de signe de reconnaissance chrétien, on pourrait assimiler la Croix des Mées à un gigantesque oratoire. La présence de reliques serait alors moins probable, mais pas écartée pour autant.
 

 


2015/07/29

Le mystère de la Croix des Pénitents

Vous trouverez facilement le village de Les Mées dans les Alpes de Haute-Provence, situé au sud de Sisteron. C'est un village pittoresque mais qui recèle surtout, pour qui sait bien chercher, de curieux mystères.
Si vous passez dans la région ce mois d'août, c'est une occasion unique d'approcher l'Histoire de la Provence d'une manière tout à fait particulière. Voici pourquoi.

Le village de Les Mées lové autour de ses rochers. Dans le rond bleu une mystérieuse anfractuosité, que nous allons découvrir. Au loin, la Durance.

C'est d'abord une curiosité géologique. Le village se trouve dans la vallée de la Durance. Le massif des rochers des Mées est dans la continuité du plateau de Valensole. Il s'est formé il y a 3 millions d'années à partir de ce que les géologues appellent du "poudingue" (déformation francophone du mot anglais "pudding"). Il a été érodé par les pluies, le gel et le vent. Curieusement, dominant le village est restée cette étrange falaise dont les "capucins" atteignent 117 mètres de haut et qui se dressent, en surplomb, au dessus de la vallée.

MAJ 19/02/2017: Il se trouve que la formation géologique des ces Rochers a fait l'objet d'un sujet au bac 2016! Vous pouvez le découvrir  dans les pages 3 à 6 du lien suivant:
http://www.sujetdebac.fr/annales-pdf/2016/s-svt-obligatoire-2016-asie-sujet-officiel.pdf

A gauche, vous voyez l'amorce d'une combe verdoyante, qui se comporte en fait comme un bassin de collecte des pluies. Avant la révolution française de 1789 ce bassin était exempt de végétation. Quand de fortes pluies déboulaient, le village était noyé. A cette époque les Méens ont demandé d'arranger cela. Des ingénieurs ont alors fait creuser une galerie de près de 250 mètres de long, dont vous découvrirez aisément la sortie presque à l'aplomb de la grotte, au niveau du sol. C'est une balade amusante, à faire avec une simple lampe de poche et des baskets, en famille. Ce tunnel débouche dans la combe, où les ingénieurs avaient disposé des digues pour briser la violence des flots et rediriger toute cette eau vers cette "conduite forcée". Elle se prolongeait par un aqueduc, dont il reste aujourd'hui quelques vestiges, et qui renvoyait l'eau vers la Durance. Mais c'est le reboisement qui a davantage sauvé le village de l'eau que tous ces ouvrages. 

Ce qui est fort étrange dans cette falaise, et peu connu, c'est ceci :

L'anfractuosité se situant à près de 60 mètres de hauteur, au milieu de la falaise. Totalement inaccessible.

Rapprochons-nous un peu.




Gros plan sur la Croix des Pénitents : un mystère complet depuis des siècles!

Mais que fiche cette croix là-haut, qui l'a posée, quand et comment ? De mémoire de Méens, nul ne le sait... sauf les légendes.

Le problème n'est pas simple car, même avec les moyens techniques d'aujourd'hui le poudingue est impossible à escalader. Cette croix, on trouve sa trace dans des chroniques du XVIIe siècle, et son origine était déjà décrite comme étant un mystère complet. Le Dr Jean-Pierre Petit, à qui j'emprunte ce texte, a été le premier à l'approcher, il y a 47 ans, en descendant en rappel. Impossible alors de la toucher : la falaise est en surplomb, et c'est d'ailleurs cette situation qui a pu protéger ces bois de la pluie. Quelques mois plus tard un alpiniste, Patrice Cordier, a pu la toucher pour la première fois après 2 tentatives infructueuses et 2 jours d'efforts avec son équipe, en descendant en rappel le long d'un canyon latéral, puis en effectuant une traversée horizontale en plantant force pitons créés spécialement pour l'occasion dans ce matériau problématique. Ce faisant, il a réussi à ramener un fragment de la croix, coupé en deux une fois au sol... hélas l'analyse du carbone 14 d'un des fragments par le laboratoire du CEA à Saclay quelques temps plus tard a été un échec. 

46 ans plus tard, au bout d'une longue chaîne humaine j'ai récupéré l'autre petit morceau, et j'ai trouvé comment l'analyser avec toute la rigueur scientifique qui s'impose pour une datation archéologique.

J'ai fait effectuer la toute première datation au carbone 14 de la Croix des Pénitents. Je présenterai la démarche, son résultat et le contexte historique de la Croix lors d'une conférence le 17 août 2015 à 17h au cinéma des Mées (en face de la mairie).
Entrée libre.

En fait, ça sera une conférence à deux car le Dr. Jean-Pierre Petit a aussi des choses extrêmement intéressantes à raconter sur cette affaire, à laquelle il s'intéresse de très près depuis 1968...

Si vous regardez en détail la photo précédente, vous verrez qu'il y a une formation bizarre, au sommet de cette anfractuosité. Voici une vue au télé-objectif prise dimanche dernier par Michel Jacob, photographe à Sisteron :

.

On distingue en bas et à droite des traînées blanchâtres qui sont des fientes de corneilles, lesquelles nichent là-haut et disparaissent... on ne sait où. Ce sera l'objet de la deuxième partie de la conférence.

Indiana Jones près de chez vous...

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MISE À JOUR le 03/09/2015:
Le compte-rendu, l'intégralité des informations présentées et l'enregistrement vidéo de cette conférence sont désormais disponibles sur ce lien.




2015/05/09

Devoir de mémoire



À la question de l'IFOP: "Quelle est, selon vous, la nation qui a le plus contribué à la défaite de l’Allemagne en 1945 ?", 54% des sondés de 2015 répondent : "Les Etats-Unis". Or, en mai 1945, ils étaient 57% à répondre l’URSS, les Américains n'étant alors cités que par 20% des Français. 
Dans les faits, sur 10 soldats allemands tués entre 1939 et 1945, 8 le furent sur le front de l'Est.

C'est dans les années 90 que l'opinion en France s'est complètement inversée. Les premières commémorations du Débarquement appuyées par l'Etat ont eu lieu seulement en 1984, organisées par Mitterrand : elles marquent le début d'une rupture dans l’opinion.

Le 9 Mai les habitants des pays de l'ex-URSS rendent un hommage de masse au Régiment Immortel.    

Pour comprendre le sens profond de l'amour de la Patrie et pourquoi de tels sacrifices ont pu être consentis, il faut comprendre l'âme russe.
The meaning of our whole life and existence is love. It is love to the family, to the children, to the motherland. This phenomenon is complicated, it lies at heart of any of our behaviors. (V.V. Putin, 1952 - ; conférence de presse 18/12/2014)
Un tel amour est une communion d'esprits liés par la défense de leur sol. Si les communistes laïcs ont appelé ce mouvement la Grande Guerre Patriotique, cela reste dans son essence une manifestation de l'esprit chrétien. C'est cet esprit qui devait être détruit, qui ne l'a pas été, et qui s'annonce désormais plus grand que jamais.
La guerre idéologique se poursuit. Quand on nous priva de futur, et qu’on éteignit notre passé, et que nous pensions qu’on nous avait brisé, nous conservions notre esprit vainqueur, et chaque année, le 9 mai, nous nous souvenions et demeurions convaincus de ce que nous étions un peuple-vainqueur. Après l’échec des sanctions, nos « partenaires » finirent par comprendre qu’ils ne nous vaincraient pas par la seule voie économique. C’est pourquoi ils s’attaquent avec force à notre ancrage spirituel. (N.V. Starikov, interview 16/04/2015; traduction: Comité Valmy)
À titre de comparaison historique, les bilans des plus grandes catastrophes répertoriées de l'histoire humaine jusqu'en 1945 sont glaciaux mais éloquents :
  • 99% des Mayas du Peten (estimés entre 3 et 14 millions) ont disparu après l’an 800, suite à une profonde crise écologique et aux catastrophes en conséquence;
  • la peste noire en 1347 a tué entre 30% et 50 % de la population européenne en cinq ans, faisant environ 25 millions de victimes ; 
  • la famine irlandaise de la pomme de terre entre 1845 et 1851 fit un million de morts, et plusieurs millions de réfugiés et émigrants. En tout, la population irlandaise baissa de près de 25% en dix ans ; 
  • le génocide des philippins par les Etats-Unis entre 1895 et 1900 a coûté la vie à environ 1,4 million de personnes, soit 15% de la population de l'époque ;
  • le génocide perpétré d'avril 1915 à juillet 1916 a coûté la vie à environ 1,2 million de chrétiens Arméniens, soit 66% de leur population de l'époque en Anatolie et Arménie Occidentale ;
  • les grands troubles sociaux en URSS lors des années 1930 firent environ 15 millions de morts, soit entre 8 et 9% de la population de l’époque en URSS ; notons cependant à propos des famines une origine occidentale (via un blocus de l'or, inédit dans l'histoire commerciale humaine).
  • les pertes civiles et militaires de la Chine entre 1937 et 1945 lors de la seconde guerre sino-japonaise se sont élevées à 20 millions de morts environ, soit 5% de la population de l’époque en Chine ;
  • les pertes civiles et militaires de l'Allemagne entre 1939 et 1945 se sont élevées à 8 millions de morts environ, soit 10% de la population de l’époque en Allemagne ;
  • les pertes civiles et militaires de la Pologne entre 1939 et 1945 lors de la guerre contre l'Allemagne Nazie se sont élevées à 5,7 millions de morts, soit 16,5% de la population de l’époque en Pologne ;
  • les pertes civiles et militaires de l'URSS entre 1941 et 1945 lors de la guerre contre l'Allemagne Nazie se sont élevées à 27 millions de morts environ, soit 16% de la population de l’époque en URSS ;
Je me souviens.

2015/05/03

La chapelle Palatine de Palerme : une inspiration pour notre temps

 Un désir hantait mon esprit en ce jour d'arrivée. Je voulus voir la chapelle Palatine, qu'on m'avait dit être la merveille des merveilles.
La chapelle Palatine, la plus belle qui soit au monde, le plus surprenant bijou religieux rêvé par la pensée humaine et exécuté par des mains d'artiste, [...]
Quand on pénètre dans la chapelle, on demeure d'abord saisi comme en face d'une chose surprenante dont on subit la puissance avant de l'avoir comprise. La beauté colorée et calme, pénétrante et irrésistible de cette petite église qui est le plus absolu chef-d’œuvre imaginable, vous laisse immobile devant ces murs couverts d'immenses mosaïques à fond d'or, luisant d'une clarté douce et éclairant le monument entier d'une lumière sombre, entraînant aussitôt la pensée en des paysages bibliques et divins où l'on voit, debout dans un ciel de feu, tous ceux qui furent mêlés à la vie de l'Homme-Dieu. On éprouve, en entrant dans nos cathédrales gothiques, une sensation sévère, presque triste. Leur grandeur est imposante, leur majesté frappe, mais ne séduit pas. Ici, on est conquis, ému par ce quelque chose de presque sensuel que la couleur ajoute à la beauté des formes.

Ce qui fait si violente l'impression produite par ces monuments siciliens, c'est que l'art de la décoration y est plus saisissant au premier coup d’œil que l'art de l'architecture. L'harmonie des lignes et des proportions n'est qu'un cadre à l'harmonie des nuances.
Les hommes qui conçurent et exécutèrent ces églises lumineuses et sombres pourtant, avaient certes une idée tout autre du sentiment religieux que les architectes des cathédrales allemandes ou françaises ; et leur génie spécial s'inquiéta surtout de faire entrer le jour dans ces nefs si merveilleusement décorées, de façon qu'on ne le sentit pas, qu'on ne le vit point, qu'il s'y glissât, qu'il effleurât seulement les murs, qu'il y produisit des effets mystérieux et charmants, et que la lumière semblât venir des murailles elles-mêmes, des grands ciel d'or peuplés d'apôtres.

(H.-R.-A.-G. de Maupassant, 1850 - 1893; voyage en Sicile, 1885)

2015/04/08

BRICS and the De-Dollarization

Pr. Chossudovsky publishes today an article surprisingly titled BRICS and the Fiction of “De-Dollarization” which must be understood between the lines. 

At first glance, the article makes the case that neither NDB ("BRICS Bank") nor CRA fund are relevant signs of a de-dollarization trend. It concludes at least with :
"The geopolitics behind the BRICS initiative are crucial. While the BRICS initiative from the very outset has accepted the dollar system, this does not exclude the introduction, at a later stage of a multiple currency arrangement, which challenges dollar hegemony."
Because I know Pr. Chossudovsky reads some of my articles and tweets, I would like to remark :
Geopolitics, in its current academic definition, is now too limited to describe efficiently what is happening. Any relevant global analysis must mix geo-economics, geopolitics and history of philosophy.

BRICS as the champion of de-dollarization is a frequent theme since BRICS' first meeting in 2009 or even before.

Analyzing the trend of the de-dollarization  requires to explain :
  • why the BRICS leaders really need and want de-dollarization, whatever US pressures ;
  • why AIIB was proposed in October 2014 by China - not by BRICS - and after NDB/CRA announcements by BRICS leaders ;
  • why Russia joined AIIB the last day and not before, and how this made it much easier for EU countries to join AIIB ;
  • why UK joined AIIB before any other ex-US allies ;
  • that the de-dollarization is first a loss of influence / soft power by US (and a gain by the BRICS), before being a currency choice ;
  • that AIIB/NDB are institutions targeting development and infrastructure, not trade invoicing which is a much larger scale ;
  • that de-dollarization must be a rapid process but as progressive as possible ;
  • which IMS system will progressively replace dollar, beyond bilateral currency swaps or emerging multiple currency arrangement between BRICS countries ;
  • to provide references when claiming AIIB/NDB will provide loans only denominated in dollars ; explaining the importance of the problem to be solved if these institutions would like to modify this currency for future loans ;
  • to provide details for the mean duration of the loans, and the flow of funding ;
  • to provide figures of main currencies volumes in SWIFT payment system or currencies' shares of global foreign-exchange transactions, and mentioning emerging BRICS alternative payment systems ;
and finally to explain why de-dollarization trend is inevitable, real and ongoing.

sources: PBoC, nowandfutures.com, Conscience-Sociale.org

2015/04/05

A la rencontre de Dieu

[dernière mise à jour : 7/10/2017]

« L’Église elle même, non seulement conseille, mais ordonne aux Docteurs chrétiens d’appeler à leur aide la philosophie ». 
(Pape Léon XIII, Æterni Patris, 1879)


L'optique particulière assemblée par Conscience Sociale, ainsi que la vision issue de sa culture occidentale, nous sert à percevoir le sens du monde -c'est-à-dire son lent mouvement profond.

Toute perception est elle-même un déplacement, un mouvement de notre être.

Que recèle ce mouvement ?

Charles, tu m'as écrit il y a bien longtemps :
« Il y a dans tout homme, à toute heure, deux postulations simultanées, l'une vers Dieu, l'autre vers Satan.L'invocation à Dieu, ou spiritualité, est un désir de monter en grade ; celle de Satan, ou animalité, est une joie de descendre. »
(C. Baudelaire, 1821 - 1867 ; Mon cœur mis à nu, 1864) 
Tout d'abord, cette conception de deux pôles opposés, sources de mouvements contraires, est-elle justifiée ? 
N'est-ce pas plus limpide, plus direct, comme une évidence, d'écrire plutôt : 
Il y a dans tout homme, à toute heure, deux postulations simultanées, l'une vers Dieu, l'autre qui éloigne de Dieu.
L'invocation à Dieu, ou spiritualité, est un désir de monter en grade ; la restriction de sa spiritualité, ou la mise en avant de l'animalité, est une joie de descendre.

Cette conception permet ainsi de préciser en corollaire:
Dieu est l'origine unique des potentiels. Il ne se manifeste que par une force d'attraction, à laquelle chaque être est sensible, et ceci quelle que soit la distance qui sépare son esprit de celui de Dieu.
L'esprit d'un être est un potentiel, limité et à l'image de celui de Dieu.  
Cette différence de potentiel, entre l'origine et notre esprit, crée l'inspiration. De là naît la volonté, qui se propage en gestes et en actes.

Chaque être est ainsi en mouvement, chacun sur sa propre trajectoire. A toute heure, les rencontres avec les autres esprits, les autres consciences sont autant d'occasion de se rapprocher ou de s'éloigner de Dieu.

Il est tout à fait inutile d'imaginer une force issue de Satan, d'un pôle opposé à celui de Dieu, pour expliquer les comportements qui éloignent de Dieu.

L'opposé de Dieu n'est pas Satan. C'est le néant.  

De notre vivant, nous ne rencontrons pas Dieu. Nous ne pouvons qu'aller à sa rencontre. Nous pouvons rencontrer des chemins, des esprits humains, qui nous rapprochent rapidement de Dieu, et ressentir intimement cette force d'attraction, ce mouvement, cette progression, cette élevation de l'esprit. Je pense que c'est cela que l'on exprime quand on dit "j'ai rencontré Dieu". 

Cette puissance d'attraction est éternelle. Elle a toujours existé.
« La chose même qu'on appelle maintenant Religion chrétienne, existait chez les anciens, et n'a jamais cessé d'exister depuis l'origine du genre humain, jusqu'à ce que le Christ lui-même étant venu en la chair, l'on a commencé à appeler chrétienne la vraie religion qui existait auparavant. »
(A. Augustinus, 'saint Augustin d'Hippone', 354 - 430 ; Retractations, livre 1, c. XIII, n. 3)
« La Tradition avec un grand "T" peut se définir comme une transcendance immanente, c'est-à-dire une force venue d'en haut depuis les origines, qui agit invisiblement, mais qui n'en est pas moins réelle et efficiente sur le monde des hommes ; c'est cet influx divin qui justifie l'orthodoxie de toute tradition véritable, que l'on peut qualifier de "révélée". Cette "présence" se transmet, depuis le "Centre" suprême jusqu'aux différents centres spirituels secondaires, par les élites humaines [initiées] qui sont au sommet des diverses hiérarchies, et cette force supra-humaine donne sa raison d'être à toute organisation sociétale normale et digne de ce nom, étant ainsi entièrement "axée" et "centrée" autour de valeurs spirituelles et supra-individuelles, lui assurant une unification d'ensemble par le haut. »
(P.-Y. Lenoble, Métaphysique du Moyen-Âge, 2014)
« Par tout ce que nous avons déjà dit, il est facile de se rendre compte que la constitution de la « contre-tradition » et son triomphe apparent et momentané seront proprement le règne de ce que nous avons appelé la « spiritualité à rebours », qui, naturellement, n’est qu’une parodie de la spiritualité, qu’elle imite pour ainsi dire en sens inverse, de sorte qu’elle paraît en être le contraire même ; nous disons seulement qu’elle le paraît, et non pas qu’elle l’est réellement, car, quelles que puissent être ses prétentions, il n’y a ici ni symétrie ni équivalence possible. Il importe d’insister sur ce point, car beaucoup, se laissant tromper par les apparences, s’imaginent qu’il y a dans le monde comme deux principes opposés se disputant la suprématie, conception erronée qui est, au fond, la même chose que celle qui, en langage théologique, met Satan au même niveau que Dieu, et que, à tort ou à raison, on attribue communément aux Manichéens ; il y a certes actuellement bien des gens qui sont, en ce sens, « manichéens » sans s’en douter, et c’est là encore l’effet d’une « suggestion » des plus pernicieuses. Cette conception, en effet, revient à affirmer une dualité principielle radicalement irréductible, ou, en d’autres termes, à nier l’Unité suprême qui est au delà de toutes les oppositions et de tous les antagonismes ; »
(R. Guénon, Le Règne de la quantité et les signes des temps, 1945, Chap. XXXIX, pp.194) 
Bien d'autres choses peuvent être dites sur le mouvement naturel de l'esprit, et les mouvements de l'âme induits par les fausses idées, telles celles du Sabbataïsme-Frankisme. Nous y reviendrons [màj: voir ici].

Pour l'heure, exprimons ce même corollaire suivant un modèle très simple issu de la physique, comme bref prologue de métaphysique théorique (pour reprendre un terme forgé par J.-P. Petit), discipline des siècles à venir.

Il existe un point de référence où le potentiel est le plus petit possible. Ce point de référence est appelé origine des potentiels. Il représente Dieu.


L'esprit d'un être est modélisé par une surface équipotentielle. Soient deux esprits (ou bien un esprit dans deux états consécutifs), deux surfaces équipotentielles V et V+dV. Le potentiel étant une fonction continue, à un déplacement infiniment petit dn de l'esprit correspond une variation infiniment petite du potentiel dV. Il s'ensuit que les surfaces V et V+dV sont très rapprochées et d'autant plus que dV est petit.

Soit un point M, quelconque de la surface équipotentielle V. M est une idée présente dans l'esprit V. On définit, en ce point, un vecteur appelé gradient de potentiel désigné par , de la façon suivante :
  • Son origine est le point M.
  • Il est porté par la normale à la surface équipotentielle passant par le point M.
  • Il est orienté dans le sens des valeurs croissantes du potentiel.


Rédigé au petit matin du jour de Pâques 2015.

2015/03/10

Was gold really out between 1971 and 2015 ?

A short comment on Koos's last articles.

Firstly about the Western coup against gold in 1971 :

Dr. Kissinger said that one answer to the question asked this morning was this. When the basic proposition is approved will we be prepared to defend the dollar? His impression was yes and that this was the purpose of the new exchange parities. 
President Pompidou said he knew that the President expected him to speak frankly and he would do so. It was not so much for the French at the present time a question of the price of gold. There had been much talk about this. There was the Rueff theory that the price of gold should be doubled. This was not the question at present. For the present we should consider the general interest as between proponents of a liberal economy. That is, the Western World plus Japan.
[...] 
President Pompidou said that we must not fear words. There was no question of the dollar becoming convertible into gold but if there is a consolidation of U. S. balances and the U.S. defends the dollar. Then the dollar is convertible from currency to currency. He understood the President’s reservation on an immediate statement but that is what it means or then there would be no real defense of the dollar. Dr. Kissinger said that we would have to buy dollars with other currencies in order to defend it. President Pompidou replied that this was correct. There was no other defense. Dr. Kissinger said that gold was out and President Pompidou said he understood this.
Excerpt from the minutes of the meeting between Pompidou, Kissinger and Nixon on December 13, 1971 at 4 PM, Azores.
Simply said, the post-Bretton Woods regime and the demise of gold in the International Monetary System was accepted only in the name of the defense of the Western World, that is, of bank owner's interests
It is significant that this ambition is not shared anymore between the Western leaders, or said differently: the official come-back of gold in the IMS will be at the same time a proof that the Western World's domination by its previous so-called elites does not exist any more, or at least is surrendering.


An secondly: 44 years after the Azores meeting, Xu Luode presents the SGE’s international ambitions in the Indian Bullion Bulletin, volume 5, issue 2, Feb. 2015, pp. 34-36. He is the chairman of the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE), Vice Chairman of China Gold Association, Vice Chairman of China Payment and Settlement Association, and the Executive Member of China Finance Society :
The International Board lends greater weight to the importance of Asian gold market on the international stage. China, India, Dubai and Singapore all enjoy vibrant trading scenes and comparative advantages; however, in the eyes of many investors, the influence wielded by the Asian markets is still very limited as a whole. Using the International Board as a launch pad, China’s gold market will embrace greater openness and foster stronger ties with its neighbors and, together, elevate the trading and pricing influence of Asia in the world’s gold market. 
[...] SGE and [US-based] CME have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with regards to future cooperation efforts. As a perennial major consumer of gold and a close neighbor of China, India will undoubtedly become one of SGE’s most important partners in the coming years. SGE looks forward to forming close partnerships with the Indian market. 
[...] Furthermore, the SGE will focus on enhancing its transit and leasing businesses, gradually roll out foreign currency-based collateral services and FX swaps, accept offshore funds from more varied sources for International Board transactions, further improve the financial services offered to international members and customers in regards to account opening and cross-border funds transfers.
The strategy for Shanghai Gold Exchange is very clear: to become the Global Exchange Center for monetary metals with affiliates, antennas (call them) in London, Tokyo, all Asia, BRICS main gold Exchanges (including NY with CME's MoU as a first step) in order to seek real market-based price synchronisation all over the world.


In short: between 1971 and 2015, gold was not really out of the IMS, Mr. Kissinger. It was simply pulled out from the West and it has flown to Asia. Now gold is ready to gradually emerge back as a basis of international monetary system.


2015/03/04

Central banking and haute finance have grown at the expense of the people



Our researches have first shown that Western history is wrought or weaved since 17th c. by the interweaving of three rising movements :
  • sabbatianism and frankism - studied through history of religion, moral philosophy and sociology ;
  • development of deep states and their secret transnational relations - studied through political science, history, technologies and geopolitics ; 
  • haute (international) finance and central banking - studied through political science, history, sociology and geoeconomics. 
No solution for the ongoing Western crisis can be efficient if any of these three movements remains ignored.

Our study is focusing here on the last aspect. It is revealing how it has continuously grown at the expense of the people, whereas a lot of prominent voices have fought against it over centuries. 

By reading through these quotes arranged in historical perspective, you will have a very clear picture of what was happening and how American people was trapped primarily. 

Then read the Epilogue.

Foreword

"Only puny secrets need protection. Big secrets are protected by public incredulity. You can actually dissipate a situation by giving it maximal coverage. As to alarming people, that's done by rumours, not by coverage." – H.M. McLuhan, 1911 - 1980, in 'Take Today : The Executive as Dropout', 1972. 

"Few of us can easily surrender our belief that society must somehow make sense. The thought that the state has lost its mind and is punishing so many innocent people is intolerable. And so the evidence has to be internally denied." – A.A. Miller, 1915 - 2005. 

"Follow the money." – M. Felt, 'Deep Throat', 1913 – 2008. 

Central banking has grown at the expense of the people’s rights 

Samuel Oppenheimer (1635-1703) was Court Jew and Banker under Emperor Leopold I of Austria. 

“The bank hath benefit of interest on all moneys which it creates out of nothing.” – William Paterson, founder of the Bank of England, 1694. 

The grandson of Samuel Oppenheimer taught Meyer Amschel Bauer Rothschild useful knowledge in foreign trade and currency exchange. During this period, Meyer Amschel had occasion to be of service to Lt. Gen. Baron von Estorff who was the principal adviser to Landgrave Frederick II of Hesse-Kassel, one of the wealthiest man in Europe. Frederick was worth from 70 to 100 million florins, much of it inherited from his father, Wilhelm the Eighth, brother of the King of Sweden. Baron von Estorff advised the Landgrave about Mayer Amschel who returned to his brothers' business in Frankfurt in 1763. He became a dealer in rare coins and won the patronage of Frederick II of Hesse-Kassel, and then the patronage of Crown Prince William of Hesse gaining the title of "Court Factor" (Hoffaktor) in 1769. After Frederick's sudden death on 31 October 1785, William became Wilhelm IX von Hessen-Kassel, then Wilhelm I von Hessen after 1805.

“If ever again our nation stumbles upon unfunded paper, it shall surely be like death to our body politic. This country will crash.” – George Washington, 1732-1799. 

“A theft of greater magnitude and still more ruinous, is the making of paper money; it is greater because in this money there is absolutely no real value; it is more ruinous because by its gradual depreciation during the time of its existence, it produces the effect which would be proration of the coins. All those iniquities are founded on the false idea the money is but a sign.” – Count Destutt de Tracy, 1754-1836. 

Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777 – 1836) gained a position of such power in the City of London that by 1825–6 he was able to supply enough coin to the Bank of England to enable it to avert a liquidity crisis. 

“All the perplexities, confusion and distresses in America arise not from defects in the constitution or confederation, nor from want of honor or virtue, as much from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and circulation.” – John Adams, 1735-1826, letter to Thomas Jefferson

“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks…will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered…. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.”
“Paper is poverty. It is the ghost of money and not money itself.” – Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826. 

“History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance.” – James Madison, 1751-1836. 

" Having made peace with the whole world, Bonaparte set about his task of preparing himself and the French people for the return to the God-system. It was ordained by him that money should not be exported from France on any pretext whatever except with the consent of the Government, and that in no circumstances should loans be employed to meet current expenditure whether civil or military.
The object was to withhold from finance the power to embarrass the Government as it had embarrassed the Government of Louis XVI. “When a Government,” Bonaparte declared, “is dependent for money upon bankers, they and not the leaders of that Government control the situation, since “the hand that gives is above the hand that takes” ”. He did not allow anyone to forget the shipments of gold to England organized by Barras at the expense of the army of Italy, and at a moment when France was denuded of metallic currency. “Money,” he declared, “has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency: their sole object is gain.” "
–  Wilson R. McNair, Monarchy or Money Power, London: Eyre and Spottiswoode (1933). Reprinted as God and the Goldsmiths, Hawthorne, Calif.: Omni Publications (1961).

"The hand that gives is above the one that receives" is an Italian saying, quoted by Bonaparte during the first Italian campaign to highlight the Directory's financial dependence on the Italian army, which provided it with millions and treasures, loot of the conquered countries.
–  Lucian S. Regenbogen, Napoléon a dit : aphorismes, citations et opinions, Paris: Les Belles lettres (1996).

“Nothing but widespread suffering will produce any effect on Congress… Our only safety is in pursuing a steady course of firm restriction – and I have no doubt that such a course will ultimately lead to restoration of the currency and the re-charter of the bank.” – Nicholas Biddle, 1786-1844, Banker and American financier. 

[Speaking about international bankers] “You are a den of vipers! I intend to rout you out, and by the Eternal God I will rout you out. If the people only understood the rank injustice of our money and banking system, there would be a revolution before morning.”
“If congress has the right under the Constitution to issue paper money, it was given them to use themselves, not to be delegated to individuals or corporations.” – President Andrew Jackson, 1829-1837. 

“A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various powerful interests, combined in one mass, and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in banks.” – John C. Calhoun, Vice President (1825-1832) and U.S. Senator, from a speech given on May 27, 1836.

Panic of 1837.

“The bank thus envisaged becomes quite a policy, it requires a powerful head, and then leads a man of good temper to put himself above the laws of probity in which he finds himself cramped.
- You're right, my son," said Blondet. But only we understand that it is then the war brought into the world of money. The banker is a conqueror who sacrifices masses to achieve hidden results; his soldiers are the interests of individuals, he has his ploys to combine, his ambushes to tend, his supporters to launch, his cities to take. Most of these men are so close to politics that they end up getting involved, and their fortunes succumb to it. In every century, there is a colossal fortune banker who leaves neither fortune nor successor. The Bank is like Time, it eats its children. To be able to survive, the banker must become noble, found a dynasty like the lenders of Charles V, the Fuggers, created princes of Babenhausen, and who still exist... in the Almanac of Gotha.” – Honoré de Balzac, La Haute Banque. La maison Nucingen, roman, 1838, Pp 17.

“Of all the contrivances for cheating the laboring classes of mankind, none has been more effective than that which deludes them with paper money.” 
“We are in danger of being overwhelmed with irredeemable paper, mere paper, representing not gold nor silver; no sir, representing nothing but broken promises, bad faith, bankrupt corporations, cheated creditors and a ruined people.” – Daniel Webster, c.1845, leading American statesman. 

“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.” – Fréderic Bastiat, Economic Sophisms, 1801-1850. 

London-based Junius Spencer Morgan, by 1854, became a London agent of George Peabody. In 1857 the Bank of England gave a loan to George Peabody & Co. and saved it, while 9000 other companies went down in a large financial crash. With this money Peabody bought up large amounts of dirt cheap securities and sold them at a later stage with enormous profits. In 1864, as Peabody retires, George Peabody & Company is renamed to Junius S. Morgan Company. 

“I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me and the bankers in the rear. Of the two, the one at my rear is my greatest foe.” 
“I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war.” – Abraham Lincoln, in a letter written to William Elkin, 1860. 

“The Government should create, issue, and circulate all the currency and credits needed to satisfy the spending power of the Government and the buying power of consumers. By the adoption of these principles, the taxpayers will be saved immense sums of interest. Money will cease to be master and become the servant of humanity. ” – Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865. 

“If this mischievous financial policy, which has its’ origins in North America, shall be endured down to a fixture, then that government will furnish its own money without cost. It will pay off its debt and be without debt. It will have all the money necessary to carry on its commerce. It will become prosperous without precedence in the history of the world. The brains and the wealth of all countries will go to North America. That country must be destroyed or it will destroy every monarchy on the globe.” – Editorial in the Times of London, 1862. 

"The few who understand the system will either be so interested in its profits or so dependent on its favours that there will be no opposition from that class, while on the other hand, the great body of the people mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous advantage that capital derives from the system will bear its burdens without complaint and perhaps without even suspecting that the system is inimical to their interests."
– Letter supposedly sent from the Rothschild Bros. of London in 1863, cited in J. F. Rutherford's Vindication, Book II, Chapter 6, 1932.

National Bank Act, 1863.

“We have stricken the (slave) shackles from four million human beings and brought all laborers to a common level not so much by the elevation of former slaves as by practically reducing the whole working population, white and black, to a condition of serfdom. While boasting of our noble deeds, we are careful to conceal the ugly fact that by an iniquitous money system we have nationalized a system of oppression which, though more refined, is not less cruel than the old system of chattel slavery.” – Horace Greeley, 1811-1872, founder of the New York Tribune. 

“The money power preys upon the nation in times of peace and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, and more selfish than bureaucracy.” – Abe Lincoln, 1864. 

“My agency, in promoting the passage of the National Banking Act was the greatest financial mistake in my life. It has built up a monopoly which affects every interest in the country.” – Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court and Advisor to Lincoln, Salmon P. Chase, 1864. 

“The division of the United States into federations of equal force was decided long before the Civil War by the high financial powers of Europe. These bankers were afraid that the United States, if they remained in one block and as one nation, would attain economic and financial independence, which would upset their financial domination over the world. The voice of the Rothschilds prevailed… Therefore they sent their emissaries into the field to exploit the question of slavery and to open an abyss between the two sections of the Union.” – Otto von Bismarck, German chancellor, 1865. 

“I went to America in the winter of 1872-1873 to secure, if I could, the passage of a bill demonetizing silver. It was in the interest of those I represented – the governors of the Bank of England, to have it done. By 1873 gold coins were the only form of coin money.” – Earnest Seyd, Agent for the Bank of England, 1873. 

Panic of 1873.

“It is advisable to do all in your power to sustain such prominent daily and weekly newspapers, especially the Agricultural and Religious press, as will oppose the Greenback issue of paper money and that you will also withhold patronage from all applicants (for loans) who are not willing to oppose the government issue of money…To repel the act creating bank notes, or to restore to circulation the government issue of money will be to provide the people with money and will therefore seriously affect our individual profits as bankers and lenders. See your congressman at once and engage him to support us, that we may control legislation.” – James Buel, American Bankers Association, 1877. 

“Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce. And when you realize that the entire system is very easily controlled, one way or another by a few powerful men at the top, you will not have to be told how periods of inflation and depression originate.” – President James Garfield, 1881. He was assassinated just weeks after making this statement. 

Panic of 1893.

“We will answer their demand for a gold standard saying to them, ‘You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold’.” 
“The money power denounces, as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes.”- William Jennings Brian, 1896. 


Panic of 1907.

“Under the surface, the Rothschilds (the dominant European banking family even today) had a powerful influence in dictating American financial laws. The law records show that they were the power in the old Bank of the United States.” – Gustavus Myers, in History of the Great American Fortunes, 1907-10. 

“The fact is that there is a serious danger of this country becoming a Pluto-democracy; that is, a sham republic with the real government in the hands of a small clique of enormously wealthy men, who speak through their money, and whose influence, even today, radiates to every corner of the United States.” – William McAdoo, President Wilson's national campaign vice-chairman, in Crowded Years, 1912. 

“Money is gold, and nothing else.” 

“In the present critical stage of American development I would call your attention to the following maxim of the " money lenders " of the Old World : "Let us control the money of a country, and we care not who makes its laws." Those who favor the continuance of banks of issue in this country are to be classified in history with John Sherman and Nelson W. Aldrich and the money power.” 
– T.C. Daniel, 1857 - 1923 ; letter to President W. Wilson, May 8, 1913; reported in his statement for the joint hearings before the subcommittees of the Committees on Banking and Currency of the Senate and of the House of Representatives, charged with the investigation of rural credits, Sixty-third Congress, second session, part 1, pp. 664, February 16, 1914; full transcript
Daniel was the author of Real Money versus Bank Credit as a Substitute for Money, 1911, and of The High Cost of Living: Cause — Remedy, 1912 ; 
Further in the statement pp 771 he quoted: 
"Let us control the money of a country and we care not who makes its laws." This is the maxim of the house of Rothschilds, and is the foundation principle of European banks.  
This maxim was well-known in 1910’s. It was quoted again during another Committee in 1939 : 
Give me control of a Nation's money supply, and I care not who makes its laws.” – quoted by Senator Robert L. Owen, former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency and one of the sponsors of the Federal Reserve Act, National Economy and the Banking System, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1939), p. 99. 

“Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men's views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it. 

They know that America is not a place of which it can be said, as it used to be, that a man may choose his own calling and pursue it just as far as his abilities enable him to pursue it ; because to-day, if he enters certain fields, there are organizations which will use means against him that will prevent his building up a business which they do not want to have built up ; organizations that will see to it that the ground is cut from under him and the markets shut against him. For if he begins to sell to certain retail dealers, to any retail dealers, the monopoly will refuse to sell to those dealers, and those dealers, afraid, will not buy the new man's wares.[...] 

Politics in America is in a case which sadly requires attention. The system set up by our law and our usage doesn't work,—or at least it can't be depended on ; it is made to work only by a most unreasonable expenditure of labor and pains. The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy. [...] 

The only way that government is kept pure is by keeping these channels open, so that nobody may deem himself so humble as not to constitute a part of the body politic, so that there will constantly be coming new blood into the veins of the body politic ; so that no man is so obscure that he may not break the crust of any class he may belong to, may not spring up to higher levels and be counted among the leaders of the state. Anything that depresses, anything that makes the organization greater than the man, anything that blocks, discourages, dismays the humble man, is against all the principles of progress. When I see alliances formed, as they are now being formed, by successful men of business with successful organizers of politics, I know that something has been done that checks the vitality and progress of society. Such an alliance, made at the top, is an alliance made to depress the levels, to hold them where they are, if not to sink them ; and, therefore, it is the constant business of good politics to break up such partnerships, to re-establish and reopen the connections between the great body of the people and the offices of government. 

To-day, when our government has so far passed into the hands of special interests ; to-day, when the doctrine is implicitly avowed that only select classes have the equipment necessary for carrying on government ; to-day, when so many conscientious citizens, smitten with the scene of social wrong and suffering, have fallen victims to the fallacy that benevolent government can be meted out to the people by kind-hearted trustees of prosperity and guardians of the welfare of dutiful employees,—to-day, supremely, does it behoove this nation to remember that a people shall be saved by the power that sleeps in its own deep bosom, or by none ; shall be renewed in hope, in conscience, in strength, by waters welling up from its own sweet, perennial springs. Not from above ; not by patronage of its aristocrats. [...] 

The great monopoly in this country is the monopoly of big credits. So long as that exists, our old variety and freedom and individual energy of development are out of the question. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is privately concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men who, even if their action be honest and intended for the public interest, are necessarily concentrated upon the great undertakings in which their own money is involved and who necessarily, by very reason of their own limitations, chill and check and destroy genuine economic freedom. This is the greatest question of all, and to this statesmen must address themselves with an earnest determination to serve the long future and the true liberties of men. 

This money trust, or, as it should be more properly called, this credit trust, of which Congress has begun an investigation, is no myth; it is no imaginary thing. It is not an ordinary trust like another.[…] 

Shall we try to get the grip of monopoly away from our lives, or shall we not? Shall we withhold our hand and say monopoly is inevitable, that all that we can do is to regulate it? Shall we say that all that we can do is to put government in competition with monopoly and try its strength against it? Shall we admit that the creature of our own hands is stronger than we are? We have been dreading all along the time when the combined power of high finance would be greater than the power of the government. Have we come to a time when the President of the United States or any man who wishes to be the President must doff his cap in the presence of this high finance, and say, "You are our inevitable master, but we will see how we can make the best of it?" 

We are at the parting of the ways. We have, not one or two or three, but many, established and formidable monopolies in the United States. We have, not one or two, but many, fields of endeavor into which it is difficult, if not impossible, for the independent man to enter. We have restricted credit, we have restricted opportunity, we have controlled development, and we have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated, governments in the civilized world—no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and the duress of small groups of dominant men. 

If the government is to tell big business men how to run their business, then don't you see that big business men have to get closer to the government even than they are now? Don't you see that they must capture the government, in order not to be restrained too much by it? Must capture the government? They have already captured it. Are you going to invite those inside to stay inside? They don't have to get there. They are there. Are you going to own your own premises, or are you not? That is your choice. Are you going to say: "You didn't get into the house the right way, but you are in there, God bless you ; we will stand out here in the cold and you can hand us out something once in a while? 

At the least, under the plan I am opposing, there will be an avowed partnership between the government and the trusts. [...] 

There is no hope to be seen for the people of the United States until the partnership is dissolved."  –  T.W. Wilson, 28th President of the US, 1856 – 1924 ; The New Freedom: A Call for the Emancipation of the Generous Energies of a People, 1913. 

“On September 1st, 1894, we will not renew our loans under any consideration. On September 1st, we will demand our money. We will foreclose and become mortgagees in possession. We can take two-thirds of the farms west of the Mississippi as well, at our own price…Then the farmers will become tenants, as in England.” – in a 1891 American Bankers Association Memo, recorded as testimony in the Congressional Record, April 29th, 1913. 

“This act establishes the most gigantic trust on earth. When the president signs this bill, the ‘invisible government’ by monetary power will be legalized. The people may not know it yet, but the day of reckoning is only a few years removed…The worst legislative crime of the ages is perpetrated by this banking bill.” – Rep. Charles Lindbergh Sr., father of the famed aviator, just prior to the passage of the Glass Owen Act that established the Federal Reserve System.
The bill was literally snuck through the congress on Dec. 22, 1913. Many senators had already left for the holidays after being reassured by the leadership that nothing would be done on the bill until after they returned from their Christmas recess the following January. All evidently believed that the congressional session had been legally retired for their customary holiday break, but this certainly could be construed as a ruse. And so it transpired that on December 22, 1913, under the shepherding of President Wilson and certain congressmen of both sides of the political spectrum, and with at least 27 Senators absent on holiday recess, the Federal Reserve Act passed. The bill provided for a privately owned central bank, disguised as the Federal Reserve System, to not only issue the nation’s currency but to charge interest against that currency. Today we owe our current national debt to the bank corporations that privately own the Federal Reserve Bank, with the exception, that is, of the debt paper the Fed regularly sells to other nations like China. The Fed accepts dollar reserves from foreign customers and sells them US government bonds in return. This is how the Federal Government borrows from foreign lenders. 

Federal Reserve Act, 1913

“To cause high prices all the Federal Reserve Board will do will be to lower the rediscount rate producing an expansion of credit and rising stock market, then when business men are adjusted to these conditions, it can check prosperity in mid career by raising the rate of interest. It can cause the pendulum of a rising and falling market to swing gently back and forth by slight changes in the discount rate, or cause violent fluctuations by greater rate variation and in either case, it will possess inside information as to financial conditions and advanced knowledge of the coming change, either up or down. This is the strangest and most dangerous advantage ever placed in the hands of a special privilege class by any government that ever existed. The system is private, conducted for the sole purpose of obtaining the greatest possible profits from the use of other peoples’ money. They know in advance when to create panics to their advantage, and they also know when to stop panic. Inflation and deflation work equally well for them when they control finance.” – Rep. Charles Lindbergh Sr., 1914.

"The death of Lincoln was a disaster for Christendom. There was no man in the United States great enough to wear his boots and the bankers went anew to grab the riches. I fear that foreign bankers with their craftiness and tortuous tricks will entirely control the exuberant riches of America and use it to systematically corrupt modern civilization. They will not hesitate to plunge the whole of Christendom into wars and chaos in order that the earth shall become their (the bankers’) inheritance." – C. von Bauditz Siem, 1861 - 1931 ; The C.S.L.T.: containing views on Abraham Lincoln as expressed by Bismarck in 1878, from the recollections of Conrad von Bauditz Siem, 1915. 

“In March, 1915, the J.P. Morgan interests, the steel, shipbuilding, and powder interest, and their subsidiary organizations, got together 12 men high up in the newspaper world and employed them to select the most influential newspapers in the United States and sufficient number of them to control generally the policy of the daily press….They found it was only necessary to purchase the control of 25 of the greatest papers. “An agreement was reached; the policy of the papers was bought, to be paid for by the month; an editor was furnished for each paper to properly supervise and edit information regarding the questions of preparedness, militarism, financial policies, and other things of national and international nature considered vital to the interests of the purchasers.”- Oscar Callaway, U.S. Congressman, 1917. 

“These international bankers and Rockefeller-Standard Oil interests control the majority of the newspapers and the columns in those papers to club into submission or drive out of office officials who refuse to do the bidding of the powerful corrupt cliques which compose the invisible government.” – Theodore Roosevelt, as reported in the New York Times, March 27th, 1922. 

“This warning of Theodore Roosevelt has as much timelessness today, for the real menace to our republic is this invisible government which spreads its tentacles like a giant octopus and sprawls its slimy length over city, state and nation. It seizes in its long and powerful tentacles our executive officers, our legislative bodies, our schools, our courts, our newspapers and every agency created for the public protection…To depart from mere generalizations, let me say that at the head of this octopus are the Rockefeller-Standard Oil interests and a small group of powerful banking houses generally referred to as the international bankers. The little coterie of powerful international bankers virtually run the United States government for their own selfish purposes. They practically control both parties, write political platforms, make cat’s-paws of party leaders, use the leading men of private organizations, and resort to every device to place in nomination for high public office only such candidates as will be amenable to the dictates of corrupt big business. These international bankers and Rockefeller-Standard Oil interests control the majority of newspapers and magazines in this country. They use the columns of these papers to club into submission or drive out of office public officials who refuse to do the bidding of the powerful corrupt cliques which compose the invisible government. It operates under cover of a self-created screen [and] seizes our executive officers, legislative bodies, schools, courts, newspapers and every agency created for the public protection.” – New York City Mayor John F. Hylan, New York Times, March 26, 1922.

“Capital must protect itself in every possible manner by combination and legislation. Debts must be collected, bonds and mortgages must be foreclosed as rapidly as possible. When, through a process of law, the common people lose their homes they will become more docile and more easily governed through the influence of the strong arm of government, applied by a central power of wealth under control of leading financiers. This truth is well known among our principal men now engaged in forming an imperialism of Capital to govern the world. By dividing the voters through the political party system, we can get them to expend their energies in fighting over questions of no importance. Thus by discreet action we can secure for ourselves what has been so well planned and so successfully accomplished.” - USA Banker’s Magazine, August 25, 1924. 

“I am afraid the ordinary citizen will not like to be told that the banks can, and do, create money…And they who control the credit of the nation direct the policy of Governments and hold in the hollow of their hands the destiny of the people.” - Reginald McKenna, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, January 24, 1924.

“It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” - Henry Ford, circa 1925. 

“I see nothing in the present situation that is either menacing or warrants pessimism… I have every confidence that there will be a revival of activity in the spring, and that during this coming year the country will make steady progress.” — Andrew W. Mellon, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, December 1929.  

“Sell all of your stock now. Don’t ask any questions.” – Joseph P. Kennedy to his friend, father of Ed Kerrigan, 1929, right before the crash. During the Great Depression, Joseph P. Kennedy’s worth grew from four million dollars in 1929 to over 100 million dollars in 1935.   

“After WWI, Germany fell into the hands of the German International Bankers. Those bankers bought her and they now own her, lock, stock and barrel. They purchased her industries, they have mortgages on her soil, they control her production; they control all her public utilities. The International German Bankers have subsidized the present government of Germany and they have also supplied every dollar of the money Adolf Hitler has used in his lavish campaign to build up a threat to the government of Bruening. When Bruening fails to obey the orders of the German International Bankers, Hitler is brought forth to scare the Germans into submission. Through the Federal Reserve Board over thirty billions of dollars was pumped into Germany…You have all heard of the spending that has taken place in Germany…modernistic dwellings, her great planetariums, her gymnasiums, her swimming pools, her fine public highways, her perfect factories….All this was done with our money. All this was given to Germany through the Federal Reserve Board. The Federal Reserve Board has pumped so many billions of dollars into Germany that they dare not name the total.” – Rep. Louis T. McFadden, Chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee, 1931.

“Every effort has been made by the Federal Reserve Board to conceal its power but the truth is the Federal Reserve Board has usurped the government of the United States. It controls everything here and it controls all our foreign relations. It makes and breaks governments at will. No man and no body of men is more entrenched in power than the arrogant credit monopoly which operates the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve banks. These evil-doers have robbed this country of more than enough money to pay the national debt. What the Government has permitted the Federal Reserve Board to steal from the people should now be restored to the people.” - Rep. Louis T. McFadden, Chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee, Speech in the House of Representatives, Congressional Record June 1, 1932 to June 11, 1932, U.S. Government Printing Office, pages 12595 and 12603, 10 June 1932. Facsimilé.
McFadden rose from office boy to become cashier and then President of the First National Bank in Canton Ohio. For 12 years he served as Chairman of the Committee on Banking and Currency, making him one of the foremost financial authorities in America. He fought continuously for fiscal integrity and a return to constitutional government. 

Gold Confiscation: Executive Order 6102, 1933. 

“I had a nice talk with Jack Morgan the other day and he seemed more worried about Tugwell's speech than about anything else, especially when Tugwell said, "From now on property rights and financial rights will be subordinated to human rights." J.P.M. did not seem much troubled over the gold purchasing, and confessed that he had been completely misled in regard to the Federal expenditures. The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the larger centers has owned the Government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson — and I am not wholly excepting the Administration of WW — The country is going through a repetition of Jackson's fight with the Bank of the United Stated - only on a far bigger and broader basis.” 
F.D. Roosevelt, 1882 – 1945 ; Letter to Col. Edward Mandell House, 21 November 1933 ; in F.D.R.: His Personal Letters, 1928-1945, edited by Elliott Roosevelt, New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1950, p. 373. 
Rexford Tugwell was one of FDRs economic advisors. At the time he was Assistant Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture. 
WW is the president W. Wilson. 
Andrew Jackson was president from 1829 to 1837. He was strongly opposed to the Second Bank of the United States, a precursor to the modern Federal Reserve Bank. 

“Thus, our national circulating medium is now at the mercy of loan transactions of banks, which lend, not money, but promises to supply money they do not possess.” – Irving Fisher, 100% Money, 1935.

"The Rothschilds introduced the rule of money into European politics. The Rothschilds were the servants of money who undertook the reconstruct the world as an image of money and its functions. Money and the employment of wealth have become the law of European life; we no longer have nations, but economic provinces." 
Prof. Wilhelm, German historian, New York Times, July 8, 1937. 

“We are completely dependent on the commercial banks. Someone has to borrow every dollar we have in circulation, cash, or credit. If the banks create ample synthetic money we are prosperous; if not, we starve. We are absolutely without a permanent money system. When one gets a complete grasp of the picture, the tragic absurdity of our hopeless position is almost incredible, but there it is. It [the banking problem] is the most important subject intelligent persons can investigate and reflect upon. It is so important that our present civilization may collapse unless it becomes widely understood and the defects are remedied very soon.” 
“Money is the most important subject intellectual persons can investigate and reflect upon. It is so important that our present civilization may collapse unless it is widely understood and its defects remedied very soon.” – Robert H. Hemphill, circa 1939, former credit manager, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. 

“Bankers own the earth; take it away from them but leave them with the power to create credit; and, with a flick of a pen, they will create enough money to buy it back again… If you want to be slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let the bankers control money and control credit.”- Sir Josiah Stamp, Director, Bank of England, 1940. 

“You have to choose [as a voter] between trusting to the natural stability of gold and the natural stability of the honesty and intelligence of the members of the Government. And, with due respect for these gentlemen, I advise you, as long as the Capitalist system lasts, to vote for gold.” – George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950. 

“In the United States today, we have two governments. We have the duly constituted government and then we have and independent, uncontrolled and uncoordinated government in the Federal Reserve System operating the money powers which are reserved for Congress by the Constitution.” – Rep. Wright Patman, 1893-1976.
Congressman Wright Patman was Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Currency for 40 years. For 20 of those years, he introduced legislation to repeal the Federal Reserve Banking Act of 1913.  

“I am concerned for the security of our great nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within.” - General Douglas MacArthur, 1880-1964. 

“We shall have world government, whether or not we like it. The question is only whether world government will be achieved by consent or by conquest.” — James Warburg, son of CFR [Council on Foreign Relations] founder Paul Warburg, testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on February 17, 1950

“Today the path to total dictatorship in the U.S. can be laid by strictly legal means… We have a well-organized political-action group in this country, determined to destroy our Constitution and establish a one-party state… It operates secretly, silently, continuously to transform our Government… This ruthless power-seeking elite is a disease of our century… This group…is answerable neither to the President, the Congress, nor the courts. It is practically irremovable.” – Senator William Jenner, 1954 speech.

“The banks do create money. They have been doing it for a long time, but they didn’t quite realize it, and they did not admit it. Very few did. You will find it in all sorts of documents, financial textbooks, etc. But in the intervening years, and we must all be perfectly frank about these things, there has been a development of thought, until today I doubt very much whether you would get many prominent bankers to attempt to deny that banks create credit.” - H. W. White, 1955, Chairman of the Associated Banks of New Zealand, to the New Zealand Monetary Commission. 

“The individual is handicapped by coming face-to-face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists. The American mind simply has not come to a realization of the evil which has been introduced into our midst. It rejects even the assumption that human creatures could espouse a philosophy which must ultimately destroy all that is good and decent.” — J. Edgar Hoover, The Elks Magazine, 1956.

“Most Americans have no real understanding of the operations of the international moneylenders… the accounts of the Federal Reserve have never been audited. It operates outside the control of Congress and … manipulates the credit of the United States” - Sen. Barry Goldwater, circa 1964. 

“The powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the systems was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland; a private bank owned and controlled by the world’s central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank, in the hands of men like  Montagu Norman of the Bank of England, Benjamin Strong of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, Charles Rist of the Bank of France, and Hjalmar Schacht of the Reichsbank, sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world.” - Professor Carroll Quigley of Georgetown University, Tragedy and Hope: A History of The World in Our Time, 1966, Pp. 324. 

"The commander in chief of the world system of banking control was Montagu Norman, Governor of the Bank of England, who was built up by the private bankers to a position where he was regarded as an oracle in all matters of government and business. In government, the power of the Bank of England [created] a considerable restriction on political action as early as 1819, but an effort to break this power by a modification of the bank's charter in 1844 failed. [...]
In 1852, Gladstone, then chancellor of the Exchequer and later prime minister, declared, "The hinge of the whole situation was this: the government itself was not to be a substantive power in matters of Finance, but was to leave the Money Power supreme and unquestioned." [...]
This power of the Bank of England and of its governor was admitted by most qualified observers. In January, 1924, Reginald McKenna, who had been chancellor of the Exchequer in 1915-1916, as chairman of the board of the Midland Bank told its stockholders: "I am afraid the ordinary citizen will not like to be told that the banks can, and do, create money.... And they who control the credit of the nation direct the policy of Governments and hold in the hollow of their hands the destiny of the people." [...]
Norman was a strange man whose mental outlook was one of successfully suppressed hysteria or even paranoia. He had no use for governments and feared democracy. Both of these seemed to him to be threats to private banking, and thus to all that was proper and precious in human life. Strong-willed, tireless, and ruthless, he viewed his life as a kind of cloak-and-dagger struggle with the forces of ... [sound] money.
When he rebuilt the Bank of England, he constructed it as a fortress prepared to defend itself against any popular revolt, with the sacred gold reserves hidden in deep vaults below the level of underground waters which could be released to cover them by pressing a button on the governor's desk.[...]
Norman had a devoted colleague in Benjamin Strong, the first governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. [...] He became governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as the joint nominee of Morgan and of Kuhn, Loeb, and Company in 1914. Two years later, Strong met Norman for the first time, and they at once made an agreement to work in cooperation for the financial practices they both revered. [...]
In the 1920's, they were determined to use the financial power of Britain and of the United States to force all the major countries of the world to go on the gold standard and to operate it through central banks free from all political control, with all questions of international finance to be settled by agreements by such central banks without interference from governments. [...]
It must not be felt that these heads of the world's chief central banks were themselves substantive powers in world finance. They were not. Rather, they were the technicians and agents of the dominant investment bankers of their own countries, who had raised them up and were perfectly capable of throwing them down.
The substantive financial powers of the world were in the hands of these investment bankers (also called "international" or "merchant" bankers) who remained largely behind the scenes in their own unincorporated private banks. These formed a system of international cooperation and national dominance which was more private, more powerful, and more secret than that of their agents in the central banks. [...]
Almost all of this power was exercised by the personal influence and prestige of men who had demonstrated their ability in the past to bring off successful financial coupe, to keep their word, to remain cool in a crisis, and to share their winning opportunities with their associates. In this system the Rothschilds had been preeminent during much of the nineteenth century, but, at the end of that century, they were being replaced by J. P. Morgan whose central office was in New York, although it was always operated as if it were in London (where it had, indeed, originated as George Peabody and Company in 1838)." - Professor Carroll QuigleyTragedy and Hope: A History of The World in Our Time, 1966.

“But the opposition to the gold standard in any form — from a growing number of welfare-state advocates — was prompted by a much subtler insight: the realization that the gold standard is incompatible with chronic deficit spending (the hallmark of the welfare state). Stripped of its academic jargon, the welfare state is nothing more than a mechanism by which governments confiscate the wealth of the productive members of a society to support a wide variety of welfare schemes. A substantial part of the confiscation is effected by taxation. But the welfare statists were quick to recognize that if they wished to retain political power, the amount of taxation had to be limited and they had to resort to programs of massive deficit spending, i.e., they had to borrow money, by issuing government bonds, to finance welfare expenditures on a large scale.[…] 

The abandonment of the gold standard made it possible for the welfare statists to use the banking system as a means to an unlimited expansion of credit. They have created paper reserves in the form of government bonds which — through a complex series of steps — the banks accept in place of tangible assets and treat as if they were an actual deposit, i.e., as the equivalent of what was formerly a deposit of gold. The holder of a government bond or of a bank deposit created by paper reserves believes that he has a valid claim on a real asset. But the fact is that there are now more claims outstanding than real assets. […] 

The financial policy of the welfare state requires that there be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves. 

This is the shabby secret of the welfare statists' tirades against gold. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists' antagonism toward the gold standard.” – Alan Greenspan, 1926 - ; Gold and Economic Freedom, 1966.

“David Rockefeller is the most conspicuous representative today of the ruling class, a multinational fraternity of men who shape the global economy and manage the flow of its capital. Rockefeller was born to it, and he has made the most of it. But what some critics see as a vast international conspiracy, he considers a circumstance of life and just another day’s work… In the world of David Rockefeller it’s hard to tell where business ends and politics begins” – Bill Moyers, White House Press Secretary, July 8, 1965 – January 1967. 

“The depression was the calculated ‘shearing’ of the public by the World Money powers, triggered by the planned sudden shortage of supply of call money in the New York money market….The One World Government leaders and their ever close bankers have now acquired full control of the money and credit machinery of the U.S. via the creation of the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank.” - Curtis Dall, son-in-law to FDR, in My Exploited Father-in-Law, 1970.  

“Banks lend by creating credit. They create the means of payment out of nothing.” – Ralph M. Hawtrey, 1879-1975, former Secretary of Treasury, England. 

“Every circulating FRN (Federal Reserve Note) represents a one dollar debt to the Federal Reserve System.” – House Banking and Currency Committee, Money Facts, circa 1970. 

“When you or I write a check there must be sufficient funds in our account to cover the check, but when the Federal Reserve writes a check there is no bank deposit on which that check is drawn. When the Federal Reserve writes a check, it is creating money.” – Federal Reserve Bank, Boston, Putting It Simply, circa 1970.  

“The process by which banks create money is so simple that the mind is repelled.” - John K. GalbraithMoney: Whence it came, where it went, 1975. 

“Neither paper currency nor deposits have value as commodities, intrinsically; a ‘dollar’ bill is just a piece of paper. Deposits are merely book entries.” – Federal Reserve Bank of ChicagoModern Money Mechanics Workbook, 1975. 

“The Rockefellers and their allies have, for at least fifty years, been carefully following a plan to use their economic power to gain political control of first America, and then the rest of the world. Do I mean conspiracy? Yes, I do. I am convinced there is such a plot, international in scope, generations old in planning, and incredibly evil in intent.” - Congressman Larry P. McDonald, November 1975, from the introduction to a book titled The Rockefeller File.

“The drive of the Rockefellers and their allies is to create a one-world government combining super capitalism and Communism under the same tent, all under their control…. Do I mean conspiracy? Yes I do. I am convinced there is such a plot, international in scope, generations old in planning, and incredibly evil in intent.” - Congressman Larry P. McDonald, 1976. 

“I have never seen more Senators express discontent with their jobs….I think the major cause is that, deep down in our hearts, we have been accomplices in doing something terrible and unforgivable to our wonderful country. Deep down in our heart, we know that we have given our children a legacy of bankruptcy. We have defrauded our country to get ourselves elected.” - Senator John Danforth, circa 1980. 

"The word “cartel” has here assumed the stigma of a bogeyman which the politicians are constantly attacking. The fact of the matter is that most of these politicians are highly insular and nationalistic and because the political organization of the world has under such influence been so backward, business people who have had to cope realistically with international problems have had to find ways for getting through and around stupid political barriers." –  John Foster Dulles to Lord McGowan, Chairman of Imperial Chemical Industries ; in N. Lisagor, F. Lipsius, A law unto itself: the untold story of the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell, New York: Morrow, 1988, p. 127. 

“The study of money, above all other fields in economics, is one in which complexity is used to disguise truth or to evade truth, not to reveal it.” – John Kenneth Galbraith, circa 1990.

“Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world.” – Henry Kissinger, circa 1995, Council on Foreign Relations. 

“Lord Rothschild had access to all manner of leaders and experts. He was responsible only to the Prime Minister and answerable to neither the electorate nor the civil service chiefs.” - Derek Wilson, circa 1995, leading biographer and author. 

"For more than a century, ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents such as my encounter with Castro to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure — one world, if you will. If that is the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it. 

The anti-Rockefeller focus of these otherwise incompatible political positions owes much to Populism. "Populists" believe in conspiracies and one of the most enduring is that a secret group of international bankers and capitalists, and their minions, control the world's economy. Because of my name and prominence as head of the Chase for many years, I have earned the distinction of "conspirator in chief" from some of these people. 

Populists and isolationists ignore the tangible benefits that have resulted in our active international role during the past half-century. Not only was the very real threat posed by Soviet Communism overcome, but there have been fundamental improvements in societies around the world, particularly in the United States, as a result of global trade, improved communications, and the heightened interaction of people from different cultures. Populists rarely mention these positive consequences, nor can they cogently explain how they would have sustained American economic growth and expansion of our political power without them." – D. Rockefeller Senior, 1915 – ; Memoirs, Ch. 27:"Proud Internationalist", 2002. 

“The dollar has clearly been abandoned and foreigners are starting to bail from dollar-denominated assets in droves. This is where bailouts, and the hyperinflationary destruction of the dollar that comes with them, are leading us, along with miniscule bond rates caused by continual flights to “security” as everyone flees in terror due to rapidly deteriorating market conditions caused by subprime fallout, over-leveraged speculation, fraudulent lending and borrowing, lack of oversight, transparency and confidence, frozen credit markets, an out-of-control money supply, profligate borrowing and spending, as well as an economy destroyed in less than two decades by globalization, free trade, off-shoring, outsourcing, unrestrained illegal immigration, insane wars for profit and the rampant inflation and unemployment that come from a completely, totally and malevolently mismanaged economy thanks to the reprobates and sociopaths that run the Fed and our government.” – Bob Chapman, International Forecaster, 2008. 

“From the earliest days, the Rothschilds appreciated the importance of proximity to politicians, the men who determined not only the extent of budget deficits but also the domestic and foreign policies…” – Niall Ferguson, Professor of History at Harvard University and William Ziegler Professor at Harvard Business School, The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World, 2008. 

Epilogue 


"There is the moral of all human tales:
'Tis but the same rehearsal of the past,
First freedom, and then glory -- when that fails,
Wealth, vice, corruption -- barbarism at last."
– G.G. Noel, 'Lord Byron', 1788 - 1824 ; Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, 1812. 

Is the conception of history outlined here yet another conspiracy story? As D. Estulin points out,
it’s not a conspiracy theory. It’s a conspiracy reality. These organizations–the Bilderbergers, the Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, Bohemian Grove–they’re not the power centers of anything really. They’ve had an important role to play in the past, especially Bilderbergers, but much less so today as its role has been diminished. Today these organizations, they’re basically conveyor belts of opportunities. The real decision making process is done at a much higher level. That said, it’s an important medium-sized organization where a lot of important decision making processes are debated and passed on to higher organizations, higher entities, to where these debates are put together into a concrete policy initiative.

Indeed, if a lot of people are now aware of the ongoing fall, how many know and agree on the solution for the geo-economic part of the problem ?

Still not enough in the West but certainly a lot more in Eurasia, including key peoples. 


"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." 
– F.A.W. Bailey, 'Frederick Douglass', 1818 - 1895. 

"Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity. Those who clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usually recognize also the voice of justice." 
– A.I. Solzhenitsyn, 1918 – 2008 ; Letter to three students, October 1967. 

"In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand fold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations." 
– A.I. Solzhenitsyn, 1918 – 2008 ; The Gulag Archipelago, 1958-68. 

"The simple act of an ordinary brave man is not to participate in lies, not to support false actions! His rule: let that come into the world, let it even reign supreme -- only not through me. But it is within the power of writers and artists to do much more: to defeat the lie! For in the struggle with lies art has always triumphed and shall always triumph! Visibly, irrefutably for all! Lies can prevail against much in this world, but never against art." 
– A.I. Solzhenitsyn, 1918 – 2008 ; Nobel Prize acceptance speech, 1970. 


"If you can't eliminate injustice, at least tell everyone about it."
A. Shariati, 1933 - 1977. 

_________________________

Sources used: Prof77 (2011); Conscience Sociale (2011-2014); Lawrence Wilson, Central Banks and the History of Banking in America (2010) ; The Money Masters

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