Tower Of Basel

Behind the scenes of global politics, trade, and conflict, the Bank of International Settlements is the central bank of the central bankers, often playing both sides and protected by international treaties. This book fascinates and infuriates at the same time, especially knowing it continues to pull the strings of ostensible leaders around the world. The Audible edition I own is very well performed. Strap in - this book will take through places you may never have guessed existed.

This book was great. This book clearly pointed out Allen Dulles, which is another great topic, and the BIS, and the corruption of the bank and its role in WW2. You can't find this un-approved content in almost any other book because this book in many ways challenges the official story of WW2. Allen Dulles definitely doesn't deserve a whole book for himself, given that he and his brother ran diplomacy and clandestine spy rings for all the countries on the planet from the USA on behalf of the major corporations of the USA, and how JFK threatened Dulles' power, but thats a story for another day. This book is awesome in the first half because WW2 documents have been released and theres plenty of info, but after that, the details get squirrelly because its a bank, and they don't want data released. The second half is pretty good but doesn't have all the source data. Ive read history books about ww2 for decades, but never seen a book like this that exclusively focuses on money, influence peddling, currency manipulation, politics, and conquering nations. This book is a one of a kind, and you won't understand who is doing what in ww2 until you read it.

In summary: A recommended book, which sheds some light on the BIS, Bank of International Settlements; one of the most opaque, unknown institutions whose operations are kept as secret as possible, but whose influence on banking policy, monetary and financial is immense. As a button shows: the Basel I, II, and III Accords that are being implemented and that regulate all financial and monetary operations of all types of banks worldwide, were designed by the BIS In detail: The author's intention is for the book to be an exposé on the BIS and its immense influence on the design of the present and future banking, monetary and financial policy at a global level; but in the end, it only manages to be a book that deals with the origin and history to date of the BIS, which is the Bank of the Central Banks of the great powers (the G10 and other invited Central Banks). From the historical point of view, the book is sincerely fascinating, from the origin of the bank and throughout the WWII period, the text of the book develops as a historical spy novel of WWII, mentioning with first and last names, historical characters both the CIA and MI5, whom he portrays in small biographies as well as the different Directors and Chairmen of the BIS and their interactions during the War years From the author's point of view, the BIS is an amoral and spurious institution since during WWII it collaborated with Nazism and allowed the 3rd Reicht access to capital markets, to finance its war machine with all the associated atrocities, as well as a safe place to deposit and safeguard all the gold and cash that was seized during the Nazi occupation during WWII. However, the author also points out that the BIS was one of the first institutions that anticipated the fall of Hitler with years of advantage, from that point it became an agent and collaborator of the allied powers and was one of the financial pillars in the recovery of post-war Europe The author also criticizes and points out the contradiction that the BIS, to date, has as partners the Central Banks of the G10 economies and whose capital is of public origin (the deposits of the Central Banks) and that its officials are public servants (they are the Governors and General Managers of the Central Banks of the member countries) and that nevertheless neither the president of the board, nor any of the members of the senior management of the BIS have any obligation to render accounts to any of their governments' members, nor does the BIS have to report any of its transactions to any of the member governments, be it the president or their parliaments, and that their assets are protected by international agreements, which ensures that they will never suffer seizure by the system of justice of any of its member states From the above, the author's view is that the fundamental problem of the BIS is a political institution that hides as a "technical body" to avoid the political control to which it must be subject given its influence and the assets it manages. The author strongly criticizes the fact that an institution led by a group of technocrats has so much influence over the financial destiny of so many democracies and that its decisions are not subject to any criticism, control, or accountability nor are they subject to any political or judicial control of democracies that are affected by its decisions and raises, in a weak and superficial way, some actions that the BIS and the member democracies of the BIS should take to provide greater transparency and accountability. On a personal level, I must point out that the author's criticism on the topics of transparency and accountability of the BIS with respect to member governments comes from a well-intentioned sense of balance of powers in developed democracies and only that; since he does not provide any example showing that the decisions and recommendations of the BIS have produced monetary, fiscal or banking crises, except perhaps the strict zeal for austerity policies in the Eurozone but absolutely nothing else. The author even points out that the financial crisis of 2008 was announced by the BIS in advance, as well as the monetary crisis in Asia in the 90s, and that its recommendations were ignored; this reinforces the idea that these unelected technocrats who do not answer to anyone know what they are talking about, above politicians and members of parliament who, either by action or omission, let those crises to rage on unchecked until was too late. Being a citizen of Ecuador and having experienced personally and several times in my lifetime, what happens when a government, has total control over the Central Bank and over the banking, monetary and financial policy, without any counterweight from any political or technical institution; I would prefer an opaque institution that is right, to a politician that is transparent but leads us to disaster... South America has a long history of politicians in control of public finances and ignored technocrats, and it is a history of great poverty, misery, and political instability In the end, a highly recommended book; do not expect to find a master class in international finance or monetary policy, that is not the author's intent. It is a historical and semi-biographical book from which each reader will draw their own conclusions about whether the BIS should exist or not.

This book easily affirms Antony Sutton’s outstanding “Wall Street Trilogy”. Multinational corporations and banks love monopolies and secrecy because of the large profits. The BIS is no exception. Largely amoral as being the Nazi’s bank that gave it unrestricted access to buy and sell. The German industry recognized in1943 the war was lost, so they planned for world economic dominance. Largely fulfilled and facilitated by the BIS with American help. Our own government wanted European unification and the BIS was delighted to help. Later, Eastern block countries under Soviet influence were allowed to join even though totalitarian regimes. Some such as Hungary and the Czech Republic saw the benefits of capitalism because of the BIS. As a result, the soviet empire fell. What should concern everyone is the BIS like other technocratic organizations rule, influence and regulate without oversight or accountability. Technocrats protect and begat more technocrats. This book has an excellent selection on Mark Carney, the Canadian PM and his rise to head the Bank of England. A true technocrat now runs a country much to their detriment. This is book was published about 12 years ago and is just as relevant today as then. The author does an excellent job. His Tower of Babel comparison is spot on.

Fascinating book on how the central banks work in secrecy but a true sad reality of how the everyday person has no ideal how we got here through history and apathy!

In recent times when conscription or the "draft" was legal and many were sent to both Europe and Asia to defeat both Germany and Japan, the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) was directly aiding these enemies of the West by funding arms production and Genocide by being a Gateway for stolen and looted gold reserves of conquered European countries to murder millions, simply because the paperwork was in order. Even though the OSS used the BIS for intelligence purposes, the bank had leaks and the head of the Bank during these times was even an American, yet the human cost makes this organization culpable of Crimes Against Humanity in so many ways, yet almost nothing was done to even recognize this travesty of international justice. I suggest that if the public knew of these shenanigans, the cry of "Hell no, we won't go!" would have evolved much earlier from the conscripts and draftees of that time.. This book is a revelation. It shows when sheltered by international treaty, with no checks and balances, or audits of actions, an officious form of corruption leads to actions that would imprison mere mortals such as you and I. The adage that "Absolute power corrupts absolutely" is proven here. It is a tough read, in some cases, as the German industrial leaders, knowing that the war was lost, established foreign investment channels to be used in the re-industrialization of Germany under a new Reich. This did not happen, but the reindustrialization of Germany did, with the same industrialists that fed the Nazi war machine, after some went to prison for a few months, regained their industrial power and positions. It is even suggested in this book, that the bombing raids against German industry, at the cost of many thousand of air crew, was influenced, somehow by the BIS, as few German chemical works were bombed. After reading this book, consider the reality of how much sooner the European War and the Asian War would end if the BIS was forbidden to deal with both countries and deny them banking facilities, and these rules still operate today and are still protected by international treaty from any investigations into BIS's affairs. What secrets must be located within BIS's records and libraries! This book is a terrific read, and is accompanied by footnotes that refer to actual documents, some of which are no longer secret and available on the internet, and all support the premise that this bank, originally set up to manage WWI German reparations, then run by the Germans themselves, has outlived its original purpose almost a century later. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in how the world actually works as opposed to how we are told it works.

This was not my favorite history book. It was interesting enough through the first few chapters when the number of characters was few and the story was mostly about how the BIS came about. At about half way, the book felt like a collection of facts but not like a coherent story. The ability to take history (which is just a collection of facts) and turning it into a story - I think this might be the dividing line between a good history book and something mediocre, especially if the audience is mostly reading for recreation. I've done research into historical events and know what it feels like to have a ton of facts on hand and think I need to include all of it in my paper. That's what this book felt like at times - information overload because the author thought every fact about the characters was important. For example, on pg. 180 the author talks about a guy named Coombs who regularly attended the governors' meetings from 1960 to 1975. The entire following paragraph is about the guy's usual itinerary, including which day of the week he usually traveled, what airports he used and what hotel he stayed in. This is just one example but there's a lot of this type of filler in the book. I'm assuming the author stumbles upon this info in his research and then feels compelled to include all of it in the book. I'm also guessing Coombs was an important guy in this chapter but this kind of thing was the case with so many characters and so many story-lines that it all got really difficult to stay engaged. What I think is that a good history book cuts out the filler to keep the story easy to follow and compelling in its portrayal. With this said, the book contained a lot more about the BIS than I ever knew prior to picking it up. It was also helpful to read about the rise of the IMF and World Bank in this book which helped me keep the jobs of each distinct as they relate to the BIS. I'm sure this book will find a good reception with the right type of audience who really want all of this heavy detail into historical events. For me, it was interesting at times but I had a tough time staying focused on the big picture of what went down with the BIS.

If you enjoyed reading G Edward Griffin’s “The Creature from Jekyll Island”; you’ll probably enjoy this book as well. This book provides a history lesson about the BIS and the involvement of the world’s key, central bankers from the 1930’s until 2013. The controversy comes from the bank’s collaboration with the Reichsbank and the Nazi party. The book explored the importance of establishing a global financial system; improving foreign exchange, promoting international trade, and ensuring stability of financial liquidity and market prices. Many of these concepts are still very relevant today and demonstrate the foresight of some of the central bankers who were involved. However, like most institutional systems, the BIS heavily relied on the trust, integrity and impartiality of the people in power. This was the major shortcoming of an otherwise, innovative and forward thinking approach to a sound, international monetary system. The book succeeded in highlighting to me, the importance of a decentralised monetary system like Bitcoin… a system that also encourages global liquidity, promotes international trade and ensures and protects sovereign rights.

"Tower of Basel: The Shadowy History of the Secret Bank That Runs the World," is essential reading. "Meticulously researched and fluently written, it reveals a slice of our modern world’s untold history—a gripping tale of covert networks, secret deals and unaccountable, powerful individuals whose decisions shape our lives.” Overview: The Bank of International Settlements (BIS), which predates both the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, was founded by the governors of the national banks of Britain, France, Italy, and the U.S. in 1930, the bank was created to oversee German reparations payments after WWI. Created by the governors of the Bank of England and the Reichsbank in 1930, and protected by an international treaty, the BIS and its assets are legally beyond the reach of any government or jurisdiction. The bank is untouchable. Swiss authorities have no jurisdiction over the bank or its premises. The BIS has just 140 customers but made tax-free profits of $1.17 billion in 2011–2012. After 1945 the BIS—still behind the scenes—for decades provided the necessary technical and administrative support for the trans-European currency project, from the first attempts to harmonize exchange rates in the late 1940s to the launch of the Euro in 2002. It now stands at the center of efforts to build a new global financial and regulatory architecture, once again proving that it has the power to shape the financial rules of our world. Yet despite its pivotal role in the financial and political history of the last century and during the economic current crisis, the BIS has remained largely unknown—until now."

This is a good one to read

Good read. The book is well documented and well written.

good read

Received as advertised. Great information, a lot surprising.