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Switzerland To Freeze Assets Of Deposed Tunisian, Ivory Coast Presidents

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/19/2011 08:50 -0400

For those who were wondering why deposed Tunisian president Ben Ali recently pulled a ton (literally) of gold from the country's central bank, here is your answer: Reuters reports that Switzerland has just frozen all of his (paper) assets. Unfortunately, they have little access to his holdings of actual physical assets, such as the case may be, gold. And as we speculated when we discussed the curious case of deposed Ivory Coast's president Laurent Gbagbo (who in a clever scheme is using bondholders as leverage to legitimize his regime), that the world's largest cocoa exporter would be next to part with a substantial portion of its gold (which it does not technically have), this appears to be shaping up to be the case: Switzerland has also frozen assets of Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo. Which also means that all those bondhodlers which were used as leverage by Gbagbo to legitimize his regime may be now irrelevant. Look for some interesting action in Cote D'Ivoire bond prices as a result of this development, demonstrating the curiously interconnected nature of globalized markets .

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Wed, 01/19/2011 - 08:58 | 886724 Mercury

I bet France will send their special forces into the IC if need be to assure that at least French bondholders are made whole - without (Eeeek!) first asking permission of the UN.

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 09:06 | 886749 Sudden Debt

Here you can follow up on the international discussions:

http://www.strategypage.com/gallery/images/wwII-facebook.jpg

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 10:18 | 886855 66Sexy

just another reason to run the big banks

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 12:09 | 887133 spekulatn

NO BLOOD FOR BONDHOLDERS!

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 12:15 | 887149 Rodent Freikorps

Peace...through superior firepower.

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 08:55 | 886726 TradingJoe

Yep! It shapes to be a "no place to hide" (Global) World!

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 09:19 | 886766 Ratscam

Reuters reports that Switzerland has just frozen all of his (paper) assets. Unfortunately, they have little access to his holdings of actual physical assets, such as the case may be, gold.

If even the Swiss freeze assets, what do you think the US and the Europeans will do to your paper holdings in the future?

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 09:00 | 886732 Sudden Debt

Yes, they will keep it in safe keeping next to the vault where the keep the gold of Jews who didn't checked in since 1944.

And just like the Jews, all you need to get you gold or money back is if you know the 500 digit security code, the secret handshake and about 20 liters of your blood which they will use to do some DNA checks.

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 09:08 | 886752 cossack55

Wake me up when they seize the other criminals funds, i.e., Blankfiend, Diamond "Jamie" Dimon, Fuld, Bush, Obama, Dodd, Frank, Cheney, Clinton, ad infinitum.

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 09:55 | 886808 Miss Expectations

Wouldn't it be great if Ricky Gervais could do a 30 minute monologue featuring the likes of the above mentioned criminals? A Golden Globes of sorts...

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 09:02 | 886733 overmedicatedun...

Barry O when you run for sanctuary better make it a Muslim nation..The Swiss like your assets in lock up.

PS I post this knowing many will flame me..

but it is in the news today that a NY judge has agreed Barry H is NOT A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN..per our constitution..I am sure this will make headlines across the MSM.. see

Strunk vs Patersonhttp://beforeitsnews.com/story/363/827/Strunk_v_Paterson_Obama_:_First_t...

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 10:43 | 886913 Bicycle Repairman

This headline will not make the MSM or any other source that is not made up.

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 09:00 | 886736 10044

Could I have his gold please?

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 09:05 | 886748 DaBernank

I will offer to buy some of it with USD or EUR at a 10% discount from spot.

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 09:02 | 886742 Sophist Economicus

Is the 'G' silent in Gbagbo?

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 09:59 | 886819 knukles

and he "o" sounds lik "oy"

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 09:03 | 886746 nontaxpayer

Can't even trust the Swiss anymore - first they devalue their currency and now they steal assets. What's next - confiscate the gold placed in their vaults?

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 09:08 | 886751 Hephasteus

If they did that the swiss franc would be worth about a grand or two in every other currency. They couldn't export anything. Look switzerland is right in middle of obnoxious trade routes all over that place. It got turned into a smugglers den back in the 1600 hundreds and it's always been a smugglers den and always will be.

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 09:04 | 886747 EscapeKey

Presumably they have the serial numbers of the bars he, um, acquired?

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 09:15 | 886757 Oh regional Indian

Cocoa shortage looming too? Seriously.

Percentage of cocoa that comes from West Africa: 70 percent

Now that is some dependence eh?

Wonder what it's doing for the stock price of Cadbury and Lindt.

ORI

http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/the-callousness-of-pornography/

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 09:22 | 886770 nontaxpayer

"Wonder what it's doing for the stock price of Cadbury and Lindt."

Nothing for Cadbury I'm afraid.

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 09:16 | 886760 johngaltfla

But will they freeze the assets of all the Federal Judges from the U.S. "rumored" to have tax-evading secret accounts there? That is the question I want answered....

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 09:17 | 886763 youngman

It seems to me that being a politician or dictator is a very profitable business....

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 09:19 | 886765 scratch_and_sniff

" curiously interconnected nature of globalized markets ", now that's sarcasm.

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 09:38 | 886784 REPEACE

As the founder of REPEACE.com and the Repeace community on FB, I am so inspired by ZH. Your postings are exactly what we like to share. The substance of your postings are touching the core element of our problems and what needs to be addressed on a daily basis. I would be honored to appeal to you with my movement and explore synergy and action. For now, thank you for your amazing work.

Wed, 01/19/2011 - 09:47 | 886796 NOTW777