Printers to Hitler, Franco, Ian Smith and now ex printers of banknotes to Mugabe - and potential suppliers of EU wide "smart" cards for immigrants

There is a wonderful paradox that Munich based Giesecke & Devrient, the German banknote printing firm, first started printing currency for the beleaguered Rhodesian Smith regime and seamlessly continued supplying the new regime to now end up supplying basic bank notes which the Zimbabwean central Bank then overprints ... with an increasingly bizarre number of zeroes.

A 500.000 Z dollar note issued last October has been withdrawn as it is now worth US$0.00004 cents officially and even less on the street. A new 50 Z Million dollar note might buy you a couple of loaves.

Now the family owned and run firm (US$2.4 BN sales last year)renowned for Union bashing, has been leant on by the German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and during a friendly telephone call with the company it was agreed that G & D would halt the regular air delivery of tons of pallets of pre-printed banknotes.

G & D make security papers in their Louisenthal division and have a long history using it to make everything from 1938 Berlin Olympic Games tickets for Adolf Hitler ,to currency for Franco as well as another 100 odd nations. No great fan of the unions, in 2005 the company threatened to move the Lousienthal plant over the border into Slovakia and refused to open any type of the negotiation with the workers and their union. They also have plants in Bavaria and Istanbul.

Notably G & D are also world leaders in "smart" card technology with biometric signatures. As they explain on their website..

"Unlike user authentication based on something the user knows, such as a PIN or password, or something he or she has, e.g. a smart card or other token, biometric systems work by relying on a physical characteristic – something that is both unique and inseparably linked to the person. Whilst PINs, passwords and keys can be forgotten, lost, lent or stolen, biometrics cannot. The user's anatomy itself becomes the means of identification, the biological password."

These include

Physical Characteristics
facial features / fingerprint / hand geometry / eyes (iris, retina)

Behavioral Characteristics
voiceprint / lip movements / dynamic signature / keystroke dynamics

G & D have many patents in the field, many of which will be embodied in the uniform version of the resident permit (see above) that all 27 member states will soon start issuing to third-country nationals. A regulation scheduled for adoption before the end of the year will see the European Union introducing such a card soon.

No doubt Frau Merkel will look benevolently on G&D and no doubt ask her officials to ensure that every effort is made to help G&D to obtain what will be a welcome and no doubt very profitable contract. .... and ensure they have a step on the ladder when it comes to issuing EU wide identity cards.,,, see below ...First they came for the Sheep and the Goats.

Economists are now fighting for ringside seats to see what will happen when the central Bank simply cannot print any more banknotes. They have for a long time been paying state employed staff directly into bank accounts, or issuing bearer cheques with a limited life which will enable them to stutter on for a little while longer.

In all the inane jabber about Zim , all making the improper assumption that the MD are in fact bathed in Christian charity there has been no discussion of what to do about establishing a sound currency. We have discussedthis here and those interested can look at Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Joyce Mujuru coronation due, Mbeke heads the Anschluss as Rand Monetary Area is re-defined

Basically Tomaz Salamao, executive secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), has a proposal that the Common Monetary Area (CMA) should include Zimbabwe.The CMA now has South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland. SADC leaders have mandated Salamao to find an economic solution to the Zimbabwe crisis, and President Thabo Mbeki a political solution.

Alas even with Mr Baoteng (our Ambassador in SA - remember the little weaselly guy with plenty of street smarts ?....) and once raving Trot My Fellow Lord Triesman have been peacefully pursuing this line...with no apparent success.

As we pointed out this would effectively be a South African Anschluss.

Of course nobody at all wants to mention the facts that Mr Mugabe's public relations firm, Cohen and Woods International is run by Mr Herman (call me "Hank") Cohen , who played a major part in getting the murderer Mengistu and his butchering cronies out of Ethiopia and into Zim where they live a life of ease and Mengistu helps plan the wonderful street theatre such as "Operation Murambatsvina," and "Operation Garikai / Hlalani Kuhle ", resulting in detah, expulsion and a diaspora of 4 Mn. unwanted citizens.

James Woods, the other partner in the firm is an ex advisor to President George Bush. Other clients are leaders of Angola and Burkina Faso as is President Laurent Kabila of the Congo.. Cohen is also a member of the panel on Transatlantic Relations and on the Board of Advisors of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy -"Where Leaders meet" ...which is a nonprofit, activist organization dedicated to the resolution of conflicts that threaten U.S. interests.

Perhaps someone in the US should have a quiet word with Herman (call me "Hank") Cohen, after all he is not difficult to find, his firm is in the phone Book in Arlington , Washington DC....1621 North Kent StreetSuite 1619 (Lower Level)Arlington22209 Tel: +1 703 516-9510
Fax: +1 703 516-4547. Curiously enough we get a lot of people from odd Government Agencies based in Arlington caling in and looking at the site. HiYa Folks !!!

Pssst. Gemma (who has a delightful Ulster lilt in her voice) says is that card issued to Wong Yun which sounds suspiciously like "wrong 'un" , shurely not ???