“War is Good for Business”: Insider Trading, Secret Information and the US-led Attack against Syria
The value of Lockheed and BAE
shares soared on the World’s stock markets, on the Monday morning
following the Friday April 14 (local time) bombing of Syria.
Philip May,
husband of Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May happens to be a senior
executive of Capital Group which is a major holder of both Lockheed
Martin and British Aerospace (BAE) shares:
The fact that Philip May is both a Senior Executive of a hugely powerful investment firm, and privy to reams of insider information from the Prime Minister – knowledge which, when it becomes public, hugely affects the share prices of the companies his firm invests in – makes Mr May’s official employment a staggering conflict of interest for the husband of a sitting Prime Minister. (, Disgusting Conflict of Interest: Theresa May’s Husband’s Investment Firm Made a “Financial Killing” from the Bombing of Syria, April 17, 2018 (emphasis added)
Staging the Attack on Syria
The Pentagon had ordered a massive
deployment of naval forces in the Eastern Mediterranean. The British
government had put its Royal Air Force bombers on standby. The USS
Truman aircraft carrier was en route to the Eastern Mediterranean.
Meanwhile, Russia had initiated on
the Wednesday prior to the US-led attacks major war games off the Syria
coastline. In turn, Russia’s Ministry of Defense had warned that they
would respond with their state of the art S-400 missile defense system,
not only against the JASSMs and Tomahawk missile attacks but also
against coalition warships, jet fighters and air force bombers deployed
in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Russia S-400 deployed in Syria
While the broader public was led to
believe that a major confrontation between Russia and the US-led
coalition was imminent, with potentially devasting consequences, a
handful of officials in the upper echelons of the US, UK and French
governments were privy to the precise details and timing of the bombing
operation against Syria which took place after the closing of the
World’s stock markets on Friday evening, April 13 (ET). They had advanced knowledge that a confrontation between Russia and the US-led Coalition forces would not take place.
Was Philip May privy to top secret information. transmitted to him by U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May? Did he have prior knowledge of the exact nature of the April 14 attack on Syria as well as its outcome?
Was this information also made available to a handful of Trump cronies, family members and partners on Wall Street?
Did France’s President Emmanuel
Macron– who has ties to powerful financial interests– share some of this
secret information with his financial friends including the Rothschilds
and Goldman Sachs?
Screenshot Bloomberg Business Week, April 19, 2018
Secret Agreement with the Russians
While a few US, UK and French
senior officials and their financial cronies had foreknowledge of what
was going to happen, the vast majority of financial brokers were totally
in the dark. They did not know whether to bet up or down on Aerospace
and Defense stocks including Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, etc.
The terms of the top secret
agreement with Russia were that Russian military assets would not
be targeted and in return Russia promised NOT to respond militarily
against the US led coalition.
The attack was staged. There was no
concrete military objective. A costly “face saving” propaganda
operation to boost public support for Trump’s presidency?
Over 100 missiles were directed
against three targets. Those targets had been agreed upon with the
Russians. The US, British and French officials and their financial
cronies not only knew when the attack would take place, they also had
secret information on the likely outcome of the attacks which had been
carefully negotiated with Russia.
Syria’s air defense system
responded to the missile attacks with Soviet era technology. The media
heralded the attack as a “success” and Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon
and BAE stocks skyrocketed on Monday morning at the opening of major
stock markets.
Dow Jones U.S. Selected Aerospace and Defense Index (April 16-20, 2018)
Had Russia effectively retaliated
by targeting US war ships and knocking coalition jet fighters out of
the sky, the outcome would have been markedly different. In all
likelihood, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, BAE, etc. stocks would have
plunged.
On the day prior to the alleged Douma chemical attacks (April 6), the value of Lockheed shares
had tumbled by 3.46 percent to 334.66 rising to 353.38 on the 19th of April, i.e. a cumulative rise of 5.5%
Did a handful of powerful financial
operators have secret information (handed to them by politicians in
high office) which enabled them to predict the outcome and “place their
financial bets” on a rise in the stock values of major defense
contractors including Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, BAE, Raytheon
and Boeing.
Raytheon produces the Tomahawk cruise missiles which were used in the Syria attack. Lockheed Martin produces the JAMMs.
A Financial Killing?
Are we talking about billions of
dollars accruing to the families and/or cronies of top US, UK, French
government officials? The bonanza earnings resulting from equity
transactions as well as the trade in options needs to be carefully
assessed.
War, Politics and Insider Trade
More generally, insider trade
constitutes a routine process of enrichment of the financial elites.
Powerful financial actors have access to foreknowledge pertaining to
crucial political and military decisions (e.g. through their social ties
to politicians).
Foreknowledge of statements and decisions pertaining to Brexit, for instance, by Britain’s Prime Minister also constitutes an invaluable instrument in the hands of powerful financial interests and institutional speculators.
Conflict of interest and corrupt politics are central to reaping the profits of insider trade.
The original source of this article is Global Research
Copyright © Prof Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, 2018
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