Commodities Switzerlands Most Dangerous Business

Today marks the release of the controversial book "Commodities: Switzerland's Most Dangerous Business". The fact-filled and groundbreaking analysis of the industry, as powerful as it is unknown, shows why resource-rich developing countries remain poor while Switzerland-based commodity companies rake in profits in the billions. And it illustrates the gray areas of a business model whose risks are becoming increasingly apparent. Unnoticed by the public and politicians, Switzerland has become the world's most important commodities hub. Trade in oil, gas, coal, metals and agricultural products - particularly via deals made in Geneva and Zug - has grown by an incredible 1,500 percent since 1998, according to BD investigations. The result: Seven of the twelve corporations with the highest turnover in Switzerland trade in, and/or mine, commodities. Switzerland has become a global commodity hub thanks to its mix of tax privileges, a strong financial sector, weak regulation and lax embargo policy. The Swiss commodities business is dangerous for developing countries that are blessed with natural resources but that suffer from weak governance. The business is life-threatening for all those who must live amid the filth and toxins of the mines and facilities. The extensive misery of entire countries and the fairytale wealth of a few Swiss top traders are causally related. The book "Commodities: Switzerland's Most Dangerous Business" shows how. The richly-illustrated reference work offers a portrait of the key firms and people behind the discreet deals, provides insight into the social and ecological consequences for the producing countries, analyzes the practices and repercussions of tax avoidance and speculation, and offers proposals for achieving more justice in a multi-billion-dollar business that affects everyone.

This book presents the findings of the OECD Development Assistance Committee's reviews of the individual development co-operation efforts Switzerland for 2013.

The region of Europe and Central Eurasia defined in this volume encompasses territory that extends from the Atlantic Coast of Europe to the Pacific Coast of the Russian Federation. It includes the British Isles, Iceland, and Greenland (a self- governing part of the Kingdom of Denmark). Included are mineral commodity outlook tables, plus global overview research for particularly commodities within a specific regions/countries are presented throughout the text. Manufacturers of these metals and commodities, along with trade brokers that may specialize in imports and exports, political scientists, and economists may also be interested in this volume. Students pursuing research on specific metals and mineral commodities for world economy courses may be interested in this volume.

In this eye-opening book, Mark Pieth gives an in-depth insight into how the global gold market works, what role Switzerland plays in it, where the hidden abuses lie and how human rights in the gold industry can be protected in a credible way. This hard-hitting, exclusively researched depiction of a key area of economic policy takes us both to the glittering world of gold refining and to the world's worst mining regions. Mark Pieth illuminates the historical roots of the gold trade before turning his attention to today's supply chains, from mines to refineries and clandestine intermediaries to consumers: central banks, investors, jewellers and watchmakers. He reveals some of the horrific problems caused by gold mining that still receive little attention due to a lack of binding regulations: severe environmental destruction, forced labour and human trafficking, land grabbing, stolen assets and money laundering. The author manages to make these complex topics easy to understand and hard to ignore. Switzerland is not only a major power in the financial sector and commodity market – whose scandalous workings were revealed by the Swiss NGO Berne Declaration (now Public Eye) in the book Rohstoff, also published by Salis. Switzerland is also a leader in global gold trading. But while the EU, for example, has recently turned existing OECD guidelines into binding law, Switzerland continues to rely on voluntary self-regulation.

Feeding Frenzy traces the history of the global food system and reveals the underlying causes of recent turmoil in food markets. Supplies are running short, prices keep spiking, and the media is full of talk of a world food crisis. The turmoil has unleashed some dangerous forces. Food-producing countries are banning exports even if this means starving their neighbors. Governments and corporations are scrambling to secure control of food supply chains. Powerful groups from the Middle East and Asia are acquiring farmland in poor countries to grow food for export — what some call land grabs. This raises some big questions. Can we continue to feed a burgeoning population? Are we running out of land and water? Can we rely on free markets to provide? This book reveals trends that could lead to more hunger and conflict. But Paul McMahon also outlines actions that can be taken to shape a sustainable and just food system.

Corruption undermines nearly all key legal and developmental priorities today, including the effective functioning of democratic institutions and honest elections; environmental protection; human rights and human security; international development programs; and fair competition for global trade and investment. This book chronicles the global anticorruption steps taken since the movement advanced after the end of the Cold War. It provides a realistic assessment of the present state of affairs by critically evaluating what existing anticorruption programs and treaties have accomplished and documenting their shortcomings, while developing an action agenda for the next decade. The authors argue that reformative action is imperative, and the forces of globalization and digital communication will level the playing field and erode the secrecy corruption requires. They define corruption, document its effects, discuss the initiatives that changed public perception, analyze the lessons learned, and then evaluate how to move forward with existing initiatives charting a new path with new, differentiated strategies.

On 5 December 2017 the Steinhoff group was still worth R199 billion. 24 hours later more than R160 billion of this fortune was wiped out. The Steinhoff empire, that took 20 years to build into an international business giant, had crumbled overnight. Markus Jooste, Steinhoff’s flashy CEO, resigned via sms and has since been fleeing an avalanche of scandals and accusations: luxury homes for a blonde mistress, allegations of fraud, racing horses and unparalleled extravagance, a lavish, black Jaguar for an old university residence”¦ What exactly happened here? Who knew what? What is Steinhoff, who is Markus Jooste and what does it all have to do with the so called Stellenbosch mafia? Where does business tycoon Christo Wiese, Shoprite and Pepkor fit in and where is the pensioners’ money? Well-known financial writer James-Brent Styan unpacks these and other questions in this astounding tale of power and greed, of secrets and deceit, and ultimately the biggest financial breakdown in the history of South Africa. Through interviews with trustworthy sources, revelations from confidential documents and in-depth research about Steinhoff’s history, Styan uncovers what the group doesn’t want you to know. Follow the money: the story of Steinhoff, Markus Jooste and the Stellenbosch boys is a gripping financial thriller that will be told as cautionary tale or salacious scandal in both boardrooms and living rooms for decades to come.

A growing concern among those interested in economic development is the realization that hundreds of billions of dollars are illicitly flowing out of developing countries to tax havens and other financial centers in the developed world. This volume assesses the dynamics of these flows, much of which is from corruption and tax evasion.

This volume focuses on how, in Europe, the debate on the commons is discussed in regard to historical and contemporary dimensions, critically referencing the work of Elinor Ostrom. It also explores from the perspective of new institutional political ecology (NIPE) how Europe directly and indirectly affected and affects the commons globally. Most of the research on the management of commons pool resources is limited to dealing with one of two topics: either the interaction between local participatory governance and development of institutions for commons management, or a political- economy approach that focuses on global change as it is related to the increasingly globalised expansion of capitalist modes of production, consumption and societal reproduction. This volume bridges the two, addressing how global players affect the commons worldwide and how they relate to responses emerging from within the commons in a global- local (glocal) world. Authors from a range of academic disciplines present research findings on recent developments on the commons, including: historical insights; new innovations for participatory institutions building in Europe or several types of commons grabbing, especially in Africa related to European investments; and restrictions on the management of commons at the international level. European case studies are included, providing interesting examples of local participation in commons resource management, while simultaneously showing Europe as a centre for globalized capitalism and its norms and values, affecting the rest of the world, particularly developing countries. This book will be of interest to students and researchers from a wide range of disciplines including natural resource management, environmental governance, political geography and environmental history.