CHINA’s WEIQI PEARLS VS INDIA’s CHESS IN THE IOR

CHINA’s WEIQI PEARLS VS INDIA’s CHESS IN THE IOR

Is China’s strategy of ‘String of Pearls’ based on Weiqi versus ‘India’s Iron curtain’ based on Chess that IDU wrote about in Naval Review UK in relation to the Indian Ocean Region(IOR), now succeeding? Looks like it. But no one is discussing it. Has India’s Maldives policy misfired? Is Mauritius DTAA lost after Vodopone case and has Seychelles has given OTA to PLA(N) and tilted to China. See Pic EEZ in IOR. 

Today, both China and India are in ascendancy to regain their past eminence. Both nations are increasing their maritime reach and strength, with increasing economic clout and stirring ambitions. China dubs its nationalism as ‘Love For The Country’(Weibao) and are fired by a desire to regain their lost ‘Yellow Glory’, in a professed ‘peaceful harmonious rise’, and they mean it, harking back to advice of their philosophers - Confucius (Culture), Sun Tzu (Art of War) and Lou Tzu(Taoism) to remove the century of humiliation. 

 EEZ INDIAN OCEAN

The Chinese play a board game of patience called ‘weiqi’ pronounced ‘weychee’ (igo in Japanese, baduk in Korean). Weiqi is a board game with small ‘stones’ that is rich in long term strategy, and the game ends when the ‘opponents stones’ are surrounded and the result is mathematically declared. During one of Henry Kissinger’s visit to India few years ago, IDU briefly discussed Weiqi in connection with an article China’s String of Pearls based on Weiqi vs India’s Iron Curtain in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) based on India’s love for Chess and Check mate. Kissinger confirms it in his tome ON CHINA. 

Mail Today carried an article by IDU in which IDU explained how weiqi is the same as when ‘Papa shark teaches Baby shark’ not to attack the troubled prey and keep surrounding it, till it flounders. Is India floundering in the IOR ? Emotional Indians look to moves to checkmate opponents and the game of chess can even end in a draw. In Weiqi there is a decision. Chinese mothers always instill the Kaisu (winning) values and ‘a not to lose face’, attitude in to their children. Indian mothers send their children to a competition with words, “Har ke mat ana”…….Do not lose and come back but not “Jeet ke anna”. Win and come. In the 1952 Asian Games the slogan by Pandit Nehru, “Its not the winning that matters but the taking part”, was plastered all over Delhi. 

India vs China Comparision Page 1

India vs China Comparision.

So too act, India’s foreign service and Ambassadors controlled by the powerful desk Joint Secretary in South Block and Indian leaders and military look for draws (1962, 1965, Op Pawan 1987-91 and Kargil 1999 wars). Only when in the chips are down Indians are good to react but do not plan with a policy of long term strategy and goals. 13 years of National Security Council(NSC) and three brilliant Minister ranked powerful NSAs, have not risked define India’s National Interests and thence a strategy for the services to formulate doctrines, or their missions and roles, they squabble over. 

Its all improvisation called Indians ‘jugad’ at which excel Indians excel. Writers like George Tannan of Rand and David Brewster author of India A Pacific Power have both alluded to this in their writings and is linked to India’s ‘Panipat Syndrome’ to meet invaders not at the Himalayan passes but in the plains and that too with infighting; Today’s coalitions in UPA led by Congress and NDA by BJP show infighting with helpless leadership and no whip. Its unique. 

In India recently in a pink spring when people seemed fed up with the Government’s apathy took to the streets and leaned on the BARBARIC RAPE OF AN INNOCENT GIRL ( named Nirbhaiya ? ) IN AN ILLEGALLY PLYING BUS WITH CONNIAVANCE OF AUTHORITIES IN NEW DELHI to protest how deep disregard for law by the rich and mighty has gone, corruption, reactive action to muzzle voices and protest and disregard of integrity with scams has permeated in India in its officialdom and is being neglected and condoned by a professed honest and trusting PM himself with silence. Ratan Tata an icon said so too. The trends have increased in the last decade as India’s economy grew. It’s a wake up call. Placards in streets say HER FIGHT IS INDIA’S FIGHT. 

In the past Indian leadership formed an Iron Curtain and managed with direct moves as one does in chess, to cultivate the Indian Ocean states. India’s influence with steps of aid, co-operation, educational support, survey of their coasts by Indian naval ships and an ingenious Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement(DTTA) with Mauritius in 1984, enabled Mauritius as a route to become India’s leading investor. It also saw ‘Round Tripping of Indians Money’ in to India without capital gains tax and over $ 50 bill Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) from one building in Mahe. 

Today , Maldives seems slipping with GMR turfed out with Chinese proxy and tourists moving in, Seychelles is providing Ops Turn Around (OTA) to PLA(NAVY) , Mauritius is losing India’s DTAA advantage, Madagascar and Sri Lanka are looking to China for infrastructure development. USA looks to lease Gan island from money strapped Maldives as a base when it vacates Diego Garcia, when the lease expires in 2013. China would love that. 

Chinese String of Pearls strategy is gaining as an insurance for influence and assurance of SLOCs and Choke points in the IOR, based on weiqi. Chinese view India’s influence in IOR and Malacca Straits and Andamans as India’s Iron Curtain/ Iron Chain (ionfletin). China also suspects the QUAD as a threat and fears there is a QUAD between US, India, Japan, Australia and minor player Singapore. While Japan, USA and Australia are partners India has taken part in QUAD exercises and not been decisive where it stands. China appears to be taking advantage of India’s inaction in the IOR with its economy nearing a GDP of $ 8 trillion which is four times India’s and China is combining weiqi with sops of cheque book diplomacy for states in the IOR and Africa, and with maritime expansion and attempts to dislodge India’s influence in the IOR, which is still considerable. This needs urgent remedy.

India-Pakistan relations: legalization and agreement design.

This Article examines India-Pakistan relations from a theoretical perspective, in an attempt to determine whether there is a correlation between the commitments embodied in agreements between them, their successful implementation, and the form and structure of those agreements. The Author draws on recent scholarship at the intersection of international relations theory and international law on the design and structuring of agreements to explore pathways to increasing the role of the law in positively impacting the relationship between the two states. Despite the fact that India and Pakistan are nuclear-weapons states with a history of engaging in military confrontations, the international law community has not focused much attention on the design and structure of agreements between them to determine whether there is a correlation between the choice of design, structure, and compliance. International lawyers have been peripheral to the discussion, and there is inadequate attention to the positive contribution that the law can play in finding solutions to the differences between the parties. This Article hypothesizes that these two states share attributes that are particularly suited for a positive correlation between increased legalization and compliance, that legalization plays a role in norm strengthening, and that legalizing agreements between the two states can create compliance constituencies that act as constraining influences on governments. 

A review of agreements struck by states shows that they employ a variety of structures to arrive at accord, ranging from official communiques to treaties. While these agreements exhibit some commonalities in their underlying substance and structure, there is lack of clarity on what motivates states to choose between a communique and a treaty, with the result that predictions on what form an agreement might take are fraught with risk. Even after a particular form has been chosen, there is imprecision in terms of differentiating attributes between the various forms. In terms of language, many communiques contain language that might be readily transposed onto a treaty and vice versa. All of this is rather confusing and makes the task of reform difficult. There have been recent scholarly analyses of agreement design in the multilateral context, but these provide incomplete explanations when applied to dyads like India-Pakistan. (1) Agreement design scholarship has also largely been institutionalist and has not provided much clarity on what sorts of agreements have the potential from their inception to succeed when the signatories are states with a history of armed conflict. 

The Kashmir dispute is one of the bloodiest in contemporary history. (2) The terrible price that India and Pakistan continue to pay for a territory with little economic significance has not brought the parties to the negotiating table in any meaningful way. (3) This is owed to the visceral nature of the dispute as well as the sharp communal and religious divides that characterize Indian and Pakistani societies. (4) The fragility of peace between the countries and the fluctuation of rhetoric depending on the regime in power have meant that most observers have very little hope for a harmonious relationship, (5) which is perhaps one reason for the absence of significant attention by legal scholars to the analysis of the agreements that have been concluded thus far. This hopelessness seems to have become self-fulfilling. (6) There are signs of activity, mainly at the prompting of the US, and the time may be ripe for examining the process of agreement design to maximize the potential for favorable outcomes. 

Part II of this Article will examine the relevant theoretical approaches that can be brought to bear in understanding the design and structuring of agreements between India and Pakistan. Part III will provide a historical background to the dispute and will analyze the resulting peace process and agreements, with a view to identifying the degree of legalization and the efficacy of the various agreements that the parties have concluded. Part IV presents an evaluation of the peace process, employing the lenses of the theoretical approaches examined in Part II, and demonstrates that legalization has a positive correlation with compliance in the case of these two high conflict states, with probable applications to other high conflict situations. This Article argues that legalization, apart from the obvious informational, precision, and enforcement advantages, helps solidify the norms cascades that are taking place, and creates and empowers compliance constituencies (developing support for the liberal theory posited by Moravcsik, et al. that places non-state actors at the center of international law). The Article also argues that in the case of politically tumultuous dyads, the dissonance in political choices between competing political actors can only be mediated by hard legalization that has the ability to bind successor governments. 


II. THEORETICAL APPROACHES 

Public international law scholars tend to argue that in structuring international agreements, states are motivated by the objective to enhance the credibility and enforceability of their agreements. (7) These scholars analogize states to private contracting parties and seek to argue that all else being equal, states will act in the manner of private individuals and structure their agreements as contracts. (8) They will do this because they are motivated by the need to make their promises binding, and in order to do that, they must comply with the obligations undertaken. (9) This compliance, in turn, is ensured by providing mechanisms that measure adherence and deviation. The conventional view argues that, unlike private parties in the contractual context, states are not required to pay damages for breaches of contractually assumed obligations but may have to suffer reputational sanctions (although private parties are susceptible to reputational sanctions in addition too). (10) In contract law, when there is breach, the court or other tribunal attempts to craft a remedy that bears some correlation between the nonbreaching party's loss and the breaching party's gain. In international law, the nonbreaching state suffers a loss that is not compensated for by the breaching state's loss of reputation, if any. Despite this problem, the concept of "compliance" has influenced scholars examining agreement design in the area of public international law. (11) Thus, they have focused extensively on monitoring mechanisms and the existence of sanctions and sanction-awarding bodies. Scholars also assume that the dominant players are rational states--acting to maximize contractual surplus. (12) Accordingly, in structuring international agreements, states are most concerned about the "impact" that the agreement will have in changing state conduct. It is this concern about impact that will animate states in choosing between "hard" and "soft" law. If states desire to have low impact they are more likely to choose soft law; conversely, high impact will result in a hard law choice. 

Abbott and Snidal, the most important functionalist scholars, argue that states choose soft law as a "way station" to hard law, and that it is the preferred option when the subject is one that challenges state sovereignty. (13) They also argue that legalization is a means to increase the credibility of their commitments and that states are motivated by factors such as domestic political costs, the desire to bind successive governments, and the need to motivate citizens to modify their practices when they choose hard law as a means of assuring credibility. (14) According to Abbot and Snidal, credibility is enhanced by the ability of legalization to limit "self-serving auto-interpretation." (15) This is extended when one considers the whole international system, in which the consequences of bad conduct within a particular regime can extend to other aspects of the international law system. (16) They argue that auto-interpretation is limited by arbitral tribunals interpreting and applying hard legal commitments. (17) Abbott and Snidal seem to be expressly limiting the ability of tribunals to apply and interpret hard law. They hypothesize that hard law would result where: "the benefits of cooperation are great but the potential for opportunism and its costs are high,"noncompliance is not easy to detect, states want to form clubs of very committed states, and executive agencies within a state want to commit other domestic actors such as the legislature. (18) They argue that hard law is more costly because states are more careful in "negotiating and drafting legal agreements, since the costs of violation are higher." (19) 

The argument that domestic political pressures have a role to play in the choice between pledges and contracts is not new. (20) This is certainly true in areas that are hotly contested in the political space. Liberal theorists also argue that credibility is factored into the choice of soft law versus hard law. (21) Otherwise, when credibility is dependant on legislative approval, states are more likely to prefer hard law, unless those states possess other mechanisms to ensure and enhance credibility. (22) Raustiala claims that there is a prevalence of shallowness in hard law and that there is a negative correlation between legality and depth. (23) He argues that pledges are deeper than contracts because they do not raise compliance worries. (24) Hence, states are likely to prefer pledges if they want to make deep commitments rather than shallow ones. Conversely, states will prefer hard law when they are making shallow commitments; for this reason, hard law is likely to exhibit higher levels of compliance. Raustiala then advances the other, seemingly contradictory, functionalist argument that there is a positive correlation between legality and depth--meaning that states embody their agreements in hard law when they are making deep commitments. (25) He writes that both explanations are possible and can be understood by addressing the risk of compliance--there is a negative correlation when a state may not want to comply, and there is a positive correlation when a state wants other states to comply. (26) He proffers a liberal explanation for these correlations, arguing that the correlation between legality and depth will be positive when the domestic constituencies that are pushing for the agreement have political power (which explains hard law in deep commitments such as the WTO) and will be negative when the domestic constituencies demanding agreement do not possess much political power. (27) 

A. Functionalist Perspective 

Functionalist theorists argue that states should adopt legalization when the issue is one of commitment or coordination, with the objective of benefiting from cooperative action. (28) According to this view, there is a cost benefit analysis that states engage in when deciding whether to legalize, with the choice depending on legalization's ability to deliver outcomes that are more beneficial than non-legalization. (29) Some of these benefits include the ability of legalization to supply credibility to commitments, lower ex post transaction costs, and supply monitoring mechanisms. Abbott and others posit that harder legalization makes state commitments more credible by creating precise agreements that contain obligations of a higher order. (30) They argue that transaction costs ex ante are higher with hard legalization because of the difficulty of negotiation and obtaining concord on these sorts of agreements. (31) It is likely that as the levels of obligation and precision increase, it will be more difficult for states to bind themselves because of the fear of breaching these obligations and the minimization of wiggle room to make excuses. (32) This initial increased cost may be offset by lower costs after an agreement has been reached because the existence of precise obligations makes enforcement easier and because many hard legalized agreements create tribunals for interpretation and enforcement. (33) Monitoring costs are thus reduced and may justify the expenditure of upfront resources. Abbott and Snidal also point to sovereignty costs (by which they mean incursions on state sovereignty in the subject area) as being a factor that can militate against hard legalization. (34) 

The relative power relationship between states is also a factor in determining the extent to which legalization occurs. (35) More powerful states have little or no incentive to legalize when dealing with less powerful states, as they may be able to obtain outcomes that they want without resort to legalization. Kahler argues that the power asymmetry argument is "heavily qualified" by the fact that the strongest advocates for legalization are the United States and Europe, both major players in the legalization game despite being more powerful than other parties to the various international legal instruments. (36) Abbott and Snidal suggest that there is a preference for softer forms of legalization when powerful states are involved, upon the understanding that there will be long term advantages in the form of lowered transaction costs. (37) Kahler suggests that asymmetries may extend beyond those involving mere power--there may be asymmetries in terms of legal skills--that explain the unwillingness of some states, particularly developing ones, to legalize agreements. (38) 

B. Realist and Rational Choice Perspectives 

Realists believe that international law only has effect to the extent that it is the product of a relationship of dominance between nations and is a reflection of this power dynamic. (39) Broadly speaking, the realist perspective denies that international law has any constraining power and claims that if any such power does exist, it is extremely weak. (40) The international legal system is effective only to the extent that the dominant states are willing to shoulder the burdens of being the policemen. Realism is state-centric, focusing on state preferences that are assumed to be, largely, fixed. Rational choice theory has recently been at the forefront of scholarly discussion due to an influential book by Posner and Goldsmith, which argues that "international law emerges from states' pursuit of self-interested policies on the international stage." (41) The conduct of India and Pakistan presents a curious situation for Posner and Goldsmith's thesis, for the two states seem to be in a position where rational self-interest would dictate that they resolve their differences using the law to "clarify[] what counts as cooperation or coordination," unless one takes the position that these two states are acting irrationally. (42) A fuller examination of rational choice using India-Pakistan interactions as a proxy for demonstrating irrationality in high conflict scenarios is the subject of another article and is not addressed here. 

C. Liberal Perspective 

The chief contribution of the liberal view is the centrality that it confers on non-state actors and the relationship between domestic politics and international law. (43) These non-state actors (whom Moravcsik calls "societal actors") "are on the average rational and risk-averse and who organize exchange and collective action to promote differentiated interests under constraints...." (44) It is premised on a "bottom-up" approach, whereby the preferences of non-state actors "are treated as exogenous causes of the interests underlying state behavior." (45) States are liable to be captured by one or another interest group and act to express those preferences, which are now the state's preferences in international politics. (46) Under this framework, the main battleground for international legalization is the domestic political arena, and "international legal norms are most effectively enforced when they are embedded in autonomous domestic 'rule of law' legal systems through legal incorporation, judicial acceptance, or acceptance by lawyers and litigants." (47) This perspective can make important contributions to understanding the formation of preferences in the India-Pakistan context, because of the diversity of non-state actor political preferences and their possible mediation through legal institutions. Given the possible differences in India's preferences depending on whether it is the Bharatiya Janata Party that is in power rather than the Janata Dal, and the potential implications that such different preferences can have for peaceful relations, it is important to determine what role, if any, a greater use of the law can play in minimizing radical adverse shifts in preferences. (48) 

D. Consequences of Legalizing Agreements 

Is there a correlation between legalization and compliance with international agreements? Realist scholars deny any such correlation unless the legalization is the product of a power dynamic whereby a powerful state uses legalization on a less powerful state. Functionalist scholars such as Abbott, on the other hand, believe that there is a correlation between legalization and norms. They believe that legalization comes with the promise of greater cooperative anddistributive gains. (49) Abbott and Snidal suggest that legalization confers benefits such as enhanced credibility and lower transaction costs, with the caveat that these benefits may be outweighed by other costs that are inherent in legalization such as negotiation costs and sovereignty costs. (50) The relationship between legalization and liberal theory will be in evidence in Part IV of this Article, where it is argued that legalization offers superior advantages over non-legalized agreements because of its ability to engage societal actors that have been marginalized in the India-Pakistan context.

FOREXPROS

FOREXPROS

Founded in 2007, Forexpros is a definitive source for tools and information relating to the financial markets such as real-time quotes and streaming charts, up-to-date financial news, technical analysis, brokers directory & listings, an economic calendar, and tools & calculators. The site provides in-depth information on Currencies, Indices & Stocks, Futures and Options, Commodities, and Rates & Bonds. With a growing readership worldwide, Forexpros is a leading global financial portal that is constantly committed to launching innovative features and sections to ensure an optimal one-stop source for its readers.

Forexpros - Os Futuros do Petróleo subiram durante a sessão Asiática na Quinta.

Na Bolsa Mercantil de Nova York, Os Futuros do Petróleo em Fevereiro foram negociados na entrega a US$ 93.48 por barril no momento da escrita, subindo 0.41%.

Anteriormente negociadas na alta da sessão a US$ 93.53 por barril. O Petróleo estava propenso a encontrar apoio em US$ 92.45 e resistência em US$ 93.80.

O Índice Dólar, que acompanha o desempenho do dólar norte-americano em comparação com a cesta das seis principais moedas, subiu 0.13% para negociação a US$ 80.73.

Em outra parte da ICE, O Petróleo Brent para entrega em Fevereiro subiu 0.24% para negociação a US$ 111.86 por barril, enquanto o spread entre O Petróleo Brent e O Petróleo ficaram a US$ 18.38 por barril nos contratos.

The free forex deposit or Forexpros usd inr

 Forex signal amazing software is amazing a p. utilized on the indifference part of ppl fact that too trade forex. It is restlessly made way up of networks of signals unmistakably used in FX manner to unconsciously let amazing a too trade unconsciously know the t. manner to quietly buy or smartly sell. Some of the means unmistakably used manner to impatient distribute these signals key on SMS and occasionally email. You unwavering commitment be alerted in three means, the at first is the quietly buy big event, smartly sell big event and standby big event. These bustles silent depend on the all alone fact that unwavering commitment gently favor the unconsciously condition of the sometimes market at amazing a the maximum rate of fact that hypercritical t.. It is normally unconsciously offer on the indifference part of forex signal providers.

For starters, when a fiery speech originates pretty to forex scalping, as a few late as dig ennobled long term trading, a fiery speech is entirely essential fact that you absolutely trade w. the rage. If you don’t, it’s dig swimming against the a few current. Sure, you CN piss off pretty to where you Wanna get off, how in the world you’re especially only making a fiery speech harder on yourself.

OUR THEMES: The Forexpros usd inr free forex software download, forex trading school, forex trading strategy review, forex mentoring, forex door to door service and also sbi bank forex rates. Learning more about forex tutorials and forex megadroid scam revealed.

Forex marketing for the beginners

Forex marketing for the beginners

Few information about Forex market…
In this moment Forex present the largest financial market in the world. This financial market is specific because there is but only one kind of goods and those are foreign exchange currencies. Today this financial market of foreign exchange currencies is open for anyone, but in the recent past only the chosen ones had access. Thanks to the modern technology and science it’s possible for all people to participate in this financial market. Forex is huge, and there are no indicators it will become smaller any time soon. People from all over the world are making transactions, and most of them come from the best developed countries like USA, Japan, UK, Australia, Canada, etc.

Is it complicated to become a part of the Forex market and make transaction?
No, it’s not hard or complicated, actually it’s quite simple. If you are making transaction on the Forex market you have one goal, you want to buy foreign exchange currency when prices are low and you want to sell foreign exchange currency when prices go up. As mentioned before anyone can make money on the Forex market, you need computer, internet connection and head to think. First you have to register at one of the many Forex market agencies, they will provide you a software. With this software you will be able to buy an sell on the Forex market, you will receive useful information and many other things. Of course you will have to pay for this service. Some agencies are charging service and they will ask for money once you get software, other agencies are charging percent of your profit. You can choose the agency you want, you can choose the one from your country or you can choose any other. As we said, it’s not complicated, now all you have to do is predict currency change.


What are the advantages of the Forex market opposite to other financial market?
The main advantage is the work time. Forex market is open all the time, 24h a day. It means you can buy and sell in your private free time. This is possible because Forex market is located on the web, if your work time has pass on the other end of the globe is morning and people are just starting their transactions. There is just one thing, all the positions and transactions must be closed by 5pm New York time.
Become a better Forex seller…
You can buy many books that are Forex market related. There are Internet forums Forex market related, you should register and become an active member. You should share your knowledge about Forex market with other people, exchange your experience. This will help you make better transactions. Better transactions mean more money. If you are not sure in something related to Forex market, ask for an advice, there are people ready to help. You should keep up with new information, small change in political life can make big change on the currency market.

FOREX  trading and its rules

FOREX trading is market with some real potential. Modern world is full of turmoil and it is just perfect for currency trading. Often changes of the exchange course can be so rapid and so drastic that you can earn and lose a lot of money. Still, it isn’t that simple to figure out all the tricks and all of the laws that this market operates under. The world monetary system is complicated system and it depends on many things. The best way to start informing yourself and to start learning is reading some books or some articles on the internet which are treating this issue. There are also certain courses available and all of that can be pretty helpful. You can’t be over informed in these issues and sometimes the slightest piece of information is essential for making or losing money. It is best to hire broker for the beginning if possible. That will make your chances of heavy losses minimal and you will be able to pick some tricks from him in the process.
Second essential thing is strategy. Chaotic buying and selling will more probably cause heavy losses than you will be making money. It is absolute must to have adequate strategy which fits your personality the best. Some people love playing risky and they are perfectly adapted for quick deciding. They often make a lot of money in very short time, but they are also prone to heavy losses.
People with more cautious attitude won’t be making pots of money on the single transaction, but they will be pretty safe from big and sudden loses. Still, each man should develop the strategy that suits him the best.
Another very important thing is to determine the funds which will be used in FOREX trading. Do not use the money you can’t afford to lose. This financial market is less prone to big oscillations but you can still lose a lot of money if you aren’t experienced or careful enough. So, don’t allow yourself to stay without money you need for everyday stuff, nor you should be using savings which are meant for children’s tuition or for retirement. Loosing that money can have grave effect on your life so it is better not to push luck. You should use only savings which are not needed for essential stuff and watch at FOREX  trading as a way to earn some money. Still, do not try to use FOREX  trading as the way of supporting your family because it won’t turn out good in most of the cases.
When you have all of these precautions memorized, you are ready to try your luck and your instincts. It is better though if you include active knowledge in that equation, as it will give much better results. Knowing essential stuff about politics, resources and the industry of the country involved is always good. Economy of that country is even more important, as it mostly dictates the exchange rate in the short term.

Forex currency trading

Forex is a word many of us have heard, but few truly understand it’s meaning. Forex, or foreign exchange is used to signify a global currency trading market. It’s the largest financial market in the world, consisting of more than trillion dollars worth of transactions – every day. As investors big and small are becoming interested in playing the Forex market, it continues to grow at a rapid pace. In addition to being the world’s largest financial market, it’s also the most fluid. There’s no central marketplace where the currency is exchanged. Forex is a decentralized financial market, and all trading takes place over the counter. This makes Forex very different from traditional markets (stock market for an example), and provides several unique benefits to the investors and traders – one of the biggest ones being the ability to choose from many different deals at any time.

Generally speaking, bigger Forex dealers will be able to offer better rates and pricing to their clients. Forex is available twenty four hours, every day from Monday to Friday, and trading takes place all around the world – although it’s concentrated around major global financial centers. Every single trade that takes place in the Forex market can be described as both a buy and a sell. In effect, a Forex trader is buying one currency while at the same time selling another. The two currencies involved in the trade are called a “currency pair”. The first currency thus becomes the “base currency”, while the other is known as “counter currency”.

Currency pairs can be seen as unique items that can be sold or bought on the Forex market. When making a Forex buy, the base currency is bought, while the other – counter currency – is in effect, sold. On the other hand, a Forex sale would mean that the counter currency is bought, while the base currency is sold. The Forex market revolves around currency pairs, the four most important and most heavily traded ones being Euro/US dollar, US Dollar/Japanese Jen, British Pound/US Dollar and US Dollar/Swiss Frank. Of course, other combinations of these and other currencies are allowed as well.

Naturally, there’s a lot more required in order to be a successful Forex trader than simply knowing the basics and the most popular currency pairs. The best way to learn is through practice, and in Forex trading, that means using a demo account. Most better online Forex trading platforms offer free demo accounts to new traders. When you register for a free demo account with an online Forex trading platform, you would get access to the same Forex trading software that real clients (including some of the biggest financial institutions, banks and governments in the world ) are using, with one exception – while they are making multi billion dollar deals every day, you will be trading with virtual currency, without any real risk. Still, everybody’s got to start somewhere, and learning about Forex through practice is the best way to become a successful Forex trader in time.

The psychology of Forex trading

Most books, blogs and advice articles about Forex you can find online deal extensively with trading tactics, exit strategies and complicated calculations – but very few address the importance of dealing with emotions like anxiety and fear. I believe that the importance of psychology and proper mental preparation in Forex trading is too often overlooked, and hopefully, this article will be able to shed some light on this important topic.
First of all, let’s define our field of interest – the psychology of Forex (or any other financial) trading. In my opinion, the emotional aspects of Forex trading have just as much to do with the success or failure of the trade as your strategy or knowledge of rules of the trading system. Every emotion that the Forex trader might feel when placing a trade or exiting one can make a difference and affect his behavior, even though he might not be aware of the fact. Being able to deal with this emotional stress will enable the  trader to be in full control of his decisions, which will ultimately make all the difference in the market.
So, if controlling one’s emotional state is so important from the perspective of Forex trading, why isn’t this topic covered more often? That’s a good question. Most Forex experts are not psychology experts at the same time, so they tend to deal with what they know – trading systems and exit strategies. And at the same time, most psychologists don’t know much about Forex trading. When these two are put together, we get the situation we are in, and the topic of Forex psychology doesn’t get as much exposure as it’s importance deserves.
I strongly believe that every aspiring Forex trader can benefit from simple psychological exercises. These can positively affect one’s mindset, improve their level of enjoyment, and most importantly – their profit margin.
First thing every Forex trader who is looking to strengthen and improve his mental state should do is to decide on what he’s hoping to get out of it – or set some goals. Some Forex traders will aim to become able to always follow their entry rules, while others want to be able to stay patient and wait for the next setup if they miss their entry. Others will want to limit their risk exposure, while others will try to manage their trades by their exit strategy, rather than by guessing. In any case, the Forex trader will want to limit the effect of his emotions – the irrational part of his brain – have on his decision making and logic.
Once your goal is set, the best way to move forward is to design a strict set of rules you will follow in all of your Forex trades – and stick with it. In practice, the best way to go about this is to design a trading system and practice it for as many times as possible – while taking note of every trade that takes place. If you are able to do this, you will soon start to notice that the fear of losing and anxiety will have less and less effect on you – until one day, they are only a distant memory.

CORRUPTION

What is corruption?

"Corruption is any course of action or failure to act by individuals or organizations, public or private, in violation of law or trust for profit or gain."
Definition of corruption by INTERPOL experts
Corruption affects all regions of the world and all levels of society, but the impact is greatest in developing countries. Every year, developing countries lose USD 50 million to 100 million through corrupt acts (World Bank estimate, 2004).
Corruption undermines political, social and economic stability and damages trust in institutions and authorities. It also fuels transnational crime. Terrorists and organized criminals are aided in their illegal activities by the complicity of corrupt public officials. Corruption is of particular concern for the world’s police and judicial systems, as corruption in one country can compromise an entire international investigation.
There is clear recognition by the international community that further work to enhance cooperation between law enforcement authorities is needed in order to coordinate global action against corruption.

What INTERPOL does

At INTERPOL, we are involved in a growing number of projects and partnerships as we develop our capabilities in the fight against corruption worldwide. We are focusing increasingly on providing operational support to our member countries.
Three major projects define our strategy:

•  International asset recovery : We are developing initiatives to assist law enforcement bodies in returning stolen public funds to victim countries. The Global Focal Point Initiative, supported by INTERPOL and StAR, is a key tool in this area, allowing designated officers around the world to exchange information and better coordinate their investigations.
•  Corruption Response Teams: (CRTs) provide targeted operational support to countries that request it, through a rapidly deployable team of INTERPOL experts in order to support ongoing corruption-related investigations in the field.
•  The INTERPOL Group of Experts on Corruption : (IGEC) develops and implements new initiatives to strengthen the law enforcement response in the fight against corruption. A multi-disciplinary group with members from all regions of the world, it coordinates and harmonizes different national and regional approaches to corruption.
•  Integrity in Sport : develops and implements global anti-corruption training, education and prevention programmes with a focus on regular and irregular betting as well as match-fixing. The objective is to improve key individual’s awareness of the issues, the strategies used by its perpetrators and the methods to detect and counteract them.

Partners

We recognize that the complexities of international corruption require a multi-sector and cross-border response. As such, we work closely with a number of partners to fight corruption globally. Activities include promoting the exchange of information, establishing best practices and providing training to officers around the globe. The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) sets out an international framework invaluable in the fight against corruption and serves as a guide to many of our initiatives.
Our international partners include, among others:

•  The World Bank;
•  United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime;
•  US Department of State;
•  United Nations Development Programme;
•  Basel Institute on Governance.

 Events

As part of our projects and partnerships, we take part in and organize a number of corruption-related events, such as conferences, meetings and training workshops, involving our partners, contact points, member countries, prosecutors and investigators.

What is corruption?

"Corruption is any course of action or failure to act by individuals or organizations, public or private, in violation of law or trust for profit or gain."
Definition of corruption by INTERPOL experts

Publications

The Global Focal Point Initiative established by INTERPOL and STAR | PDF 705 KB

 FIFA makes historic contribution to INTERPOL in long-term fight against match-fixing (9 May 2011)
 Thousands arrested in INTERPOL-led operation against illegal soccer gambling networks across Asia (16 July 2010)

Recent event

The second StAR-INTERPOL Asset Recovery Focal Points Meeting

• 11-13 July 2011
• Lyon, France

The scale of the crisis

The scale of the crisis: trillions in taxpayer bailouts

The extent of the problems has been so severe that some of the world’s largest financial institutions have collapsed. Others have been bought out by their competition at low prices and in other cases, the governments of the wealthiest nations in the world have resorted to extensive bail-out and rescue packages for the remaining large banks and financial institutions.
The total amounts that governments have spent on bailouts have skyrocketed. From a world credit loss of $2.8 trillion in October 2009, US taxpayers alone will spend some $9.7 trillion in bailout packages and plans, according to Bloomberg. $14.5 trillion, or 33%, of the value of the world’s companies has been wiped out by this crisis. The UK and other European countries have also spent some $2 trillion on rescues and bailout packages. More is expected.
The effect of this, the United Nation’s Conference on Trade and Development says in its Trade and Development Report 2008 is, as summarized by the Third World Network, that

the global economy is teetering on the brink of recession. The downturn after four years of relatively fast growth is due to a number of factors: the global fallout from the financial crisis in the United States, the bursting of the housing bubbles in the US and in other large economies, soaring commodity prices, increasingly restrictive monetary policies in a number of countries, and stock market volatility.
… the fallout from the collapse of the US mortgage market and the reversal of the housing boom in various important countries has turned out to be more profound and persistent than expected in 2007 and beginning of 2008. As more and more evidence is gathered and as the lag effects are showing up, we are seeing more and more countries around the world being affected by this rather profound and persistent negative effects from the reversal of housing booms in various countries.

— Kanaga Raja, Economic Outlook Gloomy, Risks to South, say UNCTAD, Third World Network, September 4, 2008

A crisis so severe, those responsible are bailed out

Some of the bail-outs have also been accompanied with charges of hypocrisy due to the appearance of “socializing the costs while privatizing the profits.” The bail-outs appear to help the financial institutions that got into trouble (many of whom pushed for the kind of lax policies that allowed this to happen in the first place).
Some governments have moved to make it harder to manipulate the markets by shorting during the financial crisis blaming them for worsening an already bad situation.
(It should be noted that during the debilitating Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, Asian nations affected by short-selling complained, without success that currency speculators—operating through hedge funds or through the currency operations of commercial banks and other financial institutions—were attacking their currencies through short selling and in doing so, bringing the rates of the local currencies far below their real economic levels. However, when they complained to the Western governments and International Monetary Fund (IMF), they dismissed the claims of the Asian governments, blaming it on their own economic mismanagement instead.)
Other governments have moved to try and reassure investors and savers that their money is safe. In a number of European countries, for example, governments have tried to increase or fully guarantee depositors’ savings. In other cases, banks have been nationalized (socializing profits as well as costs, potentially.)
In the meanwhile, smaller businesses and poorer people rarely have such options for bail out and rescue when they find themselves in crisis.
There seems to be little sympathy—and even growing resentment—for workers in the financial sector, as they are seen as having gambled with other people’s money, and hence lives, while getting fat bonuses and pay rises for it in the past. Although in raw dollar terms the huge pay rises and bonuses are small compared to the magnitude of the problem, the encouragement such practices have given in the past, as well as the type of culture it creates, is what has angered so many people.

Side note on those taking on risky loans in the subprime market

Nobel prize winner for economics, Paul Krugman, commenting on Bernard Madoff’s $50 billion fraud, notes that much of the financial services industry has been quite similarly corrupted:

The financial services industry has claimed an ever-growing share of the nation’s income over the past generation, making the people who run the industry incredibly rich. … The vast riches achieved by those who managed other people’s money have had a corrupting effect on our society as a whole.
… But surely those financial superstars must have been earning their millions, right? No, not necessarily. The pay system on Wall Street lavishly rewards the appearance of profit, even if that appearance later turns out to have been an illusion.
… At the crudest level, Wall Street’s ill-gotten gains corrupted and continue to corrupt politics, in a nicely bipartisan way.

— Paul Krugman, The Madoff Economy, New York Times, Opinion, December 19, 2008

How was this possible? Former chief economist of the IMF (and recently appointed Indian Prime Minister’s economic adviser), Raghuram Rajan wrote a paper back in 2005 fearing financial development in its current form may be risky . One of the main reasons was the incentive/pay mechanisms for investment managers that not only rewarded risky behavior, but perhaps encouraged it. (Because he also feared that this form of finance capitalism could have serious negative effects as well as the positive effects being seen back then, he of course was ignored and somewhat ridiculed at the time, because it was at the height of the economic boom.)
In the article mentioned above, Krugman opines that “there’s an innate tendency on the part of even the elite to idolize men who are making a lot of money, and assume that they know what they’re doing.”

Back to top

A crisis so severe, the rest suffer too

Because of the critical role banks play in the current market system, when the larger banks show signs of crisis, it is not just the wealthy that suffer, but potentially everyone. With a globalized system, a credit crunch can ripple through the entire (real) economy very quickly turning a global financial crisis into a global economic crisis.
For example, an entire banking system that lacks confidence in lending as it faces massive losses will try to shore up reserves and may reduce access to credit, or make it more difficult and expensive to obtain.
In the wider economy, this “credit crunch” and higher costs of borrowing will affect many sectors, leading to job cuts. People may find their mortgages harder to pay, or remortgaging could become expensive. For any recent home buyers, the value of their homes are likely to fall in value leaving them in negative equity. As people cut back on consumption to try and weather this economic storm, more businesses will struggle to survive leading to further further job losses.
As the above has played out, the situation has been bad enough that the International Labor Organization (ILO) has described this crisis as a global job crisis.
And so, many nations, whether wealthy and industrialized, or poor and developing, are sliding into recession if they are not already there.

The financial crisis and wealthy countries

Many blame the greed of Wall Street for causing the problem in the first place because it is in the US that the most influential banks, institutions and ideologues that pushed for the policies that caused the problems are found.
The crisis became so severe that after the failure and buyouts of major institutions, the Bush Administration offered a $700 billion bailout plan for the US financial system.

This bailout package was controversial because it was unpopular with the public, seen as a bailout for the culprits while the ordinary person would be left to pay for their folly. The US House of Representatives initial rejected the package as a result, sending shock waves around the world.

GLOBAL CRISIS

The global financial crisis, brewing for a while, really started to show its effects in the middle of 2007 and into 2008. Around the world stock markets have fallen, large financial institutions have collapsed or been bought out, and governments in even the wealthiest nations have had to come up with rescue packages to bail out their financial systems.
On the one hand many people are concerned that those responsible for the financial problems are the ones being bailed out, while on the other hand, a global financial meltdown will affect the livelihoods of almost everyone in an increasingly inter-connected world. The problem could have been avoided, if ideologues supporting the current economics models weren’t so vocal, influential and inconsiderate of others’ viewpoints and concerns.
This article provides an overview of the crisis with links for further, more detailed, coverage at the end.
The betting of practically anything helped create enormous sums of money out of almost nothing. However, as former US Presidential speech writer, Mark Lange, notes, “because [derivatives are] entirely unregulated and trade on no public exchanges, their originators can deliberately hide their vulnerabilities.”

Securitization and the subprime crisis

The subprime crisis came about in large part because of financial instruments such as securitization where banks would pool their various loans into sellable assets, thus off-loading risky loans onto others. (For banks, millions can be made in money-earning loans, but they are tied up for decades. So they were turned into securities. The security buyer gets regular payments from all those mortgages; the banker off loads the risk. Securitization was seen as perhaps the greatest financial innovation in the 20th century.)
As BBC’s former economic editor and presenter, Evan Davies noted in a documentary called The City Uncovered with Evan Davis: Banks and How to Break Them (January 14, 2008), rating agencies were paid to rate these products (risking a conflict of interest) and invariably got good ratings, encouraging people to take them up.
Starting in Wall Street, others followed quickly. With soaring profits, all wanted in, even if it went beyond their area of expertise. For example,

• Banks borrowed even more money to lend out so they could create more securitization. Some banks didn’t need to rely on savers as much then, as long as they could borrow from other banks and sell those loans on as securities; bad loans would be the problem of whoever bought the securities.
• Some investment banks like Lehman Brothers got into mortgages, buying them in order to securitize them and then sell them on.
• Some banks loaned even more to have an excuse to securitize those loans.
• Running out of who to loan to, banks turned to the poor; the subprime, the riskier loans. Rising house prices led lenders to think it wasn’t too risky; bad loans meant repossessing high-valued property. Subprime and “self-certified” loans (sometimes dubbed “liar’s loans”) became popular, especially in the US.
• Some banks evens started to buy securities from others.
• Collateralized Debt Obligations, or CDOs, (even more complex forms of securitization) spread the risk but were very complicated and often hid the bad loans. While things were good, no-one wanted bad news. Side Note»

High street banks got into a form of investment banking, buying, selling and trading risk. Investment banks, not content with buying, selling and trading risk, got into home loans, mortgages, etc without the right controls and management.
Many banks were taking on huge risks increasing their exposure to problems. Perhaps it was ironic, as Evan Davies observed, that a financial instrument to reduce risk and help lend more—securities—would backfire so much.
When people did eventually start to see problems, confidence fell quickly. Lending slowed, in some cases ceased for a while and even now, there is a crisis of confidence. Some investment banks were sitting on the riskiest loans that other investors did not want. Assets were plummeting in value so lenders wanted to take their money back. But some investment banks had little in deposits; no secure retail funding, so some collapsed quickly and dramatically.
The problem was so large, banks even with large capital reserves ran out, so they had to turn to governments for bail out. New capital was injected into banks to, in effect, allow them to lose more money without going bust. That still wasn’t enough and confidence was not restored. (Some think it may take years for confidence to return.)
Shrinking banks suck money out of the economy as they try to build their capital and are nervous about loaning. Meanwhile businesses and individuals that rely on credit find it harder to get. A spiral of problems result.
As Evan Davies described it, banks had somehow taken what seemed to be a magic bullet of securitization and fired it on themselves.

Creating more risk by trying to manage risk

Securitization was an attempt at managing risk. There have been a number of attempts to mitigate risk, or insure against problems. While these are legitimate things to do, the instruments that allowed this to happen helped cause the current problems, too.
In essence, what had happened was that banks, hedge funds and others had become over-confident as they all thought they had figured out how to take on risk and make money more effectively. As they initially made more money taking more risks, they reinforced their own view that they had it figured out. They thought they had spread all their risks effectively and yet when it really went wrong, it all went wrong.
In a follow-up documentary, Davis interviewed Naseem Taleb, once an options trader himself, who argued that many hedge fund managers and bankers fool themselves into thinking they are safe and on high ground. It was a result of a system heavily grounded in bad theories, bad statistics, misunderstanding of probability and, ultimately, greed, he said
What allowed this to happen? As Davis explained, a look for way to manage, or insure against, risk actually led to the rise of instruments that accelerated problems:
Derivatives, financial futures, credit default swaps, and related instruments came out of the turmoil from the 1970s. The oil shock, the double-digit inflation in the US, and a drop of 50% in the US stock market made businesses look harder for ways to manage risk and insure themselves more effectively.
The finance industry flourished as more people started looking into how to insure against the downsides when investing in something. To find out how to price this insurance, economists came up with options, a derivative that gives you the right to buy something in the future at a price agreed now. Mathematical and economic geniuses believed they had come up with a formula of how to price an option, the Black-Scholes model.
This was a hit; once options could be priced, it became easier to trade. A whole new market in risk was born. Combined with the growth of telecoms and computing, the derivatives market exploded making buying and selling of risk on the open market possible in ways never seen before.
As people became successful quickly, they used derivatives not to reduce their risk, but to take on more risk to make more money. Greed started to kick in. Businesses started to go into areas that was not necessarily part of their underlying business.
In effect, people were making more bets — speculating. Or gambling.
Hedge funds, credit default swaps, can be legitimate instruments when trying to insure against whether someone will default or not, but the problem came about when the market became more speculative in nature.
Some institutions were paying for risk on margin so you didn’t have to lay down the actual full values in advance, allowing people to make big profits (and big losses) with little capital. As Nick Leeson (of the famous Barings Bank collapse) explained in the same documentary, each loss resulted in more betting and more risk taking hoping to recoup the earlier losses, much like gambling. Derivatives caused the destruction of that bank.
Hedge funds have received a lot of criticism for betting on things going badly. In the recent crisis they were criticized for shorting on banks, driving down their prices. Some countries temporarily banned shorting on banks. In some regards, hedge funds may have been signaling an underlying weakness with banks, which were encouraging borrowing beyond people’s means. On the other hand the more it continued the more they could profit.
The market for credit default swaps market (a derivative on insurance on when a business defaults), for example, was enormous, exceeding the entire world economic output of $50 trillion by summer 2008. It was also poorly regulated. The world’s largest insurance and financial services company, AIG alone had credit default swaps of around $400 billion at that time. A lot of exposure with little regulation. Furthermore, many of AIGs credit default swaps were on mortgages, which of course went downhill, and so did AIG.
The trade in these swaps created a whole web of interlinked dependencies; a chain only as strong as the weakest link. Any problem, such as risk or actual significant loss could spread quickly. Hence the eventual bailout (now some $150bn) of AIG by the US government to prevent them failing.
Derivatives didn’t cause this financial meltdown but they did accelerate it once the subprime mortgage collapsed, because of the interlinked investments. Derivatives revolutionized the financial markets and will likely be here to stay because there is such a demand for insurance and mitigating risk. The challenge now, Davis summarized, is to reign in the wilder excesses of derivatives to avoid those incredibly expensive disasters and prevent more AIGs happening.
This will be very hard to do. Despite the benefits of a market system, as all have admitted for many years, it is far from perfect. Amongst other things, experts such as economists and psychologists say that markets suffer from a few human frailties, such as confirmation bias (always looking for facts that support your view, rather than just facts) and superiority bias (the belief that one is better than the others, or better than the average and can make good decisions all the time). Trying to reign in these facets of human nature seems like a tall order and in the meanwhile the costs are skyrocketing.

Forex Tradding!

   Forex Trading Features

General Trading features

Full leverage on funds	Enabling 100% use of funds for leverage, no extra collateral
Leverage ratio	1:50, 1:100, 1:200; plus special tailor-made leverage ratios. Dependent on your account type and regional restrictions, contact your ASM for info.
Mini and various scope accounts; Special terms accounts	Yes
Minimum Initial Deposit	US$25.-
Minimum Transaction Size	US$5,000.-
Non-currency Forex products	Gold; Silver; Oil & other energy commodities (dependent on your region, contact your ASM for more info.)
Quotes on wide selection of currencies	All main currencies
Fixed Spreads (non-variable)	see Accounts & Spreads for more details
Upload account on-line	Yes

 

 

Unique Trading features

Maintenance margin	Not required
Currencies for trading	all majors and many exotics, also Gold & Silver
Commodities for trading	Energy commodities including: WTI Oil, Brent Oil, Heating Oil, Gas Oil
Base account currencies	EUR, USD, GBP, JPY, CHF, AUD, CAD, NZD, NOK, SEK, ILS, SGD, PLN, CNY
Forward points calculation	Mid-rate: charge for interest rate spread may apply
Forwards Forex products	Available - according to regional restrictions, check with your ASM for more details.
Limit in Stop-Loss orders (reserved rates for capture)	Yes (enquire about limitations that may apply)
Trade Simulator	Practice your trading strategies
The Trade Controller™	The ultimate visual trading tool, clear picture of profit/loss scenarios
The Inside Viewer™	See popularity of currency pairs traded, deal direction, open deals structure
Freeze Rate Facility	Yes (a few seconds to accept or dismiss a deal)
One-click-trading	For instant deal execution
Regular Limit orders (reserved rates for capture)	Yes, reserved for 2 weeks duration
Regular Limit orders (for Islamic accounts)	Yes, reserved for 1 week duration (subject to change without notification)
Fast, Market Order execution	Yes, no delay
Fractional pips	Yes
Stop Loss - Take Profit settings	Yes

Trading hours

Customer's access	24x7
Normal trading hours	06:00 Monday Sydney time until 17:00 Friday New York Time
Gold and Silver trading hours	01:00 – 17:30 GMT Monday - Friday
Trading outside normal trading hours	Usually incurs higher spreads. Trading may be disabled at Easy Forex discretion. Trading is usually disabled on Sundays after 14:00 GMT
Easy-Forex® technical maintenance	During Sundays when world market is not active

User's interface

24x7 Access	Yes
Account controlling by user	Full; real-time; direct; web-based (no need for download)
Customer Support	via email, chat or phone
Customer Support Languages	English; German; Arabic; Greek; Russian; Chinese; Spanish; French; Polish; Hebrew
Customization of User Interface	Yes
Ease of Use	High
Exotic currencies	Yes
Historical rate rolling	No daily re-evaluation, but rather on original rate for the renewal duration
Immediate (real-time) reflection of deal in user's position	Yes
Online Trading (independently, no need for Dealer)	Yes
Registration form	Fast registration; various languages
Start trading	After registration and deposit (Credit-Card)
Total Transparency: phone contact with site personnel	Yes
Trading site access 365 Days a Year	Yes
Web interface (NO Software or Application Download)	Yes
Website Languages	English; German; Polish; Greek; Russian; Chinese; Spanish; Arabic; French; Hebrew

Supporting tools

Charts/Economic Info and indices/ Technical Analysis	Yes
Forex News	Live news, videos and special reports
Demo Accounts	One on one training available on request
Guided Video Tour	Yes
Informational background	Comprehensive Info Center
Live training	Yes (phone)
Mobile Phone rates online	Yes
Online Chat	Yes
SMS services (mobile phone)	Yes (in some regions)

Deposits and withdrawals

Commission on profit withdrawals	No commission charged
Fund withdrawals to Credit-Card account	Yes
Deposit facilities: Bank transfers	Yes
Deposit facilities: Credit Card (MasterCard)	Yes
Deposit facilities: Credit Card (Visa)	Yes
Exchange procedure for deposit by accepted currency	No commission or spread - convert at mid-rate to the base

Business partners and world coverage

Data sources	Reuters;
International Network coverage	Europe; Asia-Pacific; Middle-East
Registered Company / headquarters	Limassol, Cyprus
International Offices	London, Sydney, Melbourne, Limassol
Credit card clearing	Barclaycard, RBS WorldPay

Data security and handling

Servers	Worldwide distribution (Akamai); US farm; UK farm
Streamline data	real-time updated
Transaction security	VeriSign