Jay's Analysis

[David Guyatt]

I would have to agree with the above. You might also be interested in this article about the forthcoming Bond film, which addresses some of the same themes:


http://espionagehistoryarchive.com/2014/...s-spectre/

Thanks. The put option aspect to 9/11 has always interested me. At the time it happened I was doing research for my sequel to Project Hammer. I had been given a lot of copies of original papers that had been stolen out of the home of a former South African intelligence agent by a former colleague of his. These papers included quite a few financial transactions, including some related to a financial programme being operated through Alex Brown & co. That was when I first came across Buzzy Krongard who was the CEO there and who later absorbed by Bankers Trust when that entity acquired Alex Brown (and BT were later acquired by Deutsche Bank too). And, of course, Krongard went on to become the No. 3 at the CIA in 1998. But Alex Brown/Bankers Trust went on to become a key player in the 9/11 put options. Tracking the Sth. African former intelligence agent's company's connections led back to the established British (Scottish) Keswick-Jardine families with old ties to British intelligence.

So the old Anglo-American intelligence network was well ensconced in this whole thing and Bond's Spectre would, therefore, in my opinion have a fitting connection to the Jardine-Keswick network that has had a historic role in the drugs trade. And, of course, as I pointed out in Project Hammer Reloaded, Jardine had very close connections to Robert Fleming & Co and together they owned a third banking entity, Jardine Fleming Bank. Obviously the Scottish connection stands out here, as does the author of the Bond books, Ian Fleming, who's father Valentine Fleming was the grandson of wealthy Scottish banker, Robert Fleming, founder of Robert Fleming & co, merchant bankers.

So perhaps Ian Fleming in writing about Spectre was speaking about old family business?