October 28, 2008 (LPAC)--HSBC, the British bank, took out a full-page ad in The New York Times Magazine featuring a large, ugly rat--three pictures of the rat, actually, each with one of the words "free-speech", "camaraderie" and "clout" superimposed. We're not sure exactly what message HSBC is trying to convey here, but given the nasty nature of the bank, we suspect they are both bragging and issuing a threat.

HSBC Holdings plc is the holding company which arose from the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, the notorious flagship bank of the British East India Company's opium trade. The Hong Shang, as it was known, became perhaps the most powerful bank in the world, thanks to the extraordinary profits it has reaped from the opium trade.

Spreading misery for profit is the primary business of the Brutish Empire, so we can only presume that the ugly, aggressive, red-eyed, sharp-toothed rat in the HSBC ad reflects the oligarchs' intent in the coming period. You want free speech, camaraderie and clout? Well, we rats of the empire are going to destroy your free speech, your camaraderie and your clout, and then we're going to destroy you.

Back in May, the Bank of England's Mervyn King warned that "the nice decade is behind us," and now HSBC is issuing a warning of its own. As the financial crisis spins out of control, the imperial rats are being unleashed to spread chaos around the globe.