Whether one believes this Soviet disclaimer or not, the reality is that the Germans have become the aggressive syndicators of a Soviet debt bail-out scheme drawing on other Western governments and financial institutions.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center for Security Policy | Read The President��s Lips: ��No U.S. Taxpayer Aid To Gorbachev��

But getting this scheme off the drawing board will not be straightforward.

BBC: Rhyl attractions revamp plan takes step forward

"Fifty-seven other scheme users cannot meet the tax demand, even if they were to sell all of their assets including their family home, " Mr Huitson's barrister claimed, drawing on a small survey of the scheme's users.

BBC: Offshore tax avoiders face ?100m tax bill

But that is one scheme, which it has taken him a decade to get off the drawing board.

BBC: Brazil: No reverso

In 1967, an International Monetary Fund meeting in Rio de Janeiro reached agreement on a scheme for the creation of a new international monetary unit, the Special Drawing Right.

CNN: Monday,

Under a pilot scheme due to begin next autumn, heads will be invited to inspect each other's schools, drawing on their knowledge of school management and leadership in a new kind of peer-review system.

BBC: Schools 'struggling to recruit head teachers'