If they don't work, holders of American and Western European securities may find themselves if they are worth the paper they're printed on.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Indeed, given the current dearth of creditworthy sovereign borrowers elsewhere in the world, due to the ravages of the international debt crisis, Western bankers and securities firms continue to offer Moscow more borrowing opportunities than the USSR needs.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: US Trade Relations with The USSR and Eastern Europe

That has led to a scramble as more Western banks set up securities joint ventures.

WSJ: China's Rarest Bankers: 'Sponsors'

This appetite for safe securities encouraged Western banks to create synthetic, AAA assets that later turned toxic, with ruinous results.

ECONOMIST: China��s capital controls

The ability to recruit a large new group of Western lenders (e.g. securities firms, pension funds, insurance companies, corporations and even individuals).

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

But compared with Western banks, which hold lots of esoteric securities, its assets are skewed towards bonds and paper that can be used as collateral to borrow from the Central Bank, lowering funding risk.

ECONOMIST: Finance after the crisis: Pactual

The NCUA claims that the sale of those securities brought down the now-failed U.S. Central and Western Corporate federal credit unions.

FORBES: Goldman Sachs Is The Latest Firm On U.S. Regulator's Hit List