I haven't read much of what OP has wrote and I haven't read this entire thread yet, but I know what he is talking about.
Lately I had just assumed it was actually MTGOX doing it,
needing a way to grab bitomat without any loss to themselves.
Whoever it is if it isn't MTGox, they definitely know who it is.
If MtGox was manipulating the price as suggested, wouldn't they manipulate it to go higher? They make a cut from every trade, and it seems obvious they would let the public bots play at a higher price as that delivers higher income.
If there truly is one manipulator pulling and pushing the market then it's even more alarming than I would have imagined. The market would essentially be paper thin with no support against a complete collapse due to a lack of natural price support.