new world order

World anti-doping agency wants a larger budget from national governments

"In the wake of the Armstrong scandal, which saw the Texan stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned from the sport for life, anti-doping agencies had to work more closely with the pharmaceutical industry. One way that the industry had helped so far was by making available to WADA samples of certain medications not yet available to the wider public to help develop tests more quickly and effectively when they are adapted for illegal use in sport. Rogge, however, said that sport also needed to enlist the support of law enforcement agencies to fight against doping, given that it frequently had links to 'other forms of corruption'." Continue reading →

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The “Essential” Role of Tax Havens

"So-called tax havens are necessary to restrain the compulsive tendency of 'onshore' politicians to over-tax and over-spend. For all intents and purposes, the existence of tax havens makes tax competition more robust. And we need vigorous tax competition because politicians – without some sort of external constraint – will drive their nations into Greek-style fiscal chaos. The real outrage in this issue is that American taxpayers are subsidizing the international bureaucracy [the OECD] that is trying to kill tax competition. So if Republicans on Capitol Hill are looking for some much-needed budget cuts, that’s a good place to start." Continue reading →

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Directed History: A Fact of Life?

"Last Wednesday, just before Angela Merkel flew to London to tell David Cameron how desperately she wants Britain to stay in the EU, she told the European Parliament: 'Of course the European Commission will one day become a government, the European Council a second chamber and the European Parliament will have more powers – but for now we have to focus on the euro and give people a little more time to come along.' In other words, the EU is still on track to become precisely that 'government of Europe' that Jacques Delors was boasting about in 1989 (to which Mrs Thatcher famously responded 'No, no, no')." Continue reading →

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EU suspends aircraft emissions trading rules

"The European Union has agreed to suspend its rules that require airlines flying to and from airports in the EU to pay for their carbon emissions. The rules had been unpopular with countries outside Europe such as the US, China and India. Climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard said she had proposed 'stopping the clock for one year'. The EU brought in the Emissions Trading Scheme on 1 January. India and China have been among the most vocal opponents of the ETS, with India banning its airlines from complying with it in April." Continue reading →

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Interpol elects French woman as first female president

"Ballestrazzi, 58, became a police commissioner in France in 1975 and was already vice-president for Europe on Interpol’s executive committee. French Interior Minister Manuel Valls, who attended the Interpol assembly earlier this week, said Ballestrazzi was 'a great police woman'. Valls said her experience with organised crime would serve her well in fighting drug trafficking, mafias from southern and eastern Europe as well as growing political violence that requires a coordinated international response." Continue reading →

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Not a US person? Prove it!

"Please forgive me if this whole affair reminds me of another attempt to round up people of a certain ethnicity. The vast majority of Canadians won’t be able to prove that their parents and grandparents are not Americans nor that they are not holders of Green Cards. Perhaps, the absence of 'the property of the USA' tush tattoo would convince the CBA. But then the banks will have to become like the TSA." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNot a US person? Prove it!

Fed delays Basel III bank capital buffer rules

"U.S. regulators on Friday delayed the effective date of a global agreement on greater bank capital buffers reached in response to the financial crisis of 2008. The rule delay could help big banks such as J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. who must ultimately comply with the rules, as well as smaller banks who also will have to meet the requirements. The largest 19 U.S. bank holding companies would have a capital shortfall of $50 billion, if the Basel III capital buffer rules proposed Thursday were to be made effective immediately, a Fed official said in June." Continue reading →

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Greeks clash with riot police as politicans pass austerity measures

"Conservative and socialist lawmakers from Greece's three-party coalition government voted to adopt the €18.5bn budget cuts by 2016 despite protests earlier in the day by more than 70.000 people who massed outside the parliament. Violent protesters threw fire bombs and rocks at police, who responded with stun grenades, tear gas and the first use of water cannon in Greece in years. Inside the building, lawmakers interrupted the debate as Parliament employees went on strike to protest wage cuts. Pasok leader Evangelos Venizelos announced that five of his party's deputies who voted against the measures were expelled from the party." Continue reading →

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Gen. Mark S. Martins on Gitmo Military Commissions: “The Will of Our People!”

"It may not be surprising or any sort of revelation — it’s pretty well known that temporary measures taken by the state have a way of staying permanent, after all — but to hear a government official basically come right out and admit that they’re creating a shadow legal system is still amazing to me." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGen. Mark S. Martins on Gitmo Military Commissions: “The Will of Our People!”