Sandra Finley

2016-03-31 Prof. Stiglitz Ottawa U talk warning Canada to reject TPP [ Links to talk + media references [from Conference “Making Sense of the TPP]

 Corporatocracy or Democracy or Administrative State or WHAT?  No Responses »
Apr 122016
 

Many thanks to Janet.

Dear All:

 

Last Friday  I attended the excellent TPP Conference Making Sense of the TPP  held at the University of Ottawa and co-sponsored by the Canadian Writer’s Association, two Departments at Ottawa U and the national Trade Justice Network [of which I am a member], The list of  stellar speakers is  noted below in a posting from Scott Sinclair of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives which provides links to  the video coverage of the entire event on CCPA’s website.

 

All the presentations together in one day provided a useful overview of the magnitude of the issues and threats to democracy, the environment, climate change, health care, human rights, the economy, jobs, etc that come with this mega- trade agreement but what made the day all the more useful for activists trying to stop the TPP was a masterful  keynote presentation by world renowned Nobel Laureate Economist  Professor Joseph Stiglitz  with his repeated and convincing warnings to  the Canadian government not to ratify the TPP.

 

I also include media coverage of Professor Stiglitz  visit with one 6 minute interview in which  he makes the case for Canada not to ratify the TPP in an interview with Dianne Buckner of CBC’s The Exchange:

 

Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz says Canada should reject TPP

The Columbia University professor says the TPP deal is flawed and pro-big business.

http://www.thestar.com/business/2016/04/01/nobel-laureate-joseph-stiglitz-says-canada-should-reject-tpp.html

 

TPP ‘worst trade deal ever,’ says Nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz

Trans-Pacific Partnership should be revised to advance interests of citizens, not corporations, he says

CBC News Posted: Mar 31, 2016 8:45 PM ET Last Updated: Apr 01, 2016 4:51 PM ET

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/joseph-stiglitz-tpp-1.3515452

Video talk embedded 6:45 minutes  [Good interview with Buckner where he advises Canada not to sign but to renegotiate]

 

Nobel laureate Stiglitz says Canada should reject TPP

https://ipolitics.ca/2016/04/01/nobel-laureate-stiglitz-says-canada-should-reject-tpp/

 

Joseph Stiglitz To Canada: Stay Away From Flawed, Pro-Big Business TPP

CP  |  By The Canadian Press

Posted: 04/01/2016 2:06 pm EDT Updated: 04/01/2016 2:59 pm EDT

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/04/01/nobel-laureate-says-canada-should-shun-tpp-as-flawed-and-pro-big-business_n_9593206.html

[Embedded video with Stiglitz speaking about issues with GDP and his work with the OECD to develop an alternative.]

 

fyi- janet

 

The video of the Making Sense of the TPP event held at the University of Ottawa on April 1 is available at: https://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/updates/what%E2%80%99s-big-deal-understanding-trans-pacific-partnership .

 

It includes the keynote address by Nobel-prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz .

[ Note Professor Stiglitz keynote is at the very beginning of the afternoon session]

 

The morning panel included:

  • Gus Van Harten, Associate Professor – Osgoode Hall Law School – “Who has benefited financially from special privileges in the TPP for foreign investors in ISDS?”
  • Meghan Sali, Digital Rights Specialist, Open Media “IP, copyright and Canada’s digital future”
  • Scott Sinclair, Senior Researcher, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Trade and Investment Project “Democratic deficit: the TPP’s questionable legitimacy”The afternoon panel included:
  • Professor Ron Labonte , Canada Research Chair Globalization and Health Equity and Ashley Schram “The TPP and health. Few gains, some losses and many risks”
  • Jeronim Capaldo, Research Fellow Global Development and the Environment, Tufts University “Unemployment, Inequality and other Risks in the TPP”
  • Steven Shrybman, Goldblatt Partners “Does the TPP really advance labour rights?”
  • Pia Eberhardt, Researcher and Campaigner, Corporate Europe Observatory “Why are Europeans concerned about TPP’s little brother, the CETA?”This event was hosted by the Trade Justice Network, CWA/SCA Canada, and the University of Ottawa’s School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, and The School of International Development Studies.

2016-04-09 Update GPC apr debra

 X1B Postings  No Responses »
Apr 092016
 

From: Sandra Finley  Sent: April 9, 2016 10:05 PM   To: DebraGrnFedLdr Eindiguer    Subject: Update RE Court case, Ashu Solo

 

Hi Debra,

Ashu has renewed email launches on the Greens in Saskatoon and in Ottawa.

Will you mind forwarding this update on the Court Case to a few key people in the Ottawa structure?

It may be helpful for them to know that the court case is moving ahead  (Ashu filed a suit against me).

The update has been sent to those most affected in Saskatoon.

All the best,

Sandra (Finley)

 

FOR YOUR INFORMATION, PROGRESS ON THE COURT CASE

 

Ashu Solo filed Claims mostly alleging defamation.

The Court has received Statements of Defence from the co-defendants (Sandra Finley and LFC blog-hosting service).

 

Ashu subsequently filed a “Demand for Details”.

Response was filed yesterday (April 8).

 

In my view, his strategy has been use of the justice system to intimidate and coerce people.

He is deliberately running up my legal bills, thinking that I will capitulate.

A sane person probably would!

 

Some of the “Details” demanded by Ashu are for date, time, name re the threats he has made to sue other people if they don’t do what he demands of them.

(The silly part of his demands is that he is the author/sender of the details – – he already has them!)

 

But Ashu does not know how many examples of his threats against other people have been forwarded to me.

He can only fish for more information.

 

The problem for him is that judges take a dim view of using the threat of the justice system to coerce people.

The collection of examples shows that that is what he is doing.

 

In this preliminary stage, a general statement is made – – i.e. “This is what we will be showing in Court”.

The details come out in Court.  His  Demand for those details is inappropriate at this stage.

 

Maybe the latest volley of emails to people in Saskatoon is triggered by fear.

Maybe he is starting to realize that he is in more trouble than he thought.

But I have been wrong before on the subject of Ashu Solo!

 

The case is almost ready to proceed to the next step, mandatory Mediation.

 

APPENDED:   the reason I give to myself for staying the course.  The cost is ridiculous.  The cause is not.

 

I will let you know what comes.

Best wishes,

Sandra

 

APPENDED:    excerpt

It is important to find ways to deal with cyberbullying.   Alternatively, people will find their own means.  Those means will be outside the Justice System;  they will involve violence.  Civil litigation is completely ineffective in this realm.

Civil litigation is for the wealthy and a few people like myself who believe that Charter Rights have to be defended at all costs.  We must stand in solidarity with others who have defended the right to free speech at huge personal cost, and with their lives and the lives of their family members on the line.

Reference publication of the “Satanic Verses” in 1989 by Salman Rushdie.  The Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie.   “Joseph Anton: A Memoir” by Rushdie documents the refusal of himself, a handful of publishers and a few others to bow.

Their sole motivation was that they understood that free speech must be an inviolable right.   With responsibilities, yes, but not to be abandoned out of fear.

 

 

 

2016-04-08 Finley to lawyer detail 2

 X1B Postings  No Responses »
Apr 082016
 

From: Sandra Finley Sent: April 8, 2016 12:02 AM  To: ‘Samuel Edmondson’   Subject: RE: Response to Request for Details, #2, March 2016

 

Well done,  Samuel.

Thanks.

Regarding the Posts to F/B.

Searched through more computer files to see if I could find copies.

Found two things that might be helpful.

  1. Daeran Gall responded to the S’toon Police on July 28th, 2015  with the appended invective authored by Ashu on F/B.  Daeran starts with “Some highlights”  (a few worst examples).   And then supplies details (content, date and time).

2.  Tonia Zimmerman sent me some screen captures of F/B postings between Ashu, and people I don’t know – – a high school student and the student’s Aunt.   The ones I read showed a deteriorating relationship.  Starts between the young woman and Ashu.  Goes bad.  The Aunt steps in telling that in the beginning she supported Ashu’s efforts.  But after seeing this other side of him (turns quickly to anger, etc.)  she has changed her mind.  And then repeated requests by the Aunt that Ashu stop messaging her.  Basically, it’s more evidence of Ashu’s behaviour (the student said things she should not have said, too)  but look at the age difference.   I mention it because it’s F/B based.

I posted material that may be useful at the next stage.  But did not “publish” it.  Left it in draft form, under contrived titles, and under its own category. (Ashu watches my blog like a hawk for new postings.)

It gives me a headache when I look at how much more there is that helps tell the story, things I had forgotten.  Careful consideration by a small group, of John Gormley’s request that I go on his show to be interviewed about Ashu.   Recent research on Ashu’s partner in the (??) academic field, Hamid Arabnia.  And so on.

Good night!

Sandra

APPENDED, DAERAN TO S’TOON CITY POLICE

 

From: Daeran Gall   Sent: September 30, 2015 6:58 PM To: Sandra Finley  Subject: Fwd: Complaint

———- Forwarded message ———- From: Daeran Gall   Date: Tue, Jul 28, 2015 at 3:47 PM   Subject: Re: Complaint To: “Baron, Dennis (Police)” <Dennis.Baron  AT  police.saskatoon.sk.ca>

Events of Saturday, June 27, 2015 Ashu had been sending me many many messages of a violent and malicious nature, sometimes several per day via Facebook prior to the event at on June 27. He apparently hates  me because I do not condone his actions and defend Sandra Finely. I used to at least try to listen to him, and was in many ways the only person who would. It is probable he considered me a friend who betrayed him.

I even considered not going to the event knowing that he would likely be there.

He had really stepped up the messaging prior to the event as if warning me that he would be. I decided not to be intimidated by him and went. Upon seeing him at the event, he came up to me with a file folder and I just told him to stay away from me. Upon the ending of the event he again came up to me with an angry voice and threatening manner with his file folder.

I feel his threatening manner and endless years long emails and posts would only just escalate if I gave him any more consideration. So I pushed him with some force away from me and told him to “leave me the fuck alone” in a stern tone, and I walked away. He followed with taunts and accusations. I felt at this point the best thing I could do was leave. So I did. I am sorry for not responding to this earlier, but this man has already taken up far too much space and time in my life. I feel he is has some sort of persecution complex that distorts his perception of reality. I used to try to listen to him, to be someone who would try to understand. However anyone who does not see he does is classified as ‘enemy’. It seems he believes that he is being persecuted by a conspiring lot of people who spread defamatory lies about him, when in fact he is very likely the one that put up a fake web site in the name of Tonia Zimmerman.

His actions are difficult to fathom, however at the event I decided I had had enough, I no longer can let the fact that he likely has some sort of mental illness illicit anymore compassion for his endless crusade of revenge. He disrupts meetings, behaves in a very threatening and aggressive manner and should have a restraint placed upon him for future events in my opinion. Here is some of the Facebook messaging from prior to the meeting, I stopped long ago reading emails from him. I offered to meet and yet again ‘hear him out’ but decided against it. >>> Daeran Gall

<daerangall@gmail.com>Jun 25

to Ashu you wanna meet.

You have left a large amount of violent and aggressive messages in my FB. Which i no longer read at all.

IF and only if you stick to the point.

Time and place of meeting.

And we can find a time i suppose next week.

But if you lay down anymore derogatory or violently toned emailed, I don’t even know why i would bother.

I don’t respond to spam or junk mail.

 

Some highlights from Ashu’s stream of Facebook posts. “nobody was posting lies about you all over the internet nobody contacted the green parties with lies about you”

“you may fantasize about flowers and rainbows, but real men fantasize about violence”

 

“i fantasize about violenc

*violence

ain’t nothing wrong with that

that’s what a military officer does

you pathetic civilian coward” “the only way i fantasize about banging her is in the face with punches & kicks

she’s lucky i’m a law abiding citizen” in Reference to someone named “Tonia Zimmerman” when I suggested that he sounded like someone in a lover’s quarrel.

 

Ashu M. G. Solo

You’re (i.e. Daeran is)  despised in the provincial Green Party for being a bootlicker to Finley and for promulgating lies about me You called Finley a “powerful woman.”  She doesn’t look so powerful now that she’s paying a lawyer $300 per hour to defend herself. You’re the biggest hypocrite and idiot ever.  You think because of the Christmas message case, everyone should be able to spread lies about me without consequences including Finley. Finley’s bootlickers including you are despised in the provincial Green Party And you’re one of her bootlickers You raised such an uproar over a truthful blog about Zimmerman and then you threaten to post a libelous blog on me, you hypocritical piece of trash.

6/15, 9:59am Ashu M. G. Solo

I don’t give a damn about people insulting me or making racist comments about me, but nobody is gonna post defamatory lies about me and get away with it not even you you may not give a damn about your reputation ..but i sure as hell do and i’m gonna protect it with everything i got and i got a lot. you had the audacity to compare a little criticism over your fluoride cause to what zimmerman and finley do nobody was posting lies about you all over the internet nobody contacted the green parties with lies about you you moron nobody put up 52 blog posts (286 pages when printed out) full of lies about you like finley did to me, you hypocritical piece of waste what you need is a brain transplant if you’re above the actions of your friends, find new friends, not that they’re your friends anyway

6/15, 10:33am Daeran Gall

maybe you want to meet in person, Ashu.

June 20 6/20, 3:19am Ashu M. G. Solo

Okay, let’s meet and I’ll show you some of Finley’s lies I see you’ve been talking to Finley again Finley’s posting of your lies about me made you much more liable for damages Your defense of Finley, you’re thinking that people can lie about me without consequences just because I filed a civil rights case, and your lying about me show what a piece of excrement you really are I’ll let you know when I’m free to meet

6/20, 5:56am Ashu M. G. Solo

You’re also a piece of excrement for your hypocrisy in thinking it’s fine for Finley and the person using the fake name of Zimmerman to spread lies about me and you to spread lies about me, but not for me to tell the truth about you doing this And you’re a piece of excrement for threatening to put up a website about me And you’re a piece excrement for taking a quote out of context which doesn’t even have anything wrong with it you may fantasize about flowers and rainbows, but real men fantasize about violence you’re a backstabber you pretend to be people’s friends and then stab them behind their back and you’re a bootlicker to finley i think u wanna bang her

June 20 6/20, 11:03am Ashu M. G. Solo

what a disgusting thought you’re also a piece of excrement for causing such an uproar over a blog about a person using the fake name of zimmerman, but not giving a damn about your buddy finley making over 150 defamatory statements about me and you’re a piece of excrement for thinking that a blog about zimmerman would harm the green party, but not thinking that finley posting all of our arguments in the EDA on her blog would harm the green party

6/20, 11:19am Ashu M. G. Solo

and you’re a piece of excrement for not causing an uproar about that do you want finley to be your mother or something? do you wanna bang her/ or are you just a complete brainless idiot? besides being a piece of excrement

6/20, 11:31am Ashu M. G. Solo

look in the mirror at what a piece of excrement you are

6/20, 11:39am Ashu M. G. Solo

i’m gonna sue you, you son of a bitch like i’m suing your friend finley she thought i was bluffing about suing her ask her how much she has blown on legal fees now you’re gonna live a life in poverty like she will when i’m done suing her i doubt if you have any property cuz your green buddies said you’re a homeless bum, but i’ll get your future wages garnished for the rest of your pathetic life

6/20, 11:45am Ashu M. G. Solo

you pretend to be people’s friends and then stab them in the back you goddamned backstabber

6/20, 4:05pm Ashu M. G. Solo

HILARIOUS YOU THINK THE GREENS ARE YOUR FRIENDS WHEN THEY INSULT YOU BEHIND YOUR BACK AND YOU INSULTED THE TWO GREENS WITH HONOR AND INTEGRITY WHO DEFENDED YOU UNTIL YOU STARTED SPREADING LIES ABOUT ME. YOU’RE GONNA SPEND THE REST OF YOUR LIFE WORKING TO PAY OFF THE DEBT YOU’LL HAVE TO ME AFTER I GET A JUDGMENT AGAINST YOU.  WAIT AND SEE. IT JUST TAKES TIME TO GET IT ALL FILED.  DOESN’T MEAN YOU AREN’T GONNA GET THE STATEMENT OF CLAIM.  ASK FINLEY.  SHE DIDN’T THINK SHE’D GET ONE TOO.  SHE WAS THE TOP PRIORITY TO SUE, BUT I’M GONNA SUE YOU TOO.

June 20  6/20, 8:40pm Ashu M. G. Solo

YOU’RE A TRULY DESPICABLE PIECE OF EXCREMENT I’M GONNA GET YOU THROWN OUT OF THE GPS BUT I’LL COPY YOU ON THE EMAILS BECAUSE UNLIKE YOU, I DON’T TALK BEHIND PEOPLE’S BACKS YOU PIECE OF EXCREMENT

6/20, 9:19pm Ashu M. G. Solo

NOBODY WILL GET AWAY WITH SPREADING LIES ABOUT ME DID YOU HEAR THAT, GALL I’LL SUE EVERYONE JUST WAIT FOR IT, GALL

June 21 6/21, 4:25am Ashu M. G. Solo

YOU’RE ALSO A PIECE OF EXCREMENT FOR BEING A BIGOT TOWARD VETERANS

6/21, 7:23am Ashu M. G. Solo

DID YOU KNOW THAT YOUR BUDDY FINLEY POSTED THE EMAIL MENTIONING YOUR ORIENTATION ON HER BLOG

June 21 6/21, 6:12pm Ashu M. G. Solo

DEFAMING PEOPLE IS ALL ONE BIG JOKE TO YOU, YOU PIECE OF EXCREMENT WE’LL SEE HOW MUCH OF A JOKE YOU THINK IT IS IN COURT, YOU PIECE OF EXCREMENT I HATE YOUR GODDAMNED GUTS

June 23 6/23, 3:18pm Ashu M. G. Solo

YOU’RE PROBABLY THE STUPIDEST PERSON I’VE EVER COME ACROSS AND I’M NOT EXAGGERATING WHEN I SAY THAT YOU HAVE NO COMMON SENSE OR STREET SMARTS YOU’RE AN IMBECILE WHO THINKS LIES ABOUT ME BY AN INDIVIDUAL USING A FAKE NAME CAN HARM THE GREEN PARTY, BUT DON’T THINK LIES BY FINLEY OR HER POSTING ALL OF OUR ARGUMENTS ON OUR BLOG CAN HARM THE GREEN PARTY YOU’RE A HYPOCRITE WHO CAUSES SUCH AN UPROAR ABOUT THE FORMER, BUT LICKS FINLEY’S BOOTS OVER THE LATTER YOU’RE JUST A PIECE OF EXCREMENT GO TO HELL YOU GODDAMNED PIECE OF EXCREMENT, YOU WERE CLAIMING AT AN EDA MEETING THAT I WAS CAUSING TROUBLE WHEN YOU AND FINLEY WERE CAUSING IT GO TO HELL I’M GONNA SEE YOU IN CIVIL COURT, YOU PIECE OF EXCREMENT

6/23, 3:58pm Ashu M. G. Solo

YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE ANY DEFENSE FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR ACTIONS CUZ YOU KNOW YOU’RE DEAD WRONG AND A GODDAMNED HYPOCRITE

June 24 6/24, 3:18pm Ashu M. G. Solo

YOU BRAINLESS PIECE OF EXCREMENT, THERE WERE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE MAKING RACIST & BIGOTED COMMENTS TOWARD ME AND INSULTING ME AND CRITICIZING ME.  WHY WOULD I SINGLE OUT ZIMMERMAN FOR LEGAL ACTION?  CUZ SHE & FINLEY TOOK THINGS INFINITELY FURTHER BY POSTING LIES?  YOU SAW ON ZIMMERMAN’S TIMELINE THAT SHE WAS POSTING LIES.  YOU DIDN’T SEE THE LIES SHE POSTED ON STARPHOENIX ARTICLE COMMENTS, TWITTER, AND SENT TO THE MEDIA, YOU IMBECILE

6/24, 3:18pm >>>

Daeran Gall <daerangall@gmail.com>  Jun 25

to Ashu You have left a large amount of violent and aggressive messages in my FB. Which i no longer read at all. IF and only if you stick to the point.

Time and place of meeting.

And we can find a time i suppose next week.

But if you lay down anymore derogatory or violently toned emailed, I don’t even know why i would bother.

I don’t respond to spam or junk mail.

Ashu M. G. Solo

YOU GOT THE BRAINS OF A MONKEY, GALL YOU REALLY DO

June 25 6/25, 10:13am Ashu M. G. Solo

LET’S MEET TOMORROW EVENING, GALL AT THE LIBRARY AT 6:00 PM IS THAT OKAY WITH YOU? I’LL SHOW YOU SOME OF FINLEY’S LIES

June 25 6/25, 2:21pm Ashu M. G. Solo

WHAT TIME DO YOU WANT TO MEET TOMORROW EVENING, GALLSTONE? WE CAN MEET AT THE PUBLIC LIBRARY DOWNTOWN WHERE THE GPC EVENTS WERE

On Sun, Jun 28, 2015 at 4:59 PM, Baron, Dennis (Police) <Dennis.Baron  AT   police.saskatoon.sk.ca> wrote:

Good day,

I have received a complaint of an assault from Ashu SOLO. I’m looking for a phone number for you so we can talk about this.

Please contact me back by email with a phone number and I will try to call you as soon as I can.

Thanks,

Cst. Dennis BARON #704 Saskatoon Police Service

“A” Platoon Patrol

Phone: (306) 975-8300

Fax: (306)975-8359

dennis.baron m   AT   police.saskatoon.sk.ca

= = = = = = = = = = = =  = =

From: Samuel Edmondson   Sent: April 7, 2016 1:24 PM  To: Sandra Finley  Cc: Grant Scharfstein>; Chelsey Kuspira   Subject: Re: Your File

Sandra,

I’ve prepared a draft reply to undertakings which provides as little new information as I think can be justified (per your most recent e-mail).  There is, however, a risk in not providing further particulars  that they bring an application and we have to argue in Court about what should, and should not be disclosed as particulars and what may be more appropriately dealt with in the ordinary course of litigation.

If I did not provide the depth of information that I have in response to (i), in my view it is very likely that a Court would order that the information be provided, or that paragraphs 17 and 18 be struck from your Statement of Defence.  These paragraphs are key facts in substantiating information and belief in relation to certain of the allegedly defamatory statements, and the truth of some of the published statements, so it is important that they remain in the Statement of Defence.

Let me know your thoughts.

Yours truly,

Samuel W. Edmondson

2016-04-05 Panama Papers, from Amy Goodman, Democracy Now. Interview with the journalists who orchestrated the leak.

 Freedom of Speech. (Remove some wrong postings from category), Occupy Movement  No Responses »
Apr 052016
 

Amy Goodman, Democracy Now – – great coverage, as usual.

With thanks to Elaine for bringing to attention.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

  1.  Panama Papers: World Leaders from Iceland to Argentina Exposed in Massive Tax Evasion Scheme

http://www.democracynow.org/2016/4/5/panama_papers_world_leaders_rich_criminals?utm_source=Democracy+Now%21&utm_campaign=c24bef489b-Daily_Digest&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fa2346a853-c24bef489b-191067101

“The biggest leak in the history of data journalism just went live, and it’s about corruption.” That is what NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden tweeted about the … Read More →

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

 

2.         Did Bernie Sanders Predict the Panama Papers When He Opposed Clinton-Backed U.S.-Panama Trade Deal?

http://www.democracynow.org/2016/4/5/did_bernie_sanders_predict_the_panama?utm_source=Democracy+Now%21&utm_campaign=c24bef489b-Daily_Digest&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fa2346a853-c24bef489b-191067101

The Panama Papers leak, that reveals how the rich and powerful rely on a secretive law firm to hide their wealth in tax havens, has drawn attention to a 2011 speech by … Read More →

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

 

3.         Panama Papers’ Reporters Explain How the Biggest Leak in Data Journalism’s History Materialized

http://www.democracynow.org/2016/4/5/panama_papers_reporters_explain_how_the?utm_source=Democracy+Now%21&utm_campaign=c24bef489b-Daily_Digest&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fa2346a853-c24bef489b-191067101

Hundreds of journalists around the world pored over the 11.5 million files leaked last year by an anonymous source that reveal how the rich and powerful in numerous … Read More →

2016-04-04 The Panama Papers: world reacts to huge offshore tax files leak, The Guardian. (Has links to related postings)

 Freedom of Speech. (Remove some wrong postings from category), Occupy Movement  6 Responses »
Apr 042016
 

Slow progress on tax havens and offshore banking.   We started following the issue more seriously in June 2013.

In 2015 the CRA report about KPMG Canada sending its clients to offshore tax havens helped heighten awareness that we plebeians are footing the tax bills while the wealthy are doing their share, gorging themselves, enjoying the generosity of the plebes.

Then KA-BOOM!   a huge leak.   Many thanks to a courageous soul who is talked about in – –

 

http://www.theguardian.com/news/live/2016/apr/04/panama-papers-global-reaction-to-huge-leak-of-offshore-tax-files-live

The biggest-ever leak of secret information involves 11m documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. Here’s how the story is being covered around the world.

By Peter Walker and Aisha Gani    – – –  continued below.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –  – – – – – – – – – – – –

RELATED:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, from his letter of Mandate to the Minister of National Revenue:

Invest additional resources to help the CRA crack down on tax evaders and work with international partners to adopt strategies to combat tax avoidance. http://pm.gc.ca/eng/minister-national-revenue-mandate-letter#sthash.EBMEhZH9.dpuf

(Sandra)  Canadians need to be informed and vocal in the international drive to clean things up.  Be relentless in vocalizing support.

Also encouraging: I recall listening to Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, talking with an influential audience in the UK. Carney was very clear on the need and intention to go after offshore banking and tax havens.  (Some of them are offshore the U.K.)   I cannot find the video or any text of such a statement by him.   Will search again when time permits.

The Panama Papers: how the world’s rich and famous hide their money offshore, The Guardian  

*** Important to Canadians:   2016-03-08 Canada Revenue offered amnesty to wealthy KPMG clients in offshore tax ‘sham’, CBC. IMPORTANT VIDEO.  ***

2016-04-05   LeadNow leads the way on ACTION re Panama Papers (Facebook, Twitter)

2016-01-30 Tories (Britain) lobbying to protect Google’s £30bn island tax haven

2015-12-01 Baltasar Garzon considers it crucial that the financial (offshore banking) and arms flows to ISIL be investigated, and he seeks change in law to prosecute global corporations.

2015-11-27 Switzerland sentences tax evasion whistleblower Hervé Falciani to 5 years in prison.  Leaked HSBC client files exposed $255B stashed offshore, including $4B in accounts tied to Canada

2015-11-22   Offshore Banking and ISIS.

2015-09-09 KPMG Offshore sham deceived tax authorities, CRA alleges. Multi-millionaire clients paid virtually no tax in Isle of Man scheme, court documents show

2014-05-02   Canadians’ use of tax havens grows to $170B

2013-06-14   G8 Tax Evasion Proposals: Stephen Harper Blocking Progress On International Deal, Critics Say. Huffington Post

Very Important to understanding:   A Game as Old as Empire.  Video   http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=2128A432935C07DE8A298E6C66234D54

Steven Hiatt leads a discussion on A Game as Old as Empire: The Secret World of Economic Hit Men and the Web of Global Corruption.

The authors tell how multinational corporations, governments, powerful individuals, banks, other financial institutions, and quasi-governmental agencies operate to enrich small elites and corporate coffers while often impoverishing masses of people and creating debt and dependency that economically enslave countries for generations. Editor Steve Hiatt, who has worked as an editor and writer for several Bay Area companies, including Apple Computer, Netscape, Progressive Asset Management, and Stanford Research Institute, talks this evening with two of the book’s contributors, Antonia Juhasz, who writes of “Global Uprising: The Web of Resistance” and Ellen Augustine, who writes on “The Philippines, the World Bank, and the Race to the Bottom” –

 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –  – – – – – – – – – – – –
Now,  continuing – –
The Panama Papers: world reacts to huge offshore tax files leak, The Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/news/live/2016/apr/04/panama-papers-global-reaction-to-huge-leak-of-offshore-tax-files-live

Note:  Go to the URL.   Updates are posted.  Although by today (April 5th), they have not posted re the grilling that David Cameron, Prime Minister of the UK, is taking over his father’s offshore activities since the 1980’s.

Afternoon summary  (April 4)

Here’s a quick summary of reaction so far since the first reports based on the Panama Papers were published by news organisations around the world:

British tax investigators have written to the Guardian and others, seeking the files so they can investigate possible offshore tax evasion.

  • Downing Street has refused to comment on information in the files showing David Cameron’s father, Ian, used offshore techniques to avoid paying UK tax.
  • Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko, faces calls for investigation from MPs following allegations about his offshore dealings.
  • Mossack Fonseca has said it cannot comment on individual cases, but says it is a “responsible member of the global financial and business community” and has broken no laws.

 

We have more reaction from Russia. The Kremlin has dismissed revelations contained in the Panama Papers as “Putinophobia” and said that journalists investigating the Russian president’s financial affairs had “found out little new”.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said the publication of leaked offshore files from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca was designed to “destabilise the situation in Russia ahead of elections”.

The Guardian reveals how Peskov’s wife, Tatiana Navka, a former Olympic ice skater, was the registered beneficial owner of a secret offshore firm. Peskov has denied this.

= = = = = = = = = =   END   = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

2016-03-08 Canada Revenue offered amnesty to wealthy KPMG clients in offshore tax ‘sham’, CBC. IMPORTANT VIDEO.

 Freedom of Speech. (Remove some wrong postings from category), Occupy Movement  No Responses »
Apr 042016
 

Federal authorities demanded secrecy in no-penalty, no-prosecution deal to high net worth Canadians . . .

 

IMPORTANT  go to this CBC  URL:   http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-revenue-kpmg-secret-amnesty-1.3479594

and listen to the mini-doc near the top.   The story of two women the CRA went after is told,  in sharp contrast to the “no-penalty, no-prosecution” confidential deals offered to the very wealthy.

 All you need to do is to share the story with your friends.  Lots of them.  If you mail in an Income Tax Return,  enclose a note to the CRA.  “Taxation isn’t only for middle and low income citizens.  It’s for the wealthy, too. ”  Or, whatever you would like to say.

It would be nice if some CRA employees knew (from the bottom of this posting):  For confidential tips on this story please email investigations@cbc.ca or contact Harvey Cashore at 416-526-4704, or visit CBC Secure Drop to send documents.

BACKGROUND, see:  2016-04-04 The Panama Papers: world reacts to huge offshore tax files leak, The Guardian. (With links to more)

 

By Harvey Cashore, Dave Seglins, Frederic Zalac, Kimberly Ivany, CBC News

The Canada Revenue Agency offered amnesty to multi-millionaire clients caught using what’s been called an offshore tax “sham” on the Isle of Man — a reprieve that was supposed to remain secret and out of the public eye until it was uncovered by a CBC News/Radio-Canada investigation.

CRA tax amnesty

Canada Revenue officials demanded, and offered, secrecy in a no-penalty, no-prosecution deal to high net worth clients of accounting giant KPMG involved in a dodgy offshore tax scheme. (CBC)

The amnesty allows for “high net worth” clients of the accounting giant KPMG to be free from any future civil or criminal prosecution — as well as any penalties or fines — for their involvement in the controversial scheme.

The clients simply had to agree to pay their back taxes and modest interest on these offshore investments, which they had failed to report on their income tax returns.

Documents show that the scheme had attracted at least $130 million.

CBC/Radio-Canada obtained a copy of the confidential nine-page offer, signed on May 1, 2015 by CRA’s manager of offshore compliance, Stephanie Henderson.

It promised KPMG clients that the CRA would not impose any penalties for taxes dodged in a scheme that lasted more than a decade.

The offer was made despite CRA uncovering the KPMG scheme, which had at least 26 wealthy clients each investing a minimum of $5 million using shell companies on the Isle of Man.

Before offering the deal, the tax agency had already assessed huge penalties against a handful of the earliest clients, alleging the scheme was “grossly negligent” and had “intended to deceive” the minister of revenue.

CRA would not discuss any details of the leaked document with CBC News, let alone say how many of the high net worth KPMG clients decided to accept the offer.

But a letter filed in court in September 2015 by a KPMG lawyer stated that 15 clients had “self-identified” to the federal tax authorities. Why they might have come forward remained a mystery until CBC News obtained a copy of the secret agreement.

Ted Gallivan

Ted Gallivan, CRA’s assistant commissioner of compliance, says this case is still ongoing. But he said he had not seen the agency’s amnesty offer to KPMG clients, in particular its confidentiality clause, until CBC showed it to him. (CBC)

A spokesman for Canada Revenue told CBC News that the CRA frequently resolves tax disputes through settlements.

“CRA practice also recognizes that the earliest possible resolution of disputes is in the public interest, as lengthy litigation is costly to all parties and the outcome of complex, tax-related litigation processes may be difficult to predict,” media relations officer Philippe Brideau said in a statement.

  • For confidential tips on this story please email investigations@cbc.ca or contact Harvey Cashore at 416-526-4704

Secret offer ‘outrageous’

CBC showed the secret CRA amnesty offer to a number of tax lawyers.

Toronto tax lawyer Duane Milot, who represents middle-income Canadians in disputes with the CRA, says his clients are routinely dragged through the courts for years by Canada Revenue.

“It’s outrageous,” he told CBC News after reading the leaked document. “The CRA appears to be saying to Canadians, ‘If you’re rich and wealthy, you get a second chance, but if you’re not, you’re stuck.'”

Jonathan Garbutt, a veteran Bay Street tax lawyer says the CRA may be looking to avoid a long, costly court battle with KPMG’s multi-millionaire investors as it lacks resources for these kinds of fights.

Jonathan Garbutt

Bay Street lawyer Jonathan Garbutt says CRA is probably looking to avoid a long, costly battle in this case, given that these are very wealthy investors. (CBC)

“These are much bigger names. These people have money. They can fight, they can afford to hire the best legal defence money can buy,” Garbutt said.

“There’s a lot more money at stake in these bigger cases, and it’s going to cost them more to be able to fight them. So CRA will gladly say thank you very much for the money, and move on to the lower-hanging fruit,” Garbutt said.

Confidentiality clause

Whatever the reason behind the offer, it’s clear the CRA didn’t want anyone else to find out about the amnesty deal.

The leaked document includes the clause CONFIDENTIALITY in capital letters in paragraph 18.

“The taxpayer agrees to ensure the confidentiality of the offer and will not inform any person of the conditions of the offer,” the letter states.

“This doesn’t pass the smell test,” Milot said. “This is exactly the type of government behaviour that erodes the public’s confidence in the system, these type of secret deals. Everybody should be treated equally.”

Duane Milot

Toronto tax lawyer Duane Milot says the Canada Revenue Agency routinely drags his less wealthy clients through the courts for years when there is a dispute, and that there shouldn’t be a double standard. (CBC)

The document is silent on whether KPMG itself will avoid civil or criminal penalties for setting up and selling the Isle of Man arrangement to at least 26 clients.

But experts consulted by CBC News raised concerns that the large accounting firm, with close ties to the federal government, could also be off the hook.

In an on camera interview last Friday, Ted Gallivan, the CRA’s assistant commissioner of compliance, said it would be inappropriate for him to say whether KPMG also was offered amnesty over the offshore scheme.

“The CRA is still actively pursuing this matter, and so I really can’t comment about what decisions we may or may not have made,” he said.

CRA ‘priority’

Gallivan has previously said that going after companies that promote tax avoidance is a priority for the Canada Revenue Agency.

“Right now, we are keeping a close watch on those promoting aggressive programs and taking advantage of them,” he told a parliamentary committee in December 2014.

Five months after these public remarks, however, the CRA’s offshore compliance division sent the secret settlement offer to KPMG.

Gallivan, who became assistant commissioner only seven weeks ago, said he was unaware of the details of the agency’s settlement offer to KPMG. He said he did not know about the CRA-imposed gag order.

“You’ve provided me with written text from a taxpayer specific file, text that I have never read before, and it would be utterly irresponsible of me to comment on something that I’ve never read before out of context,” he told CBC News/Radio-Canada after being shown a copy of his own department’s document.

Media placeholder

CRA’s Ted Gallivan on ‘confidential’ deal1:32

Gallivan says the CRA has a good track record recovering money from offshore tax avoidance schemes, pointing to its voluntary disclosures program, which allows taxpayers to avoid potential criminal or civil penalties in exchange for paying back taxes and interest.

However, tax experts have told CBC News that the KPMG clients should not have been eligible for the voluntary disclosure program because it was the CRA who encouraged them to come forward — and only after it already had those wealthy Canadians on its radar.

Tax experts say the program was designed for taxpayers who, on their own initiative, approach the CRA to pay back taxes.

Otherwise, they say, everyone under investigation would use the program as soon as the CRA starts in on them for evading or avoiding taxes.

KPMG took cut of taxes dodged

The KPMG scheme, which the accounting firm began marketing to wealthy Canadians as far back as 1999, had clients worth more than $5 million use shell companies set up by the accounting firm in the Isle of Man, famous for its corporate secrecy and very low taxes.

KPMG’s internal memos, now part of the court record, show that the scheme was promoted within the firm to all of its Canadian tax practitioners, and that the accounting firm would collect 15 per cent of the taxes dodged.

CRA auditors in Victoria first caught wind of the scheme at least four years ago after conducting an audit of a Victoria-based family.

Auditor Russ Lyon then obtained a judge’s order in early 2013 to force KPMG to hand over the names of the clients involved as well as documents related to the scheme, which authorities alleged was “intended to deceive” the taxman.

KPMG refused to hand over the documents and instead fought the CRA in court, appealing the judge’s order.

KPMG blurb

KPMG Canada is a member firm of KPMG International, which has 155,000 employees working in 155 countries around the world, according to the KPMG Canada website. (KPMG website)

CBC News reported last September that the case against KPMG had been stalled for more than two years as talks went on outside the courtroom.

The secret agreement, leaked to CBC producer Harvey Cashore in a brown envelope, reveals that the amnesty offer was made to these high net worth Canadians even before the CRA knew who they actually were.

The May 1, 2015 offer letter was sent to KPMG and was then passed on to its clients, 15 of whom appeared to accept the offer.

There are believed to be six more high net worth clients whose identities continued to remain a mystery.

The agency says it is now proceeding with the court case to obtain the remaining names.

“I really don’t want to say anything that could jeopardize or hamper our ability to pursue it. I’ll just emphasize that our work is far from done and we intend to pursue this as far as possible,” the CRA Gallivan said.

For confidential tips on this story please email investigations@cbc.ca or contact Harvey Cashore at 416-526-4704, or visit CBC Secure Drop to send documents to the attention of Harvey Cashore.

with files from Katie Pedersen

 

2016-04-02 NAFTA Chapter 11: Tribunal rules against Texas oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens in lawsuit over Ontario wind farms

 Energy, Trade Deals, PPPs, Integration Canada-U.S.  No Responses »
Apr 022016
 
Follow-up on    2015-10-16 Texas Oil Tycoon T. Boone Pickens’ $700-Million NAFTA Lawsuit Against Ontario Nears End, NY Times & Huffington Post

By John Miner, The London Free Press

(Postmedia Network file photo)

(Postmedia Network file photo)

In what sources say was a split decision, the tribunal confirmed Canada complied with its obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The decision left a spokesperson for Ontario Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli boasting that Ontario is a global leader in clean energy development. He said Ontario will continue to work with the federal government as it considers the tribunal’s decision and next steps.

T. Boone Pickens had sued under Chapter 11 of NAFTA, claiming damages of $653 million plus interest after his company, Mesa Power Group LLC, lost out in its bid to build four massive wind farms north of London.

Mesa said it would have spent $1.2 billion in Ontario.

The tribunal, in the decision released Friday, decided Pickens’ company should pay for all of the arbitration costs. It also awarded the Canadian government $2.9 million for legal costs.

Chiarelli’s offiice released a statement welcoming the tribunal’s decision.

“We have attracted new and innovative Ontario-based companies to produce renewable energy in the province, creating 42,000 jobs with more than 30 solar and wind manufacturers operating in Ontario,” the statement said.

In a statement also welcoming the decision, the federal government noted it had worked closely with Ontario throughout the proceedings.

“The Government of Canada welcomed this open and collaborative approach,” the federal statement said.

Mesa, in a statement, said it was disappointed by the tribunal’s decision “not to hold the Government of Ontario accountable for conducting an unfair competition for the awarding of renewable energy contracts under the province’s feed-in tariff (FIT) program in 2011.”

“While we respect the tribunal and its process, we do think they got this one wrong,” said Cole Robertson of Mesa Power.

“We are reviewing the decision, and the dissenting opinion, and will be evaluating our options.”

Mesa said that despite the decision, it looks forward to doing business in Canada.

“Mesa believes that Canada-US energy co-operation continues to be important for both economies,” it said.

In their tribunal submission, lawyers for Pickens alleged his company had been treated unfairly.

“The Mesa story is a story of a secret process, secret deals, arbitrary rules and selective enforcement of those rules in the service of political expediency, rather than public integrity and transparency that the ratepayers of Ontario deserve and that those proponents who would come here should expect,” Mesa lawyer Barry Appleton said in his closing submission to the panel’s three arbitrators at a hearing in Toronto in October 2014.

The lawsuit was launched in 2011 under NAFTA.

It alleged that other wind farm companies, Florida-based NextEra Energy and Korean-based industrial giant Samsung, were given illegal, preferential treatment and inside information that doomed Mesa’s projects.

“It was a cesspool. It was shameful. I feel very badly after seeing what went on here for my fellow Ontarians and the ratepayers of Ontario. They are having to bear the burden of the shameful behaviour,” Appleton said in a transcript from the hearing.

In its response, the Canadian government dismissed the claims, telling the tribunal Mesa failed to win contracts because of sloppy work.

“The claimant’s questions and its allegations this morning have been loaded with innuendo about corruption, about political cronyism, about, in their slide (show), bags of money being paid for favours. Those are serious allegations against government in Canada. They should not be made lightly, and there is no evidence to support them,” Canada’s lead lawyer, Shane Spelliscy, said at the Toronto hearings.

Spelliscy said Mesa’s failures were self-inflicted.

“This is a case which is, as the expression goes, about sour grapes. It is a case about an investor who took a business risk and is unwilling to accept that risk did not pay off,” he said.

2016-04-05 LeadNow leads the way on ACTION re Panama Papers (Facebook, Twitter)

 Freedom of Speech. (Remove some wrong postings from category), Occupy Movement  No Responses »
Apr 012016
 

ACTION on OFFSHORE BANKING? – –   LEADNOW

    2016-04-04   The Panama Papers: world reacts to huge offshore tax files leak, The Guardian. (With links to more))

Dear Sandra,

We have a chance to turn public outrage about the Panama Papers into lasting changes that make sure the super-wealthy pay their fair share. Share the campaigning calling for a comprehensive review of tax loopholes.

 

Yesterday, a global group of investigative journalists released the Panama Papers. It’s a truly unprecedented release of data that exposes the shocking use of offshore tax havens, implicating more than 72 current and former heads of state in corruption and money laundering. The leak also names the Royal Bank of Canada and hundreds of Canadians who have money tucked away in offshore tax havens.[1]

Tax havens and other forms of tax evasion cost Canada billions of dollars every year in lost revenue – billions that could be invested in protecting and strengthening our hospitals, schools, child care, and afforable housing.

Earlier this month, when the KPMG “sham” tax scheme broke, thousands of you called on the government to close tax loopholes and stop tax dodging in the March 22 budget. The budget included nearly half a billion dollars to crack down on tax evasion – congrats! – but there’s more work to do to close tax loopholes.

Right now, because people are paying attention to the Panama Papers, we have a chance to turn public outrage into lasting changes that make sure the super wealthy pay their fair share. We’ve updated the campaign to ask the Parliamentary Finance committee to call KPMG officials to testify, and to carry through with a comprehensive review of tax loopholes. Share on Twitter

Share on Facebook This is the moment to act. At a time when our new government is boldly running a deficit to keep campaign promises and make key investments, the billions we lose to wealthy tax dodgers could go a long way towards improving our fiscal strength while paying for infrastructure and social services.  Thanks for all you do, Amara, on behalf of the Leadnow.ca team

[1] How offshore banking is costing Canada billions of dollars a year: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/04/04/how-offshore-tax-havens-are-costing-canada-billions-of-dollars-a-year.html

Please support the Leadnow.ca community! We’re funded by people like you, and our small, dedicated team and growing community make sure your donation goes a long way. Every dollar helps. You can donate online at http://www.leadnow.ca/en/donate

Leadnow.ca is an independent campaigning community that brings Canadians together to hold government accountable, deepen our democracy and take action for the common good. You can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google+. To contact us, you can reply to this email. This message was sent to sabest1@sasktel.net, because you previously signed on to a Leadnow.ca campaign. If you no longer want to be part of our campaigning community, you can unsubscribe from Leadnow.ca at any time.

Leadnow.ca, PO Box 2091, Stn Terminal, Vancouver, BC, V6B 3T2 — 1‑855‑LEADN0W | 1‑855‑532‑3609

2016-03-24 Chris Hedges, short interview. “We bomb them, they bomb us”, The Real News.

 Bill C-51 Anti-Terrorism, Secret Police, Chris Hedges, Peace or Violence  No Responses »
Apr 012016
 

David posted a comment on my posting: There are two sides to the story. Why do we hear only one?

Not only do I concur, Sandra, so does Christopher Hedges…

Hey!  I am in good company!

Many thanks to David for directing us to the following:

Short interview of Chris Hedges by the Real News

thttp://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=767&Itemid=74&jumival=15970

Chris Hedges, ​Pulitzer prize winning journalist, discusses the Brussels Attacks.

Bio

Chris Hedges, whose column is published Mondays on Truthdig, spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He has reported from more than 50 countries and has worked for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times, for which he was a foreign correspondent for 15 years. He has written nine books, including “Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle” (2009), “I Don’t Believe in Atheists” (2008) and the best-selling “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America” (2008). His book “War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning” (2003) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction.

Transcript

JESSICA DESVARIEUX, TRNN: Welcome to the Real News Network. I’m Jessica Desvarieux in Baltimore.

On Tuesday, March 22, a couple of explosions rocked Brussels Airport, killing 11 people. Another blast struck near the European Union headquarters an hour later, leaving approximately 20 people dead in the Belgian capital. The Islamic State has taken responsibility for the attack, and two of the suicide bombers have now been identified as Belgian nationals.Here to discuss with us the recent attacks in Brussels is our guest, Chris Hedges. He’s a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, and a regular columnist at Truthdig. He’s also the former Middle East bureau chief for the New York Times. Thanks so much for being with us, Chris.

CHRIS HEDGES: Thank you.

DESVARIEUX: So, Chris, this news certainly is dominating headlines right now. And many people are asking themselves, why Brussels?

HEDGES: Well, I think for many of the same reasons we saw the attacks in Paris. You have a large immigrant community that comes out of North Africa, in particular. They tend to be segregated within the society. There’s a heavy degree of racism. High unemployment. There is a struggle for identity, because, for instance, they may have been born in Tunisia or wherever, come to Belgium or France at a young age, but because of the endemic European racism don’t fit in, are not treated as equals. And yet when they go back, you know, they’re looked upon as being French or Belgian.

DESVARIEUX: When you say they’re not treated as equals, can you give us an example?

HEDGES: Well, especially in French society, they’re segregated into [banleus], these horrific Stalinist-type housing projects on the outside of French cities, Leon, Paris, and other places. And unemployment is very high. The majority of the prison population in France is of North African descent.And they are easy prey because of the way European society has treated them. They’re easy prey for these Islamists. Many of them have been adrift. I mean, you actually, most of them don’t come out of religious households. They’re involved in petty crime, and for what I had read of the two suicide bombers at the airport in Belgium, they had a history of petty crime. And then they have this kind of conversion experience where their rage is sanctified. And the rage is legitimate. I mean, they have every reason to be angry at the way they’ve been treated. And that translates into these kinds of attacks. That’s the first thing.The second thing is we have to acknowledge that for the last 13 years in Iraq, 15 years in Afghanistan, we have been bombing these people night and day. We have created millions of refugees, over a million dead in Iraq. And they don’t have an air force. So if you’re bombing Raqqa, as we are continuously, which of course, you know, these 500,000-pound fragmentation bombs are hardly surgical weapons. They can take out, you know, several houses on a city block. So the collateral damage, as we call it, is quite high. So the only way that ISIS can strike back is, essentially, through these kinds of attacks.

DESVARIEUX: And in the aftermath of these kind of attacks, you have folks like Hillary Clinton. She’s come out saying that we need more surveillance. And Ted Cruz, and other nominees. So do you think this type of, sort of knee-jerk responses that we need surveillance, what’s your counter for that?

HEDGES: Well, they’re dealing with the symptom, not the cause. The cause is the U.S. military occupation of the Middle East, and the brutality, and I would even call it state terror, let’s include the terror of drones, has inflicted on huge swathes of the population. And this is a very potent recruiting tool in the hands of groups like ISIS. And the reason that they have expanded to the extent that they have. So violence, our violence, is what created these groups. We go all the way back to the war against the Soviet Union and our empowering of ISIS. You know, we have created these groups.And what you’re, what these political figures are in essence calling for is a tactic, you know, which has contributed tremendously to this kind of terrorism, i.e. violence, as the way we’re going to defeat these groups. It’s just a complete misreading of what’s happening on the ground in the Middle East and how complicit we are in essentially fueling these kind of attacks.

DESVARIEUX: Even surveillance. Drones aside–.HEDGES: Well, look. I mean, you have–part of the reason that this took place in Belgium, although we had, of course, a very large attack in France. But remember, that attack was planned. And I covered al-Qaeda after 9/11. I was based in Paris. And the French, who have a much more sophisticated internal security system than the Belgians, even then, there was an attempt to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Paris. And they broke the plot, but the fertilizer that was being packed inside the truck, it was a car bomb, was in a garage in Belgium.So that’s been a long tradition, because the Belgians are just not as organized in terms of surveillance. And so these groups can operate more freely in Belgium so that they’ll often, you know, going back to many years, they will often plan their attacks, if they’re carrying them out in France, they will plan them and logistically prepare the ground in Belgium.

DESVARIEUX: But couldn’t that be an argument that, that’s why you need more surveillance. You need surveillance [to be] more organized.

HEDGES: Sure, you need surveillance. On the other hand, it isn’t going to stop the attacks. I mean, what is it that’s causing the attacks? And you know, the French have a pretty good surveillance system, and yet they suffered horrific attacks in Paris. And you know, some are going to slip through.The difference between al-Qaeda, and it’s a big difference, and ISIS, is that al-Qaeda had very few foreign fighters, I mean, from outside the Middle East. It was largely a clan-based organization. It didn’t control territory the way ISIS controls Sirte and areas of Libya, parts of Syria and Iraq. And so this, you know, the control of territory has seen an infusion of 20,000-30,000 foreign fighters, 4,000-5,000 of whom carry European passports. And as we continue to, in essence, attempt to break ISIS through aerial bombardment and drones, those kind of things, we’re not attacking them on the ground, that, number one, gives an incentive to ISIS to strike back. But because they have so many people who can integrate back into Europe, it gives them the mechanism to strike back. And that’s what we’re seeing.

DESVARIEUX: And a lot of folks will say, where do you draw the line between surveillance and civil liberties, and what’s–.

HEDGES: Well, you know, we–even when I lived in France it was a police state. Yes, it becomes an excuse to strip us of, you know, what little kind of liberty we have left. We’re all, whether we’re Belgian or French or American or British, all under state surveillance that dwarfs anything ever dreamt of by the Stazi state in East Germany. And these kinds of terrorist attacks, you know, empower the state to take–you know, there’s not much more left that they can take. But to take what’s left, denial of habeus corpus, denial of due process.So yes, it plays to the extreme. Their extreme, our extreme.DESVARIEUX: Okay, Chris Hedges joining us in studio in Baltimore. Thank you so much for being with us.And thank you for joining us on the Real News Network.

End

DISCLAIMER: Please note that transcripts for The Real News Network are typed from a recording of the program. TRNN cannot guarantee their complete accuracy.

 

2016-04-04 How reporters pulled off the Panama Papers, the biggest leak in Whistleblower history. Wired Magazine.

 Daniel Ellsberg, Freedom of Speech. (Remove some wrong postings from category), Occupy Movement  No Responses »
Apr 012016
 

NOTE:  Details, related postings, comments – –  see  2016-04-04 The Panama Papers: world reacts to huge offshore tax files leak, The Guardian

http://www.wired.com/2016/04/reporters-pulled-off-panama-papers-biggest-leak-whistleblower-history/

 

When Daniel Ellsberg photocopied and leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times in 1971, those 7,000 pages of top secret Vietnam War documents represented what was then the biggest whistleblower leak in history—a couple dozen megabytes if it were contained in a modern text file. Almost four decades later, WikiLeaks in 2010 published Cablegate, a world-shaking, 1.73 gigabyte collection of classified State Department communications that was almost a hundred times bigger.

If there’s some Moore’s Law of Leaks, however, it seems to be exponential. Just five years have passed since WikiLeaks’ Cablegate coup, and now the world is grappling with a whistleblower megaleak on a scale never seen before: 2.6 terabytes, well over a thousandfold larger.

On Sunday, more than a hundred media outlets around the world, coordinated by the Washington, DC-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, released stories on the Panama Papers, a gargantuan collection of leaked documents exposing a widespread system of global tax evasion. The leak includes more than 4.8 million emails, 3 million database files, and 2.1 million PDFs from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca that, according to analysis of the leaked documents, appears to specialize in creating shell companies that its clients have used to hide their assets.

“This is pretty much every document from this firm over a 40-year period,” ICIJ director Gerard Ryle told WIRED in a phone call, arguing that at “about 2,000 times larger than the WikiLeaks state department cables,” it’s indeed the biggest leak in history.

The source warned that his or her ‘life is in danger,’ was only willing to communicate via encrypted channels, and refused to meet in person.

Neither the ICIJ nor any of the reporters it’s worked with have made the leaked data public. But the scandal resulting from their reporting has already touched celebrities, athletes, business executives and world leaders. The documents trace $2 billion of hidden money tied to Vladimir Putin through accounts held in the names of family members and his celebrated musician friend Sergei Roldugin. Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson is facing demands from the previous Icelandic prime minister that he resign after the Mossack Fonseca documents showed that Gunnlaugsson may have failed to disclose ownership of a stake in certain Icelandic banks under the government’s rules for officials. And the leaks drag FIFA officials back into the news, showing that even an ethics lawyer for the world soccer body had financial ties to another FIFA official already accused of corruption.

But beyond those revelations—and there will likely be more as the reporting around the Panama Papers continues—the leak represents an unprecedented story in itself: How an anonymous whistleblower was able to spirit out and surreptitiously send journalists a gargantuan collection of files, which were then analyzed by more than 400 reporters in secret over more than a year before a coordinated effort to go public.

How You Coordinate History’s Biggest Leak

The Panama Papers leak began, according to ICIJ director Ryle, in late 2014, when an unknown source reached out to the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, which had reported previously on a smaller leak of Mossack Fonseca files to German government regulators. A Suddeutsche Zeitung reporter named Bastian Obermayer says that the source contacted him via encrypted chat, offering some sort of data intended “to make these crimes public.” But the source warned that his or her “life is in danger,” was only willing to communicate via encrypted channels, and refused to meet in person.

“How much data are we talking about?” Obermayer asked.

“More than you have ever seen,” the source responded, according to Obermayer.

Obermayer tells WIRED he communicated with his source over a series of encrypted channels that they frequently changed, each time deleting all history from their prior exchange. He alludes to crypto apps like Signal and Threema, as well as PGP-encrypted email but declines to say specifically which methods they used. Each time the reporter and source re-established a connection, they would use a known question and answer to reauthenticate each other. “I’d say ‘is it sunny?’ You’d say ‘the moon is raining’ or whatever nonsense, and then both of us can verify it’s still the other person on the device,” Obermayer says.

After seeing a portion of the documents, Suddeutsche Zeitung contacted the ICIJ, which had helped to coordinate previous tax haven megaleaks including a 2013 analysis of leaked offshore tax haven data and another leak-enabled investigation last year that focused on assets protected by the Swiss bank HSBC. ICIJ staff flew to Munich to coordinate with Suddeutsche Zeitung reporters.

Meanwhile, the shipments of leaked data continued piecemeal. “Over time we got more and more until we had all 11.5 million documents,” Ryle says. Obermayer declined to explain how their leaker sent Suddeutsche Zeitung hundreds of gigabytes or even terabytes of information at a time. That’s far too much to send over email, of course, though that quantity of data could easily be sent anonymously in the form of shipped encrypted hard drives. “I learned a lot about making the safe transfer of big files,” Obermayer says elliptically.

We’re not WikiLeaks. We’re trying to show that journalism can be done responsibly. ICIJ Director Gerard Ryle

The ICIJ’s developers then built a two-factor-authentication-protected search engine for the leaked documents, the URL for which they shared via encrypted email with scores of news outlets including the BBC, The Guardian, Fusion, and dozens of foreign-language media outlets. The site even featured a real-time chat system, so that reporters could exchange tips and find translation for documents in languages they couldn’t read. “If you wanted to look into the Brazilian documents, you could find a Brazilian reporter,” says Ryle. “You could see who was awake and working and communicate openly. We encouraged everyone to tell everyone what they were doing.” The different media outlets eventually held their own in-person meetings, too, in Washington, Munich, London, Johannesburg and Lillehammer, Ryle says.1

Remarkably, despite all that broad access and openness, the full leaked database has yet to leak to the public—perhaps in part because it’s so large and unwieldy. Obermayer admits that rumors of the massive leak spread, but says that the data itself remained contained. “Last fall I was really nervous, thinking ‘a lot of people know,’” he says. “Word leaked out at places. But it never got further.”

Ryle says that the media organizations have no plans to release the full dataset, WikiLeaks-style, which he argues would expose the sensitive information of innocent private individuals along with the public figures on which the group’s reporting has focused. “We’re not WikiLeaks. We’re trying to show that journalism can be done responsibly,” Ryle says. He says he advised the reporters from all the participating media outlets to “go crazy, but tell us what’s in the public interest for your country.”

Weeks before contacting the subjects of the investigation, including Mossack Fonseca, Obermayer took one final precaution: he destroyed the phone and the hard drive of the laptop he’d used for his conversations with the source. “This may have seemed a little overachieving,” he notes, “But better safe than sorry.”

He notes that even now, he doesn’t know who the source actually is. “I don’t know the name of the person or the identity of the person,” Obermayer says. “But I would say I know the person. For certain periods I talked to [this person] more than to my wife.”

A New Era of Megaleaks

 

The leaks are bound to cause ripples around the world—not least of all for Mossack Fonseca itself. The firm didn’t respond to a request for comment from WIRED, but it wrote to the Guardian that “many of the circumstances you cite are not and have never been clients of Mossack Fonseca” and that “we have always complied with international protocols … to assure as is reasonably possible, that the companies we incorporate are not being used for tax evasion, money laundering, terrorist finance or other illicit purposes.” Another letter posted to WikiLeaks’ Twitter feed, meanwhile, purports to show how the firm has responded to its own clients:

“Oops” #PanamaPapers

— WikiLeaks (‎@wikileaks) 7:40 PM – 3 Apr 2016

Mossack Fonseca and its customers won’t be the last to face an embarrassing or even incriminating megaleak. Encryption and anonymity tools like Tor have only become more widespread and easy to use, making it safer in some ways than ever before for sources to reach out to journalists across the globe. Data is more easily transferred—and with tools like Onionshare, more easily securely transferred—than ever before. And actual Moore’s Law continues to fit more data on smaller and smaller slices of hardware every year, any of which could be ferreted out of a corporation or government agency by a motivated insider and put in an envelope to a trusted journalist.

The new era of megaleaks is already underway: The Panama Papers represent the fourth tax haven leak coordinated by the ICIJ since just 2013. The Intercept, the investigative journalism outlet co-founded by Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill, has also shown how encryption tools can be combined with investigative journalism to yield leaks like last year’s Drone Papers and a collection of 70 million prison phone call records. Dozens of media outlets, including the Intercept, now host anonymous upload systems that use cryptographic protections to shield whistleblowers. All of that—unfortunately for companies and governments trying to keep hold of their dirty data, but fortunate for public interest—means that the widening pipeline of leaks isn’t likely to dry up any time soon.

1Correction 4/4/2016 11:40am: An earlier version of the story mistakenly stated that Vice News was given access to the Panama Papers.

 

When the government boot is on your throat, whether it is a left boot or a right, is of no consequence. (anon.)

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