What I Learned From The Panama Papers
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The Panama Papers are out and the Panama Papers propaganda is out right along with it. So why does this new mega-leak seemingly only expose those in the State Department crosshairs or expendable others and not a single prominent American politician or businessman? And what does this have to do with the OECD’s plan for a global taxation grid? Find out more in today’s Thought For The Day with James Corbett.
SHOW NOTES:
About the Panama Papers
Süddeutsche Zeitung Panama Papers page
Giant Leak of Offshore Financial Records Exposes Global Array of Crime and Corruption
Panama Papers: The Power Players
Icelandic Prime Minister facing calls to resign over leaked details of offshore company
Iceland PM Refuses To Resign, Faces No Confidence Vote Following “Panama Papers” Scandal
The Panama Papers: Victims of Offshore
How to hide a billion dollars | The Panama Papers
The Economist: Panama Problem Child
OECD Common Reporting Standard
Global Tax Grid, Hemisphere Project, RFID ID – New World Next Week
G20 summit: states chase tax evaders with plan to swap data globally
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Hmmm..No FOREX scandal in Israel (ongoing theft/fraud on massive scale), No non-Icelandiers bankers or politico’s (They sent many bankers to prison-we didn’t), No American crime families (Clinton “Foundation”, Bill & Melinda Gates “Foundation”, Grandfatherly Buffet with his penchant for ice cream cones and Coke, The Bush Patriots nor Blankenfein’s, Diamon’s or Goldman Sachs or JP Morgan executives.
But Russia (Putin) by implication and of course, Assad. Obvious targets for war soon as the populous rejects more war. Who’s enemies are these? Nothing to do with massive finds of oil and natural gas in the Golan Heights (Syria) or Iranian relationship to Russia. Expanding someones ME footprint massively can’t be a motive, would it? Nah.
Nothing to see here other than long time held back “whistle-blowers” clearing their conscience..nothing more. Justice must be done for those who seek rent, I mean self enriching. Nothing seems to change, sadly.
I would also note that this is also a part of fingers being suddenly pointed at the grotesque debauchery of many worldwide wealthy elites (also see underground parties of elite in Paris) and their penchant for extravagant behavior.
Well then, what do these Justice Now warriors expect from us plebs when they keep smacking that hornets nest of envy, disgust and perversion as we struggle to even get by? A reaction is a reasonable assumption and then they can really ratchet up that “security” so we’re all safe once and for all. Privacy and Liberty be damned. I think I saw someone spend a $100 bill.. “See something (including $100 bills), say something”.
Wheres MY piece of cake? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
“I would also note that this is also a part of fingers being suddenly pointed at the grotesque debauchery of many worldwide wealthy elites…and their penchant for extravagant behavior.”
Astute observation! This meme continues to build momentum, with the US establishment and MSM purposely fanning the flames. To what end???
With James’ usual spot on analyses, we can reason an important motive for this “leak” is to shame Panama into signing on with the MCAA tax and earning global database.
Also, we are seeing a methodical effort to get people around the world angry at the greedy political elites and their wealthy business cronies to create support for a new GLOBAL WEALTH TAX. First floated by UK PM Gordon Brown and immediately grabbed onto by Nancy Pelosi in her effort in 2009 to establish a global financial transaction tax; two years ago infamously floated in a Moyers and Krugman televised discussion (citing Piketty’s bestseller Capital); and seemingly another iteration in Bernie’s Wall Street Tax proposal.
A third objective could well be to get everyone disgusted with politics (hence, the current US three ring election circus) such that the world clamors for a NEW system run by experts, aka technocrats, and global organizations.
Is it a coincidence in the last month or so, a piece published on MSNBC written by Maddow’s producer referred to Obama as a “pragmatic Technocrat”? A technocrat is not an elected leader, it’s an antithetical term referring to an authoritarian.
BTW, the chaos in Malaysia with its PM exposed for accepting millions of dollars in what amounts to bribes is a good case in point with the new govt proposed to be composed of Technocrats.
see zerohedge this morning re: Rothchilds and America replacing panama as the new tax haven of choice: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-04-03/mossack-fonseca-nazi-cia-and-nevada-connections-and-why-its-now-rothschilds-turn
Also bloomberg report referred to and quoted in above:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-27/the-world-s-favorite-new-tax-haven-is-the-united-states
I was just going to leave that bloomberg link. I’ve learned so much from all of you. As depressing as it all is – the truth does set you free.
“I’m Penny Parker. You can remember that ’cause it’s got the same letter at the front of each name. That’s important theatrically, you know.”
— Penny Parker, MacGyver, “Every Time She Smiles”
Perhaps a little premature to see what fallout from this will stand out as memorable. The sheer scale of this leak makes it near impossible for the outlets initially involved to keep a lid on this. I can well imagine the call for publishing in full will become impossible to resist and as a result there is enormous opportunity to uncover far more than is being spun now. A leak of this size and nature has every chance of collapsing on a wave front of chaos thus revealing whether it was a staged leak or not. This first reportage was always going to focus on western hegemonic damage limitation, they own 95% of MSM so that’s obvious. But there are fingers pointing to the likes of the UK prime ministers father and other European leaders. So I’m not convinced this is nothing but a ruse. It is still possible there was no choice but release.
My own first thoughts on hearing of this was not the focus on simply having another bash at Putin. My first thought was this is the US hegemony turning a full twist on the thumbscrew of European and other world leaders to cease and desist from any further effort at rejecting orders. It is my opinion there is a battle at the top, not a harmonious NWO agenda shared by all players. The US with Turkey has essentially manufactured huge problems for Europe. This is causing chaos and a spirit of rebellion in parliaments across the continent. Indeed I see serious and “unscripted” power vacuums beginning to appear as even party members jostle amongst themselves. Maybe it is all micro managed, but a complicated machine with so many moving parts is such an incredibly difficult thing to keep working and so I am in two minds. I have felt based on a hundred little things that there is a vacuum or a fight right at the top of the pyramid and this leak is just a facet of that. Time will tell.
I used to always wonder why they cared so much about popular opinion as to need to slander the enemy in the eyes of the public through strategic leaks. Wouldn’t keeping the leaks like this private to the circles of power give them more possibilities to blackmail and control? Right! That what’s being done with the other 2.59 TB. They still need to dangle afew straw men to show that the public still bites. I’m starting to think that possibly the only responsible action by the public to a strategic leak is to demand as full disclosure as we can, before any of the public starts biting. Otherwise I could imagine it’s pretty easy to blackmail someone in a position of power into shady dealings when your using even more shady tactics in an effort to control them.
like you said in the vid, aren’t virtually all world leaders dirty? Isn’t there some kind of terrorbalance because of that, I would imagine they all have dirt on each other. Especially a guy like Putin with a history in KGB should have tons of dirt on the other leaders. Will he retaliate or is that too much to hope for.
The bulk of the wealth of the Russian Elites, Russia’s Central banking system, and economy in general are all deeply entangled with the west (this is also true for the trillions the Chinese elites have secreted out of China and are holding in offshore accounts) thus it wouldn’t behoove any of them to “retaliate” – given they are all in bed together.
Moreover, Russian scholar Professor Karen Dawisha, author of Putin’s Kleptocracy Who Own’s Russia?, pointed out in her recent book that a large percentage of Russia’s plutocrats and upper class keep their families in the west, living in the lap of luxury.
I suggest we use a broader lens to look at the nuances of this Operation Panama Leak and notice that besides Russian and Syrian elites (whose large offshore accounts have been documented for years) other countries that are clearly captured by the NWO Vultures are thrown in the leak. Just enough smoke to get portions of the alt media off the scent of the trail to techno serfdom.
Incidentally, while it does seem silly on the surface that Putin’s childhood friends are on the list, from Dawisha’s research and that of investigative journalists, we know this is true and a striking feature of Russia’s extreme KGB and Cronies tight “vertical of power” political and economic system in which several of these childhood friends indeed have become strategically placed as billionaire industry monopolists.
just like w and his college buddy steve schwarzman? http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/08/14/another-legacy-of-president-george-w-bush-massive-income-inequ/
now Blackstone Group is one of our biggest land lords?
thanks George: President Bush Signs American Dream Downpayment Act of 2003
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/12/20031216-9.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/business/worldbusiness/21iht-admin.4.18853088.html?_r=0
Bush drive for home ownership fueled housing bubble
Thanks, great examples of this mirroring.
Regarding the housing bubble, I’d argue it’s an iteration of the engineered US tech stock market bubble of the 90s, and the current QE money pump – – we’re like ocean krill being managed and harvested. There’s an elegant illustration of this process in the documentary Princes of The Yen, reflecting on Japan’s role as a petri dish for central banking social, economic, and political engineering. James shared the link about a year ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5Ac7ap_MAY
Yep, Blackstone. Homeless serfs is the trend along with paying exorbitant rents for 90 sq ft, 150 sq ft, and 200 sq ft “apartments” in Seattle, Portland, NYC, etc. Forget about owning your own home outright and living independently off the grid – that’s not where our overlords want us to go. In the most recently passed US federal budget, a decades old real estate income tax law that applied to foreign investors was repealed. There are other tricks being pulled out of the rabbit hat. The net effect will be to fuel high housing prices furthering the trajectory of making home ownership a bigger challenge. If it walks and quacks like Agenda 21…
Yes! I can most certainly attest to the engineered US Tech Bubble. JDS Uniphase screwed us Big Time. We relocated to New Jersey a few weeks after nine eleven (hence my handle!) to get rich quick working for this company — I could write a book. We missed out by about 6 months.
About that “last mile” — what happened? wireless instead? Why Is Google Fiber the Country’s Only Super-Speed Internet? http://www.wired.com/2013/01/google-fiber-shaming-exercise/
I’m certainly not qualified to speak to what happened and why – but something tells me it’s not what we were told. not sure what to think now – JDS Uniphase on a Buying Spree
by Zacks Equity Research Published on December 12, 2013
http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/116769/jds-uniphase-on-a-buying-spree
—————–
I was a realtor in the 90’s – 2003 and witnessed first hand this completely engineered nightmare. When JDSU “let us go” we thought we were going to homeless — no job – how the hell are we going to buy a house back home with our severance pay running out in 2 weeks? Easy! all you need to show the mortgage co (Countrywide!) are your last 2 paystubs — they didn’t even call to verify employment. This confirmed by suspicions and My conscience got the best of me when we finally got back home and I couldn’t continue selling the American Nightmare to young, first time buyers.
Thanks for the Princes of the Yen Link – I missed that one.
No anti-Japan conspiracy in the TPP
Revealing the U.S.’s true intentions
April 16, 2012 Yoshihisa Komori
http://jbpress.ismedia.jp/articles/-/35000
(Now that they’ve signed on to the TPP – I’m still not convinced – but I guess that’s just me?)
———————–
and Blackstone Group? so so many dots to connect here, as I’m sure you know. Looks to me like it’s “pay up” time to the Chinese. I recently spent a few hours on the beach of the Hotel del Coronado(that’s all I could afford – $100 to rent 2 chairs and an umbrella for the afternoon)the beach is pretty much a landing strip for the naval base, which I believe occupies over 50% of the island. The Navy seals “practice” there. It felt like one big invasion going on with no one even paying attention – very odd – and now……the Chinese are trying to buy it? Is it true China invested $4 billion in Blackstone prior to its IPO? what a tangled web they weave…….
Rothschild’s and Blackstone? Oy! and the beat goes on….
http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/2015/03/300000-wealthy-investors-collect-each.html
Terrific personal account of having a front row seat for the last two boom and bust cycles and all the more spellbinding you were actually putting two and two together – waking up to the Matrix. It’s the story of our lives here in this forum, taking various paths to look into the abyss together. What a mind job!
The Japanese have the onion layers of obfuscation too. I’m not surprised there was resistance and not surprised the TPP was signed on to despite having little public support. You’ll get a flavor for the seemingly omnipotent hidden hands when you get a chance to take a look at Princes of The Yen.
Oh yes, the Google God Head, CIA construct (Nafeez Ahmed’s article, link below), and now self-appointed Ministry of Truth. We have Google’s Eric Schmidt a wild-eyed transhumanist and from the bowels of Google suggestions that we should put surveillance cameras in all the rooms in our homes. What’s not to love?
https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/how-the-cia-made-google-e836451a959e#.sabh1s188
BTW, it’s my understanding Chinese troops were training with US troops in Washington state last year. Russians troops have been training on US military bases for several years. https://www.intellihub.com/chinese-troops-train-on-u-s-soil-while-new-york-prepares-for-terror-attack-with-simulated-mass-shooting-exercise/
You’re right, it’s all very odd. All the angles, beyond bizarre – surreal.
I’m afraid to open the CIA/Google link – might just put me over the edge! — Na – I guess I’ve just got to keep my sense of humor . Beginning to think the world is one big cosmic joke. For so long, I tried to keep my head on straight by repeating: Forgive them Father for they know not what they do (my Mom is an Irish Catholic Commando!) UNTIL… I came across this — which put everything into perspective for me — “Somebody” moved the word NOT around. Luke 23:24 should read: Forgive them NOT for they know what they do. Oh those Jews back in the day– a clever bunch they were.
Our government does nothing to stop Google under antitrust laws – What’s up with that?
So….
Google isn’t working with the government — Google is part of the government.
Just like the private/investment banks, I guess.
oh boy – now I’ve got an ear worm!
When Saint Peter saw his face, he said,
“Go to the other place”.
Barney Google, with the goo-goo-goo-ga-ly eyes.
Looks like your last replies are the end of our thread (no reply available). Thanks for the exchange. I agree a sense of humor is a must! The rabbit hole gets much deeper, muddier, steeper, and eventually you realize the story of Plato’s cave isn’t an allegory after all – we were born into the most elaborate system of interconnecting artificial constructs the human mind could conceive. Keep that sense of humor pumping! 🙂
Thank YOU, phreedomphile – man, I love that handle! You’ve opened my eyes even wider — and in a good way — Now I’m completely convinced that I am not the crazy one!
Personally I would not even class this as a leak unless the files are made public.
File it along side the Alien Autopsy video.
There may be several reasons for for the lack of American names from the papers, but it seems to me that Information Exchange agreements signed between US and Panama in 2010 made Panama unattractive as a tax heaven for Americans:
Final text of 2010 Panama FTA: https://ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/panama-tpa/final-text
2010 US-Panama Tax Information Exchange Agreement: https://www.oecd.org/tax/exchange-of-tax-information/46569716.pdf
2010 US Diplomatic Note acknowledging signing of the the Exchange Agreement: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/tax-policy/treaties/Documents/PanamaTIEAnote.pdf
Reuters article about the agreement: http://www.reuters.com/article/usa-tax-fatca-idUSL2N0HN15T20130927
Although the mentioned Agreements make it unlikely that Americans would use Panama as a tax heaven after 2010, the leaks date back to the 1970s.
As the linked Reuters article states, Panama is a notorious tax heaven, with a history of use by Americans, and that is what motivated the Tax Information Exchange Agreement with the US.
Moreover, the ICJS investigation uncovered emails which points to purposeful deletion of documents related to American clients given that an M.F. subsidiary was under investigation in Nevada:
“Mossack Fonseca & Co. had a problem in Vegas.
Legal papers filed in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas claimed that the Panama-based law firm had created 123 companies in Nevada that had been used by a crony of Argentina’s former president to steal millions of dollars from government contracts. A subpoena demanded that Mossack Fonseca turn over details about any money that had flowed through the Nevada companies.
Mossack Fonesca didn’t want to provide this information. For a firm that specializes in setting up hard-to-trace offshore companies for clients around the world, confidentiality is a must.
The law firm tried to block the subpoena by denying that its Las Vegas operations, run by a company called M.F. Corporate Services (Nevada) Limited, were part of the Mossack Fonseca group.
The firm’s Panama-based co-founder, Jürgen Mossack, testified under oath that “MF Nevada and Mossack Fonseca do not have a parent-subsidiary relationship nor does Mossack Fonseca control the internal affairs or daily operations of MF Nevada’s business.â€
But secret records obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100 other media partners raise new doubts over that sworn testimony.
A sign for MF Corporate Services outside a buisness complex in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: McClatchy / Ronda Churchill
Not only do they show that the Nevada subsidiary was wholly owned by Mossack Fonseca but that, behind the scenes, the firm took steps to wipe potentially damaging records from phones and computers to keep details of their clients from the United States justice system.
One email from 2014, for instance, instructs that any link between Mossack Fonseca’s central computing system in Panama and the Nevada office “has to be obscure to the investigators.†Other emails report that IT operatives working via remote control from Panama “tried to clean the logs of the PC’s in the Nevada office†and planned to run a “remote session to eliminate the traces of direct access to our CIS†— the firm’s computer information system.
The documents even show that a firm employee traveled from Panama to Vegas to whisk paper documents out of the country. “When Andrés came to Nevada he cleaned up everything and brought all documents to Panama,†a Sept. 24, 2014 email said.
In comments to ICIJ, Mossack Fonseca “categorically†denied hiding or destroying documents that might be used in an ongoing investigation or litigation.”
https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160403-mossack-fonseca-offshore-secrets.html
Given the 2010 Tax Information Exchange Agreement they may have cleaned the Panama office of all American records as well.
So rather than a lack of names because of a lack of interest given the US- Panamanian relationship, it seems there’s a lack of names either because the evidence was deleted or the ICIJ is not disclosing it. Yet.
That’s extremely helpful. Thank you.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/unaoil-citibank-hsbc_us_56feba02e4b0daf53aefa1da
Interesting that this Unaoil leak above was almost completely buried (in the UK, by everyone except the Guardian as far as I can see), and yet the Panama Papers story is all the media will blurt about now. The timing on their release impeccably buried how serious that story is.
However the Panama Papers just stink of…
Problem – evil NATO non-allies and enemies hiding their untaxed income;
Reaction – let’s set up a friendly organisation to help us against these evil non-Anglo Saxons;
Solution – that tracks and can control every penny, including yours.
Yet another masterpiece James; you’re getting better by the day and you were already brilliant to begin. Where would the world be w/o real reporting like this… all be stuck listening to the RMSM and their shills. And thank you for the scholarly tepid delivery which most truth seekers struggle to find, glued to subverted melodramatic CIA shill broadcasts posing as alternative media.
I’ve nothing to add to masterpiece; I can only reiterate the commentary of other subscribers and agree that this ‘leak’ 1) isn’t full disclosure and 2) names none of the biggest criminals of centuries-long bloodlines and their crowned representatives in positions of the ever-illusive power.
I particularly agree with the sinking ship/rat theory. I actually recycled for such a time as this – to see them tear each other apart; to crumble from within. The ISIS mantra, ‘thru deception we wage war’ seems fitting b/c the grand deceiver is being sold out, like rats on a sinking ship. Evil sows within itself the seeds of its own destruction; it’s the only way evil can be destroyed, with exposure using its own tactics of subversion and assassination, be that political, financial, character or otherwise.
James: While we’re on the subject of missing info. What has or will become of the alleged 7TB of info Snowden took from the NSA? Will he disclose all eventually? Or is there no safe place on earth from which to do this, Russia included? Assange, too, apparently has more to disclose, but he’s a little further in the beast’s belly, if indeed, he still is in London at the EC embassy. Would be great to see a broadcast on all the missing pieces, who’s holding onto them and why. At some point there will be a tribunal, and not in The Hague either.
Try this resource: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article69943337.html
They’ve named some Americans. When I can’t find much information on a topic, I often do an image search. It’s amazing what you can uncover!
Great pod – nicely built arguments:
– How is the U.S. State Dept’s (our Bankster-Military-Industrial-Empire’s) agenda furthered with the Panama Papers leak (PP Leak)
– How bogusly structured are the “big†allegations based on the PP Leak
– How bogus has The Guardian become in their role as stooge to the Empire, particularly here, regarding its eye on the PP Leak
– How can we, as “informed†observers, properly contextualize the likes of a PP Leak
Hmmm…My two bits regarding the potential effectiveness of a counter-leak (by those that were PP Leaked on, of course) on the majority of our seemingly brain-dead fellow human beings:
What’s more important from an informed citizenry point of view on the corruption of globalist control over the world:
– The PP Leak?
– Or the following news articles?…
http://www.wsj.com/articles/global-banks-to-pay-5-6-billion-in-penalties-in-fx-libor-probe-1432130400
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-banks-criminal-fines-20150521-story.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/five-big-banks-agree-to-pay-more-than-5-billion-to-settle-regulatory-charges/2015/05/20/bdedb770-fefb-11e4-833c-a2de05b6b2a4_story.html
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/6/syrian-rebels-used-sarin-nerve-gas-not-assads-regi/
Unfortunately, the articles above are “old news†and in that way, of course, totally irrelevant for today as far as most people are concerned, much less for tomorrow.
(Note: The citation of the above popular “journals of record†should in no way imply a general faith in the general quality of reporting by these corporatist entities.)
A business week in and Putin has shown himself once again to be not just bulletproof but THE master strategist of our age. So much so that it would not surprise me if it is ultimately his blackmailing operation all along. The flavours of appeasement have seen briefs from many governments to halt the US driven sanction regime in recent days and now NATO wants to get back to the talking table with Russia. The cry of Russia bashing from Moscow was a simultaneous meme instantly on day one. Takes any suspicion off you if you’re the first to be fingered after all. But who’s ever heard of Russians hacking ? I must just be wildly speculating. Well at least I’m doing it where that’s de rigueur.
Someone agrees:
http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2016/04/08/was-the-panama-papers-leak-a-russian-intelligence-operation/
Thank you for that! I am quite chuffed that I managed to reach all the same conclusions in 8 little sentences. Though I pay homage to the artistic perfection of this:
“If the Russians are behind the Panama Papers, we know two things and both come back to Putin personally: First, it is an operation run by RFM, which means it’s run by Putin; second, it’s ultimately about blackmail. That means the real story lies in the information being concealed, not revealed. You reveal secrets in order to destroy; conceal in order to control. Putin is not a destroyer. He’s a controller.”
I am sure we have not been the only ones to see this very rational rational. Putin is not inscrutable himself in terms of his body language. Indeed his vanity makes him very readable. His countenance this week is that of smug ecstasy. Certainly very different from the coutenenance of quiet panic in Cameron or the snappy unbridled rage in Hilary C. Like I said it’s the 100 little things that all point to nothing more than informing an intuition. No proof, that most ellusive of conceptual conundrums, that philosophical infinity.
How ironic. I send James a private email urging caution over reacting too quickly to MSM stories and immediately find my own musings have become mainstream too.
https://www.rt.com/news/339139-media-putin-panama-papers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS
Another wrinkle
http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2016/04/12/swiss-bank-whistleblower-claims-panama-papers-was-a-cia-operation/