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10.12.01. Who Are Patriots. A-Letter.
THE SOVEREIGN SOCIETY OFFSHORE A-LETTER
Your Link to Freedom, Prosperity & Privacy in the Offshore World
Friday, October 12, 2001 - Vol. 3 No. 81
In This Issue:
* COMMENT: Who Are the Patriots?
* OFFSHORE: French Pol Smears British. Canada, UAE Dirty Cash. Gibraltar Under Seige. Bermuda IBCs Up. Tonga Rip Off.
* WEALTH: Invest Offshore. US Estate Taxes & Insurance.
* PRIVACY & CIVIL RIGHTS: Bush Surveillance Demands. Privacy Fighter. Carnivore Expands. Canada Data Base. What Politicians Really Mean.
COMMENT: Who Are the Patriots?
by Bob Bauman, Editor
For the past nine months this e-newsletter repeatedly has expressed high hopes for the administration of George W. BUSH in matters of offshore financial policy and privacy. This was especially so in the battle against the OECD's plan to impose high taxes worldwide.
In the days since the horror of Sept. 11th that hope diminished and now all but disappears. Our despair is accentuated by news the President is trying to ram through Congress, with limited debate, the US Senate version of a so-called "anti-terrorist" bill giving the Treasury secretary power to cut off foreign nations from the US banking system, a radical Clinton proposal that failed last year.
LINK: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,35984,00.html
Worse, grafted onto the bill (with Bush approval), are left wing Democrat proposals that presume all tax haven nations to be money laundering centers subject to sanctions. Add to this mix new federal police authority to wiretap, read e-mails, search and seize secretly, share IRS tax information, forfeit cash and freeze bank accounts based on mere suspicion, and Al GORE might as well have won.
LINK: Click Here.
Based on the sad history of the disastrous "war" on drugs, average Americans will suffer because of these new police powers far more than the evil bin Ladin and his sick followers. When innocent citizens can be murdered by police in their homes in the name of drug control, God and/or Allah only knows what violations of liberty the terrorism excuse will justify. And this massive surrender of our liberties will stop few, if any, terrorists.
LINK: http://www.newsmax.com/commentmax/articles/Paul_Craig_Roberts.shtml
The pending bills include a radical provision that turns over to "credible international organizations or multilateral expert groups" the power to define suspect nations. Under this the UN, the OECD and FATF will determine "the extent to which [a] jurisdiction is characterized as a tax haven or offshore banking or secrecy haven."
LINKS: http://www.freedomandprosperity.org/Papers/m10-09-01/m10-09-01.shtml
http://www.freedomandprosperity.org/Papers/kerry-levin/kerry-levin.shtml
These proposals, which may be enacted within days, are so extreme that usually docile US banks are objecting, asking Congress to soften requirements that increase their role as government spies on their customers. In a grossly inept response, US Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) called the complaining bankers "unpatriotic."
LINK: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40136-2001Oct10.html
Well, as you, I consider myself to be patriotic. But my love of country forbids supine obedience to those who, without justification, would destroy my freedom and yours.
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* House of Representatives anti-offshore bill, H.R. 3004, approved Thursday with only Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) opposed.
LINK: http://www.house.gov/financialservices/hr3004ma.pdf * ACLU fact sheet on US Senate anti-terrorism bill: LINKS: http://www.aclu.org/safeandfree/ ; http://www.aclu.org/news/2001/n100501a.html
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* OFFSHORE *
FRENCH OPPORTUNIST USES BIN LADEN SCARE
PARIS. A Socialist member of parliament noted for his wild accusations against offshore haven nations and his campaign to impeach French president Jacques CHIRAC, now has denounced British banks for allegedly aiding Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network.
LINK: http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3PG7OHNSC
Offering no proof, the 70 page broadside, whose authors were kept secret, accused 40 British banks and persons of terrorist connections. Calling for their abolition as financial havens, the French report alleged a role played in terrorist money laundering by Britain's offshore financial havens Gibraltar, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey, as well as UK overseas territories.
LINK: http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/business.cfm?id=115181 ; Click Here
A spokesman for UK PM Tony BLAIR denied the charges and denounced the report as inaccurate and out of date.
LINK: http://www.sky.com/skynews/storytemplate/storytoppic/0,,30100-1031958,00.html
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CANADA also is accused of lax money laundering law enforcement.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=5771
The UNITED ARAB EMIRATE toughens its anti-ML laws.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=5769
And a leading UK expert on ML issues warns that over reaction to allegedly dirty cash problems could hurt financial freedom worldwide.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=5759
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GIBRALTAR UNDER SIEGE
Hit by OECD charges against its offshore haven status, The Rock defends itself, even as it considers basic law changes.
LINKS: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=5773
http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=5755
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BERMUDA BUSINESS UP
HAMILTON. In spite of a decline in the island's economy, new international business corporations are up 10%.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=5742
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TONGA RIP OFF EXPOSED
SUVA, Fiji. TONGA, the Pacific's only kingdom, loses millions based on advice of its 83-year-old king's court jester, a US businessman.
LINK: http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-tonga10.html
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* WEALTH *
EXPERTS RECOMMEND OFFSHORE INVESTMENTS
Offshore equities are the place to be in time of trouble.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=5778
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U.S. ESTATE TAX CHANGES PROMOTE INSURANCE
With US estate taxes scheduled to decrease, what about life insurance needs to cover liquidity problems?
LINK: http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=011011002443
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* PRIVACY & CIVIL RIGHTS *
BUSH WANTS BIG BROTHER SURVEILLANCE
A 'conservative' president wants vastly expanded police spying and detention powers with no time limit.
LINK: http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47442,00.html
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"Watching You: Systematic Federal Surveillance of Ordinary Americans"- a new Cato Institute report on privacy and the anti-terrorism bills.
LINK for pdf download: http://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/bp69.pdf
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FIGHTER FOR PRIVACY
At least one determined US Senator has the guts to stand up for privacy against the proposals of the anti-freedom fanatics.
LINKS: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,47490,00.html
http://www.wartimeliberty.com/article.pl?sid=01/10/11/1430203
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INCREASED CARNIVORE POWERS DEMANDED
Bush's Carnivore proposal could devour civil liberties.
LINK: http://www.pacificresearch.org/issues/tech/eclips/eclips0109.html
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CANADIAN BIG BROTHER DATA BASE PLANNED
OTTAWA. Government leaders are quietly planning a national data base to include every living soul in Canada.
LINK: Click Here
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WHAT THEY REALLY MEAN
A humorous account of what the anti-terror, anti-freedom politicians really mean: "I call upon all Americans to submit to wiretaps, e-mail monitoring, and racial profiling."
LINK: http://www.theonion.com/onion3736/freedoms_curtailed.html
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THE SOVEREIGN SOCIETY OFFSHORE A-LETTER. E-mail to: info@sovereignsociety.com. * SUBSCRIBE FREE or send to a friend at LINK: http://www.sovereignsociety.com
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THE SOVEREIGN SOCIETY Ltd., 5 Catherine St., Waterford, Ireland. TEL: 353-51 844 068 FAX: 353-51 304 561. Copyright (C) 2001. All domestic & international rights reserved.
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