Friday, June 21, 2013

Corker Amendment Permanently Offers Citizenship to Those Overstaying Their Visas

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Just as public anxiety about the weak border security provisions in the Senate immigration bill was building, GOP Sen. Bob Corker stepped forward with an amendment to "fix" the problem. The result of his efforts, however, has been a "Christmas tree" measure, covering items far beyond border security. Breitbart News has learned exclusively that one provision of Corker's amendment will allow workers who stay in the country past their visa will remain on the "path to citizenship." 

Even in the future, breaking the law won't stop progress on what VP Joe Biden calls the "unfettered path" to citizenship.
The Corker Amendment ostensibly addresses measures to beef up border security. It, however, is also likely to be the last amendment considered on the immigration bill. As such, it has become a 1,000+ page amendment to supplant the current proposal and provide multiple new provisions. It has become the vehicle for ObamaCare 2.0.
Buried within the text of the Amendment is a seemingly innocuous provision:
(f) APPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN GROUNDS OF INADMISSIBILITY.—In determining an alien’s inadmissibility under this section, section 212(a)(9)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(9)(B)) shall not apply.
What does that mean?
Current law states that those applying for green cards are ineligible if they are either "illegally present" at any point or overstay the terms of their work visa. Such an immigrant, in current law, would have to return to their home country and restart the immigration process. The Corker Amendment wipes away that enforcement mechanism.
In the current draft of the Corker Amendment, any worker in the country on a legal work visa for 10 years can get a green card, even if they overstay their visa. The Corker Amendment allows immigrants to break the law in the future and still be eligible for citizenship. It absolves prospective behavior, not simply past mistakes.
Prior to the Corker Amendment, the 4.5 million immigrants outside the country on a visa waiting-list were subject to laws restricting their presence in the US. The Gang Senate bill would offer them immediate green cards, as long as they hadn't violated current US Law.
The language in the new Corker Amendment referenced above, however, would remove this restriction. They would become immediately eligible for a green card, even if they lived illegally in this country. The Corker Amendment wipes away any immigration enforcement. It is designed to maximize the number of individuals who qualify for citizenship.
The Corker Amendment is an obvious attempt by the DC GOP establishment to find a path to vote for the Senate bill. It throws a lot more money at the border, but it also weakens internal enforcement and controls. The Corker Amendment actually stipulates that, in perpetuity, you can break the law, overstay your visa, and still be eligible for citizenship.

As Egypt unravels, Team Obama increases support for Muslim Brotherhood

The news from Egypt is grim.
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood president, Mohammed Morsi made international headlines this week as he appointed Adel Al Khayat as governor of Luxor, an ancient Egyptian city that is key tourist destination.
The problem with Mr. Khayat? He just happens to lead the “political” arm of a terrorist organization that massacred tourists in Luxor in 1997. The details of the attack are beyond grisly, with many of the dead disemboweled and notes “praising Islam” placed inside their mutilated bodies.
When it comes to the Middle East, we have proven to be the worst of friends and the best of enemies.
And that’s not all.
On Tuesday, the New York Times reported on the rise of blasphemy prosecutions since Morsi ascended to power.
[pullquote]
In recent cases, Egyptian courts have sentenced a writer to 5 years in prison for allegedly promoting atheism, sentenced a lawyer to a year in prison for allegedly insulting Islam in a private conversation, and fined a Christian schoolteacher $14,000 for allegedly insulting Muhammed in her classroom.
These recent revelations pile on top of the “old” news, including violations of the peace treaty with Israel, failing to protect our American embassy from attacks, and launching systematic crackdowns on Egypt’s Coptic Christian community.
Against this backdrop of Shariah and jihad – and hidden behind the blanket news coverage of the Obama administration’s other scandals – the White House has decided to increase its financial support for the Muslim Brotherhood, quietly clearing the way for the U.S. to give Egypt $1.3 billion in military aid.
On May 10, the very day that Lois Lerner issued her contrived apology for the IRS targeting conservative groups, Secretary of State John Kerry formally waived – on national security grounds – statutory requirements that he certify that Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood government was “implementing policies to protect freedom of expression, association, and religion, and due process of law” before providing any further American military aid.
Think about this for a moment: The Obama administration threw the Mubarak regime (for all its flaws, a stalwart American ally that kept peace with Israel) under the bus ostensibly because of its human rights violations but is waiving human rights conditions to prop up a more brutal jihadist government.
Let’s not forget the motto of the Muslim Brotherhood: "Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Koran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope."
That is the organization that we are empowering – that we are arming – at American taxpayer expense.
In the coming days and weeks, secular and Christian opposition leaders are planning nationwide protests against a Morsi regime that has proven competent at implementing Shariah law but not at running an economy.
Morsi’s jihadist allies plan a crackdown, and if and when they succeed, you may see the terrible sight of American-made and taxpayer-purchased tanks and other armored vehicles literally crushing the Christian opposition.
The saying goes that there is “no better friend and no worse enemy” than a United States Marine.
The Obama administration has turned this on its head. -- When it comes to the Middle East, we have proven to be the worst of friends and the best of enemies.
We sat on our hands during Iran’s Green Revolution, when the Mullahs were briefly in danger of being overthrown.
We similarly sat on our hands in the early days of the Syrian uprising against the brutal, Iran-allied Assad regime, before jihadists had taken over the Syrian opposition.
But we acted quickly to support the Egyptian uprising, tossing aside a longtime ally.
Across the Middle East, jihad is ascendant. The Mullahs remain comfortably in power in Iran (busy building a bomb), Syria’s opposition is dominated by Al Qaeda-affiliated militias, and Egypt is firmly in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood.
And now we’re arming Egypt and considering arming jihadist rebels in Syria.
The Obama administration is doubling down on failure – at the expense of Egyptian Christians and the American taxpayer.
Jay Sekulow is Chief Counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). Follow him on Twitter@JaySekulow.

Bank of America’s Foreclosure Frenzy


In one corner, we have five former Bank of America Corp. employees who told a federal court they were instructed to mislead customers on the verge of losing their homes and stall their applications for loan modifications.
In another corner, we have Bank of America, which says nothing could be further from the truth.
Jonathan Weil

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Jonathan Weil joined Bloomberg News as a columnist in 2007, and his columns on finance and accounting won Best ... MORE
Who’s right? If anything, the bank’s strident denials make me more inclined to believe the workers’ claims. “These allegations are absurd, patently false and contrary to Bank of America’s long-standing policy only to foreclose as a last resort when other available options to help keep people in their home have been exhausted,” Jumana Bauwens, a Bank of America spokeswoman, told Bloomberg News in an e-mail this week.
Perhaps some of the allegations may be wrong. But to say all of them are obviously false? You have to wonder. A lot of the former employees’ claims make sense.
We have known for years that the U.S. Treasury Department’s Home Affordable Modification Program failed miserably at its stated goal of helping struggling homeowners. In part, that’s because companies and divisions of major banks that service mortgage loans often can make more money from foreclosures than from loan modifications.
It didn’t bother the banking industry’s “robo-signers” that they risked committing perjury when they signed false affidavits filed in courthouses across the country to speed foreclosures along. Now, Bank of America would have us believe that all of these former employees were making things up under penalty of perjury when they came forward and told their stories.

Loan Modifications

The former employees’ statements were filed with a federal court in Boston as part of a lawsuit against Bank of America by homeowners who say they were improperly denied permanent loan modifications. Bank of America says it will respond to the statements in greater detail in a court filing.
The workers gave horrific accounts about Bank of America’s compliance with the Home Affordable Modification Program. One consistent theme was that they said they were told to deceive borrowers about the status of their applications.
“My colleagues and I were instructed to inform homeowners that modification documents were not received on time, not received at all, or that documents were missing, even when, in fact, all documents were received in full and on time,” said Theresa Terrelonge of Grand Prairie, Texas, who worked at Bank of America from 2009 to 2010 as a loan-servicing representative. She said workers “were awarded incentives such as $25 in cash, or as a restaurant gift card” based on “how many applications for loan modifications they could decline.”
Simone Gordon of Orange, New Jersey, who left Bank of America in 2012, gave a similar account. “Employees were rewarded by meeting a quota of placing a specific number of accounts into foreclosure, including accounts in which the borrower fulfilled a HAMP trial period,” Gordon said. “For example, a collector who placed ten or more accounts into foreclosure in a given month received a $500 bonus.” Other rewards for placing accounts into foreclosure included gift cards to Target or Bed Bath & Beyond.
“We were regularly drilled that it was our job to maximize fees for the bank by fostering and extending delay of the HAMP modification process by any means we could -- this included by lying to customers,” Gordon said.
William Wilson, a Bank of America underwriter and manager in Charlotte, North Carolina, from 2010 to 2012, described what he said was called a “blitz.” About twice a month, he said, Bank of America would order case managers and underwriters to clean out the backlog of HAMP applications by rejecting any file in which the documents were more than 60 days old. Employees were instructed to “enter a reason that would justify declining the modification to the Treasury Department,” Wilson said.

A Blitz

“Justifications commonly included claiming that the homeowner had failed to return requested documents or had failed to make payments,” he said. “In reality these justifications were untrue. I personally reviewed hundreds of files in which the computer systems showed that the homeowner had fulfilled a trial period plan and was entitled to a permanent loan modification,” but was nevertheless declined during a blitz.
“On many occasions, homeowners who did not receive the permanent modification that they were entitled to ultimately lost their homes to foreclosure,” he said.
After Bloomberg wrote last week about the former employees’ statements, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, Maxine Waters, sent a letter to Christy Romero, the special inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, asking that her office investigate. Yet it’s hard to get one’s hopes up about the government’s desire to get at the truth.
There already has been a $25 billion nationwide whitewash of a settlement between regulators and big banks over improper foreclosure practices, along with billion-dollar payments under a different settlement to consultants who were hired to review those practices. Nobody was prosecuted, much less wrist-slapped.
This week, the court-appointed monitor overseeing compliance with the terms of the national mortgage settlement said he found “more work needs to be done” by big mortgage servicers to improve their treatment of customers. But neither he nor the regulators have ever reported anything as dubious as the conduct described in the former Bank of America employees’ court declarations. Perhaps they just missed a bunch of stuff.
If there was a good reason to believe that the government’s priority is to investigate big banks rather than protect them, maybe Bank of America’s blanket denial would seem more credible.
(Jonathan Weil is a Bloomberg View columnist.)
To contact the writer of this article: Jonathan Weil in New York at jweil6@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this article: James Greiff at jgreiff@bloomberg.net
While details from President Barack Obama’s college years are scant, with the exception of a few acquaintances’ recollections, in 2008 one of his Harvard Law classmates offered a few seldom-heard remembrances of the president’s time at Harvard.
Conservative commentator Carol Platt Liebau, author of “Prude: How the Sex-Obsessed Culture Damages Girls (and America, Too!),” guest hosted Hugh Hewitt’s February 22, 2008 radio show and described her relationship with Obama during her law school years. Despite his liberal slant, she said Obama was respectful of the conservative perspective when he was president of the Harvard Law Review.
“I knew him reasonably well — as well as most people knew him, if not better — because quite in contrast to this image that Barack tries to project, as someone who is warm and all-embracing and all that kind of stuff,” Liebau said.
“I mean, I will tell you I’ve written a piece that has praised Barack for certain things and I stand by that piece: He was color-blind in the way he chose, staffed the law review when he was president. He did give both sides a fair hearing. He always went with the far-left side, but he did give both sides a respectful hearing, which was fairly atypical at Harvard Law School at that time.”
The essay she referred to was published by Townhall.com in 2007. It described President Obama as a listener but “a liberal’s liberal.”
At the time of Liebau’s radio broadcast, Obama was being portrayed as a great unifier, which inspired bizarre reactions from the likes of MSNBC’s Chris Matthews. But Liebau said that was hardly the way he was viewed at Harvard.
“Quite in contrast to this all-embracing kind of ‘earth father’ image — this sort of messianic blaze of glory with which he’s deemed to envelope our television screens — he was a pretty cold fish,” she said.
“He was not a warm person. He was not the type of person that gave you a warm and fuzzy [feeling]. And you got the sense that he even wasn’t even terribly fixated or focused on what he was doing.”
Liebau also describe Obama as a guy “whose eyes were always looking over your shoulder to see if anyone more important is in the room” and that he was always looking for “bigger and better things.”
Her longest one-on-one communication with Obama, she said, came when she was managing editor of the Harvard Law Review.
“So I guess it caused a lot of rumbling that I didn’t know about, and so we were all impressed with a return visit by our retired president, the former president, Barack Obama, who took me out on the back steps of Gannett House, which is where the review was housed and wanted to have a little one-on-one with me,” she said.
Liebau said his advice started off sound, but ultimately came off as disappointing.

In 2008, Harvard Law classmate, law review colleague remembered Obama as ‘a pretty cold fish’


“He said, ‘Look, what do you care who does the work?’” Liebau recalled Obama saying in reference to her management of the law review. “’It is the same amount of work for you to hand out the work no matter who it goes to, so why fight it? Do what’s easiest for you. Give the work to the people who will do the work, and just don’t worry about the people who don’t want to pull their weight.’”
Liebau wasn’t impressed.
“I guess I was young and naïve: I was like, ‘Ah but that wouldn’t be fair,’” she said.
“And what surprised me is apparently that didn’t bother Barack at all. It was just kind of like — take the easy way out. Why bother yourself with all these silly notions about justice and fairness? Do what works. Revealing? I don’t know. Good advice? I didn’t particularly think so.”

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/06/03/harvard-law-classmate-law-review-colleague-remembered-obama-in-2008-a-pretty-cold-fish/#ixzz2Wt0JDrbR



More DHS insider from DC

hagmann062013
Image courtesy of Canada Free Press
By Douglas J.  Hagmann
20 June 2013: As noted in my June 7, 2013 report titled DHS Insider: It’s about to get very ugly, the additional information provided to me that was temporarily withheld from publication is now being released. The methodical and incremental release of information was (and is) deliberate, to allow other things to play out, such as the public exposure to the name Edward Snowden and his revelations regarding just how extensive the domestic surveillance apparatus is – and who the surveillance is actually targeting.
Back to the early hours of June 7, 2013

“You’ve got to understand that they are trying to find the likes of me,” stated my source. Pretty soon, no one is going to be talking to anybody, especially in the alternative media, even about the damn weather. They won’t risk it, and I’m not just talking about a risk to their careers, either. There has been a systematic method of intimidation with some known and even ‘approved’ media contacts, not just against them, but against their families,” he emphasized.
“Just give it two weeks at most, it will come out that no one will talk to the media,” he added. [Author note: See this article about AP CEO confirming their sources won't talk anymore, dated 19 June 2013]. “But let me give you some details about some things I was told too. I know this is second-hand information, but it was from someone in a position of authority to know, someone I trust, and someone who I expect to reveal to [name of elected official deleted] the true extent of what has and in some cases, still is taking place. This individual is preparing to disclose much, and has obtained legal counsel, but the problem is that one misstep could be fatal in a literal sense, and [this source] knows that. If not fatal, there are other legal challenges, especially under a corrupt judiciary. By the time this appears in print, the disclosures will likely have already been made, just not made public.”
The Holder hammer & the Chicago plumbers
“The revelation last month that the Justice Department seized two months of telephone records from the Associated Press (AP) last year is only a small part of the story. The public admission is that the Holder Justice Department obtained only telephone records from three locations, something like 20 lines, and records of calls from the House press gallery for about two months. That’s one of the biggest lies ever told,” stated my source.
“The truth is that it was not limited to AP, and not limited to just number identification and call duration, but was an extensive and active wiretapping operation that included every reporter’s telephone conversations, landline and cell, text messages from their personal and business cellular telephones and other electronic devices. The primary focus is on the press gallery, where everything was monitored in real time.”
“Not only were the communications of reporters compromised, so were the private communications of congressmen and their aides. Listen to what I am saying,” he stressed, “the operation was much larger than anyone can imagine. Recordings, actual voice recordings, were turned over to the Obama administration, along with transcripts of texts, other communications and contacts.”
“NSA assets were used, with the NSA acting as the collection agency for their intermediate client, the DHS. Then, at the highest levels of DHS, they sifted through the information collected. But the ultimate client or recipient of the information was the Obama White House. I don’t know if other agencies were involved in sorting through the material, but DHS, and this was limited to the highest of levels at DHS under the personal direction of Janet Napolitano, provided volumes of data directly to the Obama administration. One person inside the administration I know received the data was Valerie Jarrett,” he stated.
“The other part of the lie is that this operation lasted only two months. That’s a lie. It went on well into late last year, was halted shortly after the election, but then picked back up sometime in January,” he said. Something happened in January where there appeared to be another active wiretapping operation started, but this one appeared to be more focused, or more limited in scope. Maybe, and I’m just guessing here based on some of the things I heard, that the Obama people had narrowed their interests based on the fruits of the previous operation.”
Now the ‘Holder hammer’ is coming down on anyone who opens their mouth, or previously leaked any information that could have been or be detrimental to Obama. I can tell you that Valerie Jarrett is working, out of the White House, with DHS and other agencies to co-ordinate their efforts with Justice,” the latter a reference to the Eric Holder Justice Department. “At the same time, on the media side, there is a ‘plumbers team’ headed out of Chicago, with a long reach to the New York and Washington press correspondents. So they are not only going after those on the inside, but the journalists from the other side.”
“The intimidation factor is huge if a media contact is outside of a small circle of ‘vetted’ journalists who are completely loyal to Obama and his agenda. If you are not part of that inner circle, you are a target, it’s that simple. You are seeing the formation of a state-run media and an administration that will intimidate, punish or prosecute anyone considered unfriendly to the Obama camp from the inside and the outside. Like I said, this also involves elected officials, their staffs and even in some cases, their families. And it is all being done under the color of authority and the pretext of national security,” he added.
Loyalty to the man, not the office
It was at this point I asked my source, what were or are they looking for?
“Anything and everything,” he responded. “Obviously, it’s about loyalty to the man, damn the country and damn the law. Protect the man and the agenda, which is not just his agenda, but the people who put him in office.”
Like who? I asked.
“Who benefits? This is about dismantling the United States and nothing less. This is about foreign interests who have taken over our government without a shot. Look at Syria and our economy, both issues that are expected, at least as discussed within DHS,  to play out this year. You had it correct on both counts when you wrote about our involvement in Syria, by way of weapons shipments from Benghazi, to open another war. You also had it correct when you wrote about the killing of the U.S. Dollar. You want to know how I know this? Because the blowback from those two issues alone, one foreign and the other domestic, are what DHS is gearing up for in our ‘homeland,’” he stated.
“Unless there are enough people who wake up fast enough, we will become involved in a war in Syria, with boots on the ground, facing not only Syrian troops but Russian forces. There will be blowback here in the United States. Along with this, you will see the U.S. dollar ‘collapse’ as the reserve currency, and social uprisings here in the U.S. over both. It will be DHS teamed with other federal agencies who will meet, with force, the uprisings. There will be chaos here, but it is expected to be different depending upon where you are at. Big cities will have the most problems, and plans are being made to cordon off cities and restrict travel at the time when these uprisings start. I really didn’t want to use this phrase, but expect martial law to be used ‘for the security’ of those affected by the turmoil.”
“Then, you will see the internet being regulated in a manner that will serve only the agenda of this administration. Either right before or during these events, so-called citizen journalists will be particularly vulnerable. Watch for a serious crackdown of bloggers, online news publications and websites, but not in the way that will be immediately obvious. The ‘plumbers team’ have coordinated their efforts with Internet Service Providers to identify the people like you and others who publish their information on web sites. At first they will cite violations of terms of service. Then, they will select a few ‘troublemakers’ and identify them for criminal prosecution. Others will experience hacking and other electronic attacks. And during all of that, there will be the Obama team flooding the internet with misinformation and disinformation. In fact, that is already taking place.”
During our conversation, I started to ask about certain journalists and bloggers who died, either from ‘natural causes’ or in accidents, suicides, and under other strange circumstances. My source interrupted before I could finish my question.
“Don’t even go there, don’t bother asking me, because I just don’t know, he stated in a rather agitated manner. I do have my suspicions about one, maybe two who got a bit too close to the truth and foolishly trusted certain people, but I really don’t know for sure.”
So, what will all of this look like, I asked, when it all comes down.
“I’ve thought about that myself, and have seen some DHS documents outlining different scenarios. Maybe not what you think,” he replied. “Outside of the rioting in certain urban areas, the low stocks at your local stores, and rationing of gas, maybe not as dire as you imagine. My best guess is a combination of the riots of the 1960′s along with the gasoline rationing of the 1970′s, at least at first. Once people who want to save the country, those with good intentions begin to organize, it will become incrementally worse,” he stated.
“Like a car careening off a cliff, but not hitting the bottom right away. It will hit jagged edges first, each time suffering more damage. Each blow will be worse than the next.”
Centralization
“Let me try to sum it up for you. It’s getting late, and I mean it’s getting late this morning and late for our country. This is all about centralization of power and pursuing an agenda that makes no sense or has any benefit to the United States.  All of the things we are seeing are related. The IRS, Syria, Benghazi, the NSA, and just about everything you can name is about one thing: the consolidation of power and the centralization of authority. This party did not start with Obama, and might not end with him either.”
I interjected my surprise at this point, noting that I thought the worst, like others, that we might not see another presidential election. “When did I mention anything about an election?”
“You’re not thinking big enough,” he admonished. Nobody is thinking big enough, or has been thinking at all, which is why we’re in this position. This is a global agenda, or an agenda of the global interests, the money interests. Do you think for one second that if a person, and I don’t give a damn who it is or what position they hold, becomes a liability to those interests that they wouldn’t get rid of them? Don’t you think those in power know this?
Cryptically, he spoke of Obama’s apparent infatuation with Abraham Lincoln and asked, rhetorically whether that means anything. A country that will fall into a civil war of sorts, and all of the things common to both. Does Obama know something, or feel something? Is that playing in to his desire for oaths only to him, and not the country? Think about it.”
Time frame
As we were parting, I felt a bit like Peter Falk playing Columbo in the 1970′s television series when I said that I had “just one more question.” When is all of this going to start?
What? He turned and looked at me as if I had uttered an insult.
“It’s already begun. You’re seeing it now. If you want to know a date when our money will tank, or when the war goes hot, or when you won’t be able to get food or gas, I can’t tell you, and I don’t think anyone can. But remember what I said before, about the metals taking a hit and something happening after that. Look at the metals market. The U.S. has very little gold. Everything you see is being manipulated, from the economy to the metals to foreign policy. I believe that most politicians know how dire things are, and most are clawing their way for a seat at the global table. But if I had to answer you, and I guess I will so you’ll let me leave, I’d look for something to happen in early July as a precursor to the more major events later in the summer or fall, maybe in October.”
“But don’t try to look at dates for answers, look at events, even the small ones. Remember, their objectives haven’t changed, only their plans to adapt to the right conditions. To the unaware, it will look like everything was just one big unfortunate coincidence.”

Report: U.S. companies keeping $166 billion in offshore tax shelters

 

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US companies are keeping more of their profits offshore, choosing overseas tax havens amid talk in Washington about closing corporate tax loopholes, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
The business newspaper said its analysis of 60 big American companies had found that they had collectively parked a total of $166 billion offshore last year.
That shielded more than 40 percent of their annual profits from US taxes, the report said.
Each of the 60 companies chosen for the analysis had held at least $5 billion offshore in 2011, according to The Journal.
The list included Abbott Laboratories, whose store of untaxed overseas earnings rose by $8.1 billion, to $40 billion, the paper said. The increase exceeded the pharmaceutical maker’s net income of $6 billion.
Industrial conglomerate Honeywell International Inc. boosted its store of untaxed earnings held by its offshore subsidiaries and earmarked for foreign investment by $3.5 billion last year to $11.6 billion, a rise equal to the company’s annual profit, excluding a pension adjustment, The Journal said.
The practice is a result of US tax rules that allow companies to not pay taxes on profits earned by overseas subsidiaries if the money is not brought back to the United States, the report pointed out.

Russian Leader Warns, “Get All Money Out Of Western Banks Now!”

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A Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) “urgent bulletin” being sent to Embassies around the world today is advising both Russian citizens and companies to begin divesting their assets from Western banking and financial institutions “immediately” as Kremlin fears grow that both the European Union and United States are preparing for the largest theft of private wealth in modern history.
According to this “urgent bulletin,” this warning is being made at the behest of Prime Minister Medvedev who earlier today warned against the Western banking systems actions against EU Member Cyprus by stating:
“All possible mistakes that could be made have been made by them, the measure that was proposed is of a confiscation nature, and unprecedented in its character. I can’t compare it with anything but … decisions made by Soviet authorities … when they didn't think much about the savings of their population. But we are living in the 21st century, under market economic conditions. Everybody has been insisting that ownership rights should be respected.”
Medvedev’s statements echo those of President Putin who, likewise, warned about the EU’s unprecedented private asset grab in Cyprus calling it “unjust, unprofessional, and dangerous.
In our 17 March report “Europe Recoils In Shock After Bankster Raid, US Warned Is Next” we noted how Russian entities have €23-31 billion ($30-$40) in cross-border loans to Cypriot companies tied to Moscow, and €9 billion ($12 billion) on deposit with Cypriot banks [as compared to the €127 billion ($166 billion) being kept in similar circumstances by 60 of the United States largest corporations in offshore accounts to avoid paying American taxes] which are in danger of being confiscated by EU banksters.
Unbowed by the misery they have inflicted upon the entire continent, however, and in spite of Russian warnings,European Union officials hardened their stance against Cyprus today by announcing that if the Cypriot government did not allow the raiding of private bank accounts by Monday they would be forced to destroy their banks, which remain closed for the seventh straight day and have no signs of opening soon.
In an editorial agreeing with Russian leaders anger against the EU over Cyprus, Canada’s Globe and Mail News Service further writes:

“The parliament of Cyprus was right this week to reject a proposal to confiscate money from modest-sized bank deposits. The idea was a reductio ad absurdum of the euro zone’s policy on the sovereign debt of some of its member-countries.
It would be better for the government of Cyprus to default outright on some of its obligations rather than to seize part of the savings of the proverbial widows and orphans, as well as retirees or those approaching retirement – while purporting to levy a tax. This is especially true in a country that has deposit insurance for up to €100,000, in order to protect small savers.
Until a few years ago, Cyprus – which is really the ethnically Greek section of Cyprus, the Turkish section being a de facto protectorate of Turkey – had a fiscal surplus, but its close relationship to Greece resulted in a downturn when Greece fell into a severe recession. The government’s debt in itself is still manageable, but Cypriot banks have become shaky because of their loans to Greece.”
In the face of massive popular outrage, however, Cypriot MPs spectacularly voted earlier this week against the EU plan to steal their bank depositors money, thus leaving the Euro Zone reeling, a situation that was, in fact, created by European banksters who had forced Cyprus banks to lend money to nearly bankrupt Greece in the first place.
Even worse may be what is in store for the Americans, who on 31 January  lost an unlimited US government guarantee that was granted on over $1.5 trillion of their bank deposits during the 2008 financial crisis to assure skittish customers that their cash was safe.
According to Kremlin sources, though, President Obama’s sudden visit to Israel this week, the first he has made since being elected in 2008, was to personally warn top Israelis of his regimes “plan” to begin confiscating his citizen’s bank deposits too.

Interesting to note is that the Obama regimes “master plan” to steal their citizen’s wealth that is no longer protected was detailed by the global management consulting giant, and the world’s leading advisor on business strategy, The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) who in their 2011 September report titled Collateral Damage: Back to Mesopotamia? The Threat of Debt Restructuring warned of the US governments plan confiscate up to 30% of not just the Americans people bank accounts, but also of their other wealth.
The highly respected Zero Hedge financial newsletter in commenting on this dire  BCG report grimly stated:
“Denial. Denial is safe. Comforting. Religiously and relentlessly abused by politicians who don’t want nor can face reality. A word synonymous with “muddle through.” Ah yes, that “muddle through” which so many C-grade economists and pundits believe is the long-term status quo for the US and the world just because it worked for Japan for the past three decades, or, said otherwise, “just because.”
Well, too bad. As the following absolutely must read report, which comes not from some trader of dubious credibility interviewed by BBC, nor even from an impassioned executive from a doomed Italian bank, but from consultancy powerhouse Boston Consulting Group confirms, the “muddle through” is dead. And now it is time to face the facts.
What facts? The facts which state that between household, corporate and government debt, the developed world has $20 trillion in debt over and above the sustainable threshold by the definition of “stable” debt to GDP of 180%.
The facts according to which all attempts to eliminate the excess debt have failed, and for now even the Fed’s relentless pursuit of inflating our way out this insurmountable debt load have been for nothing.
The facts which state that the only way to resolve the massive debt load is through a global coordinated debt restructuring (which would, among other things, push all global banks into bankruptcy) which, when all is said and done, will have to be funded by the world’s financial asset holders: the middle-and upper-class, which, if BCS is right, have a ~30% one-time tax on all their assets to look forward to as the great mean reversion finally arrives and the world is set back on a viable path.
But not before the biggest episode of “transitory” pain, misery and suffering in the history of mankind. Good luck, politicians and holders of financial assets, you will need it because after Denial comes Anger, and only long after does Acceptance finally arrive.”
To the evidence that the masses of Americans or Europeans average citizens will begin protecting themselves against this apocalyptic outcome their remains little evidence as their so-called “mainstream” media continues to cover-up this coming catastrophe. But, and as Russia has now warned, the time for protecting oneself is fast running out, and the only survivors will be those who listened.
Source:
www.eutimes.net

Iran says it is converting uranium, easing bomb fears


DUBAI | Tue Feb 12, 2013 10:18pm EST
(Reuters) - Iran acknowledged on Tuesday that it was converting some of its higher-grade enriched uranium into reactor fuel, a move that could help to prevent a dispute with the West over its nuclear program hitting a crisis in mid-2013.
Conversion is one way for Iran to slow the growth in its stockpile of material that could be used to make a bomb. That stockpile is currently projected to reach a level intolerable to Israel in mid-year, just as Iran's room for negotiation is being limited by a presidential election in June.
 
 
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was asked at a weekly news conference about a Reuters report that Iran has converted small amounts of its 20-percent enriched uranium into reactor fuel.
"This work is being done and all its reports have been sent to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in a complete manner," he was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA.
It was Iran's first acknowledgment that it had apparently resumed converting into fuel small amounts of uranium enriched to a concentration of 20 percent fissile material.
Iran's production of that higher-grade uranium worries the major powers because it is only a short technical step away from the 90-percent purity needed for a weapon.
On-off negotiations with the major powers and four rounds of U.N. Security Council sanctions have failed to persuade Iran to stop its enrichment activities, and the IAEA has been refused full access to investigate other suspect elements of the nuclear program.
Iran denies that it is seeking a weapon and says its nuclear program serves only peaceful purposes such as electricity and the production of medical isotopes.
CRITICAL MASS
But Israel, widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed country in the Middle East, has indicated that Iran's stockpile will reach a level in June at which it considers it must attack to stop Iran acquiring enough fissile material for a bomb. With a presidential election taking place that month, Tehran's room to make concessions to foreign powers is limited.
In Washington, U.S. President Barack Obama, who is scheduled to visit the Middle East next month, exhorted Iran to reach a diplomatic agreement and stressed his determination to prevent it from obtaining an atomic bomb.
"The leaders of Iran must recognize that now is the time for a diplomatic solution, because a coalition stands united in demanding that they meet their obligations, and we will do what is necessary to prevent them from getting a nuclear weapon," Obama said in his annual State of the Union speech to Congress.
Iran averted a potential crisis last year by converting some 100 kg of its 20-percent enriched uranium into fuel, suggesting to some that it was carefully keeping below the threshold set by Israel, while still advancing its nuclear technology.
It is not believed to have enriched uranium beyond 20 percent. A fuller picture is unlikely until a new IAEA report on Iran's nuclear activity, due by late February.
Separately, officials from the IAEA are due to hold talks in Tehran on Wednesday in the hope of restarting their long-stalled inquiry into Iran's nuclear program.
The U.N. agency, whose mission is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, has been trying for a year to negotiate a so-called structured approach with Iran that would give its inspectors access to sites, officials and documents.
The IAEA especially wants access to the Parchin military complex southeast of Tehran where it believes explosives tests relevant for nuclear weapons development may have taken place and been subsequently concealed, allegations that Iran denies.
"READY FOR DEAL"
Mehmanparast said Iran was ready to come to a "comprehensive agreement" with the IAEA if Tehran's nuclear rights were recognized. Part of this agreement could include a visit to Parchin, he said.
But Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, on Tuesday criticised the IAEA's handling of documents related to Iran, signaling the continued mistrust between the agency and Tehran.
"Unfortunately their system is not sufficiently secure," Abbasi-Davani said, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA). "They need to be more careful in their interactions with Iran."
Last year Abbasi-Davani accused the U.N. agency of a "cynical approach" and mismanagement, and said "terrorists and saboteurs might have intruded" into the agency.
Iran and six world powers, known as the P5+1, are due to hold a new round of talks on the nuclear program in Kazakhstan on February 26.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday that the powers were ready to respond if Iran came to the talks prepared to discuss "real substance".
Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, visiting Moscow, said Iran was "counting on there being positive and constructive steps made to resolve this problem at the upcoming meeting".
In Tehran, Salehi's spokesman Mehmanparast responded to news that North Korea had conducted its third nuclear test in defiance of existing United Nations resolutions by saying: "We need to come to a point where no country will have any nuclear weapons."
(Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Saudi Arabia offers Iran's Rohani qualified support

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DUBAI - Saudi Arabia, a Gulf rival of Iran, wants Iranian President-elect Hassan Rohani to seek stability in the Middle East and avoid interfering in other states' affairs, a Saudi official was quoted as saying on Thursday.

Iran, wants Iranian President-elect Hassan Rohani to seek stability in the Middle East and avoid interfering in other states' affairs, a Saudi official was quoted as saying on Thursday.
"If that is what Rohani aims for, then we support him and bless this position," Al Watan newspaper quoted Foreign Ministry undersecretary Prince Turki bin Mohammed as saying.
 
 
Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter and a leading Sunni Muslim power, has tense ties with Shi'ite Iran, notably over the war in Syria, where they back opposing sides, political unrest in Bahrain and the dispute over Iran's nuclear program.
On Monday King Abdullah congratulated Rohani on his election victory and hailed what he described as the moderate cleric's wish to improve relations between the two nations.
Rohani has held out the prospect of forging better ties between Iran and the world, including the United States, and progress on resolving the nuclear dispute.
Prince Turki said Saudi Arabia favored "normal relations with Iran based on mutual respect and non-interference in the affairs of other states and the maintenance of security and stability of other states", Al Watan reported.
Western countries believe Iran is covertly seeking a nuclear weapons capability. Tehran denies this, saying its atomic program has only energy and medical purposes.
The United States and the European Union tightened financial and trade sanctions on Iran last year, forcing sharp cuts to its oil exports and badly damaging its economy.
The day before he was elected, Rohani told the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat daily that ending hostility between Iran and its neighbors, especially Saudi Arabia, would be his top priority.
"Saudi Arabia and Iran can play an important positive role in major issues like security of the Gulf," he declared.


The adventures of a Libyan weapons dealer in Syria

He did, however, produce iPad footage that he said showed an earlier consignment being prepared. In the clip, a group of men were loading rockets and boxes of ammunition out of a small truck and into a container.

BENGHAZI, Libya | Tue Jun 18, 2013 12:04pm EDT
(Reuters) - Abdul Basit Haroun says he is behind some of the biggest shipments of weapons from Libya to Syria, which he delivers on chartered flights to neighboring countries and then smuggles over the border.
After fleeing Libya in his 20s, Haroun established himself as a property developer in Manchester. After about two decades in the British city, he returned to Libya in 2011 to fight in the revolution, where he became a prominent rebel commander.
 
 
He says he sends aid and weapons to help Syrians achieve the freedom he fought for during the Libyan revolution.
The first consignment of weapons was smuggled into Syria aboard a Libyan ship delivering aid last year, Haroun says, but now containers of arms are flown "above board" into neighboring countries on chartered flights.
In the months since Haroun began his work, arming the rebels has moved up the international agenda, with Saudi Arabia equipping them with missiles, and Washington also planning to send weapons to the men fighting President Bashar al-Assad.
Haroun spoke to Reuters over coffee and homemade cake late at night at his villa on the outskirts of Benghazi, the eastern city that began the uprising that deposed Muammar Gaddafi.
His son, a young man who spoke English with a Manchester accent, offered help with weapon prices and other details.
Haroun was upset the West had not intervened in Syria, as it did in Libya and said the opportunity to avert a larger war had been missed.
"Even when the war in Syria ends, there will be another war in region; Sunni against Shia. At the beginning, there was just Assad to bring down ... now Hezbollah, Iran are involved."
A Reuters reporter was taken to an undisclosed location in Benghazi to see a container of weapons being prepared for delivery to Syria. It was stacked with boxes of ammunition, rocket launchers and various types of light and medium weapons.
Haroun and an associate said it was being stored on the unnamed base to keep the arms safe.
"They are not partners with me in the transfer of weapons, but I store the weapons here because it is a safe place," said Haroun's associate, who asked not to be named because it could negatively impact his relief work.
BLIND EYE
Haroun says he can collect weapons from around the country and arrange for them to be delivered to the Syrian rebels because of his contacts in Libya and abroad.
"They know we are sending guns to Syria," Haroun said. "Everyone knows."
In Libya, he helps the government with state security, according to interior ministry spokesman Majdi al-Ourfi.
He also has credentials as a commander from the days of the revolution. "Abdel Basit Haroun was with us in the February 17 brigade before he quit to form his own brigade," said fellow brigade commander Ismail Salabi.
His weapon dealing activities appear to be well known, at least in Libya's east.
Senior officials in Libya's army and government told Reuters they backed supplying weapons to the Syrian opposition, while a member of Libya's congress said Haroun was doing a great job of helping the Syrian rebels.
"After the end of the war of liberation, he became involved in supporting the Syrian revolution... sending aid and weapons to the Syrian people," said assembly member Tawfiq Al-Shehabi.
"He does a good job of supporting the Syrian revolution."
Another official, who declined to be identified, said he had allowed weapons to leave the port of Benghazi for Syria.
"We don't stop them because we know what the Syrian people are going through," he said, referring to weapons being smuggled out of the eastern port. He did not say who was behind the shipments he allowed through.
A Libyan army commander, Hamed Belkhair, said that he was aware of colleagues in the military who had met Syrian rebels and agreed to help them by supplying arms.
"The weapons are not supplied to extremists, but only to the Free Syrian Army," said Belkhair.
A United Nations Panel report dated February this year also backs Haroun's assertions that weapons smuggling to Syria from Libya is widely known about.
"The Syrian Arab Republic has presented a prominent destination for some Libyan fighters and Libyan military materiel," the writers say.
Transfers have been organized under the supervision, or with the consent, of a range of actors in Libya and the Syrian Arab Republic."
The report adds: "the significant size of some shipments and the logistics involved suggest that representatives of the Libyan local authorities might have at least been aware of the transfers, if not actually directly involved."
GREAT THINGS
Haroun runs the operation with an associate, who helps him coordinate about a dozen people in Libyan cities collecting weapons for Syria. Both said several flights had been chartered to Jordan or Turkey to deliver weapons that were then transferred over the border.
Haroun's associate, who also runs a relief organization, said that about 28 metric tons of weapons had been delivered by air so far.
"We are doing two great things," Haroun said. "The first is that we are taking guns off the street. The mission is so popular that we get 50 percent discounts on weapons."
Haroun added that some were also donated free, particularly heavy items that families had little use for after the war.
His son helped him with weapon prices on the streets. For example, a C5 general purpose machine gun was about $25, while rocket propelled grenade launchers were nearer $120.
"If we had the money we could collect all the guns from the streets, but it currently takes about 4-5 months to get enough for a delivery," Haroun said, adding that funding came from local businesses and Syrians abroad.
They deliver the weapons to the Free Syrian Army because they are best placed to know which rebel group is most in need of supplies, Haroun said. The FSA delivered the arms to the front line and Haroun said he no control over which groups received the weapons.
They preferred to send weapons rather than fighters, because of the risk of trouble returning to Libyan soil.
Both he and his associate traveled with their first successful delivery in August over the Syrian border to ensure it reached its destination. They were appalled by the horrors witnessed there.
"Anyone who saw what I did in Syria would do the same thing," said the associate.
"The water is so polluted you wouldn't even wash your hands with it. People have no clothes. I saw three births with no doctors present. People are dying without medication."
LIBYAN WEAPONS
A Reuters reporter who visited locations supplied by Haroun in Syria a month or two after the shipment was said to have arrived said the area was awash in weapons of Libyan origin.
In addition, a number of journalists traveled with Haroun.
"I was with Haroun on the ship (Al Entisar)... And I know they transfer arms to Syria," said Areesh Saeed, a Libyan journalist.
That aid shipment met only a fraction of the people's needs, the associate said. The next consignment due to sail in June would be bigger, at close to 2,000 metric tons.
"The next shipment will be only aid. And if we were planning on taking weapons, we wouldn't tell you," he added.
He did, however, produce iPad footage that he said showed an earlier consignment being prepared. In the clip, a group of men were loading rockets and boxes of ammunition out of a small truck and into a container.
Haroun's associate gestured at the person filming to turn the phone off, while a man on the truck grinned at the camera.
Air deliveries are preferred because of the risks of interception in east Mediterranean waters; their first shipment was seized off the coast of Lebanon.
Both Haroun and his associate said the second shipment was successful because it took a longer route, reaching Turkey in August 2012 with weapons hidden among about 460 metric tons of aid destined for Syrian refugees.
The UN report appears to confirm at least some of Haroun's account, in its investigation in the case of a second vessel, the Al Entisar.
The Panel investigated a news report that a Libyan ship with around 400 metric tons of aid had supplied Syrian rebels with "the largest consignment of weapons ... since the uprising".
The Panel found that the loading port was Benghazi, that the exporter was "a relief organization based in Benghazi" and the consignee was the same Islamic foundation based in Turkey that Haroun said had helped with documentation.
"The Panel also spoke to the head of the Benghazi-based relief organization, who organized the shipment. He confirmed that the cargo had been loaded on to Al Entisar... denying that any weapons had been on board," the report says.
Haroun's associate says he told authorities only aid was on board and denies anyone knew about the weapons. Haroun contradicts him on this point.
(additional reporting by Erika Solomon in Beirut; writing by Jessica Donati; editing by Giles Elgo