Finland 1940
We are now refugees in
Finland.
My little daughter
Returns home in the evening complaining that no child
Will play with her. She is German, and comes
From a nation of gangsters.
When I exchange loud words during a discussion
I am told to be quiet. The people here do not like
Loud words from someone
Who comes from a nation of gangsters.
When I remind my little daughter
That the Germans are a nation of gangsters
She is glad with me that they are not loved
And we laugh together.
Bertolt Brecht, 1940
@Joe Smith – This quotation, attributed to Bertolt Brecht, astonishes me. Finland, to its eternal shame, was a Nazi collaborator during WW II, though the Finn government prefers “co-bellligerant” rather than “cillaborator”; a skunk by any other name reeks the same… You can verify this fact in any relevant source, e.g., Wikipedia. That’s why I am amazed that in 1940 the Finns woudl speak ill of their partner in crime. Of course, all this has nothing to do with IBS, but I feel obligated to set the record straight.
Finns had no choice (having been invaded twice by the USSR) and I would note never moved on Leningrad, did not deport Jews, and eventually turned against Germany, avoiding occupation by the victorious allies
“Later in the war, Germany’s ambassador to Helsinki Wipert von Blücher concluded in a report to Hitler that Finns would not endanger their citizens of Jewish origin in any situation.[11] According to historian Henrik Meinander, this was realistically accepted by Hitler.[11] Yad Vashem records that 22 Finnish Jews died in the Holocaust, all fighting for the Finnish Army.”
I believe that we in the U.S. have been taken over by a bunch of Gangsters also. Obama was a Chicago South side Community leader. That is code for gangster. He worked for Louis Farakkan and was friends with a 1960’s terrorist who says he wishes he had done more. He was dismissed on a murder charge, because the police failed in some way to follow the law. Not that he wasn’t guilty and Bill Ayers even today as a retired Sociology professor won’t renounce the need he felt to murder police and other establishment people.
Every associate Obama ever had was either a South Side gang leader or Muslim terrorist. He chose as his top adviser Valarie Jarrett, who was born in Terhan as a Muslim and in 1977 said she was going to do everything she could to use our religious freedom to subvert us all into Muslims.
Now it is not just Chicago that is run by a gang, it is the country. His Atty General has refused to look at the charges already brought by congress against Lois Lerner of IRS infamy and has something like 60 Muslims who have the sole mission in life to either convert us all or kill us, by the tenants of Mohamed and every Muslims duty.
Holder, the Atty Gen. knows about all the lawbreaking done for either him or his boss and will go out of office without bringing any charges.
The president has explored the possibility of making everything so bad using administraters, all under his control, so that he can declare Marshall Law and call off elections. The last person to do this was Nixon, but hen Republican leaders found this out the went to him and demanded his resignation.
Where are the Democrat Party leaders , either hiding or laughing about the lies they told to ruin public opinion of Mitt Romney. Yeah I mean Harry Reid . He was a Las vegas Union hug, who rose to union boss and got himself appointed to the Gambling Commission where he took payoffs enough to run his first campaign for public office and has somehow gotten a law degree, without going to law school??? He has been in good company since Obama came to town. Gangsters in Germany in 1940 were no worse than our Gangsters in 2015.
It is easy for me to disassociate myself from the gangsters in the USA. Brecht was an ethnic German from Germany. I am an ethnic Scot/Korean hybrid who just happened to grow up in the United States. My time outside that country surpassed my residency there in 2009. I now see the USA as “them”, “they”; and when I talk to Americans, I talk about “your country” “your government” “your president”. When I left the USA, my dad’s family had spent about 300 years in America, and my mother’s family only about 80 years. I.e., I was just passing through.
I use the “passing through” image as well. Mother was born in Palestine, father born in NYC to parents born in Romania. “Let my people go”,
@Petros. Yeah, same for me. I’m long since a Canadian, period. Whenever someone here or on another forum suggests we should write to our Congressional representative or Obama I say I can’t. I don’t have a Congressman and Obama isn’t my president. To me, the US long ago became a foreign country with a detestable government.
Spending many years living outside of the US gives one a perspective that no US homelander can possibly understand. In my case, a major branch of the family moved from Ontario to the US a century ago. I like to think I’m finally just getting things back on track.
we know that dual citizens living in the country of their other citizenship do not have the
protection of the US
but apparently some homelanders should also look elsewhere
Joe Biden says US Jews should depend on Israel for security
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/193387#.VR7LuZV0yCg
imagine African Americans being told that they should look to Nigeria or another country for protection
@patricia
So by his logic… every ethnic group should look for protection from their ethnic homeland instead of the US… if that is the case… the US should only protect the American Indians who are the real citizens of the US instead of trying to screw them over.
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/u-judge-approves-settlement-commerzbank-151820812.html
German bank has to pay $1.45B in penalties to the US Government – then the US wonders why Germany joined the AIIB and ignored Washington’s demands.
The Americans need to wake up.
Another interesting article on the Democrats Abroad website;
https://www.democratsabroad.org/group/fbarfatca/march-2015-update-report-february-2015-fatca-door-knock
Their position as of March 2015 was essentially asking for resident country carve out. IMO this is not workable in today’s world of cross border banking. The EU is moving towards more cross border banking, so for example, if you live in France and a German bank has a great deal, because of FATCA you wouldn’t be able to take advantage of it without FATCA reporting.
It’s also interesting Democrats Abroad met with Rand Paul on their recent trip to DC.
Rather than admit FATCA is bad for any American living abroad, they’re desperately trying to keep FATCA in place and find some formula that Congress may find acceptable while living Americans abroad still financially handicapped.
They also never seem to mention any dual EU citizens that may mount a legal challenge in Europe against the IGAs.
They seem far too focused on getting Congress to act rather than get a EU court to re-instate their financial freedom.
more surveillance by DHS
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/dhs-renews-quest-for-access-to-national-license-plate-tracking-system/2015/04/02/4d79385a-d8a1-11e4-8103-fa84725dbf9d_story.html
I wonder if these firms are also tracking Canadian cars in Canada
Launch of China’s version of the SWIFT system.
FATCA’s strength relies upon the fact that the US dollar is sole reserve currency.
It looks increasingly likely the you’ll be able to choose in future. Do you want to live in the US dollar world or the Chinese Yuan world?
http://russia-insider.com/en/chinas-swift-alternative-and-engineered-death-dollar/5184
It foreseeable that a FATCA bypass will be possible to the current dollar world.
However please note that for Canada (and its FFIs) will have to continue to pander the US (for obvious reasons) living in the regional dollar world. However for the BRICs (and dealing with a bank that does not touch US dollars) someone in theory will be able to bypass FATCA sometime in the future.
The US Government is promoting the US dollar’s decline because of all the rules, regulations, fines and other criminal and legal BS the world has to put up with to use the US dollar.
In future it will be possible to ask yourself do I trade in US dollars (and all the US government hassle) or trade in Chinese Yuan (who as of today don’t care how you use their money)?