From Sputnik News
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has accused the US of trying to universally apply its own laws and control other countries as part of a practice of “lawfare” – seen through Washington’s pursuit of people like himself, Edward Snowden and Kim Dotcom.
“This is something in academia… called ‘lawfare’ — getting access to territory by pushing your laws into this territory, instead of your military. It’s a very modern and sophisticated concept, and that’s partly what the TPP is about.“
It’s a larger version of economic warfare of using US Persons as Trojan horse to extract capital from other countries all under the guise of fighting tax evasion. When seen in connection with what is really happening in these so-called “free trade” deals, it is clear the United States is actively engaged in nothing less than complete global dominance enforced through extraterritorial law. The creation of intricate legal arrangements take the place of military occupation and allow the US to control countries and states that lie outside its jurisdiction.
Assange said the US was going to “most countries in the world, trying to get them to sign secret bilateral agreements — called Article 98 agreements — to promise that those countries would never extradite someone from the US government to the International Criminal Court.”
It’s thought that the US has concluded at least 100 of these agreements.
The Bush administration created these loopholes to protect government officials from prosecution after its disastrous interference in the affairs of Iraq. Assange says Obama, has attempted to “co-opt the ICC for broader geopolitical purposes, as opposed to the narrow view of trying to protect their own skins.”
Huge international trade deals such as the recently concluded TPP and the proposed TTIP have also been accused of being central to the US plans to exert legal influence over the world.
A clause in these deals allows multinational organizations to sue governments (ISDS) if legislation is introduced that will inhibit the investment opportunities of businesses.It is clear that such initiatives actively undermine the sovereignty of governments involved in the trade deals, allowing large multinational corporations to assert legal control and influence over foreign states. And of course, the emerging economies of not-yet-competitive states are not part of this US-created world order. Brazil, Russia, India, China & South Africa. Exactly the nations who perceive the need for the establishment of a new reserve currency as a way to usurp the U.S. dominance. Perhaps the U.S. realizes there is no way to repair its enormous deficit so a new way for it to remain at the top is being put into play. Above all, this is the defence for the enormous threat that China poses for the United States.
Makes one wonder what on earth is pushing countries to sign these “Article 98 agreements; as with FATCA, I susect there is something very unpleasant & threatening going on in these secret negotiations.
TPP has been a big deal here in NZ but our corrupt government has won. They have run massive PR campaigns to trick nearly everyone into believing it’s a huge win for all New Zealanders and a great deal. Now they will still not release any of the texts and are only releasing ‘fact sheets’ that do nothing but make it sound like a great deal. Meanwhile the only journalists speaking out are relegated to hidden “Opinion” sections of the papers. Only a small minority know exactly what it is and how straight up evil it is. The government has simply painted all detractors all as “anti-trade” “misinformed lefty loonie conspiracy weirdos who hate New Zealand”. All kiwis seem to care about is professional sports, so what can you do? Oh well.
Wow. I never knew they were excluding countries like China Brazil and India…..
I reckon if all countries across the world pulled away from the American dollar (i.e. green toilet paper, currently in reserve at central banks), the United States and its illusory influence would collapse. Just my opinion…
@Duality
The problem with that is that we would all collapse with the dollar.
I once saw a documentary on german TV about what happened in Hamburg during the 1930s. There were wealthy merchants and factory owners there who all exported to America. These were their customers and that source dried up because of the great depression. People went bankrupt- and what is even scarier- it set the ground for the rise of Hitler and his thugs.
So we have to beware of what we wish for. Sadly- we need America like some kind of motor. It was once thought that China would rise to take the place of America as a global customer. Might not be happening?
The New Roman Empire. All roads lead to Rome (Washington D.C.) The tax collector is the New Centurian. He doesn’t carry a lance, a sword, a shield and has no horse, but be assured he will ruin you if you ignore his command.
I am not an expat, but an advocate for the FairTax, which is a sales tax levied on new goods only that are sold within our borders. It would solve the immigration problem, and who would care where your capital is resting. It would find the place where it would produce the greatest reward. Capital flow would be to countries that have industries that deserve investment. The Capitalist countries would have an advantage and the rest would have to follow along. Socialist would hate it and capitalist would love it.
Expats would get relief and guys like me who just want government to leave me alone would also get relief.
The BRICs de-dollarising the world will be evolution not revolution.
It’ll take China another 5 to 10 years to get everything up and running with the Yuan.
The real problem is what price do we pay with all these so-called trade agreements? Obviously the US is trying to sure up its position for the decades to come.
The world is diverging into two trade areas. The new ‘Silk Road’ from Brazil, across Africa and on to China.
The other will be a US sphere of trade around the Pacific rim, and trying to stop Europe lurching more east. Europe is interesting because it could end up being a battleground of sorts with it slanting more east on some issues and siding with the US on others.
It’ll be interesting.
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/hundreds-thousands-protest-berlin-against-134352310.html
The Germans are not amused about TTIP
@Don
The European Union looks after half a billion citizens, has a rich cultural heritage, uses a robust currency (a.k.a. Deutschmark in disguise), and still maintains economic might. When will Brussels stop pandering to the Americans?
I’d think it was a conspiracy theory if I didn’t know first-hand about FATCA.
Just watched the clip. The evolving, globalised world is the despair of America… good. Odious Fatca is proof of this.
I want to transfer over $150,000 from abroad to the U.S. where I live.
I have a bank account abroad that I never reported, i.e. never filed FBAR. Could wiring that money to the U.S. pose a risk of uncovering myself from the IRS ? Because the transfer will create a link between that account and the U.S. if I am not mistaken.
If so, how could I avoid being tracked? I am not a criminal, but I want to have some privacy and also I fear that the Uncle Sam may come after me when he discovers that I never filed the FBAR.
@Jim707:
I don’t believe this is the forum for such questions. I would suggest that you consider contacting a tax attorney with experience in dealing with offshore accounts. In preparation for this meeting, you might also read up on the IRS domestic streamlined program and OVDP.
@Jim707
If you are resident in the United States, you are subject to the tax authority over there (the IRS) and their rules.
@Jim707
Depends on the source and tax status of the funds …. then again, regardless of such status, the FBARs might empty the account for you and take a chunk of your domestic assets as well. An experienced US Attorney seems your best bet and though costly it might be your cheapest option.
In relation to the US wanting to control the world, here is an interesting article about financial secrecy around the world (http://www.financialsecrecyindex.com/introduction/fsi-2013-results) and, particularly it’s report on the US (http://www.financialsecrecyindex.com/PDF/USA.pdf). It is especially enlightening in terms of how the US has long wished to ferret out “US Person” information from outside the US but hold itself entitled to remain a haven for secret accounts by non-resident aliens. In other words, they love foreigners investing inside the US but have long held that US Persons should never do the same by investing anywhere outside the US.
While this article dates from 2013, the following reference stood out:
New legislation introduced in September 2013 under Senator Levin’s Stop Tax Haven Abuse
Act, not yet enacted, would further tighten up FATCA by, among other things, establishing
legal presumptions to overcome secrecy barriers, closing loopholes, allowing a range of
sanctions against non-cooperative jurisdictions; introducing country-by-country reporting
requirements for trans-national corporations, and strengthening penalties against promoters
of abusive schemes. It would also create a tougher environment for people and entities
doing business with foreign banks that reject FATCA, and would, crucially, let the U.S.
Treasury take action against financial institutions by extending anti money laundering tools
into the tax area.
https://www.law.umich.edu/newsandinfo/features/Pages/taxation_conference_101415.aspx
Too bad US lawfare wasn’t raised in the context of the discussions about FATCA.
@ badger
Thanks for finding that link. I see they had a good laugh at the conference but right now I’d like to see more empathy and possibly some measured outrage. CBT is an abomination and FATCA is about to do irreparable damage to untold numbers of people.