Puppet MastersS


Briefcase

Google offshore accounts avoided billions in taxes


RT
Thu, 22 Dec 2016 09:51 UTC
Double Irish Dutch Sandwich
© www.economicsonline.co.uk
Alphabet Inc.'s Google managed to save $3.6 billion in 2015 by shifting its profits to a Bermuda shell company, according to filings in the Netherlands. Google used Ireland and the Netherlands as intermediaries. According to files obtained by Bloomberg, Google used the so-called "Double Irish" and a "Dutch Sandwich" tax avoidance method.

The scheme is complicated.
First, Google's taxes outside the US are sent to Ireland to Google Ireland Limited. Then, the profits are sent to the Netherlands, which is also acknowledged for low corporate taxes.

Then, the money is sent from the Dutch subsidiary to a Bermuda shell company known as Google Ireland Holdings Unlimited, which has no employees but has the rights to Google's intellectual property.
Bloomberg further reported that using the tax avoidance scheme Google sent 40 percent more of its profits in 2015 than in 2014. In total, Google has sheltered $58.3 billion from US taxation, according to parent company Alphabet's filings.

While Ireland closed the loophole last year, corporations may still enjoy it until 2020.

The report may be of interest to the EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, who has recently been tackling inappropriate behavior of US companies on the European market.

Just on Tuesday, the European Commission found Facebook guilty of providing misleading information before winning approval to buy the WhatsApp messenger in 2014. The company is facing a fine of up to one percent of annual sales.

In August, Apple was fined €13 billion after a European investigation concluded Ireland provided the iPhone maker with a favorable tax rate.

Vestager is also digging into major US corporations like McDonald's, Starbucks and Chrysler.

Comment: Too big to cheat the system...or not.

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Star of David

Trump wants veto power for UN resolution on Israel


RT
Thu, 22 Dec 2016 14:26 UTC
NetanTrump
© AP/Reuters/Nir Elias/Brian Snyder/Majdi Mohammed/SalonUnder the influence.
President-elect Donald Trump is opposed to the resolution before the UN Security Council condemning Israeli settlements, and wants the US to veto it.

The resolution proposed by Egypt says:
the "establishment by Israel of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-State solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace,"
according to a draft put forward on Wednesday. It also demands of Israel to
"immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem."
"The resolution being considered at the United Nations Security Council regarding Israel should be vetoed," Trump announced Thursday morning on Twitter.

In a lengthier statement, posted on his Facebook page, the president elect argued that "peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians will only come through direct negotiations between the parties, and not through the imposition of terms by the United Nations. This puts Israel in a very poor negotiating position and is extremely unfair to all Israelis," Trump concluded.

Comment: As long as there are advocates, protectors and sympathizers to Israeli occupation, especially the caliber of a US president, Israel will never come to the table for a real negotiation, nor will it give up any illegal territories. Trump is going down the same dead-end that has kept Israel outside the law since inception. What is with these guys? If you exercise veto power, you'd best have a plan that works. And, good luck with that.

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Handcuffs

Obama's final GItmo transfers leaves Trump 40+ detainees


RT
Thu, 22 Dec 2016 01:41 UTC
prisoner
© NBC News
President Barack Obama will pass on at least 41 of the remaining 59 prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to President-elect Donald Trump, as new reports indicate either 17 or 18 detainees will be released under Obama's final transfer agreements.

The White House notified Congress on Monday that of the 59 inmates still held at Gitmo, 17 or 18 will be released to Italy, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to the New York Times, citing anonymous officials. Monday marked the legal deadline for the Obama administration to do so, as the Pentagon is required to alert Congress at least 30 days before any detainee is transferred.

The 17 or 18 men are among 22 who have been approved for transfer. The reason for the other four or five detainees not also being released, the Times reports, is in the difficulty of repatriating them to their home countries, or lack thereof. They include an Algerian, a Moroccan, a Tunisian and a stateless Rohingya man, all of whom have been in Guantánamo for almost 15 years.

There are 37 Gitmo prisoners who have not been approved for transfer. Most of them have not been charged with a crime but are deemed too dangerous to transfer, but 10 were charged or convicted in military commissions.



Comment: This is pathetic.


Comment: Gitmo is the ultimate debacle of the pathological US unjustice system. Whether Obama tried really, really hard to get this atrocity closed or blocked at every turn, the fact remains there are people still locked up without legal process nor charged with a crime since 2002, some of whom may never be released. Guilty or not. That's all. There is no case.

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Bad Guys

UN Board fails to identify the perpetrators responsible for attack on aid convoy in Aleppo


Sputnik
Thu, 22 Dec 2016 18:22 UTC
Aid is seen strewn across the floor in the town of Orum al-Kubra on the western outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on September 20, 2016, the morning after a convoy delivering aid was hit by a deadly air strike
© AFP 2016/ Omar haj kadourAid is seen strewn across the floor in the town of Orum al-Kubra on the western outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on September 20, 2016, the morning after a convoy delivering aid was hit by a deadly air strike
An aid convoy operating under the auspices of the United Nations and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent headed to Syria's Aleppo province was struck by an airstrike on September 16. At least 20 people were killed and 18 of the convoy's 31 trucks were destroyed in Urm al-Kubra, according to the International Federation of Red Cross.

"The Board found that, while the incident was caused by an air attack, it was not possible to identify the perpetrator or perpetrators," the report stated on Wednesday.

The board also stated it had no evidence to conclude that "the incident was a deliberate attack on a humanitarian target."
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Snakes in Suits

Top UK diplomats criticize Russia's 'maligned influence' in Syria


RT
Wed, 21 Dec 2016 23:02 UTC
Alan Duncan
© alanduncan.org.ukAlan Duncan: "a very malign influence..."
A senior British Foreign Office official has accused Russia of being "a very malign influence" and "making things worse" in Syria. That's amid UK's own reluctance to airdrop supplies to Syrian civilians, as the planes could easily be shot down. Alan Duncan, the Foreign Office (FCO) minister of state for Europe and the Americas, was speaking to a Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on Russia's role in Syrian conflict and its relations with the UK.

Asked by Labour MP Ian Murray if the UK should welcome Russia as "the key influencer in Syria and that could be a key influencer of brokering any ceasefire or political settlement," Duncan erupted in an outburst. "That is certainly not how I see it. I think they have been a very malign influence and they have made the situation worse. That has to be pointed out very robustly."

Comment: The West cannot self-regulate. It needs Russia to be their alter-ego - the bad one. They make it up as they go. There is no plan. Note: If the UK can't be at least part of the solution, it has to be the problem.

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Gold Coins

Moscow: Dutch slammed for rampant efforts to destroy relations with Russia


RT
Thu, 22 Dec 2016 01:04 UTC
US tanks
© Ints Kalnins / ReutersUS M1Abrams tanks
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the Netherlands is apparently seeking the destruction of any ties with Russia. Her comments came after Amsterdam opted to accommodate US tanks and a recent ruling on Crimean treasures loaned to a Dutch museum.

Earlier this month, the Dutch reopened its 500,000-square-feet storage facility in Eygelshoven to house over 1,600 US units. Three years after the last American tank left Europe, M1 Abrams Tanks will now be stationed in the Netherlands along with a fleet of M109 Paladin Self-Propelled Howitzers. US tanks are being brought back "as part of our commitment to deterrence," Gen. Frederick Hodges told NBC News, adding that the Dutch base will store "strategically prepositioned critical war stock." Russia criticized the Dutch move to reopen the storage facility as counterproductive to bilateral relations.



Comment: Not only is the US infiltrating the Baltics and countries like the Netherlands with armament as an aggressive 'deterrence' to Russia, it's pre-positioned equipment is a subtle threat to any objecting EU country, now easily reachable on the continent, to not go against US dictates. Trojan horse.

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Treasure Chest

Japan's cabinet approves record $43.6bn military budget citing tensions with China and N. Korea


RT
Thu, 22 Dec 2016 17:21 UTC
Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) destroyer Kurama
© Toru Hanai / ReutersJapan's Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) destroyer Kurama.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet has approved a record $43.6 billion Japan military budget, increasing it for the fifth year in a row out of concerns over potential threats from China and North Korea.

Abe's cabinet signed off on a 1.4 percent increase in military spending, bringing the total to a record 5.13 trillion yen ($43.66 billion) for the fiscal year starting April 1. Experts say the plan is very likely to be approved by lawmakers.

Meanwhile, China continues to claim disputed territories in the South China Sea, and North Korea has continued to carry out missile tests.
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Magnify

Gingrich: Trump will no longer use "drain the swamp" phrase - Wrong!


RT
Thu, 22 Dec 2016 01:59 UTC
gingrich
© Lucas Jackson / Reuters
President-elect Trump's promise to end corruption in politics has been questioned, but he is now removing that language from his platform. Trump ally Newt Gingrich told NPR in an interview that Trump was going to stop using the phrase "drain the swamp."

Donald Trump's desire to stop talking about draining the swamp may have pleased Newt Gingrich, a man whose first name is the name of juvenile salamanders that are found in swamps. On Wednesday, he told NPR that Trump's promise to end corruption in politics by "draining the swamp" would no longer include that key phrase but was unclear on whether the issue would lose prominence in Trump's presidency.

"I'm told he now just disclaims that," Gingrich explained to NPR. "He now says it was cute, but he doesn't want to use it anymore."

Many have been troubled that Trump's promise to drain the swamp was little more than campaign rhetoric, particularly after appointing three former Goldman Sachs executives to positions in the White House, including former George Soros employee Steven Mnuchin as treasury secretary, and other lobbyists.

Comment: Trump responds:



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Info

Chinese tycoon moving jobs to US citing high taxes at home


AFP / Yahoo! News
Thu, 22 Dec 2016 17:03 UTC
Cao Dewang's Fuyao Glass Industry Group
A Chinese auto glass tycoon has caused a stir by shifting part of his empire to the United States and setting up a factory in Ohio, citing high taxes and soaring labor costs at home.

Cao Dewang's $600-million investment comes after Donald Trump threatened to declare Beijing a currency manipulator and slap 45 percent punitive tariffs on Chinese imports to protect American jobs.

The 70-year-old tycoon's decision to open a glass factory in the eastern American state of Ohio in October -- a rare case of jobs being exported from China to the US -- triggered an outpouring of criticism on social media.

The phrase "Cao Dewang has escaped" became a hot topic, generating nearly 10 million views on the Twitter-like Weibo microblog and many comments urging China to "not let Cao Dewang run away".
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Question

Coincidence? CIA hawk called for 'painful blow' to Putin a week prior to assassination of Ambassador

Stephen MacMillan
BlackListedNews
Wed, 21 Dec 2016 00:00 UTC
michael morrell cia
Michael Morrell
On the evening of Monday the 19th of December, a day before Russia, Turkey and Iran were scheduled to meet in Moscow to discuss the Syrian conflict, the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, was assassinated while speaking at an art exhibition in Ankara. The assailant has been identified as Mevlut Mert Altıntas, a 22-year-old off-duty Turkish police officer, who reportedly had just returned to duty last month after being suspended over suspected knowledge of the failed July coup attempt.

Video footage of the attack shows Altintas shouting 'Allahu Akbar' moments after shooting Karlov, in addition to yelling: "Don't forget Aleppo; don't forget Syria!" According to certain pro-government newspapers in Turkey, Altıntas may have had ties to the Gülen movement, a movement led by the US-based cleric, Fethullah Gülen. The CIA has been intimately connected to the Gülen movement for years, as the author F. William Engdahl has extensively documented.

Comment:

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