< Sovereign Society Index >

In This Issue:

* COMMENT: Whence the Rule of Law?

* OFFSHORE: Swiss Questions. Canada Blasted. Cyprus Taxes. Manx Anger.  Spanish Billions Gone. Tax Haven Iceland? Barbados Lawyers Warned.  Hong Kong Leads as Asian Center. Nicaragua Renews Freedom.

* WEALTH: CFP Fights IRS Regs. Brit Retirees Save Taxes Offshore.  Tobin Tax Talk. Coming Anarchy? How Hawalas Operate.

* PRIVACY & CIVIL RIGHTS: US Anti-Terror Law. Lawyer-Client Violation.  Bush & ID Cards. EU Wants Snooping Power. So Do UK Tax Collectors.

A few tax and asset haven nations have finally made the terror news, but in a good light, assisting in the anti-terror war. LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=6197

World news media yesterday led with dramatic stories about US police raids in America that shut down two financial networks accused of funding Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist group. In cooperative raids in Liechtenstein, Austria, the Netherlands, Campione, Italy and Switzerland, police also seized documents and property. LINKS: 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58873-2001Nov7.html
http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3M4I4ZSTC

The US raids were executed by IRS and US Customs agents from a new federal anti-money laundering task force, "Operation Greenquest". 
LINKS: http://www.msnbc.com/news/654365.asp?cp1=1
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1001/102501m1.htm

In a related action at US request, after 6 hours of questions, Swiss police released two Muslim financiers from Campione d'Italia, both of whom strongly denied any terrorist ties. LINKS:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55872-2001Nov7.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/08/international/europe/08ASSE.html

So far 176 countries have pledged cooperation with US asset freeze orders and 98 have issued orders blocking millions in assets of people and groups named in Pres. Bush's executive orders. LINK:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/local/sfl-118money.story?coll=sfla%2Dbusiness%2Dheadlines

What is striking about all these US government seizures of alleged terrorist funds, says J. Bradley Jansen of the Free Congress Foundation, http://www.freecongress.org/ is that federal agents are using long existing presidential "emergency war powers", not the new law which supposedly was so badly needed to fight terrorism. (Text of the original Bush emergency executive order at LINK (scroll down): http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=5529

You and I have no idea whether these Thursday raids were justified, and at least in the Campione case, it appears they may not have been. None of the persons or places raided had any prior judicial
findings of guilt, only accusations by unknown government police and investigators acting as secret accusers. So how does this honor the rule of law and due process guaranteed by the US Constitution?

We have to ask whether it is still true, as the US Supreme Court has ruled, that: "The Constitution...is a law for rulers and people, equally in war and in peace, and covers with its shield of protection all
classes of men, at all times, and under all circumstances". Ex Parte Milligan, 71 US 2 (1866). LINK: http://laws.findlaw.com/us/71/2.html
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For provocative comments on the importance of the rule of law, especially as applied to newly flowering 'economic crimes', see LINKS: http://reason.com/sullum/110601.html
http://www.freedomandprosperity.org/Papers/morris3/morris3.shtml
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FYI, without endorsement, here's a web site new to us, providing comprehensive links to what's happening in the anti-terror 'war'. LINK: http://www.cursor.org/toc.htm

SWISS ECONOMIC POLICIES QUESTIONED
Ron HOLLAND, Sovereign Society Council of Experts member, marshals history and facts, asking: "Has Switzerland Sold Out to Washington, London & Wall Street?"

The Swiss freeze bank accounts of Pakistan ex-president BHUTTO. LINKS:
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=011105006324
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NEW CANADA LAW BLASTED
An attorney says Canada's new anti-dirty cash law wont catch terrorists, but will boost taxes, costs and hurt civil liberties. LINK: 
http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/stories/20011108/775781.html
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NON-HAVEN CYPRUS DOUBLES I.B.C. TAXES
NICOSIA. Ending its role as a tax haven, Cyprus more than doubles its tax on offshore corporations, just to please the EU. LINKS: 
http://www.ekathimerini.com/news/content.asp?id=106638
http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=6167
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MAN BITES TABLOIDS
Officials of the ISLE of MAN want an end to unfounded "tax haven bashing" by the sensationalist British press. LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=6162
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TAX  HAVEN ICELAND?
REYKJAVIK, Iceland. This northern most nation lays official plans to become a world class offshore tax haven. LINKS:
http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=6158
http://www.ioes.hi.is/events/conference_112001/conference_112001.html
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BILLIONS IN SPANISH INVESTMENTS GONE
MADRID. 16.7 billion pesetas ($US90 million) missing from the Spanish investment firm Gescartera, hidden in an unknown tax haven. LINK:
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=011104000494
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BARBADOS LAWYERS WARNED
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados. The attorney general of this free enterprise Caribbean nation says lawyers must expose dirty cash, or else. LINKS:
http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=6177
http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=6194
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HONG KONG CLAIMS LEADERSHIP STATUS
This special area of Communist CHINA says the stats show HONG KONG is still a leader offshore center for the Asian economic area.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=6166
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NICARAGUA CHOOSES FREEDOM
MANAGUA, Nicaragua. Leftist Sandinista ex-president, Daniel Ortega, is easily defeated for president by conservative VP Enrique Bolanos. LINK:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44924-2001Nov5.html

C.F.P. FIGHTS IRS REGULATIONS
WASHINGTON. The Center for Freedom and Prosperity continues its campaign against IRS plans to help foreign governments tax income earned in the US by non-resident aliens. LINKS:
http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=6159
http://www.freedomandprosperity.org/press/p11-06-01/p11-06-01.shtml
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OFFSHORE SAVINGS FOR BRIT RETIREES
LONDON. We say it again; for retired Brits who want to save lot of taxes, the place to go is way offshore. LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=6174
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DUMB TAX IDEA DIES HARD
Just what a worldwide recession needs to make it a depression; a tax on each and every international capital transfer. LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=6165
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COMING ANARCHY? RICH vs. POOR
A new book claims "the end of the cold war merely set the parameters for the next struggle for survival". LINK: http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3UW8M3QTC
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HOW DO ISLAMIC 'HAWALAS' OPERATE?
Exactly what goes on in the money transfer systems subjected to US police raids?. A graphic & article that explains, LINKS: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/graphics/attack/investigation_45.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51108-2001Nov6.html

NEW U.S. ANTI-TERROR LAW
Two views of what that new USA PATRIOT law means, LINKS:
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/industry/11/06/IT.planning.idg/index.html
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/stories_news/terrorism_20011106.htm
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U.S. VIOLATES RIGHT TO ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE
On an 'emergency' basis, the US government will listen in on all talk between detained federal suspects and their lawyers. LINK: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64663-2001Nov8.html
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E.U. WANTS MORE SNOOP POWERS
The European Union wants power for secret surveillance of e-mails, Internet and phone usage without a warrant. LINK: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,48224,00.html
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SO DO BRITISH TAX COLLECTORS
Sweeping UK proposals for police access to user records of every British telephone and  Internet user will apply to minor crimes and tax collection, not just anti-terrorist investigations. LINK:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,588958,00.html
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