"Panama Papers" Leak

[Renaissance]

Putin's response to the Panama Papers is pretty awesome:

http://www.sott.net/article/315950-Panama-Papers-response-Putin-to-declassify-documents-that-bear-some-very-interesting-names

The Russian President said that he has decided to declassify many archival documents, and that he will sign the decree today. And it was signed. Here.

And he quietly added: "This, as far as I know, according to the information from archive agencies, concerns the period from 1930 to 1989. In these documents there are cases, excuse me, of snitches as well as the innocently repressed, with very interesting names, some documents will surprise society..."

He's basically giving Western powers a smack by giving a taste of what he has in the archive. Things have gotten pretty nasty since 1989, and the more modern intel could probably bring some serious wrath if these idiots don't watch their step.

 

[Andrian]

While searching for news i've stumbled upon this article from South Front, it shows a kind of a different point of view on the whole Panama Papers leak "scandal", i would like to know please what do you think about it, and if it's Sott worthy because i've found the italian version, but since i'm a bit skeptical about the point of view of the author, firstly i wanted to share the article here, so here is a fragment from the article in question(sorry if it's a little bit long):

Who is the target?

Remarkably, for all the hype, the target does not appear to be Russia. There is very little information there that is new, surprising, incriminating, or even damaging. The sums of money mentioned are small, and the individuals and organizations in question are already under Western sanctions, so that their offshore operations do not appear to be an effort to evade Russian taxes but rather to evade Western sanctions in order to engage in financial operations that benefit the Russian economy. Therefore it is actually possible that top Russian leaders knew of these transactions and approved them in order to fight back against the unilateral use and abuse of Western financial systems.

Likewise the Chinese revelations are not all that surprising or major, and I doubt there is anybody who still thinks that Poroshenko would never engage in offshoring his billions. The single country which finds itself the most exposed by these revelations is…the United Kingdom.

The majority of the firm’s 300,000 clients are firms registered in British tax havens. Mossack-Fonseca’s intermediaries include 1,900 (!) British firms, in addition to over 2,000 firms which are based in Hong-Kong, most of whom likely have close ties to the UK or are British firms’ subsidiaries. The list of intermediaries includes prominent banks, law firms, and company incorporators, and represent a sizable portion of the British financial services market.

It is probably also not a coincidence that the information leak also targets a third, after UK and Hong-Kong, provider of financial services, namely Switzerland with about 1.200 intermediaries listed. The US, by contrast, though no slouch in the offshoring business, only has 400 firms listed on the Mossack-Fonseca list of intermediaries.

This leak cannot be possibly welcome by the British financial industry or by the British political elites, now that senior government officials (including David Cameron’s closest relatives and associates), members of the Parliament, and business executives have been exposed as engaging in offshoring activities. The Panama Papers have already become the number one news story in the UK and it will probably not go away quietly or quickly.

Cui Bono?

As with any form of net-centric warfare, one has to pose the question of who the beneficiaries of this action are, and what the target is supposed to do in response.

The beneficiaries are, without doubt, US financial firms. Panama Papers are serving notice that if one wants to engage in offshoring, in order to avoid unwanted publicity or legal scrutiny, one must do so through a major US firm with close ties to the US government, rather than some NSA-hackable British, Hong-Kong, or Swiss firm. One gets the distinctive impression that the US financial sector is trying to do away with its competition so as to centralize offshoring in its hands.

What the British are supposed to do in response is a separate question. The biggest item on the British agenda is Brexit, and since the EU regulations on financial services are one of the biggest sticking points in the UK-EU negotiations, the revelations may make these negotiations so contentious as to strengthen the pro-Brexit lobby which will seek to escape EU’s scrutiny of London’s City. The irony of the situation is that Prime Minister Cameron was not and probably still is not a genuine supporter of the Brexit, but simply wanted to use the prospect to extract concessions from the EU. The UK does benefit from its peculiar political position, characterized by EU membership and its “special relationship” with the US which allows it to play off the two actors against one another–the usual British “bait and bleed” approach to foreign relations.

Brexit, however, would deprive it of that enviable position and leave it in a far weaker position when dealing with the US. Since balkanizing the EU is also a US foreign policy objective aimed at preventing that organization from ever assuming genuine political viability or independence and to make it vulnerable to a US-imposed “free trade” agreement, Brexit would serve that objective admirably.

At first blush, it seems counter-intuitive for the US to be targeting its “special relationship” ally. However, there is no honor among thieves. The two countries’ financial institutions are in an intense rivalry, with London still being the world’s biggest center for financial services. With the US banks suffering losses due to the gradually bursting shale oil fracking bubble, they require a new source of profits which, in a generally stagnant and even shrinking global economy means depriving competition of business. And in this case competition is mainly in the UK. It is a sign of the progressive cannibalization of the First World, initially evident through the austerity policies aimed at the southern members of the EU. But now the US has upped the stakes considerably.

 

[angelburst29]

Wikileaks verses ICIJ?

Shots Fired: Wikileaks Accuses Panama Papers' Leaker Of Being "Soros-Funded, Soft-Power Tax Dodge"
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-04-05/shots-fired-wikileaks-accuses-panama-papers-leaker-being-soros-funded-soft-power-tax

Speaking of Wikileaks, do you remember this? It happened six years ago.

The video leaked by Chelsea Manning, titled Collateral Murder, depicted the killing of more than a dozen men, including two Reuters staffers, and the wounding of others, including small children.

Six Year Anniversary of WikiLeaks Collateral Murder; A Celebration of Free Speech
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/04/05/six-year-anniversary-wikileaks-collateral-murder-celebration-free-speech

On April 5, 2010, WikiLeaks published classified military footage of a July 2007 attack by a US Army helicopter gunship in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad. The video titled Collateral Murder depicted the killing of more than a dozen men, including two Reuters staffers. At the time of release, the WikiLeaks website temporarily crashed with a massive influx of visitors, while versions popped up on YouTube, reaching millions.

The importance of The Collateral Murder video has often been talked about from the perspective that it provided visual evidence of unaccounted US military power and brutality. Now, on the 6th anniversary of its publication, we will revisit the emergence of WikiLeaks in the public consciousness and explore the significance of this video release for the advocacy of free speech.

In reflecting on this groundbreaking public debut, journalist Greg Mitchell noted, “now WikiLeaks had fully arrived – as a concept, as an organization, as a media fixture in America”. Along with the apparent war crime, the uncensored images of modern war alerted people to the lack of government transparency and stifling of free speech in the very country that claims to hold a torch for such things.

Former US Foreign Service employee, Peter Van Buren pointed to several fronts where the government has assaulted the First Amendment. Examples include the weakening of The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that was originally created in 1966, the gutting of whistleblower protection, along with the recent unprecedented crackdown on truthtellers. In fact, this WikiLeaks publication revealed this trend. By using the Freedom of Information Act, Reuters attempted to obtain the footage of these airstrikes from the US Army with no success and it wasn’t until WikiLeaks released Collateral Murder that they were able to access this information regarding the killing of their journalists.

Censoring of Images

The smothering of free speech has cost the public access to the real images of war. Back in the 1960’s, during the Vietnam War, pictures of wounded soldiers and dead civilians flooded through televisions into American homes. Unlike the current situation, the government had not yet learned to keep the press out of war zones, where all could see the horrific images of what in many cases amounted to war crimes.

Brazilian educator Paulo Freire (1970) described two types of words as two opposing forces. “Human existence cannot be silent,” he wrote. “Nor can it be nourished by false words, but only by true words, with which men transform the world” (p.76). These honest images of war were true words that have immense power to alter reality. Indeed, a sensational AP photograph of a naked Vietnamese girl running with her body burnt by a US napalm attack that got on the front page of every newspaper outraged the American people, contributing to ending that war.

Now, these real images are crucified on the cross-hairs of the corporate media lens and government control. They are being blocked or turned into snapshots that conveniently carry one-sided official narratives, with crimes covered up by euphemisms. The WikiLeaks publication of this 2007 aerial footage lifted the gate of public perception that had been tightly guarded through secrecy and media manipulation.

The video opened with a quote from George Orwell; “Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give the appearance of solidity to pure wind”. Transcripts within the footage presented facts about the incident; “On the morning of July 12th 2007, two Apache helicopters using 30mm cannon fire killed about a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad. Two children were also wounded. Although some of the men appear to have been armed, the behavior of nearly everyone was relaxed”. Then a narrative followed that quoted the US Army’s response to the attack, stating “all the dead were ‘anti-Iraq forces’ or ‘insurgents’”.

What was brought to life in this grotesque image of horrific death was the voice of dissent, which until that time was suppressed by institutional hierarchies. This was the voice of whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who was sentenced to 35 years in prison for releasing the largest trove of secret documents in US history. At her pretrial hearing in 2013, Manning spoke about the facts regarding the incident in New Baghdad in her own words. After identifying the second engagement in the video of the unarmed bongo truck taking the kids to school and the attitudes of the soldiers in the helicopter as “the most alarming aspect of the video”, she described it as “seemingly delightful bloodlust” and noted how it appeared to be similar to a “child torturing ants with a magnifying glass”.

Blips and whirs of radio distortion slowly occupied silence. Images that were freed began to move, momentarily intercepted by a still slide of official lines, so viewers could engage critically with the plain colorless scenery shot from an Apache helicopter gun-sight.

Permission to Engage This previously unreleased video footage called all to witness the everyday life of the brutal military occupation of Iraq. In the 17 minute film, we were all given an opportunity to see with our own eyes who those labeled as enemies in the ‘War on Terror’ really were –a group of adults and children trying to defend themselves from being shot and journalists risking their lives to do their job. At the same time, it invited Americans to see themselves and their roles in this scenery unfolding in a distant land.

In an interview with Raffi Khatchadourian of The New Yorker, WikiLeaks editor in chief Julian Assange described how before deciding on the title Collateral Murder, he had considered naming the short commentary film “Permission to Engage”. This video with transcripts and a package of supporting documents released on April 5, 2010 provided the claim by US military authorities that the actions of the soldiers and pilots involved were in accordance with the law of armed conflict and its own “Rules of Engagement”.

The radio transmission audio catches the line of ruthless weaponry when voices of the copter crew came through; “…Yeah Bushmaster, we have a van that’s approaching and picking up the bodies” …. “Let me engage. Can I shoot?”, “Roger. Break. Uh Crazyhorse One-Eight request permission to engage”, “Picking up the wounded?”, “Yeah, we’re trying to get permission to engage”, “Come on, let us shoot!”

The carnage enacted in this raw footage calls us to question these rules of engagement, and most importantly who gives these soldiers permission to engage in such airstrikes killing civilians in countries that are clearly no threat to the US.

Militaries that operate under the nation-state premise are said to act on behalf of the interests of their people. In the case of the US military, the President acts as commander in chief for the entire army. So, ultimately he granted the aerial weapons team permission to engage the van in the square with open fire – to murder in the name of ‘God and country’. A government based on the idea of consent of the governed requires informed citizens and for this, unfiltered information is critical for people to make informed decisions. Those who govern, with over-classification of information and dismantling of basic free press have been keeping citizenry in the dark and preventing them from participating in these vital decisions.

WikiLeaks as a creative application on the Internet has enabled the right of people to freely speak; speech that challenges authority, speech that questions its legitimacy, especially when such an act has become so dangerous. Through Manning’s brave act of conscience, a lost image was resurrected – true words through which ordinary men and women everywhere can transform the world. This made it possible for people to engage in determining the legitimacy of authority and begin withdrawing consent whenever necessary.

Soon after the video release, Ethan McCord, one of the soldiers on the ground at the scene of the shooting came forward to write an apology letter to the Iraqi people. With heavy hearts, two former soldiers from the Army unit expressed their deep sorrow and wish to repair the damage their country had caused. Icelandic collaborators on the video release traveled to Baghdad to meet the family of the victims of this attack to seek for justice. Debate and discussion that was sparked began to dissolve apathy and callous disregard, replacing it with genuine interest and concern for others. In the eyes of many, this video came to be seen as having turned the tide of the war in Iraq.

Now, on this six year anniversary, let us celebrate the publication of Collateral Murder as a historical renewal of free speech. In 2010, on the day after Easter Sunday, the act of posting such a video online instigated a free flow of information on the ether, giving an everlasting effect of letting people see the other side of the story that had been buried by the official narrative.

This iconic film continues to remind us of all those who risked their lives for free press and also of the power of free speech; that our collective engagement with the truth can set frozen images into motion. By seizing the present, we can intervene in the course of that one fatal day and alter the running footage of the past, bringing each person one step closer to self-determination of their own future.

 

[angelburst29]

Blackmail?

Days After Iceland's PM Resigns Over "Panama Papers", Its Bankers Are Released From Jail Years Early
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-04-07/case-closed-icelands-bankers-released-jail-years-early

How very ironic.

Over the weekend, just hours before the Panama Papers were released, we wrote a post that took "A Look Inside Iceland's Kviabryggja Prison: The One Place Where Criminal Bankers Face Consequences."

And then, minutes later, the Panama Papers were disclosed by the ICIJ, which had a clear target: to "expose" the "circle of friends close to Putin", and of course, to reveal the dirty laundry of the Iceland Prime Minister, who resigned just two days after his shady offshore tax dealing were revealed to the world.

There was some "conspiratorial" speculation whether the explicit hit on ex-PM Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson was precisely due to Iceland's crackdown on the country's criminal bankers. As a reminder, Iceland is the only nation that sent bankers found guilty of crimes resulting from the financial crisis, to prison.

It turns out there may have been something valid in said speculation, because moments ago, Iceland Monitor reported that three bankers from the defunct Iceland bank Kaupthing are to be released from jail today – after serving just one year of their 5-year sentences.

Magnús Guðmundsson, Ólafur Ólafsson and Sigurður Einarsson were one of four men jailed in 2015 in the so-called ‘Al-Thani case’ on charges of breach of trust and market abuse.

Sigurður Einarsson, former chairman at Kaupþing, received a sentence of four years, while Magnús Guðmundsson, former CEO of Kaupthing Luxembourg, and Ólafur Ólafsson, who was the bank’s second largest shareholder at the time, both received a sentence of four and a half years.

They will be taken to a halfway house today, where they will be fitted with ankle tags and released under electronic supervision.

Case closed, but the question lingers: is the Panama Papers merely a warning to anyone in government who dares to put bankers in prison to make sure that their own financial documents are in pristine condition, or else?

 

[angelburst29]

Ironically enough, at the height of the Panama Papers publicity, a fire broke out in the basement of the IRS headquarters, leading to a full closure of the headquarters for over a week.

One Day After The Panama Papers Were Leaked, IRS Headquarters Closes Then Catches Fire (Video)
http://www.activistpost.com/2016/04/one-day-after-the-panama-papers-were-leaked-irs-headquarters-closes-then-catches-fire.html

According to a short report from the Associated Press:

IRS headquarters in Washington will remain closed for the rest of the week while repairs are made after a basement fire in the building.The agency said in a news release Tuesday that Monday afternoon’s fire affected the air handling system. No one was hurt in the fire. The IRS says telework-ready employees are expected to telework from their approved location. Officials say tax returns are not processed at headquarters; taxpayers should continue to file their returns.

The timing of the fire and the closure have led many to speculate that perhaps the fire is an inside job, and created intentionally for the purpose of destroying records, which could possibly be evidence that correlates to Panama Papers revelations.

The building was closed and workers sent home approximately 45 minutes before flames engulfed the basement “due to electrical issues with the air-conditioning system,” an IRS spokesman said. He said that about 2,000 people work there but that “a few hundred” were still in the building when the fire broke out.

So far, there has been no indication from local authorities or representatives at the IRS as to whether the fire was an accident or an act of arson, and it is likely that this news will never be revealed. However, it is important to point out that the IRS headquarters is one of the most secure buildings in the country, which would make it nearly impossible for someone to start a fire in the basement unless they had authorized access to the area.

Aside from the mention of some Americans’ use of so-called “tax havens,” there have been no reports of the IRS being implicated in the Panama Papers through the mainstream media. But the mainstream media has yet to report on the full scope of the 11.5 million documents that were released. It is, however, possible that the IRS is expecting some sort of fallout from sensitive information, and is taking protective measures to safeguard their secrets.

It is also possible that they are somehow connected or complicit in the offshore tax avoidance that has been practiced by some American citizens. It is also yet another possibility that this is just a mere coincidence; but when there is smoke, there is usually fire.

THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY

Panama Papers Reveal Details Of MASSIVE UK Gold Heist (Video)
http://dailybail.com/home/panama-papers-reveal-details-of-massive-uk-gold-heist.html

Save time and skip right to the 2-minute mark for the details.

Good clip. I can barely tolerate Rachel Madddow but she is the only who has covered this angle of the #panamapapers. Under discussion is the infamous Brinks-Mat robbery of 1983. This particular gold heist was considered the Crime of the Century due to the massive take. There are new details about what happened to the stolen gold and the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca is heavily involved.

 

[angelburst29]

I'm not a regular reader of Bloomberg Business, so missed this January 27th article:

The World’s Favorite New Tax Haven Is the United States
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-27/the-world-s-favorite-new-tax-haven-is-the-united-states

Note - Long article but it contains some interesting information like this:

The offices of Rothschild Trust North America LLC aren’t easy to find. They’re on the 12th floor of Porsche’s former North American headquarters building, a few blocks from the casinos. (The U.S. attorney’s office is on the sixth floor.) Yet the lobby directory does not list Rothschild. Instead, visitors must go to the 10th floor, the offices of McDonald Carano Wilson LLP, a politically connected law firm. Several former high-ranking Nevada state officials work there, as well as the owner of some of Reno’s biggest casinos and numerous registered lobbyists. One of the firm’s tax lobbyists is Robert Armstrong, viewed as the state’s top trusts and estates attorney, and a manager of Rothschild Trust North America.

The trust company was set up in 2013 to cater to international families, particularly those with a mix of assets and relatives in the U.S. and abroad, according to Rothschild. It caters to customers attracted to the “stable, regulated environment” of the U.S., said Rees, the Rothschild spokeswoman.


US State Department Unable to Explain Difference Between Panama & Snowden Revelations (Video)
http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/04/us-state-department-unable-to-explain.html

The US State Department has stated that it supported the work of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, who published an archive of Panamanian documents, which contains information from the law firm Mossack Fonseca. The experts' attention was drawn to the fact that previously in such a situation, the State Department took the opposite position: in 2013, the US government called Edward Snowden's revelations a betrayal, and said that the declassification of information is a crime.

The media is wondering why the Panama papers contain so little information about American companies and individuals. Experts believe that the citizens of the US have no need to hide their assets abroad, as they can easily do it at home.

They don't have to go to Panama and other offshore zones. Not only because there are corrupt officials and other criminals to launder money. This can be done in any state of the United States. In 2015, the United States ranked third in the index of financial opacity. Financial analysts say that under current US tax law, companies are not required to disclose information about beneficiaries.

During a regular briefing, State Department spokesperson Mark Toner was asked to clarify Washington's position regarding the Panama documents.

"In fact, you support the publication of these papers, right? In the case of WikiLeaks and the documents of Edward Snowden , the US government publicly stated that it was theft," said Associated Press reporter Matt Lee to the representative of the State Department.

"We already talked about the fact that any profession, including in the legal field, should have a certain degree of privacy. Now I can't say if we would declare the incident a theft," said Toner.

Earlier, in the case of the WikiLeaks revelations, the US government taken a clear position, expressing the declassification of documents as theft. At the time, representative of the US State Department Jen Psaki declared "a patriot would not divulge classified information and endanger people," and Press-Secretary of the US Department of State Philip Crowley called the "declassification of information" a crime.

Obviously, we are dealing with hypocrisy. On the one hand, American authorities are promoting information disclosure and treat the whistleblowers as witnesses, but if someone exposes their violation, they immediately call that person a traitor. That's the trend," explained former FBI agent Coleen Rowley.

 

[angelburst29]

I have never seen Putin in a serious pose like this - with his hand up to his face - like at the start of this video?

‘Putinophobia abroad’: Panama Papers ‘direct attack on Russian president’ – Kremlin (Video)
http://www.euronews.com/2016/04/04/putinophobia-abroad-panama-papers-direct-attack-on-russian-president-kremlin/

Never one to shy away from the spotlight, Russian President Vladimir Putin has very publically labelled the Panama Papers revelations an attack on himself and the country.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the scandal as “Putinophobia abroad,” despite the leader not actually being named in the files.

“It’s obvious that the intention, the main target, of this attack, was in the first place against our country, and against President Putin himself,” he said.

He said reports of secret offshore deals and loans worth two billion dollars being linked to Putin’s inner circle were merely an attempt to discredit the president, ahead of September’s parliamentary elections.

Peskov added that the documents contain “nothing concrete and nothing new” about Putin.

Authorities in El Salvador on Friday raided the local offices of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, seizing documents and equipment, the country's attorney general's office said.

El Salvador raids Mossack Fonseca office, seizes documents
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-panama-tax-elsalvador-idUSKCN0X52JP

The Panama-based law firm is at the center of an international data leak scandal that has embarrassed several world leaders and shone a spotlight on the shadowy world of offshore companies.

Attorney General Douglas Melendez, who personally oversaw the raid, said the government decided to sweep the offices after noticing Mossack Fonseca had removed its office sign late on Thursday, which raised suspicions.

An employee later said the company was planning to move, according to the attorney general's Twitter feed.

The El Salvador office is not listed on Mossack Fonseca's corporate website, and officials from Mossack Fonseca in Panama were not available to comment late on Friday.

El Salvador's government seized about 20 computers, some documents and interviewed seven employees, but did not detain anyone, Melendez said at a press conference.

"At this moment we cannot speak about (any) crimes; all we can do at this moment is our job," he said, adding the government would analyze all the confiscated information and examine its financial, accounting and legal aspects.

He said it appears the law firm's local affiliate helped process information for clients worldwide.


And here:
Police raid offices of Mossack Fonseca in El Salvador (Video)
http://www.euronews.com/2016/04/09/police-raid-offices-of-mossack-fonseca-in-el-salvador/

 

[Hesper]

Here's a good article detailng a number of hidden motives for why Iceland was targeted in the Panama Papers. These include their developing relationship with Russia and China, their support for Palestine, and of course their stubborn refusal to give up their sovereignty to a bunch of EU gangsters:

Although scarcely covered by the European press, there has been a secret war over access to fish in the waters of the Faroe Islands and Iceland. The Icelandic government has accused Brussels of waging a war against the national sovereignty of Iceland; they recently released the following statement:

'In recent months the European Union (EU) has conducted an on-going campaign of threats of coercive measures against Iceland and the Faroe Islands with the objective of gaining advantages in multilateral negotiations on the management of shared fish stocks. This conduct is in breach of various obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and general international law, in particular the obligation on coastal states to agree together on measures to assure the protection and development of a common stock. Furthermore, such measures would not be in accordance with the EU´s obligations under the WTO or, as regards Iceland, the EEA Agreement. '

Forcing countries to sell off their sovereignty has always been EU policy. When Ireland joined the EU in 1973, the country was forced to hand over its fishing industry to EU authorities. While EU propagandists like to claim that Brussels has been financing Irish infrastructure, the reality is that from 1975 to 2010, over 184 billion euro worth of fish was plundered by the EU from Irish waters, while the net contribution of the EU to Ireland for approximately the same time period was 41 billion. (Read more on this assessment by Nigel Farage here.)

The EU still owes Ireland 120 billion euro. EU propaganda has done much to make Irish people believe that the EU has funded Ireland, whereas it is Ireland that has financed the EU. Iceland is now fighting for its sovereignty in the face of an increasingly aggressive EU, under the control of the financial oligarchs.

 

[luke wilson]

David Cameron is taking quite a fair bit of flak. I wonder whether this is intended or not. An article on SOTT stated that the UK was a target and that the end game was to make the US the supreme tax haven. Interesting. As an aside, is it me or is there not a prevailing wind nowadays that anything and everything the world over is attributed to the US. It has become the de facto boogeyman.

The UK has GCHQ and I'm sure they have more than enough dirt on US power brokers to make them squirm. So, if indeed the NSA/CIA went after Cameron as some form of blackmail/pressure move, well, they were bold and didn't think 'Information-retaliation' possible. The UK would act to protect its financial interests as it has done for centuries...

 

[casper]

David Cameron is taking quite a fair bit of flak. I wonder whether this is intended or not. An article on SOTT stated that the UK was a target and that the end game was to make the US the supreme tax haven. Interesting. As an aside, is it me or is there not a prevailing wind nowadays that anything and everything the world over is attributed to the US. It has become the de facto boogeyman.

The UK has GCHQ and I'm sure they have more than enough dirt on US power brokers to make them squirm. So, if indeed the NSA/CIA went after Cameron as some form of blackmail/pressure move, well, they were bold and didn't think 'Information-retaliation' possible. The UK would act to protect its financial interests as it has done for centuries...

In French:
http://www.lesechos.fr/monde/europe/021829960821-panama-papers-cameron-joue-la-transparence-en-publiant-sa-declaration-dimpots-1212724.php#xtor=RSS-2053

 

[Niall]

What I find so interesting is that Putin & Co. knew well in advance that this nonsense was coming and announced it. That's some serious intel.

My thoughts exactly! How the heck did they know what the elites were gonna do? Is there someone informing to Russia, or do they have surveillance? And was that announcement in itself a message to the West that "we know what you're going to do, so don't think you can surprise us"? Either way, all very intriguing!

Hmmm, I wonder...

The anonymous hacker(s) gave the data to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, which then gave it to the Washington, Soros-funded group, which then sat on it for a year.

Is it possible the Russians are behind the original hack but then Western intel's counter-move was to take control of the data, parse it, and cherry-pick which data would go public?

 

[Beau]

Hmmm, I wonder...

The anonymous hacker(s) gave the data to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, which then gave it to the Washington, Soros-funded group, which then sat on it for a year.

Is it possible the Russians are behind the original hack but then Western intel's counter-move was to take control of the data, parse it, and cherry-pick which data would go public?

That's an interesting possibility. But I still wonder how the Russians knew when the West was going to release the data.

 

[angelburst29]

Hmmm, I wonder...

The anonymous hacker(s) gave the data to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, which then gave it to the Washington, Soros-funded group, which then sat on it for a year.

Is it possible the Russians are behind the original hack but then Western intel's counter-move was to take control of the data, parse it, and cherry-pick which data would go public?

That's an interesting possibility. But I still wonder how the Russians knew when the West was going to release the data.

An article did surface that suggests that the Panama Papers leak could have been a Russian intelligence operation? In some ways, the situation does give the impression of "a systematic controlled - burn" using Süddeutsche Zeitung as a medium? Russian intelligence might have correctly interpreted - that Washington (Mush Brains) would take "the bait" and released information which didn't include their own inner circle of comrades - which gives the outward appearance "Washington is hidding something" putting the spotlight on U.S.

Fingers might have pointed to a few individuals/Corporation's associated with Putin's past but no information directly connects Putin. As Putin once stated, "To fight corruption - you have to be clean yourself." Actually, the spotlight is now on the corruption and misdeeds of the U.S. and connected individuals and Corporations.

I'm still of the opinion, RT founder Mikhail Lesin might be involved? 2,6 terrabytes is a lot of data and he may have worked with Russian intelligence? There's some documentation that Lesin was part of Putin's inner circle, especially in reformatting how Russian news was presented and distributed. One of the reasons for the creation of RT News. If information is correct, it's been stated, Lesin's Daughter works in Washington's RT affiliate in D.C.


Putin Leaked ‘Panama Papers’ as Part of Ingenious Plan to Smear Himself, Blackmail Western Leaders, Says US Think Tank
http://russia-insider.com/en/panama-papers-part-elaborate-russian-plot-blackmail-western-leaders-says-us-think-tank/ri13813

The Brookings Institution says that Putin is behind 'Panama Papers' leak. Sure, why not?

We have to tip our proverbial shapka-ushanka to the Brookings Institution, the only American think tank brave enough to admit that Vladimir Putin is not connected in any way to the financial shenanigans documented in the "Panama Papers":

Despite the headlines, there is no evidence of Putin’s direct involvement
—not in any company involved in the leak, much less in criminal activity, theft, tax evasion, or money laundering. There are documents showing that some of his “friends” have moved “up to two billion dollars” through these Panama-based shell companies.

Of course, since it's the Brookings Institution, the fact that there is no evidence of Putin's direct involvement in this scandal likely shows that Putin is directly involved in this scandal:

[M]y thinking is that [the Panama Papers leak] could have been a Russian intelligence operation, which orchestrated a high-profile leak and established total credibility by “implicating” (not really implicating) Russia and keeping the source hidden. Some documents would be used for anti-corruption campaigns in a few countries—topple some minor regimes, destroy a few careers and fortunes. By then blackmailing the real targets in the United States and elsewhere (individuals not in the current leak), the Russian puppet masters get “kontrol” and influence.

We have to admit that there is whiff of logic to this: If the Panama Papers don't directly implicate Putin in any shady business, and instead have caused massive protests in the UK against David Cameron (just as an example), perhaps Putin is the secret mastermind behind the leak?

The problem with this brilliant theory is that the organization that received the data dump is a "Washington DC based Ford, Soros funded soft-power tax-dodger" which attempted, in every desperate way imaginable, to drag Putin into the scandal.

Seriously guys, you're giving Putin way too much credit.

 

[luke wilson]

If the Panama papers were a western operation, given the extortion they've been receiving at the hands of the Sultan, one would think they'd have been enough of a Turkish presence in the leaks thus far to cause a storm in Ankara and Istanbul... but nope.. not there.

 

[casper]

Hmmm, I wonder...

The anonymous hacker(s) gave the data to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, which then gave it to the Washington, Soros-funded group, which then sat on it for a year.

Is it possible the Russians are behind the original hack but then Western intel's counter-move was to take control of the data, parse it, and cherry-pick which data would go public?

That's an interesting possibility. But I still wonder how the Russians knew when the West was going to release the data.

Also, I wonder why now?They waited a year.
Apr 4, 2016 interesting article came out:" How negative interest rates could lead to a world without cash", link:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-negative-interest-rates-could-lead-to-a-world-without-cash-2016-04-04

also,link:
http://thedailycoin.org/austria-orders-first-bank-bail-in-takes-depositors-money-for-failed-bank/2016/04/10/

"The fact that such a thing was announced on a SUNDAY AFTERNOON is astonishing; governments NEVER do things like this.
Why a Sunday? Because they know this is going to cause massive turmoil as people all over Europe rush to take their money out of banks starting tomorrow, and Bank Stocks utterly PLUMMET as stockholders see they are no longer protected as “creditors” to Banks.
This could be the actual start of a complete systemic banking collapse in Europe as panicked citizens, seeing their fellow depositors wiped out in one fell swoop, start pulling their money out of the banking system."