Monday, April 4, 2016

#PanamaPapers (2) – How over 400 journalists reported on the leaks…

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Sunday’s report of the Panama Papers detailed a global, decades-long story of bribery, arms deals, tax evasion, and financial fraud that implicates over 100 politicians and public officials. Equally impressive, however, is project itself, which was kept secret for nearly two years despite the involvement of hundreds of reporters.

Here are some details about how the project came together.

 

Play the #PanamaPapers game to see what it’s like to be rich enough to avoid tax

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It’s not easy to make tax fun, so – aside from taking an interactive look into a trove of 11.5 million documents that reveal how the rich and famous avoid paying it – the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has created a choose your own adventure game. As revealed in the leaked files from Panama City law firm Mossack Fonseca, they’ve all been at it, so playing Stairway to Tax Heaven, you can either pick to be a sports star, politician or business exec as they try to avoid paying their share. But, in the game at least, tax avoidance isn’t actually as easy as you might…

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The fact that Ian Cameron — father of UK Prime Minister David Cameron — ran a firm called “Blairmore Holdings” that rich Britons used to move their assets offshore and out of reach of UK taxation is no secret

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World leaders and governments across the world on Monday went into damage control mode to deny possible financial wrongdoing after a cache of leaked documents showed them dodging taxes taxes or laundering money.

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Power players from around the world are popping up in the Panama Papers, the leaked cache of 11 million documents that show the world’s elite hide billions in tax shelters

FROM THE START of the reporting based on Edward Snowden’s leaked document archive, government defenders insisted that no illegal behavior was revealed. That was always false: Multiple courts have now found the domestic metadata spying program in violation of the Constitution and relevant statutes and have issued similar rulings for other mass surveillance programs; numerous articles on NSA and GCHQ documented the targeting of people and groups for blatantly political or legally impermissible purposes; and the leak revealed that President Obama’s top national security official (still), James Clapper, blatantly lied when testifying before Congress about the NSA’s activities — a felony.

 

How Reporters Pulled Off the Panama Papers, the Biggest Leak in Whistleblower History

The 2.6 terabyte Panama Papers may be the first leak of their scale, but they won’t be the last.

The Panama Papers

A huge cache of data has leaked from a Panama-based tax firm that shows how some of the world’s politicians and the rich hide their money in offshore tax havens. The video above, from the Guardian, is a quick 1:30 introduction on how these offshore havens work.

BBC and Guardian must put the entire tranche of the leaked Mossack Fonseca documents online

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When I first read about the leaked papers from the international law firm Mossack Fonseca I thought great, when I heard is wasn’t wikileaks they had been sent to but the corporate mainstream media I was less pleased. The Mossack Fonseca papers appear to expose the system that enables the ultra wealthy to hide their ill gotten gains, often corruptly obtained and all involved in tax avoidance.

Panama Papers: Why some of this is perfectly legal

What is the difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion?

Panama Papers: ‘an old tradition of English piracy’

openDemocracy editors respond to the astonishing revelations of the Panama Papers.

British Overseas Territories, many of which have been bound up in the leaks

Francesc Badia i Dalmases, Director, democraciaAbierta: “an old tradition of English piracy”

From Panama, via London, with love

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The Panama Papers implicate more than just a few select international leaders. They demonstrate how offshore finance and corrupt leaders in the post-Soviet space thrive off each other.

 

Iceland PM refuses to resign after leak

Iceland’s prime minister refuses to resign after being accused of hiding millions of dollars in investments behind a secretive offshore company.

Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, during a visit to Downing Street in April 2014. Photo from the Flickr account Number 10. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, during a visit to Downing Street in April 2014. Photo from the Flickr account Number 10. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

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After storming out of an interview where he was questioned about his ownership of an offshore company implicated in the Icelandic banking scandal, Iceland’s Prime Minister, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, has said he will not resign (he did apologize for doing a bad job on the interview). (more…)

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Dirty deal on refugees between Turkey and EU starts. Greece starts deporting refugees…

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Deporting migrants could be a human rights catastrophe. Officials must tread with the greatest careThe crunch has arrived. After a vote by Greek MPs, Monday sees the start of the implementation of last month’s EU agreement with Turkey, the process of deporting so-called “irregular” refugees and migrants newly arrived in Greece from Turkey. It is a moment that may come to reshape what we understand by Europe.

 

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Under heavy security, authorities on the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios deported 202 migrants and refugees on boats bound for Turkey — the first to be sent back as part of a controversial European Union plan to limit the amount of migration to Europe.

 

The EU border protection agency Frontex began implementing the deal between the EU and Turkey on Monday: around 130 refugees were deported from Greece to Turkey. Migrants are not safe there, some commentators argue. Others believe the new strategy makes Europe’s asylum policy fairer.
Greece is making final preparations to return hundreds of migrants to Turkey, the first to be sent back under a landmark EU deal that has been slammed by human rights watchdogs.
The first boat carrying people to be returned from Greece to Turkey under EU deal leaves shores of Lesbos.
Protests against the presence of refugees take place in Greece and Turkey as EU deal is about to get implemented.
The first group of refugees have been brought back to Turkey within the scope of the agreement between Turkey and the EU. Anadolu Agency has reported that the 131 refugees brought to Dikili district of İzmir province from Lesbos Island of Greece are predominantly Pakistani citizens.

Realism for Europe and Turkey

A clash of values will almost certainly continue to define relations between Europe and Turkey. But, as has been true for a century, much more – both sides’ fundamental security interests – will be in the balance as well.

The first boats returning 131 migrants and refugees from Greece arrive in Turkey on Monday, as part of a new deal between the European Union and the Turkish government. Ankara has agreed to take back anyone who entered Greece illegally, in exchange for the EU taking in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey. The new deal, which was signed in March, has been criticised by rights groups

 

Smugglers offer Turkey to Italy boat crossings

Travellers sceptical over Facebook ad for alternative passage to EU avoidng Greece after scams and ‘ghost ship’ perils

Turkey-based smugglers have begun to re-advertise trips between Turkey and Italy, in the first hint of a shift in migration patterns since the EU agreed a deal to deport any refugees landing in Greece.

 

The refugee crisis: Fixing Schengen is not enough

Solving the problems of the Schengen area will not stop Europe’s refugee crisis. This is a foreign policy crisis with domestic spill-over; it has to be solved abroad as well as at home.

In January, the European Commission gave Greece three months to improve its border controls, and process refugees and migrants more effectively, or face suspension from the borderless Schengen area. Border controls have been reinstated by six of the 26 Schengen states (Austria, France, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden). Hungary built a fence last year to keep out migrants arriving from Serbia. EU ministers are discussing whether to suspend the Schengen arrangements for up to two years.

Finland: The sick man of Europe?

Is Finland now ‘the sick man of Europe’?

A Europe of city-states

CityState

This neat map presents Europe not as a collection of countries but as a diagram of its largest cities; the accompanying post argues that large cities effectively transcend their host nations and will become the 21st century’s geopolitical order.

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#PanamaPapers – 2.6TB worth of records from Mossack Fonseca…

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An anonymous source has handed 2.6TB worth of records from Mossack Fonseca, one of the world’s largest offshore law firms, to a consortium of news outlets, including The Guardian. (more…)

“Three investigations you can’t miss”

Data heist reveals secrets of private Swiss bank
Data heist reveals secrets of private Swiss bank
How one of the world’s biggest banks helped shelter millions in accounts linked to arms dealers, dictators and tax evaders.
World Bank admits failure to protect poor
World Bank admits failure to protect poor
The international organization has conceded broad failures after a leaked report linked it to a mass eviction program in Ethiopia.
Skin and bone: Corpses prized for profits
Skin and bone: Corpses prized for profits
The business of recycling dead humans into medical implants has flourished, but its practices have roused ethical and medical concerns.

A massive cache of leaked documents has revealed wide-scale corruption and the very questionable ethics of figures in the business, political, and even sports industries. These names allegedly used fake companies as a means of evading trillions in owed tax money.

Mossack Fonseca is the Panama-based company that stands accused of creating “a business in creating fake businesses,” as Reddit user turcois succinctly explains. “Companies could ‘invest’ millions of dollars [in these fake companies] … then … wouldn’t be taxed.”

Family moments: Googling the Aliyevs links you to any number of articles sharing one central theme: corruption. (Google search).

Family moments: Googling the Aliyevs links you to any number of articles sharing one central theme: corruption. (Google search).

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It’s an open secret that the mega-rich and powerful people in the world go to great lengths to keep their financial situations hidden from world governments (and tax collectors), but a collection of 11.5 million documents called “The Panama Papers” shows just how tangled the web gets.

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LONDON — A huge leak of millions of documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca has shone a light on secret offshore holdings from 128 politicians and public officials across the globe, including the UK.

 

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A year-long investigation by global journalists has revealed how a shady network of rich and powerful world leaders use offshore tax havens to hide their vast wealth, launder money, dodge sanctions and evade taxes despite legal requirements in place that should prevent exactly those things from occurring.

 

Investigation by Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung paper shows how the rich, including President Putin, hide their money.

 

How the UK & US Are Fighting ISIS Online

Much has been written over the past year about ISIS’ use of social media to recruit young Muslims to its ranks. The use of the internet, and social media, in order to recruit members to extremist groups is by no means a new occurrence. A 2008 estimate asserted that the internet was responsible for 80% of recruitment of youths to Jihadi groups.  Indeed the use of social media by Jihadi groups was one of the contributing factors to the migration of governments online.

anonymous
The Anonymous online vigilante group says it has helped take out pedophiles, scientologists and even Russian government officials, so now it has created a ‘greatest hits’ campaign video to show off its efforts.
New Twitter, Google, and AP Tool Lets You Track Election Buzz

Who’s creating the most buzz? We’ll give you one guess.

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PayPal’s founding team are called the ‘Mafia’ for a reason. Not because they’re criminals, but because they’ve had a rather sinister grasp on the startup ecosystem since they sold to eBay for $1.5 billion in 2002. The below infographic now makes that clear for all to see. Names like Peter Thiel, Elon Musk and Reid Hoffman will likely be familiar, all were co-founders of the payments company back in 1998, but the likes of Scott Banister, Dave McClure and Keith Rabois have largely flown under the radar. Between these 19 men, they’ve brought household brands like YouTube, Linkedin and Yelp to life. Whether it’s Reddit,…

Once a social platform reaches a certain size, it seems the trend is to start using an algorithm to sort the content that users see. Facebook was first and has long been known for its algorithmic News Feed; now Twitter and Instagram are exploring a similar strategy.

The question is: Do algorithmic feeds create a better user experience or do they enable social platforms to better serve advertisers?

Facebook Reactions are finally here. This means people can express emotions beyond simply ‘liking’ things that pass through their feed.

The uses of Facebook Reactions for stuff your friends share are straightforward. You see the latest post of your best friend’s new baby or a viral video of an unidentified sea creature washed ashore, you react accordingly, and everyone moves on.

Satya_nadella

Satya Nadella believes he’s found The Next Big Thing. The concept that will usher in a new era of computing.

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Friday, April 1, 2016

A propaganda truck on the Washington DC streets…

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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has rejected criticism that he has been “waging a war” against press groups, saying “criticism” should not be confused with “insult and defamation”
Erdoğan Meets Obama
US President Obama and President Erdoğan have come together at the dinner given at the White House following Nuclear Security Summit. The meeting lasted 50 minutes, Anadolu Agency reported.
New press freedom call on Turkey to drop prosecution of journalists

But their trial, to be held in secret, starts today amid a chorus of criticism

The secret trial of Turkish journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül begins today, Friday, in Istanbul against growing internal and international criticism.

One of the most authoritative voices on behalf of journalists – the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s representative on media freedom, Dunja Mijatović – has reiterated her concern by calling for the prosecution to be dropped.

National Press Club – Mar 31

National Press Club leaders expressed alarm about reports that security personnel guarding Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had physically abused journalists here on Thursday. According to published news reports and multiple tweets from…

foreignpolicy.com – Yochi Dreazen – May 29, 2014, 5:16 PM

By Yochi Dreazen is a Managing Editor for News at Foreign Policy. He is also writer-in-residence at the Center for a New American Security. His book about military suicide was published by Random House’s Crown division in 2014. Prior to joining

brookings.edu – Philippe Le Corre – Mar 30
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s security guards tussled with several journalists covering his speech at the Brookings Institution on March 31 in Washington, where he was to attend a nuclear security summit

 

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BuzzFeed

Never seen anything like this:a female protester just tackled. DC cops are in the street trying to keep Turkish guards from hurting folks — Yochi Dreazen (@yochidreazen) This Erdogan security detail called me ‘a pkk whore’ For standing in

 

The United Nations called on April 1 for legal safeguards to be in place before refugees are returned to Turkey under an agreement with the European Union, while warning that conditions in Greece are deteriorating
The Japanese prime minister in office when the Fukushima nuclear disaster took place in March 2011 has said he regrets recommending Japanese nuclear technology to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Shootings by border guards, illegal deportations and desperate conditions are all the result of the EU forcing Turkey to take so many fleeing Syrians

It was beyond sad to read in the Times this week that Turkish border guards have allegedly shot dead Syrians trying to reach safety in Turkey. Sixteen refugees, including three children, have been killed trying to escape the battlegrounds of northern Syria in the past four months, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a frequently cited watchdog.

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Ayşe Özer: “Bekle zeytin tanesi”

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Bekle zeytin tanesi

Hakimlik sınavının yazılı bölümünü yirmi kez kazanan, ancak “bizden değildir” diye 19 kez sözlüden elenen bir hakim adayına yirminci kez girdiği sözlü sınavında, dışarıda heyecanla sınavdaki çocuğunu bekleyen, beklerken tespih çeken velisi, o sırada 33 tanenin arasına dizilmiş bilmem kaçıncı imamedeyken içeride şu soru sorulmuştu: Elma ağaçları kaç metre aralıklarla dikilir? Sayı saymayı bilmeyen adaletten, geometri bilmeyen dış politikadan anlamazdı. Elma ağaçlarının birilerinin vicdanı, birilerinin de cüzdanıyla ilgisi olmalıydı. Dünya birilerine hep oyun sahnesi, birilerine ise hep imtihan kapısıydı.

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Devlet babanın ağaçlara olan bu düşkünlüğü, bir şafak vakti Gezi Parkındaki dozerlerle de sübuta erdi. Ağaçların parktaki görev süreleri dolduğundan, parktaki görevleri sırasında sakıncalı tiplere gölge verdikleri tespit edildiğinden sürülmelerine karar verildi. Asırlık çınarların toprağından sökülüp başka yerlere dikileceği duyuruldu ki ecdadın eseri Topçu Kışlasına yer açılsın. Ecdada düşkünlük o geometriden bihaber dış politikada da kendini gösterdi bu kez, bir gece ansızın 82 Musul, 83 Kerkük diye “Allah Allah!” nidalarıyla çıkılan yol, “Hay Allah!” sesleriyle bir gece ansızın Şırnak’ın Cizre’ye, Hakkari’nin Yüksekova’ya taşınmasıyla son buldu. 360 derecelik dönüş, bulundukları yere getirdi iç açılarının toplamı bilmem kaç olan şeytan üçgenini.

Yüzme bilmediklerinden boğuldular köklerinden sökülen çocuklar bu cihan hükümdarı olma merakı yüzünden. Yaşasalardı yıkanmak istemeyen çocuklar olacaklardı belki de. Üzerlerinde sahte can yelekleriyle yitti yolun başındaki ömürler. O can yeleklerini soydaşları, merdiven altı atölyelerde 15 saatlik mesailerinde üretiyorlardı, gözleri terden tuzlu suya boğularak. “Ege Bölgesinin bitki örtüsü sahte can yeleğidir” diye anlatılır oldu coğrafya derslerinde. Bir seçim sonucu haritasının aksine kıyılar turuncuya boyandı bu kez. Tuzlu su bu ağırlığı kaldırmıyor artık. Adamlar Yunan adalarıyla Ege kıyıları arasına duble yol yaptılar. Bir kız çocuğu bıraktı saçlarını o duble yolun başında.

Ege’deki vatanından koparıp “inşallah tutar! diye başka bir toprağa dikmeye çalıştıkları ve bu vitrinden rant sağlamak istedikleri o on asırlık zeytin ağacı gibi milyonlarca insanı da yersiz yurtsuzlaştırdılar. O sırada paralel evrende bir adam mültecilere çelme takıyordu. Herkes bir gün 15 dakikalığına da olsa mülteci oldu, kah kendi yurdunda, kah bir şişme botun içinde.

Barışı kendi toprağından kökleriyle söküp “inşallah tutmaz!” diye başka bir toprağa diktiler kameralar önünde. Halklar gözyaşlarıyla suladılar o koca ağacı. Ege’den Akdeniz’e dağ taş mülteci oldu. “Dağ taş zeytin ağacı oldu” dedi parti sözcüleri. Çatırdadı ölmez ağaç Yırca’da. Sürdüler, sürgün oldu koca ağaçlar. Bir ağaç gibi tek ve hür, bir orman gibi kardeşcesine yaşama hayaline sıktılar zirai ilaçlarını.

Madem ki bu davet bizim, hiçbir şey olamazsak Soma’da bir zeytin ağacının insanı oluruz ve sorarız hakim olmaya çalışan adaylara ki adalet yerini bulsun:  Zeytin ağaçları kaç metre aralıklarla dikilir?

Behrengi’nin şeftali ağacı gibidir o zeytin ağacı da, insanı olmadan meyve vermeyecek size.

 

 

 

 

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