You do not have the right to remain silent

I didn't know about this Terrorism Act 2000 until just now.  Someone sent me this link to an article on Corporate Watch about the application of Schedule 7 of the Act.

Corporate Watch is subtitled, Tracking Corporate Complicity in the Occupation of Palestine.

Now, have a look at this Schedule 7 as it has been applied in the cases of two people involved in research into corporate profiteering in occupied Palestine and the occupied Syrian Golan:

In February 2013, Tom and Therezia returned from a research trip in Palestine separately, with a 10-day gap separating their arrival back in the UK. They were both stopped at Luton airport under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000. As the Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol) has previously reported, this law is frequently used by the police to gather intelligence about activists. Schedule 7 is unique in that it is a law that provides the police with the power to stop, search and detain people without suspicion. It is also an arrestable offence not to answer questions, punishable on conviction with a three-month custodial sentence or a fine. Moreover, you have no right to advice from your solicitor, although you are often granted a phone call to your solicitor on request. The guidance to the law clearly states that Schedule 7 “should only be used to counter terrorism and may not be used for any other purpose.” (For the full wording of the Association of Chief Police Officers’ (ACPO) Practice Advice on Schedule 7, see here).

Did you see that?  You do not have the right to remain silent.  The whole article is worth reading to show how this law has been applied in the cases of these two activists for reasons wholly unconnected to terrorism.

By the way, I looked up this law on Wikipedia and it doesn't mention this Schedule 7.  Any wikipediasts out there?

Capitalist assimilation? Israel licenses former minister, Murdoch, Rothschild and Cheney to steal from Syria

Well here's some direct evidence of the fact that you don't have to be Jewish to benefit from the zionist project. See this report from the Israeli business magazine, GLOBES:

A month before US President Barack Obama is due to visit Israel, the Israeli government has awarded the first license to drill for oil on the Golan Heights. The license covers half the area of the Golan from the latitude of Katzrin in the north to Tzemach in the south.

In the past, the US government reacted angrily when Israel approved construction in eastern Jerusalem ahead of a visit by Vice President Joe Biden.

Sources inform ''Globes'' that, a few days ago, the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources' Petroleum Council recommended awarding the license to Genie Energy Ltd. (NYSE: GNE), headed by former minister Effie Eitam. Shareholders include chairman Howard Jonas, Lord Jacob Rothschild, and Rupert Murdoch. Former US Vice President Dick Cheney is an advisor.

Awarding a drilling license on the Golan could cause an international fracas, given the Golan's status as occupied Syrian territory under international law. There was no known political intervention in the licensing process, the proximity of the event to Obama's upcoming visit is coincidental.

There's a clear contrast between the settlement construction announcement referred to in the piece and this drilling license.  Settlement construction for Jews only is part and parcel of the zionist project and carries a cost.  This drilling business is all benefit and look who benefits, Murdoch, Rothschild, Cheney and a former Israeli minister, Effie Eitam.

And let's just see if Obama raises any objection to this exploitation of occupied territory by a multinational corporation acting in partnership with the State of Israel.

And another and.  And I wonder if Israel's recent bombing of Syria had anything to do with this or was that another coincidence?  Perhaps it was, I just don't want to ignore it.

Depardieu off piste again?

Or should that be piste off?  Whatever.  According to this Guardian article Gérard Depardieu has been granted Russian citizenship by Russia's first citizen, Vladimir Putin:

Gérard Depardieu, the French actor who has been sparring with his native country over taxes, has been granted Russian citizenship.

A brief announcement on the Kremlin website said the president, Vladimir Putin, signed the citizenship grant on Thursday.

Depardieu is angered by François Hollande's attempt to raise taxes on the mega-rich to 75%. Russia has a flat income tax of 13%.

A representative for Depardieu declined to say whether he had accepted the offer and refused all comment.

Depardieu has made more than 150 films, among them the 1991 comedy Green Card about a man who enters into a marriage of convenience in order to get US residency.

Depardieu said in an open letter published in mid-December that he would turn over his passport and French social security card.

His subsequent decision to move to tax-friendly Belgium was slammed by Hollande's government.

"I'm a true European, a citizen of the world," Depardieu wrote in the letter.

The tax on millionaires was struck down by France's highest court last month but the government has promised to resubmit the law in a slightly different form soon.

Depardieu is well known in Russia, where he appears in an ad for Sovietsky Bank's credit card and is prominently featured on the bank's home page.

France's civil code says a person must have another nationality in order to give up French citizenship because it is forbidden to be stateless. Thursday's decision by the Kremlin appears to fulfil that requirement.

So Depardieu's not the only one who's piste off.  But what's in it for Putin or Russia?

Classy Solidarity

Oswald Grübel, the new CEO of UBS, the Swiss bank that, like many of its Atlantic peers, exists today only thanks to generous public assistance that pays for its former recklessness, earned ca. $20,000 on his first two days on the job. His pre-bonus annual "compensation" is CHF 3 million. Some Swiss politicians toy with the idea of capping Grübel's salary at the subsistance level annual sum of CHF 850,000 (ca. $650,000). Asked why he wouldn't accept such a modest deal, Grübby explained.

I could have worked for free. I don't need these millions. But I can assure you that it would have offended even more people if I worked without a salary. (Le Matin)

The sacrifices rich people sometimes make for the sake of their class are humbling!

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In case you're wondering why this news item, that has nothing to do Palestine, three reasons. First, because it is interesting. Second, it has a lot to do with Palestine, even if the connection is indirect. Swiss banks manage, according to the interview, a third of the private wealth of the world. These fortunes, oil fortunes, armament fortunes, mining fortunes, real estate fortunes, etc. are made with blood, and Palestine is one of indirect "theaters" of that bloodletting.

And third, we believe all bankers ought to be Jewish. This Grübby guy with his snot-nosed Umlaut rubs us the wrong way. Indeed the whole Swiss banking industry rubs us the wrong way. Why can't they appoint Elisha Wiesel, the son of Elie Wiesel, to run UBS? That takhshit has on his resume working as a managing director at Goldman Sachs, a job he secured because of his deep understanding of all things financial, nothing to do with his father's name. Elisha proved his acumen by investing all of daddy's Holocaust ra-ra foundation monies with Bernie Madoff. It was hard work getting Madoff to take the money, rubbing elbows until the suit had to be patched, days of inane golf playing, munching sushi way beyond the onset of nausea. What more qualifications do they want? The Swiss show their rank antisemitism by not letting their banks be run by Jews!

(PS. apparently the Wall Street Journal decided that information about poor Elisha was too touchy. But Google cache still has it.)