Category: International news

Sunday, January 13, 2019

The Islamic emirate Dubai is a tax haven with extensive secrecy and few extradition agreements.

Now, a huge data leak shows how corrupt politicians, criminals, and smugglers from all over the world have placed huge amounts in Dubai’s real estate market.

Dagbladet reveals how Norwegians have invested millions in hide for Norwegian tax authorities and make money from it.

Dubai is Las Vegas for adults in the Middle East. Wonderful restaurants, great food and wine and nightclubs, tells an elated Norwegian in the 60’s, who has owned an exclusive apartment right on the beaches for several years.

– But I wonder one thing: How did you find me?

Indoor resorts, diamond and gold trading, 10,000 crowns, and 24 carat gold ice cream balls attract people from all over the world.

“You can pay in cash when you buy property in Dubai.”

People from all over the world with money flocked to the tax haven in the desert, offering luxury properties at a low price. An investment of 2.5 million also ensures a residence permit for both the buyer and the family.

Dubai was also known to guest workers on slave contracts and underpaid maidens without rights. Investors with spreadsheets or black money faced few obstacles. House prices were quadrupled in a few years and who owns a home in Dubai is strictly kept secret by the state.

The Emirates have no extradition agreements with Norway, other European countries or the United States. Dubai is a well-known haunt for those who need protection from police, tax collectors or creditors in their home country.

Now a large database of information on 129,000 buyers, sellers and owners of 54,000 addresses in Dubai has leaked out of the country. The analysis company C4ADS and the journalist organization OCCRP have sorted the information and found huge real estate investments from people associated with corruption, murder, smuggling, money laundering or embezzlement from a number of countries in the world.

In the Dubai leak, Dagbladet has found about 80 properties associated with Norwegians, only in this one of the seven emirates.

Calculations show that half of the properties the newspaper Dagbladet found total are valued at over NOK 150 million. The other half have not obtained value calculations.

In the Dubai leak, around 30 Norwegian taxpayers are sorted by “Norwegian citizenship”. But Dagbladet has also searched among 950,000 registrations of people with “unknown citizenship”.

There were far more Norwegians here, which Dagbladet has identified by searching by name and Norwegian phone numbers, addresses and e-mail addresses. Not everyone has been able to make contact with. Some have rejected inquiries.

Exclusive Norwegian area

In the United Arab Emirates, torture of prisoners is widespread, according to Amnesty International. The law discriminates against gays and women, who have been arrested for having sex outside of marriage because the police report rape.

About half of the Norwegians Dagbladet have found in the leak, are registered with apartments in newly built Dubai Marina. Sunset over the Arabian Gulf, exclusive restaurants, gorgeous clubs and fashion shops lure people to the artificial island.

Car wash investors

Among the Norwegian e-mail addresses in the leak is “contact@ensjobilpleie.no”. Next to it stands the name “Arshad Akhtar” and two apartments in the apartment blocks Lago Vista and Lakeside.

Several of the companies in which the 43-year-old was the general manager, owner or chairman of the board, went bankrupt or has been forced to retire after several years of serious auditor notes, shows information from the Brønnøysund Register Center. Among the remarks are illegal lending to shareholders, lack of tax deduction, breach of the Accounting Act, lost share capital, late accounts and lack of reconciliation of cash holdings against accounts

Several people have been contacted by Dagbladet, and it is quite clear that there are embezzlement of tax in the multi-million class.

Thursday, January 10, 2019

USS Pennsylvania is silent and invisible. Under the hull, some of America’s greatest military secrets hide – and an incredible amount of explosive power.

You can’t see her. She can go to depths of 250 meters and stay under water for six months. You can’t hear her and she can keep going for 20 years without refueling.

She is the most effective murder weapon ever designed, an apocalypse machine capable of destroying the entire continent.

No, we’re not talking about a twisted Nazi weapon to take over the world, but the USS Pennsylvania nuclear submarine. She is one of 14 vessels in the Ohio class and the largest submarine in the US Navy.

The 165-man crew is hand-picked and must meet high physical and, not least, mental requirements.

“Sailors on my ship have to cope with being locked in during the entire voyage, which can last ten weeks straight,” said Bradford S. Neff. Neff was former captain of Pennsylvania’s “blue” team.

The USS Pennsylvania nuclear reactor is one of the most secretive military technologies in the United States, and is much more advanced than the Nautilus prototype.

Uranium fuel the size of a fist is all it takes to power the 1700-tonne ship that can maintain a speed of 45 km / h under water.

– Pennsylvania was in service in 1989 and is not yet refilled with fuel. The only thing that limits how long we can be at sea is access to food, says Bradford S. Neff.

The ship has supplies for three months.

With a length of 171 meters, the USS Pennsylvania is still the largest submarine in the Western Hemisphere. She is one of 14 similar ships in the Ohio class.

The submarine is as good as impossible to detect, and under the hull there are 24 Trident missiles that each have more explosive power than all the bombs released during both world wars.

NUCLEAR WATER: Here a Trident missile is fired from underwater. The USS Pennsylvania submarine is equipped with 24 such nuclear warheads, each of which has more explosive power than all bombs detonated during World War I and World War II.
(Wikipedia)

Monday, November 5, 2018

Norwegians do not understand how bad Washington works
People vote for Trump because they want a maniac that can kick down all trash cans in Washington.

WASHINGTON (Nettavisen): Hans Høeg (47) from Drammen is the first and only Norwegian with the title of chief executive officer in Congress. He has worked for five years for his close friend Republican Thomas Massie in the House of Representatives, and therefore knows a lot about what many of us Norwegians do not fully understand:

Why so many Americans want Donald Trump.

People in Norway do not fully understand that the United States is a federation of 50 states, where the central government under the Constitution really should not have so much to say, “he said.

Eventually, “Washington” has taken more and more power over the 320 million inhabitants of the various states, Høeg believes, while lobbyists have taken over the policy in a huge and ineffective management system.

“Norwegians simply do not understand how bad Washington works. The United States does not have a functioning democracy, “says Høeg.

Sprinkle the trash cans

“There are people from Washington telling you why you can not regulate the river over your land. People are so pissed off. Therefore, they will have a maniac that can kick down all trash cans in Washington.

“Did you mean to get Donald Trump chosen two years ago?”

“The system is such that the various representatives work mostly on behalf of themselves, so our primary task was to get Thomas re-elected in Kentucky. But he is Republicans, so you may say that.

Originally, Thomas Massie from Kentucky and Hans Høeg from Drammen were old college students from MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Refused to join

When Massie was elected to Congress in 2012, he would bring the Norwegian buddy to the staff of 20 people in the House of Representatives.

– I refused, of course. I could not talk about politics. But Thomas persuaded me, that’s why he wanted me, he said.

After five years in the center of power, Høeg has now resigned as chief of staff, but is still a consultant for the staff. At the same time, he writes book, in Norwegian, with the working title “A Norwegian in the House”.

Here he will tell how the lobbyists and the everlasting struggle for money to fund the next campaign control most of the policy in the world’s most powerful country.

House of Cards

“Life at Capitol Hill is really quite similar to the House of Cards. A colleague of mine said that the only difference is that in the House of Cards «there is actually a guy with a plan».

And this is what Americans have become more and more furious about, says Høeg. He points out that in Norway we mostly trust the politicians. We may disagree, but mostly we see that they are doing their best for countries and people.

– That’s not the way in the United States. In Kentucky you meet those who come to political meetings literally with high heels. The politicians have built up for many years. Many actually believe that the government is evil, that the government is evil, says Høeg.

And with such a point of departure, it is easy to think that Obamacare, for example, is really designed for the insurance industry, and that politicians are only looking to mingle their own cake.

Hillary’s forefront

Hans Høeg has an American mother and Norwegian father, and was even home in Norway the summer before the election in 2016. Then he said that Trump had to win. Not because people liked Trump, but because the predecessor of Hillary Clinton – who symbolized “Washington” – was so deep and so many.

And he saw how the polls in the New York Times and the like did not really capture the questions people of “bygda” (very small place) were concerned with.

“But now, as Trump is still being put to lies?”

– Yes. I myself have trouble understanding how the Conservative, Christian Right and Trump have found each other. He does not live after the ten commandments, just right. Yet they look at him as a kind of broadcast, I have heard people say that God would not allow Hillary to win.

Raised on Soprano

Hans Høeg also points out that Trump has actually carried out some things that the Republicans have been concerned with, for example, lower taxes.

“But when Trump is sitting in the night and twittering in the way, is it a conscious strategy?

Just “Twitter-Trump” are few who want to say so much about. But remember, he grew up in New York on a kind of Tony Soprano show. If someone offended you then you had to do everything to offend. And he is probably more calculating strategically than many think.

Just who wins on Tuesday, Høeg does not want to think so much about. He also does not believe that means so much. The grip to lobbyists will be no less anyway.

– A maniac in the White House

Even Hans Høeg has never voted for the Republicans. While the representative and study cameraman Thomas Massie belongs to a group commonly known as “libertarian conservatives” – who want as little state as possible.

“And originally, it was meant that the states should take care of the most necessary. Then it would not matter if there was a maniac in the White House, he says and laughs.

Saturday 15 august 2018

Roger Waters among group of more than 100 artists who call for boycott of Eurovision in 2019, which is to be held in Israel.

A group of more than 100 artists on Friday published an open letter in the British Guardian newspaper in which they are calling for a boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 if it is held in Israel.

“We, the undersigned artists from Europe and beyond, support the heartfelt appeal from Palestinian artists to boycott the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 hosted by Israel. Until Palestinians can enjoy freedom, justice and equal rights, there should be no business-as-usual with the state that is denying them their basic rights,” wrote the artists.

The letter claims that on May 14, days after Israel’s Eurovision win, “the Israeli army killed 62 unarmed Palestinian protesters in Gaza, including six children, and injured hundreds, most with live ammunition. Amnesty International has condemned Israel’s shoot-to-kill-or-maim policy and Human Rights Watch described the killings as ‘unlawful and calculated.’”

The violent riots in question took place along the Gaza border on the day the US relocated its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

At various points during the riots, IDF soldiers were attacked with guns and various explosives, including grenades, pipe bombs, and firebombs. Hamas openly admitted, contrary to the artists’ claims, that the majority of the rioters who were killed were members of the group.

The letter further states that “Eurovision 2019 should be boycotted if it is hosted by Israel while it continues its grave, decades-old violations of Palestinian human rights.”

“We understand that the European Broadcasting Union is demanding that Israel finds a ‘non-divisive’ location for the 2019 Eurovision. It should cancel Israel’s hosting of the contest altogether and move it to another country with a better human rights record. Injustice divides, while the pursuit of dignity and human rights unites,” it concluded.

Among the signatories to the letter are former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters, who has for years led calls to boycott Israel, as well as British composer Brian Eno, a longtime supporter of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement who in 2016 ordered an Israeli dance company to stop using his music.

Israel is due to host Eurovision next year due to the fact that it won the 2018 Eurovision contest, which took place in Lisbon on May 19, with the song “Toy” sung by Netta Barzilai.

Contest rules state that the winning country hosts the following year’s contest but the winning state can waive the right, as Israel did when it won for the second time in two years in 1979. At the time the waiver was used for economic reasons, as Israel’s leaders cited the cost of producing such an event two years in a row. Israel also hosted Eurovision in 1999 after winning the contest in 1998.

There have already been several calls to boycott of next year’s contest due to the fact that Israel will host it. One such call came from Dublin Mayor Micheal Mac Donncha, who said Ireland should boycott the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in order to show solidarity with the “horrific ordeal of the Palestinian people.”

Mac Donncha’s call for a boycott came a day after several leftist Irish lawmakers expressed support for boycotting Israel following its winning the Eurovision song contest.

My comment on this :

Irael is the only jewish country protecting jews. Its a legacy for thousand of years, and is conceived by Abrahams God. We humans cannot break what God desides, His plan is unbreakable. So when artists go together, its sad, I will boycott them forever. And I will make sure that this goes on all social media I have and its much.

Wednesday 5 september 2018

Norwegians were streaming to cinemas all over the country this weekend, to see the latest film about a natural disaster on home turf in Oslo. It’s shaking up both them and local geologists, who disagree over whether there’s a real threat of a massive earthquake in a country that has never had one, but does have a history of rockslides and unstable mountains.

Called Skjelvet (The Quake), the film follows up on the wildly popular and highly acclaimed Norwegian disaster film from 2015, Bølgen (The Wave). It involved a tidal wave set off when a steep mountainside literally collapses into the Geiranger Fjord below.

The use of real locations familiar to both locals and tourists alike has nurtured at least a sense of reality, and urgency at a time when national political debate has centered on security and preparedness for major emergencies. Most of that is targeted at terrorism, but also response to accidents and natural disaster.

The new quake film, full of special effects that have won high praise from Norwegian film critics, is based not only in Oslo, but at the heart of the Norwegian capital’s new eastern waterfront that’s been undergoing redevelopment for years . It’s now climaxing with construction of the new Munch Museum. Scenes of the Opera House’s glass shattering in the film are just as sensational as those of both new and old high-rises tipping over or simply crashing floor by floor.

The film has also won kudos for the acting performances of its central characters, including the same fictional family who survived the tidal wave in Geiranger. Verisimilitude is enhanced with real-life Scandinavian talk show host Fredrik Skavlan also appearing in the film, and introducing the geologist-father in the family (played by Kristoffer Joner) who was credited with saving the lives of many but then slumps into a severe case of post-traumatic syndrome. Suddenly he’s faced with saving not only his family once again, but hundreds of thousands of others, too.

Warnings of the possibility of an earthquake in Oslo by both him and a colleague in the film are largely overlooked in the film, adding to the tension that grows as the film begins. Tensions have also been rising in Norwegian media, as real-life geologists debate just how likely a quake is in Norway.

The debate started before the film had its premiere, first at the Haugesund Film Festival in August and then when it opened Friday at Norwegian cinemas.  A geologist at NORSAR, an independent non-profit research foundation, and at a national engineers’ association (Rådgivende Ingeniørers Forening) Norway’s sounded some alarms last month in a commentary headlined  “Poor preparedness for earthquakes” in newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN).

“We know that a quake is coming, not just at the cinema,” wrote Anne S Lycke of NORSAR and Liv Kari Skudal Hansteen of the engineers’ group. NORSAR specializes in seismology and is responsible for operating advanced monitoring installations for observing earthquakes and nuclear explosions.

They noted how the film shows tunnels and buildings collapsing in Oslo: “Yes, it’s fiction and perhaps seems unthinkable, but catastrophe can become reality.” They claimed that minor earthquakes occur in Oslo every year and note that one, in 1904, registered 5.4 on the Richter Scale and was felt from Namsos in Trøndelag to Poland. Another quake of magnitude 4.4 was registered in Bunnfjorden, due south of Oslo, in 1953.

Residents of California, Japan, Turkey or other areas accustomed to serious quakes can scoff over the risk posed by the minor quakes occurring in Norway so infrequently. Lycke and Hansteen claimed they’re “worried,” however, that “critical” but ageing infrastructure in Norway hasn’t been sufficiently examined for quake risk.

They question whether it would tolerate even such relatively minor quakes. Norway needs updated earthquake charts, something they think can be done at a cost of around NOK 7.5 million. They think the project and financing should be included in the new state budget proposal for next year, due to be presented in Parliament in October. NORSAR, which plays a role in the film, and the engineers’ group are also calling for a decision on who has overall national responsibility for earthquake security.

Bid for funding
Reidar Müller, another geologist and author with a doctorate degree, has a completely different assessment of earthquake risk in Norway and all but dismisses the concerns of Lycke and Hansteen. He went so far, in a counter-commentary in newspaper Aftenposten over the weekend, as to suggest that they’re only trying to build a case for more state funding for NORSAR, and claims the low risk of a new earthquake in Norway has not been well-communicated.

The film “that for us geologists first seemed like pure fiction has, through interviews and advertising, suddenly been portrayed as a possible scenario,” Müller wrote. He could excuse that when it comes from the film makers, who want to created tension and attract audiences, “but it’s questionable when serious researchers at NORSAR use the film to market their own reality.”

Müller claimed the “massive marketing of the film and uncritical analyses of quake risk have sparked irritation and exasperation” among geologists he knows. Müller maintains that there’s little risk for a major, destructive quake in Norway. Nor is the Oslo area especially vulnerable. He even noted how alarms have rung for years over whether the mountain called Mannen in Romsdal was about to fall. “It’s still standing there today,” Müller noted, and still being monitored closely.

‘Improbable’
He suspects NORSAR is using the disaster film, which he called a “gift” for the research foundation during its 50th anniversary year, to serve its own interests. “For those of us who work with research and finding financing for research, that’s problematic,” Müller wrote.

Others, including Mathilde Sørensen, a seismologist at the University of Bergen, claim it’s difficult to measure risk. She wrote in DN over the weekend that she agrees preparedness and responsibility for quake response can be improved, but disputes NORSAR’s claim that Norway lacks updated information on the probability of a quake. All seismic monitoring stations were formally combined into the Norwegian National Seismic Network in 1992, which “gives us important information on Norwegian earthquakes” and enables quick delivery of data to whoever may be interested.

Sørensen’s and Müller’s assessments may be comforting, not least given all the massive investment in and construction of tunnels, roads and buildings in the Oslo area over just the past 20 years. As the “New Oslo” emerges with its new Munch Museum and Barcode, no one wants to see it all fall down. “Earthquake risk in Norway is real,” Sørensen concedes, “but the scenarios we see in Skjelvet are, despite everything, rather improbable.”