The Cyprus President And Mega Rich Moved Money Out Of Cyprus Banks

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
April 1, 2013

News that the Cypriot President’s family moved 21 million euros to London days before the bank accounts of his people were looted as part of the bailout deal serves as another reminder that while the media portrays the victims of the Cyprus “haircut” as the mega rich and wealthy Russian oligarchs, the real victims are middle class families and small business owners.

Image: YouTube

“A company owned by in-laws of Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades withdrew dozens of millions from Laiki Bank on March 12 and 13, according to an article published in Cypriot newspaper Haravgi,” reports EnetEnglish.

“The newspaper, which is affiliated to the communist-rooted AKEL party, reports that three days before the Eurogroup meeting the company took five promissory notes worth €21m from Laiki Bank and transferred the money to London.”

In addition, as Reuters reports, “While ordinary Cypriots queued at ATM machines to withdraw a few hundred euros as credit card transactions stopped, other depositors used an array of techniques to access their money.”

Branches and subsidiaries of Cypriot banks in London and Russia remained open while banks in Cyprus were closed, allowing Russian oligarchs and other wealthy depositors to move their money.

When asked about the amount of money that had exited Cyprus before the bailout deal, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble refused to provide figures.

“Perhaps because if he did, it would become clear that the only entities truly punished by this weekend’s actions are not evil Russian billionaires, but small and medium domestic companies, and other moderately wealthy individuals, hardly any of them from the former “Evil Empire,” remarks Zero Hedge.

As Business Insider reports, the fact that the mega-rich – the supposed targets of Cyprus “haircut” – have already removed most of their money from the system means that, “upper middle class/entrepreneur types will feel most of the pain if the Cyprus tax is enacted.”

In other words, the very engine of the Cypriot economy, the businesses and the employers, will be the victims of the EU/IMF plundering. Middle class families are also amongst the worst affected. The Telegraph recently reported on a family who sold their villa in Cyprus for 200,000 euros right before the “haircut” was announced only to see the desperately needed cash disappear.

As we highlighted last week, a screenshot from an online bank account belonging to a medium-sized IT business in Cyprus shows over 720,000 euros in “blocked funds.” According to the owner, 80 per cent of that will be swiped and what’s left will take 6 to 7 years to get back.

After an initial attempt to plunder around 10 per cent of savings was rejected after a huge public outcry, Bank of Cyprus depositors now face losing up to 60% of their money, with Cyprus’s financial minister Michalis Sarris warning the “haircut” could even be as much as 80%.

However, since the theft has been characterized by the media as merely targeting rich Russian oligarchs and other wealthy investors, the uproar has diminished.

In reality, the mega-rich managed to get their money out either before the crisis even started or during the so-called “bank holiday” period while middle class depositors were left stranded.

Given that the looting of bank accounts has now been established as the template for future “bank recapitalizations” across Europe as well as Canada, the middle class has now been permanently put in the crosshairs and will be expected to pay for bankers’ gambling losses with their savings on a regular basis.

Obama And DHS Preparing For War Against U.S. Gun Owners

Excerpted from CLASH DAILY:
Consider the evidence and the growing alarm expressed from many quarters.
“We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.” – Barack Obama, Colorado campaign speech, July 2008
The American people have been patient, and far too accommodating. For many years we have respected the rule of law even as those who rule over us break the law. We have been too accommodating. And now, it is clear our worst enemy is our own federal government.
When things collapse, and it won’t be long, can there be any question the resulting disorder will be catastrophic? Imagine an energy or monetary crisis so severe trucks cannot deliver food. Imagine stores stripped bare. Hunger makes people crazy.
Barack Obama is out of control. Even though he says “I am not a dictator,” it’s clear he is working to become one, since he hates Congress and threatens the Supreme Court. He would rather have a free hand, something he is close to achieving.
Bottom line: either we throw a net over this bugger, or he will destroy our country, vaporize our liberty, and confiscate our property.
The outrage known as ObamaCare should have been sufficient cause for rebellion.
By corrupt means he rammed this atrocity through against the will of the majority, and now, we have Sen. Orin Hatch claiming it was purposefully designed to fail so as to make way for complete government takeover.
“ . . . within the immediate future the Democrats are going to throw their hands in the air and say, ‘It’s not working. It’s unaffordable. And we have to go to a single-payer system,’” Hatch said, adding, “. . . where the government controls everybody’s lives.”
All of this thoroughly trashes our Constitution, ushering in an age of despotism we once thought impossible in America.
The Poser is purposefully destroying our economy. You have to be blind not to see it. He is selling us down the river to our enemies. You have to be deaf not to hear the war drums. He is destroying our liberty by centralizing control in the executive branch. You have to be dumb not to perceive it.
The clearest signal of all: the combined efforts to disarm American citizens and the massive weapons build up within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
DHS agency does not have war powers. With whom are they preparing to fight? We’ll give you one guess. Take the Los Angeles riots, or better, the riots in the 60s, and multiply them many fold, nationally. Get the picture?
– Ask yourself: Why does DHS need billions of rounds of ammunition, much of it hollow point? Hollow point rounds are specifically designed to blow giant holes in people, not to wound but to kill.
– Why does DHS needs thousands upon thousands of assault rifles, the very rifles the Poser wants to ban generally?
– Why does DHS need 3,000 armor-plated troop carriers, detention camps, and ready-made plastic coffins by the thousands?
– And why does DHS refuse to answer any of these questions?
Congressional representatives are increasingly alarmed about these developments, and they are demanding answers, among them Rep. Leonard Lance, R-N.J and Rep. Timothy Huelscamp, R-Kansas.

Obama Is Pushing Aside Congress On Gun Control

Photo: Emily Stanchfield.

With a looming gun control vote in the Democratic controlled Senate, scheduled for next month, the Obama Administration is realizing its dream of greater gun control legislation may have been just that – a dream.
The reason being is that whatever bill the Senate puts together, the odds are that Republicans in the House, most of whom have been undeterred by Obama’s Twitter bots harassing their accounts daily, will likely mark the legislation dead on arrival.
Even the Democrats’ top man in the Senate, Harry Reid, recently admitted that even among Democrats in his chamber, the bill probably won’t have enough support to pass.
Still yet, a defiant President Obama is pressing forward with his gun control agenda with or without their help – via executive order.
According to a recent report published by The Hill, “The president has used his executive powers to bolster the national background check system, jump start government research on the causes of gun violence and create a million-dollar ad campaign…”
These steps have enabled federal law enforcement officials to have unprecedented access to many state records, previously locked away from their eyes due to the nation’s longstanding tradition of separation of powers – giving federal agents access to many state records that detail just who in our nation owns a firearm and how many.
Other steps have included eliminating many of the road blocks that presently prevent state governments from notifying the federal government of individuals suspected or deemed to be mentally unstable. This again gives the federal government more power to investigate, restrict and even detain such individuals.
Earlier this month, the DOJ announced a $20 million grant program aimed at incentivizing many of the red states who have previously refused to surrender their records to the NICS database.
“The economy is bad and all governments, state and local, are strapped for cash. Unlike the federal government, states can’t print their own money, so they need revenue badly. The Obama Administration knows this and is dangling a pretty lucrative carrot in front of some of the states hardest hit,” notes one political commentator.
Republicans argue that the President is not interested in merely preventing mass gun violence, as he is maintaining, but rather that he has his eyes set on restricting legal gun owners from fully enjoying their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
They point to studies the Obama administration has ordered the Consumer Product Safety Commission to conduct, studying whether new trigger lock laws should be implemented.
Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday the expected upcoming Senate votes on gun control are only the beginning of the White House’s fight.
Presently, the fate of gun control legislation is unclear. A vote on a Senate bill, including expanded background checks and harsher penalties for gun trafficking, is expected next month.
The White House also has been pushing for limits on military style assault weapons and high capacity magazines, but those provisions won’t be part of the Senate bill. Instead they are to be offered as amendments. Admendments that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid believes do not enjoy enough support to pass.