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Flash News - France Invades Switzerland!
There are some interesting implications behind a story that is out this weekend. I found the details (that have come out so far) of interest.
The IRS of France, the National Directorate Of Tax Investigations (DNEF), has covertly sent agents into Switzerland to pursue tax evasion cases against French citizens. The Agents entered Switzerland claiming they were tourists. The Agents were not sightseeing in the Alps. They were doing what spies always do. They were covertly gathering information on enemies of France. In this case, the "enemies" are French citizens.
To be clear. This is 100% illegal activity in Switzerland.
Banking secrecy is still the law of the land in Switzerland. There have been several cases in the past few years where a Swiss bank employee has stolen information on private accounts. The lists of “names” were later sold to tax authorities in the US and Germany. Switzerland has vigorously prosecuted the individuals involved. Several have gone to jail; others are pending extradition and trial.
And now French government agents are breaking the same Swiss laws. The following thoughts come to my mind about this affair:
- How desperate are the French to do this? A covert operation in a foreign country? That’s over the top. If the French tax spies are doing this, what are the other arms of government doing? Are they spying as well? Listening in on phone calls to find out if the waiters are claiming their tips? How are the French going to react? Some, do doubt, with glee. Others, justifiably, with fear.
- I’m no fan of tax cheats. I have dozens of articles that have come down against banking secrecy, and the black money that is involved. But where do you draw the line? Illegal spying is, after all, illegal. Right?
- Is the DNFE alone in this type of activity? Does the US or the UK have illegal spies gathering information in foreign countries on their citizens?
- Does the French DNFE have spies in the USA?
- There are financial considerations to this. The first is the implications to the Swiss private bankers. The outlook for the Swiss banks was terrible before this development (UBS just hacked 10k heads – 2,500 in Switzerland), the outlook is worse again, after the revelation of state sponsored spying. I would not load up on Swiss bank stocks just yet. The fact is, without banking secrecy the Swiss banks are uncompetitive in wealth management.
- The second consideration is the possible implications on the Swiss National Bank. The SNB has been pegging its currency for more than a year now. In the process, it has accumulated 100’s of billions of Euro reserves. To hedge its bets, the SNB sold off those unwanted Euros and bought dollars, Yen, Sterling, Hong Kong and Singapore dollars. Basically, the SNB has been mucking up the entire global financial system in an effort to keep global economic problems from spilling over its borders.
There is going to be a pissing match between France and Switzerland over this story (there has to be). When the cross-border shouting starts, someone in France is going to point at Switzerland and claim it is a Currency Manipulator that is hurting France (it is). This scenario is one that will bring big pressure on the Franc, and another test of the SNB’s resolve to maintain the peg.
- The SNB had billions of excess Euros as a result of intervention. It bought German Bunds with the cash. In the process, the SNB pushed German rates below zero. This forced the SNB to diversify, and buy French government bonds. So now the SNB is sitting on a huge pile of French paper. And the French are spying on the country. I’m wondering if the SNB is so happy with all those French IOU’s it is sitting on.
- Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf is the President of Switzerland, she also is the Finance Minister; so she is very much on the hot spot. The Swiss will hate the idea of French spies acting covertly in their country and breaking the law (who wouldn’t?). Eveline can't soft peddle the French spying. There has to be a next chapter to this story. I can't wait.
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You do realize that the world court is not binding? That a country has to agree to its' jurisdiction? Swiss banking laws have been in effect for a long time. Now, they're tantamount to war? We have politely asked Iran to stop producing nuclear material- how has that worked out? Funny, we don't attempt to use the world court.
Swiss bankers are not crooks. What subjective bullshit. All's fair in money and war? What happened to law and the world court? Do you even think before you write? Pipe down while they're ahead? Said like every other tyrant.
There is an intellectual benefit to consistency in your arguments. You might want to consider it.
Alexander Litvinenko might disagree with the notion that
"There is nothing to be had of value in this spying game, on either side. It is much ado about nothing."
Litivenko was spilling KGB secrets left and right, including what Putin was doing with all his money. He probably had hard evidence with bank account information, as well as concrete Russian facts about what the Russians were doing to thwart what Mikheil Saakashvili was doing in Georgia. (Poor Soros lost his hiney on that one...)
Therefore your reference holds no weight in this argument.
Sorry. Try again.
_______
Addo: Ah, the old polonium in a teapot trick. Now, they have exhumed the poor Palestinian to test him for the same "disease."
So sovereignty should be viewed through the lens of relativism...
How about the rest of the world spies on the foreign employees of the US banks, and uses the information gained on the illegal activities of said banks (which own the Federal Reserve) to then tack on a few hundred trillion to the debt burden of the US (debt serfs), structured in such a fashion that Social Security, SNAP and Obamaphones are subordinated?
Sovereignty is not something to be trifled with, hence the human history of warfare.
You are only "spying" if you take something from Switzerland!
Gosh, why is this so hard to understand?
There is no sovereignty violation! Nothing was taken from there. I have a right to see what my citizens are doing wherever they may be, if that's what I want to do. It is inadmissable as evidence in court, so if I want to waste my resources, then I have a right to do that...
...all in the name of protecting my own banking laws!
:0
This post has been edited for irritation...
"I have a right to see what my citizens are doing wherever they may be"
No you don't. Regardless of how many laws of country A say so, country B disagrees and has a right to kick you out.
Unfortunately your post wasn't edited for STUPIDITY.
If you want to visit Switzerland, you follow Swiss laws.
If you don't want to follow Swiss Laws, DON'T VISIT SWITZERLAND.
In other words, you have nothing real to offer, so you resort to name-calling.
And some Americans wonder why so much of the rest of the world views them both as inferiors and as reckless imperialists.
Please cite where said right exists in law. What was taken is obvious, the value of banking privacy promised by the Swiss government that encourages investment in their country.
You have NO right to spy on your citizens in another country without permission. You may have opportunity, you may not get caught, but if you do- you are subject to the laws of THAT country.
Now, can you edit your posts for stupidity?
Yes, there is a "right" given to the Executive Branch of government whenever a law is created to enforce the laws that have been written and which apply to citizens of that country.
The laws of country A do not supercede the laws of country B in any case just because you are here and not there. So, the Swiss offer complete banking secrecy. The law in the citizen's country says there is no such thing. It also says that if you are caught doing that, then you will face the consequences because it is my right, as a sovereign nation to enforce the laws that have been written for my citizens and the punishment will be exacted, in this case, not according to Swiss law but according to French law.
Just because you cross the border into another country doesn't mean you do not have to obey the laws of your own citizenship while you are there.
Ooh, I know. Let's get Garry Glitter on the horn and see how he feels about that!
:/
.
You're out & cycling big time...
I suggest you to read a few books on Public International Law (it might help you comprehend the saying "When in Rome, do as the Romans do")
The executive branch is a duly elected branch of government that enforces the law in THEIR country only. Ever hear of extradition laws? Just why do we need these agreements, if you can enforce your law in another country? Domestic laws have no force in another country.
Otherwise, the Italians wouldn't be convicting American agents for acts on their soil. Obviously, you are just a government strumpet. Get a better argument, because this one continues to be a loser.
Notes:
29 Septembre 1958
Anastasia Kirolova went to same deli on 17th Street. Third time this week.
I investigate. Proprietor says she orders Bratwurst and sauerkraut on Italian bread.
I said I will try one.
It was very good.
:/
The poor French people are going nuts: they always imagine in full war!!
And from your part no word about the fact that the United States hide voluntarily that the 98 % of substracted funds from the IRS are in tax havens like the Bahamas and the other accommodating islands (without counting Delaware) as well as holding companies on the "Irish-Netherland way"!
While Switzerland is only for a small part there. But it is true that it is easier to attack the smallest piece of the puzzle rather than to shoot one's own foot!!!
For having a better picture, take a look at the investments coming in the US from the small Switzerland and you will perhaps change your mind about the competitiveness of this country !!!
The Swiss bathe daily. The French bathe monthly.
This will not end well.
Yeah ,but what will the Swiss do when the French surrender their
grand armee at the border.
Grand Fenwick wins ?
Forget Switzerland and all that balls about bank secrecy, it doesn't exist. They caved in on the UBS American bank accounts, signed a submissive agreement to tax away German accounts, and hardly a week goes by without headlines of a new compact discs DVD stuffed full of bank account data being sold to the German or other EU tax authorities.
The "vigorous prosecution of the individuals involved" is a pure token and would appear to have accomplished Jack Schitt with regard to upholding Swiss banking "privacy". A spat with the German tax authorities concerning German tax inspectors soliciting bank account numbers from Swiss bank employees (offering bribes) resulted in absolutely zilch, nada, nothing.
Add to that the stupendous prices charged in CH for anything, and the Swiss can keep their beautiful country for themselves. If you want to ski go to Austria, it's cheaper.
We are not waiting for you !!!
No offense, I think Switzerland is great and I like the Swiss, but I cannot afford it !
Just another example of the harmony and brotherhood created by the Nobel Peace Prize winning Euro project.
geneva and zurich are not in eurozone...just saying. Thats why they are so popular!
I'm aware of that but this whole European drama is a direct result of the disastrous Maastricht Treaty that began the illconceived march to monetary union that underlies this desperate search for government revenue to abide by the terms of that Treaty and the new Fiscal Compact.
Hollande is looking for Mme Bettencourt's stash in Geneva that Sarko used for election campaign. France does not have Karl Rove and Superpacs to finance with billions its political campaigns. Its done hush-hush via swiss land.
Anyways, the swiss banks need their safe deposits shaken, rattled n rolled to expose all those who cheat in Eurozone. Its a zillion dollar business as Greece, the shorn fleece, and Spanish bloodied Main have already shown. It all ends up in Schweizer land. Land of sheltered Oligarchs.
Swiss economy is caught between a rock n hard place; land of laundered money and economy that needs a money pegged to big brother Euro. The two are becoming irreconcilable in financial attrition.
This sillyness will end when gold is properly priced and physical gold becomes THE wealth asset...it is coming!
Hmmm use french bonds as a way to retaliate... what other ways to defend/attack....
The 'Russian' method...send the French productive class free Swiss passports.
Isn't this how Swiss banking secrecy was started in the first place. So when they cave now, it's over ?
At least the French in Switzerland won't have the problems the Japanese did in Calif. when WWII started and the government seized their property.
I am not French, I am Belgian!
"I am not French, I am Belgian!"
Hercule Poirot said the same thing many times and no one knew the difference.
I don't recall him ever discussing his tax records, either.
then you are a sandwich with no beef in it, as you are one bun flemish and one bun wallon with hot air between. But u do have good moules frites! And beer.
Roger about that spying:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dNxK_wslqo
Cheesy...
once you flee your country your country coming for you doesn't constitute "spying." if we wanted to build a more perfect Union we would...as it is "we go with the (diss) Union we got." Your free to say snotty things about each other...after that, "all your business is our business." And that's the State...from the place that invented the very concept of it I might add. I find it ironic that the United States recoiled from the French Revolution at the time (save for Jefferson of course)...yet here is "the New America" embracing Statism as the be all and end all of our existence. AND THEY CALL IT THE WILL OF THE VOTER! All i have to say to this crap is "LOSING" is not in the will of the voter either for all you with "all that power." I look forward to the current iteration of course...will it move beyond us attacking us? We shall see...
An agent of foreign State, entering another sovereign State, to conduct official business, without the permission of said sovereign State to conduct official business on behalf of the foreign sovereign State, is a violation of diplomatic protocols (often called espionage, or an act of war). There will be pressure to discover whether or not these acts were approved by federal authorities, and regardless additional pressure to exit the Schengen Treaty. Right now the anti-Schengen movement is largely a product of the invasion of wetbacks from Germany in the east of the country, but if the sentiment spreads westward then Widmer-Schlumpf would face an difficult political geographical and idealogical pincer maneuver.
It's a lot like New York revenue agents, taking down NY license plate numbers in the Ikea parking lot in Elizabeth NJ (3.5% 'enterprise zone' sales tax).
Then they whack the 'tax tourism' malefactors with a 5.375% 'use tax,' to make them pay NY tax rates even out of state.
It's the law ... but it's predatory and obnoxious.
Just because your car is there doesn't mean you are there or if there, spending any money on anything that is taxable. Mais Non?
Bloomberg et al are above the law...what they even think becomes the law...and New Yorkrs eat this shit up?? So much for the reputation of the tought guy from NY...shut up and drink your (properly sized) soda pop...
Names of the agents: Thomson and Thompson.
Banksteré, corrupté, cronyé
...How desperate are the French to do this? A covert operation in a foreign country?
Good thing the Swiss bankers weren't protesting against nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific, Bruce; you'd be surprised how far the French will go with their covert operations when they're in the mood.
and you thought the Israelis were a nasty little nest of vipers
aren't they all, aren't they all
ie. Govts