Pressure mounts on WikiLeaks and Assange (Swiss investigating his bank account @ Postfinance)

[maddezmom]

Source: swissinfo.ch

Reports say Swiss Post is investigating whether to close the Postfinance bank account opened by Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
A spokesman for the office told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper that the Post was checking to confirm whether Assange has a Swiss residence as he claimed when he opened the account last month.

The Post’s Marc Andrey told the newspaper that a foreigner holding a Postfinance account must either reside in Switzerland, near the Swiss border or have Swiss business dealings or own Swiss property.

If Assange’s Swiss account is closed, it would be another blow to the financial survival of Wikileaks, which saw PayPal on Friday cut the account used for donations to the whistle-blowing site.

The United States ambassador to Switzerland, Donald Beyer, has also entered the Wikileaks debate. He has warned the Swiss government against granting Assange asylum, which the Australian founder of Wikileaks has said he was considering requesting.




Read more: http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/Pressure_mounts_on_WikiLeaks_and_Assange.html?cid=28956246

[EFerrari]

1. Heaven forbid a foreigner have a Swiss bank account!

This whole farce is demoralizing.

[BlueMTexpat]

6. Technically, although Postfinance does provide certain banking services,

it is part of the Swiss postal system and therefore primarily for Swiss residents. But LOL at your comment!
There are quite a few people in Switzerland who admire Assange though, so something will likely be "worked out" - at least, I hope so.

[ronnie624]

20. The consolidation of power by the elite class.

They control absolutely everything, and can isolate anyone at anytime. They even record and count our votes in secret now. It will take some serious, committed and focused political organization to reverse this. I don't know if our countrymen are up to it.

Very demoralizing.

[Wednesdays]

25. Up to it?

You're lucky to have them glance away from Faux Noise and American Idol long enough to cheer against reversing this!
:banghead:

[villager]

2. the Corporate-owned Empire is going absolutely berserk. This should tell us how valuable "voting" is

...in such a context.

[EFerrari]

4. Lieberman told the press that Assange should be apprehended

-- eliding the fact that he hasn't be charged with anything. It's pseudo-logic. They used the right words but if you push on them at all, they make no sense.

[NoodleyAppendage]

10. Agreed. All of this recent activity is more about the pending BANK SCANDAL doc dump...

...this is less about the State Dept. document dump, and more about the REAL SOURCE of power having their dirty laundry publicly aired.

Assange is not long for this world. You can't expect to upset the financial world order without consequence.

He is a true HERO in my book.

J

[Thor_MN]

24. After the finance world telling us to get used to our financial details being commodities for them

to buy and sell, it is interesting to watch them squirm as their details face public exposure. They are perfectly happy selling our information to anyone who is willing to pay for it, but the mere thought of their information being exposed gives them fits.

[Downwinder]

3. Can't wait to see the bank records release.

He really has them running scared.

[ixion]

5. It is a sad statement on the True Nature of the World's governments

to watch them put aside their differences to isolate and abuse someone who simply pointed out their malfeasance.

[1monster]

19. Organized crime syndicates act similarly. It just confirms a conclusion I have been

trying not to believe, with little success.

[peacetalksforall]

7. But would the U.S. ever move to close the account of Bremer or Cheney or Rumsfeld or Wolfowitz or .

the mil brass or Halliburton or KBR execs? NO WAY.

PROOF of a ruling elite is jumping out and smacking anyone who dares expose them or protest them. Watch it in action.

Keep your eye on the ruling elite. They can't rule as well if their modus operandi is exposed.

The ruling elite is working hard to protect themselves while all eyes are watching Assange.

Look all around - watch them panic for themselves, not for the innocent people who they say might be harmed.

If they care so little for us that they gather every little detail of our lives and record it and use it now or in the future, why would they pretend to protect everyone now?

If they care so little for our soldiers and the fact that we are torturing people and not allowing them rights, why would they care for any people now?

If they could lead us into their oil and water and earth resources for their ownership based on known lies and maneuvers, why should they care for us now?

If they could care so little about the people whose lives were upended in Katrina, why care now.?

If they value the profits of BP, why would they cover up the lies of the damage and care now?

They don't care for us - they downsized us and protected themselves with offshoring our country while they are bringing us down, down, down. Care about leaks damaing us? Heck no.

All of a sudden we are a WE? When it has been them against US all along? Ruling elite = ruling hypocrisy.

This all might put a kink in the works and a tag on the players and they might have to wait for new players to cleanse the papers.

Our leaders, especially the DLC Republicans, favor favors to the ruling elite. How fancy that they are now offended.

Sorry, I am one who has been observing for years and I now know who is ruling whom. We are the trusting fools.

Secrets so delicate that they use all the power of their influence with their multi-national corporations and banks against revealing their secrets.

A little overkill, a little too late, to do what they are doing for our good.

These people who never spoke out about vote theft or demanded changes in the machines? They are now concerned.

It's not pleasant to lose faith. The truths that have been coming out prior to this event have hurt.

Now they don't want to get hurt that their secrets are out?

Whether right or wrong of Assange to do this, they are the focus.

I am not defending him because there is always the possibility that only Democrats are going to get hurt.

[northernlights]

8. Well that's what he gets for being a whistleblower...

Now if he'd chosen to be a mass murdering war criminal, it'd all be cool with Switzerland :sarcasm:

Interesting how things really heated up after he announced "open kimono" season on a bank...

Just send cash:

Anyname
Box 4080 Australia P.O - University of Melbourne Branch
Victoria 3052
Australia

[Lucinda]

13. I wouldn't think Australia will let that address stand

Since they are after him too

[ck4829]

9. So THIS is the kind of financial activity the Swiss govt will investigate?

[glinda]

11. Our Government and associated partners bullying of our citizens & other Countries is horrible.

[NBachers]

12. This reminds me of the pursuit of fireman Guy Montag in Fahrenheit 451

All media follows the pursuit of the suspect, any suspect, to provide the final bloody lesson of what happens to those who don't obey their laws.

[siligut]

14. Public disgrace of whistle blowers has been the norm for as long as I can remember.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Instilling fear makes their job a whole lot easier.

[Arctic Dave]

15. I didn't even think about that, but you are spot on.

If they do "take him down", I would expect to see some uber militaristic commando raid taped for the five'o clock news. Similar to the Jessica Lynch rescue.

[Frank Booth]

16. It's amazing how competent US intelligence has been in shutting down Wikileaks and

cornering its leader.

If only the US were nearly this competent in pursuing Osama Bin Laden, or god forbid, the terrorists on Wall Street.

[No Elephants]

21. Great point. And Assange isn't even hooked up to a dialysis machine.

[Odin2005]

17. Still think your vote changes anything? The Elites do what they want, the people be damned.

And if you get in their way they will destroy you, like they are doing to Assange.

[pam4water]

18. Swiss banks Nazi gold yes. Assange donates well that is just intolerable.

[guruoo]

22. “Switzerland should very carefully consider whether to provide shelter to someone who is on the run

from the law,”

Beyer said he assured the Swiss government that US-Swiss relations would remain friendly.
“Both sides are aware of how close Switzerland and the US are.”

:rofl:




UBS offers put to shame more traditional tax shelters. UBS folks presented to some very receptive Americans ways to avoid paying anything to the IRS, taking advantage of the bank secrecy rules in Switzerland and Lichtenstein.

The one hitch was that the schemes were illegal. But, the UBS folks noted, they had ways to structure transfers from phony Bermuda and Cayman Island accounts to overseas accounts held by shell corporations that were so complex and arcane that U. S. authorities -- mired in confusion -- would give up the chase.

An estimated $20 billion flowed from American clients into UBS tax avoidance schemes in recent years, according to DOJ officials. If, conservatively, just 30 percent of that amount should have been paid in taxes, these scams saved the well-to-do clients of UBS just under $7 billion.

The only problem was that in 2004 a relatively small crack opened up in the scheme. That year, the IRS and the Justice Department found out that Bradley Birkenfeld, a US citizen working for UBS, and Mario Staggl, a Lichtenstein resident, had devised a tax evasion plan for Igor M. Olenicoff, a billionaire California developer.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/23/gimme-shelter-tax-evasion_n_169084.html

[EFerrari]

23. They can't seem to speak without spewing their corruption. n/t