San Marino is a great country, the size of Manhattan, completely surrounded by Rome, Italy. It's very high-dollar and they're not looking to have rapacious expats like me come swarming in -- when the possibility occurred to me a couple of years ago I couldn't even find a website for its government. Keep reading for how San Marino and the Vatican may soon not be Italy's only micronations anymore.
Another juicy installment of PanamaLaw's series of admonitions for complacent ameriKans has arrived. Here's an especially zaftig inclusion -- a list of which food-manufacturing mega-corporations are the ultimate owners of edenically-named brands of natural or organic groceries out there:
http://www.panamalaw.org/getting_out_of_dodge_09-04-11.html
This entry's priceless: Back to Nature is owned by Kraft, which is owned by Philip Morris"! Cf.:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kraft_brands#A-G
Isn't that swell? Philip Morris as the parent company -- "that's a picture only Charles Addams could draw" (old Hitchcock movie line). Philip Morris is not only a huge cigarette mfgr, but one of the names that has historically come up most in the American Family Association's charting of the worst sponsors of trash TV etc. Surely these multinationals are laughing at us as they ruin our morals and health?
.............Now for some links from an intriguing expat advisor. The first covers the bizarre changes coming over the world economy as everything goes upside-down from where it's been for centuries. (It tragicomically jives with another article I got today about how Latin America, e.g. Panama, is getting less excited about the huge numbers of aging ameriKans coming down to exhaust that country's social services.)
http://www.ascot-advisory.com/News_Letter_Archive/09052011.htm
…..US sales are DOWN by 1.8 percent, BUT International Sales are UP 6 percent. Starting to get the picture? The claim is they want to open a total of 3 new stores in Santo Domingo, The Dominican Republic. While the US and the EU is mired in recession, it makes you wonder why US and European firms are rushing to set up a business presence in countries that were thought to be poor, third world basket cases previously – no?
Mr. Ascot pointedly places the second piece directly after one on the hapless Bernard von NotHaus of Liberty Dollar fame. Now that Italy's economics are in a mess, towns are considering..... well, secession. Some are already issuing their own money!
ITALIAN TOWN PRINTS ITS OWN CURRENCY TO FIGHT AUSTERITY MEASURES
By Josh Sanburn – August 30, 2011
If you’re a small-town mayor unhappy with your national government, there’s one thing you can do: declare independence and start issuing currency with your face on it. Just ask the mayor (or should we say, prince?) of Filettino, Italy.
Italy is right in the middle of the larger sovereign debt crisis going on in Europe, which is shaking the confidence of markets across the globe. The Italian government has issued a number of austerity measures to get its books in order, including plans to merge the governments of towns with less than 1,000 people to cut costs. That’s 1,963 towns total. But Luca Sellari, the mayor of Filettino, Italy, is fighting back. Rather than give into the national government’s demands, Sellari wants his central Italian town of 598 to become an independent state under a monarch. Who would be the monarch, you ask? Well, Sellari, of course. It’s everyone’s dream to be a prince, he told The New York Times.
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The town, only some 60 miles from Rome, has begun issuing its own currency, called the Fiorito, and according to Sellari, it’s already being used by the townspeople. The town, which would become a principality, already has a new coat of arms that are on T-shirts and even bottles of liqueur. But can he do this? According to the Times, Sellari had plans to meet with one of the country’s most famous lawyers to examine the legality of his plans. A number of towns and regions have printed their own coin in these tough economic times, and the law, of course, is different depending on where you’re located. (In the U.S., local money cannot resemble federal bills or be promoted as legal tender.) As of now, the Fiorito is looked at as more of a souvenir than true currency to those outside the town. However, Sellari envisions Filettino will some day be like the republic of San Marino, which is a surrounded by Italy but not officially part of it. It’s the oldest surviving state and constitutional republic in the world. And, it has no national debt. In debt-ridden Europe, who even knew that was possible?
http://moneyland.time.com/2011/08/30/italian-town-prints-its-own-currency-to-fight-austerity-measures/:
I believe this story came from Ascot as well -- speaking of bizarre parallels!
ISRAELI FEARS FUEL DEMAND FOR FOREIGN PASSPORTS
By Saleh Naami – June 4, 2011
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A recent Israeli study has shown citizens keener than ever to obtain foreign passports, in an apparent sign of doubts as to the ability of the state to survive given current circumstances. The study, undertaken by Bar Illan university and published by NGO Eretz Ahiret (A Different Place), says that 7,000 Israelis succeed in getting a second, foreign passport each year. The number of citizens who apply for passports but are declined is several times higher, it adds. The figures show Israeli demand for second passports is now at an all-time high.
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An estimated 70 per cent of Israelis are thought to have a second passport, with Germany the most favoured place for alternative citizenship -- a surprising sign, seemingly at odds with Zionist and Israeli history. German officials say that more than 70,000 such passports have been granted since 2000. Many Israelis have openly stated they are seeking second citizenship to buttress fears of a total collapse of the state. Dual-citizenship could be a vital tool in time of need, acting as a kind of insurance policy.
.http://english.ahram.org.eg/
One hears that Israel is doomed but as long as there's a US Federal Reserve the Zionist bandit state never seems to lose any steam. I guess that race will have to take back all the mean things they've said about Germany of it's now their main exit ramp from the promised land?
Index of Ascot newsletter:
http://www.ascot-advisory.com/News_Letter_Archive/
.............I recently sounded off here and at a PN meeting about people sending out questionably sourced news items, the instant case being Iceland's alleged intifada against the big banks. I don't retract anything, but am happy to report that when I preached the same sermon at one of my regular correspondents, he sent all the documentation one could ask:
See what you think about these stories:
http://www.mediaite.com/online/this-exists-iceland-rewrites-their-constitution-using-suggestions-through-twitter/
http://bigthink.com/ideas/38862
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/09/iceland-crowdsourcing-constitution-facebook
http://www.blacklistednews.com/25_Ordinary_Citizens_Write_Iceland%E2%80%99s_New_Constitution_With_Help_From_Social_Media/15204/0/38/38/Y/M.html
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2011/06/iceland-crowdsourcing-its-new-constitution/38713/
http://techland.time.com/2011/06/10/iceland-solicits-online-input-from-citizens-for-new-constitution/
The need is still great for fact-checking in our circles. It's so easy/fun to forward things which look great but haven't been verified by the last 50 people forwarding it them. Thank you, M.M.!
................Sarah Palin is a twit, a two-legged mental vegetable, an ignorant little huckster..... and all that is in addition to being one of the most faithful and Strangelovian shills for Zionism in a long time. But what's the meaning of the following? Did she forget Ron Paul's name? CAT GOT HER TONGUE?
http://visiontoamerica.org/3792/palin-says-room-for-more-in-gop-race/
The Doctor is at his very best here:
http://visiontoamerica.org/3799/ron-paul-cia-choosing-dictators-around-the-world/
One of my earliest friends here in Anderson used to call the CIA "Rockefeller's private army". That is obviously a charitable description.
............This is cool/odd. Related, perhaps, to the economists who use the price of a Big Mac to assess different countries' cost of living?
http://visiontoamerica.org/3801/fema-uses-waffle-house-menu-to-determine-storm-damage/
/\/.\/\/.
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