Tag Archives: System D

Granny’s Gold Bars Are Key to Vietnam Push to Boost Dong [2013]

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“The target of Vietnam’s campaign to stabilize its currency is in the locked bedroom wardrobe of retired civil servant Vu Thi Huong: gold bars.  Huong is among millions of Vietnamese who hold an estimated 300 tons to 400 tons of bullion to store their wealth — a legacy of more than a century of war, revolution and economic turbulence. The central bank wants to convert the hoard, much of it smuggled in, into dong deposits to strengthen the currency, which has slid 21 percent against the dollar in five years. To reduce contraband and persuade people to sell their bullion, the central bank made itself the sole importer and Saigon Jewelry Co. the only legal producer of gold bars.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-14/granny-s-gold-bars-are-key-to-vietnam-push-to-boost-dong.html

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BitInstant Founder to Forfeit $950K to US Government in Plea Bargain

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“Further details have emerged of former BitInstant CEO Charlie Shrem’s plea bargain with US authorities, which saw him plead guilty to aiding and abetting an unlicensed money-transmitting business on 4th Sept. Shrem and Robert Faiella’s plea bargains, [with the government’s decision to drop a charge of money-laundering,] provide for jail terms of up to 60 months. The guidelines also include a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the amount of money derived from the crime or double the loss to the victim, whichever is greatest. The Manhattan US Attorney, Preet Bharara, said that Shrem and Faiella sold $1m in bitcoin to ‘outlaws’ on Silk Road.”

http://www.coindesk.com/charlie-shrem-forfeit-950000-us-government-plea-bargain/

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Embargoed EU Goods Actively Re-Imported to Russia via Belarus

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“Goods embargoed by Moscow in response to Western economic sanctions are being actively shipped to Moscow via Belarus, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.  The Russian leader added that exporters often replace an EU label with a new one and send the goods to Russia.  Putin proved his words by displaying photographs of a man removing a label, under which the initial producer country – Poland is revealed.   Russia has banned food imports from the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia and Norway in response to sanctions imposed on Russia over its alleged role in escalating the Ukrainian crisis.”

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20140826/192371567/Embargoed-EU-Goods-Actively-Re-Imported-To-Russia-Via-Belarus-.html

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Cuba cracks down on goods transported in travelers’ luggage

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“Passengers on flights from Miami said they were bringing in far less than usual thanks to higher customs duties and stricter limits on the number of products allowed under rules that went into effect Monday.  The easing of travel restrictions by the U.S. and Cuban governments over the last five years has allowed travelers to bring in nearly $2 billion of products a year. The government says the new limits meant to curb abuses that have turned air travel in particular into a way for professional ‘mules’ to illegally import supplies for both black-market businesses and legal private enterprises that are supposed to buy supplies from the state.”

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2014/09/01/4445127_cuba-cracks-down-on-goods-in-travelers.html?rh=1

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Dark net drug markets kept alive by great customer service

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“History suggests that those who want drugs will usually find a way to get them. And here they can get a better product with fewer negative risks associated with buying drugs on the street. It even bears down on the street crime associated with drug turf wars as street pushers become redundant. These marketplaces are transforming the dirty and dangerous business of buying drugs in dark alleyways into a simple transaction between empowered consumers and responsive vendors. It’s not online anonymity, Bitcoins, or clever encryption that keeps the darknet markets thriving. The real secret is good customer service.”

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-08/21/buying-drugs-on-the-dark-net

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Venezuela To Mandate Fingerprinting Grocery Shoppers By Year End

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“Venezuelans could soon have to scan their fingerprints to buy bread.  President Nicolas Maduro says a mandatory fingerprinting system is being implemented at grocery stores to combat food shortages by keeping people from buying too much of a single item. He calls it an ‘anti-fraud system’ like the fingerprint scan the country uses for voting.  Critics said the new system is tantamount to rationing and constitutes a breach of privacy.  Venezuela has been grappling with shortages of basic goods like cooking oil and flour for more than a year. In the spring, the administration tried out a similar system in government-run supermarkets on a voluntary basis.”

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/venezuela-proposes-fingerprinting-shoppers-25073950

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Venezuelan VP: Anyone rejecting border closure deserves no trust

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“Venezuelan Vice-President Jorge Arreaza on Tuesday asserted that anyone lambasting the government’s security measures on the Venezuela-Colombia border should be distrusted, claiming that critics may be interested in leaving the problem unsolved. ‘Those criticizing the measures are directly interested either in the smuggling mafias or destabilization…’ said Arreaza during a conference on comprehensive defense of the nation.  The senior officer further attributed domestic shortage to smuggling.”

http://english.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/140819/venezuelan-vp-anyone-rejecting-border-closure-deserves-no-trust

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Judge in Silk Road criminal case says Bitcoin is as good as money

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“The New York district judge presiding over the criminal case against Ross Ulbricht, the alleged creator of underground online drug market Silk Road, has decreed that cryptocurrency Bitcoin is functionally the same thing as real money. Ulbricht had argued that he could not be charged for money laundering for his alleged part in creating Silk Road, as Bitcoin was not a real currency, but Judge Katherine Forrest rejected his defense. ‘The money laundering statute is broad enough to encompass use of Bitcoins in financial transactions,’ Forrest wrote in a ruling released on Wednesday. ‘Any other reading would in light of Bitcoin’s sole raison d’être be nonsensical.'”

http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/9/5885649/bitcoin-as-good-as-money-says-judge-silk-road-case

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Death of Eric Garner Ruled “Homicide by Chokehold”

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“The medical examiner for New York City ruled the death of Eric Garner, who died in police custody after a violent arrest over allegedly selling loose untaxed cigarettes, a ‘homicide by chokehold.’  In a press conference earlier this week Bill Bratton, speaking with New York City’s mayor Bill de Blasio, said that correcting your behavior for police was ‘what democracy’s all about.’ Though his comments were largely wrong-headed, Bratton is correct that the law against selling loose, untaxed cigarettes is not a concoction of the police, but the city that voted for elected officials who have run the taxes on cigarettes so high as to create a black market in loose, untaxed cigarettes.”

http://reason.com/blog/2014/08/01/death-of-eric-garner-ruled-homicide-by-c

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What Really Drove the Children North

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“To make the ‘Obama did it’ hypothesis work, it is necessary to defeat the claim that the migrants are fleeing intolerable violence. This has given rise to the oft-repeated line that ‘those countries’ have always been very violent.   That is patently untrue.  Back in the early 1990s, drugs from South America flowed through the Caribbean to the U.S. But when a U.S. interdiction strategy in the Caribbean raised costs, trafficking shifted to land routes up the Central American isthmus and through Mexico. With Mexican President Felipe Calderón’s war on the cartels, launched in 2007, the underworld gradually slithered toward the poorer, weaker neighboring countries.”

http://online.wsj.com/articles/mary-ogrady-what-really-drove-the-children-north-1405892801

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