very critical about it and i think that's the most ironic thing in all of that for me is that these kind of changes were implemented not by the obama administration which one would think ideologically would have been most predisposed to it but by the trumpet ministration your opinion was it ultimately an issue of political will corporate might have perhaps something else. i have to say i agree with you i'm completely confused about why a republican administration made a change that was essentially part of the democratic philosophy and which the democrats have been frustrated about trying to change for well over fifty years i can only think that somewhere deep within what they call the deep state in the u.s. treasury there were left leaning. bureaucrats who implemented this change to a territoriality based system of taxation without anybody actually being aware of

what was going on. but it is i agree with you very hard to rick's blame in terms of the the political positions of the two u.s. parties historically well mr travers i think we would agree that as a flame mary many american political positions are extremely hard to explain from a rational point of view but we have to take a very short break here let's go back to the discussion the few moments. despite its turbulent history the soviet union dominated school. however this was about the lives of those from. you know. when the children nibble of this. that.

newborn bill there once and for being bottle fed me just remembered you three brothers described the rules for the ordinary yorkers like irish stew just to be reserved for your you were the first son of your limpid team of nine hundred fifty two when she did seeds of isis concentration camp prisoners and from slime soldiers sort of still think maybe it isn't that good to go from here with corruption because you know much good to know that an issue of pollution from government because you're bursting with it you're in for the one fall through shall go a little bit out of here with you if you think that era. good measures you'll push will push through personal first little enthusiasm over the new deal when you're at the national mourning period then you're there with the rivers rearm and the world free of rising stock and we.

leveled off selling you on the idea that dropping bombs brings police to the chicken hawks forcing you to fight the battle for food stocks. to new socks credit tell you to separate gossip and tabloid by falsehoods to the point. i think you are not full enough to fight your. thief's are the hawks that a lot of our loved ones. good . luck.

welcome back to worlds apart with anthony travers senior partner at an offshore law firm based in the cayman islands and just before the break we were talking about the united states finally returning to the territorial principle of tech taxation and some would argue that the. americans want to take it there even further there is another standing initiative aimed at the repatriation of taxes i'm talking about before an account tax compliance act which compels non the u.s. financial institutions to report on the assets of both u.s. citizens and u.s. residents worldwide do you think trump is likely to make it work and don't you

think that perhaps this territorial principle. may be taking way too far with essentially the extraterritorial nature of that act well i think think there are actually two quite different things moving us corporations to a territoriality based system of taxation with regard to global trading activity is one thing. the foreign account tax compliance a whole fact corrosive snow was directed at something quite different that was directed at ensuring that u.s. says. does and who are also attacks on a citizenship basis. as were u.s. corporations pay taxes on overseas awnings and so what fat could did was ensure that u.s. citizens outside of the united states have to report all accounts that they maintain outside the united states to charis it's not just about american citizens

our residents reporting on those accounts i want to understand that but it's about the making non us financial institutions essentially be responsible for implementing that reporting and turning the branches of foreign financial institutions essentially into subsidiaries of the i.r.s. don't you think that's a bridge too far now or go i agree with you i was describing what fact was intended to do what you just said is absolutely correct the way it is implemented is to to effectively make known u.s. banking organizations or u.s. banking organizations operating ever sees as effective tax collectors for for the i.r.s. and there is worse legislation that has now come out of europe called the coma reporting standard which does exactly the same thing as between about ninety countries now that are signed out to it including incidentally russia which requires those ninety countries to make automatic reporting to the home

jurisdiction of every investor who has an account in a signatory jurisdiction so for example if we have russian. citizens with accounts in the cayman islands we must ascertain the identity of their citizens and make reports on their trading profits in any cayman island to cal it to the russian authorities mr charice i will tell you why the russians see well at least the majority of the russian people and that the some part of the russian government don't see much problem but that is because they. i believe that the main purpose of that legislation is to provide a more intense information exchange between tax authorities well but to be fair ethically at least would make tax evasion which is a huge problem for this country a little bit more difficult especially as the new technology come on board the next day that this process is it too naive to say just that big golden era of hiding

assets especially ill gotten assets which is the problem for russia for example is slowly but surely coming to an end i think i have absolutely right. i would say that it had come to an end in the cayman islands almost twenty years ago when we entered into the tax information exchange agreements for tax evasion which is what you're describing now. that was off the table for at least twenty years and they came at all it just was not possible to do it because of the ability of tax or thought has to make inquiry under the treaties a common reporting standard takes it to a new and higher level by requiring pro-active reporting with regard to those accounts of any known resident of the cayman islands back to the tax authorities in question so i think you're right it is true to say that not every country in the world is a signatory of the common reporting standard fatca operates in relation to the united states only and extraterritorial globally as a matter of u.s.

law to cover reporting said operates differently by way of a multilateral treaty and i would say that you're absolutely right it makes it virtually impossible now to evade taxes by way of known this leisure in a criminal way by use of any offshore account now you know i have a few friends wealthy relatively wealthy individuals who complain. high net worth this is how they call themselves starting to feel like refugees around the world. and i understand that's a preposterous suggestion but it does relate a certain degree of desperation the inability to find a home not just for yourself but for your capital and sometimes the origin of that capital is quite questionable you've been very forthcoming in saying that the cayman islands and stressing the transparency of the cayman islands and i believe it to the times just as network to verify your claims but i wonder if you believe

there are still destinations in the world that may provide a drive to reach for the for the people who feel. not welcome in countries like yours for example i don't think i don't think that people who hide their money should be encouraged and i think it's going to be extremely difficult for them to do so but i do have the answer for them if you are a russian citizen and you want to avoid paying russian taxes then you must come and live in the cayman islands because russia also applies a territoriality based system of taxation and the problem is is for high net worth a high net worth individuals who want to live in london paris or new york and not pay the a placable taxes as a result of doing so that game i think is effectively overwrought rightly so much as you say. so the answer therefore is that you actually need to take up residence

in one of these indirect taxation jurisdictions and in that way you will be able to protect your assets and not pay income corporation profits or capital gains tax but that is i think the only legitimate way of doing it now now i'm not sure you should distribute such a such device especially for free on the airwaves but anywhere you mention london and there is an interesting development in that regard in the u.k. we just passed an order allowing the authorities to freeze and recover property in excess of fifty thousand pounds if individual. are unable to explain how they acquired those assets and it strikes me as a brilliant idea making the government the ultimate beneficiary of the large scale money laundering scheme that has been going on in london for decades what do you make of it do you see in the same light yes i mean i think i think the issue is this firstly it's clearly borne out of frustration. because the the problem the

author or his have is this that the way the international network works for lower enforcement on money laundering requires you to have a preliminary if an offense committed in that in the jurisdiction of the residence of the individual for example russia or or the hypothetical african state ruritania you have to have a predicate offense there for the international money laundering system to work and that's where that's where the system is broken down because even after panama papers panama was a jurisdiction where no transparency which was very popular with money or grows. even out of panama papers you find very very few criminal offenses now in the originating jurisdictions. until you have an offense in those jurisdictions the international network of of information gathering can't operate and so what the

united kingdom legislation is down is reverse the burden of proof but you know if there is an additional thing even if there isn't an information about you committing some crime in your original country you can always claim to political prosecution and in fact a number of. russian bankers who stole money from the people on the very large scale doing exactly that in the united kingdom it would be interesting to see whether the authorities will be able to go after them but i want to ask you something did different because you're always on the defensive when it comes to people from the u.k. or the united states preaching transparency or you know tax known avoidance but i think it's also fair to turn the tables around because it's not even controversial to say anymore that london and new york have become the largest offshore destinations i mean it's it's it's i guess a statement of fact that in this day and age what do you think the most motivates

the british authorities to pull the plug on it now to pass that law at this point of time did they finally find the courage to do that and the address the problem or is it just an opportune moment to fill the state coffers well i think you're absolutely right i mean no money launderer invests his proceeds in offshore mr motivator invested his seven billion dollars of loan to proceed through new york missed a batch of the nigerian dictator vested his his four billion pounds in this in the city of london money orders need things to buy they need houses on the upper east side or in belgravia london. destination for these proceeds has always been the on the shore capitals i think that there is all of a sudden a new age if you like you might call it political opportunism. but

it is. it has become politically very incorrect to be a jurisdiction like london and less so new york strength but like london where this kind of. cover a range meant is is is tacitly accepted by the or far it is and i think it's extremely difficult for the british or thought has given the transparency they've insisted on interesting like the cayman islands they have a double standard not to apply the same level of transparency with regard to. places like london where these proceeds are actually loaned the special interest in this the charas because they don't seem to be losing much they're only gaining as i said i think if that scheme is implemented at the end of the day the british government will be the ultimate beneficiary of all those ill gotten assets because

it can claim it for itself. maybe maybe not i mean a government will claim it maybe the british government will have to hand those money so if the money laundering occurred for that if you need to cleanse ahmed rashid nation and that goes for years if not take it and they're also political issues involved so it's easier to keep it for yourself and for your budgets and that's where i think that's a really brilliant idea well it may it may well be as i say you know i'm not here to defend the way the system i mean the national law enforcement works because we know it doesn't work that's quite clear you know when i started in the offshore world over forty years ago it was said there were two trillion dollars of black money collating annually and they're still two trillion dollars of black money circulating annually so i'm not sure what advances are really being made. but i do think there are there are systems if money was lord out of nigeria if the british

government confiscates it in britain there are systems to ensure that money is paid over at the request of the nigerian or thought his it's not it's not just a smash and grab operation by the british government well let's hope for that and let's hope that applies to russia as well anyway mr travers we have to leave it there i really appreciate your being on the show and to our viewers please. keep the conversation going on at social media pages as for me i hope to see you again same place same time here and i will depart. across europe municipalities are taking their water supply back from private

companies to me to people this will simple song alone even find company elsewhere though they can find private companies to take over the utilities anybody tell us that all posts allowed for mr guess who got made by them to begin to go by ben this is us to quote them out of it over and over some more you member of the left bill brought up locals are ready to stand up for the basic human rights of access to water it's about water but it's also over much more the water it's about to hurt and the regis tradition of all of. us. debt down towards the one dollar. a plate for many clubs over the years so i know the game and so i got. football isn't only about what happens on the pitch for the final school it's about the passion from the fans it's the age of the super money kill the narrowness and

spending to twenty million. it's an experience like nothing else going to because i want to share what i think what i know about the beautiful guy great so it will transfer. to. it's morning. in america a college degree requires a great deal. of debt. studying so hard it requires strong. go through humiliation to enter an elite society. and parching to dance sometimes quite literally. wants other true colors of universities in the u.s. .

with just one day before the opening ceremony of the south korean winter olympics russia not only holding out hope of being allowed to compete in the games with a ruling from the court of arbitration for sport on their. knowledge limited. however some athletes whose participation is so are now embroiled in controversy with norway's ski federation facing doping allegations. which led coalition airstrikes targeting syrian pro-government forces reportedly killed one hundred but u.s. central command saying that the attack was carried out to defend a rebel group. a

video of libyan children playing out a mock execution goes viral on the program share their views on the effects of the war and on the minds of the young. what they being what she was it online or really with they watching it firsthand from. from the countries they did you gave to the younger kids because they found it really isn't right for. you to join us your analogy international on this day we have the latest world news had. thousands of russian athletes still holding out hope of competing in the winter olympics which get underway on friday forty seven of them have appealed to the court of arbitration for sport to overturn an i.o.c. ban and they are now awaiting its ruling among those who have filed appeals or some

of russia's most celebrated athletes for example six time limpid gold medalist victor on and such a games champion anton ship who couldn't correspondent and now reports from the limpid coast city of. for almost two and a half hours the court of arbitration for sport was listening to the russian side which have now left led by their lawyer so these people won't get another chance to give their arguments to the court and now it is all to the cast members they've promised to announce some sort of decision by noon korean time on friday to go over to the bone to defend the gas pump listen to our arguments and the decision will be reached within twenty four i was so things won't be decided to with a few hours before the opening ceremony which of course puts extra pressure on the russian athletes on wednesday the secretary general hinted that still their mind to

be at delay now here we are looking at three scenarios either cas decides to do nothing about the international olympic committee's move not to invite the russian athletes who have never been caught for cheating and without specifying the particular reasons for doing that or the court of arbitration for sport chooses to give the green light to the russians and in that case that would be a massive blow for the audio scene and that would in turn mean that the international olympic committee discriminated against the russians the third scenario we heard about from an online leak that cannot be confirmed but reports are suggesting that there could be a split decision on the russian athletes i'm standing by here at the temporary home of the court of arbitration for sport and i'll give you any news as soon as it comes out. however some athletes whose participation in the winter olympics is not

in question are now embroiled in controversy as after the norwegian state broadcaster and r.k. published a list of drugs the norwegian team doctor brought to pyong chang and r.k. noted a suspicious amount of i asked him about occasion which contains banned substances we're talking about zero six thousand doses that's ten times more asamoah drugs than for example finland brought to south korea now the head of norway's anti doping agency has admitted that the use of asimo drugs is common in norway even when asked more is not diagnosed the latest revelation comes after the release of a documentary that alleges the existence of an organized doping system at norway's ski federation or here at r.t. we spoke to one of the journalists behind the film the ski federation is very angry about this and they don't want to talk about this problem and that's very sad

in the region it's more. than a ski federation doping program we can see that forty one percent of the middle east have abnormal blood it means i don't think this is clean competitions we will see there are. doping also in this competitions we've asked the international olympic committee whether it will investigate these doping allegations we are still waiting for a reply however a sports lawyer we spoke to told us it's wiring the i.o.c. hasn't publicly commented on this issue. what's interesting is you heard the outcry in the media about these allegations you haven't seen any action by wada as it currently stands i don't see there being an investigation which you know is in the light of everything we've discovered with regards to the russian doping allegations is troubling everybody where there is a problem should be investigated we need to understand that doping is in fact

a global problem is raised by this documentary we need to understand that doping as happened and occurs across the world and that this is not an incident slated to russia that this is a global problem it's a continuing problem and it's something we need to address seriously right now even be the greatest anti-doping experts in the west as a want to cannot currently detect doping in athletes that's a problem. the u.s. led coalition has conducted as strikes against pro government forces in syria reportedly killing over one hundred u.s. a central command described it as a defensive measure. in defense of coalition and partner forces the coalition conducted strikes against attack and forces to repel the act of aggression against partners engaged in the global coalition's defeat danish mission the coalition said the alleged the act of aggression targeted the so-called moderate opposition now of

course going back to twenty fourteen and that the u.s. led calls that assad must go america's focus in syria then changed to battling i saw our poll with the terrorists now effectively defeated u.s. officials say the pentagon is preparing to dig in even further our military policy in sheria has not changed our priority remains to defeat of isis whether it's in iraq or in syria that is our intent to defeat isis and not do anything more than that the united states will maintain a military presence in syria focused on ensuring isis cannot reemerge total withdrawal of american personnel at this time would restore assad they continue his brutal treatment against his own people to put its ability to the lack of a fundamental commitment to our agreement that is typical of current u.s. diplomacy including the reasons why the americans stay in syria rex tillerson p tiddly stated that the only goal in syria was the defeat of ice so now they've got

far more ambitious plans. and we're now joined live by jamal wakim international relations professor at the lebanese university mr joachim thanks for joining us here on r.t. international today u.s. officials describing this as strike as quote defensive how would you describe it. i believe this is and i got action against the syrian arab army and against the syrian government because the united states have no legitimate claim to have troops on syrian soil. it claimed that it was fighting eisel but so far we never saw a single strike by the united states against isis fighters all strikes game against the syrian arab army and its allies and then the attempt to take hold off north eastern syria. and establish military bases there this is part of it all

and scheme for the middle east by the united states to keep this region under its control especially that it could control the whole region from the from the upper of create this region which is between the west and what he must get to that. just him i mean if i may just i'm sort of interrupt you but regarding this airstrike by u.s. led forces just now one hundred pro-government soldiers reportedly killed what kind of reaction coming expect from damascus do you think. well so far i believe that the syrian government is still reluctant to enter into a direct clash with the united states because the balance of powers is drastically to the favor of the united states army there and at the same time the syrian army is fighting terrorist groups elsewhere in the country so i believe that so far the

syrian government to refrain from and turning into a direct clash with the united states army in northeastern syria but in the future i believe that. as an occupying force. the syrian government will deal with the united states army as an occupying force that might be armed resistance to this occupation well mr kim i want to see if follow you on this on this line you're going within twenty four teens of course we all heard the western officials in chorus crying that assad has got to go when it appeared that assad wasn't going anywhere the course not only changed to i still has got to go and now the pentagon looks to dig in even further in syria even after the main defeat of ice or what is the pentagon's real agenda in syria. well the real agenda in syria for the pentagon and the united states is to come.