Even Russians Are Leaving France for Tax Reasons

The lack of trust of the socialist government and its tax policies has grown so much, muses Cécile Prudhomme, that even Russians are starting to emigrate.

Les différents collaborateurs du groupe ont par ailleurs indiqué, mercredi 6 février, avoir traité depuis six mois une cinquantaine de demandes de Français cherchant à s'installer à Londres, une quarantaine à New York, 70 demandes pour habiter en Suisse. …

"FACILE À FAIRE ET À DÉFAIRE"

Beaucoup de vendeurs en France, donc, mais... pas assez d'acheteurs. Car même les étrangers ont été effrayés par les mesures fiscales de l'équipe Hollande.

"Les clients haut de gamme russes commencent à comprendre que tous ne sont pas concernés par les mesures fiscales", explique Irina Artemova, chargée de la clientèle russe. Entre-temps, certains ont renoncé. "On a même le premier Russe qui a décidé de partir de France pour des raisons fiscales", en vendant l'immeuble qu'il avait acheté à Neuilly, explique M. de Saint Vincent.  

 … "En 2013, on estime à 5 000 le nombre d'expatriés fiscaux", a indiqué M^e Jacques-Henry de Bourmont, avocat fiscaliste associé du cabinet Lefèvre Pelletier & associés. Certains, a-t-il argumenté, parce qu'ils anticipent que l'exonération de la plus-value sur la résidence principale puisse un jour être plafonnée et que les biens au-delà d'un certain montant soient soumis à l'imposition sur les plus-values. "En France, on a une loi fiscale qui est trop facile à faire et à défaire ", a-t-il ajouté.

Related: Check out the photos in the Le Monde portfolio of
the Cossack cadet academy in Volgograd (the former Stalingrad)

Russians Complain About the Purchase of French Helicopter Warships

Reporting from Moscow, Marie Jégo explains that France's sale of its Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia has turned into a nightmare.

The exact fuel needed for the various types of machinery is found exclusively inside the EU, says an unidentified source, and the use of Russian products "risks provoking motor damage". What's more, the ship might not be able to perform at temperatures below –7º Celsius.

However, the subtext of the complaints may be political pushback against various government ministers, not least prime minister Dmitri Medvedev himself.

Emblème de la nouvelle relation stratégique entre Paris et Moscou, la livraison de deux navires de guerre français de type Mistral à la Russie vire au cauchemar. Les barons russes de l'industrie de défense viennent de déclarer que les porte-hélicoptères nécessitent l'utilisation d'environ "50 sortes d'huiles et de combustibles de fabrication européenne", introuvables en Russie. Les importer coûtera trop cher, les fabriquer prendra du temps, affirment-ils.

 … L'utilisation de produits russes "risque de provoquer une panne de moteur". "Même en temps de paix, la mise en service du Mistral sera une torture pour nos marins. Imaginez ce qui se passera en période de combat", ajoute la source anonyme. Triste augure : "Ils rouilleront sur leur base avant d'être envoyés à la casse." 

Two years ago, a corvette captain, Gaël Lacroix, asked whether "La vente de Mistral à la Russie est-elle irresponsable ?" and answered by claiming that no, there was nothing to fear from Russia.

Related: Check out the photos in the Le Monde portfolio of
the Cossack cadet academy in Volgograd (the former Stalingrad)

9 to 10 Years' Jail Time for Italy's Secret Service Honchos for Helping Bush White House 10 Years Ago

The international left's fight against the Bush Administration in particular and against conservative America in general continues.

As recounted by Benoît Vitkine in Le Monde, the head of Italy's secret service between 2001 and 2006, Nicolo Pollari, has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for helping the CIA kidnap a radical Egyptian imam.

As for General Pollari's aide, Marco Mancini has been sentenced by a Milan judge to nine years behind bars while three agents have received sentences of six years.

As for the CIA, it was condemned to pay 1,000,000 Euros to Abu Omar (aka Usama Hassan Nasr) along with 500,000 euros to his wife, wrote Philippe Ridet in Le Monde in September, while 23 agents in Milan (including boss Robert Seldon Lady) were condemned to eight years in absentia.

And why would a thing like this happen now?

Well, take a look at who is in the Oval Office:  a man who shares the left's fairy tales that the only real enemy America faces, and the world faces, are conservative Americans, and who can hardly be counted on to support any allies of the United States, whether a country or an individual…

as à pas, avec plus ou moins de détermination, l'Europe affronte sa collaboration au versant illégal de la « guerre contre le terrorisme » menée par la CIA au début des années 2000. Mardi 12 février, un tribunal de Milan a rendu un jugement sans précédent en condamnant lourdement l'ancien chef du renseignement militaire italien (Sismi, devenu depuis AISE) pour sa participation, en 2003, à l'enlèvement par l'agence américaine d'un imam radical égyptien. Ce verdict est d'autant plus retentissant que la plupart des Etats concernés rechignent à faire la lumière sur leur coopération passée avec la CIA et que seule la justice polonaise a entamé des poursuites contre des agents de ses propres services de renseignement.

La cour d'appel de la capitale lombarde a condamné le général Nicolo Pollari, chef du Sismi de 2001 à 2006, à dix ans de prison. Son numéro deux, Marco Mancini, a été condamné à une peine de neuf ans et trois agents de rang inférieur à six ans.

 … Dans cette même affaire, la justice italienne s'était déjà illustrée en septembre 2012 en condamnant par contumace, malgré les pressions de Washington, vingt-trois agents de la station milanaise de la CIA, dont son chef, Robert Seldon Lady, condamné à huit ans de réclusion.

Speaking French in Paris, John Kerry Takes Dig at America's Clueless Conservatives (VIDEO)

In Paris to consult with France on Mali and with France, Britain, and Germany on Syria, John Kerry switched to French during a press conference with his French counterpart, Laurent Fabius.

While calling Europe "un ami de confiance, un allié fidèle et un partenaire apprécié" ("a trusted friend, a faithful ally, and a valued partner", 00:43) — just like France was 10 years ago, when the Massachusetts Democrat's 2004 opponent was embroiled in the Iraq war — John ("if…you study hard and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well [and not] get stuck [like a soldier] in Iraq") Kerry took a dig at America's clueless conservatives, ending with a quip to the understanding mocking laughter of France's crème de la crème:

And now I will switch over to English, for otherwise I will not be allowed home in the United States.

(Et maintenant je parle en anglais, parce qu'autrement on ne me laisse pas rentrer chez moi.)

When to Bring Up Human Rights Issues? Only When Dealing with (Conservative) America and the West, Never with True Despots, Like Russia

"One cannot condense the French-Russian relationship down to the human rights issue. That is extremely reductive and simplistic." 

Thus speaketh the Élysée palace. As usual, the way for the Europeans — and Americans of the Obama bent — to deal with the world is to apply a — very self-serving — set of double standards.

That can be seen by their standing up for principles in their dealings with Americans — conservative Americans (say, Bush, during the Iraq war) — and their allies (Israel, Arab allies, Eastern Europe, etc), while pleading for understanding when dealing with true despots and true enemies.

Une phrase, lâchée par un conseiller à l'Elysée, montre l'approche choisie. "On ne peut résumer la relation franco-russe à la question des droits de l'homme. C'est extrêmement réducteur et simplificateur." Une autre réduction est surtout flagrante dans le programme officiel. Il prévoit une visite au Musée Pouchkine, mais ne fait nulle mention d'une rencontre avec la société civile russe. L'entourage du président français assure qu'il s'entretiendra jeudi avec plusieurs personnalités, à huis clos, dans l'ambassade de France, sans préciser leur identité.

Related: Kim Jong-un Treated with More Respect Than Any U.S. Conservative

Related: Check out the photos in the Le Monde portfolio of
the Cossack cadet academy in Volgograd (the former Stalingrad)

Conservatives lose institutions by allowing the minnows to eat the whale

We lose institutions by allowing the minnows to eat the whale

writes Legal Insurrection's Professor Jacobson (via Instapundit).

It happened to my alma mater, Hamilton College, which acquired the liberal Kirkland College across the street in the late 1970s, and then allowed the leftist Kirkland faculty to take over the school. Hamilton now is so unhinged that it would not allow The Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization to locate on campus.  It’s a story told at campuses across the country.

The same thing apparently has happened at Forbes, once a bastion of free market capitalism. It acquired the far left True/Slant, and then appointed the founder of True/Slant to a key position which has resulted in Forbes — at least on its highly trafficked website – becoming a vehicle to attack the right.

Robert Stacy McCain, writing at The American Spectator, has the details:

Over the weekend, professional golfer Phil Mickelson complained about tax increases (including state income taxes in California) that he said had pushed his marginal rate to 63 percent: “I’ve got to make some decisions on what to do.” That incited a scolding from Syracuse Universtiy professor Len Burman, who said Mickelson should “stop whining” because he was so “lucky” to be one of the world’s highest-earning athletes.

Well, just another cranky liberal academic, eh? We are not surprised to learn that Burman served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton administration, nor are we surprised that Burman founded the Tax Policy Center at the Brookings Institute, a liberal think-tank. What is perhaps surprising is that Burman published his attack on Mickelson’s “whining” at Forbes.

Forbes was once a leading advocate of free-market economic policy and has published such famed conservative writers as P.J. O’Rourke and Peter Brimelow. The magazine’s publisher Steve Forbes sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1996 and 2000 on a platform advocating a flat tax. His father, the late Malcolm Forbes, proudly named his private jet the “Capitalist Tool.”

Yet in recent years, the online version of Forbes has become increasingly notorious as a hive of strident left-wing opinion. Forbes publishes environmentalist blogger Steve Zwick, who has waged a one-man jihad against the free-market Heartland Institute for its criticism of climate policy. Last February, Zwick used his Forbes blog to promote a hoax in which a fake document purported to show Heartland’s “secret strategy.” Forbes also publishes Rick Ungar, who became notorious in 2009 for a column with the headline “Send the Body to Glenn Beck,” blaming the talk-radio host for the alleged lynching of a Census worker (who, as it turned out, had committed suicide).

What happened to Forbes? Two words: Lewis Dvorkin.

A former AOL executive, Dvorkin got funding from Forbes in 2009 to start a Web site, True/Slant, that lasted a little more than a year before it was taken over by Forbes in a deal that brought Dvorkin into the company with the title of Chief Product Officer. (Dvorkin’s “Copy Box” column is a lot of jargon-crowded hype about the awesomeness of the “product”; he recently defended the concept of “sponsored content” in the wake of last week’s debacle in which the Atlantic published an “advertorial” for Scientology.) Dvorkin’s July 2010 deal also brought under the Forbes online umbrella several of True/Slant’s left-wing staff and contributors, including Zwick, Ungar and, apparently, Professor Len Burman.

Can anyone cite an example of where a prominent liberal publication has brought in a conservative in a leadership position and allowed the conservative to turn the publication on its political head? I can’t think of an example.

This is one of the reasons we lose.