Ramanisblog

Category: UK

  • Airline Lunches Soldiers UK India

    Indian Army
    Indian Army

     

    Airline Lunches I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down in my assigned seat.

    It was going to be a long flight from Gatwick.

    ‘I’m glad I have a good book to read Perhaps I will get a short sleep,’

    I thought. Just before take-off, a line of British Army Youngsters came down the aisle and filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding me.

    I decided to start a conversation.

    ‘Where are you blokes headed?’ I asked the Young man seated nearest to me.

    Cyprus . We’ll be there for two weeks for special training, and then we’re being deployed to Afghanistan .

    After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that lunches were available for five pounds.

    It would be several hours before we reached Cyprus , and I quickly decided a lunch would help pass the time..

    As I reached for my wallet, I overheard a soldier ask his mate if he planned to buy lunch.

    ‘No, that seems like a lot of money for just an airline lunch. Probably wouldn’t be worth five Quid. I’ll wait till we get to Cyprus ….

    His mate agreed. I looked around at the other soldiers.

    None were buying lunch. I walked to the back of the plane and handed the flight attendant a fifty Pound note.

    ‘Take a lunch to all those soldiers..’ She grabbed my arms and squeezed tightly.

    Her eyes wet with tears, she thanked me. ‘My young bloke was a soldier in Iraq , it’s almost like you are doing it for him.

    Picking up ten lunchboxes, she headed up the aisle to where the boys were seated.

    She stopped at my seat and asked, ‘Which do you like best – beef or chicken?

    ‘ ‘Chicken,’ I replied, wondering why she asked.

    She turned and went to the front of plane, returning a minute later with a dinner plate from first class.

    This is your thanks. After we finished eating, I went again to the back of the plane, heading for the rest room.

    An old bloke stopped me.

    ‘I saw what you did. I want to be part of it. Here, take this.’ He handed me twenty-five Pounds.

    Soon after I returned to my seat, I saw the Captain coming down the aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he walked, I hoped he wasn’t looking for me, but noticed he was looking at the numbers only on my side of the plane.

    When he got to my row he stopped, smiled, held out his hand, and said, ‘I want to shake your hand.’

    Quickly unfastening my seat-belt I stood and took the Captain’s hand.

    With a booming voice he said, ‘I was an army pilot a long time back.

    Once someone bought me lunch.

    It was an act of kindness I never forgot.

    ‘ I was embarrassed when applause was heard from all of the passengers.

    Later I walked to the front of the plane so I could stretch my legs.

    A kid who looked about 18 was sitting about six rows in front of me reached out his hand, wanting to shake mine.

    He left another twenty-five Pounds In my palm.

    When we landed I gathered my belongings and started to depart.

    Waiting just inside the aeroplane door was a man who stopped me, put something in my shirt pocket, turned, and walked away without saying a word.

    Another twenty-five Pounds! Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for their Trip up to their training area.

    I walked over to them and handed them seventy-five Pounds.

    It will take you some time to reach your training area. It will be about time for a sandwich. God Bless You Blokes.’

    Ten young blokes left that flight feeling the love and respect of their fellow Brits.

    As I walked briskly to my car, I whispered a prayer for their safe return.

    These soldiers were giving their all for our country.

    I could only give them a couple of meals.

    It seemed so little…

    A British Serviceman is someone who,
    at one point in his life, wrote a blank
    cheque made payable to
    ‘ United Kingdom ‘
    for an amount of
    ‘up to and including my life.’
    That is Honour, and there are way
    too many foreigners in this country
    who don’t understand it.’ 

    This is India.

    CHANDIGARH: Strange but true! Rs 2,550, that’s the amount which the Army feels, is sufficient to deny family pension to dependent parents of a soldier, who dies in a mishap.

    According to the Army regulations issued on August 26, 1998, if the death of a soldier (including jawans and officers) is not attributable or aggravated by military service, his dependent parents would be entitled to ordinary family pension, provided their income from all sources is less than Rs 2,550 per month.(TOI  20 June 2011)

    The Adarsh Housing Society is a cooperative society in the city of Mumbai in India. The origins of the scam go back to February 2002 when a request was made to the Chief Minister ofMaharashtra to allot land in the heart of Mumbai for the construction of a housing complex for “the welfare of serving and retired personnel of the Defence Services”. Over a period of ten years, top politicians, bureaucrats and military officers proceeded to bend several rules and perpetrate various acts of omission and commission in order to have the building constructed and then get themselves allotted flats in this premier property at artificially lowered prices. As the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India to the President of India in 2011 put it, “The episode of Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society reveals how a group of select officials, placed in key posts, could subvert rules and regulations in order to grab prime government land- a public property- for personal benefit.”[1] The Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI), the Income Tax Department and the Enforcement Directorate(ED) are in the process of investigating allegations that three former chief ministers, Sushilkumar Shinde, Vilasrao Deshmukh and Ashok Chavan of the state of Maharashtra were also involved in the scam.[2][3]

    In an interview to The Hindu published on 26 March 2012, General VK Singh, the Chief of Army Staff ascribed many of the attempts to malign him during his tenure to, amongst others, those he described as “the Adarsh lobby”, those directly connected to the scam, as well as those who were affected by his efforts to rid the army of corruption.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adarsh_Housing_Society_scam

    Thanks Prasad.

  • Who makes Money By Wars?

    The Rothschilds already possessed a significant fortune before the start of Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), and the family had gained preeminence in the bullion trade by this time.[14] From London in 1813 to 1815, Nathan Mayer Rothschild was instrumental in almost single-handedly financing the British war effort, organizing the shipment of bullion to the Duke of Wellington‘s armies across Europe, as well as arranging the payment of British financial subsidies to their continental allies. In 1815 alone, the Rothschild’s provided £9.8 million (in 1815 currency, about £566 million today when using the retail price index, and £6.58 billion when using average earnings) in subsidy loans to Britain’s continental allies.[15]

    Nathan Rothschild
    Nathan Rothschild

    One of the smaller city houses, Vienna. A collection of far larger Viennese palaces known as Palais Rothschild were torn down during the Second World War.

    The brothers helped coordinate Rothschild activities across the continent, and the family developed a network of agents, shippers, and couriers to transport gold across war-torn Europe. The family network was also to provide Nathan Rothschild time and again with political and financial information ahead of his peers, giving him an advantage in the markets and rendering the house of Rothschild still more invaluable to the British government.

    In one instance, the family network enabled Nathan to receive in London the news of Wellington’s victory at the Battle of Waterloo a full day ahead of the government’s official messengers.[14] Rothschild’s first concern on this occasion was to the potential financial advantage on the market which the knowledge would have given him; he and his courier did not immediately take the news to the government.[14] It was then repeated in later popular accounts, such as that of Morton.[16][17] The basis for the Rothschild’s most famously profitable move was made after the news of British victory had been made public. Nathan Rothschild calculated that the future reduction in government borrowing brought about by the peace would create a bounce in British government bonds after a two year stabilisation, which would finalise the post-war restructuring of the domestic economy.[15][16][17] In what has been described as one of the most audacious moves in financial history, Nathan immediately bought up the government bond market, for what at the time seemed an excessively high price, before waiting two years, then selling the bonds on the crest of short bounce in the market in 1817 for a 40% profit. Given the sheer power of leverage the Rothschild family had at their disposal, this profit was an enormous sum.(wiki)

    Rothschild Logo.
    Rothschild Logo.

    But here’s how some of the other patriotic industrialists and speculators chiselled their way into war profits.

    Take the shoe people.

    They made huge profits on sales abroad to our allies.

    Perhaps, like the munitions manufacturers and armament makers, they also sold to the enemy.

    But they did well by Uncle Sam too. For instance, they sold Uncle Sam 35,000,000 pairs of hobnailed service shoes.

    There were 4,000,000 soldiers.

    Eight pairs, and more, to a soldier.

    My regiment during the war had only one pair to a soldier.

    But when the war was over Uncle Sam has a matter of 25,000,000 pairs left over.

    Bought — and paid for. Profits recorded and pocketed.

    There was still lots of leather left.

    So the leather people sold your Uncle Sam hundreds of thousands of McClellan saddles for the cavalry.

    But there wasn’t any American cavalry overseas!

    Somebody had to get rid of this leather, however.

    Somebody had to make a profit in it — so we had a lot of McClellan saddles.

    And we probably have those yet.

    Somebody had a lot of mosquito netting.

    They sold your Uncle Sam 20,000,000 mosquito nets for the use of the soldiers overseas.

    Well, not one of these mosquito nets ever got to France!

    Anyhow, these thoughtful manufacturers wanted to make sure that no soldier would be without his mosquito net, so 40,000,000 additional yards of mosquito netting were sold to Uncle Sam.

    Airplane and engine manufacturers felt they, too, should get their just profits out of this war.

    So $1,000,000,000 — count them if you live long enough — was spent by Uncle Sam in building airplane engines that never left the ground!

    Not one plane, or motor, out of the billion dollars worth ordered, ever got into a battle in France.

    Just the same the manufacturers made their little profit of 30, 100, or perhaps 300 per cent.

    Undershirts for soldiers cost 14¢ [cents] to make and uncle Sam paid 30¢ to 40¢ each for them .

    Why, when the war was over some 4,000,000 sets of equipment — knapsacks and the things that go to fill them — crammed warehouses on this side.

    Now they are being scrapped because the regulations have changed the contents.

    But the manufacturers collected their wartime profits on them — and they will do it all over again the next time.

    There were lots of brilliant ideas for profit making during the war.

    One very versatile patriot sold Uncle Sam twelve dozen 48-inch wrenches.

    Oh, they were very nice wrenches.

    The only trouble was that there was only one nut ever made that was large enough for these wrenches.

    That is the one that holds the turbines at Niagara Falls.

    Well, after Uncle Sam had bought them and the manufacturer had pocketed the profit, the wrenches were put on freight cars and shunted all around the United States in an effort to find a use for them.

    When the Armistice was signed it was indeed a sad blow to the wrench manufacturer.

    He was just about to make some nuts to fit the wrenches.

    Then he planned to sell these, too, to your Uncle Sam.

    Still another had the brilliant idea that colonels shouldn’t ride in automobiles, nor should they even ride on horseback.

    Well, some 6,000 buckboards were sold to Uncle Sam for the use of colonels!

    Not one of them was used. But the buckboard manufacturer got his war profit.

    The shipbuilders felt they should come in on some of it, too. T

    They built a lot of ships that made a lot of profit. More than $3,000,000,000 worth.

    Some of the ships were all right. But $635,000,000 worth of them were made of wood and wouldn’t float!

    The seams opened up — and they sank. We paid for them, though. And somebody pocketed the profits.

    It has been estimated by statisticians and economists and researchers that the war cost your Uncle Sam $52,000,000,000.

    Of this sum, $39,000,000,000 was expended in the actual war itself.

    This expenditure yielded $16,000,000,000 in profits.

    That is how the 21,000 billionaires and millionaires got that way.

    This $16,000,000,000 profits is not to be sneezed at. It is quite a tidy sum.

    And it went to a very few.

    http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html#c1

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    http://ramanisblog.in/2013/01/28/companies-that-made-money-by-wars-a-list/

  • Companies That Made Money By Wars I

    Who benefits from Wars?

    Do people of either country or the Countries that participate in a War?

    Do the Nations Profit by War?

    No,

    The Business interests.

    Quote.

    “Some people fight for Idealism and Ninety nine out of hundred ae being conned.

    So are the people  back home who cheer for war.

    We are always Right and they are always wrong.

    In Washington and Beijing,London and Moscow.

    People are being conned.

    Those GIs in Vietnam,do you think they die for Life,liberty,and the pursuit of Happiness?

    They die for the DOW Jones Index in Wall Street and always have.

    …

    World War II Pictures.
    World War II Pictures.

    They were in those lands because their Colonel ordered them there,and he was ordered by The War Office and that was ordered by The

    Cabinet to keep the British Control over the Economies.”

    Unquote.-From The Dogs of War by Frederick Forsyth

    The World War, has costed the United States some $52,000,000,000.

    The normal profits of a business concern in the United States are six, eight, ten, and sometimes twelve percent.

    But war-time profits — twenty, sixty, one hundred, three hundred, and even eighteen hundred per cent — the sky is the limit.

    For the du Ponts, the powder people , the average earnings for the period 1910 to 1914 was $6,000,000 a year.

    Their average yearly profit during the war years, 1914 to 1918. Fifty-eight million dollars a year

    An increase in profits of more than 950 per cent.

    Bethlehem Steel shunted aside the making of rails , girders and bridges to manufacture war materials.

    Their 1910-1914 yearly earnings averaged $6,000,000.

    Their 1914-1918 average was $49,000,000 a year!

    United States Steel.

    The normal earnings during the five-year period prior to the war were $105,000,000 a year.

    The average yearly profit for the period 1914-1918 was $240,000,000.

    Anaconda, for instance. Average yearly earnings during the pre-war years 1910-1914 of $10,000,000.

    During the war years 1914-1918 profits leaped to $34,000,000 per year.

    Utah Copper. Average of $5,000,000 per year during the 1910-1914 period.

    Jumped to an average of $21,000,000 yearly profits for the war period.

    Central Leather Company were $3,500,000.

    That was approximately $1,167,000 a year.

    In 1916 ,Central Leather returned a profit of $15,000,000, an increase of 1,100 per cent.

    The General Chemical Company averaged a profit for the three years before the war of a little over $800,000 a year.

    Came the war, and the profits jumped to $12,000,000. a leap of 1,400 per cent.

    International Nickel Company showed an increase in profits from a mere average of $4,000,000 a year to $73,000,000 yearly.

    An increase of more than 1,700 per cent.

    American Sugar Refining Company averaged $2,000,000 a year for the three years before the war.

    In 1916 a profit of $6,000,000 was recorded.

    Listen to Senate Document No. 259.

    The Sixty-Fifth Congress, reporting on corporate earnings and government revenues.

    Considering the profits of 122 meat packers, 153 cotton manufacturers, 299 garment makers, 49 steel plants, and 340 coal producers during the war.

    Profits under 25 per cent were exceptional.

    For instance the coal companies made between 100 per cent and 7,856 per cent on their capital stock during the war.

    The Chicago packers doubled and tripled their earnings.

    And let us not forget the bankers who financed the great war. If anyone had the cream of the profits it was the bankers. Being partnerships rather than incorporated organizations, they do not have to report to stockholders. And their profits were as secret as they were immense. How the bankers made their millions and their billions I do not know, because those little secrets never become public — even before a Senate investigatory body.

       to be continued.

    ack:

    http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html#c1

  • US,Europe Tax Evasion Corruption Money Laundering

    Many Indians ,especially the younger generation including and especially my son, is never tired of telling me how bad India is and how good, orderly and Citizens are in the US and Europe.

    I have agreed to the extent that India is corrupt and needs a Clean up and at the same time The West is not a Puritan either.

    If the scams in India are in crores of Indian Rupees it is in Millions of US Dollars and Pound Sterling abroad.

    This post is an eye opener for those who praise the citizens abroad for their Dutiful citizenship.

    You dot evaluate a culture by mere standing in Queues and cleanliness on the road.

    I have my brother’s Grand son living in Sweden for quite a few years now.

    He used to tell me how responsible and helpful the Swedes are in helping out citizens in need of Government assistance, be it a form filling even.

    Yes .

    I agreed and informed him that he would find, in the course of time, how corrupt and morally decaying a Society Sweden is in terms of personal Life style and how it ruins family life over there.

    Now,though he still appreciates the good things over there, he has realized that a Culture needs to be evaluated on the over all aspects of Life.

    Having said this,let me add that if only we develop the Industriousness, attention to Detail, Public Spirit and  responsible citizenship…!

    The following information is not to justify our corrupt practices but to point out that the West is decaying excepting in a material comforts  which is contributing to it s decay.

    Corruption
    Corruption

    “Tax evasion poses an acute challenge to developing and developed countries. From 2000 to 2010, illicit financial flows deprived developing countries of US$5.86 trillion. Tax evasion is not a victimless crime – for people in the developing world, the consequences of tax evasion can be a matter of life and death. If developing countries could recover this untaxed wealth, it could mobilise enormous resources for improving their public services and their citizens’ lives.

    The new Eurodad report “Secret structures, hidden crimes” finds that the hidden ownership of companies and other legal structures facilitates tax evasion, corruption and related crimes. It outlines the different ways that individuals abuse companies, trusts and other vehicles in order to evade taxes.

    It argues that better information about who owns and controls these companies and other set-ups is key to bringing trillions of dollars of offshore wealth back into the tax net and helping to prevent capital flight in the future.

    It argues that all forms of tax evasion can be more effectively fought where they are recognized as a “predicate offence” of money laundering as this makes it a criminal offence to help someone to hide and shift tax-evaded money. For some countries tax evasion is already a predicate offence, but only in a limited set of circumstances”…

    According Oxfam, tax evasion by
    individuals costs developing countries
    US$124 billion. Christian Aid has found that,
    even using a very conservative estimate,
    developing countries lose the equivalent of
    US$160 billion per year to tax evasion by
    multinational companies using false invoicing
    and blatant transfer mispricing. If this sum
    were channelled to developing countries’
    budgets, with allocation unchanged it
    would be enough to save the lives of 1,000
    children every day. Over the past decades,
    tax evasion by individuals has led to the
    accumulation of US$21–32 trillion of untaxed
    offshore wealth, according to recent research
    by the Tax Justice Network (TJN). About
    25-30% of this (US$5.3–9.6 trillion) is from
    developing countries.
    Money laundering is the process of
    concealing the source of money obtained
    by illegal means. It can be easier to hide
    tax-evaded income because, unlike other
    criminal proceeds, the money generally
    comes from a legitimate source initially. This
    money only becomes illegal later on, when
    the full amount of tax due is not paid. This
    generally involves the taxpayer concealing
    or under-declaring their income. Tax evasion
    and money laundering therefore go hand”..

    Hidden ownership facilitates
    corruption and crime
    Beneficial ownership transparency would
    also help address illicit capital flight, which
    cost developing countries an estimated
    US$859 billion in 2010. These flows comprise
    proceeds of corruption, crime and tax
    evasion. The United Nations Office on Drugs
    and Crime (UNODOC) estimated the total
    value of money laundering to be around
    US$2.1 trillion in 2009 – equivalent to 3.6% of
    global GDP.
    The UN and World Bank STAR (Stolen Asset
    Recovery Initiative) published some 150
    corruption cases involving hidden ownership
    of a corporate vehicle either to launder
    money or as part of the initial scam. Global
    Witness has produced a number of case
    studies on corrupt officials laundering their
    money abroad, while researchers have found
    that sub-Saharan Africa has lost US$700
    billion to illicit capital flight since 1970,
    dwarfing its outstanding debt of US$175
    billion. Corruption could also be curbed with
    strong AML rules.
    Hidden ownership masks
    accountability for human rights and
    environmental violations
    When a human rights violation takes place,
    those affected can find it difficult to take
    a case to court if the parent company or
    management further up the ownership chain
    cannot be identified. The same goes for
    environmental violations.”…

    Use of complex structures to
    circumvent financial regulation
    Before the financial crisis, many banks
    used complex and even illegal structures to
    hide losses that would later be bailed out
    by taxpayers. UK bank Northern Rock did
    this using an investment vehicle based in

    Guernsey registered in the name of a real
    charity, without the charity’s knowledge. If
    ownership information was made publically
    available online people and organisations
    would be able to check if their identity was
    being abused in this way.
    Tax avoidance
    Greater organisational transparency and
    beneficial ownership disclosure would
    make it easier to understand aggressive tax
    planning and avoidance schemes that exploit
    legal loopholes when transactions take
    place between jurisdictions with different
    rules. Many of these schemes exist in a
    contested grey area between what is legal
    and illegal. One telling example of the impact
    of tax avoidance in developing countries
    is ActionAid’s case study of UK brewing
    giant SABMiller.”

    http://eurodad.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Secret-structures-hidden-crimes_summary-online.pdf

    http://www.financialtaskforce.org/2013/01/14/secret-structures-hidden-crimes-urgent-steps-to-address-hidden-ownership-money-laundering-and-tax-evasion-from-developing-countries/

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  • London Helicopter Crash Live Updates Video Images

    London Helicopter Crash.
    (Credit: Twitter/craiglet)

     

     

     

    London Helicopter Crash
    (Credit: YouTube/niczerogoeshome)

     

    A helicopter crashed in South London near  Vauxhall, this morning.

    Two died and 4 injured as reports last came in.

     

    Helicopter crashes in London
    UPDATED The stricken aircraft cartwheeled to the ground and exploded into flames just yards from the busy Vauxhall bridge railway line at around 8am. Burning wreckage and aviation fuel covered the road (centre) as eyewitnesses reported seeing cars on fire. Paul Ferguson, who was working nearby, said: ‘There was a flash and the helicopter plunged to the ground.’ Witnesses suggested the pilot may not have seen the crane which was barely visible from street level due to the fog.

     

    Live Update.

    Helicopter crash site London
    Helicopter crash site MapLondon

     

     

    Live Text(Click Link Below)

    Reporters: Lucy Wilkins, Samantha Dalton and Rob Corp

    Skip To Latest Live Text

    1. 1002:

      Max James Tolhurst, a manager at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital, told the BBC he was walking along Wandsworth Road and saw the aftermath of the crash. “I didn’t see the actual impact but as I was walking up the Wandsworth Road, I just saw lots of debris and fire… I walked closer and saw a crowd starting to gather before the police came over, it looked horrific. I went on to work at St Thomas’s Hospital and I know the teams were getting ready for whatever is going to emerge.”

    2. 1001:

      Bruce Grain, from the London Fire Brigade, added that parts of the wreckage landed on the roofs of the buildings, and firefighters had been up to check that all the fires were extinguished.

      He said he was unable to confirm any information about passengers due to the amount of wreckage, but that will become apparent throughout the day. He said they were not looking for any further casualties.

      Regarding the risk from widespread aviation fuel, he said: “We don’t know how much was on board, that’s why we’ve got lots of hoses and a large quantity of foam, but we were able to put the fire out very quickly and make it safe. All the surrounding fires are out.”

       

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21040313