British bank rejects customers to comply with US terror law

[Auxin]

I had to read parts twice to believe whats going on. A bank in britain has just froze the accounts of british citizens who have legal business dealings with iran, a country that britain has no sanctions against. They reportedly did this to comply with US law under the threat of the US imposing economic sanctions against british banks in violation of US sanctions against iran.

Barclays bank rejects customers to comply with US terror law

Sean O'Neill, Crime and Security Editor

Barclays is using controversial American anti-terrorism laws to shut down the personal bank accounts of British citizens who are working for Iranian-owned businesses, The Times has learnt.

The bank has unilaterally enforced anti-Iran sanctions drawn up by the Bush Administration under the US Patriot Act against companies that operate completely legally in Britain. Those affected by the account closures are not directors of the companies but ordinary staff members, including clerical officers, computer engineers and bank tellers.

Barclays refuses to discuss the decision or to say how many people have been affected by its action. But The Times has obtained a letter written by Deborah Cooper, a senior Barclays lawyer, which states that the bank must consider “the global regulatory environment” and regards “full compliance with sanctions regimes to be of extreme importance”.

Ms Cooper’s letter was addressed to lawyers representing employees of the Iranian-owned banks Saderat and Melli whose accounts have been closed and funds returned to the account holder.

Both banks are based in the City, fully licensed to operate in Britain and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Neither is subject to the extensive Iranian sanctions regimes that are operated by the Treasury or the European Union.

However, the US Government’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has placed both on its list of specially designated nationals (SDNs).

Ms Cooper’s letter said: “Barclays has . . . a policy of not conducting business with people or entities which are publicly designated SDNs and in line with that Barclays is unable to receive payments from or undertake other business which involves Melli or Saderat.”

Barclays began the account closures in February, shortly after reports from industry sources that US Treasury agents had been touring the City of London putting pressure on financial institutions to withdraw from any form of business that might have Iranian links.

One source told The Times that City banks had been warned that they would lose access to the US market if they continued to deal with Iranian businesses. Barclays has extensive business interests in the United States.

The US Government has accused Melli Bank of alleged links to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and described Bank Saderat as a terrorist financier that has channelled money to Hezbollah and other groups. Both banks deny the allegations strongly.

Case study: Cast out in the supermarket

Chris was doing the shopping in Tesco when Barclays rang to tell him that his bank account was being closed. Later that evening his wife was told that her Barclays account, which she had held for 25 years, was also being closed.

Chris, 46, works in IT for Bank Saderat, and his wife is in the accounts department of Melli Bank. Both institutions are Iranian-owned. “They said it was because of sanctions but I knew there were no British sanctions on the banks. I asked them if they were responding to US laws and they said they didn’t have to give me a reason,” he said.

The couple opened new accounts with one of Barclays’ rivals but they had difficulty transferring standing orders, especially Chris’s child-support payments. He said: “I know that UK banks are being pressured by America to stop all dealings with Iran but what impact will it have to shut an English bloke’s account with an English bank? The Iranians won’t give a monkey’s. What upsets me is the lack of respect Barclays have for their customers.”

[1]

Is england fucking owned or what!?! The wheel of time has made full circle, the british people now must work toward declaring their independence from a tyrannical foreign government imposing unjust economic rules on them.

[MindExpansion]

Fucking hell, this is disgusting ey, why doesn't the Bush government take their THOUSANDS of nulcear weapons (A.k.a weapons of mass destruction? Which leads me to ask what fucking right they have to stop other countries gather their arsenals, oh thats right, the US only has theirs to defend their citizens, so what, China, Korea, Russia, Iran etc etc are all only building their arsenal to attack? it couldn't be that they want to defend themselves from the US and it's enormous military including its nuclear weapons, but hey the US has decided that it is the only country allowed to own nuclear weapons, all the other countries have to stop and destroy theirs...just...because. I'm not saying nuclear weapons are right, but the hypocracy here is just too blatent to ignore.) All those poor people, this is a threat on their jobs, what happens when other banks feel the pressure and they can't open an account? Keep all their cash under the bed? An absolute joke, Sudam may have been a dictator, Castro may have been a dictator, but fuck at least they dictated their own country (again not supporting them, just pointing out that the American government acts like a world dictator, probably the greatest abuse of power ever seen). No doubt the bank was at risk of losing lots of money, but to ditch customers like that, well I think it makes them look like a bunch of money hungry jerks, don't think I'd become a customer just on principle after that.

Peace, and jesus how infuriating is this?!

Mind

[baphomet]

What about the 150+ nukes that israel has? No one seems to care about that.. I wonder why? Why is America being hostile towards iran? Why did barack obama wait till he knew he had won the presidency to admit that he would "do anything in his power to protect israel!" and pretty much admit to planing an invasion of iran in the same sentence?

Shhh.. Don't blame the (edited for the sake of political correctness)... Its not politically correct!... the poor guys.. they have been through soooo much, they are the innocent victims here and always have been!!

Edited June 8, 2008 by baphomet

[Jesus On Peyote]

Your right, you shouldent blame a religion or nation and all its people for the action of its leaders.

[baphomet]

No you mustn't do that! Even when it is a religious/political movement and the people who follow it who are to blame, that would be politically incorrect and the thought police would come down on you hard!! Besides.. people have put lots of time and effort into brain washing you into a false sense of guilt so that you don't have to think for yourself!

[MindExpansion]

Not really sure what you two are getting at.

Might I add that it is often the religious beliefs of those leaders that leads them to take a particular action/make a certain policy etc. The same is true of all governments (Much to my annoyance as I hold the firm belief that politics should be secular, completely seperate from religion.)

Peace,

Mind

[baphomet]

Sorry thats my fault, jesus on peyote will be upset with me again and rightfully so because I have edited my post again.

I mustn't repeat that word but I'll give you a hint as to what it was... it describes a religious group but unlike other religious groups like hindus or budhists, its not ok for us inferior "goyim" to say this word, in fact if you do you are automatically labeled an anti ...... and a neo nazi, (even if as in my case, your father fought against the nazis).

This group is beyond criticism because they have the world so scared shitless to even use correct terminology to describe them and you must always remember that THEY are the victims! No matter how many innocent people they kill or wars they cause or profit from or whatever!

[MindExpansion]

Alrighty man I know who your talking about but may I also add that christians have a whole lot of shit to answer for too. Sure some religious groups, well lets not be that broad because its incorrect, some people in some religious groups have very strong and sometimes violent views, but the same goes with people of the christian faith, and not doubt every faith in the world...bar maybe the buddhists lol but would you call that a religion or a philosophy?

Either way I don't think its fair to label the muslims like that. It is NOT all muslims, it is some with very radical views. The teachings of that religion may be a bit more violent in some ways than those of other religions, but there are sections of the bible that couldn't be shown on tv, keep that in mind. There is a fine line, in this matter, between truth and racism, when you start labelling all muslims as dangerous, you are being racist, if you say that there may be a higher proportion of muslim extremists than you will find in other religions, I don't think that is racist (providing it is true, and i suppose that depends on what you'd call an extremist), but it certainly in no way determines the beliefs of ALL those who follow that set of beliefs.

Sorry if I offended anyone, I had no intention of doing so, also if this is inappropriate (which I dont think it is but I certainly dont want to offend anyone) then just put up a post and I'll edit the post. I blieve that most religions have trouble to answer for in the world but that is a debate that I could not be bothered to have, particularly not this late.

Peace,

Mind

[baphomet]

You didn't really think I was talking about muslims did you? Sorry about the game of charades but just gimme one more chance. I promised myself that I wouldn't get involved in any political threads but I let myself slip again, I just like to fly in the face of censorship sometimes and tell it like it is so please forgive my random factual outbursts.

Anyway, the issue seemed to be why the sanctions on iran are in place and why the looming conflict so why should the truth not be told? If anyone disputes what I am (indirectly) saying here then by all means prove me wrong, I dare ya!

Oh and for the record.. "when you start labelling all muslims as dangerous, you are being racist"

No your not! Muslims are of many different races!!

So... I'll give you another clue, the political/religious movement of which I speak starts with Z and is common to two major religions (although usually only associated with one to which I was referring earlier), most of its supporters are in the US and Israel.

Edited June 8, 2008 by baphomet

[apothecary]

It'd be nice if you guys could stick to something near the topic instead of descending into the same-old-same-old armchair political rant. Or at least raise an original point or something.

Auxin, you had to read it twice due to incredulity? Did you forget this one

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/23/washington/23intel.html

Major international money moguls in cahoots with the US government. Surprise!

[baphomet]

My rant was directed at ME's Post but is equally valid when you look at it in relation to the initial article posted by auxin and his question: "Is england fucking owned or what!?!"

Well.. who owns the bank in question (Barclays Bank)? And who owns the bank of England and therefore England itself? And who owns the "Federal" Reserve Bank Of America? What are their religious/political persuasions?

"Mr Agius is a veteran dealmaker in British banking, having joined Barclays around a year ago after a 34-years as chairman of investment banking house Lazard in London. The banker, who studied at Cambridge University and Harvard Business School, is married to Katherine de Rothschild, the daughter of former NM Rothschild & Sons chairman Edmund de Rothschild."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtm...cnbarclays1.xml

Ok, I've said enough, cyas

Edited June 8, 2008 by baphomet

[Auxin]

Yeah, there is the bank snooping issue too, not to mention illegal wiretapping, kidnappings, and 'disappearings'

I saw bank snooping comming a mile away (I mean after all I could buy a unusual brand of cardamom chewing gum that would expose me as a moroccan radical ) so when I found out they were also snooping transactions not involving the US it wasnt surprising. But this is so bold faced, to openly screw with peoples money to satisfy the foreign overlords. Its one thing to sneak in their house when they're gone and play in their underware drawer, its quite another to jerk peoples pants down.

And all to start another illegal war, totally unjustified on every front.

...And baph, if 'Zionist' was the word you edited out you edited the wrong one. Its the zionists, not the jews, that created and are maintaining isreal as a racist ethnocracy. The reason the US backs isreal so much has nothing to do with jews vs. muslims. As with virtually every issue connected to US politics it comes down to money. We exploit them as ready consumers of illegal ADAM's (aerialy dispersed anti-personnel mines, aka. "cluster bombs"), as major buyers of all other weapons and military systems not to mention supplying their pharmaceutical needs, etc. while at the same time they act as a destabalizing force in one of the worlds biggest oil regions to help prevent countries from nationalizing and getting a fair price for their oil that they can use to improve the quality of life for their citizenry. So this is relevant to the bank issue because the bank issue is a small part of the larger coordinated effort to weaken and eventually destabalize an oasis of civilization in the oil sands and open the region up to foreign drilling, same as iraq, same as afghanistan. Kuwait too, tho we did that different. In kuwait the US was actually involved in saddam hussein planning the invasion, that is now a matter of public record, and when the US charged to kuwaits rescue we got better oil deals from the kuwaitis in gratitude and we started a continual 9 year war against iraq to destabalize it enough for invasion (iraq was being bombed throughout the clinton administration, just no one cared any more).

bar maybe the buddhists lol but would you call that a religion or a philosophy?

Its funny, the only time people question if buddhism is a religion or philosophy is when they say it either isnt irrational or isnt confrontational. It seems the common street definition of religion is a tribe of frothing madmen all grunting in the same rhythm

You should gleefully call buddhism a religion, for it leaves open the possibility of peace in the other religions too.

[baphomet]

"As with virtually every issue connected to US politics it comes down to money"

Yes but the fact is that the US has NONE! They have been in debt to zionists bankers for a very long time!

"The reason the US backs isreal so much has nothing to do with jews vs. muslims"

The people who control your country are the same people who established Israel as a nation! They own your "Federal" Reserve Bank! They own and control your politicians, they pay for the campaigns and fund oposing sides of politics before they even get elected!: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/2...uselections2008

Ok so they are greedy and Israel has taken a back seat lately in favour of a world government for these greedy assholes but didn't you know that the Rothschilds were actually directly responsible for the Balfour declaration? Here's proof! It's a letter from arthur balfour to lord rothschild, actually taken from a pro israeli christian zionist website: http://www.bible-history.com/prophecyofisrael/

Edited June 8, 2008 by baphomet

[baphomet]

You do know that your government is largely run by people who are loyal to israel don't you? I think 2% of the population of the US are jewish but over 40% of your government is openly jewish and the rest including the president swear allegiance to israel, that's a pretty big over representation don't you think? Especially seeing your cheif of intelligence is openly allied to israel, I think you should watch this too, you should find it extremely disconcerting, it was banned by fox news and is constantly pulled from youtube.

(edit) Link doesn't work properly, its not the ron paul clip this will take you to its the one listed on the left, if the top one says it is "currently not available" then click the one below it!:

http://video.google.com.au/videosearch?q=b...amp;sitesearch=

"We exploit them"

Lol Good one!

"the bank issue is a small part"

Hey buddy.. Your nation is in a perpetual state of debt! They are slaves to international bankers! This is the big picture not a small part of the issue!

I was waiting for someone to mention oil.. so you think that if your leaders choose to go to war with iran it will be over oil not the security of israel is that correct?

Edited June 8, 2008 by baphomet

[Auxin]

....I was waiting for someone to mention oil.. so you think that if your leaders choose to go to war with iran it will be over oil not the security of israel is that correct?

More accurately, Money. Our wars are never Just about oil or any other single commodity. Examine every offensive (and most supposedly defensive) war the US has ever fought and it will lead to money in a dozen directions. Revolutionary war: essential liberty my lilly white ass, that was about stopping crown taxation so it could be replaced with the american plutocracies taxation of the masses and the opening of industries like iron so they could be made domestically and taxed. Civil war: slavery my ass, that was about the north overcharging the agrarian south for manufactured goods while keeping the southern economy weak and subservient. World war 1: Global peace my ass, we waited it out until most of the hard part was done so we could march in and kick ass comming out relatively unscathed while breaking our isolationism, creating economic ties with the victors, and establishing ourselves as a world force. World war 2: Genoside my ass, we were teaching in our schools the same racial superiority pseudoscience hitler beleived in, again we waited til all sides were weakened then came to the 'rescue' further elevating the status we gained in WW1 from equal to military and economic superiority over europe and asia... I could go on all day (especially over world war 3, ie. korea, vietnam, etc, etc, etc.- russia) but no need. In every instance it was for economic reasons and in the process of these larger economic goals buddies making the armaments, the transportation systems, the communication systems, etc. etc. got bajillion dollar blow jobs from their friends in the white house. Hell, in the vietnam war the president of the united states owned the helicopter company he hired to supply the entire war!

Iran wont be about oil. Iran will be about oil, bullets, cruise missiles, ADAMs, napalm (yes we still use napalm), mercenary companies, uniform manufacturers, telecommunications businesses, drinking water shipping services, vaccine manufacture. It is a coordinated effort by a limited group of individuals to produce a near unlimited demand for supplies with them in charge of deciding who gets the contracts. It costs the US politicians nothing to spend 3 trillion dollars because its money they extort from the american people.

Here in the US we are taught that all of you foreign countries are either hostile or weak and defenseless, or at the very least dangerously nïeve about the 'evil' in the world. Given this indoctrination most americans support any war that comes along believing we are saving your supposedly ignorant and helpless peoples while, as trained, brushing off talk of economic motives as pessimistic 'conspiracy theories'. But dont feel sorry for the indoctrinated sheep over here, while the wool may be pulled over their eyes they always had, and always will have the option of turning off american idol, setting down the beer, having a good long think, and seeing that they have been blatantly fooled.

Ignorance isnt bliss but for most americans willful ignorance seems to be a near enough equivalent.

Edited June 8, 2008 by Auxin

[chilli]

Jew /= Israel

Usually only ignorant people and anti-semites make this conflation.

[Auxin]

Isnt that a bit redundant sublime? In my experience most racists are ignorant fools, and I have ample opportunity for study- my sister is a card carrying xenophobe, she thinks africa is a country and she cant point to russia on a map.

[chilli]

Isnt that a bit redundant sublime? In my experience most racists are ignorant fools, and I have ample opportunity for study- my sister is a card carrying xenophobe, she thinks africa is a country and she cant point to russia on a map.

Hehe, yeah but I put it that way because not all ignorant people are racist. Actually, I kind of think a lot of racist people are not really ignorant at all, they just fail to adjust their racist attitudes in light of new information that contradicts their stereotypical notions, which I suppose is what we would call willful ignorance. For example:

My Dad thinks it's okay to say 'abbo' and when I tell him this is offensive to aboriginal people he defends it by saying "but that's what they call each other!" Not sure where he got that from, but I think he might be getting mixed up with the US :D. Likewise, over here in NZ my Maori friends call aborigines 'abbos' and when I say that is like calling Maoris 'blacks' they defend it by saying "but that's what everyone calls them here!" In both cases they keep on calling them 'abbos' and use the same defense every time I point out that it's a racial slur... maybe racists just have a poor memory?

Sorry for the continuing the hijack, I find the original topic much more interesting actually.

[MindExpansion]

Whoop I'm just going to stay out of this one because as you pointed out my post was mostly off topic.

Also, I'm not sure if anyone can say for sure what the wars we fight are for, except those who start them. It could be money, it could be personal confict of beliefs, it could be that Bush saw the other guy eyeing off his wife at a meeting, who knows, none of us do that is he one thing that can be said for sure. And might I add that if it is for money, the war is allegedly costing the US over a trillion dollars...so unless there is a trillion dollars to gain then that seems quite unlikely to be the sole reason behind it.

Peace,

Mind

[apothecary]

You do know that your government is largely run by people who are loyal to israel don't you?

Wow man, what a huge revelation.

You do realise that you are preaching poorly researched internet "doco" (the makers like to call them docos but the only place this flies is on the internet, as 9/10 times they don't meet even the lowest factual or bias standards) memes like we are ignorant fools, when the reality is the majority of us have done actual research rather than sitting on youtube accepting whatever the video tells us.

[Auxin]

might I add that if it is for money, the war is allegedly costing the US over a trillion dollars...so unless there is a trillion dollars to gain then that seems quite unlikely to be the sole reason behind it.

Some economic analysts currently estimate the cost at nearly tripple that when the long term bases, soldier disability and such are factored in. But even at just one trillion you have to understand something, thats one trillion dollars of someone elses money! The government uses the tax payers money to invest in programs and buy goods from companies that benefit the government fat cats and their friends. Its $1,000,000,000,000 in extortion followed by money laundering!

My country is currently in the process of rebuilding a plutocracy, draining the bank accounts of the working class to further stuff the coffers of the wealthy class- broadening the divide between rich and poor and giving greater assurance to the high positions of government being held by the wealthy.

[MindExpansion]

Sorry auxin, how do tanks, bombs and soldier disability benifit the 'fat cats'? Are you implying that they are in some way stealing money to buy cars and houses etc for themselves? :S

Peace,

Mind

[apothecary]

Sorry auxin, how do tanks, bombs and soldier disability benifit the 'fat cats'? Are you implying that they are in some way stealing money to buy cars and houses etc for themselves? :S

Peace,

Mind

Because most of the fat cats are on the payroll as consultants with inside knowledge for the military industry. When there is a war, they profit directly and in huge amounts.

[chilli]

Sorry auxin, how do tanks, bombs and soldier disability benifit the 'fat cats'? Are you implying that they are in some way stealing money to buy cars and houses etc for themselves? :S

Peace,

Mind

Maybe just replace the word 'steal' with 'finagle.'

See, now it sounds less preposterous.

[MindExpansion]

Hmmm not sure if theyd just be stealing it but who knows, Sina is probably onto something with the politicians being involved with the military contractors such as owning shares in weapons companies but I wonder how many people are involved in something like this, probably a similar situation to what I think is the case with the privatisation of telstra and then all the government contracts going to telstra.

Peace,

Mind

Edited June 10, 2008 by MindExpansion