Luxembourg's FM Jean Asselborn going to Iran

My Orchids. Paphiopedilum Jihab. Photo ET

Luxembourg's FM Jean Asselborn going to Iran

Just translated from Farsi for you. The plan is: 

"...to “take new and serious steps” towards strengthening cooperation."

Maine and Luxembourg - the Sequel

My Orchids. Phalaneopsis "Tax Haven". Photo ET

Maine and Luxembourg - the Sequel

Luxembourg officials got some good help from Nancy McLernon to find the right facts and language in order to square off the Maine Legislators' attack on the tax haven.  Here some excerpts from an article in Bangalore Daily News, for you to copy and paste next time if you need to write something to Governor Lepage, if he doesn't turn the page.

‘Tax haven’ legislation is misguided, will make Maine even less competitive

"The bill’s premise is a false assumption that misrepresents the value global companies provide, and it conflicts with the longstanding agreements that America has negotiated with other countries to ensure global companies pay the taxes owed in an equitable manner.

Take Luxembourg as an example: America has had a tax treaty in force with Luxembourg for more than a decade. Even though Maine’s population is 2.5 times larger than this European country, Luxembourg has invested more than $202 billion in the United States. In fact, last year alone, its investment in the United States outpaced those from Germany, France, China, and Mexico, to name a few."

"Nancy McLernon is the president and CEO of the Organization for International Investment, which represents the U.S. operations of many of the world’s leading global companies that insource millions of American jobs."

Soccer World Cup 2022 in Qatar: The first results are in Mail Online

My Orchids. Transparency. Photo ET

Soccer World Cup 2022 in Qatar: The first results are in Mail Online

Mail Online reports:

"Daughter, 10, of Brazilian Fifa chief responsible for choosing host nation for the World Cup had £2million deposited into her bank account

·         Antonia Wigand Teixeira given £2million payment in 2011 - when she was 10

·         Her father, Ricardo Teixeira, was then Brazil's Fifa representative

·         He helped decide that Russia and Qatar should host the World Cup

·         Payment thought to be from Sandro Rosell, former Barcelona FC president

·         Barcelona is sponsored by the state-owned Qatar Airways

·         Lawyers for Qatar's World Cup bid team have denied any wrongdoing"

The State of Luxembourg does not recognize testicles as a smuggling aid

My Orchids. Dendrobium. Photo ET

Elderly man straps $350,000 to his testicles in attempt to smuggle cashover European border: cops

Here is a very useful insider tip from New York Daily News. Don't try this. Even if the French word "Bourse" has multiple meanings.

Luxembourg's Juncker in a New York Times Feature Story

My Orchids. Phalaneopsis "Virtual Candidate". Photo ET Avatars

Luxembourg's Juncker in a New York Times Feature Story

It is story about a Wannabe President of something in Europe, campaigning on a US style campaign bus. As a feature story, of course the author doesn't allow himself to further analyze the political message. This would be more the realm of NYT's investigative journalists, who traditionally vouch for the high editorial reputation of the New York Times. But what is striking, if you dare to go into analyzing, is the conclusion that candidates for political office are the same everywhere, and tactics are basically interchangeable from culture to culture. It doesn't stop at the bus.

Without going into the detail of the many strategic missteps in building an ever closer European Union, let me list some, most of which  carry also Mr. Juncker's finger prints: It has been a long and tentative wandering from the Treaty of Rome, starting in 1958 with a core Union of six countries, to today's 28 nations Union.

The ultimate goal of the Union has never been defined.  Tall and small chiefs around the Union see, and act, and talk of the Union as of a work in progress and mold it into visions of either a Common Market, a United States of Europe, a Confederation, a Pick and Chose Menu Club, a Federal Union, etc. After more than 50 years of erring around, the "European Union" has become an undemocratic bureaucracy, where defeated national political greats and other non-elected officials find (well compensated) refuge, and hold sway over euro-cronyism.

Looking at Mr. Juncker in this particular exercise and indeed the NYT feature story, this is what defines him:

He is candidate for President of the European Commission. He is quoted as saying that either he or Mr Schulz (candidate of the left) has to be "chosen" for President. And talks at the same time about "democratic legitimacy". Fact is, that there seems to be a rule that the elections for the European Parliament in May should produce a winner. Mr. Juncker, as the top contender of the European conservatives (a disparate collection of European conservative parties, as most European parties are), is not even a candidate for his party that however somehow he leads into the elections! So he might win the elections with zero votes, which would allow a couple of hundred elected representatives to speak on behalf of 550 million European citizens, who will probably even not bother to go to vote.

For the rest it is business as usual, as in any election: promises and flip flops. Mr. Juncker is going to be the champion of a more social Europe, after having championed big business, the Euro , saving the Euro, saving Banks by confiscating deposits as in Cyprus, and pushing austerity. He is against a United States of Europe (despite the bus) , but he  wants to preside its government.  He promoted Euro-bonds before being against those. And he supported Turkey's admission into the European Union, before opposing it. And, oh yes, he wants Britain to stay in the Union.

So Mr. Juncker or Mr. Schulz will preside the European Commission. Some say that Mr. Juncker actually, if "chosen" wants to skip that position and in a bait and switch operation really wants to become President of the European Council, another unelected position that can be negotiated. In that case, as he is not a candidate in these Parliamentary elections, but top candidate and campaigning as such, he will not be elected, but therefore "chosen" to be President of the European Commission as the un-elected top candidate of the European Parliamentary elections. Once "chosen" as President of the European Commission, he will probably resign immediately so to be "chosen" as President of the European Council. Get it?

Maybe his designated replacement as President of the European Commission is already Mr. Schulz? A sort of Putin - Medvedev, Medvedev - Putin thing.

Broke France selling $48M Park Ave. apartment

My Orchids. Dendrobium Lys de France. Photo ET

Broke France selling $48M Park Ave. apartment

As reported in the New York Post.

Quelle horreur!

Why is Maine listening to Luxembourg on corporate tax loopholes?

My Orchids. Phalaneopsis Ying and Yang. Republican and Democrat. 
Photo: Independent Photog

Why is Maine listening to Luxembourg on corporate tax loopholes?

If you haven't yet read your Portland Press Herald this morning, may I suggest you read at least my summary here. It is about the interference of Luxembourg, as a foreign Power, into internal matters of the State of Maine. And it is about Luxembourg taking sides against President Obama's Democratic party and in favor of the local Republican Governor Here is the short of it in two quotes:

"Last month, Gov. LePage and leaders of the Maine Legislature received a letter from Jean-Louis Wolzfeld, ambassador of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. What prompted a distinguished individual from the European microstate to reach out to the elected leadership of our state? Simple: He’s insisting on being allowed to continue helping large corporations hide their money from us."

.....

"Rep. Mike Carey, D-Lewiston, did an excellent job of tearing apart Wolzfeld’s claims on the floor of the House this week by simply reading from Luxembourg’s own promotional websites, where they try to entice foreign companies to relocate their profits to the Duchy by touting their “mitigation of taxation on foreign-source income” and the creativity and secrecy of their banks."

......

But please read all of it to discover how complicated political love-affairs can be for Luxembourg.