Friday, March 21, 2014

The City of London and the Empire

Sanctions against Russia are bound to have little impact because the City of London has too much at stake with Russian financial interests, licit and illicit.  This article by Nicholas Shaxson explains the real power of the City of London as ground zero of offshore money and "secrecy jurisdictions."    Much of this piece was taken from his worthwhile book "Treasure Islands,"  a key source for understanding how globalization really works.   It also gives some insight into how hamstrung states are in bringing dictators and criminals to account.  The laissez-faire ideology, which works against state sovereignty and national economic planning, is sustained by the City and other offshore interests.  (One of Shaxson's more important points is that seedy offshore locales like the Cayman Islands really distract us from the real tax havens, which are the legitimate financial institutions of the U.S. and the UK.)

http://www.the-american-interest.com/articles/2014/03/19/the-much-too-special-relationship/

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