Posts Tagged ‘Civil liberties-international’
Are You the Property of Your Government?
As a former U.S. citizen who has given up U.S. citizenship, I’ve visited dozens of countries using my Commonwealth of Dominica passport. One of the most interesting destinations has been the Republic of Cuba. Not being a U.S. citizen makes the process of visiting Cuba much easier. Due to a longstanding U.S. embargo against Cuba, [...]
Cuba: Economic Reforms Bring Opportunities—but NOT for U.S. Citizens
I just returned home from a visit to the Republic of Cuba and I couldn’t help but to notice that change was in the air. The government is serious about liberalization, and is gradually changing numerous laws, rules, and regulations to help spur economic growth. I welcome these changes, as they bode well for business [...]
Mexico Reforms Its Immigration Laws
Perhaps attempting to persuade its powerful neighbor to the North to do the same, last month, major revisions to Mexico’s immigration laws came into effect. The law has now become more “humane” and immigrant friendly. Among the changes announced are: 1) Illegal entry into Mexican territory is de-criminalized. This means that it is no longer [...]
You Can’t be Extradited for a Political Crime
No country officially admits that it holds political prisoners. For instance, Cuba, Myanmar, Iran, and North Korea all deny imprisoning anyone for political crimes. The reality, of course, is much different. For instance, Cuba acknowledges sentencing “counter-revolutionaries” for offenses such as “disseminating enemy propaganda” to long prison terms. The Cuban government may not want to [...]
OECD: Too Much Competition is “Harmful Competition”
Leave it to bureaucrats to decide that while some competition is good, too much is bad. In a nutshell, that’s what the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) crackdown against low-tax jurisdictions is all about. The OCED’s twisted logic is bad enough. But what’s even more galling is the fact that the OECD’s employees [...]
Congress Inveighs Against Surveillance Abuses—in China
It’s great to know that our elected representatives are vigilantly guarding civil liberties. Only, they’re much more concerned about surveillance in other countries, not here in the USA. Case in point: China. Over the last few weeks, congressional civil libertarians have revived legislation that, if enacted, would forbid U.S. companies from selling electronic surveillance equipment [...]
Russia, Romania Begin Using Passports as a Weapon
No, these countries haven’t developed new passports containing a hidden death ray. But changes in Russia’s citizenship laws—and amendments that Romania is now considering—are every bit as potent. Even gentle Canada is getting in on the act, although in its case, there’s no evidence of hostile intent. Starting in 2000, Russia has granted citizenship to [...]
Get Ready for Exchange Controls! [Part III]
In Part I and Part II of this post, I described what exchange controls are, how they operate, and why they may be coming to your country. Unfortunately for the governments that impose them, exchange controls simply don’t work. The longer they’re in place, the more ways clever people find to get around them. To [...]
Get Ready for Exchange Controls! [Part II]
In my most recent blog entry, I described how exchange controls—laws restricting private ownership of, or transactions in, foreign currencies and gold—are spreading from third world countries to the industrialized world. Since exchange controls proliferate in economic crises, they may be coming to your country. How do governments impose foreign exchange controls? In most cases, [...]
Get Ready for Exchange Controls! [Part I]
Exchange controls—laws restricting private ownership of, or transactions in, foreign currencies and gold—are blossoming throughout the world. Residents of Cuba, Malaysia, Myanmar, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe have long dealt with these restrictions. So have residents of India and China, although the restrictions there aren’t as severe. But as the global financial crisis has deepened, in recent [...]