former Acting Under Secretary at the US Treasury; and Eswar Prasad Tolani Senior Professor of Trade Policy at Cornell University A handpicked article read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist Also on the daily podcast: how to plan a prisoner release and apologising at work Our weekly podcast on democracy in America. This week, we look at the history and application of birthright citizenship. The Supreme Court will later this month hear oral arguments over President Trump’s executive order rescinding the right for certain groups of people.  Also on the daily podcast: India’s revolutionary roads and athletes seek money, not medals Get quality reporting directly into your inbox Only days after the release of the Litvinenko Inquiry report concluding Putin ‘probably’ ordered the poisoning of former Russian Federal Security Service officer Alexander Litvinenko, BBC Panorama released a new documentary on Putin’s secret wealth They interviewed Szubin as part of their investigation The US government has never directly accused Putin of corruption and Szubin did not supply evidence of Putin’s corruption "We've seen him enriching his friends his close allies and marginalizing those who he doesn't view as friends using state assets,” Szubin told BBC Panorama “He directs [public wealth] to those to whom he believes will serve him and excludes those who don't Szubin declined to comment on a 2007 Central Intelligence Agency report estimating Putin's wealth at US$ 40 billion but he said Putin’s publicly stated wealth is an underestimation Szubin said that Putin “draws a state salary of something like US$ 110,000 a year," but that is was not “an accurate statement of the man's wealth.” He further alleged Putin “has longtime training and practices in terms of how to mask his actual wealth." Putin declared his 2014 annual income as 7.65 million roubles (US$ 119,000) and claimed ownership of two apartments and a share in a parking garage He has repeatedly denied allegations of having more wealth than his publicly disclosed income who used to run Russian state shipping company Sovcomflot Skarga claimed he oversaw the transfer of a US$ 35 million yacht to Putin through an offshore company The 57 meter-long Olympia was allegedly a gift from Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich BBC Panorama asked Abramovich about the yacht His lawyers denied the transfer and called the allegations about him speculation and rumour Putin declined to be interviewed by Panorama Support from readers like you helps OCCRP expose organized crime and corruption around the world you’ll be directly supporting investigative journalism as a public good You’ll also gain access to exclusive insights and benefits Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich has been a member of President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle since the late 1990s... France confiscated on Thursday the superyacht of former Russian politician and current CEO of Russia’s state-owned oil.. Friends and family of President Ilham Aliyev make free use of two luxury yachts worth US$ 59 million that are owned by the.. The White House’s nominee to run the Treasury Department’s anti-terrorism efforts oversaw a workplace culture that employees said tolerated favoritism and poor leadership according to an internal staff survey obtained by the Washington Free Beacon who has headed Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control since 2006 is awaiting Senate confirmation to become undersecretary of terrorism and financial crimes Szubin has also been serving as acting undersecretary since January particularly his work on Iran sanctions relief has been a sticking point with some senators as they consider his nomination However, personnel issues under Szubin’s leadership at OFAC have received less notice. The relatively small office has shed dozens of employees over the past four years, according to reports The Treasury’s inspector general is currently conducting an examination into personnel procedures at OFAC the office confirmed to the Free Beacon on Monday An official said he was not aware of whether the audit was prompted by any employee complaints "The audit covers personnel actions that occurred between March 2013 and March 2015," said Richard Delmar The examination began last March and a report is expected to be released next February OFAC was consistently rated negatively compared to other Treasury offices when it came to issues such as merit-based promotions, an atmosphere of favoritism, and senior leadership practices, according to a 2014 survey conducted by the Office of Personnel Management Nearly half of the employees surveyed said promotions within OFAC were not based on merit and 57 percent said pay raises were not related to work performance A plurality—42 percent—disagreed with the statement that "arbitrary action and coercion for partisan political purposes" were not tolerated at the office Just 21 percent of employees at the Treasury Department at large said the same about their offices While 41 percent of OFAC staffers said they had a high level of respect for senior leadership just 24 said they were satisfied "with the policies and practices of your senior leaders." Forty-eight percent said they were not satisfied Fifty-one percent disagreed with the statement "senior leaders generate high levels of motivation and commitment in the workforce," compared to 36 percent of Treasury employees at large The Senate Banking Committee was expected to vote on Szubin’s appointment Tuesday afternoon A spokesperson for the committee cited scheduling conflicts and said the vote has not yet been rescheduled During Szubin’s last hearing, Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) pressed him on the legal basis for using the Iranian nuclear deal to allow foreign subsidiaries to do business with the regime. President Barack Obama nominated Szubin to the undersecretary role in April, to lead the department’s efforts to combat terror financing. Prior to joining OFAC, he was senior adviser to the undersecretary for terrorism and financial crimes and a counsel at the Department of Justice. A Treasury Department spokesperson did not provide a comment as of press time. This article will be updated if a statement is made available. The spokesperson added that "OFAC continues to attract and retain the best and brightest professionals who are committed to public service and the national and foreign policy goals that OFAC’s work advances." 2015 11:57 AM ESTA high-ranking official of the U.S Treasury says the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has bought “millions and millions of dollars” in oil from the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria though he concedes that some of the stolen oil is also finding its way to America’s NATO ally Turkey “ISIS has made more than $500 million from black market oil sales,” Adam Szubin, an acting undersecretary of the Treasury, said Thursday in prepared remarks at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London “It has looted between $500 million and $1 billion from bank vaults captured in Iraq and Syria And it has extorted many millions more from the populations under its control.” Szubin gave a detailed account of how ISIS – also known as IS ISIL and Daesh – profits from the oil it steals in areas it controls in various parts of the Middle East He said an examination of the oil’s money trail shows that ISIS has been selling up to $40 million in oil a month at the oil wells it loots “ISIS is selling a great deal of oil to the Assad regime,” Szubin said then expressed bewilderment at such transactions “The two are trying to slaughter each other and they are still engaged in millions and millions of dollars of trade.” Szubin said that while Assad’s government gets the “far greater amount” of the stolen oil some of it also is used by residents in areas controlled by ISIS He added that “Some is coming across the border into Turkey.” Turkey says the Russian jet had violated Turkish air space and ignored repeated warnings to leave claim its jet never left Syrian air space during a mission against ISIS targets in the province of Latakia and therefore posed no threat to Turkey “This incident stands out against the usual fight against terrorism,” Putin said at the time “[T]he loss we suffered today came from a stab in the back delivered by accomplices of the terrorists.” He has since accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and members of his family of personally profiting from the oil trade with ISIS However the stolen ISIS oil makes its way to Turkey the countries actively fighting the group – Britain Russia and the United States – can’t take conventional approaches to interfering with how it finances its operations “ISIS presents a challenging financial target,” Szubin said ISIS derives a relatively small share of its funding from donors abroad ISIS generates wealth from economic activity within the territory it controls This makes it difficult to constrain its funding.” the best way to starve ISIS is to cripple the group’s efforts to raise money by striking the oil wells that it plunders “Our sense is that ISIS is taking its profits basically at the wellhead,” Szubin said “And so while you do have ISIS oil ending up in a variety of different places that’s not really the pressure we want when it comes to stemming the flow of funding It really comes down to taking down their infrastructure.” This article originally appeared on Oilprice.com Contact us at letters@time.com The Polish-American Foundation for the Commemoration of POW Camps in Szubin will illuminate the experiences of the thousands of Allied prisoners-of-war who the Germans incarcerated in this small town in northwest Poland as well as those of the brave Polish citizens who risked their lives to assist the POWs The future museum will be built on the site of the last remaining brick POW barracks in Szubin and will elaborate on the details of prison camp life amidst the war that surrounded these men and their captors was created through a years-long collaboration between descendants of the American POWs held in Szubin and local Polish experts This partnership is built upon the more than seventy years of individual friendships between the POWs themselves and the people of Szubin and he observes: “Much suffering occurred but we persevered as best we were able The experience left a mark in our hearts and minds and strengthened our character and resolve as we continued our lives after the war Many Polish citizens risked their lives to assist us We are eternally grateful for their acts of courage.” the Germans imprisoned in Szubin the POWs of many Allied nations the Germans changed the camp name according to the camp’s function: Stalag XXI-B The history of these camps includes near-starvation The POWs fought from behind the barbed wire and communication with the Polish underground and Allied military intelligence they kept themselves busy and as fit as possible Many POWs said that they owed their mental and physical survival to these activities and the supplies and food sent by the YMCA and the International Red Cross The Foundation’s American members include descendants of ex-POWs of Oflag 64: Foundation Council Chairman Pat Waters (Mt George Cobb; Susanna Bolten Connaughton (Palo Alto Seymour Bolten; and Marlene Thompson McAllister (Tulsa To learn more and to support the Foundation, please visit http://www.szubinpowcamps.org/en/ The Polish members include Foundation Board President Mariusz Winiecki of Szubin local expert on the POW camps of Szubin; and Jan Daniluk historian and scholar on WWII and the POW camps of occupied Poland War History Online welcomes many guest authors who share their knowledge of the history on our pages. We work with various museums, historical societies and media outlets around the world. If you are interested in working with us or have a great story, please get in touch This purchase is available as a free download with your MyC-SPAN account C-SPAN.org offers links to books featured on the C-SPAN networks to make it simpler for viewers to purchase them C-SPAN has agreements with retailers that share a small percentage of your purchase price with our network C-SPAN earns money from your qualifying purchases C-SPAN only receives this revenue if your book purchase is made using the links on this page Any revenue realized from this program goes into a general account to help fund C-SPAN operations Please note that questions regarding fulfillment or issues relating to your book orders should be directed to the Webmaster or administrator of the specific bookseller's site and are their sole responsibility MyC-SPAN users can download four Congressional hearings and proceedings under four hours for free each month There are three ways to set in and out points for a clip: Check your selection with the "Preview Clip" option If you are editing the times of an existing clip you may only set a start and end time within the original clip boundaries Treasury official is calling Putin corrupt he directs those to whom he believes will serve him and excludes those who don't that is a picture of corruption." Putin "supposedly draws a state salary of something like $110,000 a year," Szubin added "That is not an accurate statement of the man's wealth and he has long time training and practices in terms of how to mask his actual wealth." So just how wealthy is Putin? That's one of the closest guarded secrets in Russia. Szubin declined to comment on an apparently secret 2007 CIA report that estimated Putin's worth at $40 billion Russian journalist Stanislav Belkovsky gave Panorama that same number a number he says he drew from his "confidential sources." "I'm still sure Putin is the richest man in Europe one of the richest men in the world," Belkovsky said From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox In 2008, Putin colorfully dismissed the claim that he was Europe's wealthiest man They just picked all of it out of someone's nose and smeared it across their little papers." Regarding the new allegations Putin's spokesman told the BBC that "none of these questions or issues needs to be answered as they are pure fiction." The BBC also noted that "President Putin declined to be interviewed for Panorama." A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine Historical events depicting the daily life as well as escape attempts of former WWII American POWs held in Oflag 64 a POW camp for American ground force officers The Living History re-enactments will be held on the site of the former camp located on the current premises of the MOAS (Młodzieżowy Ośrodek Adaptacji Społecznej) Home and School for At-Risk Youth in Szubin This unique event was organized by the Mayor of Szubin Artur Michalak the Regional Museum of Szubin and the Historical Re-enactment Group “Green Light” in conjunction with the MOAS Reform School in Szubin the local historical researcher of the Szubin WWII POW camp for allied forces and author of “The Oflag 64 Record” blog Besides the Historical Re-enactment Group “Green Light” members approximately 70 re-enactors from many other Poland-based re-enactment groups are expected The gate of the former POW camp will open at 10:00 a.m with three main historical re-enactment shows scheduled for 1:30 The first historical show entitled “Arrival of American POWs” will present the arrival of US Army officers to Oflag 64 in June 1943 new American officers continued to arrive at the camp after being captured at various WWII battlefields the camp population rapidly increased by over one thousand additional American officers eventually reaching a maximum population of approximately 1550 POWs in January 1945 The second historical show entitled “The Fake Drunk Party” will present the clever escape plan masterminded and carried out by 5 officers held in Oflag 64 Secor convincingly feigned an alcoholic drinking event The officers brewed wine from fermented raisins and after the afternoon Roll Call they poured the stinking liquid on their faces and uniforms and rinsed their mouths with it took a cart filled with metal trash into the cobbled camp courtyard and began to make loud unbearable noises The provocation proved to be effective and they were immediately arrested They were quickly sentenced: “10 days in solitary on bread and water for drinking and rowdiness” as they cunningly anticipated As soon as they reached the confinement cells located across Adolf Hitler Street outside of the barbwire fence they immediately began sawing the bars on the cell windows with the saw blade smuggled in by Secor all the bars were cut enough to break them easily The third historical show “The Escape of a British Aviator” dates back to the time when the site was called Oflag XXI-B and held the POW officers of the Commonwealth Air Forces who were later moved to Stalag Luft 3 in Sagan in April 1943 Robert Howard Edwards announced that he was fed up with being held walked to the barbwire fence and started to climb over it He was shot to death at point blank range after refusing a challenge from a German guard It is probable that one of the scenes in the Hollywood motion picture “The Great Escape” could have been directly inspired by this event his body was disinterred and moved to the Poznan Old Garrison Cemetery the re-enactors will recreate the Kriegy’s daily life with scenes depicting his normal work and recreational activities Period musical selections will further establish the atmosphere that existed 70 years ago in the former POW camp Excerpts of recordings of the camp Swing Orchestra POWs talking about their cultural and educational activities in the camp and a portion of a chapel service recorded by the Swedish YMCA delegate Henry Söderberg in June 1944 will be aired as well A mock-up of the POW camp built by MOAS students supervised by MOAS teachers Tomasz Kmieć and Mieczysław Luchowski will be displayed in the main hall of the MOAS Correction and Juvenile Detention Center The 1:125 scale model was built during the 2012 “Oflag 64 – Save From Oblivion” educational project created by the Principal of the Reform School The Szubin Regional Museum has organized two premiere open-air exhibitions which will be shown at the site during the event: The first exhibition entitled “Scenes from POW Camp Life” presents the watercolors painted in captivity by Yves-Marie le Bot a French POW of Oflag XXI-B Szubin in years 1940-41 The watercolor paintings were found in 2016 at the estate of his grandson and donated to the Szubin Museum The second exhibition entitled “Stalag XXI-B Oflag XXI-B and Oflag 64 as seen by the ICRC Visitors” presents the photographs taken during the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) delegates visits in Szubin POW camps The photos from the archives of the ICRC Photo Library in Geneva depict interviews with Oflag 64 POWs and their daily lives Szubin school complex students will perform excerpts from the Leo Brady “Brother Orchid” play staged during Thanksgiving in 1943 by “The Little Theater” POW actors The students will also recreate how the handwritten news announcements were prepared for the “Daily Bulletin” The photography club “Flesz” will photograph the reenactment sessions Flesz plans to create a photo essay scheduled to be presented at the Szubin Public Library exhibition this fall The historical shows will conclude at 5:00 p.m and members of the Oflag 64 Hall of Remembrance US Advisory Council Cindy Sharpe Burgess and Glenn Burgess accompanied by Lauren Burgess (Oak Hill VA) son-in-law and granddaughter of 2nd Lt.Wilbur B Municipal Office of Szubin, Website “Green Light”, historical reenactment group, operating out of Poznan, Poland. Link Regional Museum of Szubin, Website MOAS Reform School, Szubin, Website The Szubin Culture Hall, Website Schools Complex in Szubin, Website Flesz, Club of Photography Lovers, Website Mariusz Winiecki, the local historical expert for the WWII POW camps for Allied Forces in Szubin, and author of “The Oflag 64 Record Blog”. Website In Poland, mariusz.winiecki@interia.pl or The Oflag 64 Record blog. In the US, marlene-mcallister@att.net or Website. War history related press releases can always find their place on our pages. If your company wants to submit one, feel free to contact us at contactus@warhistoryonline.com government froze the assets Wednesday of 18 people and 15 businesses linked to a Mexican drug trafficker who has operated a drug cartel in Guadalajara since the 1970s The people and businesses are tied to Rafael Caro Quintero who was convicted in 1985 of the kidnapping and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Enrique Camarena and is serving a 40 year prison sentence in Mexico director of the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control The federal government designated Caro Quintero a drug "kingpin" in 2000 The Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act prohibits U.S citizens and legal residents from engaging in business with anyone designated a kingpin under the act and freezes the kingpin's assets Szubin called Caro Quintero "one of the godfathers" of Mexican drug trafficking Quintero "used a network of family members and front persons to invest his fortune into ostensibly legitimate companies and real estate projects in the city of Guadalajara," Szubin said "What they are using these companies to do is anything but innocent." The actions Wednesday target Caro Quintero's wife a shoe company and a resort spa called Hacienda Las Limas Treasury also froze the assets of members of the Guadalajara-based Sanchez Garza family which it says launders money for the Carol Quintero trafficking operation and Juan Jose Esparragoza Moreno Szubin says the family launders money through real estate development construction and pool companies and a restaurant called Los Andariegos "There are many people out there in the narcotics trade who think just because they don't touch the drugs they are immune," DEA Special Agent Carl Pike assistant special agent in charge of DEA's special operations division identify what you're doing and disrupt the lifestyle you have gained from drug trafficking." 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