“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
Pablo Picasso

Using money to modify behavior is a common theme of modern society. Parents and guardians use an allowance teach responsibility to children to reinforce positive behavior or withholding when necessary as punishment for unacceptable behavior. It doesn't always stop in childhood, it becomes more complicated when used by governments towards their citizens and other nations. 2022 is starting off brisk with new levels of financial punishments.

Canada going after GoFundMe, GiveSendGo and Bitcoin fundraising campaigns this week.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the never-before-used “Emergencies Act” on Monday, announcing among other things that financial institutions will be allowed to regulate and prohibit the use of the property to fund or support illegal blockades.

Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland said the government would be broadening their “terrorist financing” rules to cover crowdfunding platforms raising money for the Freedom Convoy.

“We are broadening the scope of Canada’s anti-money laundering and terrorist financing rules so that they cover crowd funding platforms and the payment servers providers they use,” Freeland said. “These changes cover all forms of transactions … the illegal blockades have highlighted the fact that crowdfunding platforms and some of the payment service providers they use are not fully captured under the Proceeds of Crime and Terrorist Financial Act.”

European Union this week granted more financial authority over member states.

In a ruling hailed as a boost to democratic values, the European Union’s highest court said Wednesday that the 27-nation bloc can suspend support payments to member states if they breach rule of law principles.

The right-wing governments of Hungary and Poland, which had challenged the EU’s right to take such action, responded by arguing that the rule lacked a proper legal basis and would fundamentally interfere with their running of national business.

London this month.

Of all the countries threatening economic retaliation, the UK has an outsized ability to inflict damage. There is thought to be more Russian gold in London than in any other city in the world. Not only in the Chelsea mansions that house the families of oligarchs, but on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
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A statutory instrument laid before parliament last week has given the UK government the power to impose sanctions on those “carrying on business of economic significance to the government of Russia” as well as companies supportive of the Russian government, and sectors of strategic significance, including energy, mining and financial services.

While not every Russian-linked company will be a target for sanctions, the reality is most of the London-listed companies potentially fall within the definition of having economic or strategic significance to the Russian government.

A draft US sanctions bill that is thought to have the backing of the White House explicitly names 12 Russian banks as potential targets for sanctions and would also give powers to hit companies in the oil and gas and mining sectors.
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No companies or individuals have yet been designated, but the new legislation now allows for the speedy designation of a very broad range of individuals and entities.

Under the most extreme scenario, companies operating in the UK, US or EU – including most of the world’s major financial institutions – could be forbidden from any transactions with sanctioned entities. That could mean the indefinite suspension of their shares, and an inability to issue new debt or shares in London.

United States has a long history of freezing funds other governments. Now publicly stealing from public funds of Afghanistan.

Last week, the White House issued an executive order announcing the theft of some $7bn. Shocking, to be sure. But more shocking still was when that same executive order also identified the thief: the White House.

n a move that can only be described as brazenly immoral and utterly unconscionable, the Biden administration has begun a process to seize the more than $7bn of assets that the Central Bank of Afghanistan has on deposit at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Since the Taliban gained control of the war-ravaged country last year, that money has been frozen in place. Now, the administration has concocted its own mega-grift, planning to spend half of the money – not their money, lest we forget – for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan, while reserving the other half of the funds – not their money – for the relatives of the September 11 victims who have brought claims against the Taliban for the 2001 terrorist attacks.

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