❖ "UK Chancellor George Osborne and his French and German counterparts are to call for global tax rules to clamp down on corporate tax avoidance." link

At last we know how the grease is funneled to that revolving door between Wall Street and Washington. One only gets a $940,000 bonus from Wall Street's Citigroup if you can land a "full time high level position with the United States Government or a regulatory body." It can't be just a part-time job, mind you; and you can't be rank and file. Citigroup's dangling carrot will only pay $940,000 if the company can add a "high level" government mover and shaker to their gold-plated Rolodex.

This was the bombshell dropped by Senator Orrin Hatch yesterday in Jack Lew's confirmation hearing for one of the highest offices in the land - Secretary of the U.S. Treasury who will also head the body that makes critical decisions impacting Citigroup - the Financial Stability Oversight Council. (Lew held an executive position with Citigroup at the time of its collapse.)

".... Third, your employment agreement included a clause stating that `your guaranteed incentive and retention award' would not be paid upon exit from Citigroup but there was an exception that you would receive that compensation `as a result of your acceptance of a full time high level position with the United States Government or a regulatory body.' Now is this exception consistent with President Obama's efforts to `close the revolving door' that carries special interest influence in and out of the government?" link

And he nominates John Brennan to head the CIA.
Does he think the world community is unaware of Mr. Brennan's history and dark predilections?

Add to that this from the NYTimes;

Mr. Obama has adopted the Bush administration's claim of a right to carry out targeted killings of suspected terrorists, including Americans, off the battlefield without judicial review or meaningful Congressional oversight.

As the NYTimes concludes:

"... pressure for the United States and its partners to acknowledge and make amends for gross violations of international legal and human rights standards is unlikely to subside."