0.001% TAX A junior auditor at @PwC in Luxembourg is getting ready to leave his job. Before he goes he goes looking for some training documents to take with him. Instead he finds a folder that anyone in the company could open. No password. No warning. Just sitting there. Inside are hundreds of secret deals between the Luxembourg government and some of the biggest companies on the planet. Deals that let them pay next to nothing in tax. His name is Antoine Deltour. He copies 30,000 pages. That is the whole story. He copies a folder. Let me explain what was actually in it, because this is where it gets interesting. Between 2002 and 2010, PwC alone helped broker 548 of these secret tax agreements, known as tax rulings, for over 340 companies. Apple. Ikea. Pepsi. Disney. Deutsche Bank. AIG. Koch Industries. Skype. GlaxoSmithKline. Coach. Abbott Laboratories. Household names, every one of them. The trick was simple. Companies moved profits through Luxembourg shell structures and Luxembourg quietly agreed in writing to look the other way on tax. Some of these companies ended up paying an effective tax rate under 1 percent. In some cases as low as 0.001 percent. On billions of dollars. Who was running Luxembourg for almost 20 years while this machine was built and protected? Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister of Luxembourg until 2013. Deltour did not leak straight to the world. In 2012 he passed the documents to French journalist Edouard Perrin, who used them for a TV documentary. PwC noticed and filed a complaint with the Luxembourg courts. Then in November 2014, ICIJ @ICIJorg pulled together over 80 journalists across more than 30 media outlets in 26 countries and published the full scale of it as LuxLeaks. The timing could not have been worse for Juncker, or depending how you look at it, could not have been better. He had just been elected President of the European Commission days before the story broke. The man who ran the tax haven for two decades was now running Europe. A month later ICIJ dropped LuxLeaks 2, showing the other Big 4 accounting firms Deloitte, EY and KPMG were running the exact same playbook. This was never one bad apple. It was standard practice. Juncker faced a no confidence vote in the European Parliament over it. He survived. Deltour was not so lucky. December 2014, Luxembourg charges him with theft, violation of trade secrecy and fraudulent access to a computer system. He is facing up to 5 years in prison and a fine of 1,250,000 euros. For opening an unlocked folder on his way out the door. April 2016, the criminal trial. Deltour and his colleague Raphael Halet, another former PwC employee who leaked a second batch of documents, are both convicted. Deltour gets 12 months suspended and a 1,500 euro fine. Perrin the journalist is acquitted. Deltour appeals. Loses. Appeals again. Finally in May 2018 the Luxembourg Court of Appeal fully recognises him as a genuine whistleblower under European Court of Human Rights standards and acquits him completely. Halet's fight took even longer. He lost his Luxembourg appeals and only won at the European Court of Human Rights Grand Chamber in 2023, nearly a decade after he first spoke up. The European Commission that Juncker went on to lead never opened a single formal investigation into a single LuxLeaks tax ruling. Not one. It did chase Starbucks, Fiat and Amazon over separate deals, but the mountain of paperwork Deltour handed over sat there untouched. So that is the LuxLeaks story. Build a tax avoidance machine for 20 years and get promoted to run the continent. Copy the evidence of it and spend most of a decade fighting to stay out of prison. @BBCNews · @ICIJorg · @Reuters · @lemondefr and others.

欢迎X 新任产品负责人 Peter Sellis ，目前世界上最顶级的产品操盘手之一！我们所有x自媒体创作者的新老板，e马斯克招人真的是很有眼光，Peter分享过像"恐怖组织"一样设计团队，印象非常深刻，中英双语字幕给大家做好了，一定要看， 访谈里他讲了一句我觉得足以把传统大厂 HR 吓出冷汗的大实话， 他说：我带团队的方式，本质上是在参考恐怖组织的架构设计。 在现代企业管理的语境里，协作几乎成了一个神圣不可侵犯的图腾。 天天拉通、周周对齐、跨部门评审、全员头脑风暴，好像一个团队不开会，业务就没法往前走。 但在 Peter 看来，这种被所有人捧上天的过度协作，恰恰是组织效率走向脑死亡的慢性毒药。 他把一个极速推进的硬核团队，拆成了两根极其反直觉的承重柱： 第一，靠共同信念驱动，而不是靠流程协同。 当所有人的底层信仰和终极目标高度一致时，大家根本不需要每走一步都回头确认眼神。 就像高度分散但行动致命的独立单元一样，每个人在自己的战壕里自发向同一个方向开火，这种自驱力比任何打卡和 OKR 都要凶猛。 第二，架构的本质不是画权力格子，而是定死决策的发射权。 什么样的决定可以彻底放手给哪个人，边界从第一天起就焊得死死的。 只要把楚河汉界划清楚，就再也不需要拉十几个人的大群去反复推诿扯皮。 你负责的领地你说了算，成功了领功，搞砸了担责，开会协调这种事从源头上就被物理切除了。 他还顺带揭穿了大厂技术人员内卷的制度元凶： 绝大多数公司的薪酬体系，逼着最顶尖的工程师为了涨薪不得不转去当平庸的管理者，最后团队多了一个官僚，少了一个王牌黑客。 而在他的架构里，薪酬直接与技术职级死死绑定。 不用为了赚更多的钱去违心搞管理、搞人际关系，技术干得漂亮，收入完全可以超越你的直线主管。 以前大家以为优秀的管理者是搭积木，把所有人严丝合缝地粘在一起。 但顶级的产品操盘手更像是在设计一套去中心化的网络协议： 把信仰给足，把权力拆碎，把利益算清，剩下的就是离他们远点，别去打扰他们干活。 过度沟通是平庸团队的安慰剂，边界清晰才是特种部队的战斗力。

There is no sudden, shocking revelation of what lies beyond the door. The door is simply opened. View article

An Open Letter to the University of Sydney @Sydney_Uni @mscott Regarding the appointment of Jacinda Ardern as Professor of Practice Dear Professor Scott, I read with absolute disgust that the University of Sydney has appointed Jacinda Ardern as Professor of Practice, where she will apparently be sharing her wisdom on empathetic leadership, social cohesion and civic trust. You cannot be serious. You are quoted as saying: "Dame Jacinda led New Zealand through events of profound consequence and her leadership demonstrated that empathy and resolve do not compete with one another; each can strengthen the other." Appointing Jacinda Ardern to teach social cohesion is rather like appointing Jeffrey Dahmer to teach a course on wellbeing, or Jimmy Savile to run the local daycare centre. The sheer absurdity would almost be funny if the consequences of her leadership weren't so hideously tragic. My name is Alia Bland. I am a co-founder of Voices for Freedom, an organisation established in New Zealand in 2020. For years, we stood alongside tens of thousands of ordinary Kiwis whose lives were torn apart by the policies of Ardern's government. While the international media fawned over her kindness and compassion, we were dealing with the wreckage. At the height of the COVID response, we were receiving upwards of 1,000 emails a day. Desperate people reaching out because they had lost their jobs, their incomes, their homes and, in many cases, their will to live. People nearing retirement were forced to sell family homes they had spent decades paying off. Some are still living in caravans five years later. Marriages collapsed. Families fractured. Lifelong friendships were destroyed. People who had served their communities for decades were suddenly treated like lepers because they declined a medical procedure. Some of the people who came to us had spent their entire lives believing New Zealand was a decent, fair-minded country. Watching that belief crumble, and seeing what it did to them, was heartbreaking. I cannot adequately describe the anguish in those emails. The desperation of parents wondering how they would feed and house their families. The humiliation of hardworking people being marched out of professions they loved. The despair of people who had done everything society asked of them, only to discover that their own government considered them disposable. And presiding over it all was Jacinda Ardern, smiling for the cameras and telling the world how kind New Zealand was. Kind? For whom? Her government deliberately created a two-class society. Ardern herself acknowledged it publicly. New Zealanders were excluded from workplaces, businesses, events and ordinary social life. People were coerced into accepting a medical intervention under threat of losing their livelihoods. And those who suffered adverse reactions to the COVID vaccines faced another nightmare. We fought for vaccine-injured New Zealanders whose lives had been devastated by serious physical harm, while many struggled to have their injuries acknowledged or receive adequate support. The government's public assurances about vaccine safety deserve particular scrutiny. Officials knew about the myocarditis risk, including among young people. We have examined the records. Yet people raising legitimate questions about those risks were routinely dismissed and vilified. The damage went far beyond lost incomes and broken relationships. An enormous number of New Zealanders lost faith in the very institutions they had trusted their entire lives. Government, health authorities, education, police and the media. That trust has not magically returned because Ardern has moved on to more prestigious surroundings. While her government was busy marginalising people, we were building a nationwide support network to help them survive. Voices for Freedom grew to more than 100,000 people on our mailing list, many representing entire families. More than 45,000 people signed up to our local groups across the country, which are still operational today in 2026. We established industry groups to help people fight for their careers, provided support through employment disputes and legal challenges, organised practical assistance and hand-delivered millions of flyers to households throughout New Zealand. We did this while facing censorship, public vilification and government surveillance. Official records obtained since have confirmed that our activities and communications were being monitored and reported on. Our volunteers gave everything they could to help people who had been abandoned by the institutions meant to protect them. And now the University of Sydney wants to hold up the woman responsible for overseeing this period as a shining example of empathy and social cohesion? It is sickening. Professor Scott, did anyone at your university bother to speak with the people whose lives were destroyed under Ardern's leadership before celebrating her appointment? Have you spoken to the former nurses, teachers and police officers who lost their careers? The families who lost their homes? The people still suffering from vaccine injuries? The parents whose children no longer speak to them? Or did you simply swallow the carefully cultivated international image of Saint Jacinda, the compassionate leader who saved New Zealand? I wonder whether you have considered why this internationally celebrated former prime minister now lives in Australia rather than the country she once led. The depth of hostility towards her among many New Zealanders should give you pause. Because I can assure you, there is another side to that story. And there are hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders who live with the consequences. I have no objection to universities studying Ardern's leadership. In fact, I would encourage it. There is an enormous amount to learn from what happened in New Zealand between 2021 and 2023. Like, what not to do... But presenting her as someone uniquely qualified to teach empathy, social cohesion and civic trust, without acknowledging the extraordinary human suffering that occurred under her leadership, is an insult to the people who paid the price. We were there, Professor Scott. We saw what happened. We picked up the pieces. We are still picking them up. Some of those people will never recover what they lost. And the woman who presided over it all gets a professorship in empathy. What an absolute disgrace. Yours sincerely, Alia Bland Co-founder, Voices for Freedom New Zealand

2008 yılında Çin'in 672 kilometrelik yüksek hızlı tren ağı vardı. Bugün bu uzunluk 50.400 kilometreye ulaştı. Bu büyüklükte bir demiryolu ağının inşası için yaklaşık 800 milyar ile 1 trilyon dolar arasında bir yatırım yapılması gerekiyor. 2008 yılında Pekin’den Şangay’a gitmek isteyen birisi, normal trenle yaklaşık 10 saat yolculuk yapmak zorundaydı. Daha yavaş trenlerde bu süre 15 saati bile geçebiliyordu. Çinliler bu durumu değiştirmek için ülkenin dört bir yanına yüksek hızlı tren hatları döşemeye başladı. 2010 yılında tren ağı 5 bin kilometreye çıktı. 2015’te 20 bin kilometreye, 2020’de 38 bin kilometreye ulaştı. 2025’in sonunda ise 50 bin kilometreyi aştı. Yani Çin, yaklaşık 18 yılda dünyanın en büyük yüksek hızlı tren ağını kurdu. 50 bin kilometreyi gözünüzde canlandırmak için şöyle düşünün. Dünya’nın çevresi yaklaşık 40 bin kilometre. Çin’in yüksek hızlı tren hatlarını uç uca ekleseniz Dünya’nın çevresini bir defadan fazla dolaşabiliyorsunuz. Çin bu yatırımları sadece insanların daha hızlı seyahat etmesi için yapmadı. Mesela Pekin ile Şangay arasında yaklaşık 1.300 kilometrelik bir demiryolu hattı var. Aynı iki şehir arasında arabayla gitmeye kalksanız yaklaşık 12-15 saat yolculuk yapmanız gerekiyor. Yüksek hızlı trenle ise bu mesafe yaklaşık 4 saat 20 dakikada tamamlanıyor. Yani sabah Pekin’de kahvaltısını yapan bir iş insanı, öğle saatlerinde Şangay’daki fabrikasını ziyaret edip akşam tekrar evine dönebiliyor. Eskiden bu kadar kolay değildi. Bir de işin ekonomik tarafı var. Çin’in yüksek hızlı trenlerinde yalnızca 2024 yılında yaklaşık 3,3 milyar yolculuk yapıldı. Bu da günde ortalama 9 milyon yolculuk demek. Bu sayede Çin, ulaşımda petrole olan bağımlılığını azaltabilecek büyük bir alternatif oluşturdu. Çin yüzölçümü olarak çok büyük bir ülke olduğu için eskiden büyük şehirlere mesafeden dolayı yatırım çekemiyordu. Yatırım çekmekte zorlanan birçok şehir, hızlı trenler sayesinde ekonomik merkezlere birkaç saatlik mesafeye indi. Bir iş insanı sabah başka bir şehirdeki fabrikaya gidip toplantısını yapabiliyor, akşam kendi evine dönebiliyor. Turistler daha fazla şehri gezebiliyor. İnsanlar başka şehirlerdeki iş fırsatlarını değerlendirebiliyor. Hızlı tren hatları açılınca bu sayede eski demiryollarında yük trenlerine de daha fazla yer kaldı. Yani Çin yalnızca insanları daha hızlı taşımakla kalmadı, fabrikaların ürettiği malların taşınmasını da kolaylaştırdı. Tabii bu kadar büyük bir demiryolu ağının inşaatı, bakımı ve işletilmesi için ciddi paralar gerekiyor. Özellikle yolcusu az olan hatların ekonomik getirisinden çok götürüsü oluyor. Ama 2008 yılındaki haritayla bugünkü haritayı yan yana koyduğunuzda Çin’in ne kadar büyük bir dönüşüm geçirdiğini görebilirsiniz. Bir zamanlar şehirler arasında saatlerce yolculuk yapan insanlar, bugün aynı mesafeleri birkaç saatte tamamlıyor. Bu sayede ülkenin sanayisi her yere yayılıyor. Ve Çin çok daha fazla mal satıyor, aynı zamanda zenginleşiyor.. 2024 yılında Çin'de yüksek hızlı trenlerle günde ortalama 9 milyon yolculuk yapıldı. Bu yolculukların ortalama uzunluğu yaklaşık 331 kilometreydi. Şimdi bu insanların tamamının tren yerine otomobille seyahat ettiğini düşünün. Her otomobilde ortalama 2 kişi olduğunu ve araçların 100 kilometrede 7 litre benzin tükettiğini varsayarsak, günde yaklaşık 104 milyon litre, yılda ise 38 milyar litre benzin tüketilirdi. Benzinin litresini 1 dolardan hesaplarsak yıllık yaklaşık 38 milyar dolarlık bir yakıt masrafı ortaya çıkardı. Bu hesaba ithal araçlar, trafik, otoyol ve araç bakım masrafları dahil değil. Dünyanın en büyük ekonomisi olan ABD’nin bile yüksek hızlı tren ağı 735 kilometre uzunluğunda. Çin’in yüksek hızlı tren ağı ise 50.400 kilometreye ulaşmış durumda. Yani Çin’in ağı, ABD’deki ağın yaklaşık 69 katı uzunluğunda. Dünyadaki yüksek hızlı tren ağının yaklaşık %70,6'sı Çin'de bulunuyor. Rakipsiz…

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FORTRESS: The Pentagon is preparing every major U.S. military base to survive 90 days without outside support — no civilian power grid, no global supply chains, no outside fuel or water. The initiative, revealed in documents reviewed by Fox News Digital, envisions portable nuclear reactors, massive battery storage, and microgrids that can disconnect installations from civilian electricity entirely. Strategic reserves of munitions, fuel, critical minerals, and medical supplies would be stockpiled based on wartime consumption rates. Civilian factories are being pre-identified to shift to defense production during a crisis. Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell put it bluntly: "Power is combat now. Without electricity, you lose communications, water, logistics, assembly lines and just basic military command structures." Full story here foxnews.com/politics/inside-…

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