Global tax deal backed by 130 nations

Yahoo – AFP, Jürgen HECKER, July 1, 2021 

US digital giants are the main targets of the new tax

A total of 130 countries have agreed a global tax reform ensuring that multinationals pay their fair share wherever they operate, the OECD said on Thursday, but some EU states refused to sign up. 

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said in a statement that global companies, including US behemoths Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple would be taxed at a rate of at least 15 percent once the deal is implemented. 

The new tax regime will add some $150 billion to government coffers globally once it comes into force, which the OECD said it hoped would be in 2023. 

"The framework updates key elements of the century-old international tax system, which is no longer fit for purpose in a globalised and digitalised 21st century economy," the OECD said. 

The formal agreement follows an endorsement by the G7 group of wealthy nations last month, and negotiations now move to a meeting of the G20 group of developed and emerging economies on July 9-10 in Venice, Italy. 

US President Joe Biden said the latest deal "puts us in striking distance of full global agreement to halt the race to the bottom for corporate taxes." 

Germany, another backer of the tax reform, hailed it as a "colossal step towards tax justice", and France said it was "the most important tax agreement in a century". 

British finance minister Rishi Sunak, whose country holds the G7 presidency, said "the fact that 130 countries across the world, including all of the G20, are now on board, marks a further step in our mission to reform global tax". 

'In everyone's interest'

But EU low-tax countries Ireland and Hungary declined to sign up to the agreement reached in the OECD framework, the organisation said, highlighting lingering divisions on global taxation. 

Both countries are part of a group of EU nations also including Luxembourg and Poland that have relied on low tax rates to attract multinationals and build their economies. 

Ireland, the EU home to tech giants Facebook, Google and Apple, has a corporate tax rate of just 12.5 percent. 

Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has warned that the new rules could see Ireland lose 20 percent of its corporate revenue. 

On Thursday, Donohoe said Ireland still "broadly supports" the deal, but not the 15-percent tax floor. 

The tax plan got a much-needed boost from Joe Bidens's administration

"There is much to finalise before a comprehensive agreement is reached", he said, adding that Ireland would "constructively engage" in further discussions. 

Also expressing concerns is Switzerland -- known for its banking secrecy laws -- which said it would support the measures despite "major reservations" and that it hoped the interests of "small, innovative countries" be taken into account. 

An agreement for the implementation of the plan is planned for October. 

Nine of the 139 participants in the talks have so far not signed on to the agreement. 

But China, whose position was being closely watched as it offers tax incentives to key sectors, endorsed the agreement. 

"It is in everyone's interest that we reach a final agreement among all Inclusive Framework Members as scheduled later this year," said OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann. 

"This package does not eliminate tax competition, as it should not, but it does set multilaterally agreed limitations on it," Cormann said, adding that "it also accommodates the various interests across the negotiating table, including those of small economies and developing jurisdictions". 

'More equitable' global economy 

Finance chiefs have characterised a minimum tax as necessary to stem competition between countries over who can offer multinationals the lowest rate. 

For Biden, a global tax agreement will help maintain US competitiveness since he has proposed hiking domestic corporate taxes to pay for an infrastructure and jobs programme with a price tag of around $2 trillion. 

Biden -- whose tax plans face a potentially uphill battle in Congress -- hailed an "important step in moving the global economy forward to be more equitable for workers and middle class families in the United States and around the world." 

He noted that those nations who signed up make up more than 90 percent of the world's economy. 

The OECD's statement said the package "will provide much-needed support to governments needing to raise necessary revenues" to fix their budgets and invest in measures to back the post-Covid recovery. 

Oxfam, a charity, meanwhile said that the deal fell short of a tax level needed to give poorer countries a sufficient share of additional tax revenue. 

Calling the deal "skewed-to-the-rich and completely unfair", Oxfam said that signatories had missed a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build a profoundly more equal world".

Gates says billionaires should pay 'significantly' more taxes

Yahoo – AFP, February 19, 2018

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates says billionaires should pay
"significantly" more in taxes (AFP Photo/Etienne LAURENT)

Washington (AFP) - Bill Gates says he has paid more than $10 billion in taxes over a lifetime but billionaires like him should pay "significantly" more because they benefit more from the system.

The Microsoft co-founder, the world's second richest man after Amazon's Jeff Bezos, was critical of a recent US tax overhaul that slashed corporate taxes and lowered the top bracket for individual income.

"I've paid more taxes, over $10 billion, than anyone else, but the government should require the people in my position to pay significantly higher taxes," he said in an interview Sunday with CNN.

He said the tax overhaul passed in December favors the rich despite Republican claims it will help the middle and working classes.

"People who are wealthier tended to get dramatically more benefits than the middle class or those who are poor, and so it runs counter to the general trend you'd like to see, where the safety net is getting stronger and those at the top are paying higher taxes," he said.

With a sixth of the US population living in what he called "disappointing" conditions, he said US policymakers need to think about rising inequality and ask, "Why aren't we doing a better job for those people?"

Europe turns on Facebook, Google for digital tax revamp

Yahoo – AFP, Céline LE PRIOUX, November 19, 2017

Companies like Google are being urged to pay more tax (AFP Photo/
JOSH EDELSON)

Brussels (AFP) - They have revolutionised the way we live, but are US tech giants the new robber barons of the 21st century, banking billions in profit while short-changing the public by paying only a pittance in tax?

With public coffers still strained years after the worst of the debt crisis, EU leaders have agreed to tackle the question, spurred on by French President Emmanuel Macron who has slammed the likes of Google, Facebook and Apple as the "freeloaders of the modern world".

As recently as March, five of the world's top 10 valued companies were Silicon Valley behemoths: Apple, Google's Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook. (Germany's SAP was Europe's biggest and 56th on the global list).

But tax rules today are designed for yesterday's economy when US multinationals -- such as General Motors, IBM or McDonald's-- entered countries loudly, with new factories, jobs and more taxes for the taking.

These firms had what tax specialists call "permanent establishment", when companies showed a clear physical presence measured and taxed through tangible, real world assets.

But today in most EU nations, the US tech titans exist almost exclusively in the virtual world, their services piped through apps to smart phones and tablets from designers and data servers oceans away.

Ghost-like, Silicon Valley has turned Europe's economies upside down, but often with just a skeleton staff and some office space in markets with millions of users or customers.

Nation-less

According to EU law, to operate across Europe, multinationals have almost total liberty to choose a home country of their choosing. Not surprisingly, they choose small, low tax nations such as Ireland, the Netherlands or Luxembourg.

Thus, it is through Ireland that Facebook draws its wealth from millions of accounts across Europe. There are 33 million accounts in France and 31 million in Germany, according to recent data.

While users enjoy the platform, Facebook tracks likes, comments and page views and sells the data to companies who then target consumers.

But unlike the economy of old, Facebook sells its data to French companies not from France but from a great, nation-less elsewhere, with no phone number, address or physical "presence" for a customer who probably cares little.

It is in states like Ireland, whose official tax rate of 12.5 percent is the lowest in Europe, that the giants have parked their EU headquarters and book profits from revenues made across the bloc.

Indeed, actual revenues from advertising are minimal in France and Germany, but at Facebook HQ Ireland they grew to 7.9 billion euros, even though the vast majority does not come from the tiny EU island-nation of a mere 2.5 million users.

Google follows the same pattern: in Germany in 2015, it had a little over 71 million users, in France just over 55 million. But in both nations, revenues are minimal.

Yet, in Ireland, where the number of search engine users is less than five million, revenues for Google-parent Alphabet reached 22.6 billion euros in 2015.

According to an analysis by Paul Tang, a specialist on tax issues at the European Parliament, France lost 741 million euros in tax revenue and Germany 889 million euros between 2013 and 2015 due to so-called "tax planning" by Google and Facebook.

'No transparency'

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development believes that such tax schemes cost governments around the world as much as $240 billion a year in lost revenue, according to a 2015 estimate.

"The actual activity of each company, including US tech giants, is not known," said Manon Aubry, spokeswoman for the NGO Oxfam.

"Beyond the number of accounts or users in each country, it would be necessary to know in the case of Google for example, the amount of advertising sales in each country. We do not have it."

For car-ride smartphone service Uber, "we need to know the number of rides, but we don't have it," she said.

"One of the first issues, therefore, is that of transparency: to rule that large companies publish data on activities and taxes paid in all the countries where they are present."

To the European Commission, the digital shortfall on tax is clear. The effective tax rate on the profit of digital giants in the EU averages only nine percent, while that of traditional companies exceeds 20 percent, it said.

Facebook draws its wealth from millions of accounts across Europe by
being based in Ireland (AFP Photo/Justin TALLIS)

'Political crap'

Apple, also based in Ireland, became one of the EU's most emblematic tax cases when Competition Commissioner Margarethe Vestager ordered the iconic iPhone maker to pay 13 billion euros in back-taxes.

Vestager said the US giant had benefitted from illegal state aid, a gift from Ireland in exchange for choosing Dublin as its headquarters, with thousands of jobs at stake in the deal.

Brussels says Dublin's red carpet treatment accorded Apple an effective corporate tax rate of one percent on its European profits in 2003 -- a rate that decreased to a scant 0.005 percent in 2014 -- just a fraction of the official rate.

"It's total political crap," Apple chief executive Tim Cook barked at the time.

Undeterred, Vestager has gone after similar arrangements, such as those revealed in the Luxleaks scandal that exposed deals struck between Luxembourg and a long list of multinationals, including online US retail giant Amazon.

Faced with this situation, several solutions are under study.

Driven by Macron, France has proposed an unusual idea that has so far divided Europe: tax the US tech giants on sales generated in each European country, rather than on the profits that are cycled through low-tax countries.

France says this proposal, presented by French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire in September, has received the support of some 20 countries, including Germany, Italy and Spain.

But there is fierce opposition from states like Cyprus, Malta, Ireland or Luxembourg -- countries that have linked their EU membership to low corporate tax and thus transformed their economies from rural backwaters to financial hubs in a globalised world.

Global, not EU, solution

Member states now agree that the problem would be best addressed at the international level, in the G20 or by the OECD, in order to prevent a high-tech exodus from the EU.

Caught by surprise by the French initiative, the European Commission announced at the end of September that it will also propose solutions in 2018.

Ideally, Brussels agrees that there needs to be a major reform of international tax rules, which would establish a closer link between the way value is created and the place where it is taxed.

Without rejecting the French proposal, the commission wants to dust off an old project from 2011 -- for a long time deadlocked because of the differences among the 28.

Relaunched in October 2016, the idea has one of the most cumbersome acronyms ever to come out of Brussels: the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base or CCCTB -- an ambitious bid to consolidate a company's tax base across the EU.

This draft legislation is currently being examined by the 28 EU member states and taxation of the digital economy could easily be included in the scope of the rules that may be adopted.

Under the plan, all multinationals operating in the EU with total sales of more than 750 million euros would be fixed at only one place of taxation, with one tax administration.

However, this tax would be distributed in all the countries where the company operates, and not according to the level of booked profit in each of these states, but according to the level of activity.

This level of activity in each member state would be measured using a combination of factors, including the number of employees, the importance of tangible assets (buildings, machinery, etc.) and sales.

French MEP Alain Lamassoure, co-rapporteur of the project, proposes to add a fourth idea: the volume of personal data collected and used by a digital platform wherever its services are used.

But in Europe, all is made infinitely more complicated since the adoption of new European legislation on tax matters requiring unanimity of the EU's current 28 members.

In addition to these European proposals, the OECD is working on a global solution, which it must present to the G20 finance ministers at their next meeting in April in Washington.

This initiative would have the merit of including Europe as well as the United States, Japan and emerging countries.

Until last October, the United States had dragged its feet in efforts to better tax its national champions, but changed attitude. Specifically, it agreed to set up a working group with France in the OECD.

"The Americans are in the same situation as us: their own tax system is not adapted to the current economy and they too are experiencing very substantial revenue losses that must be compensated," EU economics commissioner Pierre Moscovici said.

"Taxation of the US tech giants is a global problem and the answer should be as well."

CIA blasts WikiLeaks for publishing secret documents

Yahoo – AFP, Paul Handley, Rob Lever, March 9, 2017

Assange said WikiLeaks had "a lot more information" about the CIA's hacking
operation but would hold off on publishing it until it had spoken to tech
manufacturers (AFP Photo/Saul LOEB)

Washington (AFP) - The Central Intelligence Agency accused WikiLeaks of endangering Americans, helping US rivals and hampering the fight against terror threats by releasing what the anti-secrecy site claimed was a trove of CIA hacking tools.

A CIA spokeswoman would not confirm the authenticity of the materials published by WikiLeaks, which said they were leaked from the spy agency's hacking operations.

Nevertheless, said spokeswoman Heather Fritz Horniak, "The American public should be deeply troubled by any WikiLeaks disclosure designed to damage the intelligence community's ability to protect America against terrorists and other adversaries."

"Such disclosures not only jeopardize US personnel and operations, but also equip our adversaries with tools and information to do us harm," she said.

Horniak defended the CIA's cyber operations, which the WikiLeaks materials showed focused heavily on breaking into personal electronics using a wide range of malware systems.

"It is CIA's job to be innovative, cutting-edge, and the first line of defense in protecting this country from enemies abroad," she said.

Massive leak

On Tuesday, WikiLeaks published nearly 9,000 documents it said were part of a huge trove leaked from the CIA, describing it as the largest-ever publication of secret intelligence materials.

"This extraordinary collection, which amounts to more than several hundred million lines of code, gives its possessor the entire hacking capacity of the CIA," it said.

Graphic outlining technical objectives of CIA hacking schemes, according 

to a new document release by WikiLeaks (AFP Photo/John SAEKI)

The documents showed that CIA hackers can turn a TV into a listening device, bypass popular encryption apps, and possibly control one's car.

Most experts believe the materials to be genuine, and US media said Wednesday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is opening a criminal probe into the leak.

The source of the materials remained unclear. The investigation could focus on whether the CIA was sloppy in its controls, or, as The Washington Post reported, it could be "a major mole hunt" for a malicious leaker or turncoat inside the agency.

WikiLeaks itself said the documents, hacking tools and code came from an archive that had circulated among US government hackers and private contractors.

An investigation would come as the CIA is already enmeshed in a politically-charged probe into Russia's alleged interference in the US election last year in support of President Donald Trump's campaign.

WikiLeaks, which has stunned the US government with a series of publications of top secret political, diplomatic and intelligence materials, said the publication Tuesday was only the first of a series of releases of CIA hacking materials.

That raised concerns that the site could release the actual hacking tools it obtained along with the documents. Experts worry those could fall into the hands of anyone, including US enemies and criminals.

Tech sector scrambles for fixes

The WikiLeaks documents detailed the CIA's practice of exploiting vulnerabilities in hardware and software, without ever informing producers of them.

The CIA allegedly found ways to hack into personal electronics from leading companies like Apple and Samsung, Android phones, popular Microsoft software, and crucial routers from major manufacturers.

The documents suggest it can also infiltrate smartphones in a way that allows it to get around popular messaging encryption apps.

The tech sector was scrambling to understand how their products were at risk.

"While our initial analysis indicates that many of the issues leaked today

 were already patched in the latest iOS, we will continue work to rapidly address 

any identified vulnerabilities," Apple said in an emailed statement on the 

WikiLeaks documents (AFP Photo/Jack Taylor)

"While our initial analysis indicates that many of the issues leaked today were already patched in the latest iOS, we will continue work to rapidly address any identified vulnerabilities," Apple said in an emailed statement.

"We're confident that security updates and protections in both Chrome and Android already shield users from many of these alleged vulnerabilities," Google director of information security and privacy Heather Adkins said in a released statement.

"Our analysis is ongoing and we will implement any further necessary protections."

Samsung and Microsoft both said they were "looking into" what WikiLeaks revealed.

Encryption apps safe

Joseph Hall, a technologist with the Center for Democracy and Technology, a digital rights organization, said the documents raise questions about the US government's pledge last year to disclose vulnerabilities to technology firms.

That pledge means "security flaws should get back to the companies so they can get fixed, and not languish for years," he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union commented in a tweet: "When the govt finds software security holes, it should help fix them, not hoard them and leave everyone vulnerable."

Companies that make encryption programs and apps targeted by the CIA said the revelations show the agency has not been able to break their software.

Open Whisper Systems, which developed the technology for the Signal encryption app, said the CIA documents showed that Signal works.

"None of the exploits are in Signal or break Signal Protocol encryption," the group said in a tweet.

"The existence of these hacking tools is a testimonial to the strength of the encryption," said Steve Bellovin, a Columbia University computer science researcher, in a blog post.

Related Article:

WikiLeaks announces tech firm cooperation - New

Canada PM lights up Internet explaining quantum computing

Yahoo – AFP, April 17, 2016

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave a detailed answer after a journalist
jokingly asked him to explain quantum computing (AFP Photo/Drew Angerer)

Ottawa (AFP) - He has impressed world leaders, has a growing army of fans -- many female -- and is even credited with driving up tourism to Canada.

But photogenic Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has now displayed another gift even few of his most ardent supporters knew he had: a more than passable knowledge of quantum computing.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 

takes part in a Vaisakhi celebration on

 Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, 

April 11, 2016. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

The Internet was abuzz with gushing praise for the 44-year-old Trudeau after a journalist jokingly asked him Friday to explain quantum computing.

But instead of looking puzzled and joining in with the joke, Trudeau set about giving a detailed answer that had experts at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario nodding approvingly and brought the packed audience to its feet.

"Don't interrupt me," Trudeau said mischievously, a grin forming on his face, before launching seamlessly into his explanation, punctuated by giggles from the admiring audience and culminating in cheers and applause.

"Don't get me going on this or we'll be here all day, trust me," the Liberal leader concluded, to more laughs.

Twitter lathered itself into a froth as footage of Trudeau's answer went viral.

"I love Justin Trudeau. I wanna be Canadian," one user tweeted, while another wrote: "Hope I'm not falling into a mania... but Trudeau explaining quantum computing is pretty great."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau talks with President Barack Obama

 during the afternoon plenary session of the Nuclear Security Summit, Friday, 

April 1, 2016, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Twitter an awkward child as it turns 10

Yahoo – AFP, Glenn Chapman, 18 March 2016

Twitter's woes include a slump in its stock price to all-time lows this year -- down 

nearly half from its 2013 stock market debut -- and ongoing losses, even as 

its revenue grows (AFP Photo/Emmanuel Dunand)

San Francisco (AFP) - As Twitter marks its 10th birthday Monday, it is somewhat of an awkward child -- having become a powerful communication tool but still struggling to win users and reach profitability.

Since making a star-quality entrance a decade ago, Twitter has become a must-have tool for journalists, activists and celebrities but has struggled to show it can expand beyond its devoted "twitterati" to become a mainstream hit.

March 2006: Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey

 (@jack) sent the first tweet, an automated 

message saying "just setting up my twttr" 

and later the same day, he sent the first

live tweet, "inviting coworkers" (AFP

Photo/Justin Tallis)

While Internet lovers might have trouble envisioning life without Twitter, the San Francisco-based company has seen its stock tank, a chief executive leave, and its staff cut.

Twitter's woes include a slump in its stock price to all-time lows this year -- down nearly half from its 2013 stock market debut -- and ongoing losses, even as its revenue grows.

Twitter's base of monthly active users remained stuck at 320 million at the end of 2015. While that is a big accomplishment, Twitter has failed to keep pace with fast-growing rivals and to expand beyond its base.

The troubles have forced Twitter to bring back co-founder Jack Dorsey as chief executive, but that has not stemmed rumors about a possible buyout or merger.

"It's not dead yet," independent analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group said of Twitter.

"Watching all the metrics, you see they are not getting a lot worse but they don't seem to be getting better either."

Some analysts believe Twitter's true value is being demonstrated in the US presidential race, especially by the Republican frontrunner, Donald Trump.

"Eight weeks ago I would have said the days of Twitter are over; I don't say that anymore," Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry told AFP.

Twitter has 'legs'

Republican presidential candidate Donald 

Trump has boosted the number of his

 followers to nearly seven million, and has

 managed to beat rivals with a campaign 

largely based around Twitter (AFP

Photo/Rhona Wise)

The analyst said Trump has shown how potent Twitter can be for those who embrace it.

"I think that probably the worst for Twitter is over," Chowdhry said. "This platform has legs."

Chowdhry said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also used Twitter effectively to win his campaign and Tesla founder Elon Musk has been shaking up the auto sector with the help of the messaging platform.

Twitter and other social media have been important tools in movements such as the Arab Spring, and in protests in Turkey, where the government has sought to ban it.

An advantage of Twitter is that it lets users "amplify" messages with tweets that echo on the Internet, and assess public sentiment in real-time by getting quick feedback.

Trump has boosted the number of his followers to nearly seven million, and has managed to beat rivals with a campaign largely based around Twitter.

"I am pretty sure most of his followers are not on Twitter, but they know what he is saying on Twitter," analyst Omar Akhtar of the technology research firm Altimeter Group, said of Trump.

"The Twitter effect cannot be ignored. Twitter has a life beyond its platform, the trouble is it doesn't know how to monetize that part."

The research firm eMarketer lowered its revenue estimates for Twitter this month, saying its "monetization" efforts -- the selling of advertising or "promoted tweets" for those who use the platform without logging in -- are falling short.

A man looks at a tweet from US Republican

 presidential candidate Jeb Bush showing a

 handgun and the caption "America" in

 Washington, DC (AFP Photo/Nicholas

Kamm)

"Events like the US election and Summer Olympics this year may prove pivotal to the success of this strategy," said eMarketer's Martin Utreras.

Change brings risk

Twitter bears the weight of being measured against Internet titans such as Facebook, which is only a few years older but has eclipsed the billion-user mark.

Flight VC partner Lou Kerner, whose investor group watches emerging companies, said Twitter has done "an amazing job" creating a new communication medium but appears to have leveled off instead of becoming ubiquitous.

"Like any other company, Twitter is judged on growth," Kerner said. "They have stagnated."

Even more troubling, Kerner noted, is that engagement at Twitter has been ebbing in an indication that "people have tired of it."

While Facebook has evolved with new features, Twitter has changed little since it began, according to Kerner.

"In order to reignite engagement, they would have to make profound changes to what they do," he said.

"The problem is, you can't make a make a massive change without a massive risk."

Some say Twitter has become a victim of

its own success -- it has become so

cluttered with information that it becomes

hard to navigate (AFP Photo/Damien

Meyer)

Some say Twitter has become a victim of its own success -- it has become so cluttered with information that it becomes hard to navigate.

"Twitter is still incredibly relevant when it comes to major cultural events, major news events, the kinds of things people are discussing around the world," said Debra Aho Williamson of eMarketer.

"But anyone who follows just a couple of hundred people can easily be overwhelmed by the amount of information. It becomes work rather than fun."

Dorsey currently is managing two firms, Twitter and mobile payments startup Square -- both multibillion dollar companies struggling to achieve profitability.

Dorsey said Twitter priorities for this year include making it more intuitive to use; live-streaming video, and making it safer for people to freely express themselves on the platform.

Twitter recently revamped its timeline, allowing the "best" tweets to rise to the top, despite warnings of a revolt from members loyal to the real-time flow of the messaging platform.

"If you look at the 10 years as a whole, you will see that Twitter really has revolutionized the way we communicate," Akhtar said.

"To me, it is a utility like electricity or the phone -- it is really part of everyday life."

Twitter an awkward child as it turns 10 https://t.co/by1E6cQsrP pic.twitter.com/B5stMnbKrz

— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 18, 2016

¿Que bolá Cuba? Just touched down here, looking forward to meeting and hearing directly from the Cuban people.

— President Obama (@POTUS) March 20, 2016

Related Article:

"You Don’t Know How the Frog Jumps"–  Jan11, 2011 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“…  Last week, I gave you a message about the potentials of 2011. And there were those in this room who attended. I'm going to repeat something I said there, for you need to hear it and it has to do with politics. It would seem intuitive to every single Human Being in the room that in order to accomplish what you do as Americans in Congress, you must have at least two parties. For that is the way it has always been - the red and the blue.

What if I told you that there will come a time when there will be no parties? You might then say, "Well, that's impossible, Kryon, because you're not Human and you don't know how funding works." You might say, "It has to be a party that creates the power to raise money for the ones who cannot, and then the funding is spread around and this is the way we work. If you didn't have parties, you'd have no funding. Nobody could advertise, and no one could get elected."

Oh, really?

Are you aware right now, that you have a president who was elected on the Internet? He figured it out. When everybody can talk to everyone, you have plenty of funding. A few dollars here, a few dollars there. You talk to millions at the same time, they talk to millions at the same time. It's a new paradigm of communication. The young people know all about it, and you can't stop it. Watch for more from this new paradigm.

It is worldwide communication, one person at a time. It doesn't matter how many laws you pass, and it doesn't matter what you decide about who is in charge of it, you can't stop it. It's out of the bag now, and the communities of the young are going to be communicating. This is how the politicians are going to be communicating to you, literally coming into your home in a holographic form perhaps, explaining their position one by one, without a party. Then you will elect them to your Congress without a party and they will sit in the chairs without a division and there will be no such thing as the "other side of the aisle."

And that, Human Being, is called unity and there is a paradigm that you cannot even imagine. And it's in the works. And then you'll have a Congress that works together and gets things done without the current duality.  ….”

Pope hits out at Internet trolls

Yahoo – AFP, January 23, 2016

Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis spoke out Friday over the increasingly aggressive nature of much political discourse and the use of social media as a forum for personal abuse.

In a message published on the same day that the Twitter-friendly pontiff met Apple boss Tim Cook, Francis said digital technology and the Internet could help bring people together but also had the potential to create deep wounds.

"Our words and actions should be such as to help us all escape the vicious circles of condemnation and vengeance which continue to ensnare individuals and nations, encouraging expressions of hatred," he said.

The pope urged politicians and others in positions of power "to remain especially attentive to the way they speak of those who think or act differently or those who may have made mistakes."

And he emphasised the importance of everyone applying the same principle to encounters in cyberspace by showing respect for "the neighbour whom we do not see."

"It is not technology which determines whether or not communication is authentic, but rather the human heart and our capacity to use wisely the means at our disposal," Francis said.

"Social networks can facilitate relationships and promote the good of society, but they can also lead to further polarization and division between individuals and groups.

"The digital world is a public square, a meeting-place where we can either encourage or demean one another, engage in a meaningful discussion or unfair attacks."

The Vatican did not release any details of the pope's meeting with Cook, who was in Italy to inaugurate a new Apple applications research centre in Naples. Francis met last week with Google supremo Eric Schmidt.

Pope Francis poses with young people in the Church of Saint Augustine in Rome
on August 28, 2013 (Osservatore Romano/AFP/File, Francesco Sforza)

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Vatican official: Pope's Twitter account teaches us about authority

First papal 'selfie' goes viral on social media

‘The internet is a gift from God’ - Pope Francis

Philippine priests swap sermons for 'selfies'


The Internet  - The first Worldwide Tool of Unification ("The End of History")

" ... Now I give you something that few think about: What do you think the Internet is all about, historically? Citizens of all the countries on Earth can talk to one another without electronic borders. The young people of those nations can all see each other, talk to each other, and express opinions. No matter what the country does to suppress it, they're doing it anyway. They are putting together a network of consciousness, of oneness, a multicultural consciousness. It's here to stay. It's part of the new energy. The young people know it and are leading the way.... "

" ... I gave you a prophecy more than 10 years ago. I told you there would come a day when everyone could talk to everyone and, therefore, there could be no conspiracy. For conspiracy depends on separation and secrecy - something hiding in the dark that only a few know about. Seen the news lately? What is happening? Could it be that there is a new paradigm happening that seems to go against history?... " Read More …. "The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  1 - Spirituality (Religions)

Number one: Spirituality. The systems of spiritual design on your planet are starting to change. This is not telling you that certain ones are going to go away. They're simply going to change. Some of the largest spiritual systems, which you would call organized religion on the planet, are shifting. They're going to shift away from that which is authority on the outside to authority on the inside. It will eventually be a different way of worship, slowly changing the rules while keeping the basic doctrine the same.

The doctrine of the Christ has always been to find the God inside. The teachings were clear. The examples of the miracles were given as an example of what humans could do, not to set a man up for worship as a God. So when that has been absorbed, the teaching of the Christ can remain the teaching of the Christ. It simply changes the interpretation.

The teachings of the great prophets of the Middle East (all related to each other) are about unity and love. So once the holy words are redefined with new wisdom, the Human changes, not the words of the prophets. In fact, the prophets become even more divinely inspired and their wisdom becomes even more profound.

You're going to lose a pope soon. I have no clock. Soon to us can mean anything to you. The one who replaces him may surprise you, for his particular organization will be in survival mode at that point in time. That is to say that fewer and fewer are interested in starting the priesthood. Fewer and fewer young people are interested in the organization, and the new pope must make changes to keep his church alive. That means that his organization will remain, but with a more modern look at what truly is before all of you in a new energy. It is not the fall of the church. It is instead the recalibration of the divinity inside that would match the worship that goes on. It's a win-win situation. The new pope will have a difficult time, since the old guard will still be there. There could even be an assassination attempt, such is the way the old energy dies hard. That is number one. Watch for it. It's a change in the way spiritual systems work. It's a realignment of spiritual systems that resound to a stronger truth that is Human driven, rather than prophet driven. …”