Chronicles from the Virus Day 51. Of Kings and Money.
I went for another walk this morning, though the daybreak wasn't as promising as yesterday's. I woke up a bit late, and, while the hilltops were covered in cloud, it seemed brighter when I went out than it does now. Cloud cover from the sea seems to be moving in. While the rest of Spain will be sweltering in the first heat wave of the year, we'll get rained upon. Again. Yesterday's high temperature of 27º/80º was Nature laughing at us. I wouldn't mind temperatures like that the entire summer.
Every evening on the news, just about all they talk about, on every channel, is coronavirus, quarantine, deaths, vaccines, coronavirus. It gets so depressing, that my husband doesn't want to watch after ten minutes, and I also find my attention slipping, and not even wanting to wait for the weather report (One thing I would never miss on the news was the weather; I love meteorology, though not the physics to go with it.).
But, a notification from a news app on my phone called my attention to the fact that all the news isn't shown. Particularly when it's not in the interest of the highest family in the kingdom. It turns out that, when he was still King, Juan Carlos took a suitcase filled with 1.7 million euros to his lawyer in Geneva, and asked him to deposit in his Swiss bank account, joining the rest of millions the Saudis had given him.
This suitcase had been given to Juan Carlos by the King of Bahrein, on a business trip with other government and business officials looking for investment opportunities. I suppose the Bahrainian king was looking to cement those opportunities. And now, the Swiss government is looking into those movements of millions, especially connected with offshore accounts in Panama (remember the Panama Papers?).
Of course, most news outlets don't carry this story. I've only found it mentioned in left-leaning online newspapers, and the most centrally objective, El País. Generally, republican leaning outlets are the ones reporting this story. Those that are monarchical are keeping it under wraps in contrast to the biggest story that broke earlier in the year, of the hundred million euro "gift" Juan Carlos had received from his friends, the Saudis. Since it was such a big story, they had to carry it, but toned down by Felipe VI's renunciation of his father's estate. Which, according to a notary I spoke with once, can't be done until the person that leaves the inheritance has died.
Another sour note is that Spain will not consider not giving relief funds to companies that have offshore accounts in tax havens, like Denmark and France have pledged to do. So, a company that declares heavy losses from the pandemic, yet has millions offshore that they don't pay taxes on, will get funds from the Spanish taxpayers. Until everyone pays their fair share according to their income, this will never be an equitable society, however "European" we may have become in the last forty years.
When all this is over, and we can wander at will like we used to do, because there is a vaccine or an effective treatment for this damned virus, I will feel like this dog. Until then, I will try to learn to put on a mask better than this politician did.
Life continues.
Every evening on the news, just about all they talk about, on every channel, is coronavirus, quarantine, deaths, vaccines, coronavirus. It gets so depressing, that my husband doesn't want to watch after ten minutes, and I also find my attention slipping, and not even wanting to wait for the weather report (One thing I would never miss on the news was the weather; I love meteorology, though not the physics to go with it.).
But, a notification from a news app on my phone called my attention to the fact that all the news isn't shown. Particularly when it's not in the interest of the highest family in the kingdom. It turns out that, when he was still King, Juan Carlos took a suitcase filled with 1.7 million euros to his lawyer in Geneva, and asked him to deposit in his Swiss bank account, joining the rest of millions the Saudis had given him.
This suitcase had been given to Juan Carlos by the King of Bahrein, on a business trip with other government and business officials looking for investment opportunities. I suppose the Bahrainian king was looking to cement those opportunities. And now, the Swiss government is looking into those movements of millions, especially connected with offshore accounts in Panama (remember the Panama Papers?).
Of course, most news outlets don't carry this story. I've only found it mentioned in left-leaning online newspapers, and the most centrally objective, El País. Generally, republican leaning outlets are the ones reporting this story. Those that are monarchical are keeping it under wraps in contrast to the biggest story that broke earlier in the year, of the hundred million euro "gift" Juan Carlos had received from his friends, the Saudis. Since it was such a big story, they had to carry it, but toned down by Felipe VI's renunciation of his father's estate. Which, according to a notary I spoke with once, can't be done until the person that leaves the inheritance has died.
Another sour note is that Spain will not consider not giving relief funds to companies that have offshore accounts in tax havens, like Denmark and France have pledged to do. So, a company that declares heavy losses from the pandemic, yet has millions offshore that they don't pay taxes on, will get funds from the Spanish taxpayers. Until everyone pays their fair share according to their income, this will never be an equitable society, however "European" we may have become in the last forty years.
When all this is over, and we can wander at will like we used to do, because there is a vaccine or an effective treatment for this damned virus, I will feel like this dog. Until then, I will try to learn to put on a mask better than this politician did.
Life continues.
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