Power comes from suppression.

On 21 February 5 members of a punk rock group called the Pussy Riot staged a performance inside Moscow's cathedral of Christ the Saviour. They were stopped by church wardens but later released a video of a song " Punk Prayer - Mother of God, Chase Putin Away." Sadly their prayers went unanswered. Putin is very much there but Christ could not save them. On 17 August, 3 of the 5 were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, 2 fled Russia for safety. One was later released on parole but the other 2 have been sent to forced labour camps. Yesterday a court in Greece freed Costas Vaxevanis, editor of Hot Dog magazine from charges of violating privacy laws. Vaxevanis had published a list of names of 2059 Greeks with accounts in the HSBC bank in Switzerland amounting to about $2.5 billion. Known as the Lagarde list, because it was given to the Greek government when Christine Lagarde was the Finance Minister of France, it was suppressed by the Greek government. Lagarde is now the chief of the IMF. Vaxevanis published the list of names without accusing anyone of tax evasion but the government was deeply embarrassed and acted out of vengeance. After his acquittal Vaxevanis told reporters," There are political motives. You see most of the names on the list are friends of the political system." A former Greek minister, Leonides Tzanis, whose name appeared on the list, committed suicide because he could not bear the humiliation of being publicly accused. We Indians are not so lucky. Not one of our villains will ever dream of committing suicide because they have absolutely no shame or honor. In 2009 Germany forwarded a CD containing the names of 50 Indians with accounts in Swiss banks. The list has been completely suppressed and no action has been taken to find out if any tax was evaded. This is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg because it is estimated that up to $1.6 trillion have been salted away by Indians in Swiss banks alone. There are other tax havens so God alone knows how much money is lying hidden in off shore accounts. Of course, all the names on the list have had enough time to close those accounts and move their money to new accounts. Yet if you try to open a bank account with legitimate money in India you have to provide photographs, a photo identity to prove you are who you say you are, a proof of address and your Permanent Account Number with the Income Tax department. Is it any wonder that some 60% of Indians do not have any bank account? If you dare to expose a crime by any politician he or she will deny it angrily, will refuse to resign and will use the official investigative agencies, financed by our taxes, to bring a series of false charges against you. Since our esteemed judges continue hearings for decades you will be spending time and money defending yourself till you die. Like Satan, our politicians are indestructible.