Forwarded from The Star (Official)
The Star
1MDB: Malaysia's extraordinary financial scandal
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia's extraordinary 1MDB corruption scandal allegedly saw top officials loot billions from state coffers and go on a worldwide spending spree -- buying a US$250 million yacht, a Van Gogh painting, and financing a Hollywood blockbuster.
Forwarded from The Washington Post
5 things you need to know about Russia’s intelligence failures ahead of the invasion of Ukraine
A months-long examination by The Washington Post of the intelligence war in Ukraine draws on a trove of sensitive materials including intercepted communications involving Russian intelligence operatives, as well as in-depth interviews with senior Ukrainian, U.S. and European officials.
Here are some key findings:
1. A clandestine branch of Russia’s security service was deeply involved in the Kremlin’s failed war plan, assuring officials in Moscow that Ukraine’s government would fall quickly and deploying operatives to install a puppet regime.
2. FSB officers were so confident they would seize the levers of power in Kyiv that they spent the final days before the war arranging accommodations in the capital.
3. The FSB’s Ukraine department underwent a major expansion in the period leading up to the invasion, according to Ukrainian and Western security officials.
Read all the findings here.
A months-long examination by The Washington Post of the intelligence war in Ukraine draws on a trove of sensitive materials including intercepted communications involving Russian intelligence operatives, as well as in-depth interviews with senior Ukrainian, U.S. and European officials.
Here are some key findings:
1. A clandestine branch of Russia’s security service was deeply involved in the Kremlin’s failed war plan, assuring officials in Moscow that Ukraine’s government would fall quickly and deploying operatives to install a puppet regime.
2. FSB officers were so confident they would seize the levers of power in Kyiv that they spent the final days before the war arranging accommodations in the capital.
3. The FSB’s Ukraine department underwent a major expansion in the period leading up to the invasion, according to Ukrainian and Western security officials.
Read all the findings here.
Forwarded from Bellingcat EN
bellingcat
Socialite, Widow, Jeweller, Spy: How a GRU Agent Charmed Her Way Into NATO Circles in Italy - bellingcat
A Russian spy with an unconventional Peruvian backstory, and a chaotic private life, managed to befriend and engage numerous staff and officers at a NATO base in Italy, a Bellingcat investigation has found.
Forwarded from The Washington Post
A Russian soldier’s journal: ‘I will not participate in this madness’
RIGA, Latvia — Russian paratrooper Pavel Filatyev spent more than a month fighting in Ukraine after his poorly equipped unit was ordered to march from its base in Crimea for what commanders called a routine exercise.
In early April, the 34-year-old Filatyev was evacuated after being wounded. Over the next five weeks, deeply troubled by the devastation caused by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bloody invasion, he wrote down his recollections in hopes that telling his country the truth about the war could help stop it.
His damning 141-page journal, posted this month on Vkontakte, Russia’s equivalent of Facebook, is the most detailed day-by-day account to date of the attacks on Kherson and Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine as seen through the eyes of a Russian soldier.
Read the full story here.
RIGA, Latvia — Russian paratrooper Pavel Filatyev spent more than a month fighting in Ukraine after his poorly equipped unit was ordered to march from its base in Crimea for what commanders called a routine exercise.
In early April, the 34-year-old Filatyev was evacuated after being wounded. Over the next five weeks, deeply troubled by the devastation caused by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bloody invasion, he wrote down his recollections in hopes that telling his country the truth about the war could help stop it.
His damning 141-page journal, posted this month on Vkontakte, Russia’s equivalent of Facebook, is the most detailed day-by-day account to date of the attacks on Kherson and Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine as seen through the eyes of a Russian soldier.
Read the full story here.
Forwarded from The Washington Post
The story of little Liza, killed in her stroller by a Russian missile
Four-year-old Elizaveta Dmytrieva grinned as she pushed her stroller along the street in Vinnytsia, Ukraine. It was nearly five months into the war, but the city where her family had fled from Kyiv seemed safe enough. Her mother took an Instagram video as “Liza,” who was born with Down syndrome, led the way in a moment of delighted independence.
Barely an hour later, the little girl was dead, her mother severely injured. And the image of her black and pink stroller, flipped on its side and spattered with blood, would become symbolic of the gruesome toll Russia’s invasion has inflicted on even the youngest Ukrainians.
What Iryna Dmytrieva remembers, reliving the horror of that July morning in her first interview since leaving the hospital, is a deafening noise overhead that she thought was a plane. She looked up to see a “massive” missile and immediately crouched down to try to shield her child.
Read the full story here.
Four-year-old Elizaveta Dmytrieva grinned as she pushed her stroller along the street in Vinnytsia, Ukraine. It was nearly five months into the war, but the city where her family had fled from Kyiv seemed safe enough. Her mother took an Instagram video as “Liza,” who was born with Down syndrome, led the way in a moment of delighted independence.
Barely an hour later, the little girl was dead, her mother severely injured. And the image of her black and pink stroller, flipped on its side and spattered with blood, would become symbolic of the gruesome toll Russia’s invasion has inflicted on even the youngest Ukrainians.
What Iryna Dmytrieva remembers, reliving the horror of that July morning in her first interview since leaving the hospital, is a deafening noise overhead that she thought was a plane. She looked up to see a “massive” missile and immediately crouched down to try to shield her child.
Read the full story here.
Forwarded from Khazar Dictionary
UAE became Russia's safe haven for evading sanctions
Russian businesspeople and entrepreneurs have sought to move their businesses to Dubai to benefit from its global standing as a key financial hub. Similar to many Iranian businesses subject to Western sanctions, Russian businesses are using the UAE as a base to avoid such sanctions and continue their operations.
Wealthy Russians have been applying for the UAE golden visa scheme which enables applicants to gain long-term residency in the country conditional on investing $280 000 in a local company or an investment fund. The flocking of Russians to Dubai has meant that billions of potentially sanctionable dollars and euros have been transferred to the emirate.
The property market in the UAE has also been another key recipient of Russian funds. The UAE is also aspiring to be an industrial hub for some Russian factories struggling to access the global market due to sanctions, which would generate significant financial flows to the country.
Russian businesspeople and entrepreneurs have sought to move their businesses to Dubai to benefit from its global standing as a key financial hub. Similar to many Iranian businesses subject to Western sanctions, Russian businesses are using the UAE as a base to avoid such sanctions and continue their operations.
Wealthy Russians have been applying for the UAE golden visa scheme which enables applicants to gain long-term residency in the country conditional on investing $280 000 in a local company or an investment fund. The flocking of Russians to Dubai has meant that billions of potentially sanctionable dollars and euros have been transferred to the emirate.
The property market in the UAE has also been another key recipient of Russian funds. The UAE is also aspiring to be an industrial hub for some Russian factories struggling to access the global market due to sanctions, which would generate significant financial flows to the country.
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/08/russias-defense-industry-is-in-serious-trouble-due-to-sanctions/
19FortyFive
Russia’s Defense Industry Is In Serious Trouble Due to Sanctions
The Russian defense industry has some struggles ahead. Despite claims of self-sufficiency, it turns out that Russian industry needs Western components and Western support. One of the most autarkic industries in one of the world’s most autarkic economies is…
Forwarded from Русские за Украину
Помянем человека, прикончившего коммунизм и давшего свободу Восточной Европе https://youtu.be/fgm14D1jHUw
YouTube
Pizza Hut Gorbachev TV Spot Commercial :60 International version
This is the original :60 version that ran internationally. Here are links to learn more:
https://enterprise-sharing.ft.com/redeem/ae5d7c5e-ea37-4bcf-94ff-0b3f5af4e11c
https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/11/28/mikhail-gorbachev-pizza-hut-ad-thanksgiving-miracle/…
https://enterprise-sharing.ft.com/redeem/ae5d7c5e-ea37-4bcf-94ff-0b3f5af4e11c
https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/11/28/mikhail-gorbachev-pizza-hut-ad-thanksgiving-miracle/…
Forwarded from Khazar Dictionary
Bloomberg: Russia may face a longer and deeper recession as the impact of US and European sanctions spreads, handicapping sectors that the country has relied on for years to power its economy, according to an internal report prepared for the government.
Forwarded from The Washington Post
Faced with war losses, Russian propagandists retreat to anger and patriotism
Russian state television pundits and officials for months painted Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine as a well-oiled “special military operation” that is methodically achieving its goals of “demilitarizing” and “denazifying” the Kyiv “regime.”
But the embarrassing rout of Russian forces from northeastern Ukraine in recent days sent a normally harmonious choir of Kremlin-friendly television shows and newspapers into a frenzy, struggling to explain to the audiences that they had been assuring of victory why Ukraine had recaptured more land than Russia took since April.
The result was the broadcast of unusually tense scenes to millions of Russian households, with some uncharacteristically blunt concessions.
Read the full story here.
Russian state television pundits and officials for months painted Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine as a well-oiled “special military operation” that is methodically achieving its goals of “demilitarizing” and “denazifying” the Kyiv “regime.”
But the embarrassing rout of Russian forces from northeastern Ukraine in recent days sent a normally harmonious choir of Kremlin-friendly television shows and newspapers into a frenzy, struggling to explain to the audiences that they had been assuring of victory why Ukraine had recaptured more land than Russia took since April.
The result was the broadcast of unusually tense scenes to millions of Russian households, with some uncharacteristically blunt concessions.
Read the full story here.
Forwarded from Khazar Dictionary
Bloomberg: Russia has secretly funneled more than $300 million to foreign political parties and candidates since 2014 in an effort to influence elections in more than two dozen countries.