Author: CorruptionLedger

UK government introduces additional trade sanctions against Russia

  On 22 June 2022, the UK government introduced additional trade sanctions on Russia. The new measures introduce prohibitions on the export, supply and delivery, making available and transfer (as well as related technical assistance, financial services, funds and brokering services) of: internal repression goods and technology goods and technology relating to chemical and biological weapons maritime goods and technology additional oil refining goods and technology additional critical industry goods and technology Key aspects of the measures include: Jet fuel…

Are social media companies employing ex-spies?

June 26, 2022. Are Twitter, TikTok, Facebook and other social media platforms hiring from the FBI, military, NATO, CIA and U.S. State Department? It seems they are. This hiring tendency has not been widely reported in mainstream news because the revelation seems to have originated in an investigation by Russian media sources. Much of the evidence for the claim, however, is publicly verifiable. Here are some examples you can verify for yourself.

Germany silences journalist covering Ukraine, threatens prison, freezes family’s bank accounts

June 25, 2022. A criminal investigation has been opened against Alina Lipp, a German journalist based in the Donbass. She has been covering the Russian-Ukrainian conflict as an independent journalist and has fallen out of favor with the German government. Alina faces up to three years in prison.

Billions Keep Flowing to Afghanistan, State Dept. Blocks Audit to Disclose Where Money is Going

Jun 24, 2022.The U.S. has dropped a ghastly $146 billion on Afghanistan reconstruction in the last two decades and billions more continue to be spent, but the Biden administration is blocking federal auditors from conducting their congressionally mandated job of investigating where the money is going. For months the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has been trying to investigate the abrupt collapse of the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan, if the State Department is complying with laws and regulations…

European leaders agree on sixth package of Russia sanctions

  Following weeks of negotiations, the European Council has agreed on the sixth package of Russia sanctions. Over the course of the European Council’s “special meeting”, held on the 30 and 31 May 2022, EU leaders agreed to ban most Russian oil imports, including crude oil and petroleum products. On the 2 and 3 June 2022, the legal acts were uploaded to the Official journal (see below).  The main elements of the package include: Oil The EU is prohibiting the…

Russia cuts off more gas supplies to Europe

2022-06-01. Russia is cutting off more gas supplies to Europe. On Tuesday, the state energy company Gazprom cut off some gas to the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany. This came hours after the EU banned most Russian oil imports. (Democracy Now) Denmark Denmark’s largest energy company said Russia cut off its gas supply Wednesday because it refused to pay in rubles, the latest escalation over European energy amid the war in Ukraine. Russia previously halted natural gas supplies to Finland, Poland…

Yemeni Man Maimed in US Drone Strike as Pentagon Refuses Help

2022-06-01. Calls are growing for the Pentagon to acknowledge that a U.S. drone strike on March 29, 2018, in Yemen mistakenly struck civilians. Adel Al Manthari was the only survivor of the drone strike, which killed his four cousins as they were driving a car across the village of Al Uqla. The Pentagon refuses to admit the men were civilians and it made a mistake. Now supporters are demanding the U.S. pay for the devastating injuries Al Manthari sustained and fund…

NIH, Wuhan were working on Monkeypox

2022-06-01 Dr. Campbell’s Notes Wuhan Institute of Virology published on monkeypox research 3 months ago NIH also have been researching monkeypox treatment: NIH SOURCE Total funding, $9,824,009 The funding supports a clinical trial to identify effective treatments for monkeypox A re-emerging pathogen A disease of epidemic potential Causes significant morbidity and can result in death Human cases have been increasing in sub-Saharan Africa since 2000 Sporadic outbreaks outside of Africa have occurred Similarity between MPXV and the variola virus Coupled…

Twitter to Pay $150 Million Civil Penalty to Resolve Data Privacy Violations

May 31, 2022. The Department of Justice, together with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), announced a settlement that, if approved by a federal court, will require Twitter Inc. to pay $150 million in civil penalties and implement robust compliance measures to protect users’ data privacy. The settlement will resolve allegations that Twitter violated the FTC Act and an administrative order issued by the FTC in March 2011 by misrepresenting how it would make use of users’ nonpublic contact information. In…

War Crimes in Ukraine?

May 27, 2022. A supposedly leaked document that has circulated widely on social networks, allegedly showing that a senior Russian general had instructed Russian soldiers to fabricate evidence of Ukrainian war crimes, appears to be a forgery. The Intercept Russian POWs shot in the leg by Ukrainian forces: Video French media documents war crimes by NATO-backed Ukrainian neo-Nazi militias: Wsws.org Ukraine, Donbass: Russian-speaking civilians have been victims of the army for years. In 2015, A.-L. Bonnel, then still a very…

UK announces new Russia sanctions – Part 3

  On 19 May 2022, the UK government announced new Russia sanctions, targeting Russian airlines. The measures are said to prevent Russian airlines from selling their unused landing slots at UK airports, said to be worth an estimated £50 million. The sanctioned airlines are:  •    Aeroflot; •    Ural Airlines; and  •    Rossiya Airlines. The government press release can be found here: UK targets Russian airlines with new sanctions – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) https://www.clydeco.com/en/insights/2022/05/uk-announces-new-russia-sanctions-2

UK announces new Russia sanctions – Part 2

  On 13 May 2022, the UK government announced new Russia sanctions, targeting 12 individuals said to be funding Vladimir Putin’s lifestyle. The measures are said to reflect the difficulties of sanctioning a President whose official assets are comparatively “modest”, including “a small flat in St Petersburg, 2 Soviet-era cars from the 1950s, a trailer, and a small garage”. Those sanctioned include: Alina Kabaeva, a retired Olympic gymnast and Chair of the Board of the National Media Group; Anna Zatseplina,…

CDC bought data harvested from millions of phones to monitor trends not related to COVID-19

May 10, 2022. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) bought access to location data harvested from tens of millions of phones in the United States to perform analysis of compliance with curfews, track patterns of people visiting K-12 schools, and specifically monitor the effectiveness of policy in the Navajo Nation, according to CDC documents obtained by Motherboard. The documents also show that although the CDC used COVID-19 as a reason to buy access to the data more quickly,…

Germany to face wave of bankruptcies amid inflation and Ukraine sanctions

May 9, 2022. The future of Commerzbank’s business in Russia will depend, among other things, on Russia’s behavior and further sanctions, according to Handelsblatt report. Germany’s Commerzbank is preparing for more businesses to fail in Europe’s biggest economy amid high inflation and economic perils exacerbated by Russia’s war in Ukraine. The lender expects provisions for loan losses to rise as it works closely with its clients to minimize the impact of commodities’ super cycle on their businesses, Handelsblatt, a German…

EU drops plans to ban shipping Russian oil

May 9, 2022. Brussels has shelved its plans to ban the EU shipping industry from carrying Russian crude as it struggles to push through its latest sanctions package because of anxiety among some member states about the economic impact of the measures. A proposal targeting shipping that was introduced last week has been dropped by the European Commission following hard lobbying from Malta and Greece, which is home to more than half of the EU flag tonnage, said several people…

Clearview AI settlement: Will stop selling facial recognition tool to private firms and continue working with law enforcement

May 9, 2022. Facial recognition company Clearview AI has agreed to stop its sales to private companies in the United States as part of a landmark settlement reining in a technology criticized as threatening Americans’ privacy rights. The settlement, filed Monday in federal court in Illinois, marks the most significant court action yet against Clearview AI, a company known for downloading billions of people’s photos from social networks and other websites to build a face-search database sold to law enforcement….