Tag: Region Asias

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…

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…

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…

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….

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May 7, 2022. The U.S. government wants $33 billion more for the War in Ukraine and is telling its people that Russia is a threat not only to Ukraine, but to Americans. The enormous aid package is twice the size of a provision approved by Congress last month. It would eclipse all the spending by the United States so far on the war. -NYT, Apr. 28, 2022 How is the U.S. government working for the people who elected it? It’s…

May 7, 2022. A new leak of Dubai property data has exposed just how many foreigners have poured their money into apartments and villas there. The data, which dates from 2020, was obtained by the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS), a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., that researches international crime and conflict. It was then shared with Norwegian financial outlet E24, which coordinated an investigation into the real estate. The leak provides the first detailed public overview of…

Two Russian oligarchs were found dead last week, within 48 hours of each other. They were found alongside their families in what investigators are labelling murder-suicides. Since the start of 2022, four other Russia-connected oligarchs have mysteriously died by suicide. Here is a list of the Russian oligarchs who have met a mysterious end in 2022 — so far, as reported by several mainstream sources cited below. 1. Sergey Protosenya [Novatek – natural gas] found hanged outside Spanish villa, bodies…

Vladimir Putin announced last month that if “unfriendly countries” wanted to continue buying Russian natural gas, they would have to pay in rubles starting April 1. It seems not everyone believed he was serious. Would Russia really turn away profit by refusing payment in other currencies? Apparently so. Many media outlets are calling the move a ‘weaponization’ of the gas supply, though clearly Russia may set its own terms and do as it pleases with its own natural resources, even…

The Pentagon says the U.S. is monitoring events in the Eastern European country of Moldova after the breakaway republic of Transnistria bordering Ukraine said explosions over the past two days hit a radio center and a security headquarters. The reports of explosions prompted Moldova’s president to convene a meeting of the country’s security council as she vowed to prevent an escalation. A Russian military commander said Sunday that one goal of the war in Ukraine was to establish a southern…

Monero, traded as ticker XMR, seems to be the only cryptocurrency able to escape the solid downtrend lately and the approaching hard fork is not the only cause. While it is a definite motivator, there are at least four additional main reasons. The first is obviously the new trend in sanctions. 1. The sanctionsFirst, the west has essentially sanctioned anyone they could get their hands on with suspected ties to Russian oligarchs, including their uncles and children. This year’s US…

According to Western media, now copy-paste reporting the same claims, Russian forces apparently secretly buried *up to 9,000 Mariupol civilians* in “mass graves” in a town just west of the city. Except, it never happened, there is no mass grave. It’s actually just a normal, small, cemetery…no pits, no mass graves, just an orderly cemetery whose grave diggers refuted Western claims. On April 23, with journalist Roman Kosarev, I went to Mangush (Manhush in Ukrainian), found a normal cemetery setting,…

You don’t want to call sanctions a hoax because they legitimately put compliance pressure on our businesses and people. But do they put any pressure on the actual targets? It’s part of our news cycle and even our language to think so. After all, what is a “sanction” if not a punishment for breaking the rules? In a move that was presented as severe by the press and by government, the Treasury Department promised sanctions on the Russian Direct Investment…

ExxonMobil (XOM.N) has suspended its liquefied natural gas project in Russia’s Far East, Interfax news agency quoted a Russian governor as saying on Monday, after the firm announced plans to quit the country following Western sanctions. ExxonMobil said last month it would exit its Russian oil and gas operations, which it had valued at more than $4 billion, and halt new investment due to sanctions on Russia over Ukraine. read more The decision would see Exxon pull out of managing…

S&P Global Inc violated Russian sanctions (E.O. 13662) by receiving payment from sanctioned Russian Rosneft. S&P didn’t voluntarily disclose the violation and received $82,500. They settled with OFAC for $78,750. Here’s the press release.

Germany shuts down servers for Russian darknet marketplace Hydra and seizes $25.2 million USD in Bitcoin. (WAPO) The illegal marketplace was a Russian-language Darknet platform that had been accessible via the Tor network since at least 2015. Their focus was on trading in illegal narcotics. In addition, data spied out worldwide, forged documents and digital services were offered profitably via the platform. (theRecord) Hydra also offered stolen databases, forged documents, and hacking for hire services—including murder, apparently. (see for instance…