Russia brazenly flouts UN Hague Court and jails Crimean Tatar leader Ilmi Umerov
In a shock move on September 27, a Russian-controlled ‘court’ in Crimea sentenced 60-year-old Ilmi Umerov, who has multiple serious illnesses, to two years’ imprisonment. Given the suspended sentence of journalist Mykola Semena on analogous charges just one week ago, the conclusion seems clear that the harsher sentence in this case is...
The Atlantic Council: ‘Debates’ Between People Who Hate Russia & People Who Really Hate Russia
Welcome to the Atlantic Council. A think tank which isn’t given to introspection and which ultimately amounts to NATO’s propaganda arm. This week, I endured an Atlantic Council echo-chamber to spare you the bother. The list of lobbyists retained by the club (who prefer to call each other ‘fellows’) reads like a veritable...
September 26th, 2017
CHINA China Blocks WhatsApp Messages The Daily Telegraph Chinese authorities appear to have severely disrupted the WhatsApp messaging app in the latest step to tighten censorship as they prepare for a major Communist Party congress next month. Users in China have reported widespread disruptions in recent days to the Facebook-owned service, which...
September 25th, 2017
CHINA China Fines Social-Media Giants for Hosting Banned Content Josh Chin, The Wall Street Journal Chinese internet regulators said they have hit operators of three of the country’s biggest social-media platforms with the maximum fine allowable under a new cybersecurity law for hosting fake news, pornography and other forms of banned...
September 21st, 2017
CHINA China’s “Fallen” Officials Leave Gaps, Silenced Voices in Communist Party Ranks RFA As the ruling Chinese Communist Party gears up for a crucial, five-yearly congress next month, President Xi Jinping is taking far-reaching steps to ensure that no critical voices are raised against him, analysts said. A popular chat show on the Hong...
Energy analyst: Russian proposals to use Ukrainian pipelines a ‘joke’
If Russia’s gas supply to Europe is to remain reliable, the Ukrainian system must run parallel to Nord Stream 2, Oleksandr Sukhodolia told EURACTIV Slovakia. …read more Source:...
Moving message of solidarity from Kremlin hostage Roman Sushchenko on sentence of Crimean Tatar leader Ilmi Umerov
There has been widespread condemnation of Russia’s two-year prison sentence on Crimean Tatar leader lmi Umerov “for voicing dissent against the illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula”. The most poignant was from Roman Sushchenko, the Ukrainian journalist seized by the Russian FSB almost exactly a year ago …read more Source:...
Ukraine’s more accessible and independent Constitutional Court
A critical overview of changes to Ukraine’s Constitutional Court …read more Source: Kharkiv Human Rights Protection...
Kleptocracy Daily: September 21, 2017
Manafort: Trump’s former campaign manager reportedly offered “private briefings” to oligarch Oleg Deripaska during the campaign. Despite being under investigation,Manafort is still lobbying for foreign interests. (WaPo, NYT) Enablers: “Spray luminol across London’s major PR houses, and you’ll see similar blood spatters,”...
Kleptocracy Daily: September 22, 2017
China: A major new research paper by Anne-Marie Brady delves into Beijing’s aggressive political influence operations worldwide, using New Zealand as a particularly troubling case study. (Summary here). (Wilson Center, NZ Herald) Bannon in Beijing: Steve Bannon secretly met with Wang Qishan, China’s anti-graft chief and the...
