War is no joke, but in Ukraine, humor is resistance | Opinion

Menendez

Ana Menendez
Tue, March 22, 2022

Just before the Russian invasion of his country, Ukrainian writer Andrei Kurkov posted a sardonic alert on Twitter: “Kyiv/Kiev weather forecast: +5C, windy, chances of Russian attack 30%, feels like 95%.”

A few days later, he posted a photo of heavily armed soldiers by the side of the road and tagged it “Ukrainian mushroom pickers.” A photo of a bombed building on March 2 was labeled: “A school visit from Putin.”

This kind of ironic, often dark humor defines Ukraine’s culture of resistance, says the Odessa-born poet Ilya Kaminsky.

“In Odessa, it helped people to cope during Soviet times,” Kaminsky wrote in a brief interview I conducted with him over email. “It helped to have a language of its own, with its own jokes and intonations, quotations and echoes not always understood by authorities.”

In a recent interview with Slate, Kaminsky pointed out that the most important holiday in Odessa isn’t Christmas, “It is April 1, April Fool’s Day, which we call Humorina. Thousands of people come to the street and celebrate what they call the day of kind humor. All of Ukraine has a sense of humor — think of the man who offered to tow the Russian tank which had run out of gas back to Russia.

“Humor is part of our resilience,” he said.

War is not funny. Suffering, exile and dispossession are nothing to laugh at. And, yet, humor has always formed part of resistance movements. Why? What role does laughter have to play in times of oppression? Is humor just a safety valve, or can it be the catalyst for real change?

Last year, these questions prompted me to propose a new course at Florida International University. I spent a year developing “Humor as Resistance” as a special topics course in our Writing and Rhetoric track, and this semester, 17 intrepid students enrolled. We were exploring the topic together, when Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine making a hero of the country’s comedian-turned-president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“I don’t need a ride,” Zelenskyy reportedly told the Americans who wanted to evacuate him in the early days of the invasion. “I need ammunition.”

As the daughter of Cuban exiles, I well understand how humor makes life bearable. Living with despots, sometimes laughter is the only way to tell the truth. One of the first short stories I wrote, “In Cuba I was a German Shepherd,” revolves around a group of old men who tell jokes around the domino table to process the pain of exile. Later, I bonded with my Slovak husband, over jokes that made light of communist-era deprivations:

Man runs into a store. “I’d like a roll of toilet paper.”

Shopkeeper: “We’re out. We’re getting some next week.”

Man: “I can’t wait that long.”

Satire has a long history in the West, of course, going back to at least Aristophanes. But as a form of resistance, it has a particularly strong tradition in Eastern and Central Europe, pre-dating Soviet times. The Odessa-born Isaac Babel was the master of this style during the earlier Russian empire. And, for the Czechs, the great master of ironic resistance was “The Good Soldier Švejk,” the creation of anarchist Jaroslav Hašek, an inveterate hoaxer whose hero, under a cloak of naivete, pierces every cultural pomposity, particular those emanating from the military.

Many of these forms of humor hark back to the literary carnivalesque (embodied by Rabelais and elucidated by the critic Mikhail Bakhtin). The tradition remains alive in Europe, where the spirit infused a range of humorous resistance stunts from the Poles who resisted state propaganda by taking their TV sets out for a walk during the daily newscast to the Otpor movement in Serbia that organized a “birthday celebration” for Milošević complete with cake, card and gifts that included handcuffs and a one-way ticket to the Hague.

With notable exceptions (including Majken Jul Sorensen, whose work has guided my class) most traditional scholarly approaches to humor take a dim view of the power of laughter. Much of the earlier scholarly literature on humorous resistance is preoccupied with the question: “Is it just a way to blow off steam or can humor really change the rules of oppression?”

The question represents a false choice. Resilience is resistance. Beyond instrumentalist aims of humor, laughter is a philosophy, a lightness of life that was most famously captured, in our times, by the writer Milan Kundera who told Philip Roth in an interview: “I could always recognize a person who was not a Stalinist, a person whom I needn’t fear, by the way he smiled. A sense of humor was a trustworthy sign of recognition. Ever since, I have been terrified by a world that is losing its sense of humor.”

I feel for my students. This generation has lived through a civil war in Syria (which has produced more than 5 million refugees) and two years of global pandemic only to now emerge at the cusp of a war that may yet engulf the world. In a broken world, how do we survive?

Violence is its own total vernacular. And we know that a joke has never stopped a bomb. But against the nihilistic darkness of Putin who has suggested “why do we need a world if Russia is not in it?” we can offer the life-affirming light of laughter. We can reject the dour humorlessness of history’s butchers. And we can go on resisting by embracing all the things that make life worth living: friendship, love, and humor, even in the face of extinction.

“Putin died on the 24th of February, 2022 at 5 am Kyiv time,” Kurkov wrote on March 6. “He doesn’t know this yet.”

Ana Menéndez is a writer who teaches at Florida International University. Her most recent novel, “The Apartment,” will be published by Counterpoint Press in April 2023.

Humor As Subversion

The Great Dictator by Charles Chaplin

POSTED BY: DONATO NDONGO 17TH DECEMBER 2018

Donato Ndongo-Bidyogo | 

George Orwell used to say that “jokes are small revolutions”. What self-respecting autocrat does not have his collection of jokes? Franco, Stalin, Hitler… Simple scape valve of fears and hopes, this modest revenge helps to cope with the absurdity that life can become.

Although jokes never overthrew any tyranny, they act as a cathartic tool, perhaps the only impious transgression that citizens can afford as a form of resistance. Although sometimes they entail risks for those who tell and listen to them.

Ana María Vigara Tauste, linguist at the Complutense University in Madrid who died in 2012, wrote in her study ‘Sex, politics and subversion. The popular joke in the Franco era ‘, that the jokes about Franco and his regime were a “form of humorous rejection of the effective pressure of the dictatorship”.

Sociologist Christie Davies, professor at the University of Reading, who passed away in 2017, compiled in ‘Jokes and Targets’ some of the most celebrated amusing stories in communist Europe. Although it minimized their practical effects – “they did not cause the fall of the Soviet Union,” he said – he considered them fundamental to erode the system, because of their sharp criticism of the political establishment; for him, they predicted the future of socialism better than analysts’ reports, because “they explored all the weaknesses of the system”. According to Davies, a joke is a thermometer and not a thermostat: it indicates what happens, without changing it; at best, it helps maintain morale. Censoring humor, more than a symptom of fear of the powerful, “is a way of saying: here I am, I control the situation!”

Philosopher and political scientist Tomás Várnagy, of the University of Buenos Aires, feels more optimistic about the role of humor against dictators. The examples collected in ‘Proletarians of all countries … Forgive us!’ undermined, in his opinion, the legitimacy of the political, economic and social system they embodied, highlighting the enormous gap between words and reality. He also remembers that, in a democracy, political humor, in its oral or graphic expression, has a very different tone: it serves to laugh at politicians who are not very clever, vain or self-centered, but rarely question the system.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Donato Ndongo

Donato Ndongo-Bidyogo was born in Niefang, Equatorial Guinea, in 1950. Writer, journalist and political exile. He was correspondent and delegate of Spanish EFE agency in central Africa (1987-1995). Director of the Center for African Studies at the University of Murcia (2000-2004). Visiting Professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia (United States, 2005-2008). Regular lecturer on American, African and European universities. He is the author of the essays "History and tragedy of Equatorial Guinea" (1977), "Anthology of Guinean literature" (1984) and co-author of "Spain in Guinea" (1998) as well as of three novels translated into several languages. Mr Ndongo is a regular contributor for Spanish media such as El País, ABC, Mundo Negro and The Corner’s print magazine Consejeros, among others.

Finland's people now strongly back joining NATO, poll says, a massive political shift that would enrage Russia

Sinéad Baker
Wed, March 23, 2022, 

Finnish troops on the march near Tolga, Norway, in November 2018.Finnish Defence Forces/Ville Multanen


A majority of people in Finland now support the country joining NATO, a new poll found.


The surge followed Ukraine being invaded by Russia, with which Finland also shares a border.


Russia pre-emptively warned of "serious military and political consequences" if Finland joins NATO.

A survey of people in Finland found that a majority wanted the country to join NATO after Russia invaded Ukraine.

The survey by the Finnish Business and Policy Forum (Eva) think tank found that 60% of people supported Finland joining, a massive jump from previous years. Eva polled 2,074 people between March 4 and March 15.

Finland shares a long border with Russia, and was once part of the Russian Empire. After it gained independence it was invaded by the Soviet Union in 1939 but fought back and was not defeated.

The country has for decades maintained a careful balance between Russia and Western countries, which involved avoiding NATO membership.

At the time of the last Eva survey in 2021, most Finns seemed to support that position, with only 34% backing NATO membership.

But Russia's invasion of Ukraine, another non-NATO country, prompted a huge change, almost doubling support for NATO membership.

Ilkka Haavisto, the research manager for Eva, said of the results that "Russia has shown that it does not respect the integrity of its neighbours."

"The war in Ukraine has concretely shown what the horrors of a defensive war on Finland's own territory would be and made it clear that NATO countries cannot use their military forces to help defend a non-aligned country."

Russia has threatened Finland should it decide to pursue membership.

A foreign ministry official warned earlier this month of "serious military and political consequences" if Finland or its neighbor Sweden tried to join.

Russian President Vladimir Putin used the possibility of NATO expanding further eastwards as a reason for his invasion of Ukraine. He framed the invasion as being an act of self defense against the alliance's growth.

Finland's president Sauli Niinisto said on Sunday that applying for Nato membership would come with the "major risk" of escalation in Europe, but he said the country does wants to find ways to improve its security situation.

Sanna Marin, Finland's prime minister, said earlier this month that the country's politicians would have a conversation about NATO membership: "We're moving quickly, although these discussions will be thorough."

Beijing says it has right to develop South China Sea islands

Tue, March 22, 2022, 



China on Tuesday said it has the right to develop islands in the South China Sea, responding to criticism from the U.S. on Sunday that Beijing had fully militarized three islands in the region.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin called the islands "necessary national defense facilities" within Chinese territory in line with international law, according to The Associated Press.

Wang then criticized the U.S. of aiming to "stir up trouble and make provocations," which "seriously threatens the sovereignty and security of coastal countries and undermines the order and navigation safety in the South China Sea."


On Sunday, Adm. John C. Aquilino, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, said China had fully armed three small islands with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile systems, lasers, jamming equipment and fighter jets.

Aquilino said Beijing was flexing its military muscles but also contradicted past assurances from Chinese President Xi Jinping, who promised not to militarize the artificial islands.

"I think over the past 20 years we've witnessed the largest military buildup since World War II by the PRC," Aquilino told the AP. "They have advanced all their capabilities and that buildup of weaponization is destabilizing to the region."

The contested nature of the waters was highlighted during the AP's trip aboard a P-8A Poseidon plane flying over the islands, when the pilots ignored radio messages warning it to stay away from the islands.

China has aggressively sought to expand its control of the South China Sea, amid competing claims from other countries including Vietnam and Taiwan. The U.S. has no claims but patrols the area in an effort to promote freedom of navigation.

Vice President Harris last year rebuked Beijing for intimidating other countries in the South China Sea.

"Beijing's actions continue to undermine the rules-based order and threaten the sovereignty of nations," she said at the time. "The United States stands with our allies and partners in the face of these threats."

US Indo-Pacific commander in provocative flight over South China Sea

Peter Symonds@SymondsWSWS

In a calculated provocation staged for the media, the head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral John Aquilino, on Sunday flew in a Navy reconnaissance plane deliberately close to Chinese-controlled islets in the Spratly group in the South China Sea.

Aquilino used the occasion to denounce China for militarising the islets and ominously warn that his mission was to be prepared to “fight and win” should conflict with China arise.

The unprecedented publicised flight by the Pentagon’s top commander in the region has a wider significance. Even as the US and its NATO allies escalate the conflict with Russia in the Ukraine, the Biden administration is deliberately heightening tensions with China over dangerous flashpoints in Asia—Taiwan and the South China Sea.

Aquilino pointed to the construction of missile sites, aircraft hangers and radar systems on Mischief Reef, Subi Reef and Fiery Cross Reef, saying it appeared to be completed, and speculated as to whether China would construct military infrastructure elsewhere in the South China Sea.

Admiral John C. Aquilino, left, Commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), arrives at Clark Air Base, Pampanga province, northern Philippines on Sunday March 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

“The function of those islands is to expand the offensive capability of the PRC [People’s Republic of China] beyond their continental shores,” Aquilino claimed. “They can fly fighters, bombers plus all those offensive capabilities of missile systems.” The missile systems posed a threat to military and civilian aircraft, he said. “They threaten all nations who operate in the vicinity and all the international sea and airspace.”

According to Associated Press, “As the P-8A Poseidon flew as low as 4,500 meters near the Chinese-occupied reefs, some appeared to be like small cities on screen monitors, with multi-storey buildings, warehouses, hangars, seaports, runways and white round structures Aquilino said were radars. Near Fiery Cross, more than 40 unspecified vessels could be seen apparently anchored.”

The two Associated Press reporters on board breathlessly reported the Chinese radio messages to stay clear of the islets that were ignored by the US aircraft. Neither they nor the media outlets that published their report in any way challenged Aquilino’s remarks or even questioned what they were looking at on the screen monitors.

In fact, Aquilino’s comments stand reality on its head. While accusing China of aggressive intent, the Indo-Pacific commander was flying in a military aircraft within view of Chinese-claimed territory and thousands of kilometres from the nearest American territory. The South China Sea is immediately adjacent to the Chinese mainland and sensitive Chinese military installations, including key submarine bases on Hainan Island.

Over the past decade, the US has deliberately inflamed tensions in the South China Sea as a means of sowing divisions between China and neighbouring countries. In 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a regional forum of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) that the US had a “national interest” in the South China Sea.

Having previously largely ignored the various territorial disputes, Clinton’s remark signalled an aggressive intrusion into the region and the onset of an intensifying US confrontation with China. The following year, Obama formally announced the “pivot to Asia” to challenge China diplomatically, economically and militarily across the region. On the pretext of ensuring freedom of navigation and flight, the US has repeatedly sent warships and warplanes into waters and airspace claimed by China.

US preparations for war with China have proceeded apace. The Pentagon has completed repositioning 60 percent of its air and naval forces to the Indo-Pacific, and restructured and expanded its military bases. US military alliances and strategic partnerships aimed against China have been beefed up throughout the region.

Given the three decades of US wars of aggression in the Middle East and Central Asia, China is bolstering its military position in the strategic South China Sea. American military strategists regard US control of key waters close to the Chinese mainland, such as the South China Sea, as critical in any US war with China.

In congressional testimony last year, Aquilino warned that war with China was “much closer than most think.” His predecessor Admiral Phil Davidson had only days earlier told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the US could face conflict with China, particularly over Taiwan, within six years.

Speaking on last weekend’s flight, Aquilino claimed that Washington’s main objective in the region was “to prevent war” through deterrence. However, the real intent of the US military build-up throughout Asia is precisely the opposite, as was indicated in Aquilino’s threat: “Should deterrence fail, my second mission is to be prepared to fight and win.”

The Indo-Pacific commander accused China’s military expansion of being “destabilising to the region,” saying: “I think over the past 20 years we’ve witnessed the largest military build-up since World War II by the PRC.”

The “threat” posed by China is simply the pretext for the US preparations for war. The US military budget not only dwarfs that of China, but is larger than the military budgets of the nine next largest military powers. The Pentagon has been expanding its anti-ballistic missile systems in the Pacific and, following the US abrogation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia, is stationing offensive intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe and preparing to do the same in Asia.

In its historic decline, US imperialism is determined to use every means, including its massive military, to maintain its global hegemony and regards Russia, and particularly China, now the world’s second largest economy, as its chief threats. The provocative flight by Aquilino in the South China Sea once again underscores the sheer recklessness of Washington’s foreign policy.

Having provoked a war in Ukraine aimed at miring Russia in an Afghanistan-type quagmire, the Biden administration is also inflaming tensions with China. Top White House officials, including Biden himself, have warned China of “consequences” if it provides material support to Russia in the Ukraine conflict. While “consequences” have been widely interpreted as punitive economic sanctions, US imperialism has a long track record of resorting to military provocations.

Colorado lays to rest first legally composted human remains


Tim Fitzsimons
Mon, March 21, 2022

A funeral home laid to rest Colorado's first legally composted human remains Sunday, less than a year after the state legalized the process as a greener alternative to cremation and traditional burial.

The weekend ceremony was to lay to rest the person who was reported to be the first in the state to use the process of converting human bodies into soil, known as "natural reduction," according to The Natural Funeral, a Colorado funeral services provider.

Dozens of people spread the soil at the newly dedicated Colorado Burial Preserve, about 40 miles south of Colorado Springs. Before Sunday's ceremony, non-embalmed remains were often laid to rest in hand-dug graves set in a natural prairie landscape.

The remains of the first person to be composted were spread out in a ceremony in Fremont County, Colo., on March 20, 2022, after the process was made legal last year. (KUSA)

About six months ago, the remains of the first person in the state to choose natural reduction were placed in an air-filtered chamber with wood chips, alfalfa, straw and “a lot of microbial beings.” That began a natural digestion and conversion process that took six months, said Seth Viddal, the managing partner at The Natural Funeral.

One body makes about a pickup truck bed’s worth of soil, NBC affiliate KUSA of Denver reported.

In May Gov. Jared Polis signed into law a bill legalizing natural reduction, which advocates in the state pitched as a more environmentally friendly way to die.

The law "prohibits the soil of multiple people to be combined without their permission, for the soil to be used to grow food for human consumption or for it to be sold," KUSA reported.

The Natural Funeral said its process has “no appreciable carbon emissions or release of toxic fumes in contrast to flame cremation” and does not “take up any real estate as a conventional burial might.”

“We see Body Composting as the express lane for a body to rejoin the cycle of life,” it wrote.

Viddal said that most interest in the process thus far had come from the Denver and Boulder metro areas but that three of the 15 sets of remains interred at the facility came from out of the state. The vast majority of states have not legalized the process.

Washington was the first state to legalize natural reduction.

The first Colorado family to use legal composting in the state chose to have their loved one's composted remains donated to the burial preserve. The ceremony Sunday was on the vernal equinox — a half-year after the remains were placed in the chamber on the autumnal equinox, Viddal said.

The Natural Funeral has since taken 15 more sets of remains for natural reduction and has expanded its capacity to 48 decomposition vessels.

"We are anticipating a lot of growth," Viddal said.

At a cost of $7,900, natural reduction is pricier than a typical Denver cremation, which runs from $3,000 to $5,000, KUSA reported.

“To distinguish this service from something like cremation, which is an instant service — the process in its entirety is just a few hours — whereas with body composting we have a four- to six-month managed biological process, so I'm not anticipating that natural reduction will ever equal the price of a flame cremation," Viddal said. "We hope the price will become a little bit more competitive."

Artifacts seized from U.S. billionaire returned to Israel




Dr. Etan Klein, Deputy Director of the Theft Prevention Unit, of Israel's Antiquities Authority, looks over looted antiquities worth $5-million, seized from billionaire hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt, displayed in the offices of the Manhattan District Attorney, in New York, Tuesday, March 22, 2022. The 39 items being returned to Israel include two gold masks dating from about 5000 B.C. that are valued at $500,000, and a set of three death masks that date from 6000 to 7000 B.C. and are worth a total of $650,000

(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

KAREN MATTHEWS and ILAN BEN ZION
Tue, March 22, 2022

NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors in New York announced the repatriation Tuesday of $5 million worth of looted antiquities seized from billionaire hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt to Israel, where Steinhardt is well known as a patron of cultural institutions.

The 39 items being returned to Israel include two gold masks dating from about 5000 B.C. that are valued at $500,000 and a set of three death masks that date from 6000 to 7000 B.C. and are worth a total of $650,000, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.

“These rare and beautiful artifacts, which are thousands of years old, have been kept from the public because of illegal looting and trafficking,” Bragg said. “My office is proud to once again return historic antiquities to where they rightfully belong."

The objects that authorities say were illegally acquired in Israel are part of $70 million worth of stolen antiquities that Steinhardt agreed to turn over in December in a deal to avoid prosecution.

Under the agreement, Steinhardt is permanently barred from acquiring antiquities. Items seized from Steinhardt have previously been returned to authorities in Greece and Jordan.

A message seeking comment on Tuesday's announcement was sent to an attorney for Steinhardt. His attorneys have said previously that the dealers from whom Steinhardt bought antiquities represented to him that they held lawful title to the artifacts.

Of the 39 objects that are to be repatriated to Israel, 28 were turned over to Israeli authorities Tuesday. Three were already on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, and eight have not yet been located but will be returned as soon as they are found, the district attorney's office said. Several of the artifacts returned to Israel were looted from the occupied West Bank.

Additionally, a 3,000-year-old spoon that was used to ladle incense onto fires is being held for Palestinian authorities, prosecutors said.

Eitan Klein, deputy director of the theft prevention unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said the antiquities “are priceless for the state of Israel and its people. They symbolize our rich and vast cultural heritage. Now, they are being returned to their rightful owners.”

Klein said his office was proud to be part of the investigation into the plundered artifacts along with the district attorney and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Steinhardt, 81, founded the hedge fund Steinhardt Partners in 1967 and closed it in 1995. He came out of retirement in 2004 to head Wisdom Tree Investments.

Steinhardt has been a major donor to Jewish philanthropies and is a co-founder of Birthright, a program that brings North American Jewish youth on a free trip Israel. He is a patron of the Israel Museum, which houses three of the artifacts confiscated by the Manhattan district attorney's office, as well as several other Israeli cultural institutions including a natural history museum at Tel Aviv University that bears his name.

Following the AP’s reporting that Steinhardt’s name still appeared on his looted artifacts at the Israel Museum, the Hebrew-language daily Haaretz published an editorial calling for his name to be removed from the institution’s walls.

The Israel Museum has removed Steinhardt’s name from the labels of two Neolithic masks exhibited in its galleries.

The Israel Antiquities Authority said that upon their return to Israel, the artifacts confiscated from Steinhardt will be housed in a storage facility outside Jerusalem, and that there were no immediate plans to exhibit them to the public.

_______

Ben Zion reported from Jerusalem.

Why No One Wants That Mega Yacht in Tuscany to Be Putin’s


Barbie Latza Nadeau
Wed, March 23, 2022

Wikimedia Commons

ROME—For the last two weeks, Russian oligarch watchers have had their eyes on the Scherezade mega yacht docked in the posh Marina di Carrara in northern Tuscany. There are growing suspicions that the $7 million, six-deck super-luxurious vessel—with its two helicopter pads, various swimming pools, his-and-hers beauty salons and gold fixtures that would make Donald Trump jealous—belongs to Vladimir Putin. And until two days ago, its Russian crew, led by British captain Guy Bennett Pearce, whose mother told the Daily Telegraph her son would “never work for a murderer,” didn’t leave the ship. But The Daily Beast has learned that all that changed this week when the Russian crew disappeared overnight, replaced by an entirely British set who, despite Brexit constraints that would require work visas, seem to have descended out of nowhere.

The crew change caught the attention of Italy’s General Confederation of Labor, which confirmed to The Daily Beast that the Russians are gone. “Yes, they were all Russians until a few days ago,” Paolo Gozzani, secretary of the confederation, told The Daily Beast. “Today the crew is made up entirely of English. We are monitoring the situation inside the shipyards but not because I care whether it is Putin’s or not: I am worried about the repercussions that a seizure, or a freezing of assets, could have on the shipyard workers.”

Italian financial police, who have already confiscated millions in yachts, villas and bank accounts tied to sanctions against Russia, are working to untangle reams of documents that may or may not link the ship to Putin. Marianna Ferrante, spokesperson for the Italian Sea Group that manages the port, says the ship arrived about a year ago to be refitted. She says it does not belong to Putin—at least not directly.

But Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny says it does. His research team published a video they say proves the yacht belongs to Vladimir Putin, a sentiment shared by U.S. intelligence officials after The New York Times reported alleged ties to the Russian president.

The area where the Scherezade—named after a key female character in Middle Eastern tale One Thousand and One Nights—is as close to Little Russia as anywhere in Italy. The port is lined with designer shops and a magnet for Russian tourists who flock to Forte dei Marmi resort, which hosts around 500 Russian “regulars” each summer, according to the local tourist board, which says most have cancelled for the upcoming season. In 2010, the residents petitioned to stop Russians from pushing out the locals, but in the end, the Russian Ruble won out and most of the port workers speak enough Russian to accommodate the numerous Russian yachts that are docked there most of the long Italian summers. The port authority said all the Russian yachts disappeared months before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. All but the Scheherazade, which is currently the only vessel in Italian waters without a distinct owner, according to the Italian Financial police.

Francesco De Pasquale, the mayor of Carrara, has grown weary of the interest in the mega ship. He and the leaders of the Italian Sea Group have issued a joint statement denying Putin is the owner. “According to the documentation available to the company and following what emerged from the checks carried out by the competent authorities, the 140-meter yacht Scheherazade, currently under construction for maintenance activities, is not attributable to the property of Russian President Vladimir Putin,” says the statement, also sent to The Daily Beast.

But the port also conceded that if the Scheherazade were to be seized, it would be disastrous for the port’s 400 workers who have already invested hundreds of hours and materials in the mega yacht refit. “Inside the yard, 400 direct workers and another 200 work in the related industries,” union leader Gazzoni says. “If the yacht, which has been carrying out refitting operations for weeks now, were seized it would be a disaster, an immense impact on the work of the workers; the seizure would freeze a huge area of ​​the construction site, who knows for how long, and would prevent new work from coming in.”

A new class of oligarchs could rise from Putin's seizure of Western assets, says an expert in Russian finance

Huileng Tan
Tue, March 22, 2022,

Russian President Vladimir Putin's plan to seize and nationalize the assets of foreign companies leaving the country could create a new class of oligarch.

Photo by Mikhail Metzel\TASS via Getty Images


Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to take over assets of foreign companies that leave the country.


The assets could be auctioned off, Russia's Economy Ministry has suggested.


A fire sale of the assets could create a new class of oligarchs, said a Russian finance expert.

Russia has announced it's considering seizing the assets of foreign companies that exit the country — and it could create a new class of oligarchs, an expert on Russian finance told Insider.

Those who manage to acquire ownership of seized assets at fire-sale prices through state auctions could become the new class of tycoons, said Hassan Malik, a senior sovereign analyst at Boston-based investment management consultancy Loomis Sayles.


"There's certainly a risk that you just see the creation of a new class of crony capitalists or oligarchs," Malik told Insider.

As international companies exit Russia en masse, they are leaving behind assets such as factories and offices that are in working condition. Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to take over such idle but productive assets, telling government officials the Kremlin would seek to "introduce external management and then transfer these enterprises to those who actually want to work," according to the Associated Press.

Russia's Economy Ministry has suggested the assets could be auctioned off, Bloomberg reported on March 10. The auctions could mirror a controversial 1990s "loans-for-shares" program launched by former Russian president Boris Yeltsin, Malik told Insider. At the time, rich Russian businessmen and banks close to the authorities lent the government money in exchange for stakes in state-owned industrial companies. The shares were acquired at "dirt-cheap prices," The New York Times wrote in 1996.

Malik described the deals as "sweetheart deals" because when the Russian state "predictably defaulted" on the loans, the creditors seized their shares. This created a generation of outrageously rich oligarchs, said Malik, who is also the author of "Bankers and Bolsheviks," a book about finance in the early 1900s during the Russian Revolution.

Russia's richest man, Vladimir Potanin, built up his vast fortune through the "loans-for-share" scheme when he acquired metals giant Nornickel. Potanin has a net worth of $24.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Billionaire Roman Abramovich (net worth $14.5 billion) acquired a controlling stake in oil company Sibneft through the program.

Today, the Russian government — in need of funds amid sweeping international sanctions over the Ukraine war — could offload seized foreign assets to favored investors at a discount again, Malik told Insider. "I think it's a real risk given Russia's history," he said.

Some foreign investors could be eyeing Russia

The Kremlin may also open such auctions up to foreign players, which could entice opportunistic investors eyeing a way into the market, said Malik.

"There may be players from countries where they feel relatively insulated from the threat of Western sanctions," he said.

Potential investors could hail from China, India, or countries in the Middle East that have not condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine, said Malik.

Among them, China is most likely to take an active role in pursuing investments in Russia, as it has more leverage in its power relations with the West than do many other countries, said Malik. Large, state-owned companies are unlikely to take the risk of running afoul of international sanctions, but investors could set up a holdings company that only operates and trades in China and Russia to get around restrictions, he said.

China appears to be eyeing opportunities in the Russian market already.

Chinese ambassador to Russia, Zhang Hanhui, told a group of business leaders in Moscow on Sunday to seize opportunities presented by a "void" in the country, the Russia Confucius Culture Promotion Association wrote on its official WeChat account.

Zhang did not mention sanctions, but told business leaders the international situation was "complex," with large companies facing issues in supply chains and payments. "This is a time when private, small- and medium-sized enterprises can play a role," said Zhang.


Zelenskyy calls on Italy to stop Russian oligarchs from using the country as a 'resort for murderers'

Jake Epstein
Tue, March 22, 2022

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the Italian Parliament via live video from the embattled city of Kyiv on March 22, 2022 in Rome, Italy.

Photo by Alessandra Benedetti - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images


Zelenskyy called on Italy to stop Russian oligarchs from using the country as a safe haven.


"Almost all of them use Italy as a place for vacation. So don't be a resort for murderers," he said.


The Ukrainian president addressed Italian lawmakers during a video address on Tuesday as Russia's invasion continues.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Italy on Tuesday to stop Russian oligarchs from using the country as a safe haven.

"You know those who brought war to Ukraine," Zelenskyy said while addressing Italian lawmakers in a video speech that was posted to his Telegram. "Those who order to fight and those who promote it."

He added: "Almost all of them use Italy as a place for vacation. So don't be a resort for murderers."

Zelenskyy urged lawmakers to seize Russian leaders' real estate and block access to oligarchs' bank accounts, yachts, and other assets.

"Let them apply their influence for peace to be able to come back to you someday," Zelenskyy said. "Support greater sanctions against Russia."

He also suggested Italy place an embargo on Russian oil imports and ban Russian ships from entering its ports.

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his attack on Ukraine nearly four weeks ago, the US, UK, and European Union have sanctioned a number of Russian oligarchs — powerful and wealthy individuals accused of having close ties to Putin.

As a result of the sanctions, many oligarchs have been stripped of their wealth and assets.

Italian authorities on Saturday seized a building complex owned Russian oligarch Alexei Mordashov, and the country has taken control of yachts and villas belonging to other oligarchs — all worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Zelenskyy's appeal for Italian lawmakers to do more to punish Russian elites comes after a string of virtual addresses to other countries, including the US, Germany, and Canada.

Meanwhile, Russia's war against Ukraine moved into its 27th day as Putin's forces continue to bombard Ukrainian cities and civilians.

Ongoing peace talks between the two sides have yet to lead to an end to the war.

 

A group of protesters in an inflatable dinghy tried to stop a Russian oligarch's $600 million superyacht from docking in Turkey, a report says

Abby Wallace

Tue, March 22, 2022, 

Roman Abramovich's yacht, Solaris, docked in Bodrum, Turkey on March 21.Ali Balli/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images.

• Protesters in a dinghy tried to stop a luxury yacht belonging to Roman Abramovich from docking in Turkey, The Independent reported.

• The protesters were carrying Ukrainian flags with the words "No War" written on them.

• The super-yacht later docked in the port of Bodrum, Turkey.

A group of protesters tried to block a luxury superyacht belonging to sanctioned Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich from docking in Turkey, The Independent reported.

The Solaris berthed at the port of Bodrum in southwest Turkey on Monday. According to The Independent, prior to mooring it was confronted by a dinghy carrying a group of protesters waving Ukrainian flags marked with the phrase "No War."

A video published on the paper's website showed the group maneuvering the dinghy near the bow of the yacht as it approached the quayside.

The $600 million vessel later successfully docked after the coastguard told the protesters to move, according to the paper.

Monday's protest is the latest aimed at luxury yachts belonging to the Russian elite.

Solaris was the target of a graffiti attempt while docked in Barcelona earlier this month, Insider's Grace Dean previously reported. Meanwhile, a Ukrainian engineer was arrested on suspicion of attempting to sink an $8 million luxury yacht belonging to his Russian boss in Mallorca, Spain, last month, in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Spanish media reported.

The US, UK, and European Union have imposed sanctions against Russia in the wake of its attack on Ukraine, which has resulted in freezing some assets belonging to Russian individuals. Several luxury yachts linked to oligarchs have been seized in ports across Europe, while other vessels are cruising towards destinations where they are less likely to be impounded as a result of sanctions.

Abramovich has been sanctioned by both the UK and the EU.

Bodrum has been popular with Russia's wealthy in the past, but Turkey's ports may also appeal to those sanctioned by other governments due to Ankara's stance on the invasion of Ukraine. Unlike other NATO members, Turkey has not imposed sanctions on Russia. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticized the measures, while at the same time also supporting Ukraine.

Solaris left the port of Tivat in Montenegro on March 13, two days before Abramovich was sanctioned by the EU. The vessel avoided other European locations where it could be at risk of seizure, before docking in Turkey, Insider's Kate Duffy reported.

The vessel was joined on Tuesday by another of Abramovich's luxury vessels, Eclipse, which moored at the nearby Turkish port of Marmaris.

Sanctioned oligarch Alisher Usmanov, the 5th-richest person in Russia, previously transferred his assets to trusts and doesn't own them anymore: report


Sanctioned oligarch Alisher Usmanov, the 5th-richest person in Russia, previously transferred his assets to trusts and doesn't own them anymore: report

Huileng Tan
Wed, March 23, 2022

AP/ Alexei Druzhinin

Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov has been sanctioned by the European Union, the US, UK, and Switzerland.

The UK government singled out two mansions Usmanov owns when announcing sanctions against the tycoon.

Usmanov's spokesman said the billionaire doesn't own the properties as they've been put into trusts.

Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov has been sanctioned by the European Union, UK, US, and Switzerland as governments rushed to freeze Russian oligarchs' assets amid the war in Ukraine.

But despite the wave of sanctions, the billionaire's assets might still be out of governments' reach, reports indicate. That's because Usmanov previously put hundreds of millions of dollars of assets — including most of his UK properties and a superyacht — into irrevocable trusts, the Guardian reported, citing a spokesperson for the tycoon. Such trusts cannot be amended after creation.

"From that point on, Mr Usmanov did not own them, nor was he able to manage them or deal with their sale, but could only use them on a rental basis," the billionaire's spokesperson told the Guardian. "Mr Usmanov withdrew from the beneficiaries of the trusts, donating his beneficial rights to his family."

The UK government said on March 3 that Usmanov owns mansions worth tens of millions of dollars in the country.

Usmanov's spokesperson would not tell Guardian when the trusts were established, but told Reuters all the tycoon's properties were transferred in 2006.

"All of Mr Usmanov's properties were settled into the irrevocable trusts long before the sanctions came," the spokesperson told Reuters. "It had nothing to do with sanctions and was determined by estate planning."

Usmanov is Russia's fifth-richest person with a net worth of $18.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He founded USM, a holding company, in 2012 to consolidate his interests in a wide range of industries including metals, telecoms, and tech.

The two mansions the UK government said belonged to Usmanov have been linked to a web of trusts and companies registered in tax havens like the British Virgin Islands, reported the BBC.

"Complex networks of secretive shell companies in these jurisdictions means the UK government is attempting to enforce these sanctions with one arm tied behind its back," Steve Goodrich, Head of Research and Investigations at Transparency International UK, told the BBC.

A spokesman for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Reuters the country's sanctions would have a "significant impon Usmanov.

Usmanov did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, sent via USM, but has said EU sanctions against him were based on "false and defamatory allegations" and that he will use "all legal means" to protect his honor and reputation.

3 Russian oligarchs step down from the Jewish philanthropy group they founded after pledging $10 million in aid to Ukraine

Hannah Towey
Mon, March 21, 2022,

Mikhail Fridman gives a speech at The 3rd Genesis award at the Jerusalem Theater on June 23, 2016 in Jerusalem, Israel.Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images for Genesis Prize Foundation

Petr Aven, Mikhail Fridman, and German Kahn resigned from a Jewish philanthropy group they founded.

The three Russian oligarchs were recently sanctioned by both the EU and the UK.

The foundation said it will not affect the $10 million in aid GPG has pledged to donate to Ukraine.

Russian oligarchs Petr Aven, Mikhail Fridman, and German Kahn have resigned from the board of Genesis Philanthropy Group (GPG), a Jewish grant-making foundation founded by the trio in 2007.

The three oligarchs were hit by sanctions from the EU and UK following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Earlier this March, the billionaires similarly left the board of LetterOne, a $22 billion investment firm founded by Fridman.

From French vineyards to British football clubs, sanctioned oligarchs are scrambling to shift and sell their Western assets to avoid seizure. Now, it appears even their philanthropy efforts (and the tax deductions that often come with) cannot escape international scrutiny.

"In order to assure the ability of GPG to stay true to its mission and build on the foundation we have created over the past 15 years, all three have resigned from the Board of Directors," GPG wrote in the emailed announcement first reported by The Jerusalem Post on Friday.

The oligarchs' resignations will not impact a $10 million donation that GPG previously pledged to donate to the Ukrainian Jewish community, according to the announcement. Half of the emergency aid relief will go toward evacuation efforts and food distribution, with the second $5 million reserved to "support humanitarian needs as the situation develops," per the foundation's website.

GPG did not respond to Insider's request for comment on whether or not the aid has made it to Ukraine, and which local organizations it will be funding.

Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman, who are described by the EU as "one of Vladimir Putin's closest oligarchs" and "enabler of Putin's inner circle," have said they will "vigorously contest" the sanctions placed against them in recent weeks.

Mikhail Fridman, a Ukrainian-born Jew, was one of the first Russian oligarchs to speak out against the war in Ukraine in a message sent to LetterOne employees. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, he said sanctioned oligarchs like him have no influence on Putin and it would be "suicide" to challenge him on Ukraine.

Despite growing criticism from Russia's elite who have lost billions since the start of the war, experts previously told Insider that Putin is likely unconcerned about the oligarchs' pushback, and only his tiny inner circle have his ear.

PUTIN'S AMERICAN OLIGARCH

Filmmaker who documented Russia's propaganda says Trump 'fits neatly' into Moscow's narrative as the only US leader who 'wasn't trying to destroy the Russian way of life'


Cheryl Teh
Wed, March 23, 2022

Former President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on July 16, 2018.Yuri Kadobnov/AFP via Getty Images


The filmmaker Maxim Pozdorovkin said Donald Trump fit "neatly" into an anti-West Kremlin narrative.


He said Trump was portrayed as the only US leader not "trying to destroy the Russian way of life."


He described Russia as "fully and artfully" waging an information war for the past decade.

A filmmaker who has extensively documented Russian propaganda said this week that of all the US leaders, former President Donald Trump fit "neatly" into the Kremlin's anti-West narrative.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Maxim Pozdorovkin — whose award-winning documentary "Our New President" follows Trump's election in 2016 as depicted by Russia's state-linked media — gave his take on Moscow's long-standing propaganda campaign against the US and the West.

Pozdorovkin told The Post that in the decade leading up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Russians had been fed the same message "over and over" by President Vladimir Putin's government that the West was constantly attempting to "stifle and destroy" their society. He said Trump "fits neatly" in Moscow's propaganda efforts because he could be portrayed as the "one American leader who wasn't trying to destroy the Russian way of life."

In the context of that narrative, Pozdorovkin said, the domestic backlash that Trump faced in the US — no matter the real reason — could be framed as being fueled by anti-Russia interests.

"It's been an information war — a totally one-sided information war — and it has been waged so fully and artfully that it's made a lot of what's happening now preemptively possible," he told the outlet.

"The Russian media has been totally shadowboxing for years; no one was fighting back," he said later in the interview. "But that doesn't really matter. If you ingrain this message of victimhood so completely, what it does is when there's any kind of Putin aggressive action, as there is now, a lot of people in Russia don't see it as aggressive.

"They just see it as standing up for their way of life."

Trump and Putin met five times during Trump's presidency, though details of these meetings were handled secretively, as The New York Times reported in 2019. Trump's dealings with Russia and apparent openness toward Russian help during his 2016 presidential campaign attracted wide scrutiny during much of his presidency.

Amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Trump has made several statements about Putin and Russia.

Most recently, Trump said if he were still president, he would send nuclear submarines to go "up and down" Russia's coast to pressure Putin. He has also suggested in a speech to Republican donors that the US put Chinese flags on its fighter jets to "bomb the shit out of Russia."

Soon before the invasion, Trump praised Putin's justification for sending his forces into Ukraine, calling the Russian leader "savvy," "smart," and a "genius."

Read the original article on Business Insider

Former Ukrainian MP now works on frontline as anti-tank missile operator

Kate Buck

Tue, March 22, 2022, 

A former Ukrainian MP has taken up a very different role following the Russian invasion, working on the frontlines as an anti-tank guided missile operator.

Tetiana Chornovol, 42, turned to politics in 2014 when she was elected to the Ukrainian parliament as a member of the nationalist and conservative People's Party.

Before entering Parliament, the former journalist was well known for her investigative reports about corruption in Ukraine, and in 2013 was one of the leaders of the pro-European, anti-corruption, Euromaidan protests which saw months of civil unrest and protests.

On Christmas Day in 2013, the mother-of-two was dragged from her car and beaten, suffering a broken nose, concussion and bruising. It is believed her work as a journalist lead to her being targeted.

Tetiana Chornovol, former member of the Ukrainian Parliament, service member and operator of an anti-tank guided missile weapon system. (Reuters)

Tetiana Chornovol pictured talking to press in April 2020. (Getty)

Read more: Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko says he cries 'every day' at destruction Putin has caused

Following protests in early 2014, Chornovol was arrested and charged with murder in connection with a Molotov cocktail attack, something which Chornovol denied and said were "trumped up" charges. It is not clear how the case ended.

Her husband Mykola Berezovyi was killed during fighting in eastern Ukraine in 2014 while serving as a volunteer fighter in the far-right Azov Battalion.

Now, Tetyana is in the Ukrainian Army and works as a trained Stugna-P anti-tank guided missile operator.

Her unit, one of many positioned north of capital Kyiv, is tasked with engaging and destroying Russian tanks and armoured vehicles in order to stop the Russian army's approach to the country's capital.

Vladimir Putin's forces are now on the 27th day of fighting following their invasion on 24 February, but have yet to take control of the capital of Kyiv as they face fierce resistance.

Chornovol is among a huge number of Ukrainians who have paused their everyday jobs to take up arms in defence of their country.

Now, Tetyana is in the Ukrainian Army and works as a trained Stugna-P anti-tank guided missile operator. (Reuters)

(Reuters)

Describing her most recent hit, she said: "The tank literally flew off the road and now it is somewhere in the road ditch in the forest.

"One destroyed tank was enough to stop the attack, for the column to turn back and run away," she said.

Speaking from a ditch on the frontlines outside of Kyiv she added: "We saw tanks appearing and we literally ran to our position. I ran to my operator's seat, not a seat but rather a case."

"I switch it on and see tanks on the screen. They just entered within the range of my missile. I took aim and destroyed the first tank."

"Interestingly, the rocket was flying for quite some time. Perhaps the tanks registered the rocket's launch and managed to turn back but I shot it right at the fuel tanks and the ammunition load has detonated.

(Reuters)

"The tank literally flew off the road and now it is somewhere in the road ditch in the forest. After that we came under fire, not for long, all during this time the (Russian) military vehicles were turning back and escaping."

When asked what she would like to say to soldiers trying to invade her country, she said: "Better they do not come here, they will end up buried here, they will become fertiliser.

"Better they go home and not listen to their evil government."