EU under pressure to get tough on Vietnam rights record

Experts are calling on the EU to take a stance on Vietnam's rights record amid new trade talks.



The EVFTA was meant to improve rights issues in Vietnam

After a planned human rights dialogue session with Vietnam was postponed earlier this month, the European Union is under renewed pressure to get tough on the one-party state, which is often ranked as one of the worst abusers of human rights in Asia.

Bilateral trade surged by around 13% in 2021, largely the result of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) that came into effect the previous year, which was hailed by Brussels as the "most ambitious free trade deal ever concluded with a developing country."

Part of the commission's pitch to skeptics in the European Parliament was that the EVFTA required the ruling Vietnamese Communist Party to introduce several reforms, notably on workers' rights, and open up monitoring to civil society groups. Many reckon this was a false promise.

The EVFTA was supposed to bring about human rights improvements in Vietnam, "but ever since the deal was signed in 2020, repression against social and environmental activists by Vietnamese authorities has never been higher," said Maria Arena, an MEP and chair of the European Parliament's subcommittee on human rights.

Repression on the rise

Jessica Nguyen, advocacy officer of the 88Project, a monitoring group, says there are at least 207 jailed activists and political prisoners in Vietnam, the highest number of any Southeast Asian state, and that things are getting worse.

According to their soon-to-be-published report for 2021, while the number of arrests and trials in 2020 and 2021 were similar, the severity of sentences was far greater in 2021. Of the 32 activists tried last year, 23 were sentenced to five or more years in prison, whereas less than half of those tried in 2020 received such lengthy sentences.

A bilateral human rights dialogue was supposed to be held in Brussels earlier this month but was postponed because medical reasons prevented the Vietnamese delegation from traveling, said an EU official. It isn't known when the session will be held.

"We share the concerns raised by civil society about the human rights situation in Vietnam," said Peter Stano, an EU spokesperson. "The EU has consistently called on the Vietnamese authorities to release detainees and to guarantee the right to a fair trial for all individuals.”

"We will continue to monitor human rights in Vietnam, and work with all those concerned towards the improvement of the situation," he added. "Despite the concerns, we believe that the EU must continue to engage with the country's authorities and on the ground. The next available opportunity is the Human Rights dialogue."
Trade policy 'incompatible' with rights

Arena, the chair of the European Parliament's subcommittee on human rights, reckons there is little hope that this new session "will bring any change on the ground if the [European] Commission keeps tolerating the Vietnamese government's blatant violations of its human rights obligations and commitments."

"Overall, Vietnam is a clear example that our trade policy is not compatible with the objectives of promoting human rights and the environment with our trade partners," she noted.

Camille Nessel, an analyst at Université Libre de Bruxelles and Ghent University, has written about the EU's attempt to create what she calls an "ethical narrative."

"In the EVFTA narrative, Vietnam's political elites are largely 'devillanized.' The EU presents Vietnam as a developing country, struggling with developmental issues, instead of an authoritarian state," Nessel told DW.

"The EVFTA is presented as bringing economic development to Vietnam, and therefore necessary to fight 'underdevelopment' in Vietnam," she added. "At the same time, almost no agency is given to Vietnam's authoritarian political apparatus in being responsible for the human rights situation in Vietnam.

As part of the EVFTA, both sides were supposed to create their own Domestic Advisory Group (DAG), a civil-society component to allow independent observers to monitor the implementation of the EVFTA, especially in areas such as workers' rights, land rights and the environment.

Although the EU established its DAG in December 2020, the Vietnam counterpart hasn't yet been formed. Vietnam "has been dragging its feet," said Nguyen, of the 88Project, adding that bilateral meetings have had to be postponed as a result.
Critics call out too little change

Worse, in July last year, the journalist Mai Phan Loi and lawyer Dang Dinh Bach were arrested on alleged trumped-up charges of tax evasion. They were sentenced to four and five years in jail, respectively, in January. Both were executive board members of the VNGO-EVFTA Network, an unofficial version of the DAG formed by several Vietnamese civil society groups.

Perhaps adding insult to injury, the Vietnamese authorities in January also arrested the prominent environmentalist Nguy Thi Khanh, whose five-year, EU-funded project had just ended.

Claudio Francavilla, the EU advocate at Human Rights Watch, called the DAG a "smokescreen, a fairy tale."

Not only can one not find independent and registered civil society groups in Vietnam, he said, the DAG is only tasked with monitoring the implementation of the EVFTA. That definition could be stretched but the Vietnamese authorities won't allow it..

"Unfortunately, a majority of MEPs was persuaded by the EU and businesses to have a very low ambition on human rights,” Francavilla commented.

But that was the case from the very start of the process. In 2019, months before the European Parliament voted to approve the EVFTA, the famed independent journalist Pham Chi Dung was arrested, supposedly because of his reporting about the trade pact and associated human rights issues. He was jailed for 15 years in early 2021.

Edited by: Leah Carter

‘I lost everything’: Somaliland market fire upturns life, economy

Residents and traders say the market in Hargeisa was an entire financial district and pivotal to Somaliland’s economy.

A man walks through the destroyed Waheen Market, epicentre of commercial activity in the unrecognised de facto state of Somaliland 

[File: Edward Cavanough/Al Jazeera]

By Edward Cavanough
Published On 26 Apr 2022

Hargeisa, Somaliland: On April 1, the first night of Ramadan, 23-year-old Somalilander Abdul Rahman was undertaking a solemn duty.

A friend’s relative had recently passed away, and Rahman was helping dig the grave. As he toiled in a graveyard on the outskirts of Hargeisa, the capital of the unrecognised de facto state of Somaliland, his phone lit up.

News of a major fire in the Waheen Market, a sprawling bazaar that employed more than 12,000 Somalilanders, was circulating widely on social media. As the owner of a clothing stall in the market, Rahman raced to the scene.

“We were in the graveyard, and we ran 3 kilometres to the fire. All the streets were blocked by cars,” he said. When he arrived, he found the market engulfed in flames. “I worked with the firefighters to remove the stock,” Rahman said. “It was very dangerous.”

About 300 metres (1,000 feet) away, former Somaliland head of mission to the United Kingdom, Ayan Mahamoud, was dining at the Damal Hotel. “We [first] thought it was a small fire. And just five to 10 minutes [later], we saw the fire literally in the sky,” said Mahamoud.

“The whole city was running,” she said. “At some point, we thought we’re all going to die.”

Traders have set up shop on adjacent streets, blocking traffic after the Waheen market fire in Somaliland.

 [File: Edward Cavanough/Al Jazeera]

Ruins and memories of ruins

Rahman showed Al Jazeera a photo of what remained of the family business founded by his father in 2006, which directly supported 20 people. It was destroyed.

Access to the market site has been restricted as the clean-up operation commences.

Three weeks after the blaze was brought under control, smoke continued to billow from one pile of rubble. Ottoman buildings dating back to the 19th century are crumbling. Twisted sheets of corrugated iron are scattered across the site. Stock is charred and left in place, and the air remains thick with smoke and dust.

A single tree that once provided shade for Somalilanders in the open-air section of the market still stands, but is now blackened and stripped of foliage.

While no deaths were reported — the fire broke out after the market had closed — the sheer scale of the blaze has scarred Somaliland, economically and emotionally.

Authorities have estimated the economic impact of the fire at $2bn, or 60 percent of Somaliland’s gross domestic product (GDP). The astronomical figure is due to the market’s centrality to Somaliland’s economy.

Much of the trade that flowed through the de facto state ended up for sale at the Waheen. “It was more than a market, it was an entire financial district,” said Mahamoud.

The disaster comes as Somaliland battles fierce drought conditions, which have devastated communities throughout the Horn of Africa. The United Nations estimates the drought has impacted over 800,000 people in Somaliland, and in February, it stressed the need for “urgent humanitarian support” for those affected.

For some Somalilanders, the devastating scene of the destroyed Waheen Market brings back painful memories of the Somali civil war.

Between 1987 and 1989, more than 200,000 Isaaq tribespeople were killed in what has been described as Africa’s “forgotten genocide”. Much of the killing occurred in Hargeisa, which was also largely destroyed by the then-Somali government’s air raids.

Across the city, the fire is now being viewed as its second-biggest disaster. A lot of the traders were “that generation who left” Somaliland due to the genocide, Mahamoud said.

“They are saying ‘we’ve rebuilt once, we will do it again’. You just feel their lives have been taken away again from them,” she said.

Political hurdles

Three decades after declaring independence from Somalia, Somaliland bears the hallmarks of a legitimate independent state. It has sovereign control of its borders, issues its own currency, maintains a foreign service, and is run by a government elected through democratic processes.


But Somaliland is still considered an autonomous region within Somalia, with Mogadishu – and the rest of the world – continuing to reject Hargeisa’s claim.

Achieving international recognition is therefore one of the central objectives of the Somaliland government.

Before the fire, major efforts towards this goal were underway. A government delegation, led by President Muse Bihi Abdi, returned from the United States late in March, hopeful of a new era of engagement with Washington.

A port and road investment from the United Arab Emirates had strengthened Somaliland’s economic credentials and a new partnership with Taiwan had given Somaliland a useful diplomatic partner on the world stage.

The fire, however, has forced the Somaliland government to shift its attention towards recovery, which itself is being hampered by Hargeisa’s complicated political status.

In the days after the disaster, the international community pledged assistance.

“Your city will rise again and UK will do what we can to support Somaliand’s rebuilding effort,” Boris Johnson, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, tweeted after the fire.

But as an unrecognised state, foreign governments are unable to freely send money to Hargeisa, instead funnelling assistance through proxy NGOs which can slow disaster response.

Only Taiwan, which established a de facto embassy in Somaliland in 2020, has been able to directly contribute resources to the Somaliland government, pledging $500,000.

The ruins of the Waheen Market, Somaliland

 [File: Edward Cavanough/Al Jazeera]

‘We saw all of our stock burn’

Within two weeks of the fire, the Somaliland government had identified almost 1,000 victims eligible for compensation. Initial estimates suggest 2,000 business owners were affected, though the true number is much higher given the prevalence of unregistered traders.

Shiran, who carted goods throughout the market on a wheelbarrow unregistered, was one of those who lost his livelihood. “We saw all of our stock burn,” he said, via a translator. “We are really asking for help”.

Abdi Shakur was another unregistered trader. “I lost almost $2,000. I lost everything,” he told Al Jazeera.

In the aftermath of the fire, displaced traders have camped on the surrounding streets, setting up new stalls on once busy thoroughfares, creating gridlock in downtown Hargeisa.

As Eid approaches, Hargeisa is adjusting to a new normal, with the economic and cultural heart of the Somaliland capital now only a memory.

But with food security in Somaliland already threatened by the ongoing drought, an emotional Mahamoud fears that economic impact of the Waheen fire could be the beginning of something worse.


“It’s one thing about how to recover economically,” she said. “It’s another to make sure people are not dying of hunger.”




© 2022 Al Jazeera Media Network

Big Tobacco, Black trauma

APRIL 26TH, 2022 | 29:44 | 

EPISODE DETAILS / TRANSCRIPT

EPISODE SUMMARY

Tobacco companies have historically targeted menthol-flavored cigarettes at the Black community. As the federal government weighs a ban, the industry is doubling down.

EPISODE NOTES

Menthol-flavored cigarettes have been controversial for decades, and the Food and Drug Administration is weighing a national ban on them. But tobacco companies are not a fan of losing out on millions of dollars with that possible move. So they’ve enlisted leaders in a community that has long been the biggest consumer of menthols: Black people.

Read the show transcript here.

Host: Gustavo Arellano

Guests: L.A. Times medical investigations reporter Emily Baumgaertner, and Ben Stockton of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

More reading:

How Big Tobacco used George Floyd and Eric Garner to stoke fear among Black smokers

Addicted to menthol: Big Tobacco’s targeting of Black communities could soon end

Op-Ed: Big Tobacco helped destroy Black Americans’ health. Banning menthols could help improve

Russia Warns Nuclear War ‘Unacceptable’, But Danger Is Real


TEHRAN (FNA)- Russia’s starting position is that atomic war should be unacceptable and Moscow successfully persuaded the US and other nuclear powers to agree on that back in January, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview on Monday. However, he added that the situation has since deteriorated to the point where there is a real and serious threat of such a conflict.

Russia tried to persuade US President Donald Trump to recommit to the 1987 statement by US and Soviet leaders that there can be no winners in a nuclear war, and that such a war should never be fought, Lavrov revealed in the interview with the ‘Great Game’, a political show on Russia’s Channel One.

While the Trump administration declined to do so, his successor Joe Biden “quickly” agreed with Moscow, and the statement was made at the summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva, in June 2021.

China, France and the UK – the remaining three nuclear powers that are also permanent members of the UN Security Council – agreed as well, and made a joint statement in January 2021.

“This is our principled position. We start from it,” Lavrov said.

However, the risks of nuclear war are now “very significant. I don't want them artificially inflated. There are many who would wish for it. The danger is serious, real. It cannot be underestimated,” he added.

Lavrov praised as “good and wise” the Biden administration’s first foreign policy move, which was to agree with Russia that the New Start treaty should be unconditionally extended for 5 years. On the other hand, it is the last arms control agreement left standing, after Washington pulled out of the ABM, INF and Open Skies treaties.

Discussions with US working groups abruptly ended in February, after Russia was “forced to defend the Russians in Ukraine” that had been “bombed for eight years without any reaction from the West”, Lavrov noted.

Russia’s top diplomat compared the current situation to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis – the Caribbean Crisis, as it is known in Moscow. Back then, he stated there weren’t many “written” rules, but the implicit rules of conduct were clear for both Washington and Moscow to follow.

“In those years, there was a channel of communication that both leaders trusted. Now there is no such channel. Nobody is trying to create it. Separate timid attempts made at an early stage did not give much result,” Lavrov added.

In place of the implicit rules of that era, Lavrov said, today “rules are a buzzword the US and its allies use when they are required to behave ‘nicely’”.

"They no longer insist on international law, but on respect for the ‘rules-based world order’, in which the ‘rules’ are never explained in any way," he stressed.

Right now, everyone is “casting spells” saying that a Third World War should not be allowed to break out, Lavrov announced, while adding fuel to the fire by sending weapons to Ukraine and hoping to prolong the conflict in order to bleed out Russia.

The US and the UK advise Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to tighten Kiev’s position at every round of talks with Moscow, Lavrov claimed.

"As for the talks, we know it for sure, that neither the US nor the UK, which seeks to compensate for its current lonely status after the exit from the EU with its unbridled activity, advises Zelensky to speed up the talks. They advise Zelensky to tighten his position every time," he said.

Washington has renounced practically all contacts with Moscow against the background of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, the FM added.

"The US gave up on practically all contacts because we were forced to defend the Russians in Ukraine, who had been bombarded for eight years without any reaction whatsoever form the West, except to encourage Russophobic and neo-Nazi actions of the Kiev regime, when the Russian language was outlawed everywhere - in education, in media, in everyday live, while the neo-Nazi and Nazi theories and practices were encouraged legislatively," Lavrov said.

He also stressed that the US and its allies are using the term ‘rules’ that they apply when everyone is required to behave well, insisting not on respect for international law, but on respect for the world order based on the rules.

"These rules have not been translated in any way", and they are not applicable to Russia, since it respects international law, he continued.

"We respect it and we respect the UN Charter and the key provision of the UN charter which says that the sovereign equality of the states is the main principle," he added.

Kiev backed out of a number of proposals for a treaty with Moscow, which the Ukrainian side proposed during the negotiations in Istanbul, Lavrov said.

"This is how they acted [backed out] on a number of other proposals, which they put forth in Istanbul. Once again, I underscore that these proposals were perceived positively in general," the foreign minister said.

Weapons that Western states ship to Ukraine will later spread to the countries that they were shipped from, Lavrov added.

"As previous experience indicates, these weapons will spread from Ukraine, just like from any other poorly controlled country, […] where neo-Nazi battalions do not follow the commander-in-chief’s orders, to other states, including to the very states that they are being shipped from now," he underlined.

Lavrov pointed out that, in addition to tanks and armored vehicles, thousands of man-portable air defense missile systems (MANPADs) are being shipped to Ukraine.

"This is a terrorists’ weapon," he noted.

"By the way, we had an agreement with the Americans on mutual informing about shipment of MANPADs abroad for years for a reason; this made it clear for them that we will not give our weapons to bad hands, and we also understood that they would not do such mistakes," Lavrov underscored.

China reaffirms commitment to denuclearization of Korean Peninsula
CGTN

China on Tuesday reaffirmed its commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula after Pyongyang vowed to strengthen its nuclear capabilities.

Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said China is committed to maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula, realizing denuclearization and resolving disputes through dialogue and consultation.

China will enhance communication and coordination with the relevant parties and jointly promote the political settlement of the peninsula issue, Wang said at a regular press briefing.

A Hwasong-17 ICBM is displayed during a military parade to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, DPRK, April 25, 2022. /CFP

Kim Jong Un, leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), said on Monday that the DPRK will take further steps to strengthen and develop the country's nuclear capabilities to the "fastest possible speed," according to the DPRK's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

"The fundamental mission of our nuclear forces is to deter a war, but our nukes can never be confined to the single mission of war deterrent even at a time when a situation we are not desirous of at all is created on this land," Kim said.

The DPRK held a military parade to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang on Monday night, during which the country's largest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the Hwasong-17, was displayed, the KCNA reported.

Amid stalled denuclearization talks and escalated tensions on the peninsula, the DPRK conducted over a dozen weapons tests this year, including its first ICBM test since 2017.

New research detects pre-eruption warning signals at Whakaari White Island and other active volcanoes

The Conversation
April 25, 2022

The sudden eruption at White Island was short-lived but produced an ash plume that rose several kilometres above the vent. 

GNZ Science, CC BY-ND

Scientifically and emotively, we think every volcano has its own “personality”. However, we’ve discovered that volcanoes share behavior traits – and this could form the basis for an eruption warning system.

Whakaari White Island, a picturesque volcanic island in the Bay of Plenty, was a tourist magnet, with its alien landscape and spectacular hydrothermal features. This idyll was shattered on December 9 2019 when high-pressure steam and gas exploded, concentrating in a deadly surge of hot ash down its main access valley. Of the 47 guides and tourists present, 22 died while many others suffered horrific burns.


An explosion of steam and gas shot hot ash across the main access valley of Whakaari White Island.

New Zealand Defence Force via Getty Images

Since that tragedy, we have been studying past eruptions at Whakaari, and volcanoes like it, to identify the warning signs of an imminent eruption.
Deciphering volcanic language

Every volcano behaves differently: some have crater lakes while others are “dry”, they have diverse magmas and rise to different elevations. Despite these differences, we think volcanoes such as Whakaari, Ruapehu and Tongariro in New Zealand could be driven to eruption by common processes in the shallow sub-surface below their craters.

In our new research, we used machine learning to sift through 40 years of seismic data from the New Zealand volcanoes and three others around the world, listening for particular frequencies that track the depth where gas, magma or water are moving or building up.

We saw one pattern repeatedly in the days before all the known Whakaari eruptions over the past decade, and most Ruapehu and Tongariro ones. This pattern is a slow strengthening of a quantity called Displacement Seismic Amplitude Ratio (DSAR), which peaks a few days before each event.

DSAR is a ratio that compares the “activity” of fluids (gas, hot water, steam) at the volcano’s surface to those several hundred meters deep. When DSAR increases, surface fluids are quiet, but deep ones are still actively moving and circulating vigorously below ground.

This indicates a blockage or seal has formed, preventing gas escape. Like a pressure-cooker, if the gas can’t escape a volcano, it explodes.

What happened at Whakaari

About a month before the December 2019 eruption, deep gas started to rise into Whakaari’s hydrothermal system. This put pressure onto the groundwater, keeping it in a liquid state, even as it became “superheated”.

As this fluid circulates below the vent, it is registered as noise or “tremor” on seismometers. GNS Science noted this increased tremor and, on November 18, raised Whakaari’s alert level to Volcanic Alert Level (VAL) 2, which is the highest level outside an eruption.

Key changes at Whakaari White Island leading up to the December 9 2019 eruption.
Provided by author, CC BY-SA

About a week later, Whakaari began to pulse. Pressure and tremor would build over about 24 hours, before discharging explosively at the bottom of the crater lake. This resulted in geysers and fountains, throwing mud and debris up to the height of a ten-storey building.

Crucially, these gas bursts were safety valves, easing the pressure in the system.

At the beginning of December, the gas bursts stopped and the surface became quiet. Rather than being cause for relief, we think this indicated a new and much more dangerous phase. A seal had formed, trapping the gas. The high DSAR shows that below the seal, the system was as noisy as ever, with pressure continuing to rise.

Between 9pm and midnight on December 8 2019, there was a strong burst of seismic energy. This was likely fresh magmatic fluid arriving to ramp up the pressure on gas and water already trapped in the rock. It also began the process of explosive release, because it caused small cracks to form in the seal.

The growth of cracks began to accelerate, setting Whakaari on the path to a cascading system failure, as has been seen before in eruptions in 2012 and 2013. Once the weakness was widespread, the seal failed, disgorging the massive steam-explosion at 2:11pm on December 9.


Of the 47 people on Whakaari on the day of the eruption, 22 died and many others suffered horrific burns. John Borren/Getty Images

Understanding Ruapehu

Mount Ruapehu is a 2800m stratovolcano in New Zealand’s central North Island.

It is also capped by a hydrothermal system and a warm crater lake (Te Wai a Moe). The temperature and level of its lake is known to vary in cycles, responding to changes in gas released into its base, local weather or the occasional formation of a gas seal.

Unfortunately, the lake is so large it hides the surface activity that is useful for diagnosing volcanoes like Whakaari.


The same patterns of gas build-up observed at Whakaari have also been seen at Mount Ruapehu. Shutterstock/bondjb

This is where DSAR is so powerful. We have spotted the same pattern that reveals gas sealing at Whakaari numerous times at Ruapehu. We monitor DSAR at Ruapehu closely: over the past month it has increased dramatically.

We think this shows a new seal has formed, building pressure. This could end in an eruption similar to the 2006/07 cycle that generated destructive lahars (volcanic mud flows).

GNS Science has reported similar concerns in their decision to raise Ruapehu’s alert level to VAL 2.

This type of analysis is so new we have not had many chances to test how reliable the DSAR and other automated measures are for forecasting. However, the current high DSAR and lake heating have put all scientist on alert. History shows this state does not always lead to an eruption, but we must remain vigilant.

David Dempsey, Senior lecturer, University of Canterbury; Alberto Ardid, Post Doctoral Researcher, University of Canterbury, and Shane Cronin, Professor of Earth Sciences, University of Auckland

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

How London became the dirty money capital of the world: FT report

Yasser Seddiq , Tuesday 26 Apr 2022

"There is no question that London is the dirty money capital of the world," a recent video report by The Financial Times (FT) said.

How London became the dirty money capital of the world | FT Film (Financial Times)

This is taking place near or in countries not far from international bodies and organisations specialised in combating money laundering, where they direct accusations against many other countries, but at the same time turn a blind eye to what is happening in London, according to Western economic sources.

The origins came with the big bang under Margaret Thatcher when she started liberalising the financial services sector, and then that carried on under the labour government with a commission on deregulation, the report said.

The Financial Times published a lengthy investigation that revealed the involvement of British banks and law firms in money laundering operations. It said that London had for decades represented an incubator for corruption and criminals from all over the world, and that it did not turn a blind eye to Russian money, but rather welcomed it.

The Financial Times report said that 31 law firms, 86 banks and 177 educational institutions in Britain accepted or moved dirty money from around the world back home. It added that the London Stock Exchange welcomed many Russian companies, turning the United Kingdom and London to their European base.

There are statements on the record from Boris Johnson, the prime minister, from when he was the mayor of London, saying that he wanted to make London a hub for Russian money. The Stock Exchange welcomed lots of Russian companies, and wanted them to make the UK and London their European base.

“Let's say you wanted to bring dirty money into the City of London and integrate it into the system, there are basically four key stages, placement, layering, integration, and defence. So let's start with bringing your money from, say, a Latvian bank account, a Cayman bank account, you want to then move that into a UK shell company,” the report said.

“You're supposed to tell the Companies House registry who the real owners, the beneficial owners, of the companies are. But in practise, it's really easy to evade those rules. And fundamentally, no one goes after companies that just lie.”

"It is essentially a Wild West of information, which is unverified, and in some cases ludicrous," the report said.

"You can put forward any name, hide your identity. There are Adolf Hitlers, and Donald Ducks, and Mickey Mouses. It is so easy to register a company on Companies House, costs £12, you can do it in minutes. And crucially, no one checks the information."

Usually, the applications are approved within 24 hours. They do not actually have the statutory power to check the information, to investigate false information, or remove it from the register.

"The next stage you want to layer to move this money around in a series of complicated financial transactions that will distance you from the money and from your source of wealth. That's where the UK banks come in. Some 86 banks have been involved in obtaining, moving corrupt wealth around the world," the report said.

The cash, by the time it arrives in London, has probably already gone through a couple of British overseas territories like the British Virgin Islands.

"Step three is you want to integrate your wealth into the UK system. You want to buy assets, including UK property. Lawyers, real estate agents are on hand to help you do that," the report said.

The report detailed that one can own UK property through a shell company, even an offshore shell company.

"And if you do own it through an offshore shell company, you don't have to say who really owns that property."

Lawyers are on hand to advise on these complicated transactions, which creates an opaque ownership structure of some of the most valuable UK homes. Roughly 84,000 homes in the UK are owned anonymously. Some £6.7 billion of UK property has been bought with suspicious wealth, the report said.

One of the attractions of being in London is the network of lawyers, accountants, oligarchs, and kleptocrats, according to the report. English law provides a stamp of legitimacy.

"We've identified 81 law firms, 86 UK banks, and surprisingly 177 UK education institutions that have accepted or moved dirty money from around the world. Russians own our newspapers, their children are in the elite public schools. Their properties are in Mayfair."

The value of money laundering every year is between £23 billion and £57 billion, in Britain; one of the largest economies in the world.

Veteran Labour MP Margaret Hodge said that what is "very worrying is that the government has held extensive consultations on this issue, and had a bill literally waiting on the shelves for years, however, it left many holes in it. We closed some of them, and we were unable to close others. There are many points in it that we cannot achieve."

"I feel uncomfortable that it took the tragedy of Ukraine to get the government to act on the issue of dirty money," she added as quoted by Independent Arabia.

The same newspaper quoted Joe Powell, the co-founder of the Kensington Against Dirty Money campaign as he asserted that ministers have to act now against the illicit wealth stored in the United Kingdom.

'Speaking out': Russian musicians tour for Ukraine refugees

AFP , Tuesday 26 Apr 2022

Russian rapper Noize MC bounds onto the brightly lit stage in Warsaw to the screams of hundreds of adoring fans at his anti-war concert.



After an emotional speech denouncing the Kremlin's sweeping military operation in Ukraine, he flashes a peace sign with his fingers to the mostly Ukrainian but also Russian and Belarusian audience.

"I will be making this sign until my hands are tied behind my back," Noize MC told the crowd, alluding to alleged Russian atrocities in Ukrainian towns such as Bucha, where bodies were found with their hands bound behind their backs.

Noize MC, 37, real name Ivan Alexeyev, is one of two Russian pop acts who have teamed up to perform in the Czech Republic, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to raise money for the more than 5.2 million Ukrainians forced to flee the conflict.

He and his touring partner -- electronic music star Monetochka -- have so far raised more than 200,000 euros ($214,000) for a Polish charity helping refugees with their "Voices of Peace" concert series.



"I wanted to find a way where I can be most effective in speaking out," Monetochka told AFP in an interview before her set.

When she did take the stage, it was against projections of ballerinas from the Russian ballet Swan Lake, which is highly symbolic in Russia as a byword for Soviet decay and regime collapse.

'Talking about war'



Wearing a white dress -- her hair, as always, in two buns -- Monetochka delighted the crowd with a percussive poem mocking Russia's attack before a set of electro-pop hits.

"We found a way where we can really make a difference and for a second forget about the feeling of guilt," said the softly spoken 23-year-old -- whose real name is Liza Girdimova.

Born just before Russian President Vladimir Putin took power, Monetochka is part of a generation that has known only his rule.

Her lyrics used to reflect concerns about Russia's trajectory "hidden in metaphors." The last two months have changed that.

"I'm talking about war without synonyms," she told AFP, defying a Kremlin order that Russians can refer to the fighting only as a "special military operation."

At the same time, she says, she's wary of ostracising fans who remain in Russia and who are sympathetic to the Kremlin's narrative.

"I try with all my strength not to scare people that are on the fence, but to bring them towards us instead."

The series in Europe is a far cry from previous tours -- even after fighting erupted in 2014 after Ukrainians ousted their Moscow-backed government and the Kremlin annexed Crimea from Ukraine.



After that, she said, Russian artists still performed in Ukraine and there was little practical difference between a gig in Saint Petersburg and Ukraine's now war-scarred city of Kharkiv.

"We could go there and sing in our Russian language, our Russian songs and nobody did anything to us," she said.

"People there knew our songs by heart."

The singing by heart, at least, hasn't changed. Hundreds of her fans in Warsaw sang along, Belarusians, Russians and Ukrainians standing shoulder to shoulder.

'There is hope'

"I'm happy there are some Russian people who aren't indifferent and who help us," said 25-year-old Evgenia Korzhelaya whose parents still live in Ukraine's heavily shelled southern town of Mykolayiv.

Liza Daviskiba, a 26-year-old Russian project manager who lives in Finland, said she was surprised to see such crowds for Russian artists.

"There is hope that there won't be this aggression between our people," she said.

"I'm so happy to see this kind of initiative. It's a statement that things aren't good in Russia and that we Russians are with Ukrainians."

Like tens of thousands of Russians horrified by events in Ukraine, Monetochka scrambled to leave Russia within days.

And like many Russians who fled, she doesn't know when she will go back. In the meantime, the concerts offer a degree of stability.



She derives hope that most of the donations on their concert website -- which also go towards helping refugees -- come from Russia. And, she said, the shows let her and Alexeyev briefly "forget about the fate of the country."

It hasn't all been smooth sailing and she says she has encountered "anger" from Ukrainians and some Europeans.

"They have a right to this," she said.

For now, with more performances planned in Scandinavia, the shows help with the uncertainty of the moment.

The gigs "keep me afloat," she said.

PUTIN'S USEFUL IDIOT

WATCH: Rand Paul ignites clash at Senate hearing by suggesting Ukraine is 'part of Russia'

Travis Gettys
April 26, 2022

CSPAN
Secretary of state Tony Blinken and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) clashed during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.


The Kentucky Republican agreed there was no justification for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but he expressed strong opposition to Ukraine joining NATO because he said that would commit U.S. troops to the war.

"We have not had advocacy for U.S. troops because they are not part of NATO," Paul said. "Had they been or are they to become part of NATO, that means U.S. soldiers will be fighting in Ukraine and that is something I very much oppose."

Blinken told the senator that his judgment of the situation was different.

"If you look at the countries Russia has attacked over the last years, Georgia, leaving forces in Moldova and repeatedly Ukraine, these are countries not part of NATO," Blinken said. "They do not attack NATO countries for probably good reason."

Then Paul, who the late Sen. John McCain accused in 2017 of "working for Vladimir Putin," responded with what appeared to be Russian talking points.

"You could also argue the countries they attacked were part of Russia, were part of the Soviet Union," Paul said.

The secretary of state said he firmly disagreed, saying those countries had a right to determine their own future, and Paul repeated his claim.

"I'm not saying it's not, but I'm saying the countries that have been attacked, Georgia and Ukraine, were part of the Soviet Union, they were part of the Soviet Union since the 1920s," Paul said.

‘Russian stooge’ Rand Paul blasted for ‘Pro-Iron Curtain speech’ pushing ‘straight Putin propaganda’

David Badash,

 The New Civil Rights Movement
April 26, 2022

Senator Rand Paul (Screen Grab)

U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) is under fire for remarks he made Tuesday during a Senate hearing with Secretary of State Antony Blinken that are being called "propaganda" for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Saying that if Ukraine had become part of NATO, or will in the future, U.S. soldiers would be "fighting in Ukraine," Paul called it "something I very much oppose."

President Joe Biden and his administration have repeatedly stated he opposes American boots on the ground in Ukraine.

"If you look at the countries that Russia has attacked," Blinken reminded Paul, "over the last years: Georgia...Moldova, and then repeatedly in Ukraine, these are countries that were not part of NATO. It has not attacked NATO countries for probably very good reasons."

Paul defiant and argumentative, retorted in a jaw-dropping statement, "You could also argue that the countries they've attacked were part of Russia."

Stunned, Secretary Blinken struggled for words to respond, giving Paul time to amend his remarks to say, "or were part of the Soviet Union."

"I firmly disagree with that proposition," Blinken replied. "It is the fundamental right of these countries to decide their own future."

Paul is being blasted online.

"Rand Paul. Russian Stooge," tweeted Brian Karem, the famous CNN and Playboy journalist who was once jailed for refusing to reveal his sources. Karem is also host of the "Just Ask the Question" podcast, and recently returned from Ukraine.

Veteran Washington political reporter Sam Youngman says, "Rand Paul using actual Putin talking points."

Kentucky state Rep. Charles Booker, who is running to win the Democratic nomination for Paul's Senate seat, tweeted: "Rand Paul just attempted to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He is actively pushing Putin’s propaganda in the Senate, and I will remove him from office in November."

Journalist Aaron Rupar, who posted the video above, tweeted, "this is straight Putin propaganda from Rand Paul."

 

Jared Kushner’s Scandalous Saudi $2 Billion
His corruption deserves more attention.

by NICHOLAS GROSSMAN
APRIL 26, 2022 

White House senior adviser Jared Kushner stands among Saudi officials as President Donald Trump talks with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House on Tuesday, March 20, 2018 in Washington, DC.

 (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

[On the April 22, 2022 episode of The Bulwark’s “Beg to Differ” podcast, guest Nicholas Grossman discussed Jared Kushner’s conflicts of interest and corruption.]

Mona Charen: We’ve had information for a few weeks about Hunter Biden and his various entanglements, and we have word in the last week or two about Jared Kushner launching an investment fund that received a $2 billion investment from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. . . . Neither one of these is exactly palatable. What should we be taking ultra-seriously here?

Nicholas Grossman: The thing we should be taking ultra-seriously is Jared Kushner’s—and other members of the Trump administration’s—corruption. That doesn’t mean that we should ignore something from Hunter Biden or anybody else, but the comparison of them . . . is often used as a sort of whataboutism. . . .

Hunter has some degree of sleaziness that kind of reminds me of Roger Clinton, or maybe some other sleazy presidential relatives that have maybe traded on the family name. And that’s something that’s a conflict of interest that’s worth investigating perhaps. . . . But also, in the process of looking into it, it’s clear that [Hunter Biden] never held any government position, he didn’t change any government policy as a result of it.

And Kushner puts this into sharp relief. . . . He was somebody who, first, could not pass his security clearance applications because of concerning foreign ties. And Trump gave him a top White House position anyway—which is the president’s legal authority to do so. They can give any classified information to anybody at will. That’s within presidential power. So, it’s legal, but it’s really not good for the country. And the way that we saw it was not good for the country is that Kushner became a prominent consumer of U.S. intelligence—of things that didn’t even pertain to foreign policy he was working on—and he ran a sort of shadow foreign policy going around the State Department and the Defense Department.

He met with MBS [Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia], then trying to rise to and consolidate power, and . . . quite possibly gave him some classified U.S. intelligence. Because the next day, after [Kushner and MBS] had stayed up all night together, there was a big purge, a lot of Saudi arrests and consolidation of power and kind of generational turnover within Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia launched a blockade of Qatar with Kushner’s backing that was a surprise to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and also Defense Secretary James Mattis, who then had to go to the Middle East and try to reassure a bunch of partners because the U.S. was running the anti-ISIS air campaign out of a base in Qatar—which then, thanks to Kushner, the U.S. was now supporting a blockade for. And then, after not too long, there was a big investment from a Qatari company tied to the government that bailed out Jared Kushner’s terrible real estate investment at 666 Fifth Avenue. And then—guess what?—the U.S. backs off with the Qatar crisis.

The U.S. also, in part thanks to Kushner, transferred some nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia, that went around Congress and might not be totally legal. It also helped cover up MBS’s murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post journalist. . . . I don’t know how much it is a ‘thank you’ for past services rendered, or it is a down payment on the possibility that he’ll get back into power and future services rendered. But this is some of the biggest corruption that I think we’ve seen in U.S. history. I’m trying to think of a good analogue and there isn’t really one of a president putting his neophyte, corrupt son-in-law into such a senior position, who then uses his position to make money for himself.

I remember writing in 2016, of concerns about the Clinton Foundation, about the charity, that if Hillary was going to win, that there shouldn’t be some private interest of the president that foreign actors can give money to—even though it’s a charity and even though it has a record of having done some good work. . . .

And that was, I still think, a reasonable concern. And now we see the real thing at much bigger scale. And I don’t know if it is so many things going on—the war and COVID and all the other problems—or if it is that there’s so much corruption from the Trump administration, or if people are just kind of fed up with it or exhausted by it, but it is not getting nearly the attention that it deserves. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen something so corrupt, and it changed U.S. policy in real detrimental ways. Part of the reason why U.S. policy is in trouble with Iran now is because Kushner took bribes to change it.

Nicholas Grossman
Nicholas Grossman is a political science professor at the University of Illinois and senior editor of Arc Digital. Follow him on Twitter @ngrossman81.