NASA mulls SpaceX backup plan for crew of Russia's leaky Soyuz ship

If Russia cannot launch another Soyuz ship, or decides for some reason that doing so would be too risky, NASA is weighing another option

A stream of particles, which NASA says appears to be liquid and possibly coolant, sprays out of the Soyuz spacecraft on the International Space Station, forcing a delay of a routine planned spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts December 14, 2022 in this still image taken from video. NASA TV/Handout via REUTERS

Reuters
Published : 28 Dec 2022

NASA is exploring whether SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft can potentially offer an alternative ride home for some crew members of the International Space Station after a Russian capsule sprang a coolant leak while docked to the orbital lab.

NASA and Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, are investigating the cause of a punctured coolant line on an external radiator of Russia's Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, which is supposed to return its crew of two cosmonauts and one US astronaut to Earth early next year.

But the Dec 14 leak, which emptied the Soyuz of a vital fluid used to regulate crew cabin temperatures, has derailed Russia's space station routines, with engineers in Moscow examining whether to launch another Soyuz to retrieve the three-man team that flew to ISS aboard the crippled MS-22 craft.

If Russia cannot launch another Soyuz ship, or decides for some reason that doing so would be too risky, NASA is weighing another option.

"We have asked SpaceX a few questions on their capability to return additional crew members on Dragon if necessary, but that is not our prime focus at this time," NASA spokeswoman Sandra Jones said in a statement.

SpaceX did not respond to request for comment.

It was unclear what NASA specifically asked of SpaceX's Crew Dragon capabilities, such as whether the company can find a way to increase the crew capacity of the Dragon currently docked to the station, or launch an empty capsule for the crew's rescue.

But the company's potential involvement in a mission led by Russia underscores the degree of precaution NASA is taking to ensure its astronauts can safely return to Earth, should one of the other contingency plans arranged by Russia fall through.

The leaky Soyuz capsule ferried US astronaut Frank Rubio and cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dimitri Petelin to the space station in September for a six-month mission. They were scheduled to return to Earth in March 2023.

SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, a gumdrop-shaped pod with four astronaut seats, has become the centerpiece to NASA's human spaceflight efforts in low-Earth orbit. Besides Russia's Soyuz program, it is the only entity capable of ferrying humans to the space station and back.

THREE POSSIBLE CULPRITS

Finding what caused the leak could factor into decisions about the best way to return the crew members. A meteroid-caused puncture, a strike from a piece of space debris or a hardware failure on the Soyuz capsule itself are three possible causes of the leak that NASA and Roscosmos are investigating.

A hardware malfunction could raise additional questions for Roscosmos about the integrity of other Soyuz vehicles, such as the one it might send for the crew's rescue, said Mike Suffredini, who led NASA's ISS program for a decade until 2015.

"I can assure you that's something they're looking at, to see what's back there and whether there's a concern for it," he said. "The thing about the Russians is they're really good at not talking about what they're doing, but they're very thorough."

Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov had previously said engineers would decide by Tuesday how to return the crew to Earth, but the agency said that day it would make the decision in January.

NASA has previously said the capsule's temperatures remain "within acceptable limits," with its crew compartment currently being vented with air flow allowed through an open hatch to the ISS.

Sergei Krikalev, Russia's chief of crewed space programs, told reporters last week that the temperature would rise rapidly if the hatch to the station were closed.

NASA and Roscosmos are primarily focusing on determining the leak's cause, Jones said, as well as the health of MS-22 which is also meant to serve as the three-man crew's lifeboat in case an emergency on the station requires evacuation.

A recent meteor shower initially seemed to raise the odds of a micrometeoroid strike as the culprit, but the leak was facing the wrong way for that to be the case, NASA's ISS program manager Joel Montalbano told reporters last week, though a space rock could have come from another direction.

And if a piece of space debris is to blame, it could fuel concerns of an increasingly messy orbital environment and raise questions about whether such vital equipment as the spacecraft's coolant line should have been protected by debris shielding, as other parts of the MS-22 spacecraft are.

"We are not shielded against everything throughout the space station," Suffredini said. "We can't shield against everything."

NASA may tap SpaceX to rescue ISS 'nauts in Soyuz leak

And Elon's still distracted by Twitter, yes? OK, that's probably for the best

Katyanna Quach
Fri 30 Dec 2022 // 01:50 UTC

NASA is considering using SpaceX to bring three astronauts back to Earth from the International Space Station after the Russian spacecraft due to return the crew suffered a significant coolant leak.

On December 14, the Russian MS-22 Soyuz capsule, which is right now docked to the ISS, started spraying droplets of coolant into space. That's the coolant that's supposed to control the internal temperature of the podule, and it is reportedly now drained of that vital liquid.

The leak lasted hours, disrupting station operations, and forcing station cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin to abandon a spacewalk planned for that day. Russia's space agency Roscosmos reckoned the leak could have been caused by a tiny micrometeoroid puncturing the capsule.

Officials are still assessing the situation, and will decide whether the Soyuz craft will be able to safely return Prokopyev and Petelin, as well as NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, to Earth in March. With a broken coolant system, the capsule may be unsafe for humans as it reenters our atmosphere. Russia is said to be pulling together plans to get the trio home.

While eggheads tackle that issue, NASA is considering how to rescue the crew if they are indeed stranded on the ISS without a ride home. The station's inhabitants may be able to hop onboard a handy SpaceX Dragon capsule, NASA spokeswoman Sandra Jones suggested.

"We have asked SpaceX a few questions on their capability to return additional crew members on Dragon if necessary," she told Reuters on Wednesday

.Soyuz leak puts a stop to planned ISS spacewalk and work on Nauka module

SpaceX grounds Falcon 9 carrying first private lunar lander

ISS resupply drops off experiments for life in deep space

NASA awards $60m to Texas biz for 3D printing future Moon base

It's not clear if a replacement Dragon capsule would fly to the ISS to fetch the three astronauts, or if they can go back on a SpaceX pod that brought NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's astronaut Koichi Wakata, to the orbiting science lab in October.

The Dragon capsule those four boarded, named Endeavor, isn't big enough to carry both teams back to our planet, so multiple trips would be needed anyway to ferry all seven. There's another issue, too: all astronauts traveling in a Dragon spacecraft have to wear tailored SpaceX spacesuits, and the crew that arrived at the space station in the Soyuz don't have that fancy clobber.

NASA and Roscosmos are examining the Soyuz capsule, and tested its thrusters on December 16. The fluid leak was traced to the external cooling loop of the spacecraft.

"The systems that were tested were nominal, and Roscosmos assessments of additional Soyuz systems continue. Temperatures and humidity within the Soyuz spacecraft, which remains docked to the Rassvet module, are within acceptable limits," NASA previously said in a statement. ®

Scotland's Weather: Deadly US weather bomb to hit Scotland, bringing yellow alert for heavy rain

The deadly bomb cyclone that has sent temperatures plunging in the US is also hitting Scotland, and is set to bring heavy floods and potential travel disruption.

By Luke O'Reilly
Updated 29th Dec 2022

The heavy rain is likely to bring disruption.


On Wednesday, the forecaster issued a yellow weather warning for heavy rain from 3am on Friday for 15 hours for much of Scotland, including Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling. The Met Office said heavy rain could bring some flooding and travel disruption.


Meteorologist Simon Partridge said the wet and windy weather was being caused by the bomb cyclone in the US. "The UK weather is going to remain unsettled with further spells of wet and windy weather due to the strengthening of the jet stream because of the weather in the US," he said.

He said that the impact on the UK would be "nowhere near" as significant as it was on the US.

"The effect it's having on the UK is nowhere near as dramatic because that system has brought up a lot of cold air further south, across the US," he said. Indeed, the cyclone is only having an effect on the UK due to its impact on the North Atlantic jet stream.

"What effect (the bomb cyclone) has had is to strengthen the jet stream because the jet stream is basically driven by temperature differences. So the starker the difference in temperature between the northern edge of it and southern edge, the stronger the jet stream becomes."

He said the knock-on effect for the UK is spells of wet and windy weather over the next seven to 10 days.

"So the knock-on effect is that, like today, we had a spell of wet, windy weather - and there will be further spells of wet and windy weather," he said. Thursday is forecast to be colder than Wednesday, with sunshine and and some heavy showers in northern Scotland and western England, as well as a risk of hail and thunder.

Mr Partridge said that Thursday will be a "cooler feeling day" but "still rather windy and with showers" across the UK, while Friday to Sunday is forecast to be unsettled, with snow over the Highlands, showers and rain in southern England, and frosts and fog overnight. He added: "And then on Friday we'll see another spell of wet, windy weather with milder temperatures and then similar sorts of patterns to that over the next few days.

"So the general sort of knock-on effect of the weather in the US is that in general the UK is going to be a little bit milder than it would normally be at this time of year."

UK
Government accused of sabotaging efforts to stop strikes by union boss

The Government has been accused of “sabotaging” efforts to resolve industrial action ahead of a fresh wave of strikes set to cause disruption across the country.

By Mason Boycott-Owen

The comments by the new general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Paul Nowak, comes as part of the largest outbreak of strikes in a generation as workers across rail, teaching, health and the civil service have taken action for pay rises at a time of record inflation.

Mr Nowak challenged the Government and employers to work with unions to end what he described as Britain’s “living standards nightmare” with two decades of “lost pay” unless the country changes course.

The union boss said disputes were normally resolved through negotiations, but added that the Government was refusing to come to the table.

New TUC general secretary Paul Nowak.

“We want to see public services where workers are properly rewarded and respected,” he said in an interview with the PA news agency.

“There is overwhelming support for NHS workers, so it is not good enough for Government ministers to continue to put their fingers in their ears.”

Mr Nowak said the Government seemed “blind” to the staffing crisis in the NHS, stressing he will make it a priority to meet the Prime Minister and other Cabinet ministers to try to help resolve the many disputes raging across the country.

Yesterday the Daily Mail reported that heads of the rail unions and industry bodies feel they are “nearly there” in their bid to come to an agreement over a pay deal.

THURSDAY DECEMBER 29 New TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak at TUC Congress House in London. He officially takes up the post in January from Frances O'Grady. Picture date: Wednesday December 21, 2022. PA Photo. See PA story INDUSTRY TUC.

 Photo credit should read: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Sources claimed that Mick Lynch, the head of the RMT union, has softened his stance ahead of further strikes by his union and ASLEF in January.

Meanwhile it has been suggested that railway staff could be balloted to cause disruption over successive days and cause further disruption if progress isn’t made over pay deals.

It comes amid new TUC analysis that workers are enduring the longest real wage squeeze in modern history.

Its study suggested that workers have lost £20,000, on average, in real wages since 2008 as a result of pay not keeping up with inflation, and by 2025 the loss will total £24,000.

Nurses have lost £42,000 in real earnings since 2008, midwives £56,000 and paramedics £56,000, with workers facing another year of “pay misery”, said the TUC.

Mr Nowak said striking workers have been “left with no choice” after more than a decade of pay cuts, and accused ministers of “sabotaging efforts to reach settlements”.

The Conservatives’ decision to hold down public sector pay has left workers “hugely exposed to the cost-of-living crisis” and deepened the staffing crisis in the NHS, education and other public services, he said.

Mr Nowak said he is “daunted and excited” at succeeding Frances O’Grady as general secretary, adding that his priority will be to build a “bigger, stronger and more diverse” trade union movement.

He added: “Today I am issuing a challenge to Government and employers – work with unions to end Britain’s living standards nightmare.

“UK workers are on course for two decades of lost pay. This is the longest squeeze on earnings in modern history.

“We can’t go on like this. We can’t be a country where nurses are having to use food banks, while City bankers get unlimited bonuses.

“Unless we get wages rising across the economy, families will just keep lurching from crisis to crisis.

“Unions stand ready to work with good employers to drive up growth, living standards and productivity.

“For too long we have been trapped in a vicious Conservative cycle of stagnant growth, stagnant investment and stagnant wages.

“It’s time for a proper long-term economic plan that rewards work not wealth.”

Jared Kushner ordered for Biden to be excluded from Covid planning after election, Jan 6 witness claims

Assertion contained in interview transcript of former Trump official Alyssa Farah Griffin

Andrew Buncombe
Seattle

Alyssa Farah says she doesn't want to see Trump 'ever be president again'

Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, personally ordered the Biden administration to be excluded from Covid-19 planning in the wake of the 2020 election, a Jan 6 committee witness has claimed.

In the days and weeks after Joe Biden defeated Mr Trump, he frequently castigated the Trump administration for failing to enter a formal transition process, in which new, incoming staff are brought up to speed by their outgoing counterparts.

With the nation gripped by the Covid-19 pandemic, he was particularly angered that by slowing the transition process, Mr Trump’s actions could lead to more deaths.

Speaking in Delaware, two weeks after election day, Mr Biden said: “If we have to wait until Jan 20 to start that planning, it puts us behind. More people may die if we don’t coordinate.”

It has now been revealed that the decision to bar the Biden administration from planning came from Mr Kushner, according to new transcripts from the House select committee investigating January 6.

A former Trump administration official, Alyssa Farah Griffin, told the committee that Dr Deborah Birx, who headed the White House’s coronavirus task force under Mr Trump, had in the days after election day, asked if the Biden team should be looped in to plans to combat the pandemic.

“Absolutely not,” Ms Griffin said Mr Kushner had told the meeting.

Alyssa Farah Griffin in an appearance on ABC’s ‘The View’ on 17 March 2022
(ABC - The View)

She added: “And then we just moved on”.

The transcript of Ms Griffin’s interview with members of the Jan 6 committee is among hundreds of documents that have been released a week after the committee issued its final report and referred four criminal charges relating to Mr Trump to the Department of Justice.

A special prosecutor is already looking into various allegations against the former president.

Mr Biden came into office with an aim to deliver 100 million Covid vaccines in his first 100 days. Yet his team did not get information about the development of the vaccine stockpile until well into January 2021.

On the week of 14 January 2021, it finally gained access to Tiberius, the government’s tracking software created to keep tabs on vaccine distribution and administration.

By December 2022, at least 99 million people in the US had contracted Covid, and more than one million had died.

CRIMINAL CRYPTO CAPITALI$M

Bahamian regulator says it seized $3.5 billion of FTX crypto assets for ‘safekeeping’

KEY POINTS

The Securities Commission of The Bahamas said it moved $3.5 billion from FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary, FTX Digital Markets, into its own digital wallets.

The watchdog said the funds are being held on a “temporary basis” until it is directed by the country’s Supreme Court to deliver them to customers and creditors, or to liquidators.

The regulator took the funds after receiving information from Sam Bankman-Fried concerning cyberattacks on the systems of FTX’s Bahamian unit, it said.


The FTX logo on a laptop screen.
Andrey Rudakov | Bloomberg via Getty Images

PUBLISHED FRI, DEC 30 2022

Ryan Browne@RYAN_BROWNE_

The Securities Commission of The Bahamas says it seized $3.5 billion worth of cryptocurrency from collapsed crypto exchange FTX.

In a media release late Thursday, the watchdog confirmed the total sum taken from FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary, FTX Digital Markets, and added that the funds were moved into its own digital wallets “for safekeeping.”

The regulator had previously confirmed it was holding some of FTX’s digital assets but did not specify the amount.

The funds were valued at more than $3.5 billion, based on market pricing at the time of transfer, according to the commission. The transfer took place on Nov. 12, the day after FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S.

The Bahamian securities commission said the funds are being held on a “temporary basis” until it is directed by the Bahamas’ Supreme Court to deliver them to customers and creditors, or to liquidators of the insolvency estate.

The regulator said it took the funds after receiving information from Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX’s disgraced co-founder, concerning cyberattacks on the systems of FTX’s Bahamian unit.

WATCH NOW VIDEO  09:56

FTX’s collapse is shaking crypto to its core. The pain may not be over

There was “significant risk of imminent dissipation” of the assets under FTX Digital Markets’ control, it said.

After FTX filed for bankruptcy, it was targeted in a suspected hack that saw $477 million drained from the firm’s crypto wallets. The identity of the perpetrator is not yet known.

The Bahamian regulator has been scrutinized over its role in the FTX collapse and subsequent legal proceedings.

The commission wanted to handle insolvency proceedings for FTX in the Bahamas. But FTX’s U.S. lawyers contested the move, alleging in a Nov. 17 filing that the regulator coordinated with Bankman-Fried to gain “unauthorized access” to FTX systems to transfer digital assets to its own custody.

In response, the Bahamian regulator said the claims were “inaccurate,” and that its decision to move the funds was taken to protect the interests of clients and investors.

Bankman-Fried, 30, also FTX’s former CEO, was arrested in the Bahamas and subsequently extradited to the United States, where he is awaiting trial on charges of fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and violate campaign finance laws.

He was released last week on $250 million bail, and has reportedly been receiving visitors at his parents’ California home, including “The Big Short” author Michael Lewis.

Bankman-Fried is expected to be arraigned and enter a plea in federal court in Manhattan on Jan. 3.

Alameda wallets liquidated millions of thousands of Ether based token for Bitcoin in past 24 hours

 By PAUL ADE  29. December 2022

• On-chain data shows that Ethereum-based assets were added from several wallets and kept in two wallets before the firm later exchanged these assets for Tether’s USDT stablecoins.
• Arkham intelligence data revealed that Alameda Research still holds sizable crypto assets comprising various tokens worth more than $112 million.

On-chain data shows that the embattled trading company, Alameda Research, sold a massive stash of its holdings on December 29, which runs into millions of dollars. The Sam Bankman-Fried-founded crypto trading firm is bankrupt after filing for bankruptcy proceedings along with the FTX exchange in mid-November.

The company’s founders are facing criminal charges from Bahamian and United States authorities over their roles in the spectacular crash of FTX and its sister company, Alameda Research. According to the crypto research firm Arkham Intelligence, about $1.7 million worth of crypto assets from wallets linked to Alameda Research were sold in the crypto market within hours on Wednesday.

Furthermore, the on-chain data showed that Ethereum-based assets like USDC, DAI, CRV, CVX, ETH, and a host of others had been joined from several wallets and kept in two wallets, and the firm later exchanged these assets for Tether’s USDT stablecoins.

Meanwhile, the value of these assets ranged from a fraction of ETH to more than 15 ETH. In addition, the holdings were later converted into BTC from USDT via token-swap service platforms like FixedFloat or ChangeNow, as revealed by the on-chain entity, ZachXBT on Twitter.

 

Still More to Hold

Furthermore, the Arkham intelligence data revealed that Alameda Research still holds sizable crypto assets consisting of various tokens worth more than $112 million. Before its November bankruptcy filing, Coindesk reported that the company’s previous crypto holdings were at $140 million.

On the other hand, the FTX exchange caved into the liquidity pressure in November after revelations spread that Alameda Research, the hedge fund manager, was heavily backed by the FTX’s native token, FTT. FTX allegedly created the FTT tokens out of thin air to accelerate the ecosystem’s growth and revenue generation.

Launched in 2019, the token initially got significant support from investors because FTX offered some rewards in exchange for possession of the asset. According to previous reports, Sam Bankman-Fried has revealed that FTT comes with “guaranteed liquidity,” indicating no risks in buying the token.

Solana Crumbles under FTX Exposure

Since 2020, Solana, the Layer-1 smart contract protocol, has been the subject of debate about becoming the next competitor to Ethereum. The chain saw immense growth at the peak of the 2020–2021 bull run. However, the recent projects’ withdrawals from the Solana ecosystem were followed by a massive drop in the value of SOL, raising questions about its future projections.

Apart from being unable to displace Ethereum, observers revealed that the fall of Bankman-Fried and FTX is the greatest threat to Solana’s progress. The embattled former FTX owner has been the network’s greatest supporter, and critics argue that Bankman-Fried may be the reason behind SOL’s price appreciation during the 2020–2021 bullish trend.

Solana saw its sharpest price decline in November after the FTX collapse, lending credence to its relationship with the disgraced FTX and Alameda Research founder.

PAUL ADE

Paul is a cryptocurrency enthusiast from Canada, and since 2021 he has been writing about cryptocurrency for online news portals. He writes mostly news-related articles. Stay tuned to his posts to stay up to date with the crypto world.

FTX founder reportedly cashes out $684K after being released on bail

SBF has allegedly cashed out $684,000 from a crypto exchange in Seychelles while being under house arrest, according to an on-chain investigation.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is reportedly cashing out large amounts of cryptocurrency soon after being released on bail, on-chain data suggests.

SBF has cashed out $684,000 in crypto to an exchange in Seychelles while being under house arrest, according to the on-chain investigation by DeFi educator BowTiedIguana.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) analyst BowTiedIguana took to Twitter on Dec. 29 to report on a series of obfuscated wallet transactions allegedly linked to SBF, suggesting that the former FTX CEO could have violated release conditions to not spend more than $1,000 without permission from the court.

According to BowTiedIguana’s analysis, SBF’s public address (0xD5758) on Dec. 28 sent all remaining Ether 

ETH

$1,195

 to a newly created address (0x7386d). BowTiedIguana noted that SBF took over the address that was originally owned by Sushiswap creator from Chef Nomi in August 2020.

Within hours, 0x7386d received transfers totaling $367,000 from 32 addresses identified as Alameda Research wallets, with an additional $322,000 coming from other wallets. All funds were sent to a centralized crypto exchange in Seychelles and to the crypto bridge RenBridge, according to the DeFi analyst.

0x7386d sent a total of 519.5 Ether 

ETH

$1,195

, or around $629,000, to 0x64e9B, which also received funds from addresses labeled as Alameda Research. BowTiedIguana also identified five separate transactions of less than 51 ETH ($61,000) that were used to move funds to newly created wallets and then “onwards to a Seychelles-based exchange.”

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Additionally, the SBF-linked wallet 0x64e9B sent three tranches of 200,000 Tether (USDT) to the FixedFloat exchange.

“As the Ethereum blockchain is an immutable public ledger, this on-chain evidence is permanently available to law enforcement and the courts,” BowTiedIguana stated, calling attorneys from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to look at the issue.

Confirmed to be related to SBF or not, the transactions do not necessarily mean that FTX founder has violated bail release conditions, according to some industry enthusiasts.

“I don't know that this necessarily qualifies as ‘spending’ money. They're his assets already,” one industry observer suggested.

Related: SBF met with Biden’s senior advisers 2 months before FTX’s collapse: Report

A number of online commenters also speculated that SBF himself was Chef Nomi, the anonymous co-founder of Sushiswap. Coinbase head of strategy Conor Grogan stressed that many of the recent SBF-linked transactions were heavily related to early Sushiswap activity. “These wallets — assuming they all belong to him — were heavily involved with LPing Sushi early on, well before Chef Nomi handed off the project to SBF,” Grogan stated.

SBF himself claimed in September 2020 that he didn’t have anything to do with building Sushiswap.

The alleged SBF-linked transactions occurred about a week after SBF was granted bail with a $250 million bond secured by SBF’s parents paid with the equity in their house. SBF previously claimed that he only had $100,000 in his bank account after the collapse of FTX.

The news comes soon after the government of Bahamas officially announced that local authorities seized $3.5 billion worth of crypto from FTX on Nov. 12. The authorities claimed that the action was taken in order to avoid a risk of “imminent dissipation” of funds after SBF warned about cyberattacks on FTX in mid-November.

‘Wall Street Wolf’ J. Belfort calls FTX ‘slaughter’ drug-related, says SBF is ‘done’


Ana Nicenko
CRYPTOCURRENCY

Dec 29, 2022

As the consequences of the collapse of FTX, what used to be one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, are still felt across the cryptocurrency market, and after the arrest of its founder Sam Bankman-Fried, former stockbroker Jordan Belfort had a few things to say about the whole situation.

Commonly known as the “Wolf of Wall Street,” Jordan Belfort said that SBF was “done” and that the implosion of the FTX ecosystem was largely fuelled by the amphetamine use of Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, who was arrested alongside SBF, as he told in the interview with Newsmax’s Eric Bolling published on December 23.

According to Belfort, the situation is playing out exactly how he thought it would, which is the cooperation of SBF and the other persons involved in the scandal.


“They have copped pleas, which means that they’re giving a roadmap to the U.S. attorney and the FBI right now. This guy has got no shot. He has no defense. He’s gonna plead guilty at some point and cop a plea. He’s not going to go to trial, and he’s going to get sentenced. My guess is somewhere north of 50 years in jail, maybe even more.”

‘Open-and-shut case’

Comparing the alleged scheme with that of Bernie Madoff, the former stockbroker said that this was “really an open-and-shut case” of stealing people’s money, for which there’s no defense.

“So people were depositing money into FTX, thinking they were putting money into a brokerage firm and the money was being segregated into each person’s account, and he had a backdoor, taking the money out into Alameda which was his trading arm.”

Belfort also said that the FTX leadership were “the worst traders on the planet,” losing billions of dollars in the bet that was “being propped up by customer funds.” As he added, losing a couple of billion dollars is “actually really easy because they were trading with leverage, and that’s the disaster.”
Ellison and amphetamines

Referring to Ellison, he also commented that “it’s very easy to lose massive sums of money” when drugs are involved, explaining that:

“The thing about amphetamines and cocaine is that you think you’re sharper when you’re on them, but you’re actually not nearly as sharp, but you really think you’re brilliant, so in her own mind, she thinks she’s got this collective brilliance around her by being high on amphetamines.”

On top of that, he believes that Ellison was lulled into the “false sense of security from when anyone could make money in crypto trading,” but that later on, “the way they make money starts to collapse and now she has to be a real trader, (…) and she got absolutely, positively slaughtered on leverage fuelled by methamphetamines.”

Missed red flags and bad trading

Earlier in November, Belfort expressed his view that the FTX collapse was likely premeditated, labeling SBF as a sociopath, and comparing FTX’s business model to a ‘frat house,’ while questioning why its backers had failed to notice the red flags, as Finbold reported.

It is also worth noting that Gregory Coleman, the retired FBI agent who was involved in the cases of the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme and Belfort’s prosecution, said that prosecuting SBF was simple and that investigators only needed to follow the money while treating the situation as bad trading.

Watch the entire interview below:

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FBI agent involved in J.Belfort, B. Madoff cases explains how to prosecute Bankman-Fried


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Bankman-Fried said he 'doesn't give a sh*t' about his legacy 2 months before FTX collapse


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Bernie Madoff’s lawyer: FTX’s Bankman-Fried faces ‘many many years in prison’


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Angola Wants to Be the US Ally, Its "Excess" Soviet Weapons Can Help the Armed Forces of Ukraine


Defense Express
ukr.defense.news@gmail.com
December 29, 2022
BMP-2 IFV of the armed forces of Angola / Illustrative photo from open sources
This may turn into a tendency, considering that Morocco already helped Ukraine with T-72 spare parts and "extra" tanks


News24 reports that one of the "traditional" russa’s allies in Africa, which is Angola, has decided to turn away from the Kremlin, and now has set a course for rapprochement with the USA and NATO, and the re-equipment of its army with Western-made weapons.

This is a significant loss for Moscow, as Angola was formally one of the largest buyers of russian-made weapons. The Kremlin even promised Angolan joint projects on the construction of defense enterprises, in exchange russians hoped to gain access to fish resources and deposits of precious stones.

Read more: ​russians Terrorize Peaceful Citizens of Ukraine with Another Massive Missile Attack, Air Defense of the Country Shot Down 78,2 % of the Missiles

T-55 tanks of the armed forces of Angola / Illustrative photo from open sources

Such a situation can play a significant role in strengthening Ukraine. The stockpiles of "Warsaw Pact" weapons in Eastern Europe have essentially run out, so the White House is looking for weapons from "alternative sources" to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine. For example, negotiations with the countries of the Middle East about a possible "exchange" to speed up the supply of NASAMS complexes for Ukraine.

Or that Morocco, as an important ally for the United States in North Africa in terms of the Ramstein format, allocated spare parts for the T-72 tanks for Ukraine, and donated some of its tanks for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which were transferred for repair at the power of the Czech Excalibur Army. Therefore, it is quite likely that as well as Angola wants a more substantial rapprochement with the USA, the White House will also ask this country to "share" weapons or other resources with Ukraine’s Armed Forces.

T-72B and M60 tanks of the ground forces of Morocco / Illustrative photo from open sources

Angola traditionally has large remnants of Soviet weapons received in the 1970s and 1980s from Moscow and Cuba during the war against South Africa. The Military Balance 2022 provides the following data on the Soviet or russian military equipment in Angola.

Armored vehicles:

- Tanks: 200 units of the T-552AM2 (Czechoslovak production), 50 units of the T-62 and 50 units of the T-72M1, 10 units of the PT-76;

- Other armored vehicles: 600 units of the BRDM-2, 250 units of the BMP-1 and BMP-2, overall 170 units of the BTR-152, BTR-60 and BTR-80, 31 units of the MT-LB.

T-72 tank of the armed forces of Angola / Illustrative photo from open sources

Artillery:Self-propelled guns: four units of the 2S3 Akatsyia SPG, 12 units of the 2S7 Pion SPG and a few 2S1 Gvozdika SPG;
Towed artillery: 523 units of the D-30, 48 units of the M-46 and four D-20 howitzers; 750 units of the 82mm and 120mm mortars;
MLRS: 58 units of the BM-21 Grad and 40 units of the RM-70 Vampire.
98 combat aircraft, including 6 units of the Su-27 and Su-27UB and 10 units of the Su-25 and Su-25UB;
57 transport aircraft, including four Il-76, six An-12, 12 An-26 and two An-32 aircraft, eight An-72;
almost 130 helicopters, including 34 units of the Mi-24 and 22 units of the Mi-35 helicopters, 27 Mi-8 helicopters and eight Mi-171Sh.

2C7 Pion self-propelled 203mm cannon of the armed forces of Angola Illustrative photo from open sources

Aviation:98 combat aircraft, including 6 units of the Su-27 and Su-27UB and 10 units of the Su-25 and Su-25UB;
57 transport aircraft, including four Il-76, six An-12, 12 An-26 and two An-32 aircraft, eight An-72;
almost 130 helicopters, including 34 units of the Mi-24 and 22 units of the Mi-35 helicopters, 27 Mi-8 helicopters and eight Mi-171Sh.

Air defense means:A certain number of the Strela-2, Strela-3 and Igla-1 MANPADS, an unspecified number of ZSU-23-4 Shilka, 450 units of the ZPU-4, ZU-23-2 and S-60 anti-aircraft guns;
15 units of the 9K33 Osa complexes, 10 complexes of the Strela-10, 12 complexes of the S-125M1.

ZSU-23-4 Shilka self-propelled anti-aircraft gun of the armed forces of Angola Illustrative photo from open sources

But then it is worth making such an amendment. The defense budget of Angola in 2021 went down to 1.4 billion dollars overall, with the total number of 100 thousand servicemen. Accordingly, a significant part of the weapons described above may in fact be not in proper condition, due to lack of enough money for maintenance.

Accordingly, the maximum that Ukraine should count on here is the transfer of either factually defective equipment with subsequent restoration at the factories of the countries of the former Warsaw Pact, or the transfer of spare parts.

BM-21 Grad MLRS of the armed forces of Angola / Illustrative photo from open sources

The example of Morocco can also show a quantitative "maximum": this country, according to the media, donated a certain amount of spare parts for the T-72 and up to 30 tanks, while there are about 40 units of the T-72B in service and another 60 vehicles of this type in storage.

On the other hand, Ukraine now needs any kind of military assistance, even components for old Soviet equipment. Taking into account the fact that during the liberation of Kherson Oblast, Ukraine’s military gathered russia’s T-62 for at least one tank battalion, and some of these vehicles are already used against russians themselves.

RM-70 Vampire MLRS (probably a simplified version) of the Armed Forces of Angola / Illustrative photo from open sources

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AZERBAIJANI CONSPIRACY THEORY

Lagazetteaz.fr publishes article on Armenian nationalists having control over French politics, media

 30 December 2022 

By Trend

Jean-Michel Brun, Executive Director of Trend News Agency's Lagazetteaz.fr newspaper, has published an article dedicated to the attempts of the Armenian nationalists to turn the French media and French people against Azerbaijan, Trend reports.

Brun believes that the media and the famous people of France are spreading disinformation invented by Armenian nationalists.

"In the article 'Emmanuel Macron must do everything possible to guarantee the security of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh and the Republic of Armenia' published in the Le Monde newspaper, several politicians are very well known to Azerbaijanis, including, E. Ciotti, Gilbert-Luc Devinaz, O. Faure, Pierre Ouzoulias, and Bruno Retailleau, who was Chairman of the "International Information group on Karabakh" in France, sent an appeal to the head of France," said Brun in his article.

"Thus, it seems that we are witnessing a turning point, that indicates another aggravation of bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and France. It's no secret that these politicians have long harbored a deep hatred for both Turks and Azerbaijanis. They have different reasons, but one thing in common. France regards independent Turkiye as its main rival in the region, and Azerbaijan as a country that has always supported and will continue to support Turkiye’s interests," Brun added.

The French journalist noted that, on the other hand, the Armenian Diaspora in France decided to become a flag-bearer of the Armenian nationalists who lost the war on the battlefield, and now want to fight it in the information field. Brun stressed that, with sufficient funds, representatives of the Dashnak party [Armenian Revolutionary Federation] keep French politicians under their control, promising them their votes in the election if they support Armenia, and even influence the media.

The article notes that the latest pretext for the Armenian activity was the beginning of the peaceful rally of Azerbaijani environmental activists close to the Russian peacekeepers' deployment area on the Lachin-Khankendi road.

"It is very difficult for the French public to understand what is really happening since French journalists refuse to go to the place of peaceful protests. Neither the Government of Azerbaijan nor the participants of the peaceful protests have ever blocked the Lachin-Khankendi road for the passage of supply vehicles, humanitarian convoys, or civilians. The passage on the road has remained unchanged over the past two years, and the peacekeepers continue to perform their duties here," added Brun.

He also noted that despite all the fake news, there are many videos on social networks showing the unhindered passage of various types of transport along the road, including ambulances and humanitarian vehicles.

The French journalist also noted that Armenia uses the Lachin-Khankendi road inappropriately, which is a violation of international law. The article says that Armenia uses the Lachin-Khankendi road, including for the transportation of minerals extracted from illegally exploited deposits on the territory of Azerbaijan, where Russian peacekeepers are temporarily stationed.

The journalist also noted that, according to paragraph 4 of the trilateral statement of November 10, 2020, Armenia must completely withdraw its armed forces from these territories. However, it violates this obligation.

In addition, the article emphasizes that not a single Azerbaijani expert, journalist, or historian is invited to broadcasts and forums in France where Karabakh is discussed.

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CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Swiss-Based Mining Company Halts Illegal Operation in Azerbaijan's Karabakh Region

The announcement of Base Metals came amidst the ongoing protest of the Azerbaijani ecological activists, civil society members, and volunteers on the Lachin road against illegal exploitation of mineral resources in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh economic region / Courtesy

By Ilham Karimli December 29, 2022

 
 
 
 
 

  

  

The management of Base Metals, a mining company that has been illegally extracting minerals in the certain parts of Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region where Russian peacekeepers are deployed, announced on Wednesday a temporary shutdown.

The reason for the termination of the company’s activities in the region is reportedly “the desire to conduct some kind of expertise.” No details regarding the resumption of the Base Metals’ activities have been provided.

The announcement came amidst the ongoing protest of the Azerbaijani ecological activists, civil society members, and volunteers against the illegal exploitation of mineral resources in the Karabakh economic region of Azerbaijan. Since December 12, the protesters have been demanding an end to illegal mining activities and misuse of the Lachin highway for the transportation of extracted minerals.

The rally was triggered by the failure of the temporary Russian peacekeeping mission to ensure the conduction of preliminary monitoring of ore deposits by the group of Azerbaijani experts. Since December 3, the group has been holding negotiations with the peacekeeping commands to launch the monitoring. On December 10, they were supposed to visit the deposits but were hindered by the Armenians living in the region. The peacekeepers have not been taking necessary measures to facilitate the monitoring by the experts since then, thus sparking criticism from the civil society and the government of Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijani authorities have been calling for more efficient control over the Lachin highway by the Russian peacekeeping contingent. 

The demands gained momentum after reports surfaced about the illegal transportation of minerals from the Azerbaijani territories temporarily monitored by the peacekeepers to Armenia via the highway. Baku-based Caliber.Az news agency reported on November 30 that eight Kamaz trucks accompanied by a Nissan Patrol SUV with an Armenian license number 731-AB-61 ER, made their way from the Khankendi city of Azerbaijan to Armenia between November 10 and November 14. Moreover, on November 16-18, identical vehicles were seen on the Lachin highway going back from Armenia to Khankendi.

According to operational data, raw materials extracted at the gold mines near the village of Gulyatagh of the former Aghdara (current Tartar) region of Azerbaijan, located in the zone of temporary responsibility of the Russian peacekeepers, have been transported on these trucks. The materials were moved by the Base Metals company, a subsidiary of Vallex Group Company based in Switzerland, which engaged in the looting of precious metals in Kalbajar, Zangilan, and Aghdara during the occupation and currently is active in the area where Russian peacekeepers are stationed.

Base Metals is officially registered in Switzerland, financially sponsored by Armenian-origin Swiss citizen Vartan Sirmakes and is headed by Moscow-based Armenian Valery Mejlumyan. Vallex Group established Base Metals in 2001 and deployed it illegally for the exploitation of the Heyvali deposit in the Kalbajar region of Azerbaijan then occupied by Armenia. According to various sources, from 2009-2011, the company processed 400,000 tons of ore, exceeding the norm by 250,000 tons. After “draining” Heyvali, Base Metals shifted its operations to the Gizilbulag and Damirli fields in the former Aghdara (current Tartar) region of Azerbaijan. The ore extracted from this deposit was mainly exported to European countries. Base Metals illegally involved foreign experts in the mining in the Karabakh region, including South African mining engineer Johann Murray, who in 2016 sat for an interview with a separatist “television.”

The company reportedly paid $38.5 million in taxes to the illegal separatist regime in 2019 for its activities. 

The Prosecutor General’s Office of Azerbaijan proved that Vallex Group and Base Metals companies earned $178 million from looting the Gizilbulag field from 2009-2017.

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