Congressmen call on Biden to stop Greg Abbott from transporting migrants to Democratic-led cities after a 3-year-old child died on a bus headed from Texas to Chicago

John L. Dorman
Sat, August 12, 2023 


Migrants are led from one bus to another bus after arriving from Texas at Union Station in Chicago, Illinois

.Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Reps. Castro and García are calling on President Joe Biden to block Gov. Abbott's busing of migrants.


The lawmakers made the plea after a 3-year-old died on a bus headed to Chicago on Thursday.


Abbott has been battling with the Biden administration over immigration issues for over two years.

Two Democratic lawmakers are calling on the Biden administration to block Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott from transporting migrants from the US-Mexico border region to cities across the country after a three-year-old child died while en route to Chicago on Thursday.

Reps. Joaquin Castro of Texas and Jesús "Chuy" García of Illinois in a statement on Friday sharply criticized Abbott over his border control efforts, dubbed "Operation Lone Star," which has seen his administration bus more than 30,000 migrants to Democratic-led cities like Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, DC.


The death of the young child added to their urgency.

"Migrant parents make the journey to our country seeking safety and stability for their children. We are saddened and horrified, but not surprised, by the death of a three-year-old child on a state-sponsored bus from Texas to Chicago," the lawmakers said. "For months, Operation Lone Star has trafficked asylum-seekers across the country in squalid conditions. Governor Abbott's barbaric practices are killing people, and the Biden administration has an obligation to stop them."

The child was being transported from Brownsville, Texas, to Chicago, according to officials.

The Texas Division of Emergency Management confirmed the death of the child and stated that the passengers on the bus had not only been screened by US Customs and Border Protection, but also had their temperatures checked and were questioned about whether they required any medical attention before embarking on the long journey.

"Following this check, prior to boarding, no passenger presented with a fever or medical concerns," the department said in a statement. "Once the child presented with health concerns, the bus pulled over and security personnel on board called 911 for emergency attention."

"Every loss of life is a tragedy," the department also said in its statement.

Castro, the San Antonio-area lawmaker who was briefed on the matter, told The New York Times that the parents of the young child were also on the bus and noticed that their child had developed an illness, which produced a fever and diarrhea.

The child then lost consciousness, according to Castro.

After being treated by paramedics, the child later died in Marion County, Illinois, in the southern region of the state, according to The Associated Press.

The Illinois Department of Public Health in a Thursday statement said that it was "working with local health officials, state police, and federal authorities to the fullest extent possible to get answers in this tragic situation."

Insider reached out to the Texas Division of Emergency Management for any updates. Insider also reached out to Abbott's office and the White House for comment.

Abbott has repeatedly clashed with President Joe Biden over border security, accusing the administration of failing to secure the US-Mexico border as apprehensions began to soar early in the president's first term.

While border apprehensions have declined in recent months, the issue has remained a major public policy flash point as Republicans hope to use the issue against Biden in next year's presidential election. The president has been sharply critical of Abbott's busing of migrants, calling the action "un-American" and "reckless."

The mayors of the affected cities, notably New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, have also been highly critical of Abbott, with Adams specifically stating that cities run by Black mayors have been targeted as part of the governor's immigration-related actions.

Putin cracks down on pro-war opposition as all-out war falters

Oleg Sukhov
Sun, August 13, 2023 



After Russian dictator Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he swiftly eliminated the liberal anti-war opposition.

But Putin now faces a threat from the other side – pro-war hawks who criticize Russia's political and military leadership for mishandling the war effort.

As Russia's war against Ukraine faces one setback after another, the pro-war camp is more and more dissatisfied with Putin. And after going seemingly too far, they now face a similar fate to the liberal opposition that they despise – repression.

In late June, Putin faced a rebellion by Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, who had harshly criticized Russia's military leadership. Prigozhin, having thousands of armed men behind him, reached a deal with the Kremlin, allowing Wagner mercenaries to relocate to Belarus.
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Prigozhin was among the best-known hardliners, with his Wanger mercenaries actively taking part in Russia's war against Ukraine.

The brief and unsuccessful mutiny has seemingly caused a rift between the Kremlin and the vocal pro-war camp.

Prigozhin's exit left convicted war criminal Igor Girkin as the most prominent opponent of Putin in the pro-war opposition. Despite opposing Prigozhin's rebellion, Girkin was arrested in July. Other pro-war imperialists critical of Putin have also faced criminal cases and arrests.

The pro-war opposition may trigger new rebellions or instability if Russian troops perform poorly on the battlefield, Russian political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin told the Kyiv Independent.

"If there are no successes or if there are defeats (on the Ukrainian front), this opposition from the 'ultra-patriots' will increase," he said.

Read also: Russia after Wagner revolt: Will Putin stay afloat or face more turmoil?
Waves of repression

After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the repressions against the liberal opposition reached an all-time high.

Dozens of people have been jailed for criticizing the war against Ukraine.

In December 2022, liberal politician Ilya Yashin was sentenced to 8.5 years in jail on charges of spreading fake information about the Russian army.

In April 2023, another liberal politician, Vladimir Kara-Murza, was sentenced to 25 years in jail on charges of high treason and libel against the Russian army – one of the longest sentences handed down to a political prisoner.

On Aug. 4, a Russian court also sentenced opposition leader Alexei Navalny to 19 years in a maximum security prison on extremism charges for creating the Anti-Corruption Foundation, a peaceful civic watchdog.

Navalny had been serving a 2.5-year prison sentence since 2021 and a separate 9-year sentence on fraud charges since 2022. According to the Russian independent publication Verstka, the latest verdict means he will be in jail until the late 2040s.

All these cases have been recognized as politically motivated by international human rights organizations and governments.

Until recently, the situation with the pro-war opposition has been different.

Before 2014, the Kremlin cracked down and purged the left-wing and right-wing hardliners. Putin was afraid of ultra-radical nationalists and the far left more than of liberals, Russian political philosopher Sergei Sazonov told the Kyiv Independent.

"They purged the 'patriotic' opposition, and that's why (those who remained) supported the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of the Donbas in 2014," he said.

After years of purges, the radical left and right mostly supported Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and their goals were aligned with those of the Kremlin.

There had been no major crackdown on the pro-war opposition during the invasion before Girkin's arrest.

But as Russia failed to achieve a quick victory over Ukraine and demonstrated numerous blunders during the invasion, the pro-war camp became more critical.

Oreshkin told the Kyiv Independent, "it's clear to Putin now that the threat comes not from pro-European opposition but from the ultra-patriotic camp."

"As soon as Putin disappoints people with meager military results, they start criticizing him," Oreshkin said in a July 26 interview with Novaya Gazeta Europe, an independent Russian publication. "The worse Putin's affairs are, the more his team is concerned with (cracking down on opponents)."

He also said that the window for allowed criticism is getting smaller by the day.

"Earlier, one was banned from using obscene words against the president," Oreshkin said. "Now, it's not enough. One is supposed to praise him and say that he's a strategic genius."

Russian political analyst Georgy Satarov said that "the regime tends to persecute anything that stands out," regardless of whether Putin's opponents are pro-war or anti-war.

He argued that Prigozhin's June 23-24 rebellion had contributed to the crackdown.

"Prigozhin's march was an important factor," he told the Kyiv Independent. "It demonstrated the regime's instability and triggered seismic changes."

Political blogger and journalist Michael Nacke also linked the crackdown on the pro-war opposition to the Wagner rebellion.

"It has become obvious to Vladimir Putin that criticism leads to mutinies," he said on his blog on July 10.

Girkin case

The main target of the July crackdown is Girkin, also known by his alias Strelkov. He played a key role in launching Russia's aggression against Ukraine in 2014 and espoused a radical militarist ideology that some characterize as fascist.

Girkin took part in the annexation of Crimea in February-March 2014 as one of Russia's proxies and later admitted that pro-Russian militants had forced members of Crimea's legislature to vote for a referendum on seceding from Ukraine.

In April 2014, a group of militants headed by Girkin seized the town of Sloviansk in Donetsk Oblast, effectively launching Russia's war in the Donbas. He said in a 2014 interview that he had pulled the trigger of the war, and it would not have begun without him.

After seizing the city, Girkin proclaimed himself the "defense minister" of Russia's proxies in Donetsk Oblast.

Girkin carried out extrajudicial executions in Sloviansk and later admitted to killing two Ukrainian civilians arrested by Russian militants.

In July 2014, Girkin's militants withdrew from Sloviansk and relocated to Donetsk, and he proclaimed himself the "commandant" of the latter city.

On July 17, 2014, Russian proxies in Donetsk Oblast used a Russian-supplied Buk surface-to-air missile to shoot down a civilian aircraft flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 people on board. In November 2022, The Hague District Court convicted Girkin and his subordinates in absentia for downing the plane and sentenced them to life imprisonment.

Girkin later said that he had to leave Ukraine in August 2014 because the Kremlin believed he was too independent.

In 2014-2022, Girkin lambasted Putin for negotiating with Ukraine and refusing to launch a full-scale invasion.

He temporarily suspended his criticism of Putin after the full-scale invasion began in February 2022. However, he renewed his criticism as Russia's setbacks on the front piled up.

Girkin has attacked Putin for not going far enough in his efforts to defeat and destroy Ukraine. He has called for carrying out a full-scale mobilization of conscripts and the economy, introducing martial law, and setting the destruction of the Ukrainian state as Russia's official war aim.

He also lashed out at Putin for showing weakness by letting Prigozhin go unpunished after his rebellion.

In the weeks preceding his arrest, Girkin intensified his verbal attacks on Putin.

"For 23 years, a weakling who pulled the wool over the eyes of much of the population has been at the helm of the country," he wrote on Telegram on July 18.

"The country won't survive six more years with this cowardly and incompetent person. And the only useful thing he can do before the end is to transfer power to someone truly capable and responsible. It's a pity that this won't even cross his mind."

Girkin was arrested on extremism charges on July 21, and a Moscow court authorized keeping him in custody until Sept. 18.

The formal excuse for Girkin's arrest was a post he wrote on the Telegram and Vkontakte social networks on May 25, 2022. In the post, he complained about Russian proxy fighters in Donetsk Oblast allegedly getting no pay and called for "shooting" those responsible for that.

Sazonov and Satarov believe that Girkin's arrest could have been triggered by his latest criticism of Putin.

"The situation changed in 2022 – the limits of free speech were greatly restricted," Sazonov said. "(Girkin's latest verbal attack) was a straw that broke the camel's back."

Read also: Could mobilization, battlefield defeats cost Putin his regime?
'Angry Patriots'

The Kremlin has also begun to crack down on Girkin's associates from the Club of Angry Patriots – an alliance of pro-war imperialists opposed to Putin.

Pavel Gubarev, the chairman of the club, was detained on July 21 for protesting Girkin's arrest during a court hearing and was later released. The Russian newspaper Kommersant reported, citing its sources, that Gubarev was being investigated by law enforcement for possible extremism.

Like Girkin, Gubarev has played a major role in Russia's war against Ukraine.

In March 2014, he proclaimed himself "the people's governor" – the leader of Russia's proxies in Donetsk Oblast. He also joined the Russian army as a volunteer fighter during Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In July, the Russian authorities also opened an administrative case against another member of the Club of Angry Patriots, retired colonel Vladimir Kvachkov.

Kvachkov is a prominent nationalist and anti-Semite.

In 2005, Kvachkov was arrested on charges of organizing an assassination attempt on Putin's ally Anatoly Chubais, but he was acquitted in 2008.

In 2013, he was jailed on charges of preparing a mutiny in a way similar to Prigozhin. He was released from prison in 2019.

According to Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), Kvachkov was planning to seize weapons at several military units, organize a march on Moscow and stage a coup d'etat.

One of the many bizarre details of the purported rebellion plan was that he was allegedly planning to use crossbows for the coup.

Another target of the crackdown is Boris Kagarlitsky, a left-wing columnist and chief editor of the Rabkor online publication. In July, Kagarlitsky was charged with "calling for terrorism on the Internet" and arrested until Sept. 24.

Kagarlitsky's stance is different both from the Club of Angry Patriots and the liberal opposition. He supported the Russian invasion of the Donbas in 2014-2022 but opposed the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022-2023.

Read also: Russian hawks criticize regime’s war effort as Putin raises stakes

Prigozhin stays afloat

The only major critic of the Kremlin in the pro-war camp who has remained unpunished is Prigozhin. Despite the rebellion, he has been going back and forth between Russia and Belarus with impunity. His Wagner mercenaries even met with Putin in July.

"Apparently, Russia's leaders just scratched their heads (after the rebellion) and continued living as usual," Sazonov said.

Part of the Wagner mercenaries have relocated to a military camp in Belarus.

Meanwhile, the Russian independent outlet Agentstvo reported on Aug. 3 that Prigozhin's companies had signed state contracts worth at least 2 billion rubles ($21 million) after the Wagner rebellion.

"(Putin) can't have Prigozhin jailed immediately because he's popular among influential military leaders," Oreshkin said. "In several months, when Prigozhin becomes irrelevant, Putin will do whatever he wants to him – poison him or send him to Africa or Siberia."

Read also: Putin lacks troops in Ukraine but fears mobilization in Russia

Purge of generals

Despite failing to punish Prigozhin and Wagner mercenaries, the Kremlin has cracked down on the generals suspected of having links to Wagner.

One of them, Sergei Surovikin, disappeared from the public eye after the rebellion, and Russian media reported in June that he had been arrested due to his alleged links to Prigozhin. However, this has not been officially confirmed, and Russian lawmaker Andrei Kartapolov claimed in July that he was having a rest.

Surovikin was the commander of Russia's invasion force in Ukraine from October 2022 through January 2023 and was later demoted to deputy commander of the force.

According to Russian media reports, Surovikin enjoyed a close relationship with Prigozhin and Wagner mercenaries. However, he called on the mercenaries to stop the rebellion shortly after it began.

The Wall Street Journal also reported on July 13, citing its sources, that the Russian authorities had detained at least 13 senior officers suspected of disloyalty. Others were suspended or fired.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the detainees included generals Andrei Yudin, Vladimir Alekseyev, and Mikhail Mizintsev.

Another general, Ivan Popov, published a video address in July, saying that he had been fired from the post of commander of Russia's 58th army.

"Ukrainian troops haven't been able to defeat us on the front, but our senior commander has struck us in the rear, leaving the army without leadership at the most difficult moment in a traitorous and evil way," he said.

Popov said he had been dismissed after he complained of urgent problems, including procurement, a lack of counter-battery fire, and numerous casualties caused by Ukrainian artillery.

"If Prigozhin hadn't thought that some of the generals might join him, he wouldn't have started the rebellion," Oreshkin said. "However, the generals chickened out in the critical situation. Putin has prevailed and kept control, but now he has to purge the generals."

Read also: A coup against Putin: Wishful thinking or a real possibility?

What's next?

Although Girkin's associates have launched a public campaign in his support, it has been low-profile and has not led to any large-scale protests.

Sazonov believes that the growing dissatisfaction among the pro-war camp and the crackdown on hawks will not have much of an impact on the stability of Putin's regime.

He described Girkin's allies as a marginal group who do not have any influence and are constantly involved in scuffles and disputes with each other.

Oreshkin also said that unlike Prigozhin, Girkin and his associates do not have any military resources at their disposal and have not been involved in anything other than verbal attacks on the Kremlin.

Disloyal generals are more dangerous because they have military resources, according to Oreshkin.

"Putin has successfully sorted out this situation so far," he told the Kyiv Independent. "Generals see that Surovikin and others have disappeared and don't want to disappear too."

Oreshkin said, however, that the discontent of the pro-war camp, including both Girkin's allies and generals, may lead to some turbulence or rebellions only if Ukraine achieves victories on the front.

Sazonov agrees that the situation on the battlefield is crucial.

"Ukraine should stop hoping for some coup in Russia," he said. "Everything will be decided on the battlefield."

Read also: Is Putin going to launch a nuclear war?

Prigozhin still has value for Putin, but supports a competing centre of gravity – CNN

Ukrainska Pravda
Sun, August 13, 2023 

Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin still has value to Russian President Vladimir Putin, but Prigozhin himself has plans for Wagner activities in Africa, a position on which his position contrasts with that of the Kremlin.

Source: CNN referring to expert sources and its own analysis

Details: CNN recalls that just a few weeks after the failed rebellion, Prigozhin appeared on the sidelines of the recent Russia-Africa summit in Saint Petersburg, where he shook hands with a high-ranking official from the Central African Republic.

According to the media outlet, Prigozhin's freedom contrasts with the imprisonment of opposition leaders Vladimir Kara-Murza and Alexei Navalny on lesser charges than attempted coup.

Experts believe that the Wagner Group leader is still valuable to Putin, the media outlet writes.

Candace Rondeaux, director of Future Frontlines, an open-source intelligence service at the New America think tank, said that "Prigozhin's stock with the Kremlin has clearly taken a hit, but since Putin lost even more stock after the mutiny it seems he believes some utility remains in keeping Prigozhin around."

According to Rondeaux, Prigozhin's business acumen and ability to hide commercial profits through an opaque network of shell companies and offshore transactions is an asset to Putin's Russia, which has been hit by widespread Western economic sanctions.

"At this point, Prigozhin’s networks of shell companies are the best insurance Putin has to keep Russia’s war economy," she said.

"But it’s not likely to stay that way forever – eventually something has got to give. And there is a good chance once it does we’ll see more spectacular events closer to the border between Poland and Belarus," the expert added.

CNN also notes that Prigozhin has plans for the African area, where Wagner Group has already conducted a number of operations.

Speaking after the Wagner militants moved to Belarus, Prigozhin suggested that he would continue to focus on Africa.

"To ensure that there are no secrets and behind-the-scenes conversations, I am informing you that the Wagner Group continues its activities in Africa, as well as at the training centers in Belarus," Prigozhin said.

Prigozhin's forces are already involved in activities in Sudan, where Wagner supplies rebels fighting against the Sudanese army, and are also active in the Central African Republic and Libya.

It may also be active in Niger, following the recent military coup. In a recent Telegram message, Prigozhin hinted that Wagner might be ready to offer its services there.

"What happened in Niger has been brewing for years. The former colonisers are trying to keep the people of African countries in check. In order to keep them in check, the former colonisers are filling these countries with terrorists and various bandit formations. Thus creating a colossal security crisis," the Wager Group leader said.

"The population suffers. And this is the (the reason for the) love for PMC Wagner, this is the high efficiency of PMC Wagner. Because a thousand soldiers of PMC Wagner are able to establish order and destroy terrorists, preventing them from harming the peaceful population of states," Prigozhin said.

CNN notes that Prigozhin's position was at odds with that of the Russian Foreign Ministry, which called for the "speedy release" of Niger's President Mohamed Bazoum by the military.

"By defying Putin and evading punishment, Prigozhin seems to have built and sustained a competing center of gravity to the Kremlin," the newspaper writes.

In her recent analysis, Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre, noted that Prigozhin has effectively destroyed the "power vertical" – Putin's long standing top-down system of rule.

"Putin’s much-hyped ‘power vertical’ has disappeared. Instead of a strong hand, there are dozens of mini-Prigozhins, and while they may be more predictable than the Wagner leader, they are no less dangerous. All of them know full well that a post-Putin Russia is already here – even as Putin remains in charge – and that it’s time to take up arms and prepare for a battle for power," CNN quoted Stanovaya as saying.

Background: The Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) is trying to save money on salaries for its mercenaries because of financial pressure, UK Defence Intelligence reports. "If the Russian state no longer pays Wagner, the second most plausible paymasters are the Belarusian authorities," the intelligence review suggests.

In six months Prigozhin will either be dead, or there will be a second coup – Bellingcat Head

Ukrainska Pravda
Fri, August 11, 2023

Investigative journalist Christo Grozev from Bellingcat predicts that in half a year, either Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Wagner Group, "will be dead," or "there will be a second coup" in Russia.

Source: Grozev in an interview with the Financial Times

Quote: "Putin... called Prigozhin a traitor.

Everyone knows what they do with ‘traitors’ and Putin hasn’t done that.

He [Putin – ed.] wants to see him [Prigozhin – ed.] dead.

He can’t do that yet.

In six months Prigozhin will either be dead or there will be a second coup."

Details: Grozev also said that he does not think that any part of the Russian elite, with the exception of the military-industrial complex, sees the sense in the Russian war against Ukraine.

In his opinion, "they’re not speaking out" because of a "prisoner's dilemma".

The investigator, answering a question, commented on the possible overthrow of Putin: "It could go one of two ways.

Either the prisoner’s dilemma can be broken, or they will just get rid of him through a better co-ordinated coup.

You don’t have that yet among the oligarchs, or with any of the ministers, or the FSB [Russia’s security service – FT].

But it is unpalatable for the rest of the elite to live in a North Korea 2.1 [because of the sanctions imposed against Russia – ed.] with their bank accounts frozen.

Other triggers could happen. Say a reversal of fortunes on the frontline."

Background:

• On the evening of 23 June, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group, said that the Russian regular army had launched a missile strike on the rear mercenary camps,  and because of this, 25,000 mercenaries of Prigozhin were allegedly going to "restore justice".

• On the morning of June 24, Prigozhin claimed that he took control of the military facilities of Rostov-On-Don, including an airfield; after that Prigozhin said they were "heading for Moscow", and that his soldiers shot down three Russian helicopters. Wagner Private Military Company mercenaries also seized military facilities in the Russian city of Voronezh.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin in an emergency address said that Russia is "fighting for survival", and that there are attempts to "organise a rebellion" in the country.

• The Office of the President of the Russian Federation anticipated that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group fighters would likely reach Moscow’s outskirts in just a few hours, with fighting expected near Russia’s capital. According to Ukrainian intelligence, Vladimir Putin urgently left Moscow for his residence in Valdai. A convoy of Wagner Group forces was spotted 400 kilometres from Moscow.

• On Saturday evening, after a conversation with Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Prigozhin said that his mercenaries were turning their convoys around and going in the opposite direction to set up field camps. The criminal case against Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was to be closed and he would "go to Belarus".

A Ukrainian arms dealer accused of corruption is now one of the country's top weapons suppliers

Charles R. Davis
Sat, August 12, 2023

Ukrainian soldiers load ammunition into a 2s9 artillery vehicle in Donetsk Oblast on April 14, 2023.

Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images


Ukrainian Armored Technology has emerged as a top weapons supplier for Kyiv.


The company, whose sales have skyrocketed, is believed to be controlled by Serhiy Pashinsky.


Before the war, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy described Pashinsky as a "criminal."

A Ukrainian arms dealer widely suspected of corruption before Russia's full-scale invasion has now emerged as a top weapons supplier for the government in Kyiv.

Serhiy Pashinsky, a former member of parliament, is today head of Ukraine's arms trade association. Sales at his company, Ukrainian Armored Technology, have jumped from less than $3 million before the war to hundreds of millions of dollars today, The New York Times reported Saturday.

Ukrainian Armored Technology has since February 2022 helped secure scores of bombs and bullets across Europe for use by the country's armed forces, according to the Times. Since the war began, it has been one of Kyiv's most reliable suppliers.

That's despite the fact that Pashinsky, before the war, was a pariah, a man who was put under house arrest over a road rage incident and described by Zelenskyy himself as a "criminal" amid allegations of corruption.

But, according to the Times, Pashinsky's ties to arms dealers made officials overlook those earlier accusations. Bulgaria, for example, would not sell Ukraine the Soviet-era ammunition it needs, the Times reported, fearing it would invite retaliation from Russia. Pashinsky was able to negotiate a deal whereby the ammunition was sold to a middleman in Poland who in turn passed it on to Ukraine, for a cost.

Ukrainian Armored Technology experienced a windfall. In 2021, according to the Times, it reported just $2.8 million in sales. In 2022, that figure rose to more than $350 million.

The company's use of middlemen may have been essential in the early days of the war. But Ukraine's reliance on them is a reminder of the country's decades-long struggle with corruption, one that its leadership is once again taking steps to publicly address.

The Times noted that Pashinsky and Ukrainian Armored Technology are once again the subject of an anti-corruption investigation. And the outlet's report comes a day after Zelenskyy announced the firing of military officials tasked with recruitment, citing reports that some were accepting bribes in return for exempting men from the draft. Ukraine, Zelenskyy said earlier this year, will not "return to the way things used to be."

"Of course, now the main focus is the issue of defense, this is the issue of foreign policy, this is the issue of war," he said. "But this does not mean that I do not see and hear what is being said in society at various levels, both at the central level and in the regions."

Despite concerns about corruption in Ukraine, however, experts told Insider last year that there's no evidence that weapons meant for the front lines are being diverted to the black market in any sizable numbers.

Zelenskyy fires recruitment officials for accepting $10,000 bribes. Almost all Ukrainians think the country has a problem with corruption, survey suggests.

Nathan Rennolds
Updated Sun, August 13, 2023 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said via his Telegram channel on Friday that he'd dismissed the heads of Ukraine's regional-military committees as investigations into corruption in Ukraine's armed-forces recruitment continue.

Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo


In one poll, 77.6% of surveyed Ukrainians said Zelenskyy was responsible for government corruption.


The survey included 2,011 interviews with people from 135 settlements in Ukraine.


It came out as Zelenskyy dismissed all the heads of Ukraine's regional-military committees.

Nearly all surveyed Ukrainians — 89% — in a newly released survey said corruption was the country's most serious problem after the war against Russia. The poll came out as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy launched an investigation into bribery related to military recruitment.

A survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, in cooperation with the US Agency for International Development project "Support of Leader Organizations in Combating Corruption in Ukraine," found that: "Second only to the war, corruption is perceived as the most serious problem in Ukraine by 89% of citizens.

"Despite a notable improvement in the public perception of corruption prevalence, 94% of respondents still consider corruption to be pervasive across Ukraine."

The survey was conducted in winter and included interviews with over 13,000 people, including internally and externally displaced Ukrainians.

Meanwhile, over 75% of Ukrainians in a second survey said they believed that Zelenskyy was responsible for corruption in the country's military and government administrations, Interfax-Ukraine, a Ukrainian news agency, said.

Interfax reported that in the survey — which it said the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology carried out for the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation think tank — 77.6% of surveyed Ukrainians said they believed that the president was "directly responsible" for the corruption. The report cited a statement by the think tank's executive director, Petro Burkovskyy.

"Procrastination in solving problems that undermine people's faith in victory will also hit the president himself," Burkovskyy said.

The Interfax-Ukraine report said that for the second survey, the institute carried out 2,011 interviews in July with people from 135 settlements in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy: Recruitment bribes at a time of war is 'high treason'

On Friday, Zelenskyy said he dismissed the heads of Ukraine's regional-military committees as investigations into corruption in Ukraine continued, particularly in its armed-forces recruitment.

"We are dismissing all regional military commissars," a statement on Zelenskyy's official Telegram channel said. "This system should be run by people who know exactly what war is and why cynicism and bribery during war is high treason."

The military officials are accused of taking cash and cryptocurrency bribes or helping people eligible to be called up to fight to flee Ukraine, Zelenskyy said in a video posted on social media, BBC News reported.

Last month, Ukrainian investigators detained the former military commissioner of the Odesa region on charges of illegal enrichment, dereliction of duty, and evading military service, local reports said.

Investigators allege that he and his family bought property in Spain and luxury automobiles worth $4 million.

There are about 1,795 military commissars in Ukraine, of whom about 135 are under surveillance by the National Agency on Corruption Prevention, Newsweek reported.

The commissars, Zelenskyy's Telegram message added, will be replaced by "soldiers who have been to the front or who cannot be in the trenches because they have lost their health, lost their limbs, but have retained their dignity and have no cynicism — they can be entrusted with this recruitment system."

Corruption scandals have plagued Ukraine during recent years, with then-Vice President Joe Biden saying in 2015 that it was eating the country "like a cancer."

A video shows an advanced Russian T-90 tank destroyed by a $500 hobby drone fitted with explosives, says Ukraine military

Alia Shoaib
Sun, August 13, 2023 

A screenshot from a video of a Russian T-90 tank falling off a cliff and being destroyed by Ukrainian attack drones.Ukrainian Air Assault Forces/Telegram

A video shows a Russian T-90 tank falling off a small cliff and becoming stuck.

It became a sitting duck for Ukraine's attack drones.

Ukraine has been rigging cheap drones with explosives and striking expensive Russian equipment.

A video appears to show the moment a Russian T-90 tank falls off a small cliff and is then destroyed by a Ukrainian attack drone.

The Ukrainian Air Assault Forces shared footage of the incident on Telegram, which shows the tank slipping off a leafy cliff face and appearing to become stuck halfway down.

The next shot shows the vehicle being struck by a drone, which causes it to explode.

"Another enemy tank - done," the 80th Air Assault Brigade said in the post.

Russian T-90 falls of a cliff and is targeted by Ukrainian FPV drone

by u/tomina69 in CombatFootage

The successful strike was carried out using a FPV (first-person-view) drone, the post said, which are cheap hobby drones that Ukraine is re-inventing to take out Russian equipment worth millions.

The amateur loitering munitions can be armed with with a makeshift warhead and severely damage expensive tanks and weapons systems worth millions of dollars, imposing far greater costs on the enemy, Insider previously reported.

"The whole point is cost," Samuel Bendett, a Russia defense and technology expert at the Center for Naval Analyses, told Insider. "These are extremely cost effective."

The cost of a single FPV drone tends to be around $400 to $500, or roughly the cost of a new Playstation.

A Russian T-90 tank in Moscow's Red Square during a Victory Day parade rehearsal on May 6, 2010.ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images

An account called War Monitor on X, formerly known as Twitter, which tracks events in the conflict in Ukraine, said that the destruction of the T-90 took place south of Klishchiivka in Donetsk, near Bakhmut, the scene of the most fierce fighting of the 18-month war.

The 80th Air Assault Brigade, one of the Ukrainian Army's oldest and most battle-hardened formations, was deployed to Bakhmut last month, according to an exclusive report in the Jerusalem Post.

Russia has suffered huge equipment losses during its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, with visually documented losses of over 2200 tanks, per open-source tracking website Oryx.

Ukrainian Security Service show destruction of rare Russian Terminator-2 armoured combat vehicle

Ukrainska Pravda
Sat, August 12, 2023

Military counterintelligence officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) have destroyed a "peerless" Russian Terminator-2 tank support armoured combat vehicle.

Source: Security Service of Ukraine

Details: This rare specimen of Russians burned down from several strikes by kamikaze drones.

Quote: "They tried to pull out the damaged Terminator with the help of a T-80 tank, but…

The SSU specialists hit it too!"

Reference: According to the Russian Defence Ministry, the combat vehicle has "a high level of security, firepower and handling".

Also, "thanks to powerful and universal weapons", it allegedly can "effectively destroy enemy firing points, fortifications, infantry using grenade launchers and anti-tank systems, as well as combat tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other armoured targets of the enemy."

 

A video appears to show Ukraine's drones destroying a Russian 'Terminator' in the second confirmed loss of the prized armored vehicle

Alia Shoaib
Sun, August 13, 2023

A screenshot from a video showing Ukraine striking a Russian BMP-T armored vehicle, nicknamed the "Terminator."The Security Service of Ukraine/X

Ukraine says it destroyed a prized Russian "Terminator" armored vehicle with attack drones.


A video shows the weapon being struck and pulled away by a T-80 tank that is also hit.


This appears to be the second confirmed loss of the hi-tech vehicle used to support tanks.

A video appears to show Ukraine destroying a Russian BMP-T armored vehicle, nicknamed the "Terminator," in the second confirmed loss of the prized fighting vehicle.

The Security Service of Ukraine shared a video showing the vehicle maneuvering through a field before being struck from above by drones.

Troops appear to be seen running from the vehicle following the strike. Another clip shows the damaged vehicle being pulled by a T-80 tank before more strikes rain down from above.





"This rare model of enemy weaponry burned down after only a few hits from kamikaze drones," the SBU said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

"They tried to pull out the downed Terminator with a T-80 tank but, it was also hit!"

It is unclear when and where the video was taken, and Insider could not independently verify it.

A BMPT Terminator armored fighting vehicle heads to Red Square for a Victory Day military parade marking the 75th anniversary of the victory in World War II, June 24, 2020.Anton Novoderezhkin\TASS via Getty Images

The hi-tech "Terminator" is designed to support tanks and can simultaneously engage three targets using its four weapon systems.

The armored vehicle has a weapons arsenal that includes twin 30 mm guns, four high-speed Ataka anti-tank missiles with a nearly four-mile range, two AG-17D grenade launchers, and a coaxial 7.62 mm PKTM machine gun.

The vehicle, which is manufactured by Uralvagonzavod, the main tank producer for the Russian military, was first designed in the 1980s. The Russian army is believed to have only 10 of the vehicles.

A serviceman washes a BMPT Terminator armored fighting vehicle designed to support tanks as part of preparations for the Victory Day military parade, in Moscow, April 23, 2019.Anton Novoderezhkin\TASS via Getty Images

Despite the vehicles' impressive appearance, there are likely too few to impact the battlefield significantly, the UK defense ministry previously said.

Any successful strikes on these vehicles are likely embarrassing for Russia, as the weapons are media darlings.

Russia has suffered huge equipment losses during its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, with visually documented losses of over 11,600 vehicles and equipment, per open-source tracking website Oryx

China's economy is showing signs of serious trouble — and the problems are still mounting

Phil Rosen
Sat, August 12, 2023

China's economy hasn't rebounded from the pandemic as expected, and now it faces a slate of obstacles.

Kevin Frayer/Stringer

China's post-pandemic rebound hasn't materialized and it faces mounting economic obstacles.


Beijing is grappling with declining trade and foreign investment, a shaky housing market, and deflation.


Experts say most of China's issues are self-inflicted, and warn that policies must change to improve confidence.

The world's second-largest economy isn't growing, producing, or trading as much as it usually does.

The pandemic rebound that China and the rest of the world were anticipating has yet to materialize, and official data suggests there's a long road ahead before the economy is back on its feet.

China's National Bureau of Statistics announced Wednesday that consumer prices dropped annually in July for the first time in two years, dipping 0.3%, just slightly better than median estimates for a 0.4% decrease.

The People's Bank of China is now facing the opposite problem of the Federal Reserve, which has tightened policy for 18 months in a bid to tame soaring prices. Deflation — the trend of prices falling throughout the economy — presents a particularly dangerous trajectory for China, which carries a massive amount of debt.

"Deflation means the real value of debt goes up," David Dollar, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute's China center, told Insider. "High inflation we know is bad, but it does help manage debt burdens over time. Deflation does the opposite."

Bloomberg estimates total household, business, and government debt at about 282% of annual economic output.

The latest figures add to the anxiety that's already been swirling about what growth could look like for the rest of the year, and JPMorgan strategists cautioned that China risks a 1990s-style "Japanification" if policymakers don't address the housing market, financial imbalances, and aging demographics.

Officials in Beijing have urged experts not to portray data unfavorably, according to the Financial Times, asking economists to "interpret bad news from a positive light."

The numbers make this difficult:

Year-to-date, China's exports are down 5% compared to last year, while imports have dipped 7.6%


Manufacturing activity has contracted for four straight months


July exports declined at the sharpest rate in three years, at 14.5% annually

"Before the pandemic, China was growing at about 6%, and now it's struggling to recover," Dollar said. "Consumption really didn't hold up coming out of the lockdown. The main components of GDP on the demand side — consumption, investment, net exports — they all have serious problems right now."

Politicization of the economy

Increasingly, China's US-led Western trade partners have turned elsewhere. Global demand for Chinese goods has cooled, even as Russia ramps up trade with Asia amid its war in Ukraine.

The US Census Bureau reported Chinese exports to the US dropped 23.7% in June, hitting a six-month low of $42.7 billion. That reflects both the Biden Administration's "de-risking efforts," as well as a general pullback in spending as central banks around the world raise interest rates.

Near-shoring trends have also picked up since the pandemic. Mexico, for example, has emerged as America's new biggest trade partner, blowing past China with US bilateral trade totaling $263 billion through the first four months of the year.

Dexter Roberts, author of "The Myth of Chinese Capitalism" and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told Insider that much of Beijing's troubles stem from its politicization of its economy.

Embedding Communist Party members in corporations and prioritizing state-run firms, he said, has dragged on domestic productivity, spooked the private sector, and made the country less attractive for foreign investment.

"A lot of companies now feel China isn't the market of the future," Roberts said.

To that point, China's foreign investment gauge plummeted to a 25-year low in the second quarter.

A shaky property market

Most of China's economic troubles tie directly into its property market.

China was able to skirt deflation in 2009 and 2012 on the heels of the global financial crisis, but today's housing market complicates policymakers' current battle.

Notwithstanding recent price declines, property values have appreciated dramatically since 2009, and fiscal stimulus measures may not have the same impact as before. China's allowed developers to over-build, and now the inventory glut has crippled major developers.

Last week, Country Garden Holdings — once China's largest developer by sales — failed to make millions of dollars' worth of coupon payments on its bonds, and it anticipates reporting enormous first-half losses.

Similarly in July, Chinese developer Evergrande, which made headlines in 2021 with a massive debt default, recorded a two-year $81 billion loss.

Real estate accounts for about one-fifth of the country's economy, and the sector's headwinds include hefty debt and weak demand from homebuyers. Home transaction volumes across 330 cities in China cratered 19.2% year-over-year in June, according to a Beike Research Institute study, and values have dropped 23.4%.

The slump helps explain China's weak second-quarter GDP, which came in lower than expected at 6.3%.

"Housing prices are going down, so people aren't making purchases," Roberts said. "So much of people's wealth is tied up in the property sector, so when they see values go down, they decide to save for the future and not spend. The Chinese government won't be able to lift the property sector without that confidence."

The long tail of China's one-child policy

Even if Beijing could somehow remedy its other issues, years of a one-child policy may have long ago crippled its economy for decades.

In 2022, the population shrank for the first time since 1961, and the consulting firm Terry Group said the country is on pace to lose nearly half its population by 2100.

But it's not just population decline that weakens China. It's the climbing proportion of elderly people.

In 1990, 5% of Chinese people were 65 or older. That's at 14% today, and could surge to 30% by 2050, per Terry Group. By their estimate, China could lose an average of 7 million working-age adults each year by the next decade.

Already, working-age couples have to support aging parents, education costs for children are climbing, and confidence in the economy is low.

For China to have a shot at improving demographic conditions, experts say Beijing will have to unwind its long-standing household registration system. The policy, which dates back to the 1950s, makes rural-to-urban migration unfavorable and difficult, as it ties social welfare benefits to where people are born.

Roughly a quarter of China's population works in agriculture — well above the 3% mark in the US — and that presents its own productivity limitations.

"I'm skeptical they'll do it, but if Beijing did away with household registration, it would mean a large portion of the Chinese population that's treated as second-class citizens would start to spend more, have more confidence in the future, and drive more productivity across the economy," Roberts said.

Rocky decade ahead

China's laundry list of issues point to a rocky decade ahead.

From an unstable, debt-ridden property market to anti-business policies and demographic issues, Beijing has plenty to tackle if it hopes to match the same growth as decades past.

Geopolitical hurdles involving the US, Russia, and other trade partners present further headaches for President Xi Jinping, but experts say the focus should be on domestic issues.

For Dollar, he expects China to eke out 5% growth this year, as Beijing forecasts, but without financial or demographic reforms, growth could hover closer to 3% for the next decade.

China Hedge Funds in Crisis After Losses, US Investor Retreat

Bei Hu and Nishant Kumar
Sun, August 13, 2023 


(Bloomberg) -- Foreign investors are losing interest in China, and hedge funds that target the world’s second-biggest economy are paying the price.

The number of active China-focused hedge funds has slipped for the first time since at least 2012, with only five new funds launched this year as of June, according to data from Preqin Ltd. Another 18 funds were liquidated, the data show.

The contraction marks a major shift for offshore China hedge funds, which accounted for almost half of new funds in Asia as recently as 2021 as investors sought to ride the wave of the once high-flying economy and capital markets. Beijing’s crackdowns on private companies in industries including after-school tutoring and e-commerce, along with growing geopolitical tensions with the US, have led to weak returns since then and sapped global investors’ appetite for China assets.

“We definitely see less demand for China managers from both Asia and foreign investors,” said Otto Chan, head of portfolio management at Persistent Asset Partners Ltd., a 21-year-old fund of hedge funds firm.

Dantai Capital Ltd. shuttered its flagship Greater China hedge fund this year after concluding its investment strategy no longer worked in the current market environment. Tiger Management LLC-backed Yulan Capital Management also liquidated an Asia hedge fund focused on Greater China in late 2022, according to a newsletter.

China-focused hedge funds — stock pickers in particular — are facing an unprecedented second consecutive year of losses, according to Eurekahedge Pte data. More than two-thirds of China-focused hedge funds lost money in 2022, while 36% were down a fifth or more. In the first half of this year, 62% of China funds failed to make money, Preqin data showed.

China’s economic recovery is losing steam despite Beijing’s recent policy support, while geopolitical tensions with the US are showing little signs of letting up.

Managers put on a brave face in public, touting the country’s long-term growth potential and cheap valuation. In private, they bemoan the end of offshore China hedge funds, those that raise money from international investors to trade securities related to the country, said one of them.


Legends China Fund dropped 16% in the first seven months of 2023, after more than 20% losses in each of the last two years, according to a newsletter and a person with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. Blue Creek China Fund was down 17% in the first half, struggling to end a losing streak that began in 2021, according to its June newsletter.

A representative for Legends declined to comment. Blue Creek didn’t reply to emails seeking comment.

Certain shared characteristics of offshore China funds made them particularly vulnerable to the latest regulatory and geopolitical headwinds.

Some 88% of the 417 China-focused hedge funds in Bloomberg’s database specialize in equity long-short, or taking bullish and bearish wagers on stocks. Out of those, two-fifths are long-biased. The strategy tends to fare better when the market is in an upswing. Many focused on investing in tech and e-commerce stocks.

Greater China equity long-short funds were down about 1% through July, with 11% reporting their figures, according to Eurekahedge.

The MSCI China Index has dropped 43% since the end of 2020, versus a 19% gain for the US S&P 500 Index over the same period.

Investors are seeing more political risks for their China investments and have become less confident about the long-term economic upside, said William Ma, global chief investment officer of GROW Investment Group, a Shanghai-based asset manager backed by Julius Baer Group Ltd.

Some investors who have been hurt by their China exposure for two years are waiting for a market rebound to reduce their holdings. With North American pensions scaling back existing allocations or putting future plans on hold, other investors are wary of being caught in the path of these outflows, said another long-time investor in Asia hedge funds, who asked not to be identified because of the political sensitivity of such comments.

Shifting Tactics

Facing this existential crisis, China managers are trying to adapt.

In the last three years, APS Asset Management Pte, which oversees $2.1 billion in China long-short and long-only strategies, has seen tepid interest from North American backers, especially among the public pensions, said President Ken Chung.

The Singapore-based company has in recent months redirected capital raising efforts to include the Middle East and South Africa. In the first half, it scored its maiden investors from these two geographies.

“We’ve grown up in a world where it’s a US-led global world order,” Chung said. “Going forward, it will be a two-sun solar system. One is US-led, one is China-led. And there will be planets that revolve around either one.”

Some managers who previously targeted international investors are pivoting toward a domestic audience, pitching funds that will trade regional or even stocks globally, said GROW’s Ma, declining to identify the firms.

As supply chains diversify away from China, others are touting their edge in a so-called “China+1” strategy. That involves tapping into the trend of Chinese companies building production facilities in places including Cambodia and India, or expanding sales outside of China and US markets, Ma said.

Certain past investment approaches such as momentum trading will have to change, said Chris Wang, chief investment officer of Yunqi Capital Ltd. in Hong Kong.

The “extremely high risk premium” investors attach to the China market may put company fundamentals, corporate governance and shareholder returns in the spotlight. The largest profit contributor to his China fund last year was TAL Education Group, which was sitting on cash levels that were twice as high as its market value when he built his stake, Wang said. His largest bullish bet now is on Qifu Technology Inc., which has been handing back half of its earnings to investors through dividends and share buybacks.

“Companies are sitting on a lot of cash. Investment opportunities and returns are not as attractive as they used to be,” he said. “So it’s logical to boost investor payout. It’s clearly going to be a major trend in the next five to 10 years.”

--With assistance from David Ramli.

Bloomberg Businessweek

MSNBC Anchors Stunned By GOP's New Faux Outrage: ‘Whole Thing Is A Joke’

Lee Moran
Mon, August 14, 2023 

MSNBC Anchors Stunned By GOP's New Faux Outrage: ‘Whole Thing Is A Joke’


MSNBC anchors Mehdi Hasan and Ayman Mohyeldin on Sunday mocked the latest instance of “faux outrage” from Republicans.

Many in the GOP were incensed with Attorney General Merrick Garland’s appointment Friday of U.S. Attorney David Weiss as special counsel for the federal investigation into Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden.

But, as Hasan and Mohyeldin pointed out, it was exactly what many of them had previously called for.

“‘Make Weiss special counsel,’ they said,” noted Hasan. “Now, they’re saying, ‘Well, Garland did exactly what we wanted. And now we’re mad at Garland for doing exactly what we wanted.’”

“Their bad faith, their hypocrisy is truly a sight to behold. And also a reminder that you can’t appease Republicans,” he added.

Mohyeldin agreed, saying it was purely “about politics and trying to sully” President Joe Biden.

“The whole thing is a joke,” said Hasan.

“It is,” Mohyeldin acknowledged.

Watch the video here:

Lina Khan: The most feared person in Silicon Valley is a 34-year-old in DC

Lina Khan is a key architect of an aggressive attempt by Washington to rein in tech giants. Amazon may be next.

FTC Chair Lina Khan to meet with Amazon amid antitrust claim

Daniel Howley and Alexis Keenan
Sat, August 12, 2023

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan will reportedly meet with representatives from Amazon (AMZN) next week in what could be the last face-to-face between the parties before the commission files an antitrust suit against the e-commerce giant.

Khan, who became chair in 2021 at 32 years old, has made taking on Big Tech the cornerstone of her tenure at the FTC. She has confronted many of the industry's biggest names, with major lawsuits against Facebook parent Meta (META) and Microsoft (MSFT).

Not all of them have produced victories, resulting in some political blowback in Washington and skepticism that her strategy is to lose so Congress will change antitrust laws.

Khan, now 34, rose to prominence after publishing a 2017 article in the Yale Law Journal titled "Amazon's Antitrust Paradox."

The article argued modern antitrust laws weren't equipped to tackle the tech industry's anticompetitive behavior because they were too focused on pricing as a means of determining consumer harms.

FTC Chair Lina Khan, preparing to testify before a House committee last month. 

(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Those laws, she argued, needed to be rethought to bring Big Tech companies to heel. Now she is attempting to rein in these companies as chair.

"Love or hate her, [Khan] has a very clear vision of what the role of the FTC is and what the role of the chair is," former Federal Communications Commission Chair Harold Furchtgott-Roth told Yahoo Finance. "And that vision is a very aggressive and ambitious one and she’s taking every step possible to make that vision become a reality."

The FTC declined to comment.

The US scrutiny of Big Tech

Khan isn’t the only government official going after the nation's biggest tech companies.

The Department of Justice and a collection of state attorneys general are suing Alphabet's (GOOG, GOOGL) Google in two consolidated cases launched during President Trump’s administration, alleging the company abuses its market power across search and search advertising to squeeze competition.

Those cases go to trial next month before the US District Court of the District of Columbia, which has dismissed some of the claims.

Google said "we look forward to showing at trial that promoting and distributing our services is both legal and pro-competitive."

Khan is juggling cases against several other giants. In one case against Facebook-owning Meta, the FTC under Khan tried to block Meta's acquisition of virtual reality fitness company Within.

Her agency is also trying to force the social media juggernaut to split apart Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, in a separate case filed before Khan took over as chair.

Another target: Microsoft. Khan has fought to prevent the Windows maker from completing its acquisition of "Call of Duty" developer Activision Blizzard (ATVI).

But Khan’s biggest test will be her challenge against Amazon. The suit, according to Politico, will likely focus on Amazon’s e-commerce business and whether it puts unfair pressure on sellers who use its marketplace.

These arguments echo complaints made by the state of California and Washington DC, which argued that Amazon’s pressure on these sellers forced them to hike prices outside of the Amazon platform.

Amazon has denied those claims, saying sellers set their own prices and that Amazon makes no effort to prevent them from offering lower prices elsewhere. The case filed by Washington DC was thrown out by a judge last year, and the California case is ongoing.

An Amazon worker moves boxes last month in New York City.

 (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

If FTC does decide to sue Amazon, it would be Khan's second case against the company. A separate lawsuit the commission filed in July accuses Amazon of tricking consumers into signing up for its Prime service and purposely making it difficult to cancel those subscriptions.

Amazon declined to comment.

Pushback in Washington

Khan’s efforts, however, haven’t always been successful. In July, a federal judge blocked the commission’s request for an injunction seeking to keep Microsoft from completing the deal. The FTC has since pulled out of its in-house suit, and will likely negotiate with Microsoft over potential concessions for the deal.

The commission also failed in its battle to prevent Meta from being able to purchase VR company Within.

During a July hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, some Republicans pounced on Khan’s failures, calling her a "bully" and arguing that her leadership of the agency had been a "disaster."

But at least one expert says that the FTC is moving in the right direction despite recent misses.

"I think the FTC is doing the right thing in trying to rein in mergers and challenging self-preferencing rules," Stanford Law School Professor Mark A. Lemley told Yahoo Finance.

"I think they have run up against 40 years of entrenched (and outdated) attitudes that disfavor antitrust law, which has led to them losing cases in the courts that they clearly should have won," Lemley added. "It's not obvious to me how we can change that judicial resistance without legislation."

Khan’s prior losses against tech firms also have little to do with the FTC’s chances in any potential case against Amazon, explained NYU School of Law professor Eleanor Fox.

"I know the press makes a huge deal of losing the first case and losing the second case, but the fact is…it was just lost because of proof of fact," Fox said. "And it really doesn't say a lot about what will happen next time in a big case."

Khan’s potential tussle with Amazon would be among the most important battles between the Biden Administration and Big Tech. Whether it actually plays out at all could depend on Khan’s showdown with the company next week.

Daniel Howley is the tech editor at Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter @DanielHowley.

Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on Twitter @alexiskweed.