🇺🇦🇦🇪 Turkish newspaper, Aydinlik, uncovered a scheme where close associates of Ukrainian president, Vladimir Zelensky, transfer monthly, 50 million USD to two companies controlled by oligarch, Andrey Gmyrin, based in the United Arab Emirates.

This discovery is related with the raids by Ukrainian cops on the offices of the two anticorruption bodies, NABU and SAPO, which were investigating two former members of the Ukrainian government, former defense minister, Rustem Umerov and former deputy prime-minister, Alexey Chernyov.

The raids happened on the orders of Andrey Yermak, Zelensky's chief advisor and chairman of the presidential office. NABU and SAPO were absorbed into the General Attorney's Office, attorney named directly by Zelensky himself by decree, a move clearly meant to shut down any investigations into the corruption at the top of Ukraine.

The EU cut funds as a result of the move against NABU and SAPO but the risk of this happening didn't deter Yermak or Zelensky from dissolving NABU and SAPO. Why? Because NABU and SAPO were about to uncover a high profile organised crime network which transfers 50 million USD/month from Ukraine's self-defense fund, paid mostly by the United States, the EU, UK, Canada, Norway and other countries, to two companies owned by an oligarch close to the Zelensky regime, Andrey Gmyrin.

Gmyrin is the owner of several properties and flats in France and the United Arab Emirates, spending 14 million USD from 2021 to 2023 through two companies, Gmyrin Family Holding and GFM Investment Group. Gmyrin is the target of a French criminal investigation which alleges that he caused a 23 million EUR hole in the French budget through tax evasion and corruption. The French have confiscated some of his properties.

Research shows that Gmyrin and his relatives declared official income only 8.2 million gryvnia (approximately $220,000) during the period of 1998 to 2022. This figure does not match the purchases of millions of property and yachts in Dubai and France.

Investigators question how stolen funds were quietly transferred abroad and how he left Ukraine, despite an order to detain Gmyrin. Ukrainian medias are insinuating "high-level protection".

By liquidating NABU and SAPO, Zelensky strengthened his position as the de-facto dictator of Ukraine, getting rid of those who threatened the dealings of his cronies, from which he too personally benefits, siphoning Ukraine's wealth to offshore bank accounts, while ordinary Ukrainians are being sent to the frontlines to die for what?

@CIG_telegram

🇵🇱❌🇺🇦 Poland expelled 57 Ukrainian citizens and 6 Belarusians after a concert where Ukrainian nationalists hoisted the flags Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists and Ukrainian Insurgent Army, responsible for ethnically cleansing the regions of Galicia and Volynia of its Polish population during WW2.

The massacres of the Polish population in Galicia and Volynia are remembered well in Poland and such actions caused outrage among the Polish public, many who have lost family members in those massacres.

@CIG_telegram

🇧🇪 'Anyone in Brussels can be hit a by a stray bullet'

The General Attorney of Brussels, Julien Moinil, complains about the lax stance of Belgian and EU politicians over gun violence in the Belgian and EU capital. There have been 20 shootings in Brussels from June 1st to August 11th which left two people dead and 8 wounded.

Moinil, who is himself under police protection after having received threats from drug dealers, hit out at politicians who he said are listening to him but are too lax in their approach and when it came to attributing resources.

“I get nothing, no extra resources. They have listened to me, but apart from the 30 extra people at the FGP [Federal Criminal Police], I see nothing,”

“It was 2 p.m., in the middle of the day. A bullet went through the windshield of a car where a mother and her 9-year-old child were sitting. She was nearly killed,” he fumed. “Are we going to wait until innocent civilians are killed before we get the necessary resources?”

Moinil said current policy to tackle drug users was insufficient, and that surveillance cameras were broken or lacking altogether in some parts of Brussels. Even when caught, he said, criminals just continued their business with a mobile phone from within prison.

Seven shootings took place last week alone, with the latest incident on Sunday night, bringing the total number of incidents this year to 57. The districts most affected in the latest wave were Anderlecht, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean and Schaerbeek, according to data from the public prosecutor’s office.

Authorities have linked most of the gunfire in the Belgian capital to drug trafficking and disputes between gangs attempting to gain territory. Crime fueled by the illegal drug trade has long been a problem in Belgium, due to the vast quantities of cocaine and other illicit substances arriving through the port of Antwerp in the country’s north.

Brussels happens to host one of the largest non-European populations as a percentage of the city's population. As of 2020, 74.3% of the population of the Brussels-Capital Region was of foreign origin (non-Belgian) and 41.8% was of non-European origin (including 28.7% of African origin). Among those aged under 18, 88% were of foreign origin (non-Belgian) and 57% of non-European origin (including 42.4% of African origin)

Islam is the 3rd biggest religion in Brussels, with 23% of the population adhering to one Islamic sect.

@CIG_telegram

🇺🇦🇷🇺Zelensky refused to withdraw troops from Donbass.

“We will not leave Donbass. If we leave Donbass voluntarily or under pressure, we will start a third war,” Zelensky said.

The Ukrainian president also refused to discuss any possible territorial exchanges with Russia, while indirectly requesting a meeting with Putin and Trump.

“During the call, I said that I am not ready to discuss Ukraine’s territories, as this is exclusively a matter of our Constitution. And honestly, with all due respect, I am not ready to discuss these issues over the phone. These are serious matters that are resolved at the leaders’ level,” Zelensky told journalists.

Given this rhetoric, it is unlikely that any breakthroughs should be expected from the meeting between Putin and Trump in Anchorage, Alaska.

🇺🇸🇮🇱❌🇮🇷 — Netanyahu brags about dragging the US into war with Iran while laughing about it, even though the US had no internal pressure to join the war.

🇺🇸🇮🇱 Leaks reveal Microsoft helped Israel deploy Azure cloud for mass surveillance and airstrike planning.

Leaked documents reveal Microsoft’s Azure cloud was used by Israel’s Unit 8200 for mass surveillance on Palestinians, recording millions of calls from Gaza and the West Bank. Sources inside the unit told +972 magazine that the data was used for arrests, blackmail, and targeted killings. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella approved the deal in 2022 after meeting with Unit 8200’s commander in Seattle. He called the project “critical,” aiming to move 70% of Israeli intelligence to Azure.

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/microsoft-cloud-used-israels-unit-8200-palestinian-surveillance-airstrike-planning-leaks-1740393

https://www.972mag.com/microsoft-8200-intelligence-surveillance-cloud-azure/

🔗 WikiLeaks

🇱🇾🇲🇱 9 Aug: Reinforcements for the FLA continue to pour in from Libya into northern Mali, bringing additional fighters, weapons, and ammunition from Libyan Tuaregs. Locals report a noticeable increase in the number of FLA fighters in the region.

🔗 Brant

🇮🇱🇮🇷 Netanyahu Urges Iranians to Rise Up, Promises Water Technology After Freedom

PM Netanyahu, speaking in English to the citizens of Iran amid the worsening water crisis, said: “As soon as you are free, Israel will provide you with water recycling technology. Take to the streets for your future.”

🔗 Osint613

🇺🇸🇷🇺 According to two White House officials who spoke with CNN, Friday’s meeting between U.S. President Donald J. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will take place at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska.

Elmendorf–Richardson acts as the Headquarters for United States Alaskan Command (ALCOM), Alaskan NORAD Region (ANR), Joint Task Force-Alaska (JTF-AK), Eleventh Air Force (11 AF), 673d Air Base Wing, 3rd Wing, 176th Wing, 11th Airborne Division, and several other tenant units with the U.S. Air Force and Army.

🔗 OSINTdefender

🎉 A legacy erased: Happy birthday, George Soros

George Soros turns 95 today, and for his birthday present America brought him the annihilation of his legacy.

Soros has been known for two things: making money and spending it on political influence. Over the last few years, he has handed over control of his empire to his son, Alex, and Alex seems unable to do either of those things successfully.

Alex took control and In December 2021, Alex invested $2 billion to buy nearly 20 million shares of an electric vehicle company called Rivian at somewhere between $70 and $100 per share. It was one of the largest one-off investments the fund had ever made. A year later, Rivian shares were selling for just $18 and Soros Fund Management sold at a loss of what must have been more than $1 billion.

Perhaps related to the massive losses on Rivian, in July 2023 Open Society Foundations announced that it would be laying off 40 percent of its staff worldwide, halting all new grants until February 2024, and completely changing its operating model. What had once been an international network of influence peddling was slashed to the bone.

The crowning achievement of the Open Society Network under Alex so far was the passage of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Open Society staffers, such as Tom Perriello, were so involved in pushing the legislation that Open Society Policy Center briefly re-opened lobbying operations and became one of the top lobbying spenders in the nation. Perriello was on the floor of the House when the bill was passed.

Billions of dollars for EV chargers (that never got built) and billions more for EV tax credits were crammed into to the bill, seemingly the perfect bandage for Rivian’s revenue troubles. The IRA even allocated $3 billion for purchasing electric delivery trucks for the postal service, and Rivian is one of the biggest producers of electric delivery vans. But, despite the EV subsidies and green energy handouts, the bill came too little and too late to save Soros’ investment in Rivian.

This period coincided with another of Alex’s big political maneuvers: Spending at least $4 million on Stacey Abrams’s failed gubernatorial campaign in Georgia. During that time, Rivian was starting to build a “giga-factory” outside of Atlanta and, most importantly, asking the state government for subsidies. In the eleventh hour of the Biden administration, Rivian was also awarded $6.5 billion loan for the factory from the Department of Energy. Construction on the factory has yet to even start, and Rivian stock currently trades at less than $12 per share.

George’s most notable political achievement, one so famous that his name was used to coin the term for it, was the funding of the “Soros DAs.”

One of George’s goals for decades has been to end of the War on Drugs and implement a total overhaul of the American criminal justice system. To that end, he has funded soft-on-crime think tanks and pro-legalization ballot initiatives.

And then, in a showcase of the financial genius that made him a billionaire, George spotted a political arbitrage opportunity. He realized his immense fortune could make an outsized impact if he supported soft-on-crime politicians running to become local prosecutors and district attorneys.

Coupled with the “reforms” and defunding of the police that were popularized during the summer of 2020, the Soros DA became a nationwide blight on urban areas. While left-leaning pundits, researchers, and think tanks, frequently funded by Soros, tried to explain away the spike in crime and blame it on the pandemic, guns, or economic hardship, Americans grew more discontented with the “reform” they had been promised.

The demise of the Soros DA is more than a rejection of Soros’ legacy on criminal justice policy. It was also a rejection of his legacy on immigration. As one might guess from a name like “Open Society,” Soros is a proponent of open borders. One reason Soros began funding DAs in 2016 was to create “sanctuary cities” that would be the heart of the so-called “resistance.”

🇺🇸🪖📹 — US National Guard troops are patrolling the streets of Washington, D.C., the capital of United States of America

🔗 Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY)

🇮🇱 Israeli PM Netanyahu said he feels he’s on a “historic and spiritual mission” attached to the vision of Greater Israel, which encompasses territories designated for a future Palestinian state as well as parts of present-day Jordan and Egypt.

📝: Carolina Lion: Two problems with this. One, they don't have the manpower and a military large enough to take this land and hold it. Two, this is going to bring them into direct conflict with Turkey, Russia and China.

🔗 AF Post