Rape of Russia & Yukos

Rape of Russia & Yukos Oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky (Centre) Boris Yeltsin (Right) Oligarch Vladimir Potanin (Left) Riches mid- 1990s:   via loans-for-shares mass privatisation scheme under Boris Yeltsin. Chief architects: Anatoly Chubais & Yegor Gaidar / involved 'shock therapy' reforms, resulting in mass poverty & hyperinflation. Interesting Aside/History Maria Gaidar, 32 (2015) Bolivia childhood (part) stepfather / x2 husbands Harvard (2011) advised Moscow's deputy mayor 2012-2013 former deputy governor Kirov Region 2009-2011 accepts job of:  deputy governor Odessa (Jul. 2015) led by former Georgian Pres. Mikhail Saakashvili Sounds a nasty piece of US-educated work with no loyalty to Russia  [here] Inspired by Ukie 2004  'Orange Revolution' Maria Smirnova ... errr, Gaidar co-founded 'Democratic Alternative' or 'DA!' anti-Kremlin youth group pro-Kremlin supporters rebranded 'Dam!' something to do with sexual surrender (slang) LOL ... I love the Russians  ;) Gaidar intended to apply for Israeli citizenship (2015) but changed her mind & withdrew application, although she had anticipated lining up three citizenships. Presumably Gaidar is Jewish, as Israel is a Jewish State.  Ukraine's Chocolate King granted her Ukie citizenship (2015).  Maria Gaidar renounced Russian citizenship Aug. 2015 ... but, unfortunately, she had months to reconsider before finalisation of paperwork (status unknown as at 2016, no further search completed). Maria Gaidar associated with 'non-systemic opposition' / described as: head of Social Inquiry foundation active participant in number of liberal pro-Western movements TASS  Jul 2015 Yegor Gaidar, former PM / architect post-Soviet economy father:  Timur Gaidar Timur Gaidar grew up part of Russia's communist revolution 'aristocracy' was taught he was part of elite transforming the world creating a new kind of (Soviet) future Timur Gaidar became military correspondent for Pravda / reported on Bay of Pigs Cuba 1962 Yegor Gaidar's grandfather (Timur's father): one of heroes of Russian Revolution, Arkady Gaidar / volunteered to fight Germans / killed 1941 Timur Gaidar believed in the soviet system / [system]  described as having been good for him & his family http://archive.is/GZqpK *Maria Gaidar's family connections probably explain how she got away with the fifth column protest dramas in Russia, without getting the prison sentences some of the others did? *gets a bit confusing / finding it hard to keep the generations straight. F. William Engdahl   http://www.voltairenet.org/article168007.html Correction added The Real Crime of M. Khodorkovsky by F. William Engdahl The final decision in the Russian trial against former oil oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky has drawn dramatic statements of protest from the US Obama Administration and governments around the world labeling Russian justice as tyrannical and worse. What is carefully omitted from the Khodovkorsky story however is the true reason Putin arrested and imprisoned the former head of Russia’s largest private oil giant, Yukos. Voltaire Network | Frankfurt (Germany) | 5 January 2011 Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s real crime was not stealing Russia’s assets for a pittance in the bandit era of Yeltsin. His real crime is that he was a key part of a Western intelligence operation to dismantle and destroy what remains of Russia as a functioning state. When the facts are known the justice served on him is mild by comparison to US or UK standard treatment of those convicted of treason against the state. Obama’s torture prison at Guantánamo is merely one example of Washington’s double standard. According to the politically correct sanitized account in Wikipedia: “Yukos Oil Company was a petroleum company in Russia which, until 2003, was controlled by Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky…Khodorkovsky was convicted and sent to prison…Yukos was one of the biggest and one of the most successful Russian companies in 2000-2003. In 2003, following a tax reassessment, the Russian government presented Yukos with a series of tax claims that amounted to $27 billion. As Yukos’s assets were frozen by the government at the same time, the company was not able to pay these tax demands. On August 1, 2006, a Russian court declared Yukos bankrupt. Most of Yukos’s assets were sold at low prices to oil companies owned by the Russian government. The Parliamentary Council of Europe has condemned Russia’s campaign against Yukos and its owners as manufactured for political reasons and a violation of human rights.” If we dig a little deeper however we find a quite different case. As he stepped out of his private plane in Siberia in October 2003 Khodorkovsky was arrested. He was arrested, as Wikipedia correctly states, for tax crimes. What they did not say is that he at the tender age of 40 had risen to become the richest man in Russia worth some $15 billion by fraudulent acquisition of state assets during the lawless Yeltsin era. In an auction run by his own bank, Khodorkovsky paid $309 million for Yukos. In 2003 the same company was assessed as worth $45 billion, and not owing to Khodorkovsky’s management genius. In 1998, Khodorkovsky had been let free in a US case where he was charged with helping launder $10 billion with his own bank and the Bank of New York. He had very influential friends in the US it appeared. The then head of the Republic National Bank of New York, Edmund Safra, was murdered some months later in his Monaco apartment reportedly from members of an alleged “Russian mafia” whom he had cheated in a drug money laundering scheme. But there was more. Khodorkovsky built some impressive ties in the West. With his new billions in effect stolen from the Russian people, he made some powerful friends. He set up a foundation modeled on US billionaire George Soros’ Open Society, calling it the Open Russia Foundation. He invited two powerful Westerners to its board—Henry Kissinger and Jacob Lord Rothschild. Then he set about to develop ties with some of the most powerful circles in Washington where he was named to the Advisory Board of the secretive private equity firm, Carlyle Group where he attended board meetings with fellow advisors such as George H.W. Bush and James Baker III. However, the real crime that landed Khodorkovsky behind Russian bars was the fact that he was in the middle of making a US-backed coup d’etat to capture the Russian presidency in planned 2004 Russian Duma elections. Khodorkovsky was in the process of using his enormous wealth to buy enough seats in the coming Duma elections that he could change Russian laws regarding ownership of oil in the ground and of pipelines transporting same. In addition he planned to directly challenge Putin and become Russian President. As part of the horse trade that won Putin the tacit support of the wealthy so-called Russian Oligarchs, Putin had extracted agreement that they be allowed to hold on to their wealth provided they repatriate a share back into Russia and provided they not interfere in domestic Russian politics with their wealth. Most oligarchs agreed, as did Khodorkovsky at the time. They remain established Russian businessmen. Khodorkovsky did not. Moreover, at the time of his arrest Khodorkovsky was in the process of negotiating via his Carlyle friend George H.W. Bush, father of the then-President George W. Bush, the sale of 40% of Yukos to either Condi Rice’s former company, Chevron or ExxonMobil in a move that would have dealt a crippling blow to the one asset left Russia and Putin to use for the rebuilding of the wrecked Russian economy: oil and export via state-owned pipelines to the West for dollars. During the ensuing Russian state prosecution of Yukos, it came to light that Khodorkovsky had also secretly made a contract with London’s Lord Rothschild not merely to support Russian culture via the Open Russia Foundation of Khodorkovsky. In the event of his possible arrest (Khodorkovsky evidently knew he was playing a high-risk game trying to create a coup against Putin) the 40% share of his Yukos stocks would pass into the hands of Lord Rothschild. The crocodile tears of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for the violations of Khodorkovsky’s human rights hide a far deeper agenda that is not being admitted. Washington used the Russian to try to reach its goal of totally destroying the only power left on the earth with sufficient military strike power to challenge the Pentagon’s Full Spectrum Dominance strategy—control of the entire planet. When seen in that light the sweet loaded words “human rights” take on a quite different meaning. F. William Engdahl US-German author and analyst of geopolitical and economic issues. His newest book is Myths, Lies and Oil Wars. Earlier works include A Century of War : Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order (2011, republished in a new edition) and Gods of Money: Wall Street and the Death of the American Century (2010). http://www.voltairenet.org/article168007.html Sputnik http://sputniknews.com/business/20160325/1036954131/khodorkovsky-yukos-shares.html Khodorkovsky De Facto Stole Yukos Shares From Russian Gov't - Investigators Business 13:34 25.03.2016  (updated 14:07 25.03.2016) Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky had de facto stolen Yukos oil company shares from the state, the Russian Investigative Committee said Friday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Arrested in Russia on October 25, 2003, Khodorkovsky spent 10 years in a prison for fraud and tax evasion before being pardoned. Following his release he left the country. In December 2015, a Russian court charged Khodorkovsky, who was then in London, in absentia for organizing the 1998 murder of Vladimir Petukhov, the mayor of the western Siberian town of Nefteyugansk. In 2007, former Yukos security head Alexei Pichugin was convicted of planning the mayor's killing. "At the current stage, we cannot speak about all the evidence gathered by the investigation, but there is enough to conclude that Khodorkovsky, having obtained shares from the government without investing anything, de facto stealing them, is now once again trying to deceive the state by claiming a further $50 billion from it," committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said. "Khodorkovsky, having acquired undervalued Yukos shares, was deceptive in pledging an investment of $350 million towards the company's development, which he did not go through with," he added. In February, Russia sent a request to the global police service, Interpol, asking for Khodorkovsky to be placed on the international wanted list. The 1995 privatization of now defunct energy giant Yukos was carried out in violation of antitrust laws, Russia's Investigative Committee said. "According to the investigation, the 1995 privatization of Yukos was carried out in violation of competition and antitrust legislation. Mikhail Khodorkovsky's team falsely presented two firms de facto belonging to him — JSC Laguna and JSC Reagent — as independent legal entities for the investment competition," committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said. Companies that filed lawsuits to The Hague arbitration court over the Yukos case had no right to do so due to fraud, making the court's decision unenforceable, Russian Investigative Committee said Friday. According to committee spokesman Vladimir Markin, after Yukos shares were "de facto stolen" by Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his accomplices, they repeatedly changed hands between Russian and foreign legal entities before eventually being acquired by Hulley Enterprises Ltd, Yukos Universal Ltd and Veteran Petroleum Ltd. "All these companies were also controlled by Khodorkovsky and payments were only made on paper, they did not in fact take place" he said. "These companies were not investors and they had no right to file a lawsuit with the international arbitration court in The Hague, claiming their rights as investors were violated. Therefore, the court's decision is not enforceable," Markin underscored. http://sputniknews.com/business/20160325/1036954131/khodorkovsky-yukos-shares.html Seattle Times Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky Re:   Yukos oil company (dismantled) decisions pending -- dispute relates to 2003 Khodorkovsky arrest on charges of financial wrongdoing -- Khodorkovsky seeking to seize Russian assets abroad, incl. France Netherlands: 2014 arbitration ruling decision: payment of $50 billion to ex-shareholders of Russia -- decision not recognised by Russia Khodorkovsky -- then takes the fight to several European courtrooms France -- Russia has won x3 court cases -- x4 more rulings expected, Paris Netherlands -- decision due next week http://www.seattletimes.com/business/french-courts-caught-up-in-yukos-vs-russia-assets-fight/ ---------------------- ---------------------- COMMENT This is pretty much the first I've really read anything about the rape of Russia in the 1990s.

Syria - Robbed by Israel & US-Anglo Imperialists

Syria - Robbed by Israel & US-Anglo Imperialists SUMMARY SOURCE http://russia-insider.com/en/business/cheney-rothschild-and-fox-news-murdoch-drill-oil-syria-violating-international-law/ri12508?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter Cheney, Rothschild, and Fox News’ Murdoch to Drill for Oil in Syria, Violating International Law Genie Energy is planning to drill in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights - legally part of Syria - potentially endangering precious water supplies -- Syria ripped apart by: warring of U.S. imperialists and Islamic fundamentalists -- US imperialist & Islamic fundamentalists leave children to die of starvation -- Israel to take advantage of chaos, stealing resources of Syria's southern region -- theft to be carried out by "notorious pushers of military hegemony" -- theft violates international law & the thieves don't care AMERICAN-BASED - GENIE ENERGY -- Genie Energy is an American-based oil and gas company -- investors & advisers of Genie Energy are who's who of war profiteers: Dick Cheney (USA VP under Bush; served under 4 US Republican US presidents, spent 6 terms in White House) Rupert Murdoch (media) Lord Jacob Rothschild (British investment banking) James Woolsey (USA, Democratic Party, security, energy, former CIA head) ISRAELI MILITARY COMMANDER PRESIDENT - GENIE ENERGY -- Genie Energy president: Efraim “Effi” Eitam, an Israeli military commander -- Efraim Eitam called for expulsion of 'cancer' of Arabs form Israel VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW -- intend drilling vast oil & gas reserves in occupied Syrian Golan Heights -- Golan Heights occupied by Israel since 1967 -- drilling in violation of international law - Annex to Fourth Geneva Convention -- https://www.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/WebART/195-200065 -- Israel granted Genie's Afek Oil & Gas exclusive petroleum exploration rights -- area: 153 square miles of occupied Golan Heights -- 2015 surface geophysical tests discovered substantial oil & natural gas reserves -- Afek Oil & Gas subsidiary of Genie Energy has drilled - x3 exploratory wells -- illegal occupation of Syria's Golan Heights exploited by Israel for decades -- one-third of entire Israel water supply is from occupied Golan Heights -- sold as tourist & skiing destination Mount Hermon Ski Resort) -- Israeli occupation of Syrian Golan Heights continues despite US & international pressure RUPERT MURDOCH & FOX 'NEWS' -- Rupert Murdoch sung the praises of Genie Energy -- however, prosperity & security not for targets of Western imperialists -- the war-stricken, the starving & the desperate of Syria -- Murdoch's Fox channel instrumental in pushing war in Middle East -- Murdoch's Fox channel instrumental in obscuring / concealing     role of USA in inciting war in Syria -- Murdoch & his cronies to reap profits -- Genie Energy, meanwhile, engages in publicity stunts to pre-empt criticism ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN -- reserves in occupied Golan Heights are locked up as shale oil -- hydraulic fracturing (fracking) likely method of extraction of fossil fuels -- shale oil in close proximity to LARGE AQUIFER    (underground water reserve) supplying DRINKING WATER to region -- fracking chemicals & polluted water that spill onto ground    could CONTAMINATE water supply LEGAL -- Israel High Court 2014 - issued temporary restraining order (see Haaretz) -- monied interests won: restraining order lifted -- Israeli occupied Syrian Golan Heights illegal oil drilling -- aided by assumption that Syrian Golan Heights is already part of Israel -- Genie Energy subsidiary refers to occupied Golan Heights field    as being in 'northern Israel' -- Naftali Bennet, Israeli politician    called for recognition of Golan Heights as Israeli territory 2015    called for expansion of Jewish settlers in region Article concludes: -- Dick Cheney, Rupert Murdoch, Jacob Rothschild & their henchmen -- have long promoted war & exploited oil resources in Middle East http://russia-insider.com/en/business/cheney-rothschild-and-fox-news-murdoch-drill-oil-syria-violating-international-law/ri12508?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter ---------------------- ---------------------- COMMENT Loads of information in this article. Interesting article.

Syria - Israel Contempt for International Law & Murdoch Media Interest in Israel's Genie Energy

ꕤ Article SOURCE https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2015/12/no-brake-and-no-disclosure-on-media-owners-interests/ No Brake and No Disclosure on Media Owners’ Interests by craig on December 5, 2015 3:22 pm in Uncategorized     The Times today carries an article on ISIS’ oil interests, Syria and Turkey. Nowhere does it inform its readers that the owner of the newspaper, Rupert Murdoch, has a vested interest in this subject through his role and shares in Genie Energy, an Israeli company granted oil rights in Syria by the Israeli government. Dick Cheney and Lord Rothschild are also shareholders. No, they really are. This is not a conspiracy theory. It is a conspiracy. That Israel should grant oil rights within Syria is of course a striking example of contempt for international law, but then that is the basis on which Israel normally operates. Of course Genie’s share value will be substantially boosted by the installation of a neo-con puppet regime in Damascus which can be bought to underwrite the oil concession granted by Israel. Contempt for international law has been the single most important defining characteristic of neo-conservatism, and the need to uphold international law the recurring theme of this blog. I never thought the UK government would make the withdrawal of its support for the concept of international law explicit, as Cameron has done by removing the obligation to comply with international law from the Ministerial Code. That is truly, truly disgraceful. But to return to Murdoch’s oil interests in Syria, it seems to me a fundamental flaw that when Fox News, Sky News, the Times, the Sun and Murdoch’s numerous other media outlets bang the drum for Western military action in Syria, there is no requirement for the consumer of this propaganda to be told that the outlet is pushing a policy in line with the financial interests of its owner. Even for those actively seeking information, there is no register of the interests of media proprietors. EXTRACT ONLY -- ARTICLE CONTINUES https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2015/12/no-brake-and-no-disclosure-on-media-owners-interests/ ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT What's the point of international law if there's nobody to enforce it? ꕤ

'Why Murdoch Pushes for War' - Craig Murray

⟴ ꕤ COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Why Murdoch Pushes for War ⟴ by Craig Murray  on September 7, 2015 1:33 pm Given the disgraceful Sun front page and middle spread urging war on Syria, and the all-out propaganda on Sky News, it is important to understand why Murdoch is pushing so hard for war. I therefore reproduce my article from February 2013. It is important to note that the links are to industry publications: this is very genuine, hard information. Israel Grants Oil Rights in Syria to Murdoch and Rothschild Israel has granted oil exploration rights inside Syria, in the occupied Golan Heights, to Genie Energy. Major shareholders of Genie Energy – which also has interests in shale gas in the United States and shale oil in Israel – include Rupert Murdoch and Lord Jacob Rothschild. This from a 2010 Genie Energy press release Claude Pupkin, CEO of Genie Oil and Gas, commented, “Genie’s success will ultimately depend, in part, on access to the expertise of the oil and gas industry and to the financial markets. Jacob Rothschild and Rupert Murdoch are extremely well regarded by and connected to leaders in these sectors. Their guidance and participation will prove invaluable.” “I am grateful to Howard Jonas and IDT for the opportunity to invest in this important initiative,” Lord Rothschild said. “Rupert Murdoch’s extraordinary achievements speak for themselves and we are very pleased he has agreed to be our partner. Genie Energy is making good technological progress to tap the world’s substantial oil shale deposits which could transform the future prospects of Israel, the Middle East and our allies around the world.” For Israel to seek to exploit mineral reserves in the occupied Golan Heights is plainly illegal in international law. Japan was succesfully sued by Singapore before the International Court of Justice for exploitation of Singapore’s oil resources during the second world war. The argument has been made in international law that an occupying power is entitled to opeate oil wells which were previously functioning and operated by the sovereign power, in whose position the occupying power now stands. But there is absolutely no disagreement in the authorities and case law that the drilling of new wells – let alone fracking – by an occupying power is illegal. Israel tried to make the same move twenty years ago but was forced to back down after a strong reaction from the Syrian government, which gained diplomatic support from the United States. Israel is now seeking to take advantage of the weakened Syrian state; this move perhaps casts a new light on recent Israeli bombings in Syria. In a rational world, the involvement of Rothschild and Murdoch in this international criminal activity would show them not to be fit and proper persons to hold major commercial interests elsewhere, and action would be taken. Naturally, nothing of the kind will happen. SOURCE https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2015/09/why-murdoch-pushes-for-war/ ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT Think I might have encountered something about this before, but it didn't really sink in. I think I might be better at remembering things when they have some kind of emotion impact, like they do at the moment. Seeing  things sort of come together makes other details come to life. For me, it began with the flinging open of European borders by Mutti Merkel, at a cost of $6-billion, to Germany, despite a history of violent opposition to immigration, despite European austerity, despite the rise of right-wing dissenting political parties, despite security risks and opposition of EU states etc. Seeing the chaos of Middle Eastern and African refugees and other immigrants flooding Europe; seeing Britain secretly droning Syria, despite parliamentary veto; seeing Australia's Tony Abbott back-flip on his party's immigration stance, while joining the bomb Syria coalition; learning of Israeli bombings in Syria; seeing emotive propaganda and media hype targeting the public and exploiting refugees (that the West created by backing regional terrorists) has been instructive. Seeing the exploitation of the death of a child, and even exploitation of rape as a means of justifying pre-existing plans for war, by using rape in conflict zones as a basis for predictable calls for 'action' -- most recently, and perhaps aptly, by an actress, in British Parliament -- is seeing nothing but a charade performed for uninformed members of the public, which partly explains why this is an 'acting gig'. Emotive subjects and issues are the best propaganda tools and pretexts for behaviour that would otherwise be unacceptable to the public. The tools used by a criminal state to wage war are the same tools that are at the disposal of a criminal state to use against those it  designates as 'enemies' -- ie  those that pose threats to its illegitimate agenda (eg, by exposure of the corrupt state's wrongdoings, and so on). Allegations of 'rape' may also be employed (and have been employed) to 'justify' the state crime of conducting political persecution of those that expose state crimes.  Australian journalist-publisher, Julian Assange, exposed US and allied war crimes, and has effectively been imprisoned without charge for almost 5 years, and is presently under siege, in London, and denied rightful political asylum, on the basis of nothing but trumped up Sweden police 'rape allegations,' that have been used not only to deprive him of liberty, but also as a pretext for what is, in fact, state political persecution that is taking place before the public's eyes, while the corporate media, the state, its talking heads and its politicians, use  allegations of 'rape' to smear and vilify their target, when not otherwise misdirecting and generating stupor in an uninformed public. As for Syria, we have a military complex serving warmonger (John McCain) with links to US-backed 'moderate rebels' (ie al-Qaeda groups, in Syria, who are responsible for the assault on the Assad government by an assortment of multinational Islamist, as US and Gulf States proxies, which are destroying Syria & displacing millions), and he's perversely exploiting the image of a dead Syrian child in American Congress to, likewise, appeal for 'action' -- which is more of the same public and political performance staged in British parliament, as well as more of like performance staged in the past (Iraq and Libya, for example) -- to justify US and allied corporate-serving aggression abroad. Seeing the 'bomb Syria' Murdoch press, playing on public emotions and ignorance to quietly shape public perception and opinion; seeing a little of the beneath the surface commercial interests; seeing the inanity and PR influence of Hollywood, married to humanitarianism, married to politics, and then married to military intervention, which is married to silent Wahhabi Gulf Arab oil, commercial and political interests and partners of the West; married to Israel; married to energy and, no doubt, banking; which is severally and jointly bent on regime change in the Syria, and bent on destruction and murder, while immersed in deceit, propaganda, hypocrisy and arrogant sacrifice of both domestic and foreign populations; is to bear witness to a marriage made in hell, that somehow animates the otherwise cold, corporate details. It's hard to maintain a positive regard towards Israel or any of the US allied governments that support the destruction of yet another foreign state, in favour of causing mayhem in the region, with a view to, most likely, installing yet another religious fanatic puppet regime in the Middle East, that serves corporate Western interests. No wonder the Middle East never progresses from religious fanaticism; it's probably actively encouraged and reinforced by the West, who use it as a means to an ends. So, if you look at it like that, it is the West that can also take a bow for the entrenchment and spread of (what I see as) unenlightened philosophies under religious grip (that are inherently opposed to progress towards secularism), that Western imperialism has historically exploited, by installing and maintaining Western-serving dictators, and by backing proxy challenger armies (when they're not inadvertently encouraging even more ardent religious fanaticism of an opposition to Western interference), done in pursuit of the gains of the few, to the detriment of the many, in the Middle East and beyond. Guessing that corporate imperialism would nurture anything, as a means to an end, however damaging the 'blowback' to domestic populations, because there's no regard or loyalty to the domestic populations that are subjected to across-borders corporate tyranny. [Note:  I'm no Middle Eastern expert.  This is just my personal appraisal, given my limited knowledge and my limited inclinations, at this point in time.] Assange Transnational Security Elite, Carving Up the World Using Your Tax Money London  OCT8 Antiwar Mass Assembly (2011) Link  |  here ꕤ