Law, Power, and Justice

Thursday 29 June 2023

Morning News Notes:

The dreadful Mika is on Morning Joe admitting once again that she and the equally dreadful Joe Scarborough were up Trump’s ass even after he had run a campaign that should have told anybody who was sane that he was a maniac.  I think they remained on the Trump train until Trump outed their adulterous affair.  After that, they had to get married.  I think it’s one of the most unhappy marriages in the world.

Ukraine World

• According to Ukraine military intelligence, Russia is considering carrying out a terrorist act at the Zaporizhzhia NPP.
• PMC Wagner will no longer take part in military actions on Ukrainian territory – head of the military intelligence Budanov.
• Russians are retreating from the northern streets of Bakhmut.
• (Note: Lots of tweets trying to calculate the radius of radioactive contamination should the Russians create a nuclear disaster.  Just think about living like that.  Just think about the courage.)
• Exercises in preparation for an accident at the Zaporizhzhia Power Plant (ZPP) begin today.
• Speculation is that General Surovikin has been arrested and is suspected of having been aware of Prigozhin’s planned coup.

Moscow Times

• A Russian official wanted by the International Criminal Court over allegations of illegally transferring Ukrainian children to Russia met Thursday with a Vatican envoy. 
• Prigozin’s troll farm and media outfit are looking for fresh ownership after the aborted coup.
• Prigozhin confirmed in February of 2023 that he was behind Russia’s network of troll farms known as the Internet Research Agency.  This group expanded in 2019 into the Patriot media group with a mission to “create a favorable information space” about Russia (quote from group).  Prigozhin was appointed chairman of its board of trustees.
• Patriot’s work has been paralyzed for nearly a week after police raided its St. Petersburg headquarters during Prigozhin’s march to Moscow.  This was reported by The Bell, citing current and former employees.  (Note: Find The Bell)
• Russia has also blocked Prigozhin’s main media outlet RIA FAN which is part of the Patriot media group.  (Note: I think there are numerous smaller companies all operating under the umbrella Concord Group of Prigozhin’s)
• “There is no more central management,” The Bell quoted an anonymous Prigozhin staffer.
• The director of Patriot, Ilya Gorbunov, was negotiating with potential buyers until he abruptly disappeared, according to The Bell.
• One of the potential buyers was reported to be the private media holding National Media Group (NMG).  NMG was founded by billionaire banker Yury Kovalchuk, a close friend of Putin’s.  The board of NMG is chaired by retired Olympic cymnast and Putin’s rumored mistress Alina Kabaeva.
• The Bell reported that it believes that Patriot will now be “directly supervised by the presidential administration” regardless of its formal owner.
• Prigozhin was placed on the FBI’s wanted list in February 2021 on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud the US, interfering in US domestic politics and attempting to influence a presidential election.  A cash reward of up to $250,000 was offered for information leading to Prigozhin’s arrest.

The Bell (2/19/23)

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/russia-blocks-access-bell-news-website-2023-02-19/

• In February 2023, The Bell was blocked for Russians.  The Bell, a news outlet founded by one of Russia’s top journalists, is just the latest website to be taken offline as Moscow cracks down on independent media.
• Russia has blocked dozens of news sites since it invaded Urkaine last year. 
• The Bell, which covers mainly business news was one of the few remaining independent media websites after the authorities blocked Mediazona, Meduza and Novaya Gazeta.
• (Note: Russia blocked this blog after there was significant traffic from Russia).
• Because of danger to its journalists, The Bell announced that it was going to stop covering the conflict, but it continued to publish stories about the invasion’s effects on the economy.
• Founded in 2017 by Yelizaveta Osetinskaya, a journalist who formerly edited Vedomosti an the Russian edition of Forbes.
• Both The Bell and Osetinskaya had been labelled “foreign agents” by the Russian government and therefore subject to increased scrutiny by the government.
• Several of these groups have been accused of displaying “one-sided” coverage and also “racism” against the Russian people.