Elie Honig joins to discuss his new book and the way the criminal justice system works differently for those with wealth …
— Read on www.wnyc.org/story/legal-system-rich-powerful-different/

www.nytimes.com/2023/01/30/world/europe/wagner-convict-ukraine-russia.html

Thousands of convicts have been killed, many within days or even hours of arriving at the front, Russian rights advocates and Ukrainian officials say. Those who live and return home largely remain silent, wary of retribution if they speak out.

The policy circumvents Russian legal precedent and, by returning some brutalized criminals to their homes with pardons, risks triggering greater violence throughout society, underlining the cost Mr. Putin is prepared to pay to avoid defeat.

records from one penal colony seen by The New York Times show that the recruits also included men convicted of aggravated rape and multiple murders.

There are no more crimes, and no more punishments,” said Olga Romanova, the head of Russia Behind Bars. “Anything is permissible now, and this brings very far-reaching consequences for any country.”

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More than six months ago, Russia’s largest private military company, Wagner, and its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, began systematically recruiting convicts on a scale not seen since World War II to bolster a bloody assault on the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Yet the operation remains largely cloaked in secrecy and propaganda.

Wagner has been able to avoid oversight by exploiting the most marginalized Russian citizens, the 350,000 male inmates of its harsh penal colonies, said human rights activists and lawyers.

potentially confronting Russian society with the challenge of reintegrating thousands of traumatized men with military training, a history of crime and few job prospects.

These are psychologically broken people who are returning with a sense of righteousness, a belief that they have killed to defend the Motherland,” said Yana Gelmel, a Russian prisoner rights lawyer who works with enlisted inmates. “These can be very dangerous people.”

A former inmate himself, Mr. Prigozhin understood prison culture, skillfully combining a threat of punishment with a promise of a new, dignified life, according to rights activists and families.

Mercenary recruitment is illegal in Russia, and until last year Mr. Prigozhin had denied that Wagner even existed.

Mr. Matyukhin described a climate of fear instilled by Wagner to keep convicts fighting. He said they were threatened with summary executions, and at least one man in his unit was taken away after disobeying orders and never returned.

In some videos, the inmates are given papers described as pardons or annulments of convictions. However, none of these documents have been made public, raising questions about their legitimacy. Rights advocates say pardons are rare, time-consuming and complex legal procedures that have never been issued in Russia on anywhere near the scale advertised by Wagner.

Putin removed the general in charge of the war in Ukraine, Sergei Surovikin, whom he had appointed just a few months earlier. Wartime leaders change their top generals only when they know they are losing.
— Read on www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/how-get-breakthrough-ukraine

Putin has shown no signs of wanting to end it. Instead, he is planning a major counteroffensive this year. “The Russians are preparing some 200,000 fresh troops

At this stage, incrementally expanding military and economic assistance is likely to only prolong the war indefinitely. Instead, in 2023, the United States, NATO, and the democratic world more broadly should aim to support a breakthrough. This means more advanced weapons, more sanctions against Russia, and more economic aid to Ukraine.

But now that the House of Representatives is under Republican control, future appropriations could be less forthcoming. If the war drags through the end of the year without major Ukrainian victories, the Biden administration will struggle to obtain congressional renewal for a new military and economic assistance package, especially as the presidential election heats up with at least one major candidate, Donald Trump, who is not a fan of aid to Ukraine. Debate

The

Iranian foreign minister criticised the drone attack as ‘cowardly’ and aimed at creating ‘insecurity’.
— Read on www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/29/iran-calls-drones-attack-on-its-defense-plant-cowardly

McGonigal, Trump, and the Truth about America
— Read on snyder.substack.com/p/the-specter-of-2016

www.nytimes.com/2023/01/28/world/europe/ukraine-russia-war-bakhmut.html

The bureau tried to court Oleg Deripaska, a Russian aluminum magnate, as an informant. Instead, one of its own top agents may have ended up working for him.
— Read on www.nytimes.com/2023/01/28/nyregion/fb-indictment-mcgonigal-deripaska.html

Olesya Krivtsova sports an anti-Putin tattoo on one ankle and a bracelet that tracks her every move on the other.
— Read on edition.cnn.com/2023/01/29/europe/russian-teen-social-media-ukraine-war-intl-cmd/index.html

A former high-ranking FBI counterintelligence official who investigated Russian oligarchs has been indicted on charges he secretly worked for one, in violation of U.S. sanctions. The official was also charged, in a separate indictment, with taking cash from a former foreign security officer.
— Read on www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/former-fbi-agent-charged-with-aiding-russian-oligarch

In case you were wondering whether Comey was duped or complicit…

twitter.com/econklin4/status/1618668256977625089

Also listen to the podcast “@gaslitnation”.

The impact of the McGonigal indictments is still rippling out through the law-enforcement world. The charges accuse an official at the heart of the Trump-Russia investigation of secretly selling his own access
— Read on www.businessinsider.com/charles-mcgonigal-fbi-indictment-allison-guerriero-russia-deripaska-spies-nypd-giuliani-2023-1

When reports came out suggesting John Durham had launched a criminal investigation, former Attorney General William Barr never clarified that Trump was a target.
— Read on www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2023/01/26/trumps-own-appointees-reportedly-opened-criminal-investigation-into-him-as-part-of-durham-russia-probe/

Weeks before the agent found himself in a Clinton email scandal.
— Read on www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2017/03/11/flynn-paid-ex-fbi-agent-in-clinton-email-scandal-for-lobbying-work

The Trump administration lifts curbs on firms linked to Oleg Deripaska, despite objections from Democrats.
— Read on www.bbc.com/news/business-47023004

Stone incorporated violent extremist groups into the “Stop the Steal” effort, which was itself a product of his warped political mind writes columnist Jennifer Cohn in the first of a three-part series.
— Read on buckscountybeacon.com/2023/01/roger-stone-deserves-more-scrutiny-for-his-role-in-the-events-leading-to-january-6/