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mostlysignssomeportents · 8 months

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How the kleptocrats and oligarchs hunt civil society groups to the ends of the Earth

It's a great time to be an oligarch! If you have accumulated a great fortune and wish to put whatever great crime lies behind it behind you, there is an army of fixers, lickspittles, thugs, reputation-launderers, procurers, henchmen, and other enablers who have turnkey solutions for laundering your reputation and keeping the unwashed from building a guillotine outside the gates of your compound.

The field of International Relations has studied the enemies of the Klept in detail: the Transnational Activist Network is a well-documented phenomenon. But far more poorly understood is the Transnational Uncivil Society Network, who will polish any turd of sufficient wealth to a high, professional gloss.

These TUSNs are the subject of a new, timely scholarly paper by Alexander Cooley, John Heathershaw and Ricard Soares de Oliveira: "Transnational Uncivil Society Networks: kleptocracy’s global fightback against liberal activism," published in last month's European Journal of International Relations:

https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:5e5a3052-c693-4991-a7cc-bc2b47134467/download_file?file_format=application%2Fpdf&safe_filename=Cooley_et_al_2023_transnational_uncivil_society.pdf&type_of_work=Journal+article

The authors document how a collection of institutions – some coercive, others organized around good works – allow kleptocrats to take power, keep power, and use power. This includes "wealth managers, company providers, accounting firms, and international bankers" who create the complex financial structures that obscure the klept's wealth. It also includes "second citizenship managers and lawyers" that facilitate the klept's transnational nature, both to provide access to un-looted, prosperous places to visit, and boltholes to escape to in the face of coup or reform. It includes the real-estate brokers and other asset facilitators, who turn whole precincts of the world's greatest cities into empty safe-deposit boxes in the sky, while ensuring that footlose criminal elites always have a penthouse to perch in when they take a break from the desiccated husks they've drained dry back home.

Of course, it also includes the PR managers and philanthropic ventures that allow the klept to launder their reputation, to make themselves synonymous with good deeds rather than mass murder. Think here of how the Sacklers used charity to turn their family name into a synonym for culture and fine art, rather than death by opioid overdose:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/11/justice-delayed/#justice-redeemed

Beyond providing comfort to "Politically Exposed Persons" and "High Net-Worth Individuals," TUSNs are concerned with neutralizing TANs. Activists in these transnational networks play an inside-outside game: in-country activists will recruit peers abroad to bring attention to the crimes of their local kleptocrats. These overseas partners target the klept in the places they go to play and spend, spoiling their fun – and if they succeed in getting corrupt leaders censured abroad, then in-country activists can leverage that bad press to fight the klept at home.

To fight this "Boomerang Effect," TUSNs seek to burnish corrupt officials' reputations abroad, getting their names on humanitarian prizes, beloved sports teams, cultural institutions and great universities. They seek to capture international governance institutions that might wrong-foot kleptocrats, co-opting them to enable and even celebrate looters.

When it comes to elite philanthropy, TUSNs are necessarily selective. Kleptocrats' foundations don't fund anti-kleptocratic groups – they stick to "education, public health, the environment and the arts." These domains steer clear of human rights questions that might implicate their benefactors. Russian oligarchs love children's charities and disability rights – provided they don't target the Russian state.

If charitable giving is reputation laundering's carrot, then "reputation management" is the laundry's stick. Think of organized copyfraudsters who clone websites that have criticized their clients, then backdate the articles, then accuse the originals of infringing copyright in order to get them de-listed from Google or taken offline altogether:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/23/reputation-laundry/#dark-ops

Reputation managers also spend a lot of time in court. In the UK – the world's leader in libel tourism, thanks to a legal system designed to let posh monsters sue muckraking journalists into silence – Russian oligarchs have perfected the art of forcing their critics to shut up and go away:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/03/04/londongrad/#enablers

Indeed, London is a one-stop shop for the global klept, a place were forelock-tugging Renfields will buy you a Mayfair mansion under cover of a numbered company, sue your critics into silence, funnel your money into an anonymous Channel Islands account:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/07/the-klept/#pep

They'll sell you whole galleriesworth of "fine art" that you can have relocated to a climate-controlled container in a Swiss or Irish freeport:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/14/poesy-the-monster-slayer/#moneylab

They'll give your thick-as-pigshit progeny a PhD and never check to see whether he wrote his thesis himself:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LSE%E2%80%93Gaddafi_affair

Then they'll hook you up with a cyber-arms dealer to hunt your enemies by capturing their devices:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/07/27/gas-on-the-fire/#a-safe-place-for-dangerous-ideas

But don't let Brexit stop you from shopping for bargains on the continent. The Golden Passports of the EU – available in a variety of flavors, from Maltese to Cypriot to Portuguese – offer the discerning failson access to the luxury good shops and fleshpots of 27 advanced economies, making it a favorite of the Khmer Riche – the junior klept of Cambodia's ruling faction:

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/cambodia-hunsen-wealth/

But golden passports are for amateurs. Skilled klepts travel on diplomatic passports, which offer the twin benefits of free movement and consequence-free criminality, thanks to diplomatic immunity. The former Kazakh dictator's son-in-law enjoyed a freewheeling diplomatic life in Vienna; one daughters of the dictator of Tajikistan had a jolly time as an envoy to DC; another, to London (where else?).

All this globetrotting serves a second purpose: when rival elites seize power back home and force the old guard into exile, those ex-monsters can show up in the lands they called their second homes and apply for asylum. It turns out that even bomb-the-boats UK will welcome any asylum seeker who enters via the private jet terminal at City Airport (to be fair, these "refugees" have extensive properties in Zone 1 and country places in the Home Counties, so they won't need housing).

This stuff works. After Kazakh state goons murdered at least 14 protesters at a Zhanaozen oil facility in 2011, human rights groups around the world took up the cause. But they were effectively neutralized by TUSNs, with former UK PM Tony Blair writing on behalf of the Kazakh government to the EU condemning any kind of international investigation into the mass killings (add "former Prime Ministers" to the list of commodities for sale in the UK to sufficiently well-resourced murderer).

The authors close their paper with two case-studies. The first is of the daughters of Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov, Gulnara and Lola. And President Karimov was indeed a dictator: he trapped his population within his borders, forced them to use unconvertible scrip in place of money, and ordered the murder of hundreds of peaceful protesters, plunging the country into international isolation.

But while Uzbeks were sealed within their borders, Gulnara Karimov became an international player, running a complex network of businesses that mixed the products of the nation's oilfields with her family's fortune. She solicited – and received – bribes from Teliasonera, MTS and Vimpelcom, who were all vying for the contract to provide service in Uzbekistan. All told, she extracted more than $1b in bribes, laundering them through Latvia, Hong Kong and New York. She acquired real-estate in France and Switzerland, and her spree continued until her father collaborated with Uzbek security to seize her assets and place her under house-arrest.

Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva was Gulnara's estranged younger sister. She and her husband Timur Tillyaev ran the Dubai-based SecureTrade, which did extensive business with "opaque Scottish Limited Partnerships," laundering more than $127m in a single year to offshore accounts in the UAE and Switzerland. They acquired many luxe assets – a jet, a Californian villa, and an LA perfumier.

Lola styled herself as the face of the Karimovas abroad, a "philanthropist and cultural ambassador." She was a UNESCO ambassador and commissioned works of monumental art – and also sued the shit out of news outlets that reported factual matters about her family repressive activity at home. She organized AIDS charities in the name of Uzbekistan – even as her father was imprisoning a writer for publishing a book explaining how to have safer sex.

The second case-study is on Isabel dos Santos, "Africa's richest woman," daughter of Angolan dictator Jose Eduardo dos Santos. Isabel's vast fortune stemmed from her personal capture of vast swathes of the third-largest economy in Africa: "telecommunications, banking, diamonds, real estate and cement, among many others." Isabel enjoyed seemingly limitless access to state credit and co-investment, and was given first crack at newly deregulated industries. Foreign firms that invested in Angola were required to "partner" with Isabel's businesses.

Isabel claimed to be a "self-made woman" – a claim credulously parroted by the western press, including the FT. She used her homegrown fortune to become a major player abroad, especially in Portugal, where she was represented by the leading Portuguese law-firm PLMJ. Her enablers are who's who of corruption-loving lickspittles: McKinsey, Ernst and Young, Boston Consulting Group, and the Spanish BigLaw firm Uri Menendez.

Isabel cultivated a public facade of philanthropic giving and public spirited activism, serving as head of the Angolan Red Cross. She attended Davos and spoke at the LSE (she was also invited to Oxford, but her invitation was subsequently rescinded). On social media, she dismissed critics of her wealth and corruption as "colonialists," decrying their "racism" and "prejudice."

Isabel dos Santos's corrupt sources of wealth were finally, irrefutably exposed through the Luanda Leaks, in which the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists mapped the network of "top banks, management consultants and legal firms that were central to dos Santos’s operations."

Both case studies shed light on the network of brilliant, driven enablers and procurers without whom the world's greatest monsters would falter. It's a rare window on a secretive world, one that is poorly understood even by its inhabitants. As Michael Mechanic wrote in Jackpot, his 2021 book on vast, intergenerational fortunes, the winners of the lucky orifice lottery often lack any real understanding of how The Money is structured, grown and protected:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/13/public-interest-pharma/#affluenza

This point was reiterated by Abigail Disney, in a brave piece on what it's like to grow up subject to the oversight of these millionaires who babysit the children of billionaires:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/19/dynastic-wealth/#caste

This is an important contribution to the literature. We naturally focus on the ultrawealthy individuals whose reputations and fortunes are the subject of so much attention, but without the TUSNs, they would be largely helpless.

Going to Burning Man? Catch me on Tuesday at 2:40pm on the Center Camp Stage for a talk about enshittification and how to reverse it; on Wednesday at noon, I'm hosting Dr Patrick Ball at Liminal Labs (6:15/F) for a talk on using statistics to prove high-level culpability in the recruitment of child soldiers.

On September 6 at 7pm, I'll be hosting Naomi Klein at the LA Public Library for the launch of Doppelganger.

On September 12 at 7pm, I'll be at Toronto's Another Story Bookshop with my new book The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/24/launderers-enforcers-bagmen/#procurers

Image: Sam Valadi (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/132084522@N05/17086570218/

CC BY 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Colin (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palace_of_Westminster_from_the_dome_on_Methodist_Central_Hall_(cropped).jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

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witchy-rook · 10 months

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Please ramble more about the Treacle Mine revolution!

Thank you for asking! I'd be happy to!

But before I start, just for your convenience and anyone else's, I'm gonna link my answers to the two previous questions I got because it's become somewhat difficult to find them. Anyway, as always: spoilers ahead for Discworld generally but the Guards series in particular!

Now then, the Treacle Mine Revolution...What a revolution! Pratchett has a phenomenal capacity to capture what Revolutions actually feel like and how they progress, at least in my experience reading historical sources about them. Although I have no doubt that, to a certain extent, Pratchett is drawing on British history for much of the foundations of Ankh-Morpork's own history, with some Classical elements thrown in there for good measure, I think from the point of view of the city's Revolutionary History, we need look no further than the most famous (and infamous) of revolutionary lands: Revolutionary France.

Specifically, if you look at the history of Ankh-Morpork's various revolutions, I think you see a sort pastiche (if you will) for France's own myriad revolutions. There's a lot more going on in these books than a simple ripping of French history (nor is French history even the only history they're ripping!), but I think it's worth diving into the real-world comparisions clearly at play here.

Let's roll back to Feet of Clay for a second. In this book, we learn a lot about Vimes' lineage, and specifically the baggage he has inherited from 'Old Stoneface' Vimes. We learn that Old Stoneface was involved heavily in the revolution which ended the line of Ankh-Morpork's kings (certain present members of the Guards perhaps notwithstanding), and not only that, but Old Stoneface was the man that swung the axe that killed the King.

Now, I don't think it would be too much of a reach to compare this to the first French Revolution: the one of 1789 and the eventual beheading of Kings. Granted, the French Revolution is by no means the only time that Kings were beheaded, but I think it's notable for our Ankh-Morpork comparision because it was one of the first times that was done to put a kind of democratic system in place. I'd argue that the Patrician seems like more an oligarch than a president or prime minister, but I think this is also because, amongst its many influences, Ankh-Morpork and its neighbouring cities on the Sto plains are clearly vibing off the medieval Italian city states. Hell, one is even called Genua.

Anyway, with that context in mind, let's fast forward back to Night Watch. The thing you'll need to bear in mind about the first French Revolution (and the reason I brought it up at all), is that its status as a 'Triumph of the People!' and a victory for 'universal liberty' etc etc is actually quite disputed. You have to remember that, initially, all the Revolution did when they stormed the Bastille and what not is, essentially, apply a Constitution to the King - now this was still pretty avant-garde by the standards of European politics, but the British already had a Constitution, so it wasn't exactly wholly novel. Things moved in an increasingly republican direction in subsequent years, capping off in 1793 with the literal capping off of King Louis, but the legacy of the French Revolution was always rather up for debate, especially given that it ended with Napoleon, a self-styled Emperor. So if you're wondering why France saw countless revolutions thereafter, it was because, from a republican/radical perspective, it was a project that had never really 'properly' finished. Whether France should be a republic or a kingdom was something that was up for debate constantly throughout the 19th century.

Enter: the Paris Commune. I don't have the time or, frankly, the qualifications, to dive fully into the Paris Commune, because it's a little outside my time period, but suffice it to say that this event is part of the long legacy of French revolutionary politics stretching back to the first Revolution and, to some extent, the birthplace of modern socialism. As I mentioned in one of my other posts, it's probably the thing you think of when you imagine an urban revolution at all. Barricades along the streets with flags and banners flying? The Paris Commune wasn't the only one to do that, but it sure was one of the most famous.

And I think the parallels with the Treacle Mine Road Republic are very stark (I bet you thought this was just another historical tanget!) We only get a patchwork knowledge of what happened during the Treacle Mine Revolution the first time around, mainly from Vimes' attempts to pre-empt what he remembers from the history, but that's enough to build a pretty clear picture. We know that the Revolution started in response to rioting and military massacres elsewhere in the city; we know that the People barricaded Treacle Mine Road and its adjacent streets to protect themselves; we know that the military attempted both a kind of siege and an attack on the barricades; we know there was a kind of sense of community amongst those inside the barricades.

To me, this reads like a very clear analogue for events in Paris during the Commune. Granted, the reasons for the Commune were different, and the real Paris Commune last over 2 months, but the kind of 'city within a city' that is depicted in Night Watch did happen, and while I'm sure the Paris Commune is not the only example of this, it's a pretty damn good analogue.

And again, what's most interesting to me about the Treacle Mine Revolution, as I alluded to in my other post, is that, much like the Paris Commune, it was a failure. It was not the actions of the revolutionaries that led to change in Ankh-Morpork, it was the actions of political conspirators and hired assassins. But despite this, the revolution is clearly important in the minds of at least some Ankh-Morporkians, even if it's mainly just those who were involved. Perhaps some of them, like their own real-world counterparts, consider this a project that has still not 'properly' finished? Nonetheless, this sense of importance is true of many political events in our world, the Paris Commune among them: they may have been failures, but that doesn't mean they weren't significant.

So! To wrap up with some kind of conclusion, I think the Guards series frequently touches on the idea of historical legacies, but Night Watch is especially interesting because, through Vimes, we get to live through the formation of that legacy. And, if you were ever interested in reading more about this kind of thing, I'd highly recommend you look no further than France and its colourful, revolutionary history!

#discworld #the glorious 25th of may #night watch

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tomorrowusa · 1 year

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The EU is considering whether it is a good idea to be the friend of a friend of a war criminal.

'Pandora’s box': EU weighs changing relations with China

If Xi Jinping chooses to "befriend a war criminal, it is our duty to get very serious about China," Lithuania's foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, told DW when asked what he thought about the Chinese president's three-day visit to Moscow and his meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

The International Criminal Court issued a warrant for Putin late last week, accusing him of war crimes.

The only way forward for the European Union now, Landsbergis said, is to take "first steps on de-risking and eventual decoupling from China. The sooner we start, the better for the union."

[ ... ]

China has been supporting Russia's war efforts, however, in several indirect ways. This includes the ramping up of economic exchanges and exports of dual-use equipment, said Grzegorz Stec, an analyst at the Brussels office of the Mercator Institute for China Studies, a German foundation.

Among the equipment exports are "tires, trucks, clothing and other goods that can be used by the Russian military, although those are not specifically weapons," he told DW.

If the West were to find tangible proof of China providing large-scale military equipment to Russia, Stec pointed out, that would be "a red line" for the Europeans. But he recommended taking a cautious approach before accusing China of supplying weapons to Russia, given the magnitude of the potential geopolitical implications.

The perceived Chinese tilt towards Russia has not done it much good in Europe.

Regardless of this reluctance, Europe's attitude towards China is more skeptical than it has been in decades, said Reinhard Bütikofer, chair of the European Parliament's China delegation.

"The Chinese haven't been very successful in dealing with the Europeans lately," he told DW. "I would say they have squandered a lot of the political capital that they used to have."

[ ... ]

"The Chinese are trying to balance two incompatible goals. Being best buddies with Putin and being good friends of the Europeans at the same time," Bütikofer said. He made clear he doesn't think they can achieve both."As Abraham Lincoln said, you can fool some of the people all of the time or all the people some of the time. But you cannot fool all the people all the time." In concrete political terms, he explained, this meant that they would "fail if they insist on their no-limits friendship with the Russians."

In 1949, as he was laying the groundwork for the establishment of The People’s Republic of China, Chairman Mao Zedong declared, "The Chinese people have stood up!" The brutal invasion of Ukraine has finally made Europe stand up to Russia’s neocolonialist revanchism.

China will do better if it understands that a significant shift in thinking has taken place in Europe. The days of playing footsie with Putin and of accommodating Russian oligarchs in European democracies are gone.

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ritchiepage2001newaccount · 7 months

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Kakistocracy #CorpMedia #Idiocracy #Oligarchs #MegaBanks vs #Union #Occupy #NoDAPL #BLM #SDF #DACA #MeToo #Humanity #DemExit #FeelTheBern

JinJiyanAzadi #BijiRojava KCK: Turkey behind the attacks on Serekaniye – Western Kurdistan [UPDATES]

Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council Co-Presidency has released a statement to mark the anniversary of the Rojava Revolution which began after the Kurdish people seized the control of Kobani in western Kurdistan on 19 July 2012…

RELATED UPDATE: Unfolding revolution in Rojava: Interview with Özgür Amed, journalist and researcher

RELATED UPDATE: To Make a World, Part III: Stateless Democracy

RELATED UPDATE: Introduction to the Political and Social Structures of Democratic Autonomy in Rojava

RELATED UPDATE: Turkey’s secret pact with Islamic State exposed by operative behind wave of ISIS attacks

RELATED UPDATE: KCK: Rojava Revolution will be the foundation of Democratic Syria

RELATED UPDATE: Rojava revolution will democratise Syria

RELATED UPDATE: Revolution and Counterrevolution in Rojava

RELATED UPDATE: Challenging Power by Building Democratic Autonomy in Rojava / North and East Syria

FURTHER READING:

#Kakistocracy #CorpMedia #Idiocracy #Oligarchs #MegaBanks vs #Union #Occupy #NoDAPL #BLM #SDF #DACA #MeToo #Humanity #DemExit #FeelTheBern #JinJiyanAzadi #BijiRojava

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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 2 years

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President Biden is right to call out the “MAGA Republicans,” but he’s still having the wrong conversation about the greatest threat to democracy.

It’s white supremacy.

Without it, there would be no “MAGA Republicans.” Those devoted to Donald Trump, who would sooner leave this nation in ashes than uphold democracy’s promises, are only the latest manifestation of the racist malignancies embedded in this nation’s foundation.

The same forces that sustained and justified slavery for nearly 250 years and sabotaged Reconstruction thread through the Jim Crow era. It flowed in the veins of the white men who snatched Emmett Till from his bed in Mississippi in 1955 as well as the white police officers who lied and falsified evidence for the no-knock warrant that led them to Breonna Taylor’s door as she slept in her Louisville apartment in 2020.

And it exhales in the shrill whine of the defeated man who incited thousands of white insurrectionists in a violent attempt to overthrow the 2020 presidential election. That centuries-old brew of racism, grievance, and entitlement continues to roil and undermine the nation.

More than a century before MAGA Republicans, there were the Red Shirts, White Leagues, and Ku Klux Klan terrorizing and massacring Black people and their allies across the postwar South. For them, the Civil War never ended; it simply moved to new fronts.

“With them, the end sanctifies the means, however desperate and bloody; and that end is first, midst, last, and always, ‘A WHITE MAN’S GOVERNMENT’ — tantamount to the old slaveholding oligarchic supremacy,” William Lloyd Garrison, the Boston abolitionist, wrote in an 1875 letter to the Boston Journal.

Not a single word needs to be altered to capture the current climate. The Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are nothing more than rebranded Red Shirts and White Leagues. And Garrison’s descriptions also apply to Trump’s acolytes whether they’re on school boards, in Congress, or on the Supreme Court.

In coining the term “MAGA Republicans,” the Biden administration has taken great pains to distinguish the hardcore Trumpists from the rest of the party. During his speech last week about threats to democracy, Biden said, “Not every Republican, not even the majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology.”

But he added: “There’s no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven, and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans. And that is a threat to this country.”

I am not as generous as the President. If there are Republicans opposed to their party’s full embrace of Trumpism, most have remained awfully quiet about it. During both Trump impeachments, there were stories about Republicans who privately wanted Trump held accountable. But they voted publicly to save his hide and, by extension, their own political futures.

Some Republicans may disapprove of Trump as their party’s brand ambassador, but there’s been no mass repudiation. After four catastrophic years, Trumpism should have been soundly rejected in 2020; instead, even though Trump lost, millions more voted for him that year than in 2016. Clearly, Republicans were focused not on the messenger but the messaging, such as swarming the Supreme Court with Federalist Society-approved conservatives who all ultimately voted this year to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Trump gave Republicans what they wanted. That earned their silent loyalty and showed their enmity for democracy. They may not like Trump, but his vision for America matches their own and permits them to rest easy in the comfort of lies about “election integrity” and banning “divisive” books in schools.

But in Biden’s willingness to separate comparatively "reasonable Republicans" from “MAGA Republicans,” he absolves them. And that allows them to look elsewhere for answers to the sorry state of the nation instead of inward at their own complicity. In times of crisis, saying and doing nothing is disgraceful yet that’s the path that “good” Republicans have chosen as democracy falters. It’s a reminder that not every white supremacist wears a white hood — or a red MAGA cap.

Never let it be forgotten that an American President felt compelled to give a televised speech because, as Biden said, “equality and democracy are under assault,” by fellow Americans. “We do ourselves no favor to pretend otherwise,” he said.

We also do ourselves no favors pretending that Trump is the sole architect of a treacherous moment many bloody centuries in the making. To save democracy, it’s not enough to cut off “MAGA Republicans” like a diseased branch. White supremacy itself, the soil from which Trump and MAGA grew, must be uprooted.

After Biden’s speech, some journalists and pundits complained that the President went too far in his condemnation of MAGA Republicans. I would argue that until Biden calls out white supremacy as democracy’s biggest enemy, the President still hasn’t gone far enough.

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ear-worthy · 11 months

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Pod-Alization: Freakonomics ESP on ESG; Idea Generation; Russian Oligarchs R.I.P.

Freakonomics has ESP about ESG

Leave it to the geniuses at Freakonomics to ask a politically divisive question and come up with an answer that doesn't satisfy any side, but does accomplish something political opponents have seemingly forgotten. How to find solutions to our current climate, social, cultural, and economic problems.

This week's episode of Freakonomics Radio asks "Are E.S.G. Investors Actually Helping the Environment?"

Answer: Probably not. The economist Kelly Shue argues that E.S.G. (environmental, social, and governance) investing just gives more money to firms that are already green while depriving polluting firms of the financing they need to get greener. But she has a solution.

The show also hears from the CEO of a so-called "brown" — that is, the opposite of green — company

Listen and find a script at freakonomics.com or wherever you get podcasts.

Idea Generation's All Angles highlights brands iHeartMedia and Will Packer Media have announced the debut of the new iHeartPodcast IDEA GENERATION’S All Angles. The show will debut on June 22, with new episodes airing weekly on Thursdays.

Listeners can tune in to the official trailer here.

IDEA GENERATION’S All Angles is a twelve-episode co-produced series highlighting brands from the fashion, food, media, and music industries that have helped shape and define today’s culture. Hosted by Noah Callahan-Bever, former Complex Chief Content Officer and founder of IDEA GENERATION – an independent media brand dedicated to the education and inspiration of tomorrow’s creative entrepreneurs – the unscripted series steps behind the curtain and talks with a variety of company leaders to uncover the crucial role that team chemistry has played in the making of the most popular culture-creating brands today.

On each episode, the show will feature an oral history format that weaves together a bevy of insider voices, culminating in a 360-degree narrative that tells the story of each brand. Utilizing the voices of key players and teammates, the show will discuss the ins and outs that helped take the company from an idea to an empire.

In the two-part debut, Noah Callahan-Bever will chat with entrepreneur Steve Rifkind, founder of Loud Records—the 90’s hip-hop record label responsible for developing acts like Wu-Tang Clan, Mobb Deep, and Big Pun—as well as his co-founder, Rich Issacson, legendary artist and repertoire (A&R) representatives Matt Life and Sean C, and Mobb Deep's Havoc.

“This new podcast with Noah will give listeners the opportunity to hear never-before-told stories about the trials and tribulations of transforming a brand,” said Will Pearson, President of iHeartPodcasts. “In today’s world, we’re seeing more and more aspiring entrepreneurs looking for their breakthroughs, and this podcast gives listeners a behind-the-scenes look into what goes into making a successful brand and how the people surrounding you can help champion your ideas.”

“There is a greater intensity in interest around not just the ‘who’ but the in-depth answers to the ‘why,’ ‘how’ and ‘when’ of American success stories,” said Will Packer, CEO Will Packer Media. This podcast gives listeners that specificity they crave.”

"Since the days of Henry Ford and Walt Disney the founder myth has been a foundational part of how the media has framed success in business," said Callahan-Bever. "But creating a great brand takes more than just one person's ideas or efforts—they're born out of the confluence of a founder's vision and the executional and operational expertise of their partners. And along the way there's going to be both collaboration and conflict, steel sharpening steel, and from that process excellence can be achieved. Our goal with All Angles was to capture that magic, and show aspiring entrepreneurs that there are so many crucial roles and crucial steps—and sometimes even crucial fights—that have to happen to build a culture defining brand."

Russian oligarchs are "Putin" mortal danger

SAD OLIGARCH from iHeart Media is hosted by independent journalist and documentary filmmaker Jake Hanrahan. The show explores the unexplained and suspicious deaths of more than a dozen of Russia's wealthiest businessmen. From frog venom to axes, window falls and more, each episode of SAD OLIGARCH will take listeners through the mysterious deaths of these oligarchs and explore Kremlin corruption and Russian political influence worldwide. Tune it in today.

Since January 2022, more than 12 of Russia's wealthiest oligarchs have been found dead. One was poisoned with frog venom. One was found hanged on a handrail, with his wife and children killed with an axe. Several fell out of high windows.

All the deaths are, of course, suspicious. Russia says most of them were coincidental suicides--that the oligarchs were simply depressed. I don't think so.

Sad Oligarch is a modern true-crime style investigative podcast series that looks into each Russian oligarch death in 2022/2023, unraveling a dark tale of Kremlin corruption and Russian political influence across the world.

I'll admit that it's difficult to generate much empathy for a group of corrupt one-percenters who achieved their position of wealth and power by subjugating so many others. But then there's Vladimir Putin. And then I do feel sorry for them, and the fate he imposed upon them.

#podcast #podcasting #true crime #marketing

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calvincatalyst · 2 years

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The foundation of this day is one of independence. Of freedom. This day is remembered because some people believed everyone is equal and should have equal opportunity. Despite this, in their own time, the founding fathers owned slaves, restricted the rights of women, and tore indigenous peoples from their lands. Countless murders and opressions, all in the name of THEIR freedom.

Our country has been bastardized and perverted into an oligarchic police state reminiscent of the very thing the 4th comemorates destroying. The founding fathers, they had the right idea, but it's natural evolution has been impeded by the robber barrons of today and of the last century. Now we are at the will of the rich and political, listening to them for some goddamn reason, and just believing that there's no other option besides right and left. No other option besides division. What a buncha bullshit! A hundred years of corruption will do that to ya.

I pray in the future this day will be celebrated for OUR freedom. That we will no longer have to live in fear of persecution. I pray that We The People will recognize our collective power, our collective energy. Our right, our will, our freedom. And that we will come together in synchronicity, in serendipity, in sublime unity, to claim our better days. God and Gods bless us, each and everyone.

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socialjusticeinamerica · 7 months

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The Heritage Foundation is a tool of the right-wing fascists oligarchs. Their “Project 2025” is a blue print to seize control of government and dismantle it so the oligarchs can create their own government. They have a plan called Schedule F which will make nearly all federal employees “at will” employees they will terminate immediately. They will be replaced with corrupt MAGA goons and Christo-Facscists that are currently being trained to slot into government positions where they will dismantle democracy and strip our rights.

America will cease to exist. We will never have political power or our freedoms again. The FBI, Department of Justice, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Education, etc will be eliminated or restructured to allow businesses and oligarchs to run amok with no regulations to follow or consequences for their corrupt actions. Not a single soul or entity will have any recourse against the fascist government or corrupt corporations.

This is the oligarchs end game. This is sinister and very real. This is not a conspiracy theory and you can easily view it on the Heritage Foundation website or in numerous articles by simply googling Project 2025.

☝️

#project 2025 #heritage foundation #republican party #oligarchy

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republicansaredomesticterrorists · 8 months

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The “enormously powerful Atlas Network, a global network of more than 500 member think tanks advocating for “free market” policies.”

Started by Antony Fisher and his Institute of Economic Affairs in the UK. It went worldwide with assistance from the Koch family and Rupert Murdoch, along with funding from big oil companies.

☝️👏🤯

#institute of economic affairs #IEA #Atlas Network #Koch family foundations #Rupert Murdoch #big oil #climate denial #Antony fisher #republican hypocrisy #republican assholes #republican family values #republican values #oligarchs #global conspiracy #right wing politics #climate change #climate Justice #climate and environment #climate change denial

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mariacallous · 2 months

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The governor of Gagauzia, an autonomous unit of Moldova, Evghenia Gutul, who is close to the fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor, on Wednesday met Russian President Vladimir Putin and took a picture with him on the sidelines of the World Youth Festival in Sochi, Russia. She is the first Moldovan official to meet Putin since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

On social media, she accused the pro-Western authorities of gradually removing the administrative unit’s autonomy, cutting its budget, violating legal rights and causing instability in Gagauzia. “I informed Vladimir [Putin] about the illegal actions of the Moldovan authorities, who are taking revenge on us for our civic position and loyalty to national interests,” Gutul said.

She said the Russian leader promised to support Gagauzia and defend the Gagauz people’s rights.

The Gagauz are an Orthodox Christian ethnic Turkish community numbering around 150,000. They are Moldova’s second largest ethnic minority, after Ukrainians, and their pro-Russian politics puts them at odds with the country’s pro-Western government.

At the end of last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, at a diplomatic forum in Antalya, attacked Moldova’s government, saying: “The regime in Chisinau is following in the footsteps of the [Ukrainian] regime in Kyiv”.

The Russian press briefky reported Putin’s meeting with Gutul. “Putin spoke briefly with the leader of Gagauzia on the sidelines of the International Youth Festival,” the Russian news agency Tass wrote.

The head of Moldova’s Intelligence and Security Service, SIS, Alexandru Musteata, on Tuesday said Russia planned to compromise the accession of Moldova to the European Union by getting involved in its electoral processes in 2024 and 2025, when presidential and general elections and a referendum on EU integration will take place.

“In these actions, Russia will involve three categories of actors: openly declared pro-Russian political actors, declared pro-statist political actors and political actors connected to organised criminal groups,” said Musteata.

On February 23, the EU sanctioned six individuals and one entity from Moldova for undermining the rule of law and destabilising the country. Among them was Maria Albot, foreign relations advisor to governor Gutul. “Maria Albot is an old trusted associate of [fugitive oligarch] Ilan Shor. She currently holds a leadership role in one of his foundations, the ‘Miron Shor’ Foundation,” the EU noted.

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agape-philo-sophia · 3 months

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➝ THE GLOBAL OLIGARCHY. ❗

The world is run by a vastly powerful and wealthy British-American-European oligarchy of banks, corporations and dynastic families and institutions, which controls much of the wealth of the world. This cabal dominates finance and commerce, manipulates national currencies and economies, controls the media of most nations, and commands the earth’s resources. Their wealth and power originated in the middle ages and expanded over the centuries, and today they reign supreme.

Few people are aware of the power and global influence of these oligarchs because they dominate the major media. As a result, instead of informing us, the media feeds us a steady diet of entertainment, disinformation and lies – to distract us and misdirect us – so that the oligarchy can achieve its plan to dominate the world.

We see the world through the lens of the major media – for most people that means television. Books, newspapers, magazines, radio, and the internet play a role, but the vast majority of people around the world get their information from television. And, if those who own the global media conglomerates, and those who run the television networks and cable channels, decide to feed us disinformation and lies that serve the agendas of those in control, then, instead of being told the truth, we will learn not about the real world, but about the world they wish us to see, one that will serve their plan for global control.

Unless we reach beyond the media matrix to find sources that tell us the truth, authoritarian world government run by this powerful oligarchy will become a reality, and we will all be proles in a George Orwell totalitarian world.

A GLOBAL OLIGARCHY CONTROLS THE WORLD (A PARTIAL LIST)

Through interlocking Boards of DIrectors and stock ownership, and acting through private clubs, societies and institutions, often in secret, a vastly wealthy and powerful global oligarchy of dynastic families, banks and corporations, rule the world, owning outright or controlling:

MOST CENTRAL BANKS NATIONAL ECONOMIES NATIONAL CURRENCIES MAJOR STOCK MARKETS LARGEST PRIVATE BANKS POLITICIANS AND POLITICAL PARTIES CORPORATE MAINSTREAM MEDIA AND MUCH OF THE ALTERNATIVE MEDIA MOST INLFUENTIAL TAX-EXEMPT FOUNDATIONS MOST INFLUENTIAL THINK TANKS MOST MAJOR UNIVERSITIES AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS LARGEST ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS LARGEST HOLDING COMPANIES, ASSET MANAGEMENT CORPORATIONS AND HEDGE FUNDS LARGEST TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS LARGEST INSURANCE CORPORATIONS LARGEST PHARMACEUTICAL CORPORATIONS LARGEST ENERGY CORPORATIONS MAJOR ENERGY RESOURCES INCLUDING OIL AND GAS GOLD, DIAMOND AND ESSENTIAL MINERAL MINING AND DISTRIBUTION CARTELS AGRICULTURAL LAND WATER AND WATER SYSTEMS LARGEST WEAPONS MANUFACTURERS INTERNATIONAL MONEY LAUNDERING NETWORKS INTERNATIONAL DRUG TRAFFICKING NETWORKS

THE GLOBAL OLIGARCHY’S INSTITUTIONS, CLUBS & SOCIETIES (A PARTIAL LIST)

The global oligarchy sets its agendas and coordinates its policies by way of secret clubs and societies, and some well-known as well as some less-well-known global instiutions.

UNITED NATIONS NATO WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO) WORLD BANK INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF) COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS (CFR) TRILATERAL COMMISSION (TC) BILDERBERG GROUP CHATHAM HOUSE (ROYAL INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS) CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES (CSIS) BUSINESS ROUND TABLE EUROPEAN ROUND TABLE OF INDUSTRIALISTS (ERT) INTERNATIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (ICC) WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM WORLD BUSINESS COUNCIL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (WBCSD) BROOKINGS INSTITUTION RAND CORPORATION HERITAGE FOUNDATION AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE CATO INSTITUTE CLUB OF THE ISLES PILGRIMS SOCIETY CLUB OF ROME

EUROPEAN ROYAL DYNASTIC HOUSES

In Europe today there are only ten monarchies left, but they have enormous wealth and power (dating back to the Middle Ages)

HOUSE OF WINDSOR (Great Britain and Northern Ireland) NETHERLANDS BELGIUM LIECHTENSTEIN LUXEMBOURG SPAIN DENMARK NORWAY SWEDEN MONACO

INTERNATIONAL BANKING FAMILIES

Eight families own the majority of stock in almost all private central banks in the world, including the Federal Reserve.

ROTHSCHILD ROCKEFELLER KUHN LOEB WARBURG LAZARD GOLDMAN SACHS ISRAEL MOSES SEIF LEHMAN

CENTRAL BANKS

Most sovereign nations in the world have publically-owned central banks, but they are controlled by a global banking oligarchy made up of the largest private banks and a few international banking and dynastic families.

The Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States, is not owned by the U.S. government. Its Chairman and Board of Directors are appointed by the President of the United States, but it is owned and controlled by private banks.

The ten private banks listed below own the majority of shares in the Federal Reserve, and therefore control it.

ROTHSCHILD BANK OF LONDON ROTHSCHILD BANK OF BERLIN WARBURG BANK OF HAMBURG WARBURG BANK OF AMSTERDAM LAZARD BROTHERS OF PARIS ISRAEL MOSES SEIF BANK OF ITALY KUHN LOEB BANK OF NEW YORK GOLDMAN SACHS OF NEW YORK J. P. MORGAN CHASE BANK OF NEW YORK LEHMAN BROTHERS OF NEW YORK (filed for bankruptcy in 2008)

Continue https://thegreatwork208716197.wordpress.com/2024/02/12/the-global-oligarchy/

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scottguy · 3 months

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The parallels between then and today are many. (Comments are in bold like this, the rest of the text, inside quotes, is from the article above.)

"Paying the crushing reparations (of starting WWI) destabilized the economy, producing ruinous, runaway inflation. By September 1923, four billion German marks had the equal value of one American dollar. Consumers needed a wheelbarrow to carry enough paper money to buy a loaf of bread. "

So, like us... the average person was not doing well economically.

"Hitler, a mesmerizing public speaker, addressed political meetings in Munich calling for a new German order to replace what he saw as an incompetent and inefficient democratic regime. This New Order was distinguished by an authoritarian political system based on a leadership structure in which authority flowed downward from a supreme national leader."

Trump was (was, and is still, to some, a mesmerizing figure, a master salesman who lies shamelessly promising you exactly what you want.) Like above, Republicans love to call Joe Biden "ineffective" despite his obvious major accomplishments and a vastly improved economy.

Also, the Republican party has long espoused the 'unitarian executive theory' which is short for, 'the president should be above the law.'

"The ultimate aim of the Nazi Party was to seize power through Germany’s parliamentary system, install Hitler as dictator, and create a community of racially pure Germans loyal to their führer, who would lead them in a campaign of racial cleansing and world conquest."

This is exactly what Maga wants to do, "cleanse" the United States of immigrants, transgendered people, gays, and ultimately anyone liberal by following Project 2025.

"But the worldwide economic depression and the rising power of labor unions and communists convinced increasing numbers of Germans to turn to the Nazi Party. "

The "rising power of labor unions" means the CAPITALISTS joined Hitler's side, even the middle class ones. Fascism is the last gasp of capitalists demanding to stay in charge.

"In fact, many Germans went along with the full range of Hitler’s policies, convinced that they would ultimately be advantageous for the country. "

And just so, Magas are fine with "Project 2025" which is the plan for the systematic replacement of effective honest government by the Heritage Foundation (ultra ight-wing oligarchs) by installing Maga party loyalists at all levels of government who will serve only the Republican party, no matter who runs it. They think this will help them when it will just increase the power grip of oligarchs, which is too strong already, to a stranglehold.

Under Project 2025, law & order will cease to be objective. What is "legal" if this comes to pass, will only be that which serves the fascist Republican party. Republicans plan to rule all American citizens, like the SS did, at gunpoint.

#how did hitler rise to power #why American today is like German before Hitler

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ritchiepage2001newaccount · 1 year

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#CorpMedia #Idiocracy #Oligarchs #MegaBanks vs #Union #Occupy #NoDAPL #BLM #SDF #DACA #MeToo #Humanity #DemExit #FeelTheBern

The Rojava experiment [UPDATES]

https://newint.org/blog/2015/05/22/rojava-experiment

Follow the river Tigris as it threads through the snow-capped Taurus mountains, as it spills into the Turkish lowlands before flowing hundreds of miles thereafter – and you will eventually reach the border with Syria...

RELATED UPDATE: What the Syrian Kurds Have Wrought

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/10/kurds-rojava-syria-isis-iraq-assad/505037/

RELATED UPDATE: The Rojava experiment

https://www.redspark.nu/en/proletarian-feminism/the-rojava-experiment/

RELATED UPDATE: Turkish attack on Syria endangers a remarkable democratic experiment by the Kurds

https://theconversation.com/turkish-attack-on-syria-endangers-a-remarkable-democratic-experiment-by-the-kurds-125105

RELATED UPDATE: What the World Loses if Turkey Destroys the Syrian Kurds

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/14/opinion/trump-syria-kurds-turkey.html

RELATED UPDATE: Trump’s Betrayal of Rojava

https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/trumps-betrayal-of-rojava

RELATED UPDATE: Rojava, Lost? Turkish Offensive Threatens to Destroy a Radical Democratic Experiment

https://theglobepost.com/2019/10/23/rojava-revolution-turkey/

RELATED UPDATE: We stand in solidarity with Rojava, an example to the world

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/01/we-stand-in-solidarity-with-rojava-an-example-to-the-world

RELATED UPDATE: A bold, democratic-feminist experiment is under threat

https://www.newframe.com/a-bold-democratic-feminist-experiment-is-under-threat/

RELATED UPDATE: "Rojava revolution is a bright spark for oppressed people" -Stellan Vinthagen

https://www.hawarnews.com/en/haber/stellan-vinthagen-rojava-revolution-is-a-bright-spark-for-oppressed-people-h31872.html

RELATED UPDATE: We Celebrate 10 Years of Rojava - A Visionary Social Experiment Under Threat

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/07/21/we-celebrate-10-years-rojava-visionary-social-experiment-under-threat

RELATED UPDATE: Rojava’s Experiment in Radical Democracy Braces for Turkish Invasion

https://truthout.org/articles/rojavas-experiment-in-radical-democracy-braces-for-turkish-invasion/

RELATED UPDATE: Danielle Mitterrand Foundation awards prize to "founders of the utopias of North and East Syria"

https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/danielle-mitterrand-foundation-awards-prize-to-founders-of-the-utopias-of-north-and-east-syria-64320

RELATED UPDATE: Beyond the Nation State in the Middle East

https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/beyond-the-nation-state-in-the-middle-east/

RELATED UPDATE: "A natural disaster, inseparable from its political implications" -Internationalist Commune of Rojava

https://anfenglishmobile.com/features/internationalist-commune-of-rojava-a-natural-disaster-inseparable-from-its-political-implications-65410

RELATED UPDATE: AANES releases declaration for a solution in Syria

https://anfenglishmobile.com/rojava-syria/aanes-releases-declaration-for-a-solution-in-syria-66698

RELATED UPDATE: Art event at Whitney Museum in New York with Iranian-Kurdish artist Allahyari

https://anfenglishmobile.com/culture/art-event-at-whitney-museum-in-new-york-with-iranian-kurdish-artist-allahyari-66704

RELATED UPDATE: Heyva Sor grants about 80 thousand Euros in aid to Rojhilat

https://anfenglishmobile.com/kurdistan/heyva-sor-grants-about-80-thousand-euros-in-aid-to-rojhilat-66720

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luisagiveproof · 2 years

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Kazakh despot's daughter went on London spending spree after moving $300m out of country

Aliya Nazarbayeva's purchases included a $25m private jet and an £8.75m house in Highgate

Details of Aliya Nazarbayeva's purchases are likely to raise eyebrows in Kazakhstan, which has been hit by violent protests aimed at the country's maligned elite

The daughter of the former president of strife-torn Kazakhstan went on a spending spree in London after moving $300 million of her personal wealth out of the country.

Aliya Nazarbayeva instructed two professional financial advisers to buy palatial homes, a private bank and a luxury jet after transferring the money into a complex web of offshore trusts and companies stretching from Liechtenstein to the British Virgin Islands.

Her purchases included a $25m Challenger Bombardier private jet, an £8.75m house in Highgate, north London - meant to help her obtain British residency - and instructing her team to buy a $14m of property in Dubai, including a villa in the man made Palm Jumeirah island.

Details of the 2006 spending spree, revealed for the first time on Saturday, are likely to raise eyebrows in Kazakhstan, which has been hit by violent protests aimed at the country's increasingly maligned elite.

Aliya is the youngest daughter of Nursultan Nazarbayev, who was Kazakhstan's president for 28 years until 2019, when he took a backseat but controversially retained much of his power.

While he led the country during and after its Soviet years, a small minority amassed enormous wealth while many ordinary Kazaks struggled to get by.

He dramatically quit as head of the Kazakh Security Council on Jan 5 and was reportedly preparing to leave the country. Authorities on Saturday insisted Mr Nazarbayev was in the capital, named Nur-Sultan in his honour.

It was earlier rumoured that Ms Nazarbayeva was seeking to travel to Dubai with her father as he tries to flee the upheaval, and that she may hope to use London as a secure base.

Aliya Nazarbayev pictured after her marriage to Aidar Akayev in 1998, alongside her father and former president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev (left)

Her spending spree in London, described by one expert as “staggering”, only came to light when she fell out with the two financial advisers, accusing them of dishonesty, misappropriation of funds, conspiracy to defraud, breaches of fiduciary duty and unjust enrichment.

Ms Nazarbayeva, 41, sued the pair in the High Court in London for £165 million before settling the case in a confidential agreement. Her advisers, described as reputable and respected financial professionals, denied all the claims. Details of the 2016 case have only just emerged.

Until now Ms Nazarbayeva - whose eldest sister Dariga owns £80m of property in London - was better known for modelling designer jewellery by Damiani, promoting her own couture clothes brand and owning a high-end beauty spa in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, as well as chairing a construction company.

On her Instagram account she frequently posts photos of herself with her father, who until his fall from power cultivated the image of “father of the nation”.

Aliya Nazarbayeva posts a number of photos of her lavish lifestyle on Instagram

The Nazarbayev family have long established financial links with the UK. The Kazakh oligarch paid Prince Andrew £3 million more than the asking price for his marital home of Sunninghill Park in 2007.

Ms Nazarbayeva claimed she transferred $312m of her personal wealth out of the country after advisers told her it would be “dangerous” to keep her fortune there and that she should “hide” and “disguise” it in a network of offshore foundations and trusts, according to legal documents seen by The Telegraph.

Documents lodged with the High Court include claims that Malik Ishmuratov, a Kazakh wealth manager, told her “on many occasions that Ms Nazarbayeva was a politically exposed person (PEP)” and that it was “dangerous for her to keep her assets in Kazakhstan”.

In 2006, Ms Nazarbayeva “confided” to Mr Ishmuratov that she had “sold some shareholdings in Kazakh companies, receiving approximately $325,000,000”.

Mr Ishmuratov went on to introduce Ms Nazarbayev to Denis Korotkov-Koganovich, a Kazakh wealth manager based in London.

Ms Nazarbayeva claimed she transferred $312m of her personal wealth out of Kazkhstan after advisers told her it would be 'dangerous' to keep her fortune there

In 2008, according to court documents, Mr Ishmuratov advised Ms Nazarbayeva to set up the Alsarah Foundation, in Liechtenstein, “through which her funds were held and would protect and disguise her interest”.

By June 2008, Ms Nazarbayeva “agreed orally” with Mr Ishmuratov to entrust an initial $150,000,000 capital to him and Mr Korotkov-Koganovich, transferring the cash to Marstock Ltd, a company the wealth managers had registered in the British Virgin Islands.

This was the first of several large transfers from Ms Nazarbayev to the pair, eventually totalling $312m.

Ms Nazarbayev claimed that Mr Ishmuratov advised her that as a politically exposed person she wouldn’t be able to open a bank account and to get around the problem should simply buy a bank instead.

Allegedly on his recommendation, Ms Nazarbayeva directed Mr Ishmuratov to invest $108m in CBH Bank, an exclusive Swiss private bank, in return for a 51 per cent shareholding.

Her cash was also put into bonds, investment funds - including a London-based wine fund boasting valuable 18th and 19th century cognacs - and an Essex-based loans company aimed at borrowers with poor credit records.

A burnt out car is seen in front of the mayor's office building, which was set alight during the protests

But, when Ms Nazarbayeva’s relationship with Mr Ishmuratov and Mr Korotkov-Koganovich broke down, apparently under pressure from her father, she lodged a £165m [$233m] claim against them in the London High Court in March 2016.

She claimed that the two advisers had not followed her wishes and had allegedly profited over-and-above their 25 per cent profit agreement, as well as investing her money in transactions she had rejected, including a luxury development in the Bishop’s Avenue "billionaire’s row" in Hampstead.

She also accused them of misappropriating 75million Swiss francs, over half the money meant to buy the Swiss bank.

The pair denied the claims and maintained they had acted at all times in her financial interests.

Ms Nazarbayeva sought an injunction stopping any further dealings with her assets and seeking payment of damages and compensation, with interest. The claim was subsequently settled in a confidential agreement.

Kazakhs stand in line to withdraw cash from a bank in Nur-Sultan in the wake of mass protests

While there is no suggestion that Ms Nazarbayeva’s money was acquired unlawfully, Kazakhstan commentators say the revelations raise questions about the way her wealth was moved out of the country.

Tom Mayne, a visiting fellow at Chatham House and research fellow at Exeter University with detailed knowledge of Kazakhstan, said: “This raises many questions as to Aliya Nazarbayeva’s business dealings in Kazakhstan. The amount of money is staggering.

“This case shows how the UK is often used as a safe haven for this kind of money. People who have taken to the streets in Katakhstan look around and see the family of Nazarbayev have multi-million pound houses and millions to invest in what they want.”

Ms Nazarbayeva did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokesman for Mr Ishmuratov and Mr Korotkov-Koganovich said: “The unfounded allegations against Mr Ishmuratov and Mr Korotkov-Koganovitch were denied, the claim defended, and an amicable settlement was reached.”

CBH Bank has asked us to make clear that a complete list of the bank's shareholders is published each year in an audited report and neither Ms Nazarbayeva or Mr Ishmuratov are or ever have been shareholders of the bank.

#Nazarbaeva

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