In the past three days, Russian troops, backed by fighter jets, artillery and lethal drones, have poured across Ukraine’s northeastern border and seized at least nine villages and settlements, and more square miles per day than at almost any other point in the war, save the very beginning.
In some places, Ukrainian troops are retreating, and Ukrainian commanders are blaming each other for the defeats.
More than two years of trying to fight off a country with three times the population to draw from has left Ukraine so depleted and desperate for fresh troops that its lawmakers have voted to mobilize convicts, a controversial practice that Ukraine had ridiculed Russia for using in the first half of the war.
So instead of fortifications suitcases were filled with cash so Ukraine oligarchs can exit Ukraine if necessary and live the life they wish to become accustomed to.
I have no idea, but my gut tells me that Haliburton couldn’t be bothered to make off with a paltry $9 million. You need 9 or 10 figures to get their attention.
Profiting off of war is nothing new. Daddy Warbucks may have just been a character in a comic strip, but he was very real during The Great War a century ago.
Getting more serious, yes, corruption during war time is a real problem. But it’s also important to keep any eye on the specific issues. The automatic clip in tj’s link mentions the amount ($9 million US), but it doesn’t mention the “problem.” Here’s the next paragraph of the article:
According to Mezha’s findings based on open-source data, contracts were signed with companies that appear to be fictitious. Tens of millions of hryvnias were transferred to a private entrepreneur whose owner, Ihor Chaus, has a criminal record for stealing a bottle of whiskey from a supermarket and was sentenced to 100 hours of community service, said the anti-graft activist.
No evidence that the companies were fictitious. Just a mention of a petty theft in the business owner’s past.
This anti-corruption activist goes on with some other accusations as well. Importantly, she very specifically says she has no idea if the contracts were actually fulfilled, pawning that issue off on the police.
To be clear, I know nothing other that what was written in the article. My point is that the whole thing reads like someone is heavily biased here. This activist comes across in the article like a Karen complaining that a guy who once stole a bottle of whiskey can’t possibly now be running a business to supply materiel for a war. But it could be that the article was written by someone trying to cover an actual theft of several million dollars by painting the accuser in the worst possible light.
The one thing I’m certain of is that this reporting is very short on facts actually verified by the reporter. All I see is a bunch of accusations with no support for any of them. It smells like propaganda. The question is whose propaganda is it?
The very ground upon which he stands as not as important as that from which he derives his income. Attributed to T Jefferson describing the loyalty you can expect from a businessman
Guilt by association is mother’s milk to Fixed Noise. The farther I read into your post, the more it sounds like a character assassination piece from the Fox/Putin propaganda mill. Now, watch it get traction in Congress “not one more penny for that corrupt regime!!!”
The “sensitive but unclassified” version of the long-term U.S. plan lays out numerous steps Washington is taking to help Kyiv root out malfeasance and otherwise reform an array of Ukrainian sectors. It stresses that corruption could cause Western allies to abandon Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion, and that Kyiv cannot put off the anti-graft effort.
2 days ago:
The secretary of state wouldn’t be talking about corruption unless the US is still worried about it.
Deutsche Bank previously withdrew its guarantees for the construction of a gas processing plant in the wake of Western sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
For every man, woman and child, world military spending is now at its highest since the end of the Cold War — at $306 per person.
Moscow has made inroads of at least several kilometres into the north of Kharkiv region since Friday, forcing Kyiv’s outmanned troops to try to hold the line on a new front as Russia mounts more pressure on the front in the east.
Holding an election when enemies are occupying your territory or raining bombs on it, and when huge numbers of your citizens are away fighting, is tricky. Not holding one is tricky in a different way, opening those in power to the charge of illegitimacy.
Ukraine’s constitution is confusing. Article 103 states that the president is elected for a five-year term; but Article 108 says that he or she exercises power until a new president is inaugurated. A longstanding law (though not a constitutional provision) says that elections cannot be held when martial law is in force, as it has been in Ukraine since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Ukraine’s constitution is confusing. Article 103 states that the president is elected for a five-year term; but Article 108 says that he or she exercises power until a new president is inaugurated. A longstanding law (though not a constitutional provision) says that elections cannot be held when martial law is in force, as it has been in Ukraine since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022 .
Well … except for the pesky threatening their neighbors part … and likely not communist leaning … and likely not antagonistic to the western alliance … and likely not heavily involved in disinformation tactics across the world … etc… etc… but other than that …
