#U.S. foreign asset reporting

[citizenshipsolutions]

Citizenship Matters: How The Lives Of "Free Trade Professionals", Americans Abroad And Casablanca Overlap

Mexico City – September 2023 – A reminder that citizenship matters Last month I attended an Immigration Conference in Mexico City. It was organized by Buffalo immigration lawyer Joe Grasmick and focussed on the USMCA, CUSMA (formerly called the NAFTA Free Trade Immigration Visa- TN Visa). The conference highlighted the opportunities available to citizens of Canada, Mexico and the USA to live in…

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

On 7/31/2019 Trump has a private meeting with Putin. On 8/3/2019, just 3 days after his private meeting with Putin, Trump issues a request for a list of top US spies. By 2021 the CIA reports an unusually high number of their agents are being captured and/or being murdered. During the search executed at Mar A Lago the FBI find more documents with lists of U.S. informants on them.

A Timeline

• FBI wiretapped Russian gambling ring headquartered at Trump Tower for two years - March 21, 2017

• Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassador - May 15, 2017

• Trump, Putin Meet For 2 Hours In Helsinki - July 16, 2018

• Rand Paul Goes To Russia And Delivers Letter For Trump, Marking Our Era Of Irony - August 9, 2018

• Following the Money: Trump and Russia-Linked Transactions From the Campaign to the Presidential Inauguration - December 17, 2018

• The US extracted a top spy from Russia after Trump revealed classified information to the Russians in an Oval Office meeting - September 10, 2019

• Trump’s Loose Lips Force US to Extract Spy From Kremlin - September 10, 2019

• Was Mar-a-Lago Trespasser a Tourist or a Spy? A Judge Said Her Story Didn’t Hold Up. - November 25, 2019

• Trump downplays massive cyber hack on government after Pompeo links attack to Russia - December 19, 2020

• Russia has been cultivating Trump as an asset for 40 years, former KGB spy says - January 29, 2021

• There was Trump-Russia collusion — and Trump pardoned the colluder - April 17, 2021

• Longtime GOP operatives charged with funneling Russian national’s money to Trump, RNC - September 20, 2021

• Captured, Killed or Compromised: C.I.A. Admits to Losing Dozens of Informants - October 5, 2021

• Files Seized From Trump Are Part of Espionage Act Inquiry - August 12, 2022

• Ex-Clinton aide implies 'President of France' file found at Trump's home during Mar-a-Lago raid could be valuable to Putin as 'kompromat' - August 13, 2022

• Inventing Anna: The tale of a fake heiress, Mar-a-Lago, and an FBI investigation - August 22, 2022

• Russians used a US firm to funnel funds to GOP in 2018. Dems say the FEC let them get away with it - October 30, 2022

• Trump makes shocking comments about trusting Putin over US 'intelligence lowlifes' - January 31, 2023

• Russia's Prigozhin admits links to what US says was election meddling troll farm - February 14, 2023

• GOP operative sentenced to 18 months for funneling Russian money to Trump- February 17, 2023

• Trump allegedly discussed US nuclear subs with foreign national after leaving White House: Sources - October 5, 2023

• 'So appalled': What witnesses told special counsel about Trump's handling of classified info while still president - April 24, 2024

🤔🤔🤔

[federal-reserve-bonds-dog]

Treasury Disrupts Sham Overseas Charity Networks Funding Hamas and the PFLP

The Gaza-based charity Al Weam Charitable Society (Al Weam) is clandestinely controlled by Hamas and fully integrated into Hamas’s military wing. This secrecy has allowed Al Weam to raise funds and implement projects by international donors, many of whom are unwitting of the organization’s ties to Hamas. Al Weam has also employed Hamas members throughout the organization, including its Chairman of the Board of Directors, Muhammad Sami Muhammad Abu Marei (Abu Marei), who is a Hamas military operative and facilitated fundraising on behalf of Hamas using Al Weam.

Filistin Vakfi is a Türkiye-based charity that campaigned and raised funds with the clear intention of funding Hamas terrorist activities following the deadly October 7, 2023 attack. The President of Filistin Vakfi, Zeki Abdullah Ibrahim Ararawi (Ararawi), oversaw these fundraising campaigns that were in support of the Hamas military wing.

El Baraka Association for Charitable and Humanitarian Work (El Baraka), based in Algeria, diverted funds intended for humanitarian causes to fund Hamas. As President of El Baraka, Ahmed Brahimi (Brahimi) worked to ensure that funds raised by the charity, including some by unwitting donors who thought they were helping Palestinian civilians, were instead diverted to Hamas.

The Netherlands-based Israa Charitable Foundation Netherlands (Israa Foundation) is a member of U.S.-designated umbrella organization the Union of Good, which reports directly to the Hamas military wing and is composed of additional U.S.-designated organizations that generate revenue for Hamas under the guise of legitimate charitable work. Amin Ghazi Abu Rashed (Amin Ghazi), representative of the Israa Foundation, is a top Hamas operative in Europe responsible for raising millions of U.S. dollars in funds for Hamas by using sham charities as a cover. Israa Foundationrepresentative and Hamas operative Israa Abou Rashed (Abou Rashed) led campaigns on behalf of the Israa Foundation to raise and divert funds to Hamas. Treasury designated the Union of Good, an organization created by Hamas leadership to transfer funds to the terrorist organization, on November 12, 2008.

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association (Addameer), based in the West Bank, purports to represent the interests of Palestinian prisoners. However, like the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network (Samidoun) that OFAC designated on October 15, 2024 along with one of its leaders, Khaled Barakat (Barakat), Addameer has long supported and is affiliated with the PFLP. Additionally, in the spring of 2022, Barakat coordinated with the PFLP to send funds to Addameer and to arrange meetings between Addameer and Samidoun.

The Italy-based Associazione Benefica La Cupola d’Oro (La Cupola d’Oro), was established by U.S. sanctioned individual Mohammad Hannoun (Hannoun), who publicly promoted the charity and used it to continue evading sanctions and raising revenue for the Hamas military wing through donors, many of whom were unwitting of the links to Hamas. On October 7, 2024, Treasury designated Hannoun for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services in support of, Hamas. La Cupola d’Oro, like Charity Association of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, also designated by OFAC on October 7, 2024, is a sham charity established to support Hamas.

[hyj-ayyy]

2

You escaped amidst the confusion. In the cramped motel room, you both tended wounds. You wordlessly extracted a splinter from your foot.

"Your shoulder's bleeding." Your tone was flat. He said nothing, watching you silently, his hand resting on his pistol, its lone bullet a stark reminder.

The tension was thick, strange. His forearm muscles were taut cords. You suddenly feared he might raise the gun. "Let me patch it?" You raised your hands, showing no threat.

"..."

You opened the medkit. He remained silent, stoic, as if pain were a foreign concept.

"What's your organization's objective?" His voice was hoarse when he finally spoke. This time, silence was yours.

"Who do you serve?" He pressed.

"I serve myself." A meaningless answer.

"Is that so?" He turned his head to look at you. "You coordinate well. I'd have pegged you as the type to let your team cover you to the end."

"I'll always believe in you."* Her voice again, the metallic tang of blood forcing its way into your nostrils. 'She was paste! How could she believe in me?!'

Rage surged. You whipped out your dagger, pressing it hard against his throat. Instead of resisting, he gave a low chuckle, making you press harder.

"Turnabout, then, 'sir'," you hissed near his ear, fury barely contained. "How did you find me? How did you *know*?"

"...You kill cleanly. But living like a ghost... that's distinctive." The words filtered through the mask.

"Ha." You released the blade. A thin line of blood welled on his neck. You finished bandaging him and retreated to the bed.

"You're hurt too." His eyes swept from your bleeding arm to your bare feet.

"Unnecessary," you refused coldly, opening the closet for spare gear. "It's not safe out there... Still planning to haul me in?" You turned your back to change. He watched, unapologetic.

"Not yet. Sangre Negra (Black Blood) won't let you walk." A pause, perhaps a smirk beneath the mask. "You do know you took out their biggest U.S. supplier?"

"Won't let us walk," you corrected. Pointing to your ear: "Your comms are jammed too, aren't they?"

His silence was almost comical. A dark humor surfaced. "Afraid to admit it, 'Lieutenant'?"

"We need intel."

"I don't take your orders, 'sir'." You lit a cigarette, letting smoke veil your face.

"Then I lose a dead weight."

You leaned forward, elbows on knees. "How do you propose we proceed? One bullet isn't even enough for a mercy kill."

He snatched the cigarette from your fingers, turned away, lifted his mask slightly, and took a drag. You glimpsed stubble on his jaw.

"Neutral brokers."

You nodded. "Best option." Information dealers, unaffiliated.

You checked the time. Dawn was breaking. "Move at dusk?"

He offered no objection, handing the cigarette back.

Silence stretched. The cigarette burned your fingers. You stubbed it out. "Why the mask?" Your voice was a rusty hinge.

He stood by the window, one finger parting the curtain. "Why not be a reporter?"

"..."

"You planned this all along?"

"Smarter than I thought," you conceded. Dragging a smart man down wasn't a loss. His arrival was unexpected, but not unwelcome. "Sooner than expected, though."

His gaze swept over you, head to toe, like an X-ray scan, unnerving. His frame made the room feel smaller. Finally: "Your handler's office has no cameras."

Intrigued, you walked over, hooked a finger into the dog tags beneath his collar, forcing him to bend to your eye level.

He held your gaze. Then, a sigh. "Knowing your handler used you as a deniable asset, yet you still want to run back, expose her, and keep working for them? That hungry for a promotion?"

"Why not be a reporter?" You threw his own sarcasm back.

He chuckled darkly. "You have no choice but to trust me. Your judgment... has proven limited."

You released the tag, still eyeing him warily, imagining the contempt beneath the mask. "Seems you really dug into my past. Any other insights to share? Any other humiliations?"

Contrary to your expectation, his voice held stark honesty. "You overestimated your speed. Made an arrogant call on the sentry position. Got your teammate blown apart."

A brief tinnitus screamed in your ears, like the moment you saw Beth's remains. "...Tell me something I don't know." You fought nausea.

"Different plan... casualties were inevitable." Was that... sympathy in his tone? "The intel was bad. Compromised. Someone leaked your op."

His words were an ice pick to your numb heart. "I don't need your comfort," you replied coldly.

You sank back into the chair, unnameable emotions churning. He watched, silent. His words were harsh truth, but accepting them felt like an excuse, an escape. And what right did he have to offer them? Between your roles, trust wasn't a warm blanket; it was a blade hidden in the dark.

Long moments later, you stood and went to the closet. Behind a false panel, a safe. You entered the code. Pulled out a sniper rifle. Handed it to Ghost.

He raised an eyebrow – surprise at the hidden armory, or you arming him? You didn't care. After gearing up, you tossed him car keys. "Parking lot. Toyota Corolla."

Outside, dusk deepened. You sprinted to the car, the rust-stained white Toyota vanishing into city traffic. No words spoken, but the route led unerringly to the shared destination in your minds.

...

[deadpresidents]

An occupation is never popular. To begin with, the Americans here, as in Germany and Austria, have been contaminated by their very position of enforced superiority. Inexperienced young men are living higher than they are accustomed to at home and for less money. The are being spoiled by it and assuming an unconscious arrogance which does them no good psychologically and which does the United States no good politically because unconscious arrogance is perhaps an even more dangerous quality than the conscious arrogance of which we used to accuse the English.

C.L. Sulzberger, longtime Chief Foreign Correspondent for The New York Times, on the growing dangers of American imperialism in U.S. foreign policy that he witnessed while reporting from Tokyo in American-occupied Japan following World War II, recounted in a diary entry from May 22, 1950, later published in his 1969 book A Long Row of Candles: Memoirs and Diaries, 1934-1954.

One of the most remarkable things about Sulzberger's reporting and diary entries is how prescient so many of his viewpoints on American foreign policy are 75 years later. The four decades-worth of memoirs and diaries that Sulzberger published in four massive volumes (there's also an abridged version of the books) during the late-60s/early-70s are fascinating, frequently frustrating, sometimes fun (and funny!), and reading them feels like you've been time-traveling and given the opportunity to live the journalist's incredible experiences. It's also remarkably interesting and often entertaining to read Sulzberger's detailed recollections of his face-to-face meetings with practically every major global political, military, and religious figure of the second-half of the 20th Century. One day he's with Tito or de Gaulle and the next day he's with Franco or playing golf with Eisenhower; he gets drunk with French radicals and Spanish fascists and charms Balkan spies and revolutionaries; he has formal audiences and informal chats with royals like Saudi Arabia's founder Ibn Saud, Greece's King Paul, the Shah of Iran, and King Haakon VII of Norway. There's a lot of booze-filled nights, attractive women that test (at the very least) his fidelity to his Greek-born wife, and exceedingly dangerous trips in countries that question where the line is drawn between Sulzberger's journalism and American espionage -- with good reason, as it's been suggested that he was indeed a CIA asset throughout the Cold War. I STRONGLY recommend reading all of the books, especially if you're interested in post-World War II American foreign policy.

•A Long Row of Candles: Memoirs and Diaries, 1934-1954 [1,061 pages/Published in 1969] •The Last of the Giants: Memoirs and Diaries, 1954-1963 [1,063 pages/Published in 1970] •An Age of Mediocrity: Memoirs and Diaries, 1963-1972 [828 pages/Published in 1973] •Postscript With a Chinese Accent: Memoirs and Diaries, 1972-1973 [401 pages/Published in 1974] •Seven Continents and Forty Years: A Concentration of Memoirs [Abridged version of the original four volumes/688 pages/Published in 1977]

[mariacallous]

The feud between U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk didn’t come as a total surprise. There were always those who doubted that the two mega-narcissists could co-exist for long in the same White House. On June 11, Musk issued a statement expressing regret for some of his social media posts about Trump, but one is inclined to doubt that his mea culpa will patch things up.

The spat between the two billionaires, however, has diverted the public’s attention from a more urgent matter. Two stories that appeared this week should draw fresh attention to a problem that should have been obvious to everyone from the very beginning of the Tesla CEO’s disastrous adventure at the head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk is not only the richest man in the world. He is also the biggest risk to the security of the government of the United States—which, in a government riddled with walking security risks, is saying something.

On June 7, the Washington Post reported that DOGE personnel had ignored the concerns of White House cybersecurity staff by installing a Starlink terminal on the roof of an adjacent building in February. Starlink, you might recall, connects to the satellite network owned and operated by Musk’s SpaceX company. The White House Starlink connection enabled those who used it to bypass the security restrictions usually imposed on staffers working in the building. The Post’s sources told the newspaper that “those managing the systems weren’t able to monitor such connections to stop sensitive information from leaving the complex or hackers from breaking in.”

Three days later, the Wall Street Journal released another bombshell, reporting that the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department had “tracked foreign nationals coming and going to Elon Musk’s properties” in 2022 and 2023. The monitoring of Musk’s questionable ties started before the Trump administration, the paper noted, and “highlights concerns about the number of foreign nationals in Musk’s orbit.”

Of course, visits by “foreign nationals” are not inherently something to be worried about. But the fact that both agencies saw fit to do this tracking suggests that they had specific concerns—which may not be surprising, given the extreme sensitivity of Musk’s work for the U.S. government.

What foreign nationals might they have in mind? Russians, perhaps. (The Journal story contains a vague reference to people from “Eastern Europe” among Musk’s visitors.) We learned last fall that Musk had been in regular phone contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin staring in late 2022. During their conversations Putin is said to have asked Musk, among other things, to refrain from activating Starlink over Taiwan, which a Russian intelligence source said was done as a favor to Putin’s buddy, Chinese President Xi Jinping. Coincidence or not, the Taiwanese still don’t have Starlink service today.

Did Putin also thank the influential billionaire for his extensive use of X to insult and belittle Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky—and for supporting Russian military operations by not allowing the Ukrainians Starlink access over Crimea, a part of Ukraine? (To be fair, Musk has largely maintained Starlink service for the Ukrainian military, which has proved to be a vital asset in Kyiv’s fight against the Russians.) We don’t know the details of these conversations. But what we do know would almost be the best case; the possibilities are so much worse.

Why Musk would do this remains an open question. But the far more alarming question is why this is only now beginning to catch media and government attention. Musk’s regular private contact with the head of a hostile autocracy should, in its own right, have activated a gigantic flashing red light for any U.S. administration. For Musk is not just an average U.S. citizen; he is a man with a high-level security clearance tied to a range of business interests involving NASA and the intelligence community.

NASA, of course, is now uncomfortably dependent on SpaceX’s rockets—as Musk himself noted during his feud with Trump, when the CEO threatened to decommission the Dragon spacecraft, a mainstay of travel to the International Space Station. Musk took back the threat three hours later. But the space station link is far from the only source of concern. In March 2024, it was revealed that SpaceX has been building a spy satellite network for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, a highly secret agency that conducts surveillance from space. Musk is doing the work under a $1.8 billion contract from 2021 with terms that remain classified.

China is another justified source of anxiety. Musk’s electric car company has huge exposure to the Chinese Communist Party. Musk has famously described himself—unusually for a MAGA loyalist and Trump campaigner—as “kind of pro-China.” In 2020, Tesla opened a factory in Shanghai, where the company now produces half of its cars; Tesla also manufactures a large share of its batteries at a facility in China. Permits for both factories were issued with remarkable speed, and the company has benefited hugely from favorable loans from Chinese banks, evidence of a cozy relationship with the government.

Musk certainly has a high enough profile to have held multiple meetings with Xi as well as Premier Li Qiang. To be sure, other U.S. business leaders have done the same. But few of them boast Musk’s top-secret clearance—or, now, anything like his access to sensitive government information through DOGE.

Musk has shown that he knows what’s expected of him in return. He has lavished obsequious praise on China. He has stated that “there’s a certain inevitability” for Beijing to absorb Taiwan, which he has referred to as “an integral part” of China. China is a key building block of Musk’s business empire—and given that a political decision in Beijing could crush his operations in a second, this makes him profoundly susceptible to potential pressure by the Chinese Communist Party. How far would he be willing to go to protect his interests?

This, then, is the man to whom the Trump administration gave comprehensive and unfettered access to the personal data of tens of millions of Americans during DOGE’s rampage in the first months of this year. Musk’s “takeover of federal government infrastructure,” as Wired magazine called it, gave inexperienced young software programmers access to a wide variety of sensitive information, including records from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Few Americans understand the significance of the OPM, which holds vast amounts of data about citizens, but the Chinese considered it important enough to target it in one of the biggest cyberattacks in history in 2015. Two DOGE staffers even tried to gain access to the networks that contain classified material about the United States’ nuclear weapons—which raises serious questions about why Musk’s people would need such information for a budget-cutting exercise.

Indeed, DOGE’s work has been characterized by a stunningly cavalier attitude to data security, prompting some experts to speak in Foreign Policy about the “the most consequential security breach” in the U.S. government’s history. The initiative has operated with minimal transparency and oversight. It has violated countless strictures on the confidentiality of federal employee information. The chaos and uncertainty sown by its firing of thousands of federal workers could potentially offer openings to foreign intelligence services, which will be keen to capitalize on the grievances of discarded employees. And granting DOGE staffers access to the government’s internal payments system has risked compromising intelligence operations that rely on the same mechanism. We will probably need years to fully understand the extent of the damage.

Government concern about Musk is not entirely new. In December, the New York Times reported that Musk and SpaceX “have repeatedly failed to comply with federal reporting protocols aimed at protecting state secrets, including by not providing some details of his [Musk’s] meetings with foreign leaders.” The Pentagon’s inspector general opened a review of Musk’s security clearance last year, as did the Air Force and the undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security. Nothing seems to have come of any these investigations, but I somehow don’t find that reassuring. I wonder if it’s just a coincidence that Trump fired Pentagon Inspector General Robert Storch in January, a few weeks after the publication of the Times report.

Recently, even before his fight with Musk, Trump seems to have had second thoughts about the carte blanche he has granted him. It was Trump who apparently canceled Musk’s access to a planned top-secret Pentagon briefing in April. Now, as the feud between the two men simmers, Steve Bannon, Trump’s longtime consigliere, has called on the president to pull Musk’s security clearance.

I never thought I would ever agree with Bannon on anything. But here we are.

[darkmaga-returns]

Samantha Power’s tenure as head of USAID was just the latest chapter in a meteoric rise that defies traditional foreign policy credentials.

A former journalist with no formal diplomatic or military background, she ascended rapidly—first as a senior adviser to Barack Obama, then as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and ultimately as the head of an agency handling billions in taxpayer dollars.

Power encountered remarkably little resistance, unlike others with deep military and policy experience who faced relentless scrutiny upon appointment by a president of another political party.

Compare Power’s rise with Trump-era appointees like Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard, who saw their backgrounds dissected and their integrity questioned.

Hegseth, an Army veteran and Fox News contributor, and like Power, an author, faced intense opposition when considered for Secretary of Defense. Critics dismissed his qualifications, pointing out that he was not an Army general officer—unlike Biden’s pick—despite his combat experience and deep engagement in military affairs.

Gabbard, a combat veteran and former congresswoman, endured relentless attacks for challenging the establishment’s foreign policy orthodoxy. Legacy media, ably assisted by one Hillary Rodham Clinton, smeared her as a “Russian asset” simply for questioning the wisdom of perpetual U.S. interventions.

Yet Samantha Power—whose early credentials came from reporting on the Yugoslav War and Rwanda as a freelance journalist—faced no such obstacles as she climbed Washington’s foreign policy ladder.

[keithmosher2]

Calling Moscow

It should be all too obvious…

Feb 4: The U.S., along with Russia, vote "No" on U.N. resolution condemning Russia for the war with Ukraine.

Feb 5: DOGE obtains access to information on all U.S. citizens through the Treasury Department and OBM computer systems, with no oversight. Several of the DOGE team have ties to Russia.

Feb 6: Attorney General Pam Bondi ends FBI efforts to combat foreign influence in U.S. Politics, and ends Kleptocracy Initiative which battled corruption and returned ill-gotten gains to victims of financial crimes.

Feb 19: US and Russia - without Ukraine - enter peace talks over the Ukraine war, in which they propose that Ukraine will not get its land back, and will not enter NATO, which is to say Russia wins everything.

Feb 28: Defense Sec. Hegseth orders Cyber Command to halt Russia Planning.

Feb 28: White House "Hand Picks" the pool reporters for the Zelenskyy meeting, leaving OUT the AP and Reuters reporters, but Russian TASS reporter gets into the Oval Office for the event.

Feb 28: The Felon President and creepy Vance berate Zelenskyy, accusing him of risking World War 3, offering Ukraine nothing, not even sympathy, but demanding tribute.

If it is not clear to you that the First Felon is a Russian asset and/or agent, you are not paying attention.

[jangillman]

For years, he was hailed a hero. For some, he still is. Now he's exposed.

Here’s the history of the Ukraine & Volodomyr Zelenskyy you won't hear from the media.

Zelenskyy has never had the cards. He isn’t some brave leader calling the shots. He’s a desperate man, clinging to power in a collapsing regime—propped up by Western money, weapons & propaganda. And with Ukraine losing the PR war & real war, he's panicking.

Ukraine wasn't an independent actor in this war. The real power brokers are in Washington, Brussels & London, playing their geopolitical games.

This war was engineered to weaken Russia. To understand that, you need to understand the history that they’ll never tell you.

Ukraine and Russia have been bound together for over 1,000 years. Kiev, Ukraine’s capital, once the heart of Kievan Rus—the first great Slavic state—laid the foundations for Russia itself. Ukraine’s very name means "borderland"—which means the borderland of Russia.

For centuries, it was an integral part of the Russian Empire, not some “oppressed” nation. Even during the Soviet era, Ukraine wasn’t occupied—it was central to the USSR. Even Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was Ukrainian.

When the USSR collapsed, Ukraine became independent and Washington stepped in—not to help Ukraine, but to weaponise it against Russia.

The U.S. & NATO lied to Gorbachev, promising they wouldn’t expand “one inch eastward." Yet NATO moved into Poland and the Baltic States.

Ukraine was the ultimate NATO prize.

The West poured billions into Ukraine—funding pro-NATO political groups, NGOs & media to manufacture an anti-Russian state.

In 2004, the CIA backed the "Orange Revolution," overturning an election that favoured a pro-Russian candidate.

The real coup came in 2014.

Ukraine’s democratically elected president, Viktor Yanukovych, rejected an EU trade deal that would have destroyed Ukraine’s economy. That was unacceptable to Washington. So they removed him via a manufactured colour revolution.

The so-called "Maidan Revolution" wasn’t a grassroots movement. It was a CIA-backed coup—orchestrated by officials like Victoria Nuland. So brazen was Washington, that Nuland was even caught on a leaked call, handpicking Ukraine’s next leader before Yanukovych was gone.

The violent mobs that took over Kiev weren’t peaceful protesters. They were led by neo-Nazi groups like Azov Battalion—groups that openly celebrate Nazi collaborators and wear SS insignia.

These same groups now receive Western weapons.

The post-coup regime then banned the Russian language—directly attacking millions of Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the east.

That’s when Donbass & Crimea said enough. Crimea held a referendum—over 90% voted to return to Russia. The Donbass also voted for independence.

The people of the Donbass rejected Kiev—but Kiev wouldn’t let them go. Instead, they launched a brutal war on their own people, shelling civilians for eight years. Where was the Western outrage? Nowhere!

And what about Zelenskyy? Who is he? Is he an organic leader who came from nowhere or was he installed?

It's reported that, in 2020, Zelenskyy secretly met with MI6 head Richard Moore. Why would a foreign president meet with the UK’s top spy instead of its PM?

Is Zelenskyy a UK asset? According to reports, he is personally protected by British, not Ukrainian security. When he visited the Vatican, he snubbed the Pope and met with a British bishop. Guess who else was there? Richard Moore from MI6 again! That's some coincidence.

Before politics, Zelenskyy was a comedian and actor—literally playing the president on a TV show. Then, with the help of Western PR teams, fiction became reality.

His campaign was funded by oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, who owned Ukraine’s largest oil company and bank.

Once in power, Zelenskyy’s priority wasn’t fighting corruption—it was making sure BlackRock & Western banks took over Ukraine’s economy.

Meanwhile, he funnelled millions into offshore accounts, and is alleged to have acquired a $34m mansion in Miami as well as a £multi London apartment. Nothing would surprise me if he did.

By 2022, NATO had armed Ukraine to the teeth, and Kiev had amassed forces near Donbass.

Russia had a choice:

Let Donbass face ethnic cleansing;

Let NATO turn Ukraine into a military base;

Or,

Intervene.

They intervened, just as other nations would in those circumstances.

The media screamed “unprovoked invasion.” But NATO expansion, the 2014 coup, eight years of war on Donbass—this war was provoked every step of the way.

Ukraine was set up as a pawn.

With Ukraine losing, Zelenskyy is being abandoned. Donald Trump told him: "You don’t have the cards." And he’s right. This war was engineered. Ukraine needed Western intervention to win and that would mean that WW3 would/could be inevitable. It’s time the world wakes up to that reality.

The war in Ukraine was deliberately provoked by the West. Zelenskyy is just another puppet—his time is running out...and Trump knows....

I'm sharing this in the hope that all of the protesters supporting Ukraine, over their own President, needs to educate themselves and learn what's really going on. Mainstream, liberal media will NEVER cover this?

[ivygorgon]

''They rigged the election and I became President, so that was a good thing.''

Donald Trump, March 7th, 2025

last | next

📨 An open letter to the President & U.S. Congress

🗳️ Immediate Investigation Required: Fraud in the Presidential Election!

✍️ 38 so far! Help us get to 50 signers!

Donald Trump’s statement, “But then they rigged the election, and now we won,” raises serious concerns about election integrity. Widespread bomb threats at polling sites, ballot delays, and technical failures further undermine trust in our democratic process. With over 30 threats reported and potential foreign interference, a full investigation is essential. If necessary, a recount or re-vote must be considered to ensure every vote is secure and counted.

📱 Text SIGN PQNCWD to 50409 🤯 Text FOLLOW IVYGORGON to 50409 for more!

[datavaultinsightsllp]

Unlocking Global Trade Insights: The Power of Import and Export Data

Businesses, analysts, and policymakers must comprehend import and export data in the connected global economy of today. Trade data provides vital information about global supply chains, competitive environments, and market trends. Access to precise and timely import-export trade data can be crucial for small exporters searching for new markets or multinational corporations honing their sourcing strategy.

What is Import and Export Data?

Import and export data refers to detailed records of goods traded between countries. These records usually include information such as:

Product descriptions and codes (usually using HS Code or Harmonized System)

Quantity and value of goods traded

Countries of origin and destination

Ports used in shipping

Names of importers and exporters (in some datasets)

Date and mode of shipment

Governments collect this data through customs declarations and publish it either publicly or through commercial channels.

Why Is Import Export Data Important?

Market Research & Opportunity Identification Businesses can identify which products are in high demand in specific countries. For example, if India is importing a high volume of electronics from China, it indicates a steady market demand that other suppliers may tap into.

Competitor Analysis With the help of import export data providers, companies can analyze their competitors’ trade volumes, sourcing strategies, and market reach. This transparency can fuel more strategic planning.

Supply Chain Optimization Importers can identify alternative suppliers, especially during disruptions. Exporters, on the other hand, can find new buyers globally, improving resilience and profitability.

Regulatory Compliance Knowing the proper HS code and documentation needed can ensure smooth customs clearance. Import export trade data also helps businesses stay compliant with regulations like anti-dumping laws or sanctions.

How to Access Import and Export Data

There are two main sources for accessing trade data:

Government Databases Many governments publish import/export statistics through trade ministries or customs departments. For instance, the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) or India’s Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) provide some free tools.

Import Export Data Providers Professional data providers offer more granular and actionable data, often including shipment-level details, company names, and advanced analytics tools. These services may come with a subscription fee but provide great value for in-depth market intelligence.

Some popular import export data providers include:

ImportGenius

Panjiva

Export Genius

TradeMap

Datamyne

These platforms often allow you to filter data by HS code, time period, country, product category, or company name, offering deep insights.

Applications of Import Export Trade Data

Business Expansion: A company producing solar panels can study which countries are importing such products and approach potential buyers.

Price Benchmarking: Traders can compare average prices per unit in different markets and negotiate better deals.

Trend Analysis: Historical data can highlight seasonal trends or emerging markets for certain products.

Customs Brokerage: Brokers can use the data to guide clients through documentation, tariffs, and regulations in different regions.

Challenges in Using Import Export Data

While powerful, this data isn’t always straightforward. Challenges may include:

Data Inconsistency: Not all countries report data in the same format or frequency.

Data Accessibility: Some detailed data sets are behind paywalls.

Privacy: In certain jurisdictions, business names in shipment-level data are restricted for privacy reasons.

Final Thoughts

Data that is imported and exported is a strategic asset that is more than just numbers. Businesses can confidently and clearly navigate global markets with the assistance of a trustworthy import export data provider. Import export trade data is your key to making well-informed, data-driven decisions, whether you're sourcing products, researching new markets, or evaluating the competition.

To stay ahead in the constantly changing world of commerce, embrace the power of global trade intelligence.

[houseofbrat]

It's not really a "bizarre twist." It's the likely outcome if Harry has always been in the US on an A-1 visa.

Immigration experts have suggested to Dailymail.com that he may be on an extremely rare A-1 Head of State visa. [...] If he is on a diplomatic visa then he would be taxed, including on that windfall, under the U.K. system. He would only be subject to U.S. income tax on his earnings in America, such as his deal with Netflix, which would have to be reported on an IRS Form 1099-NR. 'The Royal Family wants him to stay on the A-1,' international tax expert Clayton Cartwright told Dailymail.com. 'I think they have common ground wanting him to stay on an A-1. If he's consulted tax advisers then he will be staying on an A-1. 'The A-1 is his golden ticket. If he's on an A-1 he can sit here (in the U.S.) forever. The U.S. would not care.' He added: 'The US has a foreign policy interest in not triggering U.S. tax residency for diplomats. It is good diplomatic practice. 'It keeps private to Great Britain, not just the foreign assets Prince Harry owns, but also other assets of the Royal Family on which he is listed.'

[...] London-based US Immigration lawyer Melissa Chavin has previously told Dailymail.com the Duke could have been on an A-1 Head of State visa, which is used by heads of state and royal family members, since he is fifth in line to the throne. 'It's just extremely special,' she said. 'And the security check is not the same. It's a lower security check. It's a visa especially for members of royal families.' Such individuals are only vetted for espionage, terrorism and 'activities contrary to US foreign policy,' rather than drug use.

The A-1 'Head of State' visa is distinguishable from the A-1 visa, which is for senior diplomats. Holders of an A-1 visa, such as an ambassador, are supposed to come to the U.S. to work as a senior diplomat. But an A-1 Head of State visa holder is free to come to the U.S. without working as a head of state or royal family member.

[archive link]

Of course, keeping Harry on the UK system makes any future divorce more difficult for his wife. It makes it more difficult for the divorce to be governed by California law. Harry while being on a diplo visa in the US makes him not subject to US law, just like the rest of the diplo visas in the country. All of his banking and tax obligations would be under UK law, not US or California law.

[eretzyisrael]

by Gabe Kennedy

The ADL raised concerns to Mayes about the Tucson-based Alliance for Global Justice, which faces an uncertain future after a Washington Examiner investigation into its Palestinian terrorism ties prompted payment processors to kick it off their platforms. Meanwhile, the letter to James focused on both AFGJ and the WESPAC Foundation, a New York-based charity that houses the national Students for Justice in Palestine college campus group and other pro-Hamas projects.

ADL Chief Legal Officer Steven C. Sheinberg told the attorneys general that AFGJ could be landing itself in hot water legally by housing a project called the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, an Israeli-designated terrorist group. Samidoun, as the Washington Examiner reported, shares employees with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — a U.S.-designated terrorist faction.

“The level of ‘control and discretion’ exerted by AFGJ over its fiscally sponsored projects is crucial in light of serious concerns that have been raised regarding Samidoun’s endorsement of and/or support for terrorism-related activities, as well as its efforts to expand support for terrorist organizations like Hamas and PFLP in the U.S.,” Sheinberg wrote in the letters. “Samidoun’s status as a terrorist organization abroad, or at the very least its connection to known terrorist organizations, calls into question whether AFGJ and its board are exercising the appropriate level of oversight and control over its projects to ensure AFGJ’s charitable assets are being used consistent with its tax exemption.”

Meanwhile, when it comes to WESPAC, the ADL raised concerns to James that the charity’s projects engage in “blatantly antisemitic activities” that could run afoul of WESPAC’s charitable purpose. WESPAC and AFGJ both fiscally sponsor many organizations, meaning they service these projects with key services such as human resources, legal, and donation processing.

The letter to James cited examples of Students for Justice in Palestine chapters endorsing the Oct. 7 attack, while some affiliates have “interfered with the rights and safety of other students and in some cases, led to student arrests,” Sheinberg said.

WESPAC also sponsors a project called Within Our Lifetime-United for Palestine that is based in New York and, Sheinberg said, hosts rallies featuring “explicit support for violence against Israeli civilians by U.S. designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and affiliated individuals such as Leila Khaled and Hamas’ military wing spokesperson Abu Obaida.”

[misfitwashere]

January 20, 2025

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JAN 21

The tone for the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 47th president of the United States at noon today was set on Friday, when Trump, who once trashed cryptocurrency as “based on thin air,” launched his own cryptocurrency. By Sunday morning it had made more than $50 billion on paper. Felix Salmon of Axios reported that “a financial asset that didn’t exist on Friday afternoon—now accounts for about 89% of Donald Trump’s net worth.”

As Salmon noted, “The emoluments clause of the Constitution,” which prohibits any person holding a government office from accepting any gift or title from a foreign leader or government, “written in 1787, hardly envisaged a world where a president could conjure billions of dollars of wealth out of nowhere just by endorsing a meme.” Salmon also pointed out that there is no way to track the purchases of this coin, meaning it will be a way for those who want something from Trump to transfer money directly to him.

Former Trump official Anthony Scaramucci posted that “anyone in the world can essentially deposit money” into the bank account of the president of the United States.

On Sunday, Trump’s wife Melania launched her own coin. It took the wind out of the sales of Trump’s coin, although both coins have disclaimers saying that the coins are “an expression of support for and engagement with the values embodied by” the Trumps, and are not intended to be “an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type.” Her cryptocurrency was worth more than $5 billion within two hours.

CNN noted that the release of the meme coin had raised “serious ethics concerns,” but those who participate in the industry were less gentle. One wrote: “Trump’s sh*tcoin release has caused possibly the greatest overnight loss of credibility in presidential history. He made $60B. Great for Trump family, terrible for this country and hopes we had for the Trump presidency.”

Walter Schaub, former head of the Office of Government Ethics under Trump in his first administration, who left after criticizing Trump’s unwillingness to divest himself of his businesses, wrote to CNN: “America voted for corruption, and that’s what Trump is delivering…. Trump’s corruption and naked profiteering is so open, extreme and pervasive this time around that to comment on any one aspect of it would be to lose the forest for the trees. The very idea of government ethics is now a smoldering crater.”

At a rally Sunday night at the Capital One Arena in Washington, Trump highlighted the performance side of his public persona. He teased the next day’s events and let his audience in on a secret that echoed the “neokayfabe” of professional wrestling by leaving people wondering if it was true or a lie. After praising Elon Musk, he told the crowd “He was very effective. He knows those computers better than anybody. Those vote counting computers. And we ended up winning Pennsylvania like in a landslide. So it was pretty good…. Thank you to Elon.”

This morning, hours before he left office, President Joe Biden pardoned several of the targets of MAGA Republicans, including "General Mark A. Milley, Anthony S. Fauci, the Members of Congress and staff who served on the Select Committee, and the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the Select Committee.” Biden clarified that the pardons “should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense.” He noted, “Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country.”

But, he said, "These are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing. Even when individuals have done nothing wrong—and in fact have done the right thing—and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage reputations and finances." He later pardoned his siblings and their spouses to protect them from persecution by the incoming president.

Before he left office, Biden posted on social media: Scripture says: “I have been young and now I’m old yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken.” After all these years serving you, the American people, I have not seen the righteous forsaken. I love you all. May you keep the faith. And may God bless you all.”

This morning, members of the far-right paramilitary organization the Proud Boys marched through the capital carrying a banner that read “Congratulations President Trump” and chanting: “Whose streets? Our streets!”

Two days ago, Trump moved his inauguration into the Capitol Rotunda, where his supporters had rioted on January 6, 2021, because of cold temperatures expected in Washington, D.C. Even with his supporters excluded, the space was cramped, but prime spots went to billionaires: Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook, Google chief Sundar Pichai, TikTok chief executive officer Shou Zi Chew, and Tesla and SpaceX chief executive owner Elon Musk, who appeared to be stoned.

Right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who launched the Fox News Channel in 1996, was there, as were popular podcaster Joe Rogan and founder of Turning Point USA Charlie Kirk.

Although foreign leaders are not normally invited to presidential inaugurations, far-right foreign leaders President Javier Milei of Argentina and Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni were there, along with a close ally of Chinese president Xi Jinping.

The streets were largely empty as Trump traveled to the U.S. Capitol. Supporters watched from Capital One Arena as Trump took the oath of office, apparently forgetting to put his hand on the Bibles his wife held. After Vice President–elect J.D. Vance had taken the oath of office, sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts had sworn in Trump, the new president delivered his inaugural address.

While inaugural addresses are traditionally an attempt to put the harsh rhetoric of campaigns behind and to emphasize national unity, Trump’s inaugural address rehashed the themes of his campaign rallies. Speaking in the low monotone he uses when he reads from a teleprompter, he delivered an address that repeated the lies on which he built his 2024 presidential campaign.

He said that the Justice Department has been “weaponized,” that Biden’s administration “cannot manage even a simple crisis at home while at the same time stumbling into a continuing catalog of catastrophic events abroad,” that the U.S. has provided “sanctuary and protection for dangerous criminals,” that the government has “treated so badly” the storm victims in North Carolina,” and so on.

Fact-checkers at The Guardian noted the speech was full of “false and misleading claims.”

Trump went on to promise a series of executive orders to address the crises he claimed during his campaign. He would “declare a national emergency at our southern border,” he said, and “begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.” (Border crossings are lower now than they were at the end of Trump’s last term.) He promised to tell his cabinet members to bring down inflation (it peaked in 2022 and is now close to the Fed’s target of 2%), bring back manufacturing (the Biden administration brought more than 700,000 new manufacturing jobs to the U.S.), end investments in green energy (which has attracted significant private investment, especially in Republican-dominated states), and make foreign countries fund the U.S. government through tariffs (which are, in fact, paid by American consumers).

He also vowed to take the Panama Canal back from Panama, prompting Panama’s president José Raúl Mulino to “fully reject the statements made by” Trump, and Panamanian protesters to burn the American flag.

With a declaration about the Pennsylvania shooting that bloodied his ear, Trump declared that he believes he is on a divine mission. “I felt then, and believe even more so now, that my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.”

After his inaugural address, former president Biden and former first lady Dr. Jill Biden left, and Trump delivered a much more animated speech to prominent supporters in which CNN’s Daniel Dale said he returned to his “lie-a-minute style.” He rehashed the events of January 6, 2021, and claimed that then–House speaker Nancy Pelosi is “guilty as hell…that’s a criminal offense.”

But the bigger story came in the afternoon, when Trump held a rally at the Capitol One Arena in place of the traditional presidential parade. Supporters there had watched the inauguration on a jumbotron screen, booing Biden and jumping to their feet to cheer at Trump’s declaration that he had been saved by God. In the afternoon, Elon Musk spoke to the crowd, throwing two salutes that right-wing extremists, including neo-Nazis, interpreted as Nazi salutes.

Trump and his family arrived after 5:00 for the inaugural parade. The new president spoke again in rally mode after six, and then staged a demonstration that he was changing the country by holding a public signing of executive orders. Those appeared to be designed, as he promised, to retaliate against those he feels have wronged him. Among other executive orders, he withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, drawing approving roars from the crowd.

As Jonathan Swan of the New York Times noted, “Signing executive orders and pardons are two of the parts of the job that Trump loves most. They are unilateral, instantaneous displays of power and authority.” After signing a few executive orders for the crowd, Trump threw the signing sharpies into the crowd, and then he and his family left abruptly.

Back at the White House, retaliation continued. Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of all of the January 6 rioters who had been convicted of crimes related to the attempt to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election, including Enrico Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys who was serving 22 years for seditious conspiracy to overthrow the government of the United States.

His pardon also included Daniel Rodriguez, who was sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to tasing Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who suffered cardiac arrest and a traumatic brain injury. “Omg I did so much f---ing s--- r[ight] n[ow] and got away,” he texted to his gang. “Tazzed the f--- out of the blue[.]”

Trump signed an executive order that withdraws the U.S. from the World Health Organization, another that tries to establish that there are only two sexes in the United States, and yet another that seeks to end the birthright citizenship established by the Fourteenth Amendment. He signed one intending to strip the security clearances from 51 people whom he accuses of election interference related to Hunter Biden’s laptop, and has ordered that an undisclosed list of Trump appointees immediately be granted the highest levels of security clearance without undergoing background checks. He also signed one ordering officials “to deliver emergency price relief.”

Behind the scenes today, officials in the Trump administration fired the acting head of the U.S. immigration court system as well as other leaders of that system, and cancelled the CBP One app, an online lottery system through which asylum seekers could schedule appointments with border agents, leaving asylum seekers who had scheduled appointments three weeks ago stranded. Trump officials have also taken down a government website that helped women find health care and understand their rights. They have also removed the official portrait of former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley from the hallway with the portraits of all the former chairs…now all minus one.

But for all their claims to be hitting the ground running, lawyers noted that some of the executive orders were poorly crafted to accomplish what they claimed—an observer called one “bizarre legal fanfic not really intended for judicial interpretation”—and lawsuits challenging them are already being filed. Others are purely performative, like ordering officials to lower prices.

Further, CNN national security correspondent Natasha Bertrand reported that almost an hour after Trump became president, “current and former Pentagon officials say they don’t know who is currently in charge of the Defense Department,” a key position to maintain U.S. security against adversaries who might take advantage of transition moments to push against American defenses.

Bertrand reported that the Trump transition team had trouble finding someone to serve as acting secretary until the Senate confirms a replacement for Biden’s Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Trump’s nominee, former Fox News Channel weekend host Pete Hegseth has had trouble getting the votes he needs, although tonight the Senate Armed Services Committee approved him by a straight party line vote.

Bertrand notes that two senior department officials declined to take on the position. The Trump administration swore in Robert Salesses, deputy director of the branch of the Pentagon that focuses on human resources, facilities, and resource management—who has already been confirmed by the Senate in that position—as acting Defense Secretary.

Beginning tomorrow, the Republicans will have to deal with the fact that the Treasury will hit the debt ceiling and will have to use extraordinary measures to pay the obligations of the United States government.

[mariacallous]

In September of 2022, not long after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, officials from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) raided and seized several luxury properties in both New York City and Miami. The average person would have had little idea why these particular properties were special; the official register only listed an anonymous Panamanian shell company, one with a mailing address at Madison Square Garden, as the putative owner. But it was later revealed that the DOJ officials were part of KleptoCapture, a special task force created to seize and freeze the assets of Russian oligarchs, and that the true owner of the $70 million property portfolio was Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian-Cypriot billionaire who had been subject to U.S. sanctions for many years. Even though the authorities eventually pieced together the puzzle and located his gargantuan property portfolio, Vekselberg had managed to fly under the radar for years until that point.

The Vekselberg incident illustrates two alarming facts about American real estate. The first is that offshore investors can easily hide their identity by using opaque corporate ownership structures to keep their name off the register. The second is that, because this practice is so common, offshore investment in the real estate sector is likely far greater than what can be measured with public data.

Real estate has always been considered a risky sector, highly vulnerable to money laundering, tax evasion, and corruption. This is because high-value properties offer both a safe store of wealth and an asset that can easily be flipped for the purposes of laundering. It is also a sector that is very rarely subject to the same level of effective due diligence checks or automatic reporting requirements that financial accounts are. The true amount of money laundered through U.S. real estate is unknown, but recent reports by groups like the Anti-Corruption Data Collective and Global Financial Integrity have uncovered at least $2.6 billion worth of cases through both residential and commercial property in recent years.

These risks are amplified even further when the ownership originates offshore, as foreign authorities will struggle to spot instances of tax evasion or corruption when the wealth is hidden in U.S. real estate, with no public transparency of ownership. But to understand the risks that offshore ownership poses, we first need to understand just how much real estate foreigners own in the U.S.

[follow-up-news]

The Treasury Department ordered the nation’s banking industry to start disclosing its holdings of Russian assets on Tuesday, with the goal of eventually seizing those billions of dollars in assets and selling them to aid the devastated Ukrainian economy. The disclosure is required under a new law passed by Congress earlier this year known as the REPO Act, which gives the U.S. government the authority to seize Russian state assets held by U.S. banks, with the goal of eventually selling them and giving those funds to Ukraine. While the vast bulk of Russian assets are held in Europe, it is estimated that the U.S. banking system holds as much as $6 billion in Russian assets in trust. Banks will need to report Russian assets on their books no later than Aug. 2 to the Office of Foreign Assets Control. If a bank discovers any new Russian assets on their books after the deadline, those assets need to be reported within 10 days, the Treasury Department said. Russia’s war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022, has killed tens of thousands but has also caused significant devastation to Ukraine’s economy and infrastructure. The World Bank estimated in February that Ukraine will need $486 billion for recovery and reconstruction, a figure that has only risen as the war has continued.