Conspiracy theories in The Times of Israel? Oh, no!
Fortunately, almost 8 years later, the editor clarified THAT THIS POST WAS ONLY SATIRICAL...
UKRAINE?
https://www.vox.com/2015/3/23/8279397/kolomoisky-oligarch-ukraine-militia
https://www.vox.com/2015/2/20/8072643/ukraine-volunteer-battalion-danger
By many estimates, there are approximately 30 of these private armies fighting on the Ukrainian side. Their fighters are accused of serious human rights violations, including kidnappings, torture, and extrajudicial executions.
The longer these groups continue to operate, the greater the chances that their leaders will exploit their power for personal or political gain, and cement their own power to operate without constraint from the central government. That undermines the power of Ukraine's government, risks chaos in a part of the country that has already suffered too much, and raises the possibility that even if separatist forces are defeated, eastern Ukraine might be left as an ungoverned collection of warlord-dominated fiefdoms.
Kolomoisky also appears to have ties to the country's incoming president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, whose hit TV show was hosted by the oligarch's network. Reuters reported last week that Zelenskiy chose as head of his presidential administration a lawyer with links to Kolomoisky, who continues to fight with the government over control of Privatbank.
https://www.newsweek.com/evidence-war-crimes-committed-ukrainian-nationalist-volunteers-grows-269604
Groups of right-wing Ukrainian nationalists are committing war crimes in the rebel-held territories of Eastern Ukraine, according to a report from Amnesty International, as evidence emerged in local media of the volunteer militias beheading their victims.
Armed volunteers who refer to themselves as the Aidar battalion "have been involved in widespread abuses, including abductions, unlawful detention, ill-treatment, theft, extortion, and possible executions", Amnesty said.
The organisation has also published a report detailing similar alleged atrocities committed by pro-Russian militants, highlighting the brutality of the conflict which has claimed over 3,000 lives.
The Justice Department has been investigating Mr. Kolomoisky and others in what prosecutors allege was a vast scheme to steal millions of dollars from Ukraine’s largest bank and move the money into the U.S. to buy steel mills and skyscrapers.
But recently unsealed federal court records show U.S. banks moved far more money than what was reported by the U.S. government — billions of dollars — for companies under the control of the power broker in patterns that went unchecked for nearly a decade.
Between 2006 and 2015, more than $4.45 billion was transferred without any apparent effort by the banks or the government to stem the movement of dollars as the oligarch and his partners acquired an enormous real estate portfolio.
Deutsche Bank, which has long maintained a U.S. headquarters in New York, declined to answer questions from the Post-Gazette, saying in an email the bank is not legally allowed to talk about its customers and internal security decisions.
In 2020, the bank acknowledged “past weaknesses” and that it “learnt from its mistakes” and has invested millions to strengthen its internal systems to detect laundering and other crimes. “We are a different bank now,” it said.
Open critical records
Through an investigation, the ex-partner’s lawyers discovered money transfers for hundreds of millions of dollars cascading into the country for companies related to Mr. Kolomoisky — 3,103 transactions by Deutsche alone, court records show.
Deutsche and other banks, along with lawyers for Mr. Kolomoisky, pushed to seal the information, saying it exposed confidential information about the banks’ customers.
Not until an effort by the Reporter’s Committee for Freedom of the Press and BuzzFeed News to press for data in federal court in the Southern District of New York in 2020 did the judge agree last month to unseal records of the transfer summaries.
Year after year, the money was coming into the country through Deutsche and other banks, with the oligarch the largest recipient of the transactions, totaling $1.25 billion, followed by his fellow Ukrainian billionaire, Gennadiy Bogolyubov — about $900 million — a partner in the U.S. real estate deals.
When firefighters arrived to battle the blaze, they found the electricity had been turned off leading to the site and the fire hydrants shut off, with no water to douse the flames.
“We probably could have got a handle on it a lot quicker if the hydrants would have been working ’cause we had multiple hydrants right by the building,” Chief Natali said.
Background Noise? In a hit to his anti-corruption credentials, one of Zelensky’s allies, the billionaire Igor Kolomoisky, a former governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, is at the center of a $5.5 billion fraud scandal. Then there’s the specter of the U.S. impeachment scandal, which centers around a phone call between Zelensky and President Donald Trump. Locals, however, say that is mere background noise in everyday Ukrainian society.
http://web.archive.org/web/20140522031903/http://antac.org.ua/en/2012/08/kings-of-ukrainian-gas/
https://archive.ph/HYr3k Kings of Ukrainian Gas | Anticorruption Action Center (archive.ph)
Kings of Ukrainian Gas
“Derypon’s” largest deposits
The international scandal involving the largest Ukrainian gas field – Sakhalinska (Kharkiv Region) ended when Derzhgeonadr recently registered it with Ukrnaftoburinnya. The media has always linked this company to Mykola Zlochevsky, former Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.
When approached by “Slidstvo.Info”, the Public Information Department of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, where Mr. Zlochevsky currently works, refuted this information. Moreover, the department flatly denied that Mr. Zlochevsky was involved in two other companies, which had received eight exploitation licenses over the past year and a half, namely Pari LLC and Esko-Pivnich LLC.
Mykola Zlochevsky used to be a gas magnate
However, Pari and Esko-Pivnich actually belonged to Mykola Zlochevsky and his deceased partner, Mykola Lisin some time ago. They controlled them through a Cypriot company – Burisma Holdings Limited. The website of the US Securities and Exchange Commission still mentions it.
But, Burisma changed owners last year: instead of Zlochevsky and Lisin, the company was taken over by a Cypriot off-shore enterprise called Brociti Investments Ltd. Pari and Esko-Pivnich also changed their address: they moved from Kateryny Bilokur Street to 10a Rylyeyeva Stree in Kyiv. A third company was already waiting for them in the same building – the above-mentioned Ukrnaftoburinnya.
If these three companies were brought together under one roof, it’s logical to assume that they were all owned by one person. At least “Slidstvo.Info” managed to find out the name of the owner of Ukrnaftoburinnya. According to the SMIDA state system, 90% of Ukrnaftoburinnya is owned by a Cypriot company, Deripon Commercial Ltd. With the help of our colleagues from the International Fund OCCRP (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project), we learned who “derypons” the largest gas field in Ukraine.
In fact, the end owner of Deripon Commercial Ltd. is a company based in the British Virgin Islands – Burrad Financial Corp.
This company has often been involved in various financial schemes of the Privat Group and especially with Ihor Kolomoisky.
A 2012 study of Burisma Holdings done in Ukraine by the AntiCorruption Action Centre (ANTAC), an investigative nonprofit co-funded by American billionaire George Soros and the U.S. State Department, found that the true owner of Burisma Holdings was none other than Ukrainian billionaire-oligarch Ihor Kolomoysky.
The study, which was funded to dig up corruption on the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, instead found that Ihor Kolomoysky "managed to seize the largest reserves of natural gas in Ukraine".
Burisma Holdings changed owners in 2011 when it was taken over by an off-shore Cyprus enterprise called Brociti Investments Ltd, and subsequently, moved addresses under the same roof as Ukrnaftoburinnya and Esko-Pivnich, two Ukrainian gas companies which happened to be also owned by Kolomoysky through off-shore entities in the British Virgin Islands.
Oleh Kanivets, who worked as CEO of Ukrnaftoburinnya, confirmed Kolomoysky as the owner of Burisma Holding in the 2012 report saying, "The Privat Group is the immediate owner. This company was founded by Mykola Zlochevsky some time ago, but he later sold his shares to the Privat Group."
In other words, Hunter Biden's boss and benefactor at Burisma Holdings is the same Ukrainian billionaire-oligarch who also claimed the position of boss and benefactor over Volodymyr Zelensky before he became Ukraine's president.
https://www.mergermarket.com/assets/Shareholder%20Profile.pdf
Burisma Holdings, Ukraine’s largest private gas producer, has expand edits Board of Directors by bringing onMr. R Hunter Biden as a new director.
R. Hunter Biden will be in charge of the Holdings’ legal unit and will provide support for the Company among international organizations. On his new appointment, he commented: “Burisma’s track record of innovations and industry leadership in the field of natural gas means that it can be a strong driver of a strong economy in Ukraine. As a new member of the Board, I believe that my assistance in consulting the Company on matters of transparency, corporate governance and responsibility, international expansion and other priorities will contribute to the economy and benefit the people of Ukraine.”
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Burisma Holdings, Mr. Alan Apter, noted: “The company’s strategy is aimed at the strongest concentration of professional staff and the introduction of best corporate practices, and we’re delighted that Mr. Biden is joining us to help us achieve these goals.”
R. Hunter Biden is a counsel to Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, a national law firm based in New York, USA, which served in cases including “Bush vs. Gore”, and “U.S. vs. Microsoft”. He is one of the co-founders and a managing partner of the investment advisory company Rosemont Seneca Partners, as well as chairman of the board of Rosemont Seneca Advisors. He is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University’s Masters Program in the School of Foreign Service.
Mr. Biden has experience in public service and foreign policy. He is a director for the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, The Center for National Policy, and the Chairman’s Advisory Board for the National Democratic Institute. Having served as a Senior Vice President at MBNA bank, former U.S. President Bill Clinton appointed him an Executive Director of E-Commerce Policy Coordination under Secretary of Commerce William Daley. Mr. Biden served as Honorary Co-Chair of the 2008 Obama-Biden Inaugural Committee.
Mr. Biden is a member of the bar in the State of Connecticut, and the District of Columbia, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Court of Federal Claims. He received a Bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University, and a J.D. from Yale Law School.
R. Hunter Biden is also a well-known public figure. He is chairman of the Board of the World Food Programme U.S.A., together with the world’s largest humanitarian organization, the United Nations World Food Programme. In this capacity he offers assistance to the poor in developing countries, fighting hunger and poverty, and helping to provide food and education to 300 million malnourished children around the world.
Kolomoisky is a banking magnate from Dnipro and a major funder of Jewish causes and the Chabad movement in Ukraine. He holds citizenship in Cyprus and Israel as well in Ukraine, where he was born.
Kolomoisky, who has said he will appeal the nullification of his citizenship, is thought to be the main financier of the flashy, 22-story Jewish community center built in Dnipro in 2012.
He has also poured millions of dollars of his own wealth into preparing Ukraine’s army to fight Russia since Russia’s 2014 invasion into Ukraine, and even briefly acted as the head of the Dnipro region during that crisis.
https://forward.com/opinion/195785/the-ukrainian-revolution-s-unlikely-street-fight/
The following interview is with Natan Khazin, commander of a Jewish squadron of fighters in the Ukrainian revolution that took place in Kiev’s Maidan, or central square. It aired on March 20 on Espreso TV, a popular Ukrainian Internet television station and was the first time that Khazin disclosed his identity in public. Khazin was interviewed by Mykola Veresen, a well-known Ukrainian journalist, who was the BBC’s correspondent in Kiev for many years.
The yarmulke-wearing Khazin, a veteran of the Israel Defense Forces and an ordained rabbi, is representative of many young Ukrainian Jews who are Zionist, religiously observant and at the same time strong Ukrainian patriots.
But you became a commander.
It happened very fast. After the first barricades on Hrushevsky Street, when there was talk of storming the parliament, I went over to people and asked: “What’s the main objective? Where are we headed? What are we doing?” After about half an hour, I realized that there was no one in charge on the ground. People didn’t know what to do. They only knew that they must press forward. I asked some of the people there: “Do you know the correlation of forces? Do you know that in order to storm a building, when both sides are equally armed, the storming side needs to have three times as many people?” They answered “no.” When I asked, “What’s the tactical plan?” they didn’t have one.
How did you know about such things?
I have extensive combat experience. I served in the Israel Defense Forces. I was an officer. I know something about offensive and defensive maneuvers under conditions of urban combat.
If it isn’t confidential, where did you serve?
In the Gaza Strip. I know what it’s like to move down a street with people shooting, throwing stones or burning objects.
You are originally from Kiev?
No, I’m from Odessa.
You immigrated to Israel, served in the army there and returned to Ukraine?
Yes. I never imagined that I would put my combat knowledge to use in quiet and peaceful Kiev. People said to me: “In Israel, in the Middle East, things are bad, there’s a war. Come here, stay here and live in peaceful Kiev.” I believed they were right.
Did you have contact with the Israelis? Did they interview you?
Of course. Israeli radio and television stations interviewed me, anonymously. I didn’t want to publicize who I was until very recently. Generally, they viewed what I was doing in a positive spirit, as a good sign. But the Israeli government has displayed an ambiguous attitude toward the events.
Yes, we know that.
This is in the context of the Israeli Foreign Ministry flirting with Moscow. Israel, I’m ashamed to say, has not taken a clear-cut position in support of Ukraine. It hasn’t called the aggression by its name. It hasn’t condemned the annexation of Crimea. Who should understand better than us the meaning of land? We have a slogan in Israel: “Tov lamut be-ad artsenu,” “It’s good to die for our land.”
While, unfortunately, there isn’t governmental support, there is the support of many people in Israel. Lots of young men born in Ukraine, and who served in combat units of the IDF, found out about what I was doing and wrote to me on Facebook. “We’re ready to come and help.” During the hardest days, “We’re ready to come and help.” But there were also a few people who wrote to me: “Why should you die for Ukraine? It’s better to die for Israel.”
https://efrat.substack.com/p/israel-hamas-war-2nd-update
The Israeli mainstream media is also sharing with us today that each day of war
They are preparing us for this.
Questions are raised on what happened to the observers?
Where were the forces?
…
“As the Prime Minister (Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu) has said, no one will tell Jews where they may or may not live on the historic territory of their existence as a sovereign people.
He is willing
to make painful sacrifices for peace,
even if that means giving up part of our biblical homeland in Judea and Samaria.
But then you have to expect us to exercise our historical rights somewhere else. We decided this will be on the shores of the Black Sea, where we were an autochthonous people for more than 2000 years.
How strange that all these things look so connected, isn't it?
And this blog post actually looks like satire, especially with those words in the Prime Minister's mouth.
Read more: Leaked report: Israel acknowledges Jews in fact Khazars; Secret plan for reverse migration to Ukraine | Jim Wald | The Blogs | The Times of Israel http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/leaked-report-israel-acknowledges-jews-in-fact-khazars-secret-plan-for-reverse-migration-to-ukraine/#ixzz3Litm8fgf
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My Canadian wife has some contacts in Hungary. She learned that Israeli buyers have been buying up real estate in Hungary for decades. The places are empty, waiting for someone to move in. There is no property tax there. Well, part of western Ukraine used to belong to Hungary for a thousand years before 1920.
I knew the point of the Ukraine-Russia war was to clear out Ukraine for something, but I didn't think about this.