Once known for investigating government corruption and airing opposition views that were never allowed on state television, Ren TV over time became noticeably less critical.
“The first goal was political control of the media,” said Roman Pivovarov, a leading analyst of the Russian media landscape. “But that was achieved relatively early on. So this was as much about money. The picture today is clear, in that the big media belongs to the small circle of people who control not only the politics but the economics of Russia.”
.. Cyprus is one of the world’s busiest offshore financial-service centers, with one of Europe’s lowest corporate tax rates and laws that enable foreigners to incorporate companies within days. Nearly 270,000 companies are registered there, and many are shells created to shelter income while obscuring the real owners.
.. A partner there, Makis Chrysomilas, said his firm typically uses its own address or those of employees when establishing residence for shell companies. “We are lawyers for 4,000 or 5,000 corporations,” he said. Coming up with names for them can be a challenge, he explained. So he has taken names from a book listing the thoroughbred horses auctioned in the United States. He also has named companies after streets in London and other European cities.
.. As for Bank Rossiya, he went on: “As far as I recall, this is a medium-sized bank. Personally, I did not have an account there, but I will definitely open one on Monday.” He later directed the presidential administration to begin depositing his official salary — roughly $7,500 a month — into a Bank Rossiya account.
Clinton on Iraq – Tactical Vote influenced by Iowa
She also writes about her 2007 vote against the “surge” in Iraq that Bush promoted on the advice of General David Petraeus. But we have to turn to Duty, the recent memoir by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who isn’t running for anything, to find her admission to Obama that the vote had more to do with her need not to be wrong-footed by him in the Iowa caucuses than her real thoughts about Iraq.
Russia’s Slow-Motion Invasion of Ukraine
During the Cold War, the Soviets hatched scenarios for making incursions into Western Europe that in many ways resemble Russia’s behavior in Ukraine—”for example, a fire-engine crew crossing into West Berlin to help with a fire, followed by police, followed by soldiers, who then refuse to go,” Badsey said. “Putin learned all this as basic early in his career, as did all his generals.”
Russia Soldiers: 4000 volunteers
Russia has long denied sending soldiers or weapons to Ukraine, and the revelation evades the issue of direct Russian involvement by painting the soldiers as volunteers. It suggests, however, that Moscow has sought to organize, and to some extent have control over, a force that could be operated at arm’s length with a backbone of local participation.