Military Madness > France Gunning for #2 Arms Exporter; Suu Kyi gets token pardon for a few charges

..

France may soon overtake Russia as the world’s No. 2 arms exporter

Reports of new deals to sell French arms to India and Qatar are just the latest sign that France’s defence industry is gaining pace. The news comes as Russian arms exports decline in the wake of the war in Ukraine, leading to speculation that France could soon take its place as the world’s second-largest weapons exporter after the United States.

Issued on: 02/08/2023 - 18:56, 5 min

Text by: Gregor THOMPSON

French President Emmanuel Macron and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands prior to attending a meeting at the Foreign Affairs ministry in Paris, Friday, July 14, 2023. © Julien de Rosa, AP

At this year’s Bastille Day military parade on July 14, French President Emmanuel Macron was joined by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was also not just French forces on display. On the ground, Macron and his guest of honour watched as the Indian Tri-Services contingent made their way up the Champs-Élysées. In the air, the Indian Air Force performed a fly-past in French-made Dassault Rafale fighter jets.

To anyone closely following the international arms trade, this will not have come as a surprise. The day before, New Dehli gave initial approval for an order of six Scorpène submarines and 26 Rafale jets for the Indian Navy. Two weeks later on July 25, France’s La Tribune newspaper reported Qatar is considering adding another 24 Rafales to their stockpile.

Between 2018 and 2022, France’s share of the global arms trade increased to 11 percent compared with 7.1 percent over the previous four-year period, according to an annual Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) report published in March. In the same period, the Russian share of the international arms trade declined from 22 to 16 percent.

A review of orders late last year and so far in 2023 indicates this pattern is set to continue. “The trends are very clear for France,” said Pieter Wezeman, the author of the SIPRI report.

Even before India’s Rafale order in July, SIPRI’s assessment of outstanding orders for the most valuable weapons systems suggested France was making gains on Russia’s market share. 

“For France, we have a total number of 210 combat aircraft [currently on order] and for Russia we only have 84,” Wezeman said. “These numbers can change, of course, but they do indicate that for sure France will remain a major arms exporter.”

.

The UAE signed a record 14-billion-euro contract for 80 French-made Rafale warplanes and committed billions of euros in other agreements on December 3, 2021. © Ammar Abd Rabbo, AFP

The reasons for the decline in Russian arms sales are varied, although many are linked to the war in Ukraine. Countries naturally aim to diversify their suppliers. But Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 means it is now dedicating more of its arms supplies to the front line, holding on to certain arms systems and focusing on replacing weapons destroyed in battle.

Multiple rounds of international sanctions on Russia may have also affected its ability to secure the materials it needs for arms production, undermining its export capacity. Reports from the front lines in Ukraine have also damaged the reputation of Russia-built armaments.

The war has been “a humbling showcase for Russian military technology”, wrote Cullen Hendrix, an international affairs professor at the University of Denver, in a May contribution to Foreign Policy magazine. “Images of ‘headless’ tanks and reports of high failure rates for Russian missiles may be part wartime propaganda, part reality … Whatever the reasons, the war in Ukraine has not been a particularly compelling advertisement for Russia’s leading-edge military technology."

Some clients have also been disappointed with Russian products in recent years. As the world’s largest arms importer, India has a decades-long relationship with Russian arms suppliers. “India is not particularly happy with what they have received, in technical terms, from Russia,” Wezeman said. “So they have turned to France.”

Political considerations are also important, said Wezeman. “Since the beginning of the war [in Ukraine] India has been reluctant to increase or sustain military relations on a high level” with Moscow.

Moreover, the US “exerts a lot of power” on countries that procure their weapons from Russia, even before the Ukraine war, Wezeman said. Indonesia, for example, abandoned a Russian aircraft purchase in 2021, opting instead for US and French options.

But Russia still holds the lion's share of arms deals in Africa and with countries like Iran and China.

The Rafale: Is France a one-trick pony?

French-built Rafale fighter jets from Dassault Aviation have played a vital role in France’s recent success, says Olivier Gras, general secretary of EuroDéfense-France, a Paris-based association of civil and military officials.

In service as early as 2002, it took until 2015 before the Rafale was first exported. The twin-engine jets are now owned and operated by Greece, Qatar, India and Egypt and are soon expected to land in Croatia, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates – which ordered 80 Standard F4 Rafales in 2021.

Rafale deliveries and orders globally have reached nearly 500, around half those of its main American competitor, Lockheed Martin’s F-35. 

The more unstable the world is, the easier it is to sell war machines. Is this why France and other European countries are so enthusiastic about keeping the war in Ukraine going? 

There is more on this story at France24

Myanmar's Suu Kyi has some of her prison sentences reduced

Jailed Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been pardoned in five criminal cases, although she still faces 14 others, state media said Tuesday.

Issued on: 01/08/2023 - 09:46, 3 min

Text by: NEWS WIRES

Myanmar nationals living in Thailand hold a picture of former civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a protest marking the two-year anniversary of the country's military coup, on February 1, 2023. © Sakchai Lalit, AP

A military coup in February 2021 plunged the Southeast Asian nation into chaos and widespread violence as the military junta launched a bloody crackdown on dissent.

"Chairman of State Administration Council pardoned Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who was sentenced by the relevant courts under five cases," a state media broadcast said.

The broadcast said the 78-year-old Nobel Peace laureate still faces 14 other cases.

Tuesday's announcement was part of an amnesty of more than 7,000 prisoners to mark Buddhist Lent.

The junta announced on Monday it would extend Myanmar's state of emergency by six months, state media said, which is likely to delay elections promised for August.

Suu Kyi, who has been in detention since 2021, has been sentenced to 33 years in jail for a clutch of charges, including corruption, possession of illegal walkie-talkies and flouting coronavirus restrictions.

"She couldn't be freed completely, although some sentences against her were pardoned. She still has to face 14 cases. Only five cases out of 19 were pardoned," a legal source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.

Former Myanmar president Win Myint, who was also removed in the 2021 coup, would also be pardoned in two cases, the broadcast said.

The announcement said 125 foreign prisoners would be released and pardoned.

An unspecified number of prisoners facing the death penalty also had their sentences reduced to life imprisonment, it said.

AFP

Corruption is Everywhere > Suu Kyi's sentence up to 26 years now

..

Myanmar junta extends jail terms for Suu Kyi, Japanese journalist

Author: AFP|

Update: 12.10.2022 15:20

RTL

A Myanmar junta court has added another six years to ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi's prison sentence / © AFP/File

Myanmar's junta on Wednesday jailed a Japanese journalist arrested while filming an anti-coup protest for three more years for violating immigration law, a diplomatic source told AFP.

The sentence came on the same day a closed junta court handed ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi another six years in prison for corruption, according to a source with knowledge of the case, taking the Nobel laureate's total jail time to 26 years.

Toru Kubota, 26, who was detained in July and jailed for seven years last week, was sentenced to an additional "three years imprisonment", a diplomatic source at Japan's embassy said, citing the journalist's lawyer.

Myanmar's junta has clamped down on press freedoms, arresting reporters and photographers, as well as revoking broadcasting licences during its crackdown on dissent since seizing power last year.

Kubota, who was arrested near an anti-government rally in commercial hub Yangon along with two Myanmar citizens, appeared in good health at the hearing on Wednesday, the source said, citing his lawyer.

According to a profile on FilmFreeway, Kubota has made documentaries on Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya minority and "refugees and ethnic issues in Myanmar".

Kubota is the fifth foreign journalist to be detained in Myanmar, after US citizens Nathan Maung and Danny Fenster, Robert Bociaga of Poland and Yuki Kitazumi of Japan -- all of whom were later freed and deported.

Before the sentence was announced, junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told AFP that Kubota "would not be deported at this moment", without giving details.

Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director at Human Rights Watch, said Kubota was being used as a "political pawn" by the junta.

"By imprisoning Kubota, the junta is sending a chilling message to the foreign media to enter at your own risk," he said.

- 'Sham trial' -

Suu Kyi, 77, has been detained since the military toppled her government in a coup in February last year, ending the Southeast Asian country's brief period of democracy.

She has since been convicted on a clutch of charges, including violating the official secrets act, electoral fraud and illegally possessing walkie-talkies.

In the latest case, Suu Kyi was "sentenced to three years imprisonment each for two corruption cases" in which she had been accused of taking bribes from a businessman, the source said.

These jail terms will be served concurrently, the source added.

The businessman, Maung Weik, appeared in a video televised by a military broadcaster last year claiming he had given Suu Kyi $550,000 over several years.

Maung Weik -- who was convicted of drug trafficking in 2008 -- also said he had donated money to senior figures in Suu Kyi's government for the good of his business.

Suu Kyi -- who denies all charges against her -- appeared in good health and will appeal, the source added.

She is currently on trial for five other corruption charges. Each carries a maximum of 15 years in prison.

A spokesperson for Amnesty International slammed the latest trial as a sham that "cannot be taken seriously".

A junta spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Journalists have been barred from attending the court hearings and Suu Kyi's lawyers banned from speaking to the media.

In June, she was transferred from house arrest to a prison in the capital Naypyidaw, where her trials are being held in a courthouse inside the prison compound.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military seized power, sparking widespread armed resistance.

The junta has responded with a crackdown that rights groups say includes razing villages, mass extrajudicial killings and airstrikes on civilians.

More than one million people have been displaced since the coup, according to the United Nations children's agency.

According to a local monitoring group, more than 2,300 people have been killed and over 15,000 arrested since the military seized power.

Corruption is Everywhere > Former Chinese Dep Minister Jailed for Life; America Hammers Bosnia and Herzegovina; Suu Kyi's Economist gets 3 Years

..

Chinese ‘political clique’ leader Sun Lijun faces life in jail

for corruption as law enforcement purge winds down

The former deputy security minister accused of being disloyal to Xi Jinping

was given a suspended death sentence

Five other members of Sun’s faction have been sentenced this week as the purge winds down ahead of a major leadership reshuffle

William Zheng

Published: 2:08pm, 23 Sep, 2022

South China Morning Post

China’s former deputy security minister Sun Lijun was given a suspended death sentence that will be commuted after two years. Photo: Weibo

China’s former deputy security minister Sun Lijun, who was accused of leading a “political clique” and being disloyal to President Xi Jinping, was jailed for life on Friday.

Sun’s sentencing came after five former police chiefs who were implicated in his corruption case were jailed earlier this week, indicating that the biggest purge in China’s security apparatus over the last five years is drawing to a close.

U.S. sanctions Bosnian state prosecutor over corruption

By Darryl Coote

   

The Treasury under Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday sanctioned Diana Kajmakovic, a Bosnia and Herzegovina prosecutor, on accusations of corruption. Photo by Graeme Jennings/UPI 

Sept. 27 (UPI) -- The Biden administration has blacklisted a Bosnia and Herzegovina prosecutor as it seeks to weed out corruption that it says threatens the Western Balkan nation's democratic institutions.

The Departments of Treasury identified state prosecutor Diana Kajmakovic for sanctions Monday, accusing her of being "a brazenly corrupt BiH state prosecutor" with links to criminal organizations.

The question is: who in the Balkans doesn't have links to organized crime?

U.S. officials said Kajmakovic was found to be involved with narcotics traffickers in a crackdown on organized crime in the country.

Investigators who analyzed private conversations of criminals conducted via encrypt messaging applications found mentions of Kajmakovic who worked on some of their investigations.

The officials said Kajmakovic is accused of using her position to help the criminals hide evidence, avoid prosecution and block investigations into their activities for personal gain.

"Diana Kajmakovic has continued to undermine democracy and the rule of law in Bosnia and Herzegovina," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement. "Today's designation reinforces the United States' commitment to a stable and prosperous Bosnia and Herzegovina by targeting an individual who has played a central role in enabling corruption in the country."

My next question is: Why is the USA so interested in BiH corruption, and so not interested in Ukrainian corruption; or, for that matter, American corruption?

The sanctions, which freeze all U.S. property under Kajmakovic's name and bars Americans from doing business with her, were imposed as the Biden administration has sought to punish Bosnia and Herzegovina officials who threaten the Balkan nation's democracy through their pursuit of ethno-nationalist political interests.

Is this a clue to the real reason for sanctioning Kajmakovic? Was she interfering with America's control over BiH? Nothing is ever as it seems in national or global politics.

In June, the Biden administration sanctioned two Bosnia and Herzegovina government officials for undermining government institutions and furthering secession efforts.

In April, the administration hit two Bosnia and Herzegovina government officials, a member of parliament and a former chief prosecutor, on allegations of corruption.

Bosnia and Herzegovina was formed in 1995 with the signing of the Dayton Accords, which ended the bloody three-and-a-half-year Bosnian War that resulted in the deaths of some 100,000 people.

Blinken said the country currently faces the "most serious political crisis" since the end of the Bosnian War and that its justice system is "increasingly captured by, and under the control of, political parties and their patronage networks."

Are we talking about organized crime or are we talking about nationalists?

"The United States will continue to use all authorities at its disposal to promote accountability for those who engage in corrupt activities or undermine BiH's democratic processes and institutions," the United States' top prosecutor said Monday in a statement.

Nothing is ever as it seems....

Suu Kyi convicted again, Australian economist gets 3 years

By GRANT PECK

Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi waits to address judges of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Dec. 11, 2019. A court in military-ruled Myanmar convicted former leader Aung San Suu Kyi in another criminal case Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, and sentenced Australian economist Sean Turnell to three years in prison for violating an official secrets law, a legal official said. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

BANGKOK (AP) — A court in military-ruled Myanmar convicted former leader Aung San Suu Kyi in another criminal case Thursday and sentenced Australian economist Sean Turnell to three years in prison for violating Myanmar’s official secrets act, a legal official said.

Suu Kyi received a three-year sentence after being convicted with Turnell under the secrets law, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to release information about the case.

Three members of her Cabinet were also found guilty, each receiving sentences of three years.

Turnell was also convicted of violating immigration law, for which he was given a three-year sentence to be served concurrently with the term for violating the secrets law. The 20 months he has already spent in detention will be deducted from his sentence, leaving him less than a year and a half to serve.

Turnell, 58, an associate professor in economics at Sydney’s Macquarie University, had served as an adviser to Suu Kyi, who was detained in the capital Naypyitaw when her elected government was ousted by the army on Feb. 1, 2021.

Family and friends expressed hope he will soon be freed and deported, as has occurred with other foreigners in Myanmar convicted of political offenses, though less serious ones.

Of course, because it has nothing to do with justice and everything to do with burying Suu Kyi so the army can remain in control unchallenged.

Corruption is Everywhere > Hunter Biden, The FBI, Truth, and Threats; Samsung Head Pardoned of Corruption; Suu Kyi's sentence raised to 17 years

..

Computer Tech Threatened by FBI of Hunter's Laptop

By KATELYN CARALLE, U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM 

PUBLISHED: 16:18 EDT, 11 August 2022 

Daily Mail

An excerpt from an upcoming book obtained by DailyMail.com claims that the computer repairman who turned over Hunter Biden's laptop to the FBI may have been threatened by one of the agents on the case

An FBI agent who was tasked with retrieving Hunter Biden's laptop from a repair shop in Delaware in 2019 allegedly threatened the store owner, according to an account from his upcoming book.

John Paul Mac Isaac wrote in an excerpt from his book, exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com, that two agents came to his laptop repair store to retrieve Hunter's laptop following a subpoena, which came months after he tried to voluntarily hand over the device to the FBI.

He claimed that during the events on December 9, 2019 at his shop he tried to 'defuse the award situation with humor' and told the two agents 'I'll remember to change your names when I write the book.'

Now, Mac Isaac has actually written a book about the events, American Injustice: My Battle to Expose the Truth, and included the interaction with those agents two years ago.

'Agent Wilson kept walking,' Mac Isaac wrote, 'but Agent DeMeo paused and turned to face me. 'It is our experience that nothing ever happens to people that don't talk about these things,' he said, before turning back and walking out the door.'

The author claims he locked the door after they left and weighed whether that was a 'direct threat' or a 'thinly veiled one.'

The ordeal came more than two months after Mac Isaac said he deployed his father to try and hand over a copy of the hard drive to the feds in New Mexico.

Hunter first came into The Mac Shop is Wilmington on April 12, 2019, according to Mac Isaac's timeline of events, which he detailed to DailyMail.com. The president's son was trying to recover data from damaged devices.

Three days after the initial interaction, Mac Isaac spoke with Hunter on the phone about dropping off a related drive to the recovery efforts, which he did the next day.

April 16, 2019 was the last time Mac Isaac ever heard from or saw Hunter.

When he called him to let him know the job was done and ready for pick up, Hunter never came, Mac Isaac claims.

That same month, Biden announced his candidacy for president.

John Paul Mac Isaac (pictured) is the laptop repairman who turned over Hunter Biden's laptop to the FBI after the president's son came into his shop in 2019. He claims in his upcoming book that one FBI agent said to him: 'It is our experience that nothing ever happens to people that don't talk about these things'.

Shortly after, Mac Isaac said he started speaking to his father about concerns related to the laptop - particularly messages he saw related to Ukraine as a story emerged involving President Donald Trump and collusion in the 2016 campaign.

Ultimately, on October 9, 2019 Mac Isaac's father took a copy of the hard drive that his son gave him to try and hand it over to the FBI in New Mexico.

But, Mac Isaac told DailyMail.com, the field office would not take the device, claiming it was not a federal issue.

He claims less than one month later on November 1, the FBI reached out to his father and on December 9, 2019 two agents came to Mac Isaac's store and retrieved Hunter's backup hard drive along with the laptop and other related paperwork.

Mac Isaac wrote in his book, set for release November 22, 2022, that he asked the agents what he should say if someone came looking for the laptop.

'Tell them you keep abandoned equipment offsite, like a warehouse location,' one agent told him, according to a book retelling.

Hunter's laptop, which came into Mac Isaac's possession in April 2019, included a slew of compromising and X-rated content – including nude, pornographic and drug-related images and videos of the president's adult son

'Tell them it will take a day for you to check and they should call back the next day,' he claims the agent added. 'Then immediately text me at my cell number. From now on, only communicate through my cell number. Not Agent Wilson, just me. We need to avoid communicating through, ah, normal channels. I'm sure you can understand. Text me and we will get the equipment back to you and deal with the situation.'

Mac Isaac noted: 'I felt like I had given away my only good cards and been left with garbage. But it was too late to reconsider; it was done.'

The author and former laptop repairman says in his book that he was relieved to be rid of the materials, but felt that it was a rush job with no real care for the gravity of the matter.

This was further proved, he claims, when he was watching the impeachment trial against Trump start in January 2020 and heard no mention of Hunter's laptop.

FROM A DELAWARE REPAIR SHOP TO GLOBAL HEADLINES: THE HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP SCANDAL 

April 12, 2019: Hunter brought in damaged equipment to John Paul Mac Isaac's laptop repair store The Mac Shop in Wilmington, Delaware. 

April 15, 2019: Mac Isaac called Hunter to drop off a drive related to the recovery efforts. 

April 16, 2019: Hunter dropped off the drive and requested Mac Isaac bill him thru Square when complete the next day. This was the last time he ever heard or saw Hunter. 

April 17, 2019: The job was completed and bill sent and called for collection. 

April 25, 2019: Joe Biden announced his candidacy for president. 

September 3, 2019: Mac Isaac spoke to his father about concerns related to the contents of the laptop and decided to approach the FBI in New Mexico. 

September 20, 2019: While waiting for a copy of the hard drive to arrive that he sent to my father, the Wall Street Journal ran a story about a whistleblower involving a Ukrainian phone call. 

October 9, 2019: Mac Isaac's father approached the FBI in Albuquerque, New Mexico with a copy of Hunter's hard drive. The FBI refused the drive, claiming it was not a federal issue. He claimed the FBI told his father to get a lawyer and leave the FBI field office. 

November 1, 2019: The FBI agent reached out to Mac Isaac's father. 

November 13, 2019: Public impeachment hearings against Donald Trump begun in the Intelligence Committee. 

November 19, 2019: Two FBI agents visited Mac Isaac at his home. He presented Agents Joshua and Mike with document he thought were relevant to the impeachment trial. He claimed the agents refused to look at anything and again refused to take the laptop for evaluation, claiming they needed to run it by their legal team.

December 2, 2019: Agent Joshua calls Mac Isaac to says he want to come to the shop with an FBI tech guy and make a clone of the hard drive. 

December 9, 2019: Agents Joshua and Mike arrive at the shop with a subpoena to collect Hunter's back up drive, along with the laptop and any related paperwork for the repair job. 

January 16, 2020: Impeachment trial starts against Trump. There was no mention of Hunter's laptop. Mac Isaac said this is when he knew for sure the FBI cared more about protecting the Bidens than protecting the then-president or the small town shop owner. 

Late February thru August 2020: Mac Isaac's uncle and father, both retired Col. in the Air Force, knocked on the doors of several members of Congress and White House staffers but got no response. 

August 26, 2020: Mac Isaac sent an email to the office of Trump's lawyer at the time, Rudy Giuliani, detailing efforts to get the contents of the drive to the correct authorities. 

August 27, 2020: Giuliani's lawyer, Bob Costello, sent a response to Mac Isaac and the two spoke on the phone. It ended in the decision to overnight send a copy of the drive to Giuliani's office.

August 28, 2020: Giuliani's office received the hard drive. 

September 23, 2020: Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson released their report on Hunter's activity. 

September 24, 2020: Mac Isaac sent a letter to Senator Johnson's office thru their whistle blower link and explained the situation related to the laptop hard drive. 

September 25, 2020: Johnson's office responded. They asking for more information, including if Mac Isaac is a U.S. citizen, who the agents were who collected Hunter's equipment and whether he had legal counsel. 

October 5, 2020: Johnson's office questioned Mac Isaac over the phone along with two members of the National Security Agency (NSA). They questioned Mac Isaac on if he worked for anyone and if he is Russian. He said they asked nothing about the laptop or its contents. 

October 11, 2020: A reporter from the New York Post tracked Mac Isaac down to confirm he had a copy of Hunter's laptop. The computer repairman called Bob Costello and asked how his identity was leak to the press, but was assured it was normal before a story broke to be leaked. He was also told his name would be left out of the reporting. 

October 13, 2020: Hunter's lawyer called Mac Isaac asking for the laptop. 

October 14, 2020: The New York Post broke the initial story at 6:30 a.m. about Hunter's laptop. Mac Isaac's inbox started blowing up a couple minutes later and by 9:30 a.m., Twitter, Facebook and Google blocked or repressed the story.

Delaware

South Korea pardons billionaire Samsung head Lee Jae-yong to aid economy

By Thomas Maresca

   

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong received a special pardon from South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol,

the government announced Friday, allowing the 54-year-old to take the helm of the country's largest conglomerate.

Photo by Yonhap

SEOUL, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- The South Korean government will grant a special presidential pardon to Lee Jae-yong, the de facto leader of Samsung, it announced Friday in a move that officials said was intended to help spur the economy.

The 54-year-old billionaire tycoon is among the nearly 1,700 people that President Yoon Suk-yeol will officially pardon on Monday, South Korea's Liberation Day holiday.

Lee was released from prison on parole last August after serving around 18 months of a 30-month sentence for embezzlement and bribery of former President Park Geun-hye.

The pardon will allow him to resume running Samsung, the country's largest conglomerate, freeing him from a five-year employment ban after his parole.

Lee was not the only tycoon pardoned Friday -- a handful of other top business leaders received amnesty as well, including Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, who had also been convicted on bribery charges related to Park.

Yoon told reporters Friday that the amnesty decisions were made in an effort to spark an economy that has been struggling with inflation and is showing signs of a slowdown.

"The pardons are above all to focus on people's livelihoods and economic recovery," Yoon said.

Shortly after Yoon took office in May, Samsung Group announced that it would invest $356 billion through 2026, up more than 30% from the previous five years, and employ 80,000 workers.

The country's justice ministry also commented Friday, saying that the pardons of Lee, Shin and other leaders would provide an urgent boost "to overcome the national economic crisis."

"National economic competitiveness is enhanced by carefully selecting and including amnesty items for major economic leaders who are leading the national growth engine through active technology investment and job creation," the ministry said in a statement.

Business leaders had long been lobbying for the pardon of Lee, citing the outsize importance of Samsung on South Korea's export-driven economy, particularly in crucial global sectors such as semiconductors and memory chips. The conglomerate, or chaebol, accounts for around 20% of the country's stock market value.

Public opinion has also been strongly in favor of pardoning the third-generation company head, with some 70% expressing support in a National Barometer Survey poll last month.

There is a lengthy history of tycoons being pardoned in South Korea. The Samsung heir's father, the late former chairman Lee Kun-hee, was convicted for white-collar crimes in 1996 and 2008 but avoided jail time and received presidential amnesty.

Friday's pardons drew sharp criticism from politicians and activists, who claim such impunity feeds deep-seated corruption in business and government.

"Under the guise of 'reviving the economy,' preferential treatment for economic crimes by chaebol heads was again exercised," a joint statement by several activist groups and trade unions said Friday.

"The companies should be managed through transparent and independent decision-making by the board of directors," the statement, released by the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, said. "However, until now, the heads of chaebols have used corporations as if they were their own property and used them as a means to pursue their own interests."

Lee's legal troubles are not over. He is still facing a separate trial on stock manipulation charges connected to the controversial 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates.

Myanmar court jails Aung San Suu Kyi for six more years

on corruption charges

Issued on: 15/08/2022 - 15:32

A Myanmar junta court jailed Aung San Suu Kyi for six years for corruption on Monday, a source close to the case said, taking the ousted leader's prison time to 17 years.

This is basically a life sentence!

Suu Kyi, 77, has been detained since the generals toppled her government in a coup on February 1 last year, ending the Southeast Asian country's brief period of democracy.

She has since been hit with a series of charges, including violating the official secrets act, corruption and electoral fraud. She faces decades in jail if convicted on all counts.

Suu Kyi was sentenced to "six years imprisonment under four anti-corruption charges", said the source, who requested anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

Each charge carried a maximum of 15 years in jail. Suu Kyi was sentenced to three years for each, but three of the sentences would be served concurrently, the source said.

She appeared in good health and did not make any statement following the sentencing, they added.

A junta spokesman could not be reached for comment.

The Nobel laureate had already been sentenced to 11 years in jail for corruption, incitement against the military, breaching Covid-19 rules and breaking a telecommunications law.

Journalists have been barred from attending the court hearings and Suu Kyi's lawyers have been banned from speaking to the media.

The United States slammed the latest sentencing as an "affront to justice and the rule of law".

"We call on the regime to immediately release Aung San Suu Kyi and all those unjustly detained, including other democratically elected officials," a State Department spokesperson said.

The coup sparked widespread protests and unrest, and renewed fighting with established ethnic rebel groups.

Dozens of "People's Defence Forces" have also sprung up to fight the junta and have surprised the military with their effectiveness, analysts say.

According to a local monitoring group, the crackdown has left more than 2,000 civilians dead and seen some 17,000 arrested.

It seems odd that the most Buddhist country in the world would be run by a violent military regime.

'Erase the past'

Suu Kyi has been the face of Myanmar's democratic hopes for more than 30 years, but her earlier 11-year sentence already meant she was likely to miss elections the junta says it plans to hold by next year.

"Immune from domestic and international outrage, the punishment trials against Suu Kyi and her supporters are designed to erase the democratic past," independent Myanmar analyst David Mathieson told AFP.

"Their intent is clear to everyone it seems, everyone but the international community."

In June, Suu Kyi was transferred from house arrest to a prison in the capital Naypyidaw, where her trial continues in a courthouse inside the prison compound.

She remains confined to the jail, with her link to the outside world limited to brief pre-trial meetings with lawyers.

Many of her political allies have also been arrested since the coup, with one chief minister sentenced to 75 years in jail.

Last month, the junta stoked renewed international condemnation when it executed Phyo Zeya Thaw, a former lawmaker from her National League for Democracy (NLD) party, for offences under anti-terrorism laws.

Suu Kyi learned of the execution at a pre-trial hearing, a source with knowledge of the matter said, but has yet to speak on the matter.

The junta says it seized power following massive fraud during 2020 elections in which the NLD trounced a military-backed party and which international observers said were largely free and fair.

(AFP)

Corruption is Everywhere > An American in Russia; Political Corruption by Myanmar's Army; Japan Faked Economic Data for Years; Fake Health Passes a Cottage Industry in France

..

US-born businessman arrested in Russia for multimillion-dollar fraud

9 Dec, 2021 14:33

© Telegram / Объединённая пресс-служба судов Санкт-Петербурга

A St. Petersburg court has detained a US-born businessman on suspicion of large-scale fraud. August Meyer is a co-owner of Russia’s third-largest cosmetics chain, Rive Gauche, and e-commerce site Ulmart.

Meyer – one of the most prominent foreign investors in Russia – is being investigated on two counts of fraud involving loans from Russia’s biggest bank, Sberbank, worth 2.4 billion rubles ($31 million).

The funds were provided to Ulmart just weeks before the internet trading firm was declared bankrupt at the start of 2020. One of the company’s co-founders also faces charges of fraud worth more than $13 million.

The St. Petersburg court’s press service shared videos from Wednesday’s hearing at the courtroom via its Telegram channel, showing Meyer speaking English and saying that he is a citizen of Russia, Malta and Saint Kitts and Nevis. Meyer was born in Chicago, but said he gave up his US citizenship.

Meyer has been placed under a two-month arrest, until February 7, 2022. His lawyers sought a bail of 5 million rubles ($68,000) but the court rejected it. The businessman denies any guilt. Meyer’s wife, Inna, was also detained as part of the case.

According to Forbes, Meyer is number 181 in its list of 200 of the wealthiest businessmen in Russia, with a net worth of $650 million.

Maybe, a little less today! Was this a case of the bank being reckless, or did Meyer hide some of the facts when he applied for the loan?

Nobel Peace Prize winner sentenced to prison

Political corruption in Myanmar sends Suu Kyi to prison

6 Dec, 2021 09:22

FILE PHOTO: Myanmar's ousted State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. ©  Reuters / Bria Webb

Myanmar’s deposed state counsellor, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been sentenced to four years in prison on the first charges leveled against her by the ruling military junta. Former President Win Myint received a similar sentence.

Suu Kyi was found guilty on Monday of inciting unrest and violating Covid-19 restrictions, a source familiar with the case told the media. The proceedings were closed to journalists and other spectators.

The incitement charge was reportedly linked to posts the National League for Democracy party shared online after its leaders, who had included Suu Kyi, were detained by the military in early 2021. In them, the party had called on other nations not to cooperate with the junta.

The purported Covid-19 rules violation occurred during an election campaign event in November 2020. Suu Kyi denied she had broken the rules of her house arrest by waving to a National League for Democracy party campaign convoy that had passed in front of her house in the capital, Naypyidaw.

The 76-year-old politician, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her non-violent struggle against military rule, faces a total of 11 charges, including anti-corruption law violations and misappropriating funds, which could see her being sentenced to up to 102 years behind bars, according to some reports. The UN has previously denounced the trial as politically motivated.

Suu Kyi’s co-defendant, ousted president Win Myint, was also sentenced to four years in jail. Suu Kyi became the state counsellor – a post equivalent to prime minister – after her party won a landslide victory in the 2015 parliamentary elections.

In 2020, her party won the election again, but the military declared the results to be fraudulent and deposed Suu Kyi’s government in a coup d’état on February 1, 2021. There has been public resistance to the military administration ever since, with Suu Kyi’s supporters staging mass protests that sparked violent crackdowns by the junta.

On Sunday, during one such protest in Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon, a security forces vehicle rammed the crowd, killing five protesters.

The military just refuse to let go of power, not for the sake of Myanmar (Burma), but for their own sakes. They will never allow democracy to raise its head again.

Economic superpower faked stats for years

16 Dec, 2021 13:01

© Getty Images / ooyoo

The Japanese government has tampered with official statistics for years, the country’s prime minister has admitted. It's a blow to the credibility of data that investors rely on and brings into question Japan's claimed GDP.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida confirmed on Wednesday allegations made by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper that for years, the government overstated the value of some construction orders received from building companies.

The newspaper reported that the infrastructure ministry instructed local government officials to inflate construction contract figures for the past eight years, a possibly illegal act that may have distorted key economic statistics of the world's third largest economy.

The Asahi Shimbun cites several ministry sources as saying that about 10,000 reports were rewritten every year.

“It is regrettable that such a thing has happened,” said the prime minister, promising to examine what steps could be taken to avoid such an incident from happening again.

The government has announced it will set up a third-party committee to investigate the misreporting of the data and present the findings within a month.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, total construction contracts in 2020 reached 79.598 trillion yen ($700 billion).

The scandal has led to some opposition lawmakers questioning the validity of the government's economic policy, as the rewritten data is used to estimate Japan's gross domestic product (GDP).

Economy Minister Daishiro Yamagiwa, however, downplayed the concerns, saying any impact on GDP data was likely to be small.

Then what was the point?

Doubts about government statistics were raised in Japan before, when a flaw was discovered in the health ministry’s wage data in 2018.

I don't suppose any other country would ever do such a thing?

French hackers create 54,000 fake vaccine passports – reports

16 Dec, 2021 20:58

A vendor scans the compulsory health pass of a customer at a Christmas market in Colmar, France, December 14, 2021 © Reuters / Yves Herman

Hackers reportedly obtained the personal details of a nurse in the French city of Nantes and used this data to create 54,000 working vaccine passes. Meanwhile, the French government says it’s detected 110,000 such fakes to date.

The nurse’s story was reported by Ouest-France on Thursday, with the news site claiming that all the fake passes are now in circulation. 

France’s health pass system works similarly to vaccine pass setups in use throughout the EU. The system works by pairing a public key (contained in the QR code on a vaccinated person’s phone) with a private key (held by the hospital, pharmacy or healthcare provider that vaccinated them). Venues checking the validity of someone’s Covid pass scan the code and receive a green tick if it matches the private key and a red cross if it doesn’t.

One private key, such as the one held by the nurse in Nantes, can be used to generate an unlimited number of working vaccine passes, making this information highly valuable to hackers and scammers, some of whom then sell the fraudulent passes online.

Revoking the fake passes presents authorities with an additional problem. To cancel a fake vaccine pass, every pass generated from the same private key must be canceled, meaning new passes have to be created for those actually entitled to them.

The story from Nantes is the latest in a line of similar incidents in France. A pharmacist in nearby Angers said in September that his private key was hacked and used to create 2,700 false passes, which he discovered when he noticed an unusually high number of requests on the pharmacy computer to authenticate the new passes. 

In the suburbs of Paris last month, a doctor was arrested after allegedly selling at least 220 fake passes for the princely sum of €1,000 ($1,132) each.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Thursday that the government has detected 110,000 fake vaccine passes in circulation, and has arrested more than 100 people in connection with the forgeries. Penalties for using a fake pass can stretch to five years in prison, but Darmanin said that authorities will give amnesty to anyone who “recognizes their mistake and gets vaccinated.”

Introduced during the summer, France’s ‘health pass’ system requires citizens to present proof of vaccination or a negative coronavirus test to access bars, restaurants, shopping malls or public transport, among other locations. The system has proven controversial, and thousands of protesters have flooded the streets of Paris and other major cities almost every weekend since its introduction. As of January, all adults in France will need a booster shot to keep their health pass valid.

In France, thousands of protesters flood the streets every weekend, it's just a matter of finding a cause.

Asian Geopolitics > Kazakhstan's Golden Man; Suu Kyi Charged With Election-Rigging; Armenia-Azerbaijan Fighting Resumes; Russia Called to Help

..

Kazakhstan’s ‘golden man’ has a message for America

16 Nov, 2021 18:26

(L) Nursultan Nazarbayev © Kazakh Presidential Press Service / Handout via REUTERS;

(R) The Statue of Liberty in New York City, US, July 20, 2020. © REUTERS / Carlo Allegri

By Tara Reade, author, poet, actor and former Senate aide, author of Left Out: When the Truth Doesn't Fit In. Follow her on Twitter @readealexandra

For many Americans, the US will always be a place that others can only admire and envy. The harsh reality, though, is that not everyone is really hankering for the type of oligarchic democracy that has evolved in Washington.

The inability to judge others by anything but our own standards means we’ve often written off other countries and other ways of life. Worse still, our politicians have imagined a world in which ‘good’ must triumph over ‘evil’, and where those we disagree with are hell-bent on destroying our way of life. When the curtain is pulled back, however, it is easy to see how much bigotry is directed towards countries like Russia and others from the former Soviet Union, which don’t, in fact, want or seek a war with the West.

Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan

One filmmaker opening the door for people to look at things in a different light is Ukrainian-born Igor Lopatonok, now a US citizen living in California. Recently, I sat down with him on my podcast ‘The Politics of Survival’ to understand what drove him to produce movies like ‘Snowden’, about the eponymous whistleblower, ‘Ukraine on Fire’, and other productions along with Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone.

Their latest feature documentary, ‘Qazaq: History of the Golden Man’, was recently shown at the Asian World Film Festival in Los Angeles, detailing the life of Nursultan Nazarbayev, who governed Kazakhstan for nearly three decades after the fall of the Soviet Union.

According to Lopatonok, “we will destroy ourselves unless we have a balance of power.” The film, he argues, demonstrates how “emerging nations like Kazakhstan show the importance of Eurasian economic development to provide that balance.”

This is the kind of balance that his collaborator, Stone, gets endlessly panned for – approaching his interview subjects, who have included Russian President Vladimir Putin, with a neutral, non-typical Western lens. However, our discourse is so polarized that anything but outright hostility to leaders like Putin and Nazarbayev looks like sympathy.

‘Qazaq’ has been no different, with critics blasting it as fuel for Nazarbayev’s “cult of personality.” Stone hit back, telling the Guardian, “I’m not going to come over and lecture these people about how to run their country and how to run a democracy.” He added that he views Nazarbayev as something of a “tribal chief” managing a difficult country. “It doesn’t work [berating him]. Democracy barely works in the US.”

Lopatonok is also keen to rebut claims the pair are too soft on leaders who are decried as autocrats in the West, but went even further, arguing that “to call democracy the best way to govern is wrong historically and factually.” It is clear, he argues, that there are other ways “to resolve different views and conflicts peacefully, respect for human dignity, the freedom to act, speak and think freely, as long as it does not stop others doing the same, equality before the law, safe and secure community.”

“The US is failing on all five fronts,” he insists. “But I believe, and I got it from my interview with the first President of Kazakhstan, that people will be looking for a new way of governing now more than ever because of this failure,” Lopatonok said. “We can’t call the US’ form of governing a democracy.”

The 2020 US election campaign cost about $14 billion, becoming the most expensive election in American history. This money was spent, Lopatonok said, “to elect Joe Biden, who is unfit to be president of this country, this is a tremendous failure.”

So, while he denies his films are overtly sympathetic to one side of the argument, the Ukrainian-born director believes casting a light on how things are done elsewhere helps dispel the myths that prop up our own struggling systems. In his view, films like ‘Qazaq’ or ‘Snowden’ are important because “the reality we are given by the mainstream media is constructed by the media,” which is not, he claims, “reporting the news, but creating it. It has nothing to do with reality.”

That reality “is not black or white you; need the full picture. We want people to decide for themselves and develop their critical thinking.” Lopatonok said.

But as well as grappling with the legacy of Nazarbayev, who was one of the longest non-royal leaders of any country in the world, the film shows a fascination with Kazakhstan as a crossroads between East and West. The world’s largest landlocked country, it has become an increasing focus for investment and diplomacy, bordering both China and Russia.

In the opening shot, Stone and Lopatonok show the vast steppes from an eagle-eye view, before soaring over the futuristic capital of Nur-Sultan, itself named in honor of Nursultan Nazarbayev. Stone’s interview centers on the long-time former leader’s life, from childhood to his time in office, which saw him strike a careful balance between the great powers in the West and East. According to him, the country’s focus is on economic and social development, rather than playing geopolitical games.

In that, there’s something for us all to learn, and it’s hard not to hope that the American conversation moves away from and rejects the kind of neoliberal hysteria that has led to such hostility towards the eastern hemisphere. Suspicion can give way to a more objective view of other countries, if we want it to. And the US will only benefit from breaking free of its ingrained xenophobia.

Military junta charges ousted leader Suu Kyi with election-rigging

16 Nov, 2021 07:36

Aung San Suu Kyi in 2018. ©Franck Robichon / Pool via Reuters

Sixteen Myanmar ex-officials, including deposed State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, have been slapped with new charges related to the 2020 election by the Asian country’s military junta.

This week, 15 officials, including Suu Kyi, were charged with crimes related to the alleged rigging of the 2020 vote, , the national election body announced on Tuesday. Other targets of the accusations include ousted President Win Myint and the chairman of the election commission.

The November 2020 general election was won by Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). On February 1, the country’s powerful military, which ruled as a dictatorship before a shaky transition to a representative democracy a decade earlier, launched a coup, deposing the civilian government. The military claimed the election was rigged in favor of the NLD and against the party they supported. The NLD side denied the claims while international observers said the election was mostly free and fair.

Suu Kyi has been in custody since being overthrown. She is currently being tried for flouting Covid-19 restrictions during campaigning. She was also charged with a number of crimes, from illegal importing of radios to corruption and sedition. The 76-year-old, who spent years under house arrest, faces decades in prison, if convicted.

The military coup was met with resistance by NLD supporters, to which the junta responded with a crackdown. Observers who are critical of the military claim as many as 1,250 people have been killed and over 10,000 arrested over the months of confrontation.

Many lawmakers from the NLD formed a rival government, which in September declared a “people’s defensive war” against military rule. Suu Kyi refrained from commenting on the escalation.

Dozens of soldiers feared injured & killed in new

Armenia-Azerbaijan fighting

17 Nov, 2021 10:18

By Layla Guest

FILE PHOTO. © REUTERS/Aziz Karimov

Several Azerbaijani soldiers have been wounded or killed in the latest round of skirmishes on the country's border with Armenia, Baku's Ministry of Defense has claimed amid fears clashes will undermine a Moscow-brokered ceasefire.

In a press release issued on Wednesday, Azerbaijani military chiefs announced that seven of their troops had died during combat operations on the shared frontier as a result of what it has described as “Armenian provocations.” A further 10 servicemen were also reportedly injured in the fighting.

The Armenian side also announced it was dealing with an unknown number of casualties. The Ministry of Defense in Yerevan said on Wednesday that one of its servicemen had died, but revealed communication had been lost with a further two dozen, and that their fates are currently unknown.

According to the statement, Armenia has now lost a significant amount of its military equipment, including vehicles and armored carriers deployed to protect the border. Yerevan has also said two of its combat posts came under Azerbaijani control after a firefight.

Both nations have confirmed that the situation on the Azerbaijan-Armenian border has stabilized since reports of clashes on Tuesday. The defense ministers of both Yerevan and Baku held calls with their Russian counterpart, Sergey Shoigu, after fighting broke out in an effort to prevent tensions flaring further.

Shoigu called on the two former Soviet republics to put an end to any activities that risk exacerbating the situation. Moscow later announced that fighting had been paused.

Skirmishes broke out on Tuesday, with both sides accusing each other of the provocations. Yerevan alleged Baku’s troops had invaded its territory and captured several of its servicemen, as well as a handful of points across the frontier.

Azerbaijan, however, vows it was acting in self-defense, hunting for Armenian anti-tank weapons that purportedly shot at its posts over the weekend.

The incidents have created fears of a resumption in all-out conflict, which saw the two nations wage a short but bloody war last year over the disputed province of Nagorno-Karabakh, a de jure part of Azerbaijan historically controlled by the ethnic Armenian majority. Russia brokered a deal that saw an end to the fighting and deployed peacekeepers. The pact also forced Yerevan to sign over swathes of territory to Azerbaijan, including most of the lands held by Armenians since a bloody conflict in the early 1990s.

Russia obliged to defend Armenia in case of war with Azerbaijan – Yerevan

17 Nov, 2021 13:27

By Layla Guest

FILE PHOTO. Armenian soldiers take cover as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flies above the front line while troops hold positions on October 18, 2020, during the ongoing fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region.

© AFP / ARIS MESSINIS

After a series of firefights and fatalities reported on the country’s border with Azerbaijan, Armenia has said it expects Russia to step in and help prevent a return to all-out conflict that threatens the Moscow-backed ceasefire.

The secretary of the national security council, Armen Grigoryan, claimed that Azerbaijani forces had entered Armenian territory “as an act of aggression” on Wednesday. “In 1997, Armenia and Russia agreed to mutually help each other in such cases,” he said. “In this regard, we turned to Moscow.”

When asked to explain what kind of assistance Yerevan is requesting, the official said that it hopes to arrive at a resolution through diplomatic channels. If this is not possible, however, “then it is necessary to solve the problem by military means.”

Azerbaijan announced on Wednesday that seven of its servicemen died during combat operations and that 10 had been injured. Yerevan, meanwhile, has reported one fatality, but said that it had lost communication with 24 of its personnel, who are still unaccounted for.

The situation at the Azerbaijani-Armenian frontier has stabilized since reports of skirmishes on November 16, according to both sides. Russia’s Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu implored the two former Soviet republics to stop any actions which could worsen tensions. Moscow subsequently announced there had been a pause in fighting.

Both sides have both pointed fingers at one another for the latest clashes, with Armenia accusing Azerbaijan of invading its territory and taking numerous soldiers prisoner, as well as capturing installations on the border.

Azerbaijan has claimed that it was acting in self-defense, however, looking for Armenian anti-tank weapons that had allegedly shot at its positions across the frontier.

The clashes sparked concerns over a resumption of full-blown conflict, with both nations having fought a bloody war last year over the disputed province of Nagorno-Karabakh. The region is a de jure part of Azerbaijan, but has been run in recent years by the ethnic Armenian majority.

A Moscow-brokered deal ended conflict in the region and saw peacekeepers sent there. The agreement also required Yerevan to sign over a significant amount of territory to Baku, including most of the lands held by Armenians since a bloody conflict in the early 1990s.