>>16972699 UK bans Bain & Company over corruption scandal in SA

(Important article to read HUGE)

UK bans Bain & Company over corruption scandal in SA

The Zondo report said that Bain worked in 'collusion' with Zuma, who it said was directly involved in a scheme to undermine the tax service.

AFP

Britain said Wednesday it was banning US-based consultancy giant Bain & Company for three years from UK government contracts after it became enmeshed in a huge corruption scandal in South Africa.

Bain is being barred for competing in bids for central government consultancy work for three years, effective from January 4 this year, a spokesman for the cabinet office told AFP.

“After reviewing Bain’s role in alleged state capture and corruption by the former government of South Africa, taking account of the evidence and conclusions of the South African government commission, the minister for government efficiency considered Bain to be guilty of grave professional misconduct,” it said.

The punishment stems from a four-year probe into graft under South Africa’s former president, Jacob Zuma.

The investigation, led by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo,determined that billions of dollars in publicly owned assetswere systematically siphoned off — a process known locally as “state capture”.

Bain was hired by the South African government in 2015-16 on a contract to overhaul the country’s revenue service.

The initial contract was to last for six weeks and was worth around $150,000.

But eventually it ran formore than two years, at a cost of more than $9 million, and extended into many other sectors.

The Zondo report said that Bain worked in “collusion” with Zuma, who it said was directly involved in a scheme to undermine the tax service.

The British government said it had taken the decision “in light of Bain’s responsibility as a global brand for its South Africa division and the company’s failure to clarify the facts and circumstances of its involvement”.

“The UK strongly supports the South African authorities’ ongoing efforts to tackle corruption and promote accountability,” it added.

According to the Financial Times, which reported on the ban late Tuesday,Bain had had a total of 63 million pounds (around $75 million) in British governmentcontracts since 2018, two-thirds of which were based on Brexit-related work.

Bain & Company had not responded to an AFP request for comment as of midday Wednesday. It has previously denied that it intentionally or wilfully harmed the tax agency or supported state capture.

https://www.citizen.co.za/news/3166130/uk-bans-bain-company-over-corruption-scandal-in-sa/

The collusion between Sars, the executive and Bainwith a planned and coordinated agenda to restructure Sars; “executive training”; Bain’s knowledge of Moyane’s appointment to Sars; ___irregular use of the Public Finance Management Act to avoid competition; purging of competent top officials__… the list goes on.

“Bain knew that they did not have have the necessary expertise. They must have thought South Africa did not know this or did not care whether they had the necessary expertise,” said Zondo.

“I think President Zuma and Mr Moyane neither knew nor cared.”

https://www.citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/state-capture/2952609/how-bain-company-nearly-collapsed-sars/

4 Aug, 2022 14:59

HomeRussia & FSU

Kiev blasts Amnesty report on Ukraine risking civilian lives

The NGO’s accusation that Ukraine violates humanitarian law is “unfair,” Ukraine’s foreign minister said

(Funny choice of words, “unfair”, he doesnt say its not true)

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba pushed back against an Amnesty International report that blames Kiev for placing its military assets in schools and residential areas, violating humanitarian law and putting civilians at risk.

In his comments posted on social media on Thursday, the minister said that he was outraged by the NGO’s claim.

“I understand that Amnesty will respond to criticism by saying that they criticize both sides of the conflict. But such behavior on Amnesty’s part is not about looking for the truth and presenting it to the world, but about creating a false balance between the criminal and his victim", he said.

Kuleba also urged the organization to stop “creating a fake reality” where everyone is “at fault for something.” Amnesty should primarily focus on what Russia is doing in Ukraine and what devastation Moscow has brought upon this country, he argued.

On Thursday, Amnesty released a report accusing Kiev of “a clear violation of international humanitarian law,” saying it was putting civilian lives at risk by placing its military close to civilian infrastructure.

In 22 out of the 29 schools visited by Amnesty between April and July, the human rights group said it found evidence of current or prior military activity. In five locations, they witnessed Ukrainian troops using hospitals as bases. At the same time, the group said it was “not aware” that Ukraine tried to evacuate civilians from the areas in question.

However, Amnesty also noted that no Ukrainian troops were present in some areas where it assessed Russian forces had delivered strikes on residential areas. For that reason, the NGO said that Ukraine’s unlawful military use of civilian objects did not “in any way justify indiscriminate Russian attacks.”

According to Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, the NGO’s report only confirmed what Moscow has known for a long time. “We’ve been talking about this constantly, calling the actions of the Ukrainian armed forces the tactics of using civilians as a ‘human shield’,” Zakharova said.

https://www.rt.com/russia/560228-ukraine-amnesty-kuleba-humanitarian/

Finally they recognize Ukraine is killing people indiscriminately

4 Aug, 2022 10:56

Dmitri Trenin:Russia cannot afford to lose in Ukraine, but neither can the US – is there a non-nuclear way out of the deadlock?

An escalation can lead to a bigger and more dangerous conflict. Are Moscow and Washington ready to take the risk?

The authors of the RAND Corporation’s recent paper, warn US policymakers to be careful in their statements and moves. This is particularly when deciding on military postures, deployment patterns, weapons capabilities, and the like, so that the steps taken by them do not provoke the Russian leadership into pre-emptive or retaliatory strikes…

This is totally in line with America's overall approach of doing the maximum to weaken Russia on the battlefield in Ukraine…

Seen from here, Washington is clearly escalating its participation in the conflictby constantly testing the limits of Russian tolerance of these moves. It started with the provision to Kiev of Javelin anti-tank systems; it was then amplified to include M777 howitzers and HIMARS MLRS systems; it is now moving in the direction of providing Ukraine with U.S.-made military aircraft and training its pilots to fly them. In addition to the new packages of Western sanctions, Russia is also facing pressure on its geopolitically vulnerable outposts, whether regarding goods transit…

So far, =Russia’s actions and inaction have sometimes appeared surprising, even puzzling== to US watchers. Moscow has refrained from strikes against transport links to Poland, cyberattacks against Ukrainian – not to mention U.S. – critical infrastructure, or even destroying bridges across the Dnieper River. As for the most concerning step of all – Russia using tactical nuclear weapons – this scenario is irrelevant in a situation where hostilities are taking place on Ukrainian territory with Russian forces slowly but steadily advancing, and a “threat to the existence of the Russian Federation” – the doctrinal condition for such deployment – is out of the question.

Moscow's failure to respond immediately to high-profile Ukrainian actions, such as the constant shelling of the center of Donetsk; missile attacks against Russian villages and towns close to their shared border; or even the loss of the Moskva, the flagship of its Black Sea Fleet, hit and sunk by Ukraine with the material assistance of the United States, probablydemonstrates the Kremlin’s unwillingness= to be provoked by the enemy. President Vladimir Putin probably prefers his revenge to be served cold, and at the time of his choosing. It would be safe to say that nothing from this conflict will be forgotten by either side, but at least the Russians have refused to be distracted from their current central task – defeating the enemy's forces in Donbass and taking control over Ukraine’s east and south.

So far, U.S.-led assistance to Kiev, whether military, financial or diplomatic,has not had a decisive impact on the battlefield. It has certainly propped up the Zelensky government and compensated for the Ukrainian forces’ losses of military equipment, thus contributing to the slowing down of Russian advances, but has not turned the tide of the war. One may conclude that the Kremlin sees no need, for now, to do things that would breach the resistance of the Biden Administration to domestic U.S. demands for a more rapid escalation of the U.S. involvement in the conflict….

Looking ahead, one should expect more US escalation in any scenario of the evolution of fighting in Ukraine – whether Russia continues to gain ground (and integrate various new territories into the Russian Federation), or Ukraine mounts a counter-offensive (which so far it has failed to do). Russian officials express concern that a Ukrainian provocation presented as Moscow’s use of chemical weapons – which makes no military or any other sense but would certainly be believed in the US.

Things may become even more serious, however, if the US or its NATO allies enter Ukraine, or otherwise become directly involved in the conflict; if the material assistance which they provide to Kiev starts making a major difference on the battlefield..

Neither Russia nor the US can afford to lose in the conflict now raging in Ukraine. However, the difference between the situations faced by Washington and Moscow is huge. For the American leadership, a failure in Ukraine would be a strategic setback, politically costly both at home and internationally; for the Russian leadership, the outcome of its special military operation is an existential matter.In an asymmetrical conflictlike this one, this amounts to an escalation advantage, if not dominance. What is vital for the two countries and the rest of the world is that this fight does not cross the nuclear threshold.

https://www.rt.com/russia/560055-escalation-conflict-ukraine-nato/

4 Aug, 2022 15:27

Griner jailed for nine years in Russian drugs trial

A judge at Khimki City Court outside Moscow delivered the verdict on Thursday

US women's basketball player Brittney Griner has been handed a nine-year prison sentence after being found guilty in her drugs trial at a court just outside Moscow.

The sentence is only slightly more lenient than the one demanded by prosecutors earlier on Thursday, after they had requested a nine-and-a-half-year term for Griner.

In addition, the presiding judge ordered Griner to pay a fine of 1 million Russian rubles ($16,200) as part of the case, after she was found guilty of attempting to smuggle illegal narcotics into the country.

Griner's legal team immediately said they would appeal the sentence, according to reports from Khimki City Court.

Griner had claimed in her defense that the hashish oil vape cartridges found in her luggage at Sheremetyevo Airport on February 17 had ended up there unintentionally, after she had been packing in a hurry.

Whether Griner serves the entirety of her sentence in Russia remains to be seen.

The two-time Olympic champion has become the topic of political discussions, with US officials classifying Griner as “wrongfully detained.”

Those accusations have been staunchly denied by Moscow, which has consistently said that Griner must face Russian law and that no exceptions can be made just because she is a foreigner.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed last month that Washington had made Moscow a “substantial offer” for the release of Griner and fellow American Paul Whelan, a former Marine who has been convicted of espionage charges in Russia.

Reports claimed that a deal could be made involving Russian businessman Viktor Bout, who is serving 25 years in a US prison for arms dealing.

CNN later said Moscow wants Vadim Krasikov, a Russian national convicted of murder in Germany last year, to be included in a potential prisoner exchange.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke to Blinken last week after a request from Washington, although Moscow did not comment on the specific details of any potential prisoner swap.

Moscow has frequently urged diplomacy through established channels, warning Washington against political grandstanding in its efforts to exert pressure for Griner's return.

Griner herself said in remarks at her trial on Thursday that she wanted to distance herself from the political furor surrounding the case as she apologized for what she described as “an honest mistake.”

After her sentence was read out, Griner was described by Reuters as appearing “sad and stony-faced” but confirmed that she “understood the sentence.”

Griner is widely considered among the greatest female basketball players ever, and is an eight-time WNBA All-Star with the Phoenix Mercury in her homeland.

She had been traveling to Russia on a lucrative deal to play for UMMC Ekaterinburg during the WNBA offseason, something she has done since 2015.

From Houston, Texas, Griner said she considered Ekaterinburg something of a second home.

Now that a verdict and sentence have been delivered in her case, efforts will likely be stepped up in Washington to secure a swap deal with Moscow for her release.

https://www.rt.com/sport/560244-brittney-griner-sentenced-nine-years-russia/