Hunter Biden-linked real estate firm got at least $100M from Russian oligarch: sources
By Miranda Devine and Emily Crane Published Oct. 17, 2022 Updated Oct. 17, 2022, 10:27 p.m. ET
Excerpt
This isn’t the first time President Biden’s 52-year-old son has been linked to Baturina, whose late husband Yuri Luzhkov was mayor of Russia’s capital for more than 18 years before being dismissed by then-President Dmitry Medvedev in 2010.
Baturina, who has an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion, had wired $3.5 million in 2014 to a bank account held by Rosemont Seneca Thornton — a consortium formed between Hunter’s investment company, Rosemont Seneca, and the Boston-based Thornton Group.
Like Rosemont Realty, Rosemont Seneca Thornton is an offshoot of Rosemont Capital Partners, a private equity firm co-founded by Hunter Biden and Chris Heinz, the stepson of former Secretary of State John Kerry and son of the late Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz.
The 2014 transfer was later scrutinized in a 2020 report commissioned by Senate Republicans probing Hunter’s ties to Ukraine after Baturina’s transfers were flagged in suspicious activity reports filed by banks to the US Treasury Department.
Hunter’s lawyer, George Mesires, denied Biden’s son profited from that transaction, telling CNN at the time: “Hunter Biden had no interest in and was not a co-founder of Rosemont Seneca Thornton, so the claim that he was paid $3.5 million is false.”
The GOP report — overseen by Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) — described Baturina’s involvement with Hunter as “a financial relationship” but did not touch on why the wire transfer was made.
The question of who pocketed the $3.5 million has never been determined.
Less than two months after the wire transfer, Hunter and his then-business partner Devon Archer met with Baturina in April 2014 at the Villa d’Este — a well-known haunt of Russian oligarchs overlooking Lake Como, Italy.
According to emails uncovered from Hunter’s infamous laptop, Baturina’s name also popped up that same month regarding a possible real estate deal in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, as well as a Latin American cocoa venture.
Baturina is one of the few Russian oligarchs who have notably escaped sanctions since Moscow’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, a fact that caught the attention of GOP lawmakers earlier this year.
“If the United States is avoiding sanctioning certain Russian oligarchs because of concerns they may attempt to influence American policy by exploiting Hunter Biden’s connection with his father – the President of the United States – the American people deserve to know it,” a group of 19 House Republicans wrote to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in April.
The emails detailing Baturina’s $40 million real estate investments came from a leak obtained by the Kazakhstani Initiative on Asset Recovery, an anti-corruption group focusing on the former Soviet republic.
The messages were exchanged between Archer and Kenes Rakishev — a Kazakhstani businessman who was photographed with Hunter and Joe Biden at the Cafe Milano dinner.
More:
https://nypost.com/2022/10/17/hunter-bidens-real-estate-firm-received-over-100m-from-russian-oligarch/
>>22112018 (me)
Q Research UK #28: "Happy New Year" Edition
Robert Hunter Biden
ENABLE & INVEST UK LIMITED (08484500) [Formerly Cayova Ltd, a Social network when HB was a director]
Company status
Dissolved
Correspondence address
41 Dover Street, London, United Kingdom, W1S 4NS
Role Resigned
Director
Appointed on
15 April 2013
Resigned on
4 October 2013
Return of Allotment of shares worth $8.5m 1st May 2013
Address of person filling in the form is 100 Victoria Embankment
Trump’s Trade Hawk Peter Navarro Tapped for White House Return
Mike Schuler December 4, 2024
Former White House adviser Peter Navarro has been named to return as senior counselor for trade and manufacturing in President-Elect Trump’s second administration.
Trump’s announcement, made via Truth Social, emphasizes Navarro’s “broad range of White House experience” and his “extensive Policy analytic and Media skills” as key factors in the appointment.
Navarro’s previous tenure in the Trump administration was marked by substantial influence over U.S. trade policy. As the inaugural Director of the White House National Trade Council in 2017, he spearheaded initiatives to strengthen American manufacturing. His role expanded when he became Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, where he was instrumental in shaping the administration’s trade strategy.
During his previous service, Navarro emerged as a central architect of the “America First” trade agenda, orchestrating major policy shifts including the renegotiation of NAFTA into USMCA and the implementation of tariffs on Chinese imports.
His hawkish stance on China was particularly notable, as he consistently raised concerns about intellectual property theft and trade imbalances.
Notably, Navarro was sentenced to serve four months in prison for contempt of Congress after refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol.
His approach to trade policy has been characterized by strong protectionist measures, including advocacy for steel and aluminum tariffs aimed at protecting U.S. industries and jobs, which became a hallmark of the previous administration’s economic policy.
The appointment signals a potential continuation of aggressive trade policies, despite Navarro’s controversial status. The appointment comes about a week after President-elect Trump announced an 10% tariff on U.S. imports from China, as well as 25% on imports from Mexico and Canada. While on the campaign trail, Trump had proposed a 10% tariff on all U.S. imports and a 60% levy on Chinese-made products.
Navarro’s previous term also included significant contributions to pandemic response efforts, focusing on domestic production of medical supplies, though his tenure was marked by frequent conflicts with more traditional free-trade advocates within the administration.
https://gcaptain.com/trumps-trade-hawk-peter-navarro-tapped-for-white-house-return/
Philippines Files Protest Against China After Sea Incidents
By Cliff Venzon Bloomberg December 5, 2024
Dec 5, 2024 (Bloomberg) – The Philippines filed a diplomatic protest against Beijing on Thursday, a government official said, following fresh encounters between Chinese and Philippine vessels in the disputed South China Sea.
The latest complaint brings to 60 the number of protests Manila has filed against Beijing this year, said Teresita Daza, spokesperson for Manila’s Department of Foreign Affairs. The total comes to 193 since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in July 2022, she said.
Philippine vessels encountered “aggressive actions” from Chinese vessels in the contested waters on Wednesday, including ramming and firing of water cannon, in the disputed Scarborough Shoal and Sabina Shoal, according to the government. China said it implemented control measure after Philippine ships “dangerously approached” its patrol vessels.
Marcos’ government has been pushing back against China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea — a key global trade route that’s also rich in energy resources — citing a 2016 international tribunal decision that dismissed those claims in favor of Manila.
Before Wednesday’s encounter, the Philippines accused China of using a Navy chopper to harass Filipino fishing boats around Iroquois Reef, another contested area. China has disputed the Philippines’ allegations saying its actions are “reasonable and lawful.”
They add to previous skirmishes between ships of the two nations this year. Philippine and Chinese diplomats agreed to ease hostilities over Manila’s resupply missions to its military outpost in Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea after meeting in July. That took place weeks after one of the most serious maritime clashes between them, where a Filipino sailor lost his finger.
https://gcaptain.com/philippines-files-protest-against-china-after-sea-incidents/
Canada #58 >>20892086
A Former Ukrainian MP Blew The Whistle On Burisma's Connections To Terrorism
Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack Monday, May 20, 2024
Former Ukrainian MP Andrey Derkach, who's reviled by the Biden Administration for sharing dirt about Hunter Biden's Burisma corruption scandal with Trump's former lawyer Rudy Giuliani ahead of the 2020 elections, just gave a very important interview to Belarus' BelTA where be blew the whistle even louder. According to him, the $6 million bribe that was paid in cash to shut down the investigation into the First Son's scandal eventually found its way to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and its military-intelligence agency.
Derkach claimed to have proof of the secret court order that divided these funds between those two, with the first investing its portion into building up their country's drone army while the second financed terrorist attacks like the assassination of Darya Dugina, which he specifically mentioned in the interview. These allegations expand upon the ones that he shared earlier this year regarding the real-world impact of Hunter's corruption scandal, which were analyzed here at the time.
On the subject of Ukrainian assassinations and terrorism, Derkach said that the CIA and FBI actually condone these actions despite their public claims to the contrary, but he warned that this immoral policy will inevitably ricochet into the US itself. In particular, he cited FBI chief Christopher Wray's testimony to Congress last April where he said that law enforcement officials fear that Crocus-like attacks are presently being plotted against their country.
About that, it shouldn't be forgotten that Ukraine's military-intelligence service GUR is the chief suspect of Russia's investigation into what became one of the worst terrorist attacks in its history, thus meaning that the portion of Burisma's $6 million bribe that made its way into their hands likely financed part of it. In other words, the third-order effect of Hunter's corruption scandal is that it was partially responsible for the brutal murder of innocent civilians halfway across the world some years later.
That's already scandalous enough, but Derkach shared even more details about the other indirect consequences of this cover-up into the First Son's illicit activities, adding that some GUR-linked figures have been connected to the Western narrative about September 2022's Nord Stream terrorist attack. He regards that story as a distraction from the US' complicity, the view of which was elaborated upon here at the time that it entered the discourse, but lauded the CIA for the lengths it went to cover up its role.
In his view, the CIA might very well have sent a highly trained Ukrainian diving team to the Baltic Sea exactly as the Western media reported, though only to plant fake bombs. In his words, "when a cover story is made, it is done quite well. We shouldn't belittle the experience of the CIA or the experience of MI6 in preparing cover operations. They have quite a lot of experience in using proxies, in using cover stories to form a certain position in order to dodge responsibility. This is actually what happened."
Looking forward, Derkach expects Ukraine to attempt more terrorist attacks against Russia, which the US public is being preconditioned to accept via the CIA's various leaks to the media. While many might lay the blame for all this on Zelensky's lap, Derkach believes that it's actually his Chief of Staff Andrey Yermak who's running the show, albeit as a Western puppet. Nevertheless, he's also convinced that the West is indeed preparing to formally replace Zelensky, but doesn't yet know when or with whom.
Altogether, the importance of Derkach's interview is that he's a former veteran Ukrainian politician who still retains a lot of sources inside the regime, having served in the Rada for a whopping 22 years from 1998-2020. While his homeland charged him with treason after he fled to Russia in early 2022, which followed the US charging him with election meddling on behalf of that country in September 2020, the argument can be made that these are politically driven attempts to intimidate a top whistleblower.
The dirt that Derkach shared about Hunter's Burisma corruption scandal, not to mention its newly revealed third-order effects that led to the brutal killing of civilians halfway across the world after part of his company's bribe made its way into GUR's hands, made him an enemy of the US Government. They and their Ukrainian proxies will therefore always try to discredit him with sensational allegations, but everyone would do well to listen to what he says and then make up their own minds about it.
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/former-ukrainian-mp-blew-whistle-burismas-connections-terrorism
I hazard a guess that within 48 hours prior to making a scheduled appearance before a Congressional Committee he will follow the family tradition of being a traffic fatality
China now controls unprecedented 65% of global shipbuilding orderbook
Sam Chambers December 5, 2024
China’s combined orderbook for merchant ships has grown by a remarkable 170% this decade, stretching its lead over its nearest shipbuilding rivals dramatically.
Data from Greek broker Intermodal and Clarksons Research show how the 2020s – and 2024 in particular – have been banner years for Chinese shipyard ambitions, coming to dominate a sector like no other nation has been able to for generations.
“Through government support and public investments to its national shipbuilding ecosystem, China emerged as a market leader, commanding currently nearly 65% of global shipbuilding orders, an impressive rise considering the less than 10% share in 2000,” notes a new report from Intermodal.
Meanwhile, the combined orderbook share of Japan and South Korea has declined from 78% to 31% over the same period.
As of November 2024, the Chinese shipbuilding orderbook counts 3,256 vessels of 224m dwt total carrying capacity, marking a 37% increase from 2023 and a 72% rise from 2022, with the global orderbook increasing by 21% since 2023, according to data from Intermodal.
https://splash247.com/china-now-controls-unprecedented-65-of-global-shipbuilding-orderbook/
The importation of iron ore and coking coal from South Africa has improved quality
There will be payback for all the probing