Two extraordinary stories collide this week. The Senate Intelligence report on Russia. And the deeply sinister poisoning of Navalny. And there’s a figure who connects them both. And us: Oleg Deripaska.
You need to watch this video. And I’ll explain..
Navalny isn’t just the main opposition figure in Russia. He also does extraordinary investigations into Kremlin corruption & is a gifted storyteller. The video is in Russian but has subtitles & tells an amazing story with footage taken on Deripaska’s yacht rferl.org/a/russia-derip…
So many disturbing aspects to this. Deripaska was named in Senate’s report as proxy of the Kremlin who conducts influence operations abroad. There are pages & pages about him & his associate a Russian intelligence officer & their r’ship with Trump’s campaign manager Paul Manafort
Oleg Deripaska was clearly involved in Russia’s attack on US election. That’s what the report says. And in this video from 2018, Navalny exposes what he says are Kremlin bribes.
There’s so much more to this because in the video, there’s an explosive reference to Deripaska interfering in US election (explosive in 2018). She also claimed to have hours more evidence. This is how the Russian govt responded at the time, by blocking Navalny’s website
Two huge news events in US & Russia. An unequivocal finding of Russian interference in the US election. A poisoning of the Kremlin’s biggest critic.
...& here in Britain, total silence. Yet this same oligarch has links to heart of UK establishment dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2…
Deripaska funnels Kremlin money into foreign elections. That’s what the report says. It says he is directly involved in Russia’s attacks on Western democracy. And this is exactly what we know he tried to do in Britain where he still has a house & business
The man who tried to expose Deripaska’s relationship with the Kremlin is fighting for his life. The US Senate has unequivocally named him as a key player in the attack on US democracy. And in Britain? Silence & £££
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have spent years on this. The MPs are persevering even tho they've now left parliament. And whole subject couldn't be more urgent or more timely 🙏 3/
NEW: Police knew a Kremlin spy ring recruited former leader of Reform Wales at least 3 years ago.
So why was Nathan Gill not charged till Feb this year?
Pls read part 2 of @thenerve_news special investigation into Nathan Gill. And please share! 1/
Meet Nadia Sass.
This is the wife of the man who bribed Nathan Gill.
Today @thenerve_news reveals how she was a key part of the Kremlin operation that targeted not just Gill but at least 2 other MEPs and a member of the House of Lords.
In Israel, Ellison’s Oracle partners with Rafael Systems whose weapons are being used in the Gaza genocide & implicated in the deaths of British aid workers.
The targeting & killing of journalists in Gaza & the failure of the media to show collective solidarity & to take collective action is…incomprehensible.
I feel a such profound sense of shame & failure. It’s not just the death of journalists. It’s the death of journalism. 1/
This is Mariam Abu Daka, one of 3 journalists killed in latest strike, warning that journalists are being deliberately targeted & killed.
‘The Israeli occupation targets journalists because they tell the truth’
She calls for urgent international protection. It did not come. 2/
It is not that there has not been efforts to mobilise a collective response by press freedom orgs, including @RSF_inter, but there has also been silence , denial & cowardice from the prestige legacy outlets.
There’s a reason trust in all media is plummeting.
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Nick Clegg made a reported £100m from Facebook. And now the reputation laundering begins.
Congrats to him on this magnificent PR coup. Nicely played, Clegg. A glossy magazine profile AND extract in the paper that created the Facebook PR crisis that led to his hiring.
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It’s an abject reminder of how mainstream outlets are played by Silicon Valley, by the cosy rules of access journalism & the genre framing of the celeb interview.
Clegg never submitted to a proper interview in his time at Facebook & now gets to spin & whitewash & conceal all while still under a FB NDA.
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I understand why this was commissioned. The need for a culturally relevant ‘name’. The fact that many people will ‘hate-read’ it. It will get traffic.
But it also reinforces an impression that so many people have that the media is broken. Clicks & traffic & holding power to account are such competing incentives.
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Earlier this year, I lost my beloved job at my beloved Observer when the Guardian, in its great wisdom, gave the newspaper away to a podcast company...who promptly sacked me.
So, forgive my delight today, in being nominated for FIVE awards in the British Podcast Awards!! 1/
Huge kudos to super producers @RuthAbrahams5 of Sergei & the Westminster Spy Ring & @GeorgiaJCatt & @ByrnesyGsy for Stalked.
Plus the brilliant & brave Hannah Mossman-Moore & Sergei Cristo 👏 👏 👏. Both FEARLESS in completely different ways.
But mostly, thanks for listening... & in Sergei's case for crowdfunding it. Incredible to be nominated alongside all the big companies for our indie DIY affair. Thanks also to @peterjukes for galvanising & dramaturgy.
And to BBC Sounds for being so punchy in naming Hannah's stalker
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