The fact that his aide, Bonici, (the Bonici couple go WAY back to the early 2000 with Farage) was in and out of the Russian Embassy and slipping Red Dahlia Russian propaganda into MEPs post boxes so long ago has always raised loud alarm bells with me.
Now read @Turloughc thread and ask yourself not just how did this go on for so long, but how did key players in the British establishment / media give him so many opportunities to promote Kremlin interests over British interests?
Kevin Ellul- Bonici was an ex Inspector in the Maltese Economic Crimes Unit that came under such adverse scrutiny in the murdered journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia, investigation.
And he was mates with….
… Ryan Schrembi, brother of Malta Chief of Staff, Keith Schrembi who has been charged with corruption, fraud and money laundering arising from the Daphne Caruana Galizia investigation.
Kevin Ellul-Bonici speaks fluent Russian. He studied in the USSR and his first wife is Russian.
Kevin’s second wife Sharon Ellul-Bonici has been long standing mates with both Ryan Schrembi and Farage.
And set up the EAF with the ghastly Geoffrey Bloom
Correction.
Ryan Schrembi is the cousin of Keith Schrembi, not brother
Farage EFDD group received €50,000 from Ryan in 2011/12, and more from Ryan’s mates
Also in 2013/14.
Sharon E-B donated 12k in 2015: Companies listed in Paradise P.
The story needs constant updating as a few more bits of the jigsaw lands…but it is well worth spending time on the developing picture not least because it shows what was public knowledge when.
Here is a @Turloughc 2021 update on the 2018 Guardian story.
The underlying comparison being hinted at is that the EU was somehow aligned to the Russia- Ukraine relationship, in (fictionally) preventing us from doing what a truly independent U.K. would otherwise do is not just downright insulting, it is a fucking disgrace.
Or to put it in the more polite but equally as trenchant sarcasm of @SnellArthur
Extraordinarily powerful essay on this Putin’s war from Maria Stepanova:- a poet & writer living in Russia. Her latest book, ‘In Memory of Memory’, was awarded the Big Book Prize, Russia’s main literary award, shortlisted for the International Booker Prize ft.com/content/c27974…
“This particular book has a bad author. Bad in all senses, as a person and as a writer with scant interest in his own characters. He doesn’t care if they survive or die; he doesn’t care what their needs or desires are; &he’s definitely not interested in recognising their freedoms
“The only thing that he cares about is his own authorship, the affirmation of his will, and his control of the text and events.”
This sense of entitlement to land beyond its borders and also the erroneous understanding of how the majority who live in those lands feel about their independence, seems to have led Putin (and maybe Russians) into a series of trapdoors.
We have seen some indication that parts of Serbia still favour Russia. But not so the battle scarred Bosnia whose sense of independence hardened through the battle for it.
Ukraine seems to be strengthening their narrative of resistance, suffering and heroic struggle too.
85% of S Korea’s 50 mill population is fully vaxxed & 60% boosted yet Thursday 17-3-22 was its deadliest day during the pandemic, with 429 deaths in a 24-hour period and 621,328 cases, up 55% from 400,730 the day before.
“In recent weeks, South Korea has relaxed social distancing rules by pushing back a curfew on restaurants to 11 p.m. and easing the cap on private gatherings to six.”
“ Critics said the government underestimated the highly contagious nature of the omicron variant and eased the social distancing rules too soon, contributing to a surge in cases.”
Pfizer is the vaccine most deployed in South Korea.
Tom Hunt, Conservative MP for Ipswich since 2019, was previously the political assistant and chief of staff to the Conservative mayor of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA). This is a politically restricted post.