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Alex Finley so Funley Profile picture
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Feb 15 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Another bit of #YachtWatch news: a yacht belonging to Teodoro Obiang the Younger, VP of Equatorial Guinea and son of its dictator, Teodoro Obiang the Elder, has been seized in South Africa. 1/
superyachttimes.com/yacht-news/equ…
The yacht, BLUE SHADOW, is 67m long and was built in 1994. Not sure of its price, but it looks like it was available for charter for 180,000 euros a week 2/
yachtcharterfleet.com/luxury-charter…
South Africa seized the yacht due to a lawsuit by a businessman who claims he was illegally detained in Equatorial Guinea for 500 days after a business deal went south. The court agreed and ordered the yacht seized. 3/
Here's a fun backgrounder on Obiang, from my series: High Heels, Wigs, and Flamboyant Robes (or...Dictators). Includes an anecdote about two other yachts [insert eye roll gif]. 4/
alexzfinley.com/2016/10/31/hig…
I also just posted a tweet about yet another Obiang yacht, ICE, which apparently gets around with rich assholes. 5/

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More from @alexzfinley

Alex Finley so Funley Profile picture
Feb 15
Fascinating investigation into influence mercenaries for hire. There are lots of stories from partner pubs, but the bottom line is: Team Jorge peddles disinfo and influence ops for money and has had its fingers in dozens of elections, but also other viral campaigns. A thread. 1/
First, I recommend this video from @guardian with @manisha_bot for a brief overview. 2/
theguardian.com/world/video/20…
A team of undercover journalists met with Team Jorge, and "Jorge" boasted about the company's capabilities, even providing examples of their successes, noting, for example, their involvement in dozens of elections. 3/
Read 19 tweets
Alex Finley so Funley Profile picture
Feb 13
Russia is planning to overthrow the government of Moldova. From @mitchprothero @VICE Time for a thread. 1/
vice.com/en/article/dy7…
Does this sound familiar to anyone? 2/
It should. We've seen this pattern repeated. Montenegro 2016 certainly comes to mind. And it sounds a lot like what was attempted January 6 (I know, we still have no evidence Russia had anything to do with it, but I'm ready to put money that we will find some connections) 3/
Read 9 tweets
Alex Finley so Funley Profile picture
Feb 5
This latest investigation from @OCCRP is a doozy. Strap in for a long thread on Russian influence operations. 1/ occrp.org/en/investigati…
A Kremlin-linked lobbying group paid EU politicians and journalists thousands of euros to promote pro-Russia legislation in local and EU legislatures. 2/
It also paid for these politicians to be flown on expensive junkets to pro-Russia events (in this case in Crimea, in an effort to get them to push for recognizing Crimea as Russia). 3/
Read 32 tweets
Alex Finley so Funley Profile picture
Jan 24
Quick update: the yacht captain who was arrested for helping Viktor Vekselberg evade sanctions involving his yacht TANGO has been released by Spanish authorities. The court took his passport and he has to check in every two weeks while they work out extradition #YachtWatch 1/
Here's the story from the local paper: 2/
cronicabalear.es/2023/puesto-en…
According to the DOJ indictment, the yacht captain, Richard Masters, used his yacht management company Master Yachts to help Vekselberg evade sanctions. 3/ justice.gov/opa/pr/arrest-…
Read 10 tweets
Alex Finley so Funley Profile picture
Jan 23
Here's an interesting #YachtWatch tidbit:
Nautilus International, a union for those working in the maritime sector, helped recover a record amount of money for members for unpaid wages and benefits in 2022. 1/

nautilusint.org/en/news-insigh…
The organization says the high amount is partially attributed to the number of people now working in the super yacht sector. But then there is also this: many crew members on Russian-owned yachts couldn't get their money. 2/
We already knew that Nautilus helped crew members on Roman Abramovich's ECLIPSE. Not sure how those payments are being made, but ECLIPSE enjoyed a summer of cruising in Turkey. 3/
nautilusint.org/en/news-insigh…
Read 4 tweets
Alex Finley so Funley Profile picture
Jan 17
Pro-Russia and pro-Wagner propaganda cartoon focusing on tossing the French out of West Africa. My favorite line is the guy yelling, "It's my country!" while shooting a French snake with the Russian looking on approvingly. A few thoughts:
1/
It fits the common Russian theme of blaming democracies for all the world's ills, while encouraging an autocratic partnership with Russia. But what is so funny about so many Russian influence ops is this notion that Russia is encouraging a country to be sovereign. 2/
We have so many examples of Russia encouraging people to fight for their sovereignty against Europe or the US. But, in fact, what Russia is encouraging is submission to Russia. It's not sovereignty at all. 3/
Read 5 tweets

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