Month: June 2021

Desperate to appease furious clients who have threatened to walk away from Credit Suisse after losing billions of dollars invested with Greensill’s trade finianf Switzerland’s second-largest bank by assets is reportedly preparing to sue the Japanese telecoms giant.

As for why? well, the decision harkens back to SoftBank’s abuse of Credit Suisse’s trade-finance business, which ended up imploding right before the bank’s eyes, saddling it and many of its most valuable clients, with losses.

Certain SoftBank portfolio companies, including Katerra, the Softbank-backed construction startup that shut down on Wednesday, were financed by the trade finance funds. As we first reported back in 2019, in some cases, SoftBank portfolio companies like Katerra were being financed by the fund, while SoftBank also invested in the fund alongside other clients. But this conflict of interest wasn’t disclosed to other investors, or CS.

Now, the Swiss banking giant is preparing to sue SoftBank as it scrambles to find money to appease some of the firm’s most high-profile customers (including sovereign wealth funds and others) who are threatening to walk after being suckered out of billions of dollars after CS gated its trade finance fund following the collapse of Greensilll.

Before they collapsed, the funds ballooned to $10 billion before the bank suspended them in March, helping precipitate Greensill’s collapse

Furthermore: The Financial Times earlier this year revealed that when SoftBank agreed to provide an emergency cash injection into Greensill in November 2020 to cover Katerra’s debts, the money never made it to Credit Suisse.

“The question is, what did SoftBank know?” said a person with knowledge of the Swiss bank’s plans. “[The dispute] could potentially end up in the courts.”

Over the weekend, the WSJ reported that Gov. Jim Justice had also borrowed from Greensill, and still owes more than $700MM thanks to the firm’s collapse.

Should CS follow through, this would likely create one of the biggest publicity battles between American firms

CS has so far returned $4.8 billion and plans a further repayment in the coming days. However, it has flagged that $2.3 billion of fund assets will be hard to recover, including $440MM from Katerra, $1.2 billion from UK industrialist Sanjeev Gupta and $690 Million from Bluestone Resources, a US coal mining business owned by West Virginia governor Jim Justice.

Submitted by South Front,

Joe Biden’s extensive interest in Ukraine during his tenure as Obama’s vice president meant that US attention towards the country would instantly be elevated once the new administration came into power. The Burisma scandal which implicated Hunter Biden and which became a problem for Joe Biden on the campaign trail, combined with Biden’s own apparent frailty and avoidance of extensive public engagements, have meant that Biden himself is in fact yet to have a telephone conversation with Zelensky. However, whether he deliberately chose to outsource Ukraine policy to his trusted advisors or they are taking initiative in order to fill the vacuum of power left by their boss’ incapacity, US Ukraine policy has taken a number of new twists and turns in the less than two months of the Biden Administration.

The Biden Administration’s actions so far indicate a certain degree of impatience with the goings-on in Kiev which is behaving in an all too independent fashion on many issues. Kiev’s decision to nationalize Motor Sich, an aircraft engine manufacturer whose purchase was sought by Chinese investors thus robbing Ukraine of a significant influx of badly needed hard currency, took place after Washington had expressed displeasure at Chinese companies’ foothold in Ukraine which moreover brings with it access to Soviet-era technologies attractive to China’s aerospace industries. This action was taken in spite of the considerable risk of Chinese retaliation, which indeed occurred in the form of China’s Foreign Ministry informing its Ukrainian counterpart that it would no longer respect their wishes concerning economic activities in the Crimea, something that Chinese firms have thus far shied away from. The US Embassy in Kiev’s instant endorsement of Zelensky’s shutdown of three opposition TV stations and the placement of sanctions, in violation of Ukraine’s own laws, on one of Ukraine’s opposition leaders Medvedchuk on the grounds that these were involved in spreading so-called “Russian disinformation” suggests that Washington was at the very least aware of the move and may even have prompted it. US sanctioning of Igor Kolomoysky on the basis of his corrupting Ukraine’s politics indicates that Zelensky had not gone far enough in fulfilling Washington’s wishes. In doing this Washington demonstrated it is willing to publicly humiliate Zelensky should he fail to display appropriate deference to their wishes. The question at this point becomes, in which direction will Washington push Zelensky? How far, what means will Washington use to get its way, and to what extent will Zelensky resist?

The greatest service that Ukraine could render Biden’s administration is to launch an all-out assault on Novorossia. A pitched battle between Ukrainian and DPR/LPR forces would instantly create the appropriate headlines and provide the necessary additional pretexts to condemn Russia and introduce more economic sanctions. It would then deliver the outcome that no amount of phony poisonings of Navalny could, namely the suspension or even shut-down of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which has become such a thorn in the side of the Anglo-Saxon powers. A major military campaign involving several brigades supported by airpower and the now-operational Bayraktar TB-2 drones in an effort to replicate Azerbaijan’s success against Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh would place Moscow before the unenviable choice of abandoning the Donbass to its fate or committing its regular military forces to battle in Novorossia’s defense.

Whether Ukraine’s political leadership is willing to undertake such a desperate measure, in a country whose president suffers from a 20% approval rating and which has seen extensive protests against the recent sharp increase in utility costs, is another question. On the one hand, Ukrainian troop movements near the Donbass have generated considerable attention, and exchanges of fire between Ukrainian and Novorossian forces appear to have continued at an elevated pace over the past several weeks. At the same time, no extraordinary measures such as the recall of reservists or closure of borders in order to prevent military-age males from leaving the country have been observed. While Ukraine’s Rada is considering laws making draft evasion more harshly punishable, these laws will not have an immediate impact, and appear to be a reaction to the failure to build up a professional army of volunteers or even to give the draftees a positive reason to serve. It has even been pointed out that the Ukrainian troop movements have been so ostentatious and lacking in even elementary efforts to preserve concealment and surprise that they represent a “war of nerves”, an exercise in brinksmanship, and possibly an effort to simulate action for the benefit of Washington, rather than genuine preparations for an offensive. A train carrying a reinforced tank company that had been spotted slowly passing three different railroad crossings in eastern Ukraine over the course of several days looks much like an operation staged for the benefit of ubiquitous smart phone cameras.

Therefore the likelihood of the Ukrainian military opting for a large-scale offensive remains low due to the fear of heavy and pointless losses which might cause Ukraine’s military morale to collapse, with unpredictable consequences. Small-scale raids to capture select positions, shelling of Novorossia’s towns and cities, even a staged atrocity, remain more plausible and attractive from the political point of view. Ukraine’s most dangerous military capability is represented by Bayraktar drones, cruise missiles like the Neptun, and short-range ballistic missiles currently in service and being developed, because their use would not entail the danger of major Ukrainian personnel losses. Moreover, Novorossia’s forces would be hard pressed to retaliate in kind against such strikes and Russian efforts to do so would be highly provocative internationally and would carry the risk of causing Ukrainian civilian casualties. Fortunately for Novorossia, the drone park remains fairly small and the drones themselves are vulnerable to Novorossia’s air defenses, while the cruise and ballistic missiles are still years from large-scale operational deployment. The sort of missile bombardment that would represent a genuine threat to Novorossia’s unrecognized republics is still years away. By the time such a serious threat could materialize, Novorossia’s forces would likely have their own means of retaliation in the form of barrage munitions, also referred to as “suicide drones” that could be produced on the spot in Donetsk and Lugansk. However, Ukraine’s current capabilities are sufficient to launch provocations, including the bombardment of civilian targets as was the case in Mariupol in 2014.

That Ukraine’s military is unwilling to risk another misadventure against Novorossia is evident enough, as is Zelensky’s reluctance to go down in history as the president who destroyed Ukraine. These considerations are unlikely to be salient for decisionmakers in Washington, who need Ukraine to advance US interests and are rather less concerned about the US advancing Ukraine’s interests. But the lengths to which Washington is willing to go to pressure Zelensky are still unclear, though the possibility of outright blackmail raised its head when a prominent Maidan propagandist Dmitry Gordon announced that on March 15, the “Ides of March” immortalized by the assassination of Julius Caesar, Ukraine would face a trial of historic proportions once a certain bombshell news story was revealed. While March 15 came and went with no bombshells or even duds, Gordon did reveal that the event consisted of a Bellingcat “investigation” into the SBU plot to lure Wagner PMC contractors into Ukraine in order to have them put on trial. The “bombshell” aspect of the Bellingcat effort is that the plot failed because of a highly placed source in Zelensky’s own presidential cabinet, who leaked it to Russian intelligence services. Considering Bellingcat’s reputation as a firm which does info-warfare “hits” on designated targets and Gordon’s hyping of the potential impact of the film once it becomes public, one has to consider the possibility that Bellingcat is part of a campaign to blackmail or even oust Zelensky from office should he fail to satisfy Washington’s demands.

As noted previously, Zelensky has taken a dim view of Washington’s meddling in Ukraine’s affairs, though it remains to be seen whether he is able to stand up to even his own national security officials who ostensibly are subordinate to him but in reality take orders from Washington. Lacking the independent power base that allowed Poroshenko to resist Washington’s initiatives for “reforming” Ukraine’s economy, Zelensky may yet prove the ideal president from Washington’s perspective, if not Ukraine’s.

Authored by ‘ShipwreckedCrew’ via RedState.com,

Last week, I reported on the developments in post-election litigation underway in Fulton County, Georgia, in which plaintiffs had obtained an order from a Georgia State Court judge giving them the authorization to inspect copies of 145,000 mailed-in absentee ballots from the November 2020 election.

Judge Amero has ordered that high-resolution copies be made of the 145,000 absentee ballots, while the originals will remain in the custody of election officials. But the copies should allow the plaintiffs to look for certain kinds of possible irregularities such as whether any ballots were machine marked and then copied in large numbers. Mailed-in absentee ballots should all be hand-marked by the voter.

The lawsuits are being opposed by officials of Fulton County, but Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — who professed over and over again that the outcome of the Georgia Presidential election was was free of fraud — applauded Judge Amero’s decision.

In a statement, Raffensperger cited “a longstanding history of election mismanagement” in Fulton County.

“From day one I have encouraged Georgians with legitimate concerns about the election in their counties to pursue those claims through legal avenues,” Raffensperger said. “Fulton County has a longstanding history of election mismanagement that has understandably weakened voters’ faith in its system. Allowing this audit provides another layer of transparency and citizen engagement.”

A little more than a week has now passed since Judge Amero’s order, and some disconcerting events have transpired during that time.

Judge Amero’s order specified that the plaintiffs would be allowed to inspect high-resolution copies of the 145,000 ballots, but that the original ballots would remain in a secured county facility.  The details of the copying and inspection were to be worked out between the parties and the court.  In granting the motion to inspect the ballots, Judge Amero noted that no party had asked that the complaint be dismissed.

But after Judge Amero’s Order, on May 26 Fulton County filed a motion to dismiss the complaint.  In addition to claiming that Fulton County itself should not be subject to the complaint since the elections were run by the County Board of Elections, Fulton County also alleged the plaintiffs failed to comply with the statutory requirements for filing an “election contest,” and on that basis, the complaint should be dismissed.

Judge Amero had scheduled a meeting at the ballot storage warehouse to take place on May 27. In response to the motions filed on May 26, Judge Amero postponed the meeting.  He stated that the motions must be resolved prior to the court granting access and inspection to the ballots.

That is where the court proceedings stood as of last Friday. 

But that isn’t all that happened.

On Saturday, May 29, at approximately 4:30, an alarm went off at the warehouse facility where the original ballots are stored in a locked room. Security responded – more on that below – and found the warehouse door unlocked and open.  The storage location is at 1365 English Street, in Atlanta, which is the address for the “Fulton County Election Preparation Center.”

According to the website CreativeDestructionMedia.com, it conducted an interview with the attorney for the plaintiffs, Robert Cheeley regarding the events leading up to the alarm on Saturday.

Back on May 21, not confident in the security provided by Fulton County, Cheeley had arranged for off-duty police to sit in police vehicles and watch over the storage location.  Cheeley claims Fulton County attorneys complained to Judge Amero that the off-duty police officers were “intimidating” Fulton County Election Board workers because they were parked in the parking lot of the county building.  He claimed the Fulton County officials told the judge they might arrest the off-duty officers for “trespassing”.

To end the petty squabble, Judge Amero asked Cheeley to have his off-duty security park on the public street in front of the facility and not park in the parking lot.

Starting on May 25, Fulton County began to have two on-duty Fulton County Sheriff’s Deputies provide security for the storage location pursuant to Judge Amero’s order that they provide 24/7 security of the ballots until they were copied and inspected.

But on Saturday, May 29, both vehicles left the parking lot at 4:00 p.m. and were gone for two hours.  At 4:30, the alarm went off.

The alarm was noticed by the off-duty private security sitting in their car on the street.  They went to investigate and found the door unlocked and open.

This is a picture is that the attorney provided of the door left open at the supposedly secure building were the ballots are being kept. pic.twitter.com/jfqJ2zkdtt

— Emerald Robinson ✝️ (@EmeraldRobinson) May 30, 2021

According to Cheeley, it wasn’t until 8:00 pm that a Fulton County official arrived that the location to lock the door — a key was required to do so.

Cheeley received an email from an individual named Bob Ferguson, who seems to be connected to Fulton County or the Sheriff’s Office based on the contents of the email:

Two Fulton County deputies who were assigned to watch the secure building where the ballots were being kept appear to have the left the building 20 minutes before the alarm went off. pic.twitter.com/5B9Ej5nyul

— Emerald Robinson ✝️ (@EmeraldRobinson) May 31, 2021

[h/t to Emerald Robinson and Newsmax who have been on this story since it first broke on Saturday].

May 22 and May 29 were both Saturdays, and the alarm went off both days.  If you look closely at pictures of the door, you can see there is no knob or handle on the inside, with only a deadbolt knob above the handle area of the door.  There is likely only a handle on the outside, without a latching mechanism, and the deadbolt on the outside is turned with a key.  If the deadbolt is not turned to the locked position, the door can simply be pulled open.

Cheeley said in his interview that he intends to file motions for contempt of court this week with respect to the County’s failure to comply with the Court’s order that the ballots be kept in a secured location.  Whether or not anything actually happened with regard to the ballots stored inside is likely a question that won’t be answered until the motions filed by the County are resolved.

There are 2,755 billionaires globally – and combined, they are worth over $13 trillion.

Of these ultra wealthy individuals, Visual Capitalist’s Avery Koop notes that just over 100 are millennials, born between the years 1981 and 1996. This young generation represents around 3.8% of all billionaires on a global basis with a combined net worth of $573.1 billion.

This visualization, using data from Forbes, ranks the richest 25 millennial billionaires and details their source of wealth, total net worth, nationality, and age.

Note: Forbes categorized billionaires by current age (2021). For those slightly over or under the age range of Millennials, meaning those who are currently 24 or 40 years old (i.e. they could have been born in either 1996/1997 or 1980/1981), if their birth year could not be accurately determined, they were left out of this ranking.

Who are the Millennial Billionaires?

The oldest millennials will be turning 40 in 2021, while the youngest are just turning 25. This means that millennial billionaires are generally the youngest billionaires in the world, save two Gen Zers: Wang Zelong of China, 24, and Kevin David Lehmann of Germany, 18.

The U.S. is home to the most millennial billionaires at 33 total, with China coming in second at 23—most other countries fall far behind.

In the U.S., millennial billionaires are often associated with notable tech companies like Snapchat, Airbnb, and Facebook. Others are heirs of massive family fortunes like Lukas Walton—grandson of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart and the original head of America’s richest family.

In China, some millennial billionaires really stand out, like Relx founder, Kate Wang. The 39-year-old started her e-cigarette and vape company only three years ago, at age 36, and is expected to soon be vying for the title of richest woman in China.

Billionaire Growth

Overall, billionaires were up $8 trillion in combined net worth compared to 2020 with around 493 new people added to the list in 2021.

In fact, 86% of all billionaires are richer than a year ago. But let’s look at how wealth changed for the millennials in the billionaires club. Here’s a look at the difference in net worth from 2020 to 2021 for the top five richest millennials:

• Mark Zuckerberg: +$35 Billion

• Zhang Yiming: +$19.4 Billion

• Yang Huiyan: +$9.3 Billion

• Dustin Moskovitz: +$8.5 Billion

• Su Hua: +$14.9 Billion

For each of the top 25 millennial billionaires, net worth either increased or was unchanged (or they were new to the title of billionaire). This is true for all except one person—Lukas Walton, whose net worth decreased by almost $3 billion from 2020 to 2021.

The Average Millennial

While there are around 106 millennial billionaires worldwide, their combined net worth is only a fraction of total billionaire wealth. So how much economic power and influence does this generation really hold?

When looking at the average American millennial’s wealth, the Generational Power Index has determined that this young generation only holds 9.6% of economic power in the U.S. Here’s a quick look at millennial wealth metrics in the U.S.:

• Millennials only make up 7% of American business leaders

• They own $73 billion in equities and mutual fund shares

• They represent 13% of small business leaders

• They make up 7% of American billionaire wealth

Globally, there are an estimated 1.8 billion millennials. Among that cohort, there are just over 100 people worth billions—and given that many are still in the early part of their careers, there is likely to be many millennial billionaires yet to come.

Authored by Jessica Mao via The Epoch Times,

Tesla has established a data center in China, the company said last week, and data generated by all cars sold in the country will be stored domestically.

A May 25 post on the Weibo social media site said that the data center has already been built and the company plans on expanding its data network in China.

Tesla also said they want to start a platform where Tesla owners can make inquiries regarding their cars, and focus their efforts on ensuring the smooth operation of their databases as well as safeguarding customer data.

The column Daily Car Watch on Chinese news portal Sohu wrote on May 26 that these data centers are a response to the Chinese regime’s agencies blocking Tesla from operating in China. They are also addressing incidents of data loss that led to car owners complaining the cars’ brakes were malfunctioning.

According to Reuters, citing anonymous sources, employees in various Chinese Communist Party (CCP) departments were not allowed to park their Tesla cars in the vicinity of the regime’s offices due to the security risks presented by the cameras installed in Tesla vehicles. Despite many other cars also having similar technology installed in them, the ban only applies to Tesla, according to Reuters.

The data centers also stirred up conversation among netizens in China.

NeochaEDGE, which is recognized as one of the top 10 most influential Weibo accounts reporting on the digital world, said that Tesla is becoming another Guizhou-Cloud Big Data.

Guizhou-Cloud Big Data refers to when Apple handed all of the data from its Chinese iCloud users over to Guizhou-Cloud Big Data for management and operation. The Guizhou State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission is the largest shareholder in Guizhou-Cloud Big Data. This move not only made the data of Chinese iCloud users vulnerable, but also involuntarily violated the freedom and safety of Chinese citizens.

One Chinese netizen said that it was clear who was pushing for Tesla’s move behind the scenes, attempting to obtain control over Tesla’s data.

Another netizen said that Tesla’s actions were inevitable and how leaving their data in China under CCP control was the company’s ticket into the Chinese market.

On May 12, the CCP’s digital office issued “Provisions on the Management of Automobile Data Security (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)” that set the boundaries for automobile data security.

Article two of the provision says how in the “process of design, production, sales, operation, maintenance, and management of automobiles within the territory of the People’s Republic of China, operators shall collect, analyze, store, transmit, query, utilize, delete, and provide (hereinafter collectively referred to as process) personal information or important data overseas in compliance with relevant laws and regulations and the requirements of this regulation.”

Tesla reposted the regulation on its official Weibo account and stated, “We support this decision.”

Baltimore City continues to slide into a socio-economic mess, with wealth inequality at record highs and violent crime surging. 

Local news WJZ 13 reports Baltimore’s homicide rate is outpacing the 2020 rate. As of June 2, the city has reported 138 homicides, compared to 130 this time last year. Non-fatal shootings have also been on the rise, 269 so far, compared to 230 this time last year. 

After a bloody weekend, newly elected Mayor Brandon Scott issued a statement: 

“The gun violence witnessed this weekend shows us that there are cowards among us who are willing to take a life, no matter how small or insignificant the beef. We must hold them accountable and rid our streets of the weapons they use to take our daughters and sons away from us. I will be meeting with Commissioner Harrison to discuss what changes need to happen for the Baltimore Police Department to have a greater immediate impact on this violence. I will also be determining what other agencies can bring to the table to bolster these efforts.”

This all comes as Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby halted prosecuting minor traffic violations, prostitution, drug possession, and other minor offenses during the virus pandemic. In March, she held a press conference to declare rough policing doesn’t work to prevent more violent crimes. 

But months later, perhaps Mosby’s grand experiment is failing as Baltimore’s spending board approves police funding hikes. 

If the pace of homicides continues, the metro area will experience more than 300 homicides by the end of the year. Shooting deaths have been elevated since the police killing of Freddie Gray in 2015. 

Notice homicides by cause of death are primarily shootings and increase during warmer months. 

Scott and Mosby might need a better policing plan as the liberal-run city, like many others across the country, descend into chaos. 

Authored by Caden Pearson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A school teacher in Ogden, Utah has been hailed a hero for preventing the alleged kidnapping of an 11-year-old girl from a school playground by using his concealed firearm.

Authored by Elias Marat via TheMindUnleashed.com,

China’s goal is to develop clean energy sources through next-generation nuclear fusion technology.

Chinese researchers have achieved a new world record after scientists developing an “artificial sun” ran the device on Friday at a record-shattering temperature of 120 million degrees Celsius for over 100 seconds.

The experiment was held at the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP) in Hefei, China.

The exercise is a part of the China’s efforts to develop new clean energy sources through the development of next-generation nuclear fusion reactor technology.

Known as the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), the “Chinese artificial sun” managed to generate plasma temperatures of 120 million degrees Celsius for 101 seconds before scientists also realized a temperature of 160 million degrees Celsius for an additional 20 seconds.

The goal of EAST is to create Sun-like energy using deuterium, a hydrogen isotope that is plentiful in the ocean and can provide a steady flow of clean energy. According to estimates, one liter of seawater contains enough deuterium to produce energy equivalent to 300 liters of gasoline.

China hopes that it can replace fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas with the fusion energy in order to achieve carbon neutrality and a more ecological society.

“It’s a huge achievement in China’s physics and engineering fields. The experiment’s success lays the foundation for China to build its own nuclear fusion energy station,” ASIPP director Song Yuntao said, according to People’s Daily.

The EAST artificial sun is also part of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, a joint effort by global scientists that includes the input of scientists from China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States.

Experts hope that if development proceeds at the current rate, successful nuclear fusion could be achieved within three decades.