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Researcher & writer based in Hong Kong. Former academic. Longform articles archived at https://lauraruggeri.substack.com and https://laura-ruggeri.medium.com. Email: lauraru852@yandex.ru
Russia’s MFA spokesperson Maria Zakharova on the arrest of Pavel Durov, the Telegram founder, in France:
“I just remembered that in 2018 a group of 26 NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and others, condemned a Russian court's decision to block Telegram. The West made other similar statements.
They said all this because as of July 1, 2018, the Yarovaya Law began to operate in Russia requiring telecommunications operators to store records of telephone messages and Internet traffic of their clients for six months, as well as keys to decrypt users' correspondence and provide them to the FSB of Russia upon request. Thus, there were legislative questions for Telegram on this basis that many other countries also had in connection with the technical parameters of its encryption system.
All these Western NGOs called on the Russian government to stop questioning Telegram's work. They appealed to the UN, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the European Union, the United States, and other governments with a request to resist Russia's actions and to protect the fundamental rights of freedom of expression and privacy. In addition, they called on Internet companies to resist unfounded and illegal demands that violate the rights of their users. They demanded that the Russian government guarantee the rights of Internet users to publish and anonymously view information on websites emphasizing that any restrictions must be sanctioned by the courts and fully comply with the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights. At the same time, Durov remained free all this time [in Russia] continuing to develop Telegram.
I am publishing a screenshot of all the Western professional organizations that spoke out then including their collective appeal. Do you think they will appeal to Paris this time around and demand Durov's release, or will they swallow their tongues instead?” @LauraRuHK https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GVyTCqGXEAE2aCW?format=jpg&name=large
Apparently Durov was unaware that an arrest warrant had just been issued by the OFMIN, an office of the national department of judicial police of France that was recently created to tackle crimes against minors. /channel/LauraRuHK/9084
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🎤Russian President Vladimir Putin:
"I am convinced that for Ukraine it will be possible to achieve true sovereignty only by cooperating with Russia. Our spiritual, human and civilizational ties, formed over the centuries, go back to a single, common origin, and have been tempered by the same difficulties and shared conquests and victories.
Our common ancestry is transmitted from generation to generation. It is present in the hearts and memories of the people who live in Russia and Ukraine today, and it is also present in the blood ties that unite millions of our families.
Together, we have always been, and always will be, far stronger and victorious.
Because after all, we are one people”. (Source: Russian Embassy in Italy) /channel/ambrusitalia/2428
Ringrazio Emilio Martines che ha ripescato un mio vecchio post del 2022. Ve lo ripropongo in quanto terribilmente attuale. /channel/LauraRuHK/2336
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Darktrace – the cybersecurity company founded by Mike Lynch, the owner of the yacht that sank at dawn on August 19 off the coast of Porticello, Sicily – has long been engaged in the cyber dimension of the war in Ukraine.
In particular, we are talking about the Prevent-Ot project launched in 2015.
See also /channel/LauraRuHK/9064
It is perhaps no coincidence that only in the week following the outbreak of the conflict, between 24 February and 3 March 2022, the value of the company's shares, which at the time was still headed by Lynch, grew by 40 percent. 🔺Darktrace may have provided assistance to Kiev's attack on the Kursk region. Russian security services immediately pointed the finger at London. @LauraRuHK https://www.agenzianova.com/en/news/shipwreck-of-porticello-darktrace-and-has-long-been-involved-in-the-cyber-war-in-ukraine/
In Myanmar ethnic rebels and a multitude of opposition forces have been armed and funded by the US and UK for decades and it's only through their intelligence that rebel groups have been able to coordinate their attacks and conduct drone strikes. Unsurprisingly, you will find a Hong Kong connection. After all, destabilizing regions of China and countries bordering China is part of the same strategy. In 2015 FactWire, an "independent" news agency was set up in Hong Kong by Ng Hiu-tung, a journalist who raised nearly HK$ 5 million through "crowdfunding", if you believe the hype. The truth is far more mundane. Money and tips for his "investigations" aimed at smearing local and mainland authorities were provided by the usual suspects. In 2022 when Ng realized that his subversive activities could land him in jail, suddenly closed down NewsWire. @LauraRuHK
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William Burns, the director of the CIA, is in Belgrade. Macron's trip to Serbia is on the agenda too, he will be there on 29-30 of August. ▪️A few weeks ago Moscow had warned President Vučić that regime change operatives intended to exploit mass protests in an attempt to destabilize the country. @LauraRuHK
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One of the essential features of imperialism is the rivalry between great powers in the striving for hegemony. As a famous Russian revolutionary leader pointed out over a century ago, the conquest of territory is not necessarily pursued for themselves as to weaken the adversary. We can draw the same conclusion when we look at the US and its destabilization efforts in the sphere of influence of its main rivals, China and Russia. Two years ago i had alerted readers about a RAND paper that singled out four countries (Pakistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Myanmar) as possible targets for destabilization/regime change. Obviously researchers working for this US think tank didn't spell out their recommendations in the version of the report that was published. What the public had access to was redacted and framed as an analysis of potential locations for PLA bases, regardless of whether China had any intention, let alone plans, to set up military bases in those countries. As a matter of fact China has only one military base outside China, in Djibouti. To put the RAND paper into context, the US has over 800 of them! When I assessed the situation in Bangladesh a few weeks ago, I had this paper in mind. Unfortunately the information i shared 2 years ago wasn't given much thought by those who could have averted the color revolution in Dhaka. The writing was on the wall, and US officials notoriously involved in regime change operations were flying in and out of Bangladesh for the last 2 years - my August 6 posts on Substack and Medium mentioned just a few of those visits. /channel/LauraRuHK/2610
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For several years Washington has been talking about the creation of a Trieste-Gdansk-Constanta triangle, named Corridor N3. Initially presented as a trade corridor connecting the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea (Three Seas Initiative), it is increasingly being envisaged as a military corridor. The free port of Trieste risks becoming the strategic port of the new Iron Curtain in Europe as the rearmost apex of the triangle. But as Paolo Deganutti explains, there are quite a few obstacles to overcome before NATO's wet dreams can be realized. @LauraRuHK https://pluralia.forumverona.com/en/a/triangle-made-in-usa-that-should-pass-through-trieste/
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Mosca non terrà colloqui con l'Ucraina dopo l'attacco di Kiev alla regione di Kursk, non fino a quando il nemico non sarà completamente sconfitto, ha detto il vice presidente del Consiglio di sicurezza russo Dmitry Medvedev.
"Tutto è ancora piu' chiaro dopo che i neonazisti hanno compiuto questo atto di terrorismo contro la regione di Kursk. Le chiacchiere inutili sulla meravigliosa pace da parte di mediatori non autorizzati sono finite. Ora, tutti capiscono - anche se nessuno lo dice pubblicamente - che non ci saranno colloqui fino a quando il nemico non sarà completamente sconfitto", ha scritto su Telegram.
"A mio avviso, il rischio - anche se teorico - che il nostro paese finisca in una trappola sotto il pretesto di negoziati e' stato compreso, ", ha sottolineato Medvedev, aggiungendo che stava parlando dei "colloqui di pace prematuri e inutili proposti dalla comunità internazionale, che sono stati imposti al regime di Kiev." Il vice presidente del Consiglio di sicurezza russo ha messo in dubbio le prospettive di tali colloqui, e i loro risultati.
Medvedev ha anche accennato a coloro che stanno dietro l'attacco alla regione di Kursk, facendo commenti poco lusinghieri su un ex primo ministro britannico. "Il bastardo con i capelli biondi arruffati, che viene dal paese in cui è stata preparata l'operazione terroristica, non ha nulla da festeggiare. Il suo paese ha peggiorato le cose per il territorio dell'ex Ucraina che patrocina: ora verrano buttati via altri soldi, molte più attrezzature militari saranno distrutte e si riempiranno molte più bare. Ora, lasciate che gli sfortunati schiavi ucraini bacino appassionatamente le mani insanguinate dei loro padroni anglosassoni, i necrofili che li stanno torturando", ha concluso il vice capo del Consiglio di sicurezza russo. (Fonte: TASS)
Ovviamente nessun negoziato e' pensabile dopo l'invasione della regione di Kursk, gli attentati terroristici e l'invio di droni su obiettivi civili. La scorsa notte i nemici della Russia hanno fatto il più grande tentativo finora di attaccare Mosca con aerei senza pilota - una decina di questi sono stati abbattuti dalle difese aeree russe e fortunatamente nessuno è rimasto ferito. @LauraRuHK
A proposito di Mike Lynch, scomparso nel naufragio del suo yacht in Sicilia e di Darktrace, la societa' di cybersecurity che aveva fondato. Cito da un vecchio articolo di Wired: "Darktrace ha iniziato a lavorare con GCHQ e MI5 molto presto. La prima società di Lynch, Cambridge Neurodynamics, aveva lavorato per le agenzie di intelligence britanniche; come Lynch ha detto a WIRED US nel 2002, "hanno i problemi più interessanti". Steve Huxter, un ex uomo dell'MI5, era un co-fondatore di Darktrace. Andrew France, vicedirettore per la cyberdefence presso GCHQ, è stato nominato CEO. Sir Jonathan Evans (ora Lord Evans di Weardale), un ex direttore generale dell'MI5 che sostenne memorabilmente che l'intelligence ottenuta attraverso la tortura "doveva essere vista nel contesto del periodo", divenne un consigliere del consiglio. C'erano altri assunti da GCHQ, MI5 e NSA; Darktrace stava costruendo alcune credenziali cyberspook impeccabili. "La combinazione di matematica a Cambridge con la credibilità di GCHQ e MI5 non ha eguali", afferma Eagan, che ha preso il posto di France come CEO di Darktrace.
Nomi come quello di Evans hanno certamente aiutato, ma le voci sulla tecnologia di Darktrace sono stati il più grande allettamento per i funzionari della sicurezza. Jim Penrose è entrato a far parte della NSA nel 1997-" quando era in modalità low – profile " - e ha lavorato nel cyberexploitation, cioè sostenendo le operazioni antiterrorismo con lo spionaggio digitale. Ha sentito parlare di Darktrace attraverso i contatti di GCHQ e ha iniziato a cercare di scoprire se il prodotto poteva faretutto ciò che prometteva. "E mi sono convinto che, sì, lo fa, ed è piuttosto bello", dice. "Ho pensato che questo sarà un punto di svolta per l'industria della sicurezza informatica." (Fonte: Wired) @LauraRuHK https://www.wired.com/story/darktrace-mike-lynch/
In Italia ci sono "trombe d'aria" molto selettive. Quando una di queste colpisce il Lago Maggiore nel 2023 una imbarcazione piena di spie italiane e israeliane va a picco. Le altre barche neanche un graffio. Quando si abbatte sulla rada di Porticello in Sicilia, una barca a vela con albero di 75 metri (!) su cui si trovavano turisti molto speciali (alta finanza, cybersecurity legata anche ai servizi) affonda immediatamente. Le altre imbarcazioni molto meno prestigiose ormeggiate in zona neanche un graffio. E l'amico-coimputato che non aveva avuto la possibilita' di raggiungere l'allegra comitiva in Sicilia muore investito da un'auto pirata mentre fa jogging nel Cambridgeshire. Cose che capitano. In certi ambienti. 😎 @LauraRuHK
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https://en.interaffairs.ru/article/de-dollarization-the-path-to-global-financial-freedom/
US weaponization of dollar is backfiring as BRICS and wider developing world accelerate away from dollar-based trade and holdings, writes ‘The Asia Times’. Economic and financial sanctions often backfire. The most notable example is the weaponization of the dollar against Russia. The measure has sparked a global movement to de-dollarize, …
read more on our website https://en.interaffairs.ru/
🎼New York New York🎼 If you understand Russian, and have a good sense of humour, today's soundtrack should be this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1Sdrgx4Apk
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In April 2018 Western NGOs and media were up in arms to denounce Moscow's attempt to block Telegram after Pavel Durov refused to grant Russian state security access to its users' encrypted messages. The FSB has said it needed such access to guard against security threats such as terrorist attacks. But Telegram insisted that compliance with the order would constitute a violation of users' privacy. ▪️24 August 2024, Pavel Durov was arrested in Paris. Don't expect the same NGOs and media to denounce this attack on Internet freedom. @LauraRuHK
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The Russian founder of the messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov, has been detained after he arrived in Paris on a private jet, local broadcaster LCI has reported.
Durov, who obtained a French passport in 2021, was arrested at Paris-Le Bourget Airport at around 8pm local time, the outlet said on Saturday. He is also a citizen of the UAE, Saint Kitts and Nevis and his native Russia
His jet arrived in the French capital from Azerbaijan. The 39-year-old had been accompanied by a woman and his bodyguard, it added.
According to LCI, the French authorities issued an arrest warrant for the tech entrepreneur as part of a preliminary investigation. Paris believes that Telegram’s insufficient moderation, its encryption tools and alleged lack of cooperation with police could make Durov complicit of in drug trafficking, pedophilia offenses and fraud, it said.
Broadcaster TF1 claimed that Durov is going to appear before a judge tonight. He could be facing up to 20 years in prison, it added. (Source: RT) @LauraRuHK
🎙️Presidente della Russia Vladimir Putin:
“Sono convinto che per l’Ucraina sarà possibile giungere a una vera sovranità solo cooperando con la Russia. I nostri legami spirituali, umani e di civiltà, formatisi nel corso dei secoli, risalgono a un’unica, comune origine, e sono stati temprati dalle medesime difficoltà e da conquiste e vittorie condivise.
La nostra ascendenza comune viene trasmessa di generazione in generazione. Essa è presente nei cuori e nella memoria delle persone che vivono nella Russia e nell’Ucraina di oggi, ed è presente anche nei legami di sangue che uniscono milioni di nostre famiglie.
Insieme, noi siamo sempre stati, e sempre saremo, di gran lunga più forti e più vittoriosi.
Perché dopotutto, noi siamo un unico popolo”.
So, here we have Paul Goble (who served at the US State Dept, CIA, International Broadcasting Bureau, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Carnegie Endowment etc.) expressing his frustration because Russians trust their president's judgement and Putin is not declaring war despite all the US provocations - terrorist attacks, the invasion of the Kursk region, Psy Ops aimed at steering Russian sentiment into the desired direction...Well, Moscow knows how to respond to provocations and doesn't need to broadcast its plans. Speech is silver, silence is golden. @LauraRuHK
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Darktrace – l’azienda di sicurezza informatica fondata da Mike Lynch, il proprietario dello yacht affondato all’alba del 19 agosto al largo di Porticello, in Sicilia – è impegnata da tempo nella dimensione cibernetica della guerra in Ucraina. Nel 2023 ha sviluppato e presentato un software, Prevent-Ot, pensato proprio per aiutare l’Ucraina a proteggere le proprie infrastrutture chiave attraverso l’intelligenza artificiale. Non è forse un caso che solo nella settimana successiva allo scoppio del conflitto, tra il 24 febbraio e il 3 marzo del 2022, il valore delle azioni della società, che all’epoca faceva ancora capo a Lynch, sia cresciuto del 40 per cento. I legami tra Lynch e l'intelligence sono noti da tempo, vedi /channel/LauraRuHK/9065 🔺 Darktrace potrebbe aver fornito a Kiev anche assistenza per attaccare la regione di Kursk. I servizi di sicurezza russi avevano immediatamente puntato il dito contro Londra. @LauraRuHK https://www.agenzianova.com/news/naufragio-di-porticello-darktrace-e-da-tempo-impegnata-nella-guerra-cibernetica-in-ucraina/
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The US-sponsored regime change in Bangladesh has serious implications for regional stability that could affect not only India and China but also South East Asia. That explains why China has increased efforts to ease tensions in Myanmar and promote political reconciliation as anti-government rebels gain ground near the Yunnan border.
China presented a new ‘five-point road map’, an updated version of a peace plan between Myanmar’s military junta and rebel groups which had been previously agreed upon but had failed.
Last week China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Burmese military leader Min Aung Hlain “As a friendly neighbour, China is opposed to chaos and war in Myanmar, opposed to any interference by extraterritorial forces in Myanmar’s internal affairs, and opposed to any attempts to drive a wedge between China and Myanmar or to smear China’s intentions.” Well, these extraterritorial forces (US-UK and assorted militias) now could use Bangladesh as a convenient base besides their traditional hideouts near the Thai border. @LauraRuHK
It looks like the flow of payments between China and Russia will become smoother following talks between Prime Ministers Mishustin and Li Qiang in Moscow.
To do this, the parties are ready to develop a payment infrastructure with correspondent accounts, as well as branches and subsidiary banks in the two countries. Alleluia! @LauraRuHK
Meanwhile a couple of days ago Samantha Power liaised with US puppet Muhammad Yunus. Never forget that USAID chief Samantha Power is married to Cass Sunstein, a well-known theorist in the field of colour revolutions. Sunstein was one of Obama’s closest associates on matters related to the "Arab Spring". Samantha is pretty dumb, Cass isn't. Together they offered this course at Harvard, "Making Change When Change is Hard: the Law, Politics and Policy of Social Change". Enough said. USAID is just as toxic as NED. @LauraRuHK https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases/aug-21-2024-administrator-samantha-power-speaks-bangladesh-chief-advisor-muhammad-yunus
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The South China Morning Post reported on Monday that Mongolia, which would cover much of the proposed route for the 2,594km Power of Siberia 2 pipeline to supply Russian natural gas to China, had not included the project in its national development plan for 2028.
The outlet cited analysts who have reportedly attributed the hiatus to pricing disagreements between Beijing and Moscow, as well as geopolitical issues and concerns over secondary sanctions from Western countries.
Regarding the question of Mongolia, Maria Zakharova said that “if initially the Mongolian partners wanted a limited role of a transit country, then now the possibility of using part of the cheap pipeline gas for the development of their own economy, industry and infrastructure is being considered.”
Zakharova emphasized that the project will go ahead after China and Russia agree on pricing and volume, adding that negotiations are ongoing between Russian energy giant Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation.
Russia currently supplies gas to China via Power of Siberia – a section of the so-called Eastern Route – which is part of a $400 billion, 30-year agreement between Gazprom and CNPC clinched in 2014. Deliveries started in 2019, and the pipeline is expected to reach its full operational capacity of 38 bcm of natural gas annually by 2025. @LauraRuHK https://swentr.site/business/602912-russia-china-gas-pipeline-mongolia/
The operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in the Kursk region was prepared with the participation of the security agencies of the US, UK and Poland, the press bureau of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) told Izvestia. The units involved in the invasion underwent combat coordination in training centers in the UK and Germany. Military advisers from NATO states are helping with the coordination of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine that have invaded the territory of Russia, and with the use of Western weapons and military equipment. NATO countries also transmit satellite reconnaissance data to the Ukrainian military on the deployment of Russian troops in the area of operation," the SVR said. @LauraRuHK ▪️https://iz.ru/1746121/2024-08-21/v-svr-podtverdili-prichastnost-stran-nato-k-podgotovke-ataki-na-kurskuiu-oblast
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Moscow will not hold talks with Ukraine after Kiev’s attack on the Kursk Region, not until the enemy is completely defeated, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said.
"Everything fell into place after the neo-Nazis carried out this act of terrorism against the Kursk Region. Idle talk about wonderful peace by unauthorized mediators is over. Now, everyone understands - even if no one says it publicly - that there will be no talks until the enemy is completely defeated," he wrote on Telegram.
"In my view, the risk - albeit theoretical - of our country getting trapped in negotiations at some point, showed its face," Medvedev pointed out, adding that he was talking about "the premature and unnecessary peace talks proposed by the international community, which were imposed on the Kiev regime." The Russian Security Council deputy chairman questioned the prospects of such talks, or what results they could produce.
Medvedev also hinted at those behind the attack on the Kursk Region, making unflattering comments about a former British prime minister. "The filthy bastard with a disgusting face and tousled blond hair, who comes from the country where the terrorist operation was prepared, need not celebrate. His country has made things worse for the territory of former Ukraine that it patronizes: there will now be more money thrown down the drain, much more destroyed equipment and far more coffins. Now, let the unfortunate Ukrainian slaves passionately kiss the blood-covered hands of their Anglo-Saxon masters, the necrophiles who are torturing them," the Russian Security Council deputy chief concluded. (Source: TASS)
Also, last night Russia's enemies made the largest attempt so far to attack Moscow with drones - they were shot down by Russian air defenses and luckily no one was hurt. @LauraRuHK
More on Mike Lynch, the tycoon missing from a sunken yacht in Sicily, Darktrace and UK-US intelligence, from a 2015 article: "Darktrace started working with GCHQ and MI5 very early on. Lynch's very first company, Cambridge Neurodynamics, had done work for the British intelligence agencies; as Lynch told WIRED US in 2002, "they have the most interesting problems". Steve Huxter, an ex-MI5 man, was a Darktrace co-founder. Andrew France, deputy director for cyberdefence at GCHQ, was poached as CEO. Sir Jonathan Evans (now Lord Evans of Weardale), a former director general of MI5 who memorably argued that intelligence obtained through torture "had to be seen in the context of the times", became an adviser to the board. There were other hires from GCHQ, MI5 and the NSA; Darktrace was building some impeccable cyberspook credentials. "A combination of maths from Cambridge with the credibility of GCHQ and MI5 is unmatched," says Eagan, who took over from France as CEO of Darktrace.
Names such as Evans's certainly helped, but whispers about Darktrace's technology were the biggest enticement for security officials. Jim Penrose joined the NSA in 1997 – "when it was in low-profile mode" – and worked in cyberexploitation, that is, supporting counterterrorism operations with digital espionage. He heard about Darktrace through contacts at GCHQ and started to try and find out if the product did everything it promised. "And I convinced myself that, yeah, it does, and that's pretty cool," he says. "I thought, this is going to be a game changer for the cybersecurity industry." https://www.wired.com/story/darktrace-mike-lynch/
Nothing to see, just the same old double standards and hypocrisy. ▪️April 2024, the EU Commission slammed "state-induced distortions in the economy of the People’s Republic of China." https://policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/news/commission-updates-report-state-induced-distortions-chinas-economy-2024-04-10_en ▪️August 2024, German state aid approved by the EU. Taiwan's TSMC will build a new computer chip plant in Dresden, Germany, expected to be a key supplier to European industry and carmakers after the EU Commission approved 5 billion euros worth of state aid.
The large aid award for the project, which will cost 10 billion in all, is the biggest approved so far under the EU Chips Act, and the first in Germany. @LauraRuHK
In Kiev the Verkhovna Rada has passed a bill to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).
Official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova: The goal was to destroy canonical, true Orthodoxy at its root, and in its place, introduce a false church in this way, understood only as a replacement.
The UOC is indeed the canonical Orthodox church, while its replacement, the pseudo Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) became independent from the Russian Orthodox Church in 2018 after a schism orchestrated (and funded) by the usual suspects. @LauraRuHK
Freedom of the press and freedom of speech are under attack in the West. Yet another journalist has been arrested and intimidated in London. Richard Medhurst was escorted off the plane as soon as he landed at Heathrow Airport, held for 24 hours under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act in solitary confinement, subjected to psychological pressure, searched and interrogated, his electronic devices were seized and he wasn't allowed to contact his family. After hours of rough treatment he was finally released.
https://richardmedhurst.substack.com/p/i-was-arrested-at-heathrow-airport?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=315447&post_id=147906393&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=3ogpak&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email