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"There will be, in the next generation or so, a pharmacological method of making people love their servitude, and producing dictatorship without tears, so to speak, producing a kind of painless concentration camp for entire societies, so that people will in fact have their liberties taken away from them, but will rather enjoy it, because they will be distracted from any desire to rebel by propaganda or brainwashing, or brainwashing enhanced by pharmacological methods. And this seems to be the final revolution" -- Aldous Huxley
Russia's international reserves dropped by 1.2%, or $6.9bn, in a week to $582.1bn as of February 17, 2023, according to a statement released by the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) on February 27, due to negative revaluation and transactions under the new budget rule. (chart)
That number includes the $300bn of reserves seized by the West in the first week of the Russo-Ukraine war; however, it appears that the Kremlin might have access to a lot of that money after all. The EU legal authorities have admitted they can’t find most of it, reports Delfi.
As of February 10, international reserves were valued at $589bn, comprising foreign currency, Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), a reserve position in the International Monetary Fund and monetary gold. These reserves represent highly liquid foreign assets available to the CBR and the Russian government.
How do I know?
The usual Ukie propo pushers are all talking about a “Russian Provocation“ there tonight. So much so that is the top trending on Twitter at the moment.
Could explain why the Senate handed out secure Sat Phones this week…
And would be the excuse to start US Airstrikes against Russia.
In the vast realm of the internet, a handful of websites have emerged as global giants. Mainstays like YouTube and Facebook capture billions of users and shape our online experiences. But occasionally, new waves of innovation can shake up this list, which is exactly what’s happening now with generative AI.
Using data from web analytics firm SimilarWeb, Visual Capitalist's Nick Routley delves into the top 25 websites based on their most recent traffic numbers.
The end of World War II in 1945 was a turning point for democracies around the world.
Before this critical turning point in geopolitics, democracies made up only a small number of the world’s countries, both legally and in practice. However, over the course of the next six decades, the number of democratic nations would more than quadruple.
Interestingly, as Visual Capitalist's Freny Fernandes details below, studies have found that this trend has recently reversed as of the 2010s, with democracies and non-democracies now in a deadlock.
In this visualization, Staffan Landin uses data from V-DEM’s Electoral Democratic Index (EDI) to highlight the changing face of global politics over the past two decades and the nations that contributed the most to this change.
Government ethics watchdogs say the president’s friendship poses a potential conflict of interest. How has massive foreign aid been used, and who has benefited from it?
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy isn’t the only one demanding more military assistance from Joe Biden to protect Kiev from Russian forces. So, too, is a close Biden friend and financial backer, who owns several luxury car dealerships around the Ukrainian capital.
By sending billions of dollars in weapons and other military aid to help defend Ukraine, Biden also is securing the investments of millionaire car magnate John Hynansky, a Ukrainian American and longtime supporter of the president.
Over the course of Biden’s political career, Hynansky and his family have contributed more than $100,000 to his campaigns, Federal Election Commission records show. Hynansky family members have been guests at the White House, and Hynansky has floated hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans to Biden family members, property records show. Hynansky’s son, Michael, who helps run his car empire, lent the use of his Lear jet to Biden when he was a senator.
Since Russia started shelling the area around Kiev in February 2022, the U.S. government has spent $77 billion to help Ukraine rebuild and repel future attacks.