Moscow Court Moves Against Navalny's Group

In a predictable and despicable action, the Kremlin-wired Moscow City Court limited the activities of the Foundation for Fighting Corruption until a judgement is rendered regarding whether it constitutes an "extremist organization." The foundation was established by opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who remains in a Russian prison on the orders of Russian thug and autocrat Vladimir Putin.

If Putin's kangaroo court rules, as is expected, that the foundation is an "extremist organization," its offices across Russia would be closed, and members of the foundation would be subject to arrest and prison.

"If the court grants the request, it would be a crippling blow to the beleaguered team of Navalny, who is President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic. Navalny has been behind bars since January, and many of his aides and associates were arrested or face criminal charges. [snip]

Ivan Pavlov, a lawyer for the foundation, said it is no longer allowed to use the media or the internet to distribute content or to organize rallies and public events, participate in elections or use bank deposits."  (our emphasis)

Putin's regime runs in a fashion similar to an organized crime family, with Putin receiving a percentage of the income from Russia's varied industries which are all run by his allies. The discovery of the notorious Panama Papers five years ago gave the world an insight into Putin's corruption on a large scale, with him moving vast sums of wealth to accounts he controls with the aid of friends. Navalny was on to the criminal behavior at the top of the Russian government before that:

Navalny’s foundation started 10 years ago and has alleged high-ranking government officials are corrupt by posting colorful and widely watched videos on social media platforms such as YouTube.

One of its latest posts, which has received 116 million views, alleges that a lavish palace on the Black Sea shore was built for Putin through an elaborate corruption scheme. The Kremlin has denied there are any links to Putin."

The more international attention on Navalny's imprisonment and treatment, the more attention on what is the cause. Putin knows he'll eventually face international condemnation over his corruption and his increasingly open attempts to silence the accusers, but for now it's all about the crackdown and intimidation.

Panama Fat

Sleaze on a global scale:

A massive leak of documents exposes the offshore holdings of 12 current and former world leaders and reveals how associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin secretly shuffled as much as $2 billion through banks and shadow companies.

The leak also provides details of the hidden financial dealings of 128 more politicians and public officials around the world.

The cache of 11.5 million records shows how a global industry of law firms and big banks sells financial secrecy to politicians, fraudsters and drug traffickers as well as billionaires, celebrities and sports stars.

In addition to Vladimir "Vlad the Invader Evader" Putin, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Ukranian President Petro Poroshenko have direct or family ties to offshore companies. There are a lot of stories on this that you can search for, but the link above and this associated interactive page are recommended.  We note that no American pols have shown up in the leak so far, but are 100% sure that will change in the next couple of hours/ days.

If money is the lubricant of politics, it appears a lot of political leaders have been getting their skids greased to a fare- thee- well.