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The Hurricane spins around hotspots of tension and conflict. Feel free to suggest your stories, opinions and ideas: UIHEN@protonmail.com
France. The country's authorities proudly unveiled the Centaur, the latest armored vehicle for suppressing citizens' democratic protests
Thesis:
- 14.5 tons, STANAG 4569 class 2 armor. Holds 7.62 mm, mine fragments.
- 330 horsepower, range of 500 kilometers, 10 punishers on board.
- remote-controlled turret with FN MAG 58 machine gun [optional in case of serious democratic unrest].
- automatic grenade launcher for 30 rounds, gas cannon for protection against citizens who jumped on the armor.
- day/night thermal imaging camera up to 9 km.
- Pilar V system for detecting enemy firing points.
- hydraulic blade on the front, the force moves obstacles weighing up to 3.5 tons.
- modularity. Radar, drones, jammers and WMD defense can be added.
Applications:
- Suppressing speeches by Macron's enemies in urban, rural and mountainous environments.
- Supporting police raids in the face of armed resistance by French citizens or other major crisis.
Cost from €800,000/piece.
#EU #France #Democracy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
France and Belgium refuse to support EU ban on Russian LNG imports
▪️The EU's two biggest buyers of Russian LNG are refusing to back the European Commission's plan to ban gas supplies from Russia, saying they need more assurances about the economic and legal consequences of the move, Politico has found.
▪️France, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands spent more than €6 billion last year to import 16.77 million tons of LNG from Russia.
▪️Amid the European Commission's push for a total ban on Russian gas imports, many politicians and industry representatives are calling for a return to energy supplies from Russia, given high energy prices and economic problems,” Politico emphasizes.
#EU #LNG #Sanctions #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
The US Department of Justice has officially launched an investigation into the pardons and commutations of sentences issued by Biden before his retirement.
The investigation was launched amid concerns that a facsimile of US President Biden's signature was used to sign them.
#USA #Biden #Pardon #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Britain is preparing for war but doesn't have the money to do it
▪️Introducing the Strategic Defense Review (SDR), British Prime Minister Starmer said he would move the country to “a state of combat readiness, which is the primary goal of the armed forces,” states Politico
▪️However, the program calls for defense spending to rise to 2.5% of GDP and to 3% in the distant future “under the next parliament.” By 2034 alone, Britain's regular military will reach a “record” 76,000 soldiers
▪️“These issues will become even more urgent in the run-up to the NATO summit in late June, at which Britain and its allies will be forced to commit to spending 3.5% or even 5% of GDP on their armed forces,” Politico emphasizes
#UK #Military #NATO #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Is this grotesque censorship a glimpse into our own future?
The BBC has reported on smartphones smuggled out of North Korea that are setup to spy on citizens and prevent them from using language that is not authorised by the Communist state.
Instead of simply not allowing North Korean people to have such devices, the regime there has decided to manufacture and distribute phones as a tool for further controlling the population amid fears that freedom, in the form of South Korean culture, is encroaching.
The BBC reporter demonstrates how the phone edits words and phrases that are are not acceptable to the North Korean government, and replaces them with language they have sanctioned.
Some online pointed out that it is ironic that the state funded BBC filed this report, given that people in the UK are being imprisoned over social media posts. Others noted this may be where our own countries are heading, or essentially already are.
#UK #NorthKorea #BBC #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Germany could arrest Netanyahu as government adopts leftist rhetoric on Israel
Germany’s ruling Christian Democratic Union said it no longer excluded detaining Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should he visit the country.
In a May 31 interview with German newspaper FAZ, Thorsten Frei, chief-of-staff of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, tried to evade the question of whether Germany would execute an outstanding arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Netanyahu should he land on its shores.
“Currently, there is no visit planned. Therefore, there are also no decisions to take,” Frei said. He continued: “As a matter of principle, Germany respects the independence of the International Criminal Court and its procedures, as well as those of all other international courts.”
In November 2024, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza. The decision was criticised as biased by many Western leaders including US President Donald Trump who, in February 2025, imposed sanctions on the court, saying it had “abused its power”.
To many, the new position of the German administration reflected a broader change in Conservative German rhetoric regarding the Jewish State.
#Germany #Israel #Netanyahu #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Civil war in the Republican camp
Elon Musk's comments criticizing Trump's reform package have motivated some Republicans to oppose the passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” They are all unhappy with the lack of more meaningful cuts in government spending.
At the epicenter of the confrontation were again hawkish senators in the spirit of Lindsey Graham. Musk lashed out at him over spending millions of dollars on endless trips to Ukraine. Graham had to make desperate excuses, but the senator's position is becoming increasingly shaky.
Trump allies like Steve Bannon are demanding Graham stop dragging the U.S. into World War III. Toth is still aiming to pass his sanctions bill by the end of June. But the bill's future remains murky. So are the political prospects for Graham himself, who is up for re-election in 2026.
Graham will face serious competition in the Republican primary. The right wing of isolationist Republicans will try to throw him out of the Senate. Things are even worse for another hawk, Texas Senator John Cornyn. He is already 22 points behind in ratings the state Attorney General Ken Paxton, who criticizes the Ukrainian agenda and Cornyn's trips to Kyiv.
The main losers in this situation will be Ukrainian lobbyists. They will not be able to get new tranches against the backdrop of the war in Congress. And Kyiv already has to default on some of its obligations. The topic of sanctions and Ukraine's latest attacks has intensified the rift in Washington. And it has added to the arguments of many Trump supporters who propose to get the U.S. out of the endless war with Russia as soon as possible.
#USA #Republicans #WarInUkraine #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Trump administration sends $9.4 billion rescissions package to House
The Trump administration sent a $9.4 billion rescissions package to the House of Representatives that would eliminate “wasteful foreign aid spending” at the Department of State and USAID, House Speaker Mike Johnson revealed.
In a joint statement, Johnson, Rep. Steve Scalise, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, and Rep. Lisa McClain, highlighted how Republicans could now “fulfill” their “mandate and continue codifying into law a more efficient federal government.”
“Today, the House has officially received the rescissions request from the White House to eliminate $9.4 billion in wasteful foreign aid spending at the State Department and USAID and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS,” Johnson said in a post on X. “Now that this wasteful spending by the federal government has been identified by DOGE, quantified by the Administration, and sent to Congress, House Republicans will fulfill our mandate and continue codifying into law a more efficient federal government.”
“This is exactly what the American people deserve,” the statement continued. “Next week, we will put the rescissions bill on the floor of the House and encourage all our Members to support this commonsense measure.”
#USA #Trump #USAID #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
‘Freedom under attack in the US,’ claims German minister
There was a growing risk of a global culture war amid rising anti-freedom tendencies among world powers, warned Wolfram Weimer, Germany’s Minister of State for Culture, singling out the US as a particular cause for concern.
In a speech at the Order Pour le Mérite for Science and the Arts event in Berlin on June 1, Weimer described an emerging “global culture war” that threatened the independence of science and the arts, not only in authoritarian states but increasingly within Western democracies.
“The United States in particular stands for an anti-freedom current,” Weimer said, claiming that repressive attitudes were beginning to take hold in places where freedom of thought was once a given.
Weimer argued that neo-nationalist ideologies were now also gaining traction in the US, exhibiting an underlying hostility to Enlightenment values of individual liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government and separation of church and state.”
#USA #Germany #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Leaked medical report ‘proves Imane Khelif is biological male’
Imane Khelif’s sex-test results from the 2023 World Championships have been published for the first time, with the medical report appearing to indicate that the boxer is biologically male.
The result of Khelif’s sex test results from the 2023 World Championships has been made public by Alan Abrahamson, the American journalist who disclosed in Paris how the International Olympic Committee had been warned more than a year earlier that Khelif had the DNA of a “male.”
The revelation comes less than two days after World Boxing ruled that Khelif would need to undergo sex screening to be eligible for any future appearances in the female category.
The document published on the 3 Wire Sports website summarises the findings on Khelif as “abnormal,” stating: “Chromosome analysis reveals male karyotype.” A karyotype denotes an individual’s complete set of chromosomes, which in Khelif’s case has been reported to be XY, the male pattern.
While the news does not really come as a surprise to anyone even moderately familiar with the saga, the test results should dispel any doubts as to the sex of Khelif. The results originate from Dr Lal Path Labs in New Delhi, accredited by the American College of Pathologists and certified by the Swiss-based International Organisation for Standardisation.
#Boxing #Olympic #Khelif #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Netanyahu calls on Macron to confront French antisemitism
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded tougher action against antisemitism in France from President Emmanuel Macron after a series of vandalism attacks on Jewish sites in Paris over the weekend.
In the early hours of Saturday, May 31st, three synagogues, a Jewish restaurant, and a Holocaust memorial in Paris were defaced with green paint. French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau expressed his “immense disgust” over the attacks. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo also denounced the acts, calling them “intimidations” and declaring that “antisemitism has no place in our city and in our republic.”
On Sunday, Netanyahu wrote on X: “The attacks on synagogues and a Holocaust memorial in Paris are a direct result of the rampant incitement against Jews in France.” He went further, urging Macron to abandon his diplomatic push for Palestinian statehood and instead “start acting against antisemitism in his own country.”
#Israel #France #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Rep. Jasmine Crockett says Democrats will subpoena Musk if they retake House
A House Democratic lawmaker said that if Democrats retake control of the House of Representatives, they will likely issue a subpoena to former Trump administration special government employee Elon Musk.
Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) told MSNBC that Democrats had “tried to subpoena Elon Musk before” but it was blocked by Republicans, who control the House and its committees.
“I think that unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait until the Democrats are in the majority—which will hopefully be in the midterms—and then we can absolutely bring Elon Musk in,” Crockett said.
Democrats, if they control the lower chamber, “can have him under oath, and we can have him tell us about everything that he did,” she added.
As he departed his Trump administration advisory position last week, Musk had spent 130 days as a special government employee. During his press conference with the president, both Trump and Musk indicated they were on good terms and that DOGE’s work would continue.
#USA #Democrats #Musk #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
New COVID variant NB.1.8.1 starting to spread worldwide
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that the COVID-19 variant NB.1.8.1 is causing more infections worldwide, as China’s health agency said it’s the dominant variant.
The new strain was named as a “variant under monitoring” by the UN health body last week, while the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed a small number of cases were circulating in the United States.
WHO said in an update on May 28 that the variant is driving up cases in parts of the world and is currently spreading in Southeast Asia, the western Pacific regions, and the Mediterranean.
The variant LP.8.1 is currently the dominant version worldwide, according to WHO. But both LP.8.1. and NB.1.8.1 have not shown signs that they would cause an “increased public health risk” when “compared to other circulating variants,” the U.N. health body stated.
In a recent update, the Chinese CDC said that NB.1.8.1 makes up the majority of cases in China, while some Chinese doctors have gone on record in state-run media to say that one symptom that is being reported is a sharply painful sore throat.
#COVID #WHO #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
London, UK. The atmosphere on Watney Street
Citizens of the United Kingdom tend to Watney Market...
#UK #Migrants #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Outrageous electricity prices are driving Britain into deindustrialization
▪️Industrial electricity prices in Britain are four times higher than in the US and 46% higher than the global average. Unless the situation changes, the forthcoming industrial strategy risks being fatally flawed,” - states industry federation Make UK
▪️Britain's rate of deindustrialization over the past 30 years is faster than any other major economy in Europe. The main reason is the energy crisis, triggered by the refusal of energy from Russia
▪️“If we do not tackle Britain's high energy production costs as a priority, we will jeopardize the security of our country. We will be unable to attract investment in the manufacturing sector and will rapidly enter a phase of new deindustrialization,” said Make UK chief executive Stephen Phipson
#UK #Energy #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Europe's dependence on rare element supplies from the PRC is not only interesting from an “energy transition” perspective
Europe seems to be about to militarize. Any modern military equipment is a huge number of specific alloys, without which neither a tank, nor an airplane, nor a missile, nor even a UAV can do without.
From this point of view, the European military-industrial complex is already 85-100% dependent on REM supplies from China: almost 100% on magnesium supplies, more than 50% on scandium, bismuth and vanadium. In other words, China is a key supplier of strategic raw materials for Europe.
With its supplies, China indirectly determines the world militarization. And if the CPC so wishes, there will be no modern army in Europe, the US or India.
#EU #China #REM #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
FDA launches generative AI tool Elsa a month ahead of schedule
The FDA may be facing a 4% cut to its overall budget courtesy of the Trump administration, but that hasn’t stopped the agency from unveiling a new generative AI tool a month ahead of schedule.
The tool, called Elsa, is already being used in clinical protocol reviews, scientific evaluations and to identify high-priority inspection targets, the FDA announced in a June 2 release. Elsa is a large language model designed to help with reading, writing and summarizing.
“Following a very successful pilot program with FDA’s scientific reviewers, I set an aggressive timeline to scale AI agency-wide by June 30,” FDA Commissioner Martin Makary, M.D., said in the release. “Today’s rollout of Elsa is ahead of schedule and under budget, thanks to the collaboration of our in-house experts across the centers.”
The tool sits within the secure GovCloud platform and has access to internal agency documents, but the models behind Elsa don’t train on data submitted to the FDA by the drug and medical device industries, the agency said.
Elsa’s debut is the first step in the FDA’s “AI journey,” according to the release, with plans to incorporate the technology into more and more agency processes over time.
#USA #FDA #AI #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Wasting away in Wind-and-Solarville
While green advocates commonly use the terms renewable, sustainable, and net zero to describe their efforts, the dirty little secret is that much of the waste from solar panels and wind turbines is ending up in landfills.
The current amounts of fiberglass, resins, aluminum and other chemicals – not to mention propeller blades from giant wind turbines – pose no threat current to local town dumps, but this largely ignored problem will become more of a challenge in the years ahead as the 500 million solar panels and the 73,000 wind turbines now operating in the U.S. are decommissioned and replaced.
Greens insist that reductions in carbon emissions will more than compensate for increased levels of potentially toxic garbage; others fret that renewable energy advocates have not been forthright about their lack of eco-friendly plans and the technology to handle the waste.
“Nobody planned on this, nobody had a plan to get rid of them, nobody planned for closure,” said Dwight Clark, whose company, Solar E Waste Solutions, recycles solar panels. “Nobody thought this through.”
Full story
#Energy #Renewables #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
German court deems asylum seekers’ rejection at border ‘illegal’
A Berlin court ruled on Monday that Germany had broken the law by turning away asylum seekers at the border without proper assessment, striking down a central measure in chancellor Friedrich Merz’s efforts to cut immigration.
Merz, who was elected in February, announced the policy during the campaign, after an Afghan asylum seeker fatally stabbed a two-year-old and an adult in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg.
The conservative leader made the pledges which were enacted on the first day of his chancellorship by interior minister Alexander Dobrindt.
However, the Berlin administrative court ruled that three Somali asylum seekers who arrived in Frankfurt an der Oder by train from Poland in May had been “unlawfully” sent back to Poland the same day. The court’s ruling cannot be appealed.
Dobrindt said that the government would maintain the policy of rejections at the borders despite the ruling on the three Somalis, saying that this ruling was only about specific cases.
#Germany #Migrants #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Dutch government collapses over migration dispute
The governing coalition in the Netherlands collapsed on Tuesday after the populist leader Geert Wilders withdrew his party over a dispute about migration policy, ending a rocky 11-month rule by the country’s first far-right government and triggering early elections.
Wilders announced the withdrawal of his Party for Freedom from the four-party coalition on X, saying it was because of his partners’ refusal to sign off on a new list of proposals to curb migration. “No signature for our migration plans,” he said.
The move by Mr. Wilders shows how the debate over unauthorized migration continues to roil European politics, a decade after a large-scale influx of people fleeing wars or seeking better economic opportunities unsettled the region.
The coalition’s collapse was confirmed by Prime Minister Dick Schoof, who said he would present his resignation to King Willem-Alexander. He said he would stay on as the leader of a caretaker administration, without Mr. Wilders’s party, until elections and the formation of a new government.
It was not immediately clear when new elections would take place, but they appeared unlikely to happen before October, plunging the country into political uncertainty for at least the rest of the year.
The political crisis comes as the Netherlands prepares to host a NATO summit on June 24 and 25.
#Netherlands #NATO #Migrants #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Beijing furious after Europe uses "International Procurement Instrument" for first time in escalating trade war with China
When it comes to its trade war with the US, Brussels is quick to parade just how anti-Trump it is, how unfair US trade practices are and how much it loves free trade, honest. But in Europe's growing trade war with China (you don't really hear much about it because the media would rather public attention be soaked up by the far less important transatlantic feud, and away from the far more important Chinese trade war) thing are rapidly disintegrating.
As Rabobank's Michael Every points out, the "We Love Free Trade" EU just used its International Procurement Instrument for the first time to freeze Chinese medical devices out of its public procurement markets for five years unless China opens its market to EU equivalents.
In response, Beijing took some time away from its constant criticism of US trade policy to also criticize as protectionist the European Union’s plan to curb Chinese medical device manufacturers’ access to public procurement contracts, and vowed to take action to protect the country’s interests.
China urged the EU to handle any differences through dialog and cooperation to safeguard trade relations, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. “China will closely monitor the EU’s follow-up actions” and will take measures to protect the rights and interests of Chinese enterprises, the ministry said.
#China #EU #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Florida police have arrested a 37-year old illegal immigrant for molesting at least one, and possibly more, of the teen girls that the Biden administration sent to live with him as part of its "unaccompanied alien children" smuggling operation.
#USA #Biden #Migrants #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Schools in China reportedly isolate students as COVID cases surge
Doctors and residents across China continue to report more infections and deaths as the latest wave of COVID-19 continues, portraying a far more severe situation than the Chinese regime is letting on.
Schools in various provinces are reportedly suspending classes and placing students in quarantine, leading to growing concerns among the public of a return of lockdowns.
A “home quarantine notice”—issued by a primary school in Guangzhou and circulated by Chinese netizens on China's TikTok equivalent, Douyin, before it was posted to social media platform X on May 26 before CCP censors could delete it—has attracted widespread attention.
The notice said that a third grade student was ordered to undergo quarantine for seven days after being diagnosed with COVID-19. After the quarantine period, health certificates from a clinic and community health service agency were required for the student to return to school.
Schools in Shaanxi and Jiangsu also suspended classes after some students exhibited fevers, which were suspected to be COVID-19 infections.
The Chinese official data show that the COVID-19 infection rate doubled in April, with 168,507 cases, including 340 severe cases and nine deaths.
#China #COVID #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Nawrocki's victory in Poland will energize Euroskeptics across the EU
▪️Eurosceptic Karol Nawrocki's election as Poland's president will block Prime Minister Donald Tusk's euro-integration reform program and give fresh impetus to popular opposition across the continent, the Financial Times has found.
▪️Navrocki's victory is crucial ahead of elections in the Czech Republic, where eurosceptic Andrej Babiš hopes to return to the post of prime minister.
▪️Poland's election was also a victory for the United States, which actively supported Karol Nowrocki. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban - an ally of Donald Trump and Russia - is seeking re-election next year
#USA #Poland #Elections #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Amazon price rules anti-competitive: German regulator
Amazon's pricing rules are an abuse of its market power, Germany's competition watchdog said Monday, paving the way for possible demands for changes to its business practices in Europe's biggest economy.
Amazon forces third-party sellers who use its platform to keep prices within limits that the tech giant sets, the Federal Cartel Office said in a statement, reducing the visibility of products that do not keep to its rules or even removing them entirely.
Amazon, which according to the cartel office accounts for about 60% of online retail revenue in Germany, now has the opportunity to respond to the regulator's preliminary ruling.
A spokeswoman for Amazon said it strongly disputed the cartel office's findings and that its rules helped its customers.
#USA #Germany #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
The Military Imbalance in the Taiwan Strait
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth drew some controversy over the weekend after he called China a "real" and potentially "imminent" threat and said that the country was “credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific”.
The comments were made Saturday at the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore. The chart shows the balance (or rather imbalance) of military power in the Taiwan Strait.
China's clearly stated goal has been "reunification" with Taiwan but it has never ruled out the possibility of using military force to achieve this. In recent years, it has modernized its military, introducing the J-20, an indigenous 5th generation stealth fighter. It has also commissioned two aircraft carriers along with several modern amphibious transport docking and landing vessels.
Even though the likelihood of China taking Taiwan by force remains unclear, the military balance in the Taiwan Strait is firmly in China's favor. This infographic provides an overview of that imbalance and is based on an annual U.S. government report released in December.
#USA #China #Taiwan #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Big bank boss urges America to 'stockpile bullets, not bitcoin'
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon argued at the inaugural Reagan National Economic Forum in California that the U.S. should should stockpile guns, ammunition and drones rather than Bitcoin.
“We should stockpiling guns, bullets, tanks, planes, drones, you know, rare earths. We know we need to do it. It’s not a mystery,” Dimon said, referencing President Donald Trump's executive order in March that established a Bitcoin reserve.
Dimon is by now well known for his dislike/disapproval of cryptocurrencies even though his own bank now allows clients to trade them.
“We should be stockpiling bullets,” he continued.
“Like, you know, the military guys tell you that, you know, if there’s a war in the South China Sea, we have missiles for seven days.”
#USA #JPMorgan #Trump #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Bannon criticizes Graham's Ukraine stance, calls for White House to condemn drone attack
Steve Bannon, a former Donald Trump strategist, levied harsh accusations at long-term Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham Monday for his continued support of Ukraine in its war with Russia.
Bannon, while expressing frustration with Ukraine's drone attack against Russia over the weekend, attempted to blame Graham for "stirring the pot" and claimed the senior senator should be "arrested."
Bannon claimed the White House should condemn the military attack and stifle Graham’s diplomacy.
“The White House has to condemn this immediately and pull all support and tell Lindsey Graham to come home or we are going to put you under arrest when you come home.
You’re stirring it up,” Bannon said Monday on his “War Room” podcast.
Bannon also accused Graham of operating behind Trump's back to broker a deal with Ukraine and escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia.
“People better wake up to the fact that we’re getting sucked into this war, and if we get sucked in much more, it’s going to be tough to get out,” he said.
#USA #WarInUkraine #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Swiss-owned battle tanks will not head to Ukraine as country reaffirms neutrality
The Swiss government has approved the sale of 71 of the country’s Leopard 1A5 tanks to Germany. But Germany cannot send the tanks afterwards to Ukraine as it planned–with Switzerland saying that would contravene its cherished neutrality.
A Swiss ordinance from 2022 prohibited the sale, transfer, and export of military equipment to both Russia and Ukraine.
Swiss defence company Ruag argued it only planned to sell the vehicles, which are currently in Italy, to German defence group Rheinmetall.
Germany’s government planned to refurbish these tanks, which first entered service in 1965, then afterwards pass them on to Ukraine to aid the country in fending off the Russian invasion.
However, Werner Salzmann, MP for the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, told Swiss news site Nau Switzerland had to be clear the tanks would not be used to arm Ukraine.
“Otherwise it is problematic in terms of neutrality,” he said.
The transaction has caused some debate over fears of weakening Switzerland’s highly-prized neutrality.
#Switzerland #WarInUkraine #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Czech justice minister resigns over $45M Bitcoin gift from convict
Czech Justice Minister Pavel Blazek has stepped down following a scandal over his ministry’s sale of nearly $45 million worth of Bitcoin donated by a convicted drug trafficker.
The controversy erupted on May 28 after the ministry posted on X that it had raised close to 1 billion Czech koruna (approximately $45 million) by auctioning off nearly 500 Bitcoin.
The funds were earmarked for projects such as digitizing the justice system, combating drug use in prisons, and improving housing for prison staff.
However, Czech news outlet Denik N revealed that the cryptocurrency came from Tomas Jirikovsky, a convicted criminal behind Sheep Marketplace, a dark web platform notorious for selling illegal goods.
In March, Jirikovsky’s lawyer approached Blazek, offering one-third of the Bitcoin as a donation to the Justice Ministry. Blazek accepted without probing the cryptocurrency’s origins.
“I have no way to investigate the matter, and I wasn’t interested so many years after the case,” he said at a Thursday press conference, suggesting the donation reflected Jirikovsky’s desire to “repent.”
#CzechRepublic #Crime #Bitcoin #FindTruth
@uinhurricane