Bar Mitzva for twins - who isn't invited?

 With the twins up coming bar mitzva one would have expected that Beth would have been invited but it hasn't happened yet. Oversight?

JEWISH UKRAINIAN OLIGARCH LEADING IKG REFUGEE OPERATION, SUSPECT IN BILLION DOLLAR UKRAINE- RUSSIAN MONEY LAUNDERING CLAIMS

 

VIENNA - Ukrainian millionaire, Maxim Slutski, recently appointed by the IKG to coordinate the Ukrainian refugee programme in Vienna, is a suspected link in a billion dollar money laundering scheme tracing to Putin's overthrown puppet president Victor Yanukovych.  

Questions continue to surround the whereabouts of billions of dollars plundered from the Ukrainian budget and funnelled out of the country by former Ukrainian president Victor Yanukovych and his cronies. Whilst convicted for high treason by a Ukraine court on 25 January 2019, and sentenced to 13 years in prison in absentia, the mystery as to how the Kremlin-backed politician made an estimated $40-$70 billion of taxpayers money simply “disappear” is yet to be solved. Here's How Ukraine's Ousted Government Got Away With $40 Billion (buzzfeednews.com)

Following Yanukovych's cowardly escape to Russia in 2013, a group of journalists broke into the empty presidential palace, a sprawling country estate featuring what has been described as “absurd luxury”, including a golf course, a vintage-car collection and a private zoo which housed his famous ostriches.

There, they unearthed reams of financial records revealing how Yanukovych and his top officials buried millions of dollars embezzled from the state treasury in off-shore havens. The damning evidence was confiscated by the Ukrainian prosecutor, who proceeded to launch an investigation. However, private investigators managed to gain access to parts of the material and discovered that Yanukovych was also laundering vast sums via shell companies throughout Europe.

 

One of the companies revealed was A.M. Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH (Frankfurt am Main), a commercial real estate management company incorporated in September 2006 under company number HRB 77967.

According to open sources, the company is run by former Ukrainian, Maxim Slutski, living in Vienna, Austria. Maxim Slutski was married to Tina Schlesinger, sister of Michael Schlesinger. The couple divorced in 2009.

Yanukovych's associates are reported to have constructed an elaborate web of companies trading in buy-back loan schemes. The diagram produced by investigators below shows Slutski, his second wife Yuliya (nee Kaplan) and Yuliya's sister, Olena Gyellyer, purportedly involved in a convoluted operation, leading directly to the criminal in hiding, Victor Yanukovych at the base (circled red).

Essentially, the way the network operates is that company (A) borrows X amount of money from company (B). Lender company (B) then sells the debt on to company (C). Finally, the debt is re-acquired by the original borrower or by another company under its control. In this way, the debt is dissolved since company (A) is unlikely to ever  enforce the debt against itself. The true figures of the company accounts are thereby distorted. Whilst still being able to generate revenue on the loan investment, company A avoids income tax because the loan and its repayment are shown as a loss on the balance sheets.

In 2008, Slutski's company is alleged to have received a $2 million loan from two Cypriot front firms, Dardo Trading Ltd and Jenifex Participation Limited registered in Nicosia(circled yellow). The beneficiaries of these companies are Yulia Shchukina and Vladislav Kravets (circled blue), both Ukrainian citizens and according to sources in law enforcement agents, also well-known bankers. Between 2012-2018, Shchukina and Kravets allegedly resold the debt to Maxi Services Ltd (circled green).

 

Intermediary companies, New Thornhill Trading Inc. and Margolex Limited (circled purple) are then reported to have unburdened Maxi services (green)of the debt and "resold" it along the chain.

 

 

According to the investigation, Margolex (purple) ultimately sold the debt on to ELIZATEN MANAGEMENT (orange), surprisingly a Scottish registered company.

 Interestingly, the founder of Elizaten Management is an Olena Gyellyer, née Kaplan, sister of Yulia Kaplan, the afore-mentioned wife of Maxim Slutski.

 Having exhausted the chain of transactions, the original debt returned to Slutski to either repay or write off.

In 2020, Slutski fled with his family to London after an alleged kidnapping attempt (Three Ukrainians accusing the judge Emelyanov in an attempt of kidnapping in Germany - world news (24-my.info) in Vienna. There he stayed in this luxurious £3.1million home in Hampstead.

He has since firmly re-established himself back in Vienna where he plays a prominent role within the IKG and Lauder Chabad, spearheaded by Rabbi Jacob Biderman. As a former Ukrainian refugee himself, Slutski was chosen to coordinate all the activities inconnection with the influx of refugees who are currently fleeing their besieged homeland and arranged an extravagant party over Purim in their honour.

Whilst appearing to be philanthropic, there is a bitter irony in Ukrainian refugees receiving charity which could potentially trace back to the tax payer money stolen from them in the first instance. 

Due to Ukraine’s dysfunctional law enforcement system, Yanukovych's associates have yet to be brought to justice. As for Yanukovych himself, he is reported to be living under Putin's protection in Russia. Putin's brutal attacks on Ukrainian civilians are, experts say, an attempt to destabilise Zelensky's government and re-establish Yanukovych as a pro-Russian puppet.

Chaos in central Tel Aviv as cops, army forces hunt for shooter on Dizengoff Street

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-april-7-2022/

Security forces flood scene of attack that killed 2 people; police tell the public to remain indoors as assailant remains at large

JEWISH UKRAINIAN OLIGARCH LEADING IKG REFUGEE OPERATION, SUSPECT IN BILLION DOLLAR UKRAINERUSSIAN MONEY LAUNDERING CLAIMS

 

1KG millionaire Maxim Slutski 7'h April 2022

VIENNA - Ukrainian millionaire, Maxim Slutski, recently appointed by the IKG to coordinate the Ukrainian refugee programme in Vienna, is a suspected link in a billion dollar money laundering scheme tracing to Putin's overthrown puppet president Victor Yanukovych.

Questions continue to surround the whereabouts of billions of dollars plundered from the Ukrainian budget and funnelled out of the country by former Ukrainian president Victor Yanukovych and his cronies. Whilst convicted for high treason by a Ukraine court סח 25 January 2019, and sentenced to 13 years in prison in absentia, the mystery as to how the Kremlin-backed politician made an estimated $40-$70 billion of taxpayers money simply "disappear" is yet to be resolved. Here's How Ukraine's Ousted Government Got Away With $40 Billion (buzzfeednews.com)

Following Yanukovych's cowardly escape to Russia in 2013, a group of journalists broke into the empty presidential palace, a sprawling country estate featuring what has been described as "absurd luxury", including a golf course, a vintage-car collection and a private zoo which housed his famous ostriches. 

There, they unearthed reams of financial records revealing how Yanukovych and his top officials buried millions of dollars embezzled from the state treasury in off-shore havens. The damning evidence was confiscated by the Ukrainian prosecutor, who proceeded to launch an investigation. However, private investigators managed to gain access to parts of the material and discovered that Yanukovych was also laundering vast sums via shell companies throughout Europe. 

Ukraine War: Arab Social Media Unsympathetic, Sees Western Hypocrisy

 https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-russia-war-arab-social-media-hypocrisy-west-1696106

As the Western world rallies around Ukraine during Russia's invasion, Arabic-speaking social media users have been less inclined to express solidarity due to a perceived lack of international support for Arab populations in times of upheaval.

On Facebook, Arabic-language Facebook groups focused on Ukraine-Russia developments garnered tens of thousands of members and multiple daily posts praising Russia. Few show support for Ukraine.

Chazon Ish: Why Satan loves elections

From Mishpacha (October 17, 2013 page 39)

Summary: The Chazon Ish needed a cab to get to a bar mitzva - during the elections. The Aguda had reserved a number of cabs for the purposes of getting out the vote. They refused to allow the cab's to be diverted even for a short time and even for the Chazon Ish! A cab was provided courtesy of a political party which would eventually merge with Likud and seemed to have a better appreciation of who the Chazon Ish was. 

The point is that a chareidi party empasizes that they are not concerned with politics per se but only as a means of enhancing the kavod of talimidei chachom and kiddush hashem. Elections unfortunately show that many times - even for chareidi parties - the concern is first and foremost to win - and their official goals get pushed aside if they get in the way of winning.

אחת התמונות המפורסמות של החזו"א, היא זו שבה הוא נצפה לצדו של הגאון רבי יעקב לנדא זצ''ל אב"ד בני ברק - העומד משמאלו, ומימינו ניצב נער צעיר כבן שלושה עשרה. זהו הגאון רבי אליהו לנדא הי"ו )ראה מסגרת,( שחגג באותו יום בר מצווה והחזון איש הגיע להשתתף בשמחה. מאחורי הגר"י נראה רבי מאיר וונדר, שהיה אז תלמיד בישיבת פוניבז'. 

קוריוז שאולי הוא גם בעל משמעות מוסרית - על אודות אותו מאורע, שמענו מפיו של רבי מאיר וונדר: 

"החזון איש ביקש ממני להשיג לו מונית, כדי שייסע לבר המצווה. היה זה  בדיוק יום בחירות אפוף שאון, המולה ותעמולה, וכל המוניות היו תפוסות. הן נשכרו מראש בידי מפלגות אגודת ישראל והמזרחי, לצורך הסעת הבוחרים הפוטנציאליים שלהם אל הקלפי. ברירת המחדל האולטימטיבית שעמדה לפני חיתה לגשת אל ראשי המטות, ולבקש מהן 'לשחרר' לי מונית אחת, למשך זמן קצר, על מנת שתסיע את החזו"א למחוז חפצו". 

למרבה החרפה והכלימה, אף אחד לא הסכים לפנות מונית מתוך המצבת המצומצמת. 'גודל השעה' וה'אילוצים המפלגתיים', עמדו, ככל הנראה, בראש סדר העדיפויות של הפעילים הנ"ל, על פני נוחותו של החזו"א. 

"תתפלא לשמוע, אבל כאשר נואשתי מלחזר אחר הפעילים 'שלנו', מיהרתי לפעיל נמרץ בשם לאופר, שהיה ראש המטה של מפלגת חירות - התנועה שערכיה לא עלו בהכרח בקנה אחד עם האידיאלים של הציבור החרדי - ודווקא הוא קיבל אותי בסבר פנים יפות. הוא מיהר להורות לאחד מנהגי המוניות להתלוות אלי כששמע במי הדברים אמורים. 

"הנה לך עוד דוגמה, לגודל הערכת הציבור הכללי את דמותו העילאית של החזו"א".

Atrocities in Bucha, Ukraine, appear 'premeditated,' 'deliberate': senior US defense official

 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bucha-ukraine-atrocities-appear-premeditated-deliberate-us-defense-official

Russia prompted global outcry this week after the bodies of hundreds of civilians were found on the streets and in mass graves in Bucha.

More than 400 civilians are believed to have been killed by Russian troops in what the U.S., Ukraine and NATO have deemed evidence of war crimes.

Russia said last week that as part of the negotiating process it would withdraw troops from the capital city of Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv to "increase mutual trust."

Ukraine activists say they ID’d ‘Butcher of Bucha’ commander leading ‘genocide’

 https://nypost.com/2022/04/05/ukraine-activists-say-they-idd-azatbek-omurbekov-as-butcher-of-bucha/

“This is what the SS troops used to do in the past,” he said. “This evil simply cannot go unpunished. Our intelligence is consistently identifying all invaders and killers. All of them! And each killer will at his own time get what he deserves.”

Despite mounting evidence, Russia continued on Tuesday to deny the massacre, accusing Ukraine of staging the scenes as propaganda to escalate opposition to invading forces.

The Kremlin initially claimed it could not have been Russian forces because they had left Bucha at the end of last month.

However, satellite images released Tuesday showed bodies clearly strewn in the streets as early as March 18, when Russian forces were still there — and meaning some have been there for weeks.

Many of the dead still remain in black bags in 45-foot-long trenches dug as mass graves.

Marjorie Taylor Greene's ugly accusation points to a dangerous trend in the GOP

 https://edition.cnn.com/2022/04/05/opinions/marjorie-taylor-greene-smear-kbj-filipovic/index.html

Georgia's Marjorie Taylor Greene is no stranger to outlandish, offensive and frankly bizarre behavior. And on Monday, she did it again, tweeting, "Murkowski, Collins, and Romney are pro-pedophile" because "they just voted for #KBJ" -- a reference to Ketanji Brown Jackson, a federal judge set to become the next Supreme Court justice, and three moderate Republican senators who say they will vote to confirm her.

Of course, this is nonsense. Jackson is not soft on pedophiles, and her record is not out of line with the rest of the federal judiciary -- a point reinforced by a group of retired federal judges, two of whom were Republican appointees. The accusations that Jackson is somehow soft on pedophiles are so spurious that even a writer in the conservative National Review condemned them as a meritless smear.

‘Poorly trained actors’: how Russia’s state media twists revelations of atrocities

 https://www.ft.com/content/9d58d7b1-ceb3-429d-b952-3e7da76aace3

Its top TV hosts told Russian viewers there was “no evidence of victims” in Bucha. They accused Ukraine of colluding with western media to stage “provocations” by hiring “poorly trained actors” to play victims or “cynically collecting bodies” to dump in the street for the cameras.

Sarah Lawrence College sex cult leader Lawrence Ray found guilty on all counts

 https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-jury-finds-lawrence-ray-guilty-sarah-lawrence-sex-cult-trial-20220406-4ieb5doxpvgmpnddayb66cqsv4-story.html

It took the panel roughly a half-day to convict Ray, 62, of racketeering conspiracy for his 10-year reign atop “The Ray Family,” preying on the vulnerable young friends of his daughter Talia at the bucolic Bronxville college. Testimony and evidence, including videos filmed by Ray himself, showed he systematically broke down down his victims until he controlled every aspect of their lives.

GOP laying early plans for its own Hunter Biden probes

 https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/06/gop-early-plans-hunter-biden-probes-00023230

“Hunter Biden has never been in office and isn’t seeking office. Donald Trump led a failed coup against his government,” said Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), a member of the Intelligence and Judiciary committees. “The Republicans are obsessed with investigating Hunter Biden and have no interest in guarding against another Trump coup.”

Study: Fourth vaccine dose improves protection by a factor of about 3

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/325294

A new study that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine examined the effectiveness of the fourth dose based on data of over one million people aged 60 or older who were eligible for the vaccine, in the period between January 10 and March 2.

The study found that the rate of severe disease among people who received the fourth dose was lower by a factor of about three compared to people who only received three vaccine doses, and that this protection did not wane throughout the study period.

The rate of confirmed infection in those receiving the fourth dose was lower by a factor of about two compared to people who only received three doses, but this protection waned throughout the eight-week study period.

Adam Kinzinger Slams GOP for Focusing on Disney Amid 'Genocide' in Ukraine

 https://www.newsweek.com/adam-kinzinger-slams-gop-focusing-disney-ukraine-genocide-1695275

Representative Adam Kinzinger slammed the Republican Party for focusing on the recent Disney controversies rather than addressing their members who have "shown Putin sympathy" amid the war in Ukraine, accusing the GOP of distracting voters by riling them up for the midterm elections.

"The world order is being challenged for the first time since World War II and [the Republican Party is] sitting around today thinking about how we can win our next election, what the newest outrage is, what's the next thing we can do to get people angry and upset and get their money from them for our re-election," Kinzinger said in a video shared to social media on Tuesday.