New in PJ Media:
The financial giants Visa and MasterCard have shown themselves to be on the side of the angels, suspending operations in Russia in light of its invasion of Ukraine. Visa explained in a press release on Saturday: “Effective immediately, Visa will work with its clients and partners within Russia to cease all Visa transactions over the coming days. Once complete, all transactions initiated with Visa cards issued in Russia will no longer work outside the country and any Visa cards issued by financial institutions outside of Russia will no longer work within the Russian Federation.” Also on Saturday, MasterCard announced: “We have decided to suspend our network services in Russia.” Righteous! But as is so often the case, there could be a severe downside for Americans, and particularly American conservatives.
Al Kelly, chairman and chief executive officer of Visa Inc., explained that it was a tough step, but it just had to be done: “We are compelled to act following Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and the unacceptable events that we have witnessed. We regret the impact this will have on our valued colleagues, and on the clients, partners, merchants and cardholders we serve in Russia. This war and the ongoing threat to peace and stability demand we respond in line with our values.”
MasterCard likewise struck a more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger pose: “For more than a week, the world has watched the shocking and devastating events resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Our colleagues, our customers and our partners have been affected in ways that most of us could not imagine.” It decided to suspend operations in Russia after “constant dialogue with our customers, partners and governments.” MasterCard claimed to have “received perspectives from our employees, in addition to people across the industry, consumers and our shareholders. We have also considered what would be most important to support the continued availability of services, if possible, to impacted people in the region.” And in light of “the unprecedented nature of the current conflict and the uncertain economic environment,” it ended its Russia operations.
What this means in practice is that “cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be supported by the Mastercard network. And any Mastercard issued outside of the country will not work at Russian merchants or ATMs.” Great, but does anyone think Vladimir Putin is putting the expenses of the Russian army in Ukraine on MasterCard or Visa? The suspension of Russian operations doesn’t hurt Putin or the Russian government; it hurts ordinary Russians who have no influence over Putin and had nothing to do with his decision to invade.
There is more. Read the rest here.
Doomer says
Zelensky got 75% of the vote in 2019 speaking against corruption in Ukraine.He is a self-man rich man,so he has ability.
a. Formerly I had thought he was an honest player who LATER had to do as the ultranationalist and (true for some of its members, not all, Nazi sympathizers) said or he was out.
b. But today in an article by The American Conservative,which is anti-Putin by the way, Rob Dreher,its creator ( who for some reason hates Trump ),author of “Live not by Lies” ( a book for Christian dissidents),
said Zelnsky was guilty of corruption from the beginning. He linked to an article by LEFTIST The Guardian (UK), from 2021:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/oct/03/revealed-anti-oligarch-ukrainian-president-offshore-connections-volodymyr-zelenskiy
That Zelensky had a secret account in Panama ( to NOT pay TAXES) ,in the scandal called the PANAMA PAPERS: 11.5 million leaked documents that were published beginning on April 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities.
This is what The Guardian article says:
1. “On the campaign trail, Zelenskiy pledged to clean up Ukraine’s oligarch-dominated ruling system. And he railed against politicians such as the wealthy incumbent Petro Poroshenko who
HID their ASSETS OFFSHORE. The message worked. ”
2. “The leaked documents suggest he had – or has – a previously undisclosed stake in an offshore company, which he appears to have secretly transferred to a friend
WEEKS BEFORE WINNING the presidential vote.”
3. “Zelenskiy has not commented on the claim despite extensive attempts by the Guardian and its media partners to reach him. His spokesperson Sergiy Nikiforov messaged: “Won’t be an answer.””
4.” The files reveal Zelenskiy participated in a sprawling network of offshore companies,
co-owned with his longtime friends and TV business partners.
They include:
a. Serhiy Shefir, who produced Zelensky’s hit shows,
b. And Shefir’s older brother, Borys, who wrote the scripts.
c.Another member of the consortium is Ivan Bakanov, a childhood friend. Bakanov was general director of Zelenskiy’s production studio, Kvartal 95.”
5.”All are associated with Zelenskiy’s home town in southern Ukraine, Kryvyi Rih. After winning power, Zelenskiy brought these close allies into government.
a. Bakanov became head of Ukraine’s SBU security agency.
b. Zelenskiy made Serhiy Shefir his first assistant, an unpaid role that involves handling the president’s daily schedule.
c. A fourth member of this close-knit group, Andriy Yakovlev, is a film director and Kvartal 95 producer.
Zelenskiy has said these appointments were about personal trust rather than financial cronyism. “I have a few people who work with me who have been my friends for a long time … They have no relation to business, or to the budget,” he told the Guardian in 2020.”
6. “A secret transfer
Before becoming president, Zelenskiy declared some of his private assets. They included cars, property and three of the co-owned offshore companies. One, Film Heritage, which he held jointly with his wife, Olena, a former Kvartal 95 writer, is registered in Belize.
But the Pandora papers show further offshore assets that Zelenskiy appears not to have revealed.
Film Heritage had a 25% stake in Davegra, a Cyprus holding company.
Davegra in turn owns Maltex Multicapital Corp, a previously unknown entity registered in the tax haven of the British Virgin Islands (BVI). Zelenskiy, the Shefir brothers, and Yakovlev each held a 25% stake in Maltex.
On 13 March 2019, two weeks before the first round of voting in Ukraine’s election, Zelenskiy gave his quarter stake in Maltex to Serhiy Shefir, documents show. It is unclear if Shefir paid Zelenskiy. Bakanov witnessed this secret transfer and signed the offshore papers.”
The REST of the article contains details and details of a technical nature,a bit boring,but for those who want to read it all,click on the link.
Doomer says
Regarding the Mastercard and Visa sanctions, there is what is called the DARKWEB, where businesses, usually the mafia, can conduct business and emails,etc,
in total secrecy.
gravenimage says
Doomer, there are more neo-Nazis in Russia than in Ukraine. And Zelensky is Jewish; implyig that he is a Nazi makes no sense.
gregbeetham says
There isn’t any mention of the amounts involved just some innuendo about being associated with a few offshore companies one of which he gave to someone else, seems like a bit of a beat up so far.
noel says
propaganda
Infidel says
People who endorse all these sanctions on Russia are, like Dems, too lazy to analyze what will be the domino effect in all of this. Just like people who support increased taxes have no idea what will happen to the economy, or that one will see more of anything one subsidizes, or less of anything one regulates or taxes
Suspending Visa, Mastercard, Apple discontinuing Apple Pay services in Russia, Paypal suspending their services in Russia – all that means that Russians won’t be able to use their own money as easily. It’s not like these companies supply free cash to the Russians, of which a part gets taxed to fund Putins adventure in Ukraine. All it does is make it easy for average Russians to visit a restaurant or an apparel store, or pay for whatever they do day to day. Now, they have to have a run on their banks, or issue checks (assuming that merchants there are as flexible as merchants here: I have no idea about Russian payment rules)
The other thing that this does is make Russia more likely to consider the Chinese solution UnionPay. So whenever all this is over, all these woke companies will be shut out of the Russian market forever, even if the Russian economy one day grows in the same way that China did in the 00s
The most telling thing about these sanctions is that they deliberately included a carveout for Russian oil purchases, which is the main thing financing this war. If, otoh, Western sanctions had been exclusively on Russian oil and nothing else – from Vodka to Matryoshka dolls, it would still have put the financial skids on this war. Instead, the sanctions that were imposed left the Kremlin still rich enough to bankroll this war, while hitting the average Russian hard. Combine that w/ the xenophobia against all Russians, not just members of Putin’s inner circle – and when all this is over, you’ll have a Russian population as resentful as ever, and ready to embrace the biggest enemy of the West – China – even if Putin goes
Not to mention that what’s going on has been a complete corporate cancellation of Russia similar to the cancellation of conservatives that’s been going on for the last several years