Aubrey Belford AKA @abelf.bsky.social
@AubreyBelford
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Pacific editor at Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). aubrey @occrp .org
Joined March 2009
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This meme has been doing the rounds. It says "go fuck yourself". The defiant last words of 13 Ukrainian border guards on Snake Island in the Black Sea, after they were given an ultimatum by a Russian warship to surrender or die.
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Living in Indonesia, I lost count of how many times people would say that they'd never report crime to police, out of fear that they'd "make things worse" by demanding bribes or even turning criminalising the victims.
Indonesia's police force is highly militarized, poorly trained in crowd control, and in nearly all instances, has never been held accountable for missteps, experts say.
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@Lowkey0nline
I was the editor and co-reporter of that story (look it up) and you've completely twisted it. There's no link between this money and anything to do with Azov.
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I can't believe I'm the first person to do this
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Western media needs to drop this "Russian speaking" vs "Ukrainian speaking" frame. It's misleading, and comes from propaganda. Imagine if the English were threatening to re-invade Ireland, and we were talking about "English speaking" and "Irish speaking" counties
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This "clarification" makes no sense. Isaacson wrote a blow by blow account of how Musk cut off Starlink access during the Ukrainian sea drone attack. Then his source Musk comes out with a diametrically opposed, retconned version and Isaacson says "oh yeah sorry, what he said"
To clarify on the Starlink issue: the Ukrainians THOUGHT coverage was enabled all the way to Crimea, but it was not. They asked Musk to enable it for their drone sub attack on the Russian fleet. Musk did not enable it, because he thought, probably correctly, that would cause a
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NEW: We have uncovered who owned the ammonium nitrate that blew up in Beirut last year, killing over 200.
The shell company that owned the cargo traces back to Ukraine. We also found some of their other chemical shipments. A collab of
@OCCRP
and partners
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@Lowkey0nline
Past tense. Kolomoisky funded militias at the outbreak of fighting in 2014. No more.
Zelensky and Kolomoisky's link is separate. Z made TV shows for K's channel from 2012, and K backed him in 2019 election. Since then the relationship has broken down
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Ukraine's embassy in Turkey out with a video of what appears to be Turkish-made Bayraktar drones destroying a column of Russian vehicles. There hasn't been much clarity how Ukraine has been using these so far.
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This is huge.
@OCCRP
has found that at least $4.5 billion worth of disparate assets linked to Putin and his clique are actually connected via a common domain. This suggests an underlying network that secretly manages Putin's private fortune.
NEW: For years, Vladimir Putin has denied any connection to the palace, villas, and other assets that reporters have tied to him.
But we found that these properties have something in common: The companies that own them are secretly interconnected. /1
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If you're wondering how much work goes into investigative reporting, these are *only* the interview transcripts for a single article I'm drafting right now for
@OCCRP
. This isn't even counting the court & company records, open source trawling, etc.
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I love being addicted to this website. I love seeing the most pampered, comfortable people in all of human history vicariously enjoying a massacre.
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The accusation that Bellingcat is an intelligence front came from Syrian and Russian regime propagandists and apologists, upset about open source investigations about chemical weapons in Syria and the downing of MH17. That's all there is behind this.
Musk accusing Bellingcat of “psy ops” (whatever that means) is no different than mobsters accusing investigative journalists of being tools of CIA, Mossad, you name it. These people live in a conspiracy and cannot understand how much work goes into investigative reporting.
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I worked as a journalist in Indonesia for nearly 7 years, and saw cash payments routinely being made to journalists, especially on press conferences and junkets. It was so common that there was a phenomenon of fake journalists who would turn up to presscons just for the envelopes
A Radio Zealand journalist says an Indonesian govt official attempted to bribe and intimidate him at the recent 22nd Melanesian Spearhead Group leaders' meeting in Port Vila. Jakarta has responded on Monday saying it will "surely look" into the claims.
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Like a good propagandist, he tucks tail and runs. On to the next talking point.
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@ByYourLogic
you wanted to make a bullshit tankie point exculpating the actual aggressor but you don't have the courage of your convictions so you buried it in irony. fuck off
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Westerners apologizing for Putin was bad enough when Russia was big and strong and scary, but doubling down now that Russia's leaders and military have been exposed as incompetent losers is especially pathetic
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A Trump fundraiser and an ex-CIA chief flew to Turkey in 2018 on a backchannel to free jailed pastor Andrew Brunson. Their host is now on the run over links to $500m fraud, a Mormon cult, and Armenian org crime. My latest
@OCCRP
with
@KlasfeldReports
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This is huge. Militarily, diplomatically, and, now, economically, Russia is getting hammered.
⚡️Hungary now supports cutting Russia off SWIFT.
Hungary was the last EU country who opposed the measure.
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If you've never been to Kyiv, you should know that its metro is insanely deep underground. Scores of metres. These were set up to be bomb shelters. In normal times the escalator ride alone could take longer than a train ride of several stops. They will save countless lives.
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@mtracey
@paulmasonnews
No way you took this picture. It's not blurry, not shot through a fence, and actually contains the subject you're talking about.
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@Lowkey0nline
Your point actually leads to the opposite conclusion than you think it does. The far-right saw an opportunity for influence in 2014, but failed to translate that into power, and have steadily been squeezed aside as Ukrainian democracy has strengthened.
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Go to Kyiv, and you'll find most people use Russian as their day to day language. Just try telling any of them that makes them Russians...
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Somewhere in the bombed out ruins of Russian-occupied Mariupol, amid the mass graves of tens of thousands of dead civilians, a malnourished survivor manages to get some data and discovers that a truly shocking atrocity has occurred: an American has had to experience cringe online
How serious is the war in Ukraine?
Them:
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@georgemaschke
@borzou
@thegrugq
@Lowkey0nline
This is the common mistake in a lot of western analysis, and played on by Russian propaganda. Azov didn't come into existence because neo-Nazis are strong in Ukraine. It came into existence because the state was weak at a time of existential threat.
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@Lowkey0nline
You're just lying here. You mentioned the Pandora Papers. That's this story, right here:
Want to know where the lead author is? I can't tell you, because Putin is invading her country as we speak
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The networks operations were hidden behind a convoluted network of offshore sell firms and nominees. This chart shows a part of it, and details how we managed to unravel its ownership.
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Serbia's pro-government tabloids are currently carrying out a shameless campaign of lies against our partners, the brave independent journalists of
@KRIKrs
. We support KRIK
#PodrziKRIK
Najbolesnije laži do sada!!
Da li ste svesni da zbog ovih laži novinare KRIK-a sutra neko može prebije i šta sve ne??
@ALOnovine
nisu jedine,
@KurirVesti
i S.Telegraf su danas započele ovu kampanju protiv
@KRIKrs
, čekamo i ostale tabloide
Zato više nego ikad -
#PodrziKRIK
✊
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A lot of Americans think Murdoch is a straight right wing ideologue. He's not. Australians and Brits can tell you from experience that he's much more mercenary than that. And his outlets have an amazing sense for blood in the water.
Downcast Trump makes baseless election fraud claims in White House address
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@Lowkey0nline
Ok, I muted this conversation so I missed this. Noticed it blowing up again so I need to come back and set the record straight. You're misusing our reporting for clearly propagandistic purposes. It's pretty shameless, but not atypical for pro-war spin merchants
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This bullshit map looks like it was made by tankie Mr. Burns. Claims there are US bases in Yugoslavia, South Rhodesia, Ceylon, French Indochina, French Morocco, French Algeria. I'm honestly kind of upset they didn't include Siam, Prussia, and the Ottoman Empire.
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The theatre where over 1000 civilians were sheltering in Mariupol that was just bombed by Russia. The big white letters -- each the size of a car -- spell out ДЕТИ (CHILDREN). This was meant to keep them safe, but it's hard not to conclude that it actually made them a target
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Don't forget also: the former director of the CIA, the current co-chair of the RNC, & the guy who hired Mike Flynn to illegally work as an agent of Turkey.
Sezgin Baran Korkmaz: the guy gets around
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Access journalism is a blight on the profession. It's glorified native advertising.
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@georgemaschke
@borzou
@thegrugq
@Lowkey0nline
Kolomoisky's backing for far-right militias was a populist move amid the chaos of 2014. Nothing to do with ideology, these were just among the few groups willing and able to fight Russia at the time. "Enemy of my enemy" type logic.
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What QAnon expected The Storm to be: Trump arresting and executing the entire Satanic pedophile elite
What The Storm ended up being: Trump pardoning dozens of corrupt politicians and rich fraudsters
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Starting from October, I'll be based in Sydney working for
@OCCRP
in building a grassroots investigative journalism network in the Pacific Islands region. We will be training, supporting local orgs, and working together with local and intl media on big investigations
Next month
@OCCRP
will add the Pacific region to its coverage area from a new office in Sydney. Long-time OCCRP editor
@AubreyBelford
, formerly in Kyiv, will lead a team building collaboration among reporters across the many island nations spread throughout the vast region.
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@Lowkey0nline
Despite, backing Zelensky, Kolomoisky has also been sidelined. The far-right's main institutional backer, former interior minister Arsen Avakov, was also pushed aside by Zelensky
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Imagine seeing the senseless slaughter and barbarity of this war, the daily war crimes, and thinking the thing that really deserves scorn is libs posting cringe. Absolutely empty.
It’s so cool that American libs have turned Zelensky into a God. A dude who oversaw his country turn into a Rampage level is the greatest statesman of the age. Sexually attracted to losers.
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Attn Pacific Islands journalists!
We are launching a big program to promote investigative journalism in the Pacific. We have editorial and reporting jobs available, as well as $ for investigative work and training in investigative techniques
More info:
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@georgemaschke
@borzou
@thegrugq
@Lowkey0nline
He's trying to insinuate that Zelensky is a Nazi sympathiser because he was backed by Kolomoisky. It's nonsense. Kolomoisky is a toxic character (he allegedly stole over $4.5B from his own bank and laundered it abroad) but he is no Nazi (like Ze, he's Jewish).
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If Isaacson really got the story wrong the first time around then he needs to get a major correction out and explain what actually happened
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@Lowkey0nline
You are insinuating that Zelensky and Azov are somehow tied together because they both received support from Kolomoisky. Kolomoisky is a dangerous guy (because he's a massive alleged thief who embezzled over $4.5B from his own bank) -- but he's not a Nazi
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Led by Ukrainian businessman Volodymyr Verbonol, the Savaro network has since the 2000s traded products including the type of ammonium nitrate used to make explosives.
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Ukraine saying Russian forces are in Obolon, a dense suburb of high rise apartments in Kyiv's NW, by the Dnipro river. They are calling on citizens to shower them with Molotov cocktails
❗️увага
На Оболоні ворожа ДРГ.
Просимо громадян повідомляти про пересування техніки!
Виготовляти коктейлі «Молотова», знешкоджувати окупанта!
Мирним мешканцям - бути обережними! Не покидати оселі!
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I feel safer when I can see straight into the cockpit. The open packet of off-brand Cheetos and the roll of paper towels, they comfort me.
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@Lowkey0nline
The far-right in Ukraine gained prominence in 2014 not because they were strong, but because the state was weak at a time that it was under existential threat. They fare very poorly in politics and have been sidelined more and more.
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A third of Russian marines in Bucha -- site of the now-infamous massacre -- had previously fought in Syria
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This guy asks Russian troops in Ukraine who have run out of fuel if they'd like a lift back to Russia. They laugh. They seem to genuinely have no idea they've been sent on a full invasion of Ukraine and no awareness of danger ahead. Bizarre.
Multiple videos on social media of Russian military out of fuel, food and stuck on highways
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Laughing about some people drowning to death in the precise way that lets people know I'm a good person with the correct political opinions
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Thailand's conservative monarchy/military establishment has been an enthusiastic partner of the US for well over half a century. But apparently their setback in this election is some sort of US-backed color revolution. This is weapons-grade tankie brain rot.
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@Lowkey0nline
Like Zelensky, Kolomoisky is Jewish. He backed far-right militia in 2014 not out of ideological reasons, but for the same reason many Ukrainians did: because they were among the few Ukrainians willing and able to fight Russia while the state was in disarray
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New anti-imperialism just dropped
Strong 1938 Austrian Anschluss vibes here. New Russian billboards in occupied Nova Kakhovka in southern Ukraine: "Russians and Ukrainians are one people, one whole", "Russia is here forever!"
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@ScottAdamsSays
Thank you, sir. Your comic strip has already dealt so powerfully with law enforcement overreach.
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As we reported way back in mid-2019, Fruman was the guy in the trio w Rudy G and Parnas w the actual links to Ukrainian organized crime, oligarchs, politicians and prosecutors. He even partied with the head of Odessa's mafia in Miami on NYE 2016:
"Ex-Giuliani Associate Igor Fruman Plans to Plead Guilty in Illegal Contributions Case"
Lev Parnas's lawyer and SDNY U.S. Attorney's office declined comment.
Developing...
@lawcrimenews
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@RichardHanania
Your timely reminder that one of the authors of Hungary's conservative constitution was arrested fleeing a gay orgy in December
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Plane and ship tracking data appear not to corroborate Hersh's piece. No journalist is famous enough that they don't need an editor.
Wanted to check what I was capable of checking regarding the Hersh piece. There are facts presented that do allow for some open-source work, namely the setting of the explosives via a Norwegian Alta-class minesweeper, and the dropping of a sonar buoy by a Norwegian P8...
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Translation: Australia's most famous paleo food TV chef / crystal healing weirdo is now posting neo-Nazi memes.
(The Black Sun is a symbol created by Himmler out of the sig runes used in the SS logo. Pete Evans claims to know what it is.)
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This is a really clear, really balanced analysis of Azov and the far-right in Ukraine that doesn't fall for either Russian propaganda or western willful blindness.
Putin’s claim that Ukraine is a “Nazi state” is simply a lie. But instead of “de-Nazifying” Ukraine, his invasion is reinvigorating extreme-right militias, some Nazi, within the Ukrainian armed forces. We need to watch carefully watch how this develops:
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Happy birthday to America's foremost cyber security expert, Rudy Giuliani!
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Something about this really gets to me. You can see the life draining out of this great city in real time.
Unbearable scenes at Kyiv central station. Old people, kids, disabled people, pets, this train is already packed full. People fear it could be the last chance to flee.
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Very proud to have organized this investigation. Following leads first made by
@nytimes
in August, we found Uighur-made masks and other PPE being sold throughout Europe by major suppliers including US multinational McKesson (who are distributing US COVID vaccines)
NEW: Face masks and other COVID-19 protective equipment made by Uighur laborers in China are being sold across Europe, including to governments and health bodies in at least five countries.
#MadeByUighurs
Our investigation with partners in 7 countries. 1/
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@ggreenwald
Hear hear. As an investigative journalist I hate editors saying things like "this could be written better" or fact checkers saying "you got this wrong". I can't wait to be free to freeform write 5,000 word screeds settling scores with people in the industry who have Wronged Me.
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Little Buff Boys Competition, Russian style
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We've been working on this for months, and its huge: Worldwide misuse of advanced Israeli spyware sold to repressive governments, able to take complete control of your phone. Dozens of activists and journalists infected.
NEW: The Israeli firm NSO Group sells spyware to repressive governments that often use it to target activists, political opponents, and reporters.
In a new joint investigation, we uncovered new victims around the world.
This is the
#PegasusProject
. 1/
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Massive investigative story on Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt (they guy who Trump leaked to about submarines). Allegedly paid big $$ to Rudy Giuliani & King Charles, and has kept former Aus PMs on monthly retainers of A$8-25k / month
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@derJamesJackson
The first question on the personality test is "have you ever had sex?" and answering "yes" is an instant disqualification
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Look closely at an emu and you'll see the face of your dumbest friend when you were 14
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@RubinReport
Damn, that's crazy, man. I wonder what you would have found if you actually opened the article and read it.
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This is a good video to share if you know anyone who believes in this particular piece of long-running disinformation
Vladimir Putin says he invaded to 'de-Nazify' Ukraine.
It's a B.S. argument and hypocritical, too. But some on the far right and far left here in America believe it.
So I debunked the 'Ukraine is Nazi' B.S. on the
@MehdiHasanShow
tonight, with receipts:
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George Pell was unanimously convicted by a jury of raping two choirboys, but it was later overturned by a higher court on a technicality
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This is exactly it. A lot of my friends and colleagues live just down the road from Bucha, and narrowly avoided something much more horrific
I want you guys to understand that pretty every person who lived in or near Kyiv before the war started has been looking at what happened in Bucha (and Irpin and Brovary and other suburbs) and thinking "that could have been me."
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Weird Al Yankovic delivers State of the Union
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Football is coming home to Rome, where it lives with its parents and drives a scooter
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There's really no low this guy won't stoop to.
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One of the first captured Russian soldiers has been identified. 19-year-old Rafik Rahmanulov. Absolutely tragic to see virtual children thrown into this shit, as always. Lucky for this kid he'll now likely survive the war.
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Any journalists out there feel like taking a job in Samoa? I'm 100% serious here. Hit me up in the DMs or aubrey
@occrp
.org. There are opportunities going at the Samoa Observer for both a seasoned editor and a junior reporter. Candidates will work with OCCRP on collaborations.
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@Therealhughes
@happy_cylinder
@alexeheath
Damn, we really should find the guy who loaded twitter up with all that debt
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Lazy bullshit does very well online these days. Some people are even willing to pay for it, anywhere from $8 to $44 billion. It's much more satisfying to spend your time on things that are real though.
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@mtracey
Michael this is a very important story and I hope you report on it by going to Nepal and taking a photo of the exterior of a pizza hut
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Remember Duterte's war on drugs? Well, wouldn't you know, we
@OCCRP
&
@rapplerdotcom
reveal corroborating testimony that one of his close associates has for decades been a "drug lord" (the guy's close to China, too)
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So many Americans just can't comprehend a world in which their country isn't the main protagonist
We are risking nuclear conflict so that 400 people in northern Virginia can remodel their bathrooms
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@jennineak
Don't really have time for people who claim to be anti-war, and then go spreading state propaganda used to justify and deflect from another war
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Russian strike reportedly kills a child on a bicycle in the Jewish pilgrimage city of Uman, Ukraine. Putin's "denazification" is going great.
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The work never stops. Here is an article we put out this morning, part of a line of reporting that has already prompted an international criminal probe
Papua New Guinea police have launched an int'l criminal probe after OCCRP revealed offshore payments involving Australian businessman Don Matheson and PNG officials.
Now, OCCRP and partners reveal evidence that PNG’s PM knew Matheson more than he let on.
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This really is wild. So audacious to just fly helicopters into Russia and blow up a fuel depot.
“The fire at the oil depot in Belgorod started as a result of an air strike by two helicopters of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which entered Russia at a low altitude, said the governor of the region Vyacheslav Gladkov.”
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