Countering Russia’s kleptocrats: What the West’s response to the assault on Ukraine should look like

Kleptocracy in Russia has thrived thanks to the complicity of advanced economies, who are now waking up to its dangers

Image: ev / Unsplash

transparency.org – 04 March 2022

In the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the international community is scrambling to deter President Vladimir Putin and his cronies – and to help end the military aggression as soon as possible.

Among other measures, European Union member countries, Canada, United Kingdom and the United States have all announced targeted sanctions against Kremlin-linked individuals and businesses – many of whom are suspected of large-scale corruption.

In a kleptocratic system such as today’s Russia, going after the elites can be meaningful. The vast wealth that Russian kleptocrats have amassed – and continue to enjoy – has helped President Putin tighten his grip on power, exert illicit influence over the affairs of other nations and embolden his geopolitical ambitions.

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PODCAST – Asia Stream: The Philippine Election — Dynasty and Disinformation

nikkeiNearly 50 years after Ferdinand Marcos Sr. declared brutal martial law, the Philippines is poised to elect his son. Has history been forgotten?

Nikkei staff writersMay 7, 2022 03:26 JST

NEW YORK — Welcome to Nikkei Asia’s podcast: Asia Stream.

Every week, Asia Stream tracks and analyzes the Indo-Pacific with a mix of expert interviews and original reporting by our correspondents from across the globe.

New episodes are recorded biweekly and available on Apple PodcastsSpotify and all other major platforms, and on our YouTube channel.

This week, we focus on one of Asia’s most dynamic but flawed democracies: the Philippines. With the election just days away, we get under the hood of the electoral system and investigate the powerful role that dynasties play in the country, with a special focus on Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the front-runner on the cusp of taking power. We then take into account that other essential, if dangerous, tenet of modern Philippine democracy: disinformation, and how it is being used to gain support among the country’s most vulnerable populations.

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Singapore’s dengue ’emergency’ is a climate change omen for the world

By Heather Chen, CNN

Updated 0213 GMT (1013 HKT) June 7, 2022

A worker fogs a housing estate for mosquitoes in Singapore on August 27, 2020.

A worker fogs a housing estate for mosquitoes in Singapore on August 27, 2020.

(CNN)Singapore says it is facing a dengue “emergency” as it grapples with an outbreak of the seasonal disease that has come unusually early this year.

The Southeast Asian city-state has already exceeded 11,000 cases — far beyond the 5,258 it reported throughout 2021 — and that was before June 1, when its peak dengue season traditionally begins.

Experts are warning that it’s a grim figure not only for Singapore — whose tropical climate is a natural breeding ground for the Aedes mosquitoes that carry the virus — but also for the rest of the world. That’s because changes in the global climate mean such outbreaks are likely to become more common and widespread in the coming years.

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