Also on today’s menu:
Sanctions Against Oligarchs
Funding Essentials And Nothing More
Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, originally sentenced to 2½ years in prison following his arrest in January 2021, saw his sentence extended another nine years this week, but the invasion of Ukraine has not silenced all of the critics, despite the thousands who have been arrested. Russia has banned Facebook and Instagram as being extremist and Twitter was blocked, but Russians have been able to access the banned social media networks and news outlets. More than 15,000 people were detained for demonstrating against the war, according to the OVD-Info rights group that tracks political arrests.
The Russian parliament has criminalized content that deviates from the official line or discredits the Russian military and its actions in Ukraine, saying calling it a “war” or an “invasion” is “fake news” — it is a “special military operation.”
Navalny’s supporters established a new website with the message: “Corruption kills. As Ukrainian cities are bombed by Putin, this has never been more obvious. Putin and his circle have done everything to stay in power — and steal, and steal, and steal some more. High on their own impunity, they unleashed a war. … We will find all of their mansions in Monaco and their villas in Miami, and when we do, we will make sure Putin’s elite loses everything it owns.”
Sanctions Against Oligarchs
Fifty-seven-year-old Mikhail Fridman is among the wealthy “oligarchs” who have been sanctioned by the European Union and the United Kingdom as part of the effort to isolate Russia following its attack on Ukraine. However, as a Bloomberg Buinessweek article reveals, Fridman was born and raised in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv and made his fortune in banking and energy before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rise to power. Fridman’s parents are Ukrainian citizens who until recently lived part of the year in an apartment in Lviv.
The day after Russian troops crossed into Ukraine, Fridman sent a letter to his staff that was later released to the public, decrying the conflict as a “tragedy” and saying “war can never be the answer.” While Fridman stopped short of directly criticizing Putin, he says that statement could make it dangerous for him to return to Russia. His charity organization, the Genesis Philanthropy Group, announced the donation of $10 million to Jewish organizations supporting refugees in Ukraine.
Yet, because of his business dealings with Russia, Fridman was placed on a list of oligarchs whose assets have been seized by the EU and the UK. He said the sanctions make wrong assumptions — that by seizing their wealth, those sanctioned will pressure Putin to withdraw from Ukraine. Fridman claims that, although they had to deal with authorities on a daily basis, most wealthy people avoided involvement in politics, and have little or no leverage with Putin.
(As an aside, in a recent conversation about the Ukrainian situation, a friend pointed out that “oligarch” is a derogatory term applied to wealthy Russians who in this country would just be called “the rich.” Rich people in the U.S. also have business dealings with top government officials and may influence government policy.)
Funding Essentials And Nothing More
Voters at the Winnisquam Regional School District’s annual meeting approved the $25.7 million school budget, a three-year teachers’ contract, and the closure and sale of Union-Sanborn Elementary School in Northfield, but not a costly plan to make repairs to school buildings or to add vocational education programs in precision manufacturing and cosmetology to the Winnisquam Regional Agricultural Center.
Superintendent Robert Seaward said the sale of the Union-Sanborn School property may help with targeted capital improvements. “Depending on how much Union-Sanborn sells for, that could solve some of our problems,” he said. “We could turn that money into roofs or repairs.”
Fifty to 75 percent of the $1.4 million Ag Center project would have been paid by the New Hampshire Department of Education, but that money likely will not be available in the future.
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