DavidKenner

Reporter/Middle East coordinator @ICIJorg. Words in @TheAtlantic. Middle East editor @ForeignPolicy once upon a time.

Leak to me: [email protected]

[DavidKenner @DavidKenner]

Saddam Haftar, heir apparent to Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar, tells a DC court that he's not a U.S. citizen and thus falls outside of its jurisdiction for prosecution for torture.

[DavidKenner @DavidKenner]

A company linked to a major Trump donor received Treasury Department authorization to transact with a sanctioned Russian bank as part of the firm's purchase of a massive Armenian copper mine.
https://t.co/4kG8j78f8Y

[DavidKenner @DavidKenner]

ICIJ revealed last year that a UN contractor, Shorouk, was secretly owned by Assad's intelligence services.

Shorouk and other firms are now under the control of a new company, which didn't answer questions about its ownership or how this came about.

https://t.co/7YJNe6rKxl

[DavidKenner @DavidKenner]

The United Nations paid roughly $10 million last year to companies formerly linked to the Assad regime.

The reason these companies are still around? The new government’s opaque deals with Assad-linked business elites.

https://t.co/Plb4bQTTrU

[John Scott-Railton @jsrailton]

NEW: we caught 🇨🇳Chinese hackers... again.

Twist: they're hacking journalists & activists, but we suspect they're private contractors.

State repression... with a profit margin.

Thread + how to protect yourself 1/

By us @citizenlab in collab w/@ICIJorg

[DavidKenner @DavidKenner]

Very normal behavior here.

"After you make us lose $900,000 we will invest no less than that to finish you."

https://t.co/Uu100jIK67

[DavidKenner @DavidKenner]

I reported last year that seven Arab states and Israel were participating in a U.S.-led "Regional Security Construct," deepening security cooperation to counter Iran.

Worthwhile time to point out: Kuwait wasn't one of those seven.

https://t.co/QkiNqRx8eG

[Peter Baker @peterbakernyt]

Kuwaiti air defenses mistakenly shoot down three US fighter jets. All six American crew members safely ejected and were later recovered, military says. https://t.co/1UhEoGiRqF

[DavidKenner @DavidKenner]

@bryanrwalsh @AkbarSAhmed Just fyi, your listing says up top that it’s a 16-month position, but then (under What We Offer) describes it as a “permanent” job. Might be confusing to applicants.

[DavidKenner @DavidKenner]

This is not to downplay his position in the UAE, a country that does not use sultan as a title.

[DavidKenner @DavidKenner]

I feel like I’m taking crazy pills. He’s not a sultan, his name is Sultan. This is obvious to anyone with a passing familiarity with the Gulf.

[Acyn @Acyn]

.@PabloReports: There was a sultan who was named?

Khanna: That is the person that we're protecting. Why not put out his name. He's a sultan, a powerful person in Dubai. He's obviously allegedly involved in these crimes..

[DavidKenner @DavidKenner]

This is neither here nor there but the individual’s name is Sultan, it’s not a title

[Attorney General Todd Blanche @AGToddBlanche]

You looked at the document. You know it’s an email address that was redacted. The law requires redactions for personally identifiable information, including if in an email address. And you know that the Sultan’s name is available unredacted in the files. See EFTA00666117.

Be honest, and stop grandstanding.

[DavidKenner @DavidKenner]

@semaforben The real answer is that there’s nothing like what you’re after - at least nothing I’m aware of. Which is a shame, because it’s a really colorful period in modern history. The closest I can think of is: https://t.co/AbmpujNJ52 (but not solely about Philby or Ibn Saud)

[DavidKenner @DavidKenner]

@semaforben Arabian Jubilee is also a unique book about Ibn Saud but be warned, he was a truly awful writer

[DavidKenner @DavidKenner]

@semaforben Not great but https://t.co/x753oR2XfJ

[DavidKenner @DavidKenner]

Today @Sana__gov published:

-A Justice Ministry circular on how publishing Assad regime security files is "a crime that affects the security of the state."

-A description of an @snhr report based on Assad regime security files.

https://t.co/PaZWThcDXf
https://t.co/2N71rLJqVF

[Louisa Loveluck @leloveluck]

Harrowing and deeply important work by @DavidKenner and @NicoleSadek on the survivors of Assad's killing machine -- relatives of the missing, left to pick up the pieces without answers from the old regime or the new. A telling anecdote at the end. https://t.co/BvMTjerveV

[DavidKenner @DavidKenner]

NEW: The United Nations paid $11 million to a Syrian security firm that documents show was owned by a branch of Assad's intelligence services guilty of torture, rape, and murder.

https://t.co/7YJNe6rKxl

[DavidKenner @DavidKenner]

New from me: Israel and key Arab states quietly deepened military cooperation over the past three years, even as the Gaza war raged.

https://t.co/QkiNqRxG4e

[DavidKenner @DavidKenner]

I have never seen a government agency respond to a FOIA request like this. Not just: "Hey, please tell us if you're still interested in a previously submitted FOIA?" But: "We're not going to tell you which FOIA requests are outstanding, but please write us about them."

[Vas Panagiotopoulos @criticalvas]

“An unlikely firm linked to key #Intellexa figures has also sprung back to life online: a skincare company called Medovie.”

https://t.co/c9Mf7VQOhJ