Hamlin

Contributing Editor at The Hedge Fund Journal, covering all hedge fund strategies & related service providers eg brokers, exchanges, lawyers, tech, data, & ESG.

[Chris S @chris_spencer04]

@nw_nicholas @CatNeilan this is an interesting note from the 2019 accounts. Who's legal indemnity costs were they paying and why? I expect they might need that again soon

[Savchenko Volodymyr @SavchenkoReview]

🇭🇺 Magyar government massively dismisses foreign ministry officials who worked with former Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.

❗️38 officials have so far agreed to leave their positions.

🗣️"We have launched an internal audit and institutional reorganization at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As part of this process, we have decided to initiate the termination of employment relations by mutual consent with 45 civil servants," said the ministry's parliamentary state secretary.

[Sir William Browder KCMG @Billbrowder]

This is remarkable: @Alexbrowder_ has just been added to Russia’s sanctions list for his work exposing Russian sanctions evasion through their own cryptocurrency. In case anyone doesn’t know Alexander is in high school.

[Catherine Belton @CatherineBelton]

.@Richard_AHolmes & I finally joined the many UK and US journalists barred from Russia.🤷‍♀️ https://t.co/nOd9dr4Y03

[Savchenko Volodymyr @SavchenkoReview]

🇦🇲🇪🇺 The first batches of Armenian goods, the import of which Russia has restricted, have already been exported to the EU, — Armenian PM Pashinyan

“A number of business delegations are already working, the first batch of roses and vegetables has been sent. No goods will remain unclaimed,” Pashinyan said.

Since the end of May, Russia has been expanding the list of Armenian goods prohibited from import.

Moscow's "unexpected" complaints about the quality of Armenian goods arose against the backdrop of Prime Minister Pashinyan's course of rapprochement with the EU and the US.

[Visegrád 24 @visegrad24]

Iranians start chanting “Javid Shah” (Long Live the Shah) and “King Reza Pahlavi” as Princess @NoorPahlavi takes the stage at the Oslo Freedom Forum

Video via @realRayanAmiri

[Cathy Young 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱 @CathyYoung63]

@izakaminska No, there's some reporting. He was kicked out of a Sikh temple in 2023 for .... stealing ceremonial blades.

https://t.co/4WxCzS304n

[GOP Ls @GOP__Ls]

🚨 Trump commuted the sentence of pastor Rodney Gibson, a drug dealer.

Gibson has now been arrested again for sexually abusing his 15-year-old foster child.

[GOP Ls @GOP__Ls]

Ross Ulbricht founded a black market for drugs, illegal guns, and assassination services.

At least 6 people died because of his website.

Trump gave him a full pardon.

[Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky_en]

Remember the pig heads at the Paris mosques? Or the Jewish centers painted green?

I knew exactly whose work it was the moment I saw it. Now — I finally have the proof. 🧵 [1/19]

[TheRealThelmaJohnson @TheRealThelmaJ1]

The first thing Bill Pulte did when Trump made him housing director was pull Democrats loan information to manufacture mortgage fraud cases. What do you think he will do as Director of National Intelligence?

[Tymofiy Mylovanov @Mylovanov]

“They told us we were developing antidotes.”

Nadezhda Zavyalova thought she had joined a pharmaceutical company in St. Petersburg. Years later she discovered the laboratory was tied to Russia’s military medical research network linked to Novichok investigations, The Insider. 1/

[Irwin Redlener, MD @IrwinRedlenerMD]

Trump and Vance have abandoned an ally that has been defending America's democracy for more than four years in favor of an avowed adversary committed to chaos and destruction of the West. Such an unforgivable betrayal of America's interests. No American should tolerate this from an American President. I weep for Ukraine and feel deeply embarrassed and infuriated about the unrepentant incompetence of this administration.

[House Judiciary Dems @HouseJudiciary]

Bill Pulte abused his power at the Federal Housing Finance Agency by teaming up with Palantir to trawl through mortgage records and force the Justice Department to file bogus criminal charges against the President's perceived political enemies. Now Trump is tapping him to serve as Director of National intelligence, where he can abuse even more powers, like FISA's Section 702, to spy and surveil Americans on a far greater scale. 

Congress must reform FISA and put federal judges, not Palantir Pulte and Kash Patel, in charge of protecting Americans' personal data.

[Carl Bildt @carlbildt]

In the run up to the 🇦🇲 election this weekend, Putin 🇷🇺 is ramping up pressure on the country in direct copy of what he did against 🇺🇦 in 2013 trying to block its cooperation with 🇪🇺. He’s afraid of losing influence in Southern Caucasus. https://t.co/B5uEimldrx

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

When Reagan called the USSR "the evil empire," it wasn't just a joke. Pure good is elusive, but there is evil in this world and it should be treated as such. The geopolitical effects of a US president flattering dictators are bad, but the moral ones are equally pernicious.

[Darth Putin @DarthPutinKGB]

30 yrs ago yday, as per the Budapest memo guaranteeing their territorial integrity, Ukraine handed their final nuclear warhead to Russia.

Also gave entire command firing chain, delivery vehicles Tu-22s & 1068 Kh-55 cruise missiles. Which have been fired at Ukraine in this war

[Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en]

Russia's biggest battle right now is Armenia.

Russia has already lost elections in Romania, Moldova, and Hungary, and is now losing in Armenia. If it loses Armenia, Georgia will likely be next. Turkey is watching closely.

Russia is now doing everything it can to pull Armenia back into its orbit. Following its defeat in Karabakh and the effective collapse of Russian security guarantees, Yerevan began dismantling the system of dependencies that Moscow had spent decades building. Armenia froze its participation in the CSTO, openly questioned Russia's role as a security guarantor, expanded cooperation with France, India, the United States, and the European Union, and began searching for alternative sources of military support and economic ties.

In response, Moscow launched a comprehensive pressure campaign aimed at making any attempt to leave Russia's orbit as costly as possible.

An investigation by the Dossier Center indicates that the Kremlin has been attempting to directly influence Armenia's domestic politics. This is not about supporting a single candidate but about building an entire anti-government infrastructure. Russian political strategists worked on projects associated with Samvel Karapetyan and Arman Tatoyan. At the same time, they deliberately avoided openly pro-Russian rhetoric. Instead, they promoted messages about "pragmatism," the need to take the Russian factor into account, and the alleged impossibility of Armenia's survival without cooperation with Moscow.

In parallel, the Kremlin intensified its information operations. According to Reuters and researchers tracking influence campaigns, Russia-linked networks created fake news websites, spread disinformation through social media, and coordinated campaigns against the government of PM Nikol Pashinyan.

The same familiar narratives were used: corruption, dictatorship, persecution of the Armenian Apostolic Church, "external control" by the West, and betrayal of national interests. The defining feature of these campaigns is that they do not promote any specific vision of the future. Their goal is to undermine trust in state institutions and create a sense of hopelessness.

A separate tool was economic pressure. Ahead of the elections, Russia began blocking or restricting Armenian exports to its market. Restrictions affected Jermuk mineral water, alcoholic beverages, flowers, vegetables, strawberries, and other products. Formally, the justification cited sanitary or technical violations. In reality, the Kremlin was demonstrating that any political distancing from Moscow could carry direct economic consequences for Armenian producers and exporters.

Energy remains another major lever. Russia controls most gas supplies to Armenia and regularly reminds Yerevan of this dependence. Fortunately, it is currently summer, and Armenia still has time before winter to address its reliance on Russian gas.

At the same time, Russian officials and representatives of the Eurasian Economic Union have warned of potential economic losses if Armenia continues to distance itself from Russian-led integration structures.

In this way, the Kremlin presents a simple choice: dependence on Russia or economic hardship.

Security blackmail is no less important. After its failure in Karabakh, Moscow lost the ability to convincingly present itself as an effective security guarantor. As a result, the emphasis shifted. Armenia is no longer offered protection; it is offered fear.

The Russian message is simple: perhaps we failed to protect you, but without us things will be even more dangerous. That is why Russian narratives constantly focus on the threat of a new war, regional instability, and external dangers.

Importantly, all of these tools function as a single system. Political interference is reinforced by information operations. Information operations are reinforced by economic pressure. Economic pressure is reinforced by security threats.
The Kremlin is trying to create an environment for Armenia in which any step toward greater independence will seem dangerous and too costly.

That is why the current struggle over Armenia is not a conflict between Russia and the West. It is a conflict between Armenia's desire to make its own decisions and the Kremlin's determination to preserve its mechanisms of control over the country.

[Проф. Преображенский @prof_preobr]

На фото Марья Лийвала, посол Финляндии в РФ, стоит на месте памятника финнам, погибшим в советских лагерях для военнопленных.
А самого памятника нет.
Его уничтожили месяц назад.
Зато Дзержинского на Лубянскую площадь собираются вернуть.
Многое говорит о современной России.

[Igor Sushko @igorsushko]

It gets worse. We now have confirmation Nicușor Dan lied about the Russian attack on Romania to appease Russia. Dan made up a story about Ukrainian air defense damaging the Russian drone precisely in such a way that it flew 20km into Romania and blew up an apartment building.
Romanian Ministry of Defense has refuted this absurd claim.