– The Western media continues presenting narratives divergent from reality to the public;
– The key to seeing through these deliberately misleading narratives is having a first principle understanding of the conflict in Ukraine, how and why it began and how it has been perpetuated since it began;
– Understanding that the US politically captured Ukraine, that Kiev no longer serves Ukrainian interests and instead serves Washington’s interests, and that the US military and intelligence agencies run the Ukraine war simply through their Ukrainian proxies, helps cut through claims that “Ukraine” refuses to compromise to US “peace” efforts;
Wars, under Cheney’s influence, contributed to millions of deaths and displacements. A Brown University study estimates the post-9/11 wars (primarily Afghanistan and Iraq) killed ~4.5 million people and displaced 38 million.
Richard Bruce Cheney: (January 30, 1941 – November 3, 2025) was an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush.
Dick Cheney, who served as U.S. Secretary of Defense (1989–1993) and Vice President (2001–2009), was a key architect of several major U.S.-led military interventions. He actively advocated for, planned, or oversaw these operations, often as a proponent of neoconservative foreign policy emphasizing preemptive action and regime change. While he never served in the military himself (receiving five draft deferments during the Vietnam War era), his roles made him a central figure in post-Cold War U.S. military strategy.
U.S. Invasion of Panama (Operation Just Cause)
Persian Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm)
U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom)
U.S. Invasion of Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom)
These are the conflicts where Cheney had direct, high-level involvement—either overseeing operations or driving policy. Broader “support” (e.g., as a congressman in the 1980s, he backed aid to anti-communist insurgents in Afghanistan, Angola, and Nicaragua, but these were proxy conflicts, not U.S. wars he led). He also advocated for potential action against Iran and North Korea but did not oversee invasions.
Human Cost: These wars, under Cheney’s influence, contributed to millions of deaths and displacements. A Brown University study estimates the post-9/11 wars (primarily Afghanistan and Iraq) killed ~4.5 million people and displaced 38 million.
Influence in the Aftermath of 9/11
Cheney’s role extended far beyond that day, shaping U.S. policy for years:
Architect of the “War on Terror”: He was a driving force behind the invasions of Afghanistan (October 2001) and Iraq (March 2003), advocating for preemptive strikes and linking (falsely, as later debunked) Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda. This “Cheney Doctrine” emphasized executive power, surveillance expansion (e.g., warrantless wiretapping), and “enhanced interrogation” techniques at sites like Guantanamo Bay.
Policy Legacy: His influence led to the Patriot Act, CIA black sites, and a peak public approval rating of 68% post-9/11. Critics, however, blame him for misleading intelligence on Iraq’s WMDs and ties to 9/11, contributing to over 800,000 deaths in related conflicts across multiple countries.
“Dick Cheney died after a long life in which he cashed in handsomely on calamitous wars he launched on the basis of crude lies.
But his spirit lives on in the Trump administration, a collection of authoritarian knaves and white collar criminals who have escalated his bogus war on terror to pursue lucre through violent conquest in Venezuela, while bombing Iranian targets designated by apartheid Israel, and threatening to jail and deport those within their realm who disagree.
The Democrats, meanwhile, have attempted to salvage the image of the Cheney family, making Liz Cheney the star surrogate of Kamala’s historically inept 2024 campaign, hailing her as an icon of American democracy, and even praising her father for his “service.” They did this purely because the Cheneys opposed Trump, as if that was sufficient to atone for their seminal role in torture, criminal deception, the maiming of thousands of US service members and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.
Dick Cheney may be physically dead but the most odious characteristics of his leadership and legacy have been distilled into the essence of the US regime.”
–Investigative journalist Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal), editor of The Grayzone
ClearNFO:Building on the work of Quigley and others, Alex Krainer brings it all together in this exposé of the system our oligarchs use to control their livestock–that’s you and me, pal.
Congressman Curt Weldon appears on The Corbett Report to discuss his appearance at the upcoming Turning the Tide: 9/11 Justice in 2025 conference in Washington, D.C. James and Congressman Weldon discuss 9/11, Able Danger, Osama bin Laden, intelligence operations and where they agree and where they disagree on the subject of 9/11 truth.
ClearNFO: If you’ve read Quigley’s ‘The Anglo-American Establishment‘ you will love this excellent video by Matt Ehret. Here, Matt builds on Quigley and others while updating and filling in many missing pieces. Enjoy!
The US govt is going to start official hearings on freedom of speech & censorship in the UK.
“The censorship, the repression in the UK is off the charts…” – “What’s happening now, is the weaponisation of populations…as a way of destroying British culture, English culture, indigenous. culture…”
“This is the nature of a parasitic imperial system…”
🌍 What connects Israel’s strike on Qatar, Trump’s economic plan, the push for race & religious wars, and the City of London? @sjkokinda, @NakedHedgie & @TFL1728 expose what the empire fears most: humanity waking up. Don’t miss this!
Final Enclosure: Theft of Boomer Wealth and the Forced Collapse of the English Civilization by EM Burlingame …
Listen up, you half-asleep bastards. The last pile of wealth we English-speaking suckers have left—the Boomer stash, all those pensions and houses and scraps of dignity—is getting fenced off right now. Enclosed, they call it, like some fancy history lesson, but it’s just theft. Pure, gut-wrenching robbery by the Praetorians, those bloodless financiers who’ve gutted us for centuries. They’re packing up, abandoning our hollowed-out lands and what’s left of our so-called civilization, handing the keys to the oil kings from the desert who still have tens of millions of young men to sacrifice to the money god. Corrupt and fully owned governments here at home grease the wheels, tokenized finance locks it down. And you? You’re watching it happen, eyes wide shut, while they wipe us from our own dirt. Hell, all you cryptdiots are cheering it on.
It starts with the Financialist Kill Chain, that old, rusty blade they’ve been sharpening since forever. Infiltrate, influence, debt-trap, spot the assets, crash the economy, swap debts for land, suck it dry, then bail. That’s the drill. They’ve done it to empires, to tribes, to anyone with something worth grabbing. Now it’s our turn, the once-mighty English Civilization, hollowed like rotten teeth. The goal? Collapse us so they can steal the very ground under our feet. Look at Russia after the Soviets—debts piled high, assets stripped by oligarchs backed by foreign vultures. Wars, bubbles, welfare overloads, corruption rotting from the inside. It’s all engineered, a slow kill to prime the Boomer loot for the taking. Wake up—it’s your future they’re fencing!
Their shiny new toy? Tokenization and crypto, that digital snake oil turning real wealth into pixels on a screen. They call it progress, but it’s enclosure 3.0, trapping what wealth remains in algorithms while they sip champagne. Dot-com crash, 2008 meltdown, COVID cash floods—trillions poured in, now locked in a $2 trillion crypto casino that’s about become tens of trillions. Financialism’s their religion, math their god, and you’re the sacrifice. No more commons; just endless tribute to the code priests. It’s the great rip-off, humanity’s energy enslaved in bits and bytes, built on your taxes, out of your reach. Shock yourself awake—this ain’t freedom; it’s chains you can’t even see.
They pull it off through these fake liberal democracies, bought and paid for, puppets on strings. Started with the Dutch East India pricks in 1602, Venetian bankers pulling the wires. Democracy? Bullshit—it’s a tool to crush real kings and princes who wouldn’t bend to the money men. Elect some fools, stack the bureaucracy, drown nations in debt, brainwash the masses with ideology, kill all the native sons, whore the women. Sovereignty? Gone. Culture? Homogenized slop. In our lands, it’s laws that screw the people, policies that hand Boomer wealth to the shadows. Repression dressed as rights. Stab yourself in the gut— this is how they enclose us, end us, legal and clean.
Don’t bother with morals; these Financialists got their own bible, written in ledgers. Back in the 1600s, they kicked out the churches, built stock exchanges instead. Westphalia in 1648 neutered the popes, Glorious Revolution in 1688 crowned the merchants. Joint-stock scams like the VOC turned shares into salvation, central banks like England’s in 1694 made debt holy. Accountable aristocrats out, unaccountable investor scum in. Society flipped to worship stuff, growth, abstraction. Their ethics? Steal what you can, enslave everyone, justify with numbers. Boomer trillions? Just another offering on their altar. Ethics won’t touch ’em; they’re beyond your whining.
For us English types, this shit cycles every 400 years, bloody resets where people, princes, and parliaments claw at each other’s throats. Alfred the Great kicked it off in the 800s, Magna Carta in 1215 slapped down kings, Civil War in the 1640s gave parliament teeth, American Revolution tweaked the machine. Now we’re in round four, the English peoples cracking under fake divides, preyed upon by human refuse imported for the task, bribed with sanctioned raping of our women, all trust in tatters. It’s war every time, blood to balance power. But we gotta beat the Praetorians this go-round, unlike that 1688 fuck-up when they slipped through, giving us the illusion of power just to distract and blind us.
Those Praetorians—Roman ghosts turned finance goons, military spooks, intel rats—run the show now. Illicit cash flows, endless wars, hijacked religions. All run out of Qatar, yeah that one, the one backed the October 7th slaughter. They ditched Christianity for wealth worship, outsource killing to mercs, erode everything real. From Venice to Wall Street, they war on true leaders, embed their kill chain everywhere. Murdering where they must. To win, people and honest princes gotta link arms, smash the lies, reject their money cult. Kill the killers. History’s screaming at you—do it, or die quiet.
Face it, you fools: our wealth on paper? Already gone, tucked in UAE contracts, just like it hid in London’s City for 300 years. Dubai’s the new den, blending Sharia scams with global grease. Gotta spread Sharia law everywhere to lock in the new system, infuse the new regime, lock out what few natives survive. Post-9/11 wars remade the Middle East for this, zero taxes luring the loot, hidden banking structures to secure ill-gotten loot, theft of the Commons. It’ll run their machine for ages, exploiting Muslim hordes for labor and cannon fodder. Russia, China, Iran push back, but for us? Boomer assets tokenized, offshore, fueling the handover. Shock: it’s stolen, and you’re next. You don’t have the balls anymore to kill us in vast numbers to deny our claim, the only reply.
And who’s helping? Our own rent-sucking traitors—landlords, slumlords, tax-grabbing governments. They don’t give a damn who owns the title, long as the cash rolls in. Payrolls, Promotions and Pensions their only concern, millions of Stephens from Django happy to do their master’s bidding. Aristotle warned about tyrants loving foreigners; now it’s evictions, subsidies for invaders, communities gutted for profit. Our sons demoralized, our women raped. Stockholm, Munich, Paris, New York, London—natives out, migrants in, votes rigged, power diluted. They’re selling us out for scraps, speeding the collapse. Wake the fuck up—these disposable in their own country bastards are your neighbors.
But here’s their fuck-up, the crack in the wall: Molon Labe. Come and take it, motherfucker! That old Greek growl shamed ’em, the Greeks, into fighting for their dirt. From Westphalia’s cage to 1688’s sellout, Financialists commodified it all, flooded us with foreign fighters to crush resistance. Debt, screens, weakness—they’ve doused the fire in our young men’s guts. But those sons? We still got ’em, lot of ’em. And as has always been, they’re the only real wealth, ready to become battle-hardened in the wars for our lands, deeply wired to defend soil and blood. We got GWOTTERs and even some of the old ‘Nam boys still around. We’ll train ’em, stand ’em up, let ’em bleed the enemy, our young men. The pass is narrow; and we’re gonna have to hold it like the 300 at Thermopylae. Till our own Queen Gorgo, whoever she may turn out to be, rallies the women to empower their native sons to FIGHT.
This last enclosure—theft of Boomer trillions—is the endgame, more than 300 years of predation boiling down to now. It’s happening in your face, you blind drunks, you distracted fools. It’s happening, the wiping of our people from our lands. The only way to stop it? Deny the new “owners” physical possession. Who gives a fuck what your piece of paper, your digital ledger says. Come and enforce it you limp wristed fucks. Boys! Block the gates, fight like those Spartan ghosts two thousand years back. No abstractions, no pleas—just raw denial, blood in the dirt, this dirt. Reclaim or vanish. Your call, but time’s up.
Time to slap those patches on, boys! Time to stand and fight for our thousand year old civilization, here, in our own lands!
Wars frequently pick up where the last ones left off. World War II ended where World War 1 ended. Operation Iraqi Freedom (Gulf War II) began where Desert Storm (Gulf War I) concluded.
Today there is every reason to expect the recent 12-day conflict between Iran on one side and Israel and the United States on the other to resume when the Israeli and U.S. Forces have replenished their stocks of missiles. No doubt, the Iranians will work hard to radically improve their integrated air defenses. For simplicity, let’s call the current conflict, the “New Long War.”
As always, the New Long War continues with other means. GEN Erik Kurilla, the CENTCOM CDR is known for his close relationship with PM Bibi Netanyahu and his enthusiasm for the Greater Israel Project including seizure of Sinai and the Suez Canal. Fully aware of the impossibility of rapidly conquering and seizing the Suez Canal without active American military support, General Kurilla may have received authority from President Trump to conduct joint planning.
The presence of a newly established Russia phased array radar in Egypt suggests Moscow is aware of the possibility. The Russian phased array radar can reportedly track stealth aircraft and missile launches at long range.
Further east, some 1,200 miles away in Azerbaijan, Israel’s Azeri-Turkish ally is allegedly preparing to attack Armenia and, potentially, northern Iran. GEN Kurilla also knows that Iran, like Russia, has a long history of cooperation with Orthodox Christian Armenia. Israel provided critical drone technology to Azerbaijan in its last victorious campaign against Armenia, and Azerbaijan likely provided support for Israeli operations against Iran.
GEN Kurilla is also acquainted with the MEK (Mojahedin-e-Khalq) an anti-Iranian Kurdish Force formerly aligned with Saddam Hussein’s government in Iraq. The MEK fights for regime change in Iran and is predictably now aligned with the Trump Administration.
Azerbaijan’s goal is a greater Azerbaijan created by forcibly annexing Iran’s Turkic Azeri population centered on Tabriz in Northern Iran. The unspoken assumption in Washington, Jerusalem, and Baku is that the Azeri Turks in Northern Iran will welcome the opportunity to join with their Azeri neighbors. The national leaders in all three States view this operation as contributing to the breakup and destruction of Iranian national unity, as well as the desired regime changes in Tehran. These operations are in the planning stage but could be launched at any time. These may or may not wait for the U.S. and Israeli missile arsenals to be replenished.
A similar approach was employed in Ukraine against Russia. However, the operation to remove President Putin from power in Moscow, to foment unrest and violence against Moscow inside Russia, Kazakhstan and other neighboring states was botched.
Washington’s gamble failed. Russia remains intact. Russia’s resources remain beyond the reach of Western financial power. The Russian State and its military power are stronger than ever. Ukraine is destroyed.
The history of Washington’s military interventions is not encouraging. Washington’s interventions since 1953 failed to cultivate the emergence of any liberal democratic states. If anything, Washington’s near constant interventionism spread authoritarianism across North Africa and the Middle East. The new long war seeks to subvert and destroy Iran promising a similar outcome.
However, this time, the New Long War will invite broader participation from numerous Muslim states, Russia, and China. In contrast to past interventions, the new long war could also prove impossible to sustain inside American society. As seen during the Black Lives Matter (BLM)/Antifa riots in 2020 and, more recently, the appearance of Mexican flags during anti-ICE demonstrations in Los Angeles, American societal cohesion is low, with ominous connotations for American national power.
Notwithstanding President Trump’s tariff offensive, the trade policies sponsored by both parties for at least 40 years encouraged de-industrialization. The problem is inseparable from immigration policy. Since 1965, America has admitted over 50 million legal immigrants, most from the developing world. Today, there may be as many as 50 million illegal immigrants inside the U.S., including 20 to 30 million illegals that arrived during the Biden administration. Simultaneously, real wages for working-class Americans stagnated despite real increases in productivity and soaring corporate profits.
At the same time, Washington’s financialization of the economy—a form of rent extraction, with profits earned through privileged access to new money created by the Federal Reserve—combined with the destruction of American manufacturing, supports a massive wealth transfer mechanism. Economic data collected between 1979 and 2018 shows that while productivity increased by 59.7%, hourly compensation for non-supervisory workers rose by only 17.5%. The difference went to capital owners and financial intermediaries. Wealth moved from America’s dying middle class to the top 10 percent of income earners.
The implications of these developments for Washington’s global political, military, and economic power are profound. Why? There are multiple reasons, but three are of immediate importance:
First, in the five decades since Washington disestablished the gold standard, the debt-to-GDP ratio has grown from 40 percent to more than 120 percent of GDP and it continues to climb. Consequently, the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet expanded from $80 billion to well over $8 trillion. With spending levels and deficit trajectories that are not sustainable, the notion of a trillion-dollar defense budget is absurd.
Second, there is an undeniable shift in the global balance of economic power. A new intercontinental commercial trading and monetary system is rising. It’s called BRICS, an intergovernmental organization consisting of ten nation-states: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Together, these nation-states constitute more than a third of global GDP. A further 50 or more nation-states that want to join BRICS will push it to nearly 50 percent of global GDP.
More important, China, Russia, India, and Iran are civilizational constructs—power centers that, after centuries of trailing in development behind the West (or enduring its exploitation), are now roaring back to life. In some ways, the world of the 21st century may be on track to resurrect the constellation of powers that dominated the world in the 11th century.
Third, the proliferation of technology across national borders combined with the growth of high human capital inside BRICS is conferring military capabilities on BRICS members that were previously unavailable to any but Western Powers. Put another way, the attempt to repeat a Desert Storm scenario anywhere on the Eurasian landmass would spell disaster for American military power.
Finally, Washington’s political class manifests much less regard for the long-term strategic interests of its own citizens—their security and prosperity. As a result, Washington pays an exorbitant price in reputation and treasure for policies that confront Palestinians with the choice of death or expulsion from their homelands.
There are many moving parts in the regional strategy outlined at the beginning of this post. Assumptions of tacit acceptance or rapid capitulation are implicit and dangerous.
When Hitler was briefed on the expected Soviet reaction to Operation Barbarossa, Major General Ernst Koestring, a Prussian officer fluent in Russian from a family that had lived in Moscow since the reign of Catherine the Great, advised: “Initially, German forces will advance rapidly. The various peoples on the Soviet periphery will likely welcome the German forces. Resistance will be weak. But when the Germans advance into Russian territory, the resistance will be tremendous. The Russian population will fight for every square meter of territory.”
Hitler politely thanked him but remained convinced that poor Soviet military performance in Finland in 1939 suggested a different outcome in 1941. Koestring, of course, was right.
Diplomacy is the art of the possible. Warfare is always a gamble.
A partial success in the diplomatic sphere is preferable to gambling on success in war that may turn into catastrophic failure. Unless the American electorate demands accountability for what the White House and Congress do in their name, Americans will face a grim reckoning with financial, political, and military reality at home and abroad.
*Graftful to Dave Ramaswamy for his edits and suggestions.
Douglas Macgregor: @DougAMacgregor
U.S. Army Colonel Retired Combat Veteran | SECDEF Advisor | Author | Consultant | Military TV Analyst | Chairman of Advisory Board @ http://OurCountryOurChoice.com |
douglasmacgregor.com
US Proxy War on Russia: L-R: Lloyd Austin: 28th United States Secretary of Defense; Volodymyr Zelensky president of Ukraine; Antony Blinken 71st United States Secretary of State
ClearNFO (5/22/25): Ukraine has been played as a sucker… used as a US/NATO tool against Russia on the Grand Geopolitical Chessboard. The scheme was to bleed Russia dry and destroy Russia. Luckily for the world this did not work. Ukraine has every reason to be angry with the ‘Anglo-American Establishment’ but they also played a part by believing the empire of lies would have their back. Ukraine has been sacrificed for a failed attempt to destroy Russia.
If you are tired of following the bright light of retail politics, try some wholesale politics, or Realpolitik to see how the sausage is made.
At the very top level which is generally hidden from the plebs, it’s all about resources. All these wars are orchestrated by the established power structures a.k.a. apex predator class.
Plebs like you and me don’t matter
Health doesn’t matter
Environment doesn’t matter
Religion doesn’t matter
Traditional relationships don’t matter
Money, resources and concentration of power matters
Why did the West orchestrate the proxy war between Ukraine and Russia? To bludgeon Russia using NATO-backed Ukraine. The goal was and is to weaken and break up the Russian Federation and steal their resources. Unfortunately for the Western Powers, this did not work. Now the EU and the USA are fighting over the scraps in Ukraine. It’s all about the resources. The EU needs collateral to back their massive sovereign debt and so has no choice but to continue the lost war in Ukraine at any cost. Their citizens be damned.
Note: World Bank (2005): Placed Russia first globally for subsoil wealth (oil, gas, coal, and minerals) at $75.7 trillion USD, aligning with later Statista estimates.
Every war is based not on religion but on resources and concentration of power. It’s the grand chessboard and the plebs have no clue.
Mike Pompeo (5/21/24):She’s right. Putin started this war, and until he believes the costs exceed the benefits, he’ll continue his aggression.
Scott Ritter’s reply to Mike Pompeo on 5/22/25:
Russia (Putin) did not start this war.
America did.
You’re the former Director of the CIA.
I know you brag about lying being a core value of the institution you led (pro hint—it’s not a good thing), but for once reach into your dark heart and tell the truth.
Did the CIA maintain a relationship with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, Bandera faction (OUN-B) from 1948 through 1990?
I’ll help you—yes.
Did the CIA use its connectivity with the OUN-B to build connections inside Ukraine designed to promote Ukrainian nationalism in a way that sought to bring harm to the Soviet Union and, after 1992, Russia?
Again, yes.
Did the CIA facilitate the work of USAID and NED, through various US funded NGO proxies, to help bring Ukrainian nationalists to power in the 2004-2005 Orange Revolution in Ukraine?
Yes.
Did the CIA view the return of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in 2010 as a threat to US strategic goals and objectives regarding Ukraine and Russia (i.e., Ukrainian NATO membership)?
Yes.
Did the CIA help orchestrate the 2014 Maidan Coup designed to remove Yanukovych from power?
Yes.
Did the CIA use its connectivity with the OUN-B in Ukraine and diaspora to promote an anti-Russian agenda in post-Maidan Ukraine?
Yes.
Did the CIA fund and help build, organize, train, and operate up to 20 bases inside Ukraine from which covert operations could be conducted against Russia, including actions that could be considered acts of war?
Yes.
Were you the CIA director when these bases were built and operated?
Yes.
Did the CIA help Ukraine prepare for a military operation designed to seize the Donbas from pro-Russian elements that was scheduled to take place in late February-early March 2022?
Yes.
Were you aware of these plans when you were CIA director?
William Scott Ritter Jr. (born July 15, 1961) is an American former United States Marine Corps intelligence officer, former United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) weapons inspector, author, and commentator.
Michael Richard Pompeo (born December 30, 1963) is an American retired politician who served in the first administration of Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2017 to 2018, and as the 70th United States secretary of state from 2018 to 2021. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2017.
Total Estimated Aid to Ukraine (2003–2024)
– U.S.: $128–$135 billion
– EU (and Member States): $181.5–$182 billion
– NATO (Direct Programs): $1.1–$2.2 billion Combined Total: ~$310.6–$319.2 billion
The US orchestrated the Ukraine coup in 2014 and installed its own puppet. DJT has provided military aid to Ukraine during both his terms as president, yet he claims his innocence and poses as an honest broker in peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. Clearly this is not a war between Ukraine and Russia, rather a war between the US –vassal states in Ukraine and Europe– and Russia. Russia is wining the conflict in Ukraine. How then can the US pose as an honest / innocent third party brokering a peace deal? And how can the US dictate terms to Russia when Russia is winning this war? If DJT cuts off aid to Ukraine the war would end in about two to four weeks.
In addition to the military aid above, the US and its allies have frozen (a.k.a. stolen) about $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets.
Grok: The United States has frozen approximately $5 billion to $6 billion in Russian Central Bank assets. This amount represents a small portion of the roughly $300 billion to $350 billion in total Russian sovereign assets frozen by the U.S. and its allies, with the majority—around $200 billion to $230 billion—held in Europe, primarily at Euroclear in Belgium. Additionally, the U.S. and its allies have blocked or seized over $58 billion in assets owned or controlled by sanctioned Russian individuals and entities, such as oligarchs, though this is separate from the Central Bank reserves.
