Down to the Sea in Super Yachts

If you’ve never heard of the “KleptoCapture Task Force” as founded by Merrick Garland and the US Department of Justice, that’s not a surprise, because most Americans have not either: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-merrick-b-garland-announces-launch-task-force-kleptocapture

But consider first.

Years ago, a luxury yacht would measure no more than forty meters, and was a beautifully crafted sailing vessel, of taste and elegance. No more. Since the 1980’s or thereabouts, the obscene excess and bloated debacles that the Coup Class have engaged in, have evolved to a similarly bloated proportion, exemplified by a typical mega-Elite’s commissioned Superyacht of today. While a yacht of the 1960’s might remind us of the beauty of say, Sophia Loren, an mega-Elite’s Superyacht of today is most mindful of a Bond villain, like Blofeld.

Meanwhile, our mega-Elite lackeys have engineered us into a sanctions dilemma that has played out for more than two years now, more like a sanctions drama of western cat versus sanctioned Kremlin mouse — or at least that’s how CNN might portray it. Bemoaned as ineffective, sanctions do provide an instance where the western collective attempts to achieve some influence – especially when sanctions evolve to outright theft, as the western collective has set expectations to do.

But to assume that ‘to the victor belong the Superyacht spoils’ is false, because the west has won nothing. As per some anonymous individual’s quip that failing at the same thing repeatedly will eventually achieve success, the west keeps trying, with round after round of imposed sanctions.

In this light, picture a drama where western regime sanctions have seized Elite yachts owned by their “enemy”, even while claiming to be at peace with that enemy (Russia) and not at war. At the same time, promising an even more leveraged future injustice, namely theft in aid of supplying weapons of war, for the west’s own desired outcome in the Ukraine, with an only goal of regime change for Russia.

While no reader will likely shed a tear about any Elite being deprived of his or her Superyacht via government seizure, the underlying moral and legal implication — especially if that asset is sold to provide weapons of war to a third party — is important to consider.

In a time of war, the seizure of a vessel by a belligerent is not only expected, but common. And yet the seizure of an asset is at best murky (and at worst illegal) when no state of war exists. Furthermore, when the vessel is a yacht and not a merchant ship, and not a military vessel, the water becomes murky indeed.

But in light of their ability to do anything unlawful and outrageous — and perhaps also based on professional jealousy — western Elites have rejoiced at the idea of purchasing seized Russian assets — especially luxury assets. And a yacht, as Bezos confirms, is at the top of Elite desire. (Well almost.)

The first seized Russian super yacht to go under sanctions, the Axioma, was not sold by the former United States, but sold by Gibraltar; and as the linked article states, with profit to US investment bank JP Morgan. That is, the proceeds of the Russian-owned yacht sale in August of 2022 did not go to the Ukraine, but to JP Morgan — a US dealer bank. (JP Morgan is the largest dealer bank and largest private bank in the world, based on market capitalization.)

Notably we have Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook fame — “worth” a reported $171Bn US — purchasing (via Rutte’s* Netherlands) the 118 meter yacht Launchpad, which had been commissioned by Vladimir Potanin but not delivered, due to US and EU sanctions. Zuckerberg’s leveraged formerly Russian-owned yacht just recently arrived in the former US.

Then there is the Alfa Nero Superyacht, owned by sanctioned Russian chemical financier Andrey Guryev. The yacht was seized by Antigua in April of 2023, then purchased at auction by former Google honcho Eric Schmidt. Schmidt’s judgement must have been lacking, because he eventually backed out of the deal, and the Alfa Nero remains in limbo, pending a legal decision.

Another sanctioned yacht — and cloaked in mystery — is the MySky a unique Superyacht owned by Igor Kesaev, and alleged to have been sold in secret and re-registered. We’ve seen no news of the MySky or any sighting of the yacht at all, for nearly two years. It’s a similar case to the Amadea that the US seized in San Diego.

Latest detail on the Amadea here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EggoRrjACQQ

Next on the list is the Russian-owned Superyacht Nirvana which has been safely-harbored in Dubai beyond the clutches of the Sanctioneers. The Nirvana is just one of a number of Russian-owned yachts harboring in Dubai.

Our last example is the Scheherazade allegedly owned (but not definitively linked) to the president of Russia. The yacht is impounded in Italy, in drydock, and for some reason apparently being refitted, at least by the stern. As always, the NPR report is unreliable and biased, but one issue is clear — the Scheherazade won’t be at sea any time soon. Does it really belong to Mr Putin? Who knows, the western press can’t be relied on, ever.

The interesting thing about the Superyachts theft story is that it takes us out of the trenches, and right up to the level of dueling mega-Elites. Finally, we see that the western collective has used its support for a very corrupt regime – and involvement in it — as leverage for its own theft and usury, and on a grand scale.

Especially in the US since August 15th, 1971, western mega-Elites and Oligarchs have exploited, extorted, and rigged markets, rigged US debt instruments and commodities, to support a supremely corrupt Empire. It’s a corruption and lying that we see in the west at the very highest levels, every single day, day after day. They are so brazen, the US Department of Justice even calls their kleptocracy the “KleptoCapture Task Force”, in spite of us all.

It is not a United States of America… but a United States of rules-based theft. And it’s interesting to compare Russia’s business people to the US American ones. In Russia, they produce something real. Oil. Gold. Silver and palladium. Agricultural chemicals, and fertilizers, steel and iron. While in the US, the mega-Elites rule over a kingdom of nothingness. Amazon. Google. facebook. Starbucks. AI. It’s a fake empire built on falsehood and lies. And dangerous to us all.

*Rutte is rumored to be top pick as the new NATO czar

Steve Brown