iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Maximilian Hess

Anton Gerashchenko @antongerashchenko.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

The governor of Russia's Lipetsk region demanded that oil companies stop lying and concealing information about disruptions to fuel supplies to the region. (Comment from me: not like that will actually bring more fuel to the region). "It is unacceptable for company representatives to claim at ⤵️

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Reposted by Maximilian Hess

Iikka Korhonen @iikkakorhonen.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

China's energy imports from Russia, volume, 2025 vs 2024 Crude oil -7% Oil products -24% Coal -7% LNG +17% I guess e.g. imports of Russian crude have hit their ceiling, more or less.

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

Tajikistan's environmentally disastrous dam of corruption, now in its 50th year of construction, reports tens of millions of dollars in losses and hundreds of millions of dollars in 'missing' funds. Same as it ever was! eurasianet.org/audit-raises...

eurasianet.org

Audit raises lots of financial questions about Tajikistan’s Rogun Dam project

Review issues caution about Rogun’s future as ‘going concern.’

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Reposted by Maximilian Hess

Abe Newman @abenewman.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

9/So what is Europe to do? Not this...It has to wake up and understand that an alternative international order is being put on the table. It is not based on rules but hierarchy and extraction. Tepid finger waging will lead to domination. www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

theguardian.com

EU affirms ‘principles of national sovereignty’ in cautious response to Trump Greenland threats – Europe live

European Commission spokesperson also declines to rule on whether US intervention in Venezuela was legal

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Reposted by Maximilian Hess

Rima I Anabtawi @rimaanabtawi.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

“Socotra’s unique form of statehood requires a reference point to the outside world. The labels attached to it are less important than the reality of preserving it.”

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Amid reports that ≈400 (!) tourists are stranded on the Yemeni island of Socotra, amid Saudi-UAE proxy fights in Yemen, time to reshare this piece I wrote about visiting the island 4 years ago and what de facto Emirati control means for the place & its inhabitants inkstickmedia.com/the-socotri-...

inkstickmedia.com

The Socotri Sovereignty Soliloquy

Breaking down the borders between state, society, and sovereignty on the island where trees bleed.

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

Russia signed a treaty to defend Venezuela just two months ago but its crickets this morning from the Kremlin. Utter humiliation and evidence of just how weak it is globally.

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Your regular reminder that any Western comopany reporting its assets in Russia as not marked down to 0 for the last 3 years has been essentially defrauding its investors www.ft.com/content/616d...

ft.com

Putin’s retaliation threat over frozen assets rattles EU capitals

Italy, Belgium and Austria worry about Russia moving against their companies

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Given Putin is obviously going to reject the peace deal (but try and blame it on Kyiv and Europe), more sanctions should be the base case even from the Trump Admin - as I have long argued - rather than the shock so many treated it as in October and will again soon www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

bloomberg.com

US Readies New Russia Sanctions If Putin Rejects Peace Deal

The US is preparing a fresh round of sanctions on Russia’s energy sector to increase the pressure on Moscow should President Vladimir Putin reject a peace agreement with Ukraine, according to people f...

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

The most British way of fighting the British

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

Trump’s Special Representative for Belarus John Coale announced after meeting Lukashenko that Washington will lift sanctions on Belarusian Potash. It’s the second step in the Trump Admin’s easing strategy after sanctions on the airline Belavia were lifted. zerkalo-access.space/news/economi...

zerkalo-access.space

США снимают санкции с беларусского калия

«Мы снимаем санкции, освобождаем заключенных. Мы постоянно говорим друг с другом».

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Kazakhmys to be sold, the first potential ding to the major oligarchs outside Nazarbayev family since de-Nazarbayevification? Ogay & Kim the old controlling shareholders are longtime regime insiders, theyre also key stakeholders in the larger KAZ Minerals www.mining.com/web/kazakhmy...

mining.com

Kazakhmys says it will have new controlling shareholder

Company ranks 20th in the world in terms of copper concentrate production.

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Reposted by Maximilian Hess

Sven-Erik Volberg @volberg.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Congress NDAA is 2,5k pages but in general seems total opoosition of WH. Bill locks in long-term support for Ukraine, mandates troop levels in Europe, and codifies the Baltic Security Initiative as US strategy hardens against russia. www.kyivpost.com/post/65767

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Excellent review & essay by @newlefteviews.bsky.social on thinking about capitalism's role today, including this key reminder that the global economic order is itself responsible for the domestic challenges to it in the US that risk undermining its key patron www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2025/1...

newstatesman.com

How not to talk about capitalism

The more it penetrates our daily lives, the less we seem to understand the “system that runs the world”

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Reposted by Maximilian Hess

Nitish Pahwa @nitishpahwa.com · 05/12/2025

this is the Dr. Strangelove War Room

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Meh this is just the license for the retail stations, not sale of the oversees assets

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Reposted by Maximilian Hess

Half-Brick McCurdy @halfbrickmccurdy.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

To those folk saying the latest round of US/Russia talks achieved nothing, delaying the full imposition of US sanctions on Lukoil until April next year is definitely a something.

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Can anyone recommend some books on Guinea-Conakry? Preferably ones that aren’t just about Sekou Toure

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Reposted by Maximilian Hess

Anna Gvarishvili @annagvarish.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

Lelo Party member Aleko Elisashvili was arrested this morning. According to the MIA, last night Aleko Elisashvili used a hammer to break the window of Tbilisi City Hall’s chancellery, entered the building, poured gasoline on documents, and attempted to set them on fire. 1/

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Congrats to @joannalillis.bsky.social on the London launch of Silk Mirage: Through the Looking Glass in Uzbekistan

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

OFAC clarifies that it is Trump Admin’s policy that it will only approve of sales of Lukoil International’s assets (which Gunvor was willing to pay $22 billion for) if that sale does not see money actually flow to Lukoil while sanctions on Lukoil remain ofac.treasury.gov/faqs/1224

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

Cab driver in Zimbabwe started spontaneously telling me about how he hates Russia for what they’ve done to Ukraine #TakeThatThomasFriedman

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Off to South Africa, Zimbabwe, E-Swatini, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia for the next 20 Days. Don't @ me please. :)

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Big weeks in sanctions developments, but the fate of Lukoil's proposed sale of its foreign assets to Gunvor and belatedly sanctions-afflicted refiner NIS in Serbia will set major precedents, more from me here: conflictandcredit.substack.com/p/sanctions-...

conflictandcredit.substack.com

Sanctions Swords of Damocles hang over Lukoil International & Serbia's NIS

A deal laden with political risks, and precedent potential in Belgrade

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

башня Татлина жив! Но, в Англии (Tatlin’s tower lives, but in England…)

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Quite the geo-economic day in the Caucasus, Russia ships oil to refinery in Georgia for the first time (Georgia didn't have a refinery before) Kazakh wheat shipped via Azerbaijan to Armenia, a first since USSR's collapse t.co/31RbvV2HC4 t.co/msA5cowQvx

t.co

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/russia-ships-first-oil-new-refinery-georgia-2025-10-21/

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Reposted by Maximilian Hess

OC Media @ocmedia.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

Georgian authorities have arrested five Russian nationals involved in a suspected wide-reaching illegal scheme using cryptocurrency. oc-media.org/five-russian...

oc-media.org

Five Russians arrested in Georgia over alleged money laundering, crypto scheme

The operation reportedly involved the unregulated trade of ‘hundreds of millions of lari’.

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

Georgian government has raided home of ex prosecutor general Partskhaladze (US sanctioned for working with FSB), i former head of the State Security Service Liluashvili & former two time premier Irakli Gharibashvili Falling out been rumored for a while… but wow tvpirveli.ge/ka/siaxleebi...

tvpirveli.ge

ჩხრეკა ჩატარდა ღარიბაშვილის, ლილუაშვილის, ფარცხალაძის საცხოვრებელი სახლებში | TV პირველი

ამოღებულია ელექტრონული მოწყობილობები

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

To quote a colleague, "Tamerlane would be proud"

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Reposted by Maximilian Hess

Sven-Erik Volberg @volberg.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Poland captures a GRU agent on terrorist charges. Attacks in Poland, Lithuania and Germany were planned using drones with explosive materials warszawa.wyborcza.pl/warszawa/0,0...

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

Since Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Putin has had 3 asks of Xi: military & political support for war, a deal on Power of Siberia 2, & unrestricted access to Chinese financial markets. In the last 10 days, he’s gotten close to clinching latter two on.ft.com/3JJUqBD

on.ft.com

China paves way for renminbi fundraising by Russian energy giants

Russian ‘panda bond’ sales would be first since 2017 and reflect deepening ties between Moscow and Beijing

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

Kazakhstan's foreign minister Murat Nurtleu detained alongside Dagestani-Kazakh businessman Gadzhi Gadzhiev orda.kz/zaderzhany-m... unclear if related but Gadzheiv was accused of involvement in journalist Aydos Sadykov's assassination in Ukraine last year rsf.org/en/journalis...

orda.kz

Задержаны Мурат Нуртлеу и Гаджи Гаджиев

По данным «Орды», задержаны министр иностранных дел Мурат Нуртлеу, бизнесмен Гаджи Гаджиев и несколько высокопоставленных сотрудников КНБ.

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Reposted by Maximilian Hess

Finbarr Bermingham @fbermingham.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Rare to hear an EU official speak as candidly as Weyand here “From the Commission’s perspective this was a strategic trade-off, not an economic policy ideal solution" “There was a risk that the USA, in return, would question the security partnership. That is the realpolitik of the turning point"

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Reposted by Maximilian Hess

The Kyiv Independent @kyivindependent.com · 28/08/2025

⚡️Ukraine hits Russian cruise missile carrier near occupied Crimea, intelligence claims. Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) hit a Russian Buyan-M-class small missile ship, a carrier of Kalibr cruise missiles, near Russian-occupied Crimea in the Azov Sea on Aug. 28, HUR reported.

kyivindependent.com

Ukraine hits Russian cruise missile carrier near occupied Crimea, intelligence claims

Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) hit a Russian Buyan-M-class small missile ship, a carrier of Kalibr cruise missiles, near Russian-occupied Crimea in the Azov Sea on Aug. 28, HUR reported.

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Reposted by Maximilian Hess

Marta Kos @martakos.ec.europa.eu · 28/08/2025

The EU Delegation in Kyiv was damaged by today’s Russian strikes on civilian areas. I strongly condemn these brutal attacks, a clear sign that Russia rejects peace & chooses terror. Our full solidarity goes to EU staff, their families, & all Ukrainians enduring this aggression.

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

Doggo enjoying the Holland Park Opera’s practice sessions

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Reposted by Maximilian Hess

Robert Wolfe @bobwolfe.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

"In June, 81% of 🇨🇦 exports qualified as USMCA-compliant, up from 56% month before. 🇲🇽 saw a similar move, with 77% of shipments clearing the bar versus just 42% in May. .. helped blunt ... tariffs that technically set rates at 35% for Canada and 25% for Mexco." www.tradingview.com/news/gurufoc...

tradingview.com

U.S. Tariffs Ease With Canada, Mexico Shift

America's effective tariff rate ticked down to 16% in July from 17% earlier in the month, Fitch Ratings said, thanks to a surge in tariff-free imports from Canada and Mexico under the USMCA trade pact...

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

Almost every year I’ve attended, I’ve noticed at least 2/3rds of all artists exhibiting at the Venice Biennale are based in Berlin

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Reposted by Maximilian Hess

Foreign Policy Research Institute @fpri.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

Europe and Ukraine have to change their approach towards Trump or risk ceding more ground to Russia. Read more by @maxhess.bsky.social. buff.ly/0Mchs9j

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Idk what’s crazier, the CIA-KGB combined mortgage financing or the $40k upper east side two bedroom apartment

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

Trump’s envoy - who has infamously & stupidly relied on the Kremlin’s translators for meetings with Putin - reportedly misunderstood Putin who wasn’t offering Russian withdrawals from Kherson and Zaporizhzhia but restating his maximalist demands. www.bild.de/politik/ausl...

bild.de

„Friedlicher Rückzug“: Hat Trumps Mann Putin falsch verstanden?

Verwirrung um Ukraine-Friedensgipfel: Witkoff missinterpretiert Putins Forderungen.

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

If Trump agrees to this stupidity, it will be a devastating mistake. There is a zero percent chance Putin would follow through with the second phase.

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

Xi set to invite Trump & Putin to meet in Beijing on September 3rd. Incidentally thats deadline day for Trump's 50 day threat for enacting 50% secondary tariff against Russia if no Ukraine deal. My previous max 5% chance Trump would follow through fast approaching 0% www.thetimes.com/world/asia/a...

thetimes.com

Why Xi wants Trump and Putin to meet for war commemorations

As China revises its attitudes to the Second World War it is also looking to reset its relationship with the US president and set up a summit with Russia

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

A new post from me on emerging structures of financing international litigation - and - in my opinion - what works, and what doesn't conflictandcredit.substack.com/p/how-not-to...

conflictandcredit.substack.com

How (Not) To Finance International Lawsuits

Risky Litigation Business

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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

The big thing to watch for in Trump’s demand for new waiver authority in the Russia sanctions bill working its way through Congress is if he looks for changes to how CAATSA protected previous sanctions from being withdrawn without Congress’ support www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

politico.com

Trump is interested in new Russia sanctions. But there’s a catch.

As support builds behind a bipartisan bill, the White House is seeking changes that would expand the president's control.

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