Uber has used a strategy of using cabbie violence against Uber drivers in several countries, including Portugal, as a way to promote the company’s image and win concessions from governments, an investigative report reveals.
The plan began to develop in 2015, when the strategists of the North American company realized that they could capitalize on acts of violence against Uber driversafter winning the sympathy of public opinion, reveals the investigation of Uber Files, conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ, its abbreviation in English).
One of the examples provided by the ICIJ investigation, cited by The Washington Post, one of the “media partners” in that investigation, took place in Portugal in 2015, when taxi drivers committed “acts of violence” against Uber drivers. several times, as a result of which several people were injured and one of them was hospitalized.
According to The Washington Post, Rui Bento, who was Uber’s manager in Portugal in July 2015, is quoted in an “email” to colleagues saying the company is “considering” providing information about the attacks and injuries. local media at a time when ANTRAL, the largest association of taxi drivers in Portugal, was looking to counter Uber’s expansion strategy.
According to Rui Bento, in the messages, the idea behind spreading the word about taxi driver attacks on Uber drivers was as follows:create a direct link between the public statements of violence by the president of ANTRAL (Florencio Almeida) and these actionsto humiliate their public image.”
In response to Rui Bento’s post, Yuri Fernandez, public relations manager for Uber, suggested: explore Florencio Almeida’s past: “To see if we have anything ‘sexy’ for the media,” the documents cited by the investigation say.
The Washington Post reports that Bento and Fernandez did not respond to requests for comment on the case.
The controversy against Uber in Portugal and its lack of regulation escalated during the first half of 2015, culminating in late June with the confirmation of an injunction filed by the National Association of Carriers. Roads in cars (ANTRAL) with the Central Court of Lisbon on the suspension of the technology platform.
The actions of the Portuguese taxi drivers followed one another throughout the second quarter and gained momentum again in September and October, when demonstrations took place simultaneously in Lisbon, Porto and Faro.
At the time, Portugal was on the eve of legislative elections that led to a change of government.
The regulation on technological platforms for passenger transportation will come into force in 2018.
The ICIJ investigation presents similar cases in other countries, such as Switzerland, where a Geneva taxi driver’s violent attack on an Uber driver was analyzed as a potential benefit from the Berne government.
The investigation found that this Sunday, one of the company’s lobbyists, Kristian Samoylovich, was quoted in a message sent to a colleague in March of that year, where he admits that Uber may use violence against company drivers to its advantageafter an adviser to the European Commission wrote on the social network Facebook that the Uber in which he traveled was attacked by taxi drivers.
That week, four Uber drivers were attacked on the same night by taxi drivers in the Netherlands who were protesting the benefits enjoyed by the American company, prompting Nick van Leeuwen, the organization’s manager for that European region, to report the situation. then CEO Travis Kalanick.
With the approval of the company’s general management, Leuwen expressed his outrage at these incidents to the media in the Netherlands, reporting the incident to the media and issuing an internal report in which he stated:We must save this tale of violence“.
Since then, Uber has begun advising drivers to stand up to taxi driver violence, reminding them that this is the best way to protect the interests of the company they work for.
Travis Kalanick appears in several posts defending Uber drivers standing up to taxi drivers even at the risk of physical attack and advising to keep the “narrative of violence” alive.
A spokesman for the former CEO told a consortium of journalists that the claims were taken out of context and that Kalanick never wanted to put the lives of Uber drivers at risk, but current company executives are outraged by the practice.
Putin has repeatedly consulted with Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu about the invasion, Europa Press told Ukraine’s chief intelligence director Vadim Skibitsky.
According to Skibitsky, it was the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), which is responsible for counterintelligence and espionage work, that put pressure on Gerasimov and other military agencies to agree to launch an offensive. .
However, according to the Ukrainian intelligence services, the FSB considered that by the end of February sufficient preparations had already been made to guarantee the success of the Russian Armed Forces in a lightning invasion.
However, according to Kyiv, the Russian General Staff provided the Russian troops with supplies and ammunition for only three days, hoping that the offensive would be swift and immediately successful.
The head of Ukrainian intelligence also emphasized the cooperation of local residents, who always provided the Ukrainian authorities with up-to-date information about the Russian army, such as the number of soldiers or the exact location of troops.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine caused at least 6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 7.8 million refugees to European countries, which is why the UN classifies this migration crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945). gg.). ).
At the moment, 17.7 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian assistance, and 9.3 million are in need of food aid and housing.
The UN has presented as confirmed 6,755 civilian deaths and 10,607 wounded since the beginning of the war, stressing that these figures are much lower than the real ones.
A Stockholm court on Monday sentenced a former Swedish intelligence officer to life in prison for spying for Russia, and his brother to at least 12 years in prison. In what is considered one of the most serious cases in Swedish counterintelligence history, much of the trial took place behind closed doors in the name of national security.
According to the prosecution, it was Russian military intelligence, the GRU, who took advantage of the information provided by the two brothers between 2011 and their arrest at the end of 2021.
Peyman Kia, 42, has held many senior positions in the Swedish security apparatus, including the army and his country’s intelligence services (Säpo). His younger brother, Payam, 35, is accused of “participating in the planning” of the plot and of “managing contacts with Russia and the GRU, including passing on information and receiving financial rewards.”
Both men deny the charges, and their lawyers have demanded an acquittal on charges of “aggravated espionage,” according to the Swedish news agency TT.
The trial coincides with another case of alleged Russian espionage, with the arrest of the Russian-born couple in late November in a suburb of Stockholm by a police team arriving at dawn in a Blackhawk helicopter.
Research website Bellingcat identified them as Sergei Skvortsov and Elena Kulkova. The couple allegedly acted as sleeper agents for Moscow, having moved to Sweden in the late 1990s.
According to Swedish press reports, the couple ran companies specializing in the import and export of electronic components and industrial technology.
The man was again detained at the end of November for “illegal intelligence activities.” His partner, suspected of being an accomplice, has been released but remains under investigation.
According to Swedish authorities, the arrests are not related to the trial of the Kia brothers.
“They can strengthen their positions. We understand that this can happen. At the same time, we do not rule out that they will announce a general mobilization,” Danilov said in an interview with the Ukrainska Pravda online publication.
Danilov believed that this mobilization would also be convened “to exterminate as many as possible” of Russian citizens, so that “they would no longer have any problems on their territory.”
In this sense, Danilov also reminded that Russia has not given up on securing control over Kyiv or the idea of the complete “destruction” of Ukraine. “We have to be ready for anything,” he said.
“I want everyone to understand that [os russos] they have not given up on the idea of destroying our nation. If they don’t have Kyiv in their hands, they won’t have anything in their hands, we must understand this,” continued Danilov, who also did not rule out that a new Russian offensive would come from “Belarus and other territories.” .
As such, Danilov praised the decision of many of its residents who chose to stay in the Ukrainian capital when the war broke out in order to defend the city.
“They expected that there would be panic, that people would run, that there would be nothing to protect Kyiv,” he added, referring to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine caused at least 6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 7.8 million refugees to European countries, which is why the UN classifies this migration crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945). gg.). ).
At the moment, 17.7 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian assistance, and 9.3 million are in need of food aid and housing.
The Russian invasion, justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security, was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing political and economic sanctions on Russia.
The UN has presented as confirmed 6,755 civilian deaths and 10,607 wounded since the beginning of the war, stressing that these figures are much lower than the real ones.
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