Western microchips used to power smartphones and laptops are continuing to enter Russia and fuel its military arsenal, new analysis shows.

Trade data and manifests analyzed by CNBC show that Moscow has been sourcing an increased number of semiconductors and other advanced Western technologies through intermediary countries such as China.

In 2022, Russia imported $2.5 billion worth of semiconductor technologies, up from $1.8 billion in 2021.

It’s one thing to sanction for national security, it’s another to use that as an excuse to practise protectionism. But to force your friends to join while knowing full well that it will hurt their economies is an egregious breach of basic trust.

I am, of course, talking about the United States’ semiconductor sanctions against China. But perhaps the worst of all is that most independent experts and industry insiders have already warned they are counterproductive and will likely end up hurting everyone, including the US, without achieving the desired result.

In a cavernous, Pentagon-sized facility nestled in an Appalachian valley, thousands upon thousands of empty holes line the bare concrete floor.

A mere 16 of them house the spindly, 30-foot-tall centrifuges that enrich uranium, converting it into the key ingredient that fuels nuclear power plants. And for now, they are dormant.

The Cathay Phoenix is not a lone rogue ship, but one of at least three tankers identified by The New York Times taking extraordinary steps to hide their true activity, a practice that helps them to elude U.S. government oversight and puts their American insurer at risk of violating recent sanctions on Russian crude oil.

Russia has banned hundreds of U.S. citizens, including former President Obama, political commentator Rachel Maddow and late-night host Stephen Colbert, from entering its territory in response to the U.S. sanctions over the Ukraine war.

The Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a Friday post on its website it is blocking entry for 500 Americans in response to the sanctions it said are designed to inflict the most damage possible on officials and civilians in Russia. 

Leaders of the Group of Seven have committed to a set of further measures to pressure Russia, as its invasion of Ukraine continues for a second year.

“We are imposing further sanctions and measures to increase the costs to Russia and those who are supporting its war effort,” the group said.

G-7 leaders are in Hiroshima, Japan, for a three-day meeting to discuss international trade and security, as Russia continues its war in Ukraine, while the U.S. and China battle for influence in a multipolar world.

Hungary has joined Poland in banning imports of grain and other foods from Ukraine that have hit their domestic agriculture industries hard, in a diplomatic setback for Kyiv that may also have repercussions for the future of the Black Sea grain deal, a key wartime agreement.

As the United States and its NATO allies are focused on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, Russia’s efforts to bring another country into its orbit has gone largely unnoticed. Like many countries that were once part of the Soviet Union, Georgia has a population that is largely pro-EU and pro-NATO, an orientation that has only been strengthened in the years since Moscow’s 2008 invasion of the country, which left Russia occupying some 20 percent of its territory.

Republican Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie have voted against a GOP-led bill aimed at sanctioning China for harvesting the organs of its citizens.

Greene and Massie were the only members of the House of Representatives to oppose the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act on Monday and the legislation passed with a bipartisan majority of 413 to 2.

The U.S. House of Representatives decisively passed bipartisan legislation Monday to crack down on the Chinese organ harvesting industry.

In a 412-2 vote, the House approved H.R. 1154, the Stopped Forced Organ Harvesting Act, which would sanction those involved in the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) state-sponsored harvesting of human organs. Chinese ethnic minorities, such as the Uyghurs and the Falun Dafa, have been targeted in organ harvesting, according to the bill and previous testimony.