28-03-2017, 08:08 AM
(This post was last modified: 28-03-2017, 09:30 AM by Peter Lemkin.)
Russ Baker and two other researchers have written a very long and COMPLEX story entitled Why FBI Can't Tell All on Trump, Russia
It is posted on Who.What.Why. here http://whowhatwhy.org/2017/03/27/fbi-can...mp-russia/
I just read through it once and will have to read through it a few times - such are the complexities of the characters and their interconnections. At this point, I can't endorse or naysay about the general story or the details. It does seem, as I long suspected, that Trump has for a long time had loans and other business connections with wealthy Russians - some of them criminal oligarchs there. This may well play into his friendliness with Putin and Russia, generally. And while that [friendship with Russia] is NOT a bad thing, some of his business dealings with Russians might well be a 'Watergate' waiting to happen [and perhaps already beginning]. To add another layer of complexity, according to this investigative article, Trump is connected to a man who has long been used by the FBI as an informant on some Russian oligarchs and criminals. They posit that for this reason, and because the FBI doesn't want to expose its program and assets to penetrate these people, it can not do a fair evaluation of whatever nature of connections Trump and his friends have with Russians - or at least they can't reveal all they know. Again, I'm not saying yes or not to this, but it is worth reading and thinking about. I think this 'Russian Connection' to Trump is NOT going to go away and is much more complex than the MSM and the Democrats are trying to 'paint' it. That Trump rubs elbows with corrupt rich people is nothing new - and he is far from the only one within the Beltway guilty of that....in fact, most are. His attributing that he learned most of his business and political savvy from Roy Cohn gave away his penchant for being close to the completely corrupt long ago. All I can say is, if half of what they have so far come up with in this article is true, Trump may have a very hard time completely his term without a Watergate-like scandal and very possibly articles of Impeachment.
The one thing that confuses me about this, on first thought, it why the FBI obviously tried to undermine the campaign of Clinton if they indeed knew that Trump was involved in these kinds of matters - but the FBI itself is corrupt and very political and has never worked in the interest of justice and to uphold the law nor Constitution - let alone democracy.
This Trump-Russia 'thing' only grows more and more complex. I think soon many Republicans too will be wanting some kind of investigation of some of these matters - the problem is the LONG and HORRIBLE history of Congressional 'investigations' that are not investigations, but political efforts at non-investigation, or are so hamstrung they can't do the job they are empowered to do.
While I have little doubt that Trump and his associates [political and business] have some ties to 'criminal' businessmen and oligarchs in Russia, he also has ties to criminal businessmen and oligarchs in the USA and elsewhere. I don't think there is much of a moral distinction between the groups, although the US media, public, and propaganda machinery will make a big distinction, because Russia is always used as the 'evil other' to blame for much of the wrong in the World. It is guilty of wrongs, but then so are the 'Western' countries. So, I think the real problem is not that Trump and friends have dealings/associations with Russian criminals, but that he has such associations with criminals from wherever they have their passports. But on this, Trump is not the first President in such company, but he may be 'up there' in that league.
Me, I'm sitting here scratching my head over some of the connections and will now re-read this article. Russ Baker seems intent on continuing to pursue this matter further. Time will tell if he is on the right track or not. Take a read yourself and see how it strikes you. It certainly is in the 'stranger than we suspected' category, if true.
It is posted on Who.What.Why. here http://whowhatwhy.org/2017/03/27/fbi-can...mp-russia/
I just read through it once and will have to read through it a few times - such are the complexities of the characters and their interconnections. At this point, I can't endorse or naysay about the general story or the details. It does seem, as I long suspected, that Trump has for a long time had loans and other business connections with wealthy Russians - some of them criminal oligarchs there. This may well play into his friendliness with Putin and Russia, generally. And while that [friendship with Russia] is NOT a bad thing, some of his business dealings with Russians might well be a 'Watergate' waiting to happen [and perhaps already beginning]. To add another layer of complexity, according to this investigative article, Trump is connected to a man who has long been used by the FBI as an informant on some Russian oligarchs and criminals. They posit that for this reason, and because the FBI doesn't want to expose its program and assets to penetrate these people, it can not do a fair evaluation of whatever nature of connections Trump and his friends have with Russians - or at least they can't reveal all they know. Again, I'm not saying yes or not to this, but it is worth reading and thinking about. I think this 'Russian Connection' to Trump is NOT going to go away and is much more complex than the MSM and the Democrats are trying to 'paint' it. That Trump rubs elbows with corrupt rich people is nothing new - and he is far from the only one within the Beltway guilty of that....in fact, most are. His attributing that he learned most of his business and political savvy from Roy Cohn gave away his penchant for being close to the completely corrupt long ago. All I can say is, if half of what they have so far come up with in this article is true, Trump may have a very hard time completely his term without a Watergate-like scandal and very possibly articles of Impeachment.
The one thing that confuses me about this, on first thought, it why the FBI obviously tried to undermine the campaign of Clinton if they indeed knew that Trump was involved in these kinds of matters - but the FBI itself is corrupt and very political and has never worked in the interest of justice and to uphold the law nor Constitution - let alone democracy.
This Trump-Russia 'thing' only grows more and more complex. I think soon many Republicans too will be wanting some kind of investigation of some of these matters - the problem is the LONG and HORRIBLE history of Congressional 'investigations' that are not investigations, but political efforts at non-investigation, or are so hamstrung they can't do the job they are empowered to do.
While I have little doubt that Trump and his associates [political and business] have some ties to 'criminal' businessmen and oligarchs in Russia, he also has ties to criminal businessmen and oligarchs in the USA and elsewhere. I don't think there is much of a moral distinction between the groups, although the US media, public, and propaganda machinery will make a big distinction, because Russia is always used as the 'evil other' to blame for much of the wrong in the World. It is guilty of wrongs, but then so are the 'Western' countries. So, I think the real problem is not that Trump and friends have dealings/associations with Russian criminals, but that he has such associations with criminals from wherever they have their passports. But on this, Trump is not the first President in such company, but he may be 'up there' in that league.
Me, I'm sitting here scratching my head over some of the connections and will now re-read this article. Russ Baker seems intent on continuing to pursue this matter further. Time will tell if he is on the right track or not. Take a read yourself and see how it strikes you. It certainly is in the 'stranger than we suspected' category, if true.
Quote:Felix Sater fits all of these (criminal) categories. A convicted felon, Sater worked in Trump Tower, made business deals with Donald Trump through Sater's real estate firm, Bayrock, cooperated with the FBI and CIA and was subsequently protected by the DOJ from paying for his crimes. And the Moscow-born immigrant remains deeply linked to Russia and Ukraine
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass