No wonder Mooch was so loud last week...MOAR Russia testimony

[TraumaRN]

Bill Browder testimony to the Senate Judiciary committee was barely reported on last week but it contains some eye opening moments. I've quoted a few below. This was literally the same day that mooch was discussing Bannon's self-fellatio habit...

Basically Browder describes how Putin more or less runs a mob type operation. Once you're in, there is no leaving.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/ent...committee-hearing_uk_597ee55ce4b02a4ebb7675a6

"First, since 2012 it’s emerged that Vladimir Putin was a beneficiary of the stolen $230 million that Sergei Magnitsky exposed.

Recent revelations from the Panama Papers have shown that Putin’s closest childhood friend, Sergei Roldugin, a famous cellist, received $2 billion of funds from Russian oligarchs and the Russian state.

It’s commonly understood that Mr. Roldugin received this money as an agent of Vladimir Putin. Information from the Panama Papers also links some money from the crime that Sergei Magnitsky discovered and exposed to Sergei Roldugin.

Based on the language of the Magnitsky Act, this would make Putin personally subject to Magnitsky sanctions.

This is particularly worrying for Putin, because he is one of the richest men in the world. I estimate that he has accumulated $200 billion of ill-gotten gains from these types of operations over his 17 years in power.

He keeps his money in the West and all of his money in the West is potentially exposed to asset freezes and confiscation. Therefore, he has a significant and very personal interest in finding a way to get rid of the Magnitsky sanctions."

"Pyotr Katsyv, father to Denis Katsyv, is a senior Russian government official and well-placed member of the Putin regime; Denis Katsyv was caught by U.S. law enforcement using proceeds from the crime that Sergei Magnitsky uncovered to purchase high-end Manhattan real estate (the case recently settled with the Katsyv’s paying $6 million to the U.S. government). Natalia Veselnitskaya was their lawyer.

In addition to working on the Katsyv’ s money laundering defense, Ms. Veselnitskaya also headed the aforementioned lobbying campaign to repeal the Magnitsky Act. She hired a number of lobbyists, public relations executives, lawyers, and investigators to assist her in this task.

Her first step was to set up a fake NGO that would ostensibly promote Russian adoptions, although it quickly became clear that the NGO’s sole purpose was to repeal the Magnitsky Act."

 

[thilanliyan]

All this would make a great spy thriller. Must buy novel if it ever comes out.

 

[vi edit]

This should be mandatory reading prior to voting. His testimony is chilling and exactly why we should not be in friendly terms with Russia. It's one giant mafia.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Yup....just running inteference. That's what Trump does.

 

[dainthomas]

This should be mandatory reading prior to voting. His testimony is chilling and exactly why we should not be in friendly terms with Russia. It's one giant mafia.

This story is far too complicated for the average Trump voter. There've been so many stories of Putin having political enemies murdered, and they still don't give a crap.

 

[UNCjigga]

There've been so many stories of Putin having political enemies murdered, and they still don't give a crap.

While we are on that topic, this little nugget came out this weekend:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/jasonleopold/putins-media-czar-was-murdered-just-before-meeting-feds

Daily Caller and others have picked it up...One way to convince Trumpeters of Putin murdering his enemies is to tell them that it happened under Obama's watch, and HIS Justice Dept under Lynch covered it up!!!

 

[trenchfoot]

This story is far too complicated for the average Trump voter. There've been so many stories of Putin having political enemies murdered, and they still don't give a crap.

But you see, this is all part and parcel of how Trump got elected. And for that reason and that reason alone, in the minds of Trump's supporters, it's all good. For them, it really doesn't matter HOW Trump got elected. This thing about the enemy of my enemy is my friend got pushed way beyond the bounds of reason and reality where in the eyes of Trump's supporters the Russians are the Good Samaritans who came to his aid in the nick of time, OR, this whole Russian intervention thing is a plot cooked up by the Crooked Hillary despite the very convincing evidence that our intelligence agencies uncovered. Imagine that. Our own intelligence agencies are wholly mistaken because Trump is the harried victim in all of this.

Well, they believe it so it must be true.

 

[FIVR]

While we are on that topic, this little nugget came out this weekend:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/jasonleopold/putins-media-czar-was-murdered-just-before-meeting-feds

Daily Caller and others have picked it up...One way to convince Trumpeters of Putin murdering his enemies is to tell them that it happened under Obama's watch, and HIS Justice Dept under Lynch covered it up!!!

The evidence is becoming more and more clear that the FBI has been infiltrated by the Russians. They quash any investigation into Trump while they go after Hillary Clinton, and now it is clear they are quashing investigations into assassinations on US soil. I wonder if the new head of the FBI (McCabe) is in direct contact with V. Putin? It is certainly a possibility.

 

[IronWing]

The evidence is becoming more and more clear that the FBI has been infiltrated by the Russians. They quash any investigation into Trump while they go after Hillary Clinton, and now it is clear they are quashing investigations into assassinations on US soil. I wonder if the new head of the FBI (McCabe) is in direct contact with V. Putin? It is certainly a possibility.

^^ Russian poster

 

[agent00f]

But you see, this is all part and parcel of how Trump got elected. And for that reason and that reason alone, in the minds of Trump's supporters, it's all good. For them, it really doesn't matter HOW Trump got elected. This thing about the enemy of my enemy is my friend got pushed way beyond the bounds of reason and reality where in the eyes of Trump's supporters the Russians are the Good Samaritans who came to his aid in the nick of time, OR, this whole Russian intervention thing is a plot cooked up by the Crooked Hillary despite the very convincing evidence that our intelligence agencies uncovered. Imagine that. Our own intelligence agencies are wholly mistaken because Trump is the harried victim in all of this.

Well, they believe it so it must be true.

Only democrats are dumb enough to think they actually believe it. Same as they "believe" HRC is some heinous criminal, yet after the election choose to do nothing about such a villainous mastermind, letting her roam free to kill again.

 

[trenchfoot]

Only democrats are dumb enough to think they actually believe it. Same as they "believe" HRC is some heinous criminal, yet after the election choose to do nothing about such a villainous mastermind, letting her roam free to kill again.

I agree with you in the sense that a segment of Trump's supporters are wise to his style of "motivational story telling" yet are still partial toward voting not so much for the man but out of loyalty to the party or for some other emotional or religiously inspired reason(s).

But then there is the base being chock full of radicals, reactionaries, zealots, fundamentalist holier-than-thou's, supremacists, segregationists, racists, nativists, traditionalists.......etc. etc. Poll after poll conducted among that group showed that they really do believe that Obama is a Kenyan Muslim Christian hating anti-American that was out to take the nation down the first chance he had right to this very day.

Such is the mind fvcking prowess of the GOP Spin Machine, of FOX, of Limbaugh et al.

 

[agent00f]

I agree with you in the sense that a segment of Trump's supporters are wise to his style of "motivational story telling" yet are still partial toward voting not so much for the man but out of loyalty to the party or for some other emotional or religiously inspired reason(s).

But then there is the base being chock full of radicals, reactionaries, zealots, fundamentalist holier-than-thou's, supremacists, segregationists, racists, nativists, traditionalists.......etc. etc. Poll after poll conducted among that group showed that they really do believe that Obama is a Kenyan Muslim Christian hating anti-American that was out to take the nation down the first chance he had right to this very day.

Such is the mind fvcking prowess of the GOP Spin Machine, of FOX, of Limbaugh et al.

To understand this requires understanding how belief works. I touched on this tangentially in previous posts: https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...-news-hannity-limbaugh.2511463/#post-38989490

In the vein of that post, "belief" used to mean something different before enlightenment philosophers made virtue of believing objective reality. So when conservatives with their antiquated ideals "believe" in creationism or mexican rapists or obama kenyan muslim, it's a different kind of thing compared to how you or I might believe in evolution, or obama was born in hawaii, or how mexican rapists is dog-whistle racism.

To be more concrete, say you believed in birtherism, and I wanted some common basis for a friendly relationship, I might choose to "believe" in birtherism, too. This is how humans survived/evolved for a long time before the western enlightenment, and in a sense that's the world conservatives are conserving.

 

[Sunburn74]

Only democrats are dumb enough to think they actually believe it. Same as they "believe" HRC is some heinous criminal, yet after the election choose to do nothing about such a villainous mastermind, letting her roam free to kill again.

It's absolute insane how blindingly biased people become over politics. You might as well have said "letting her roam free to fly to the moon again" or "letting her roam free to play cards with Zeus again". Or "letting her roam free to cause urinary tract infections again". All of these statements are equally as veritable as yours.

 

[MomentsofSanity]

That lawyer, Veselnitskaya, seems to keep popping up anywhere there are questionable dealings between this admin and Russian interests.

 

[mikeymikec]

If Trump's attention-seeking antics are a smokescreen, when do people suppose he'll have the waterskis and David Attenborough's documentary of ocean predators on order by? Or perhaps we need to keep an eye out for oddly-placed refridgerators within Trump's wheezing distance?

 

[Thump553]

Along the same lines, the CIA and others have estimated that Putin is the richest person in the world, dwarfing the official #1 (Bill Gates). The amount of corruption in Russia is staggering. They have vast natural resources (leaders in oil, gas, uranium, diamonds and the list goes on) but their economy is about the size of Italy's. Perfect proof that trickle-down does not work.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/a...st-man-with-200-billion-net-worth-report-says

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Along the same lines, the CIA and others have estimated that Putin is the richest person in the world, dwarfing the official #1 (Bill Gates). The amount of corruption in Russia is staggering. They have vast natural resources (leaders in oil, gas, uranium, diamonds and the list goes on) but their economy is about the size of Italy's. Perfect proof that trickle-down does not work.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/a...st-man-with-200-billion-net-worth-report-says

What you and many others fail to understand is that, Russia's economy is like an iceberg almost totally underground, unreported and, unregulated. You keep trying to frame them as a legitimate country. They are not, they are wholly owned and operated by the bratva.

 

[Perknose]

Trump has been Putin's bitch . . . easily blinded by flattery and convinced by Russian bank loans.

Sad.

 

[Perknose]

And then there's this.

 

[Jhhnn]

Along the same lines, the CIA and others have estimated that Putin is the richest person in the world, dwarfing the official #1 (Bill Gates). The amount of corruption in Russia is staggering. They have vast natural resources (leaders in oil, gas, uranium, diamonds and the list goes on) but their economy is about the size of Italy's. Perfect proof that trickle-down does not work.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/a...st-man-with-200-billion-net-worth-report-says

It works great for the oligarchs & their sycophants. The rightwing members of our own financial elite strive mightily to make us more like them every day.

 

[Jhhnn]

.

 

[trenchfoot]

What you and many others fail to understand is that, Russia's economy is like an iceberg almost totally underground, unreported and, unregulated. You keep trying to frame them as a legitimate country. They are not, they are wholly owned and operated by the bratva.

And that right there is why so many Americans of the aristocrat class are absolutely jealous of their Russian contemporaries and motivates them to push even harder for the day when America will be just like Russia, seeing as if we're getting closer and closer to that day.

All the very wealthy have to do is keep the Repubs in power like they do now. Looking at what the top priorities are for the Repubs and it becomes pretty obvious whose hands they want the power of the government in, and it sure ain't the vast majority of the nation that the Repubs are thinking of.

edit - And Jhhnn beats me to the punch.

 

[HomerJS]

That lawyer, Veselnitskaya, seems to keep popping up anywhere there are questionable dealings between this admin and Russian interests.

Be honest, could you even spell Veselnitskaya without the google, cut&paste?

 

[MomentsofSanity]

Be honest, could you even spell Veselnitskaya without the google, cut&paste?

Funny enough i spelled it first, then scrolled up and confirmed it in the article!

I was so proud of myself.

True story.

 

[agent00f]

It's absolute insane how blindingly biased people become over politics. You might as well have said "letting her roam free to fly to the moon again" or "letting her roam free to play cards with Zeus again". Or "letting her roam free to cause urinary tract infections again". All of these statements are equally as veritable as yours.

You mean willfully biased. Consider conservative "christians'" reception of obama, a church-going man, vs trump, someone best known for the opposite. Gee I wonder if race has something to do with them all riled up for the birther magnate over a fellow follower of christ. I don't think they're too dumb to figure this out and yet that's what they do nonetheless. In that context, ponder if these pieces of shit's "belief" in jesus means anything, much less anything else.