General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMitch McConnell's Ties to Russian Oil Money
The Democratic Coalition
Jan 28
... McConnell recently voted to drop sanctions against Russian aluminum company RusAl which is still owned by one of Vladimir Putins sanctioned oligarchs, Oleg Deripaska. His action directly benefits one of the GOP leaders major donors, whose fortune comes from Russian oil.
The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC run by Sen. McConnells former Chief of Staff, received a total of $3,500,000 ($2,500,000 in 2016 and $1,000,000 in 2017) via Access Industries and a subsidiary. Len Blavatnik is a Russian oligarch with US and UK citizenship who owns Access Industries and donated to Sen. McConnells 2016 Senate campaign vehicles.
Blavatniks Access Industries made many of its billions from Putins decisions about its Russian oil partnership. He is also a long-term business partner of Kremlin-linked Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska at RuSal, in which he is a major investor, as well as Viktor Vekselberg, who is entangled with Trumps personal lawyer Michael Cohen through his U.S. family office Columbus Nova.
Last week, Sen. McConnell led 42 Republicans in voting against a resolution to maintain sanctions on Blavatniks business partner Deripaska ...
https://medium.com/@TheDemCoalition/mitch-mcconnells-ties-to-russian-oil-money-db56f16a4824
struggle4progress
(118,034 posts)BY CHARLES P. PIERCE
AP
... It seems that Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin was hot to build a new aluminum milling plant, but that the proposed location was not suitable for such a large operation. The cost of finding a new location drained the project's funds. And along came the Volga Bagmen to the rescue ...
Two of the three votes needed to maintain the sanctions against goons like Deripaska came from senators representing a state into which his company was pumping money he'd obtained god knows where or how, and one of whom is the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate into whose PAC Deripaska's partner dumped $3.5 million between 2015 and 2017. Oddly, one of the stories that has sunk like a stone over the past few years is the story of how much Russian ratfcking money went into Republican campaigns generally over the past few cycles ...
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a27259438/oleg-deripaska-kentucky-aluminum-mitch-mcconnell-rand-paul/
Chin music
(23,002 posts)has a house next door to kelli-a(hole) conway. Can that possibly be true?
magicarpet
(13,935 posts)begin snip,..
plutocracy, lives Secretary of Treasury Steve Mnuchin in a $12 million mansion a five-minute walk from the $15 million mansion of Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, purchased in 2006 and renovated for many years after. Smack next door to the metal tycoon is Kellyanne Conway. Vernon Jordan is across the street, David Bradley, the owner of The Atlantic magazine, is three doors down, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is just across the way.
end snip, more at link,...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/russian-oligarch-oleg-deripaskas-empty-mansion-haunts-dcs-splendor
Chin music
(23,002 posts)Celerity
(42,645 posts)Yes, they all get along. Ross bought his $10 million Beaux Arts house from arts patron and philanthropist Adrienne Arsht, who then moved a few blocks closer to Deripaska. If she wanted to, Arschtwho donated to Hillary Clintons campaign but invites Senate and White House Republicans to her frequent dinnersis so close she could eavesdrop on house parties hes not here to have. For Ross, a few feet up his driveway and hes practically on the front steps of Obamas Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker.
But theres a reason. Theres a reason. Theres a reason for this, theres a reason education sucks, and its the same reason that it will never, ever, ever be fixed. Its never gonna get any better. Dont look for it. Be happy with what you got. Because the owners of this country don't want that. I'm talking about the real owners now, the real owners, the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations.
Theyve long since bought and paid for the senate, the congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying, lobbying, to get what they want. Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I'll tell you what they dont want: They dont want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They dont want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. Theyre not interested in that. That doesnt help them. Thats against their interests. Thats right. They dont want people who are smart enough to sit around a kitchen table to figure out how badly theyre getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fucking years ago. They dont want that. You know what they want? They want obedient workers. Obedient workers. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it, and now theyre coming for your Social Security money. They want your retirement money. They want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street, and you know something? Theyll get it. Theyll get it all from you, sooner or later, 'cause they own this fucking place.
It's a big club, and you aint in it. You and I are not in the big club. And by the way, it's the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe. All day long beating you over the head in their media telling you what to believe, what to think and what to buy. The table is tilted folks. The game is rigged, and nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. Good honest hard-working people -- white collar, blue collar, it doesnt matter what color shirt you have on -- good honest hard-working people continue -- these are people of modest means -- continue to elect these rich cocksuckers who dont give a fuck about them. They dont give a fuck about you. They dont give a fuck about you. They don't care about you at all -- at all -- at all. And nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. That's what the owners count on; the fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue dick that's being jammed up their assholes everyday. Because the owners of this country know the truth: it's called the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.
― George Carlin
struggle4progress
(118,034 posts)Democratic lawmakers have questioned the plan, saying it would keep the company under Kremlin control
By Ian Talley
Updated Jan. 10, 2019 10:57 p.m. ET
WASHINGTONU.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, under fire from Democratic lawmakers, defended the proposed removal of Russian aluminum behemoth United Co. Rusal from the administrations blacklist as evidence of a successful sanctions strategy ...
https://www.wsj.com/articles/mnuchin-defends-plan-to-remove-russian-aluminum-giant-from-sanctions-blacklist-11547159151
spanone
(135,632 posts)ffr
(22,644 posts)He is evil personified.
struggle4progress
(118,034 posts)Joseph Gerth, Louisville Courier Journal
Published 9:59 a.m. ET April 22, 2019
Updated 4:38 p.m. ET April 22, 2019
Kentucky might be going into business with the Russian mafia ...
If all goes according to plan, by the middle of the year, well be in business with Oleg Deripaska, a buddy of Vladimir Putin.
He could be sending $200 million if you believe media reports in what could very well be mobbed-up money to northeastern Kentucky to build a $1.7 billion aluminum plant on an old strip mine there.
The United States government, according to the New York Times, has long believed that Deripaska has deep ties to Russian organized crime the Bratva so much so it has limited his travel here and prohibited him from doing business in this country ...
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/joseph-gerth/2019/04/22/braidy-industries-kentucky-lands-russian-investor-connected-to-mob/3508198002/
Chin music
(23,002 posts)Like French or British mobsters?
Fritz Walter
(4,281 posts)Both of them.
I have family in the Bluegrass State. They dont need and cant afford to be saddled (Derby pun unintentional) with consequences of the consummation of such an unholy act.
On the other hand, if it helps convince them to Ditch Mitch, it might be a price worth paying.
2naSalit
(86,047 posts)struggle4progress
(118,034 posts)by Erica
Jan 28
Sens. Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio, and Lindsey Graham are among those who benefited from Russia-linked donations.
A close look at public campaign finance reports reveals a network of Russian oligarchs increasingly contributing to top Republican leadership in recent years, according to Dallas News.
And thanks to the Supreme Court's ruling on Citizens United in 2010, the donations are perfectly legal ...
https://mavenroundtable.io/theintellectualist/news/allies-of-vladimir-putin-funneled-money-to-senior-republicans-hR1nirIpK0-Au1Xg74novg/
struggle4progress
(118,034 posts)Ruth May, Contributor
Editor's note May 8, 2018: This column originally published December 15, 2017. New allegations about $500k in payments from a Russian oligarch made to Trump attorney Michael Cohen have placed it back in the news.
... In 2015-16, everything changed. Blavatnik's political contributions soared and made a hard right turn as he pumped $6.35 million into GOP political action committees, with millions of dollars going to top Republican leaders including Sens. Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham.
In 2017, donations continued, with $41,000 going to both Republican and Democrat candidates, along with $1 million to McConnell's Senate Leadership Fund ...
Oleg Deripaska is said to be one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's favorite oligarchs, and he is founder and majority shareholder of Russia's Rusal, the second-largest aluminum company in the world. Blavatnik holds a stake in Rusal with a business partner ...
https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/12/15/putins-proxies-helped-funnel-millions-gop-campaigns
awesomerwb1
(4,256 posts)Please help us tweetspread this information over and over until it becomes too much for MSM to ignore.
I recommend using other links from publications that are not Dem publications.
struggle4progress
(118,034 posts)A sanctions deal cut by the Treasury Dept. provides Putins favorite industrialist with hundreds of millions in debt relief
JANUARY 22, 2019 1:43PM ET
Tim Dickinson
When President Trumps Treasury Department proposed lifting sanctions on companies tied to the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska in December Secretary Steven Mnuchin vowed that the firms would be forced to significantly diminish Deripaskas ownership and sever his control.
But, the New York Times is now reporting that Treasurys promises were illusory: The deal contains provisions that free <Deripaska> from hundreds of millions of dollars in debt while leaving him and his allies with majority ownership of his most important company.
... Deripaska has been called Putins favorite industrialist and also had .. ties to .. Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Manafort who had received $10 million loan from Deripaska offered to give the aluminum magnate private briefings on the state of the presidential race in the summer of 2016 ...
... In mid-January, Senate Democrats, joined by 11 Republicans, attempted to override Mnunchin and keep sanctions in place ...
But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell held together a coalition of 42 Republicans, including erstwhile Russia hawks Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), to keep the lifting of sanctions on track ...
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/deripaska-trump-782332/
struggle4progress
(118,034 posts)It isnt just the story of a few corrupt officials, or even a corrupt president. Its the story of a corrupt Republican Party.
By David Klion
JULY 17, 2018
... just days before the Trump-Putin summit, Robert Mueller indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers, charging them with hacking, identity theft, and conspiracy to launder money ...
But even more intriguing is the allegation that on August 15, 2016, the indicted officers received a request for stolen documents from a candidate for the U.S. Congress and that they sent the candidate stolen documents related to the candidates opponent. Without anything beyond that description to work with, its best not to speculate as to who this candidate might be, but its safe to assume they know who they are. This is a shocking allegation, and it hints at larger implications of Russiagate that the public is nowhere close to coming to terms with ...
https://www.thenation.com/article/russiagate-far-wider-trump-inner-circle/
struggle4progress
(118,034 posts)By Catherine Rampell
January 21
Once upon a time, Ayn Rand-reading, red-baiting Republicans denounced Soviet Russia as an evil superpower intent on destroying the American way of life.
My, how things have changed.
The Grand Old Party has quietly become the pro-Russia party and not only because the partys standard-bearer seems peculiarly enamored of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Under Republican leadership, the United States is starting to look an awful lot like the failed Soviet system the party once stood unified against ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-gop-has-become-the-pro-russia-party/2019/01/21/9960f0d4-1dbf-11e9-8e21-59a09ff1e2a1_story.html?utm_term=.7138f8504a65
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Democratic Coalition on top of that?
Medium publishes articles from various sources, and some are very unreliable.
Scott Dworkin's Democratic Coalition is far left propaganda and generally unreliable.
"Gee, I'd better check this out with other sources." McConnell's amoral scum busily betraying our nation, mostly to our own kleptocrats and China's, and now to Russia. But misinformation isn't real. Btw, it's never been really about money for McConnell. For him it's power, and he's thrown his lot in with the plutocrats cum kleptocrats who've been helping grow his power for decades.
www.politifact.com/facebook-fact-checks/statements/2019/feb/14/facebook-posts/fact-checking-claim-mitch-mcconnells-biggest-donor/
This article has been widely cited and updated: https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2018/05/08/putins-proxies-helped-funnel-millions-gop-campaigns
MarcA
(2,195 posts)Hammer his gop leadership and his Senate campaign.
BigmanPigman
(51,430 posts)We MUST vote him out.
sop
(9,945 posts)When historians write about this era years from now, the unprecedented degree of government and corporate corruption will be the major theme.
rzemanfl
(29,540 posts)turbinetree
(24,632 posts)about closing some case, that isn't close, and he is standing there knowing that a asshole was selling off states to divvy up states to get some criminal elected using polling data.....................you just cannot make this crap up..................
Hey Kentucky how much do you think your worth to Moscow, ask Mitch, after all he has made close 7 million to fund his campaign are you sure he is citizen of Kentucky, the money says otherwise.....................and to top it all off he wants you to die without health care coverage ........................
Why do you keep re-electing him............................why.................
JAD
(187 posts)He earned that nickname.
rzemanfl
(29,540 posts)Duppers
(28,094 posts)benld74
(9,888 posts)But was leery of posting
Wasnt sure about Medium
Or how the forum
Would react to it
Kid Berwyn
(14,643 posts)Excerpt:
If all goes according to plan, by the middle of the year, well be in business with Oleg Deripaska, a buddy of Vladimir Putin.
He could be sending $200 million if you believe media reports in what could very well be mobbed-up money to northeastern Kentucky to build a $1.7 billion aluminum plant on an old strip mine there.
The United States government, according to the New York Times, has long believed that Deripaska has deep ties to Russian organized crime the Bratva so much so it has limited his travel here and prohibited him from doing business in this country.
The 51-year-old billionaire emerged as a powerful businessman following the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union after a bloody fight for control of Russia's aluminum industry.
More: https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/joseph-gerth/2019/04/22/braidy-industries-kentucky-lands-russian-investor-connected-to-mob/3508198002/
sellitman
(11,596 posts)They are only a crime family. Mitch is a Crime Boss. Nothing more, nothing less.
MFGsunny
(2,356 posts)Lock 'em all up.
Sunlight is coming fast upon these cockroaches.
Watch them scatter.
I choose to trust/hope in OUR American values and OUR free press.
Today's NYT "Loser" article is a very good start.