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Posted (edited)

I would really like to see someone come out with a $30mm prize for the best report that concisely yet completely and accurately captures the full level of Russian subversion of our democracy and corruption.  The catch would be that judging will occur now and also 10 years from now on a blended basis of most complete and proven most accurate.  My money is on the information security companies.  The reporting to date on this has been extremely poor in terms of comprehensive, non-partisan, non-clickbait, technical summaries.

Edited by J.R.
Posted
  On 1/22/2019 at 5:01 PM, J.R. said:

I would really like to see someone come out with a $30mm prize for the best report that concisely yet completely and accurately captures the full level of Russian subversion of our democracy and corruption.  The catch would be that judging will occur now and also 10 years from now on a blended basis of most complete and proven most accurate.  My money is on the information security companies.  The reporting to date on this has been extremely poor in terms of comprehensive, non-partisan, non-clickbait, technical summaries.

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The documentary Active Measures does the best job I've seen so far of giving a comprehensive overview in two hours but it was still lacking in some areas like the NRA angle with Butina.  

It does a good job of illustrating how 2016 wasn't Russia first rodeo.  They ran identical playbooks in Georgia and Ukraine over the last 10 years. 

  • Like 1
Posted
  On 1/22/2019 at 5:12 PM, Hugo Stiglitz said:

The documentary Active Measures does the best job I've seen so far of giving a comprehensive overview in two hours but it was still lacking in some areas like the NRA angle with Butina.  

It does a good job of illustrating how 2016 wasn't Russia first rodeo.  They ran identical playbooks in Georgia and Ukraine over the last 10 years. 

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no its watered down bullshit for public consumption.  

Posted (edited)
  On 1/22/2019 at 5:13 PM, J.R. said:

no its watered down bullshit for public consumption.  

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Well yeah, if you can't package a story consumable for the public, what good is it? 

 FTR, I didn't say Active Measure was great, just that it''s the best I've seen so far.  And yeah, it's watered down but that's the only way to tell the story. 

It would take multiple Encyclopedia Britannica collections worth of documents based on the expertise of at least 100 scholars in different fields to do the Russia attack justice. 

Anyone claiming to be an expert on Trump-Russia is full of shit. 

 

 

Edited by Hugo Stiglitz
Posted

I don’t think so, the company admits it’s a witness. I’m all in on it being VTB Bank

  Quote

Everyone in Moscow understood that VTB was more than a bank. It had ties to Russian intelligence. Putin’s Federal Security Service (FSB) spy chief, Nikolai Patrushev, and his successor, Alexander Bortnikov, both sent their sons to work at VTB. The bank’s deputy chief executive, Vasily Titov, chaired the FSB’s public council.

VTB may have also had contacts with Trump associates, according to The New York Times. In November 2015, a few months after Trump announced he was running for president, one of his business partners, Felix Sater, wrote an email to Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, saying VTB had agreed to bankroll a Trump Tower Moscow project. Trump signed a letter of intent for the deal. When the project stalled, Cohen tried reaching out to Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitri Peskov, to help jump-start it. But it ultimately failed.

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https://www.newsweek.com/2017/12/29/donald-trump-russia-secret-deutsche-bank-753780.html

Posted (edited)
  On 1/22/2019 at 6:38 PM, Hugo Stiglitz said:

I’m guessing Alpha Bank

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I haven't been following along closely, but I didn't think either of VTB Bank or Alfa Bank were wholly-owned by Russia.  Any chance this might actually be the Qatari Investment Authority - i.e., the one that bought the stake in Rosneft and which is definitely a a wholly owned agency or instrumentality of a foreign state?  

Edited by Gap03
Typo
Posted
  On 1/22/2019 at 7:09 PM, Gap03 said:

I haven't been following along closely, but I didn't think either of VTB Bank or Alfa Bank were wholly-owned by Russia.  Any chance this might actually be the Qatari Investment Authority - i.e., the one that bought the stake in Rosneft and which is definitely a a wholly owned agency or instrumentality of a foreign state?  

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Just a reminder about the QIA / Rosneft / Page episode:

https://medium.com/@gregolear/the-rosneft-commission-trumps-inevitable-downfall-will-involve-money-and-lots-of-it-81e87778288f

https://medium.com/@gregolear/rosneft-revisited-did-trump-do-a-deal-in-russia-b2dfda6ce310

Fingers crossed that Mueller has managed to substantiate some of the speculation around a Rosneft brokerage.  How sweet would it be if the Steele Dossier was spot on regarding Page's activities and they managed to track the money back to the Trump organization?

Posted
  On 1/22/2019 at 4:26 PM, HenryJames said:

 

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In the course of three years, Alex Jones went from interviewing Trump on his show, to watching Trump and other InoWars fans take the White House, to an expensive and messy (and revealing) divorce, losing an important and costly lawsuit to the Sandy Hook parents, being kicked off all of his major social media platforms, and now this.  

It’s like aggy’s Annual fall football rolleroaster spread out over three years.  

  • Haha 1
Posted
  On 1/22/2019 at 7:09 PM, Gap03 said:

I haven't been following along closely, but I didn't think either of VTB Bank or Alfa Bank were wholly-owned by Russia.  Any chance this might actually be the Qatari Investment Authority - i.e., the one that bought the stake in Rosneft and which is definitely a a wholly owned agency or instrumentality of a foreign state?  

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https://www.vtb.com/akcionery-i-investory/raskrytie-informacii/struktura-akcionernogo-kapitala/

Looks wholly Russian owned to me...

Also, Alston & Bird reps the company and they’ve rep’d several high profile Russian interests in the past

Posted

It’s really not that hard. The Russians gave a bunch of money to the NRA. The NRA gave a bunch of money to the Trumplicans. Some, maybe most, of the trumplicans knew that. Now they’re all scared shitless running interference. 

  • Like 7
Posted
  On 1/22/2019 at 9:26 PM, JimmyJames said:

It’s really not that hard. The Russians gave a bunch of money to the NRA. The NRA gave a bunch of money to the Trumplicans. Some, maybe most, of the trumplicans knew that. Now they’re all scared shitless running interference. 

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This seems correct to me.  Is it more complicated?

Posted
  On 1/22/2019 at 9:28 PM, Biff Tannen said:

This seems correct to me.  Is it more complicated?

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Only to the extent the Russians tried to hide the source. Nothing an experienced financial crimes prosecutor couldn’t figure out. 

The super duper secret subpoena battle currently raging before pj, squee and donkey dong Doug is almost assuredly an example of that, but probably even bigger than just the kind of big NRA. 

Posted (edited)
  On 1/22/2019 at 9:33 PM, Hugo Stiglitz said:

So from this story, Mueller has been looking at the NRA for over a year.

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I believe Mueller has been hot on RNC's trail since late spring of 2017.

This from last April:

The first tweet doesn't resonate with me because GOP investigating Trump was always going to be too late.  There would be no exoneration.

Tweet 2/ though. 💀

 

Edited by triplehorn
Posted

Russians likely had a lot of influence and financial support in the NRA’s media operation.

The messaging the NRA was putting out a few years ago is where I saw the most aggressive Russian tropes. 

 

NRA going anti-media

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/the-fix/wp/2018/02/24/how-the-nra-came-to-demonize-the-media/

NRA’s TV Operation Lays Off Several Employees

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thetrace.org/rounds/nratv-layoffs-employees-ackerman-mcqueen/amp/

Posted
  On 1/22/2019 at 8:52 PM, Pig Bellmont said:

https://www.vtb.com/akcionery-i-investory/raskrytie-informacii/struktura-akcionernogo-kapitala/

Looks wholly Russian owned to me...

Also, Alston & Bird reps the company and they’ve rep’d several high profile Russian interests in the past

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That table only shows the >5% SHs.  Approximately 40% of the VTB ordinary shares aren't reflected there, many of which are held by non-state entities (based on the sources spoiler'd below).

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Posted

Buzzfeed has been all over the Trump Tower Moscow project for over a year.  I’m still kinda bummed the SCO put out that ambiguous statement.  It was so unnecessary. 

From the journalists that are standing by the claim that Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress, they’re saying they haven’t locked down the precise language Trump used but they believe evidence exists that can put them in the room.  

I imagine it was along the same mob boss talk Trump gave to Comey.

”Michael, I hope you stick to the script when you testify before Congress. We wouldn’t want anymore trouble right?”

  • Like 1
Posted
  On 1/22/2019 at 9:45 PM, Hugo Stiglitz said:

Russians likely had a lot of influence and financial support in the NRA’s media operation.

The messaging the NRA was putting out a few years ago is where I saw the most aggressive Russian tropes. 

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Right.  This just cycled through the news in the last couple weeks - that Trump campaign was coordinating messaging w NRA for the election.  That’s illegal.

Also consider your observation about NRA/RU media/messaging.  People who took laundered rubles didn’t just take money they ‘thought’ was clean coming from legit donors.  It appears the cash was a bundled package that also included Cambridge Analytica and participation in coordinated use of the Russian influenced media campaign.  That also includes incorporating Russian-hacked content as we saw used in congressional races in FL.

What do Trump/RUS get in return for dirty cash and coordinated multilayered media campaign assistance for certain GOP’s in Congress to win their primaries and general ?  

A commitment to No oversight and No investigation of Trump.  That’s exactly what we’ve witnessed for two years.

  • Like 4
Posted
  On 1/23/2019 at 12:45 AM, Atx71 said:

Soon.Sack, soon.. And the tears will be will be a source of joy for years. 

 

Please continue. 

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You won’t see my tears.  It won’t affect my life.  How soon though?   You seem plugged in and should know.  

Posted
  On 1/23/2019 at 12:48 AM, Johnny Sack said:

You won’t see my tears.  It won’t affect my life.  How soon though?   You seem plugged in and should know.  

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I have been waiting for Trump's huge splash since 1985. I dont want to see it rushed now, it is so spectacular. 



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