Ted, can you clarify this comment a bit for me, please? I'm not too up on Manafort/Ukraine and would like to know, in a very general sense what you are referring to. Thanks.
Ted, can you clarify this comment a bit for me, please? I'm not too up on Manafort/Ukraine and would like to know, in a very general sense what you are referring to. Thanks.
Background on Paul Manfort, Ukrainian Politics, and Operation of Russian and Ukrainian Oligarchy
In the early 2000's Paul Manafort was recruited by Russians to help Russian stooge
Viktor Yanukovych, who had lost the presidency to a young capable female idealist, Yulia Tymoshenko.
Russia needs Ukraine under their boot. This is where Putin's Oligarchs through the oil and gas mark up trade, launder much of their money stolen from the Russian people. As Ukraine was courted to join the EU, this infuriated Putin. Ukraine is a tool for Putin to make $ and launder it so he and oligarchy can repatriate the money into the Western Banking system (in the early 2000's Putin was not as strong nor entrenched as he is now). If the Ukraine joins the EU, Putin loses the ability to make and launder $ via Ukraine. Putin needs maintain his cash cow to keep the oligarchs paid and thus fat and happy or they will rise up against him politically and threaten his power (Mikhail Khodorkovsky challenged and barely escaped prison from prison, torture and possible execution ).
Yulia Tymoshenko was EU and western leading, an economist, former finance minister. She ran and won a fair election with joining the EU as a big part of her platform. This was unacceptable to the Kremlin. Yanokovich needed help defeating the popular and Pro EU Yulia Tymoshenko. Manafort rebranded Viktor Yanokovich to appear like a Ronald Reagan to the Ukrainians, but he also taught and deployed the "Dirty Tricks" tactics of Nixon. ( Manfort and Roger Stone are former partners/ political consultants). Manfort devised a slander campaign against Yulia, full of made up stories of epic misogynistic proportions. Just nasty stuff leading to "lock her up" chants. ( sound familiar?).
You can find a lot of news articles telling this story in real time in the 2000's WSJ A section. I read the WSJ for twenty years, but cancelled by subscription when Rupert Murdoch purchased it.
Anyway, it should be of importance to every American as to what and how Paul Manafort was being paid by Russians maintain influence over Ukrainian politics. If he has been helping Russians win in Ukraine for decades, wouldn't it be easy to do the same for Donald Drumf?
How did it end for Yanokovich? With people protesting his election in the streets, . Both sides poured into Kiev to protest, riots, burning, tempers flared, and shots fired, blood in the streets, he fled to Moscow. Then War and occupation of Eastern Ukraine and Crimea by Russia.
So, when HCR talks about Oligarchy in this country and our history of it, I believe it, and how far it can go here I do not know. ( and there is soooo much more 411 to support her views)
oh yes. "do not look away" - Tim Snyder. It is time to dig in harden the defenses of Democracy. Snyder goes on, "History can not inform us of the future, but it can instruct", just like HCR is doing so graciously. Snyder instructs that peaceful protest is the key defense, time and time again against the forces of Authoritarianism. King. Mandela. Ghandi. Not the IRA way.
Thank you for this information. I have read an article or listened to a podcast about how Europe counters false messaging in the media which we obviously donтАЩt do here. .I canтАЩt remember the details. I will see if I can find itтАЩs it and listen to it again. Anybody remember that episode?
Yes! First read up on Ukraine politics and Yulia Tymoshenko. Manafort coined the тАЬLock her upтАЭ chant/slogan to defeat her and helped the Russian stooge win their presidential election. And they did put their former president, Yulia in prison, unjustly. There are so many parallels to Eastern Europe election campaigns with Russians meddling. ALL my European contacts know and understand these tactics and recognize them with ease. Europeans were at first laughing at how gullible we Americans are. Now they are crying for us.
The first thing u do to destabilize a political opponent or an entire country is take control of its mass communications or as much as you can. FB is an open door to Russians, but also our own Oligarchs to first overwhelm with news volume, confuse with conflicting reports, and conspiracy theories, create Apathy in the political process to reduce dialogue and participation. Trust is eroded everywhere. Sew division through vulnerabilities of racism, religion, classes. Politicize every issue, even education, public health, environmental protections. This is the way to radicalize of millions of Americans. And Paul Manafort was paid tens of millions to do this in Ukraine for a long long time. He is a professional at it.
Read тАЬnothing is true and everything is possibleтАЭ Peter ?
тАЬRed NoticeтАЭby Bill Browder
On tyranny and The road to unfreedom by Tim Synder
Read Malcom Nance and Clint Watts ( counter insurgency and counter cyber terrorism experts)
I liked and agree with Nance on the Syria Civil War viewpoint. How the Russians encourage it, facilitate it, to move mass refugees into Europe to destabilize Germany. This is just one of Putin's Active Measures against democratic Governments. Russia is the gateway to Europe to sell the 'stan country's gas at a huge mark up, when European countries try to negotiate gas prices with Russia, Vladimir sends more bombs weapons to Assad. Putin is a master at taking a crisis, making it worse to create and add more leverage where there is little or none.
You will like "messing with the enemy" Clint Watts, A West Point Grad and FBI Counter Cyber Terrorism expert. But also, Gary Kasporov, Masha Geshen, Alexander Litvenchenko, Boris Berezovsky, Anna Politkovskaya, All are or were critical Putin for explaining the schemes and active measures inside and outside Russia that I 've described and three have been murdered, two in England for explaining these things and more in their books.
London, like New York are destinations for Putin's money via Cypress and Maltese banks after Ukraine ( Wilbur Ross, your Commerce Sec was on the board of the banks there). The key to understanding Drumf's corruption is through Deutche Bank lending, New York Real Estate and lax US corporate real estate adn PAC laws. The more I read and research, the more convinced I am we are an oligarchy and need a rebalance.
The NRA donated 10 million to Mitt's campaign in 2012, but 30 million to Drumf in 2016. Where did all that excess cash come from? More memberships? I doubt it. I 'd like to know, but thanks to Republican's, the NRA does have to disclose anything.
I do not think we now enough about our own history, HCR is such a huge help. But we also do not understand enough about eastern Europe and Russian History. We think they are a democracy or at least were on a democratic trajectory post Yeltsin. But as Russia adopted Capitalism, it slowly fell to Oligarchy and worse.
If you want a case study of how a fledging democracies or any democracy can wither slowly from capitalism to oligarchy, to Authoritarianism, Russia from 1989 to present is your ticket.
What is happening this week, has happened throughout eastern European democracy's more than once. It is a cycle with patterns, tactics and strategies, with parallels to here and now, and we need to pay close attention.
Postwar, Tony Judt
Red Notice, Bill Browder
The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin, Masha Gessen
I've been NOT reading Democracy in Chains for 6 months. It sits next to me on the side table, and I pick it up alot, but right now, I can't handle more than a paragraph at a time. Switched to Michael Connely and John Sandford until after the Inauguration.
I'd recommend reading a recent article in Salon titled "Donald Trump's gift to America: Realizing we've never been a liberal democracy". The concept (or reality) of "Competitive Authoritarianism" seems to fit well with what you've said about the political destabilization of Ukraine.
Indeed. One thing the Salon article elides, but that the Levitsky and Wray paper give emphasis to in their competitive authoritarianism article is the role of shaping "compliant judiciaries." If the courts give judgments supporting anti-democratic legislation or executive decrees, the last institutional check on authoritarian controls is removed. A couple of days ago I posted two articles strongly arguing that we should not think "the system worked" because state and federal courts threw out the ridiculous election lawsuits. Longer track records and statements in decisions make it clear that the courts have been completely hands-off re: political gerrymandering and quite supportive of state-level voter suppression efforts.
Many, many thanks for all you've written. I understand it, and I will follow through with research. Thank you for the book references. I recently watched the documentary, "Get Me Roger Stone," where I glimpsed something ugly I was not really aware of. Now I'm wide awake. A further question (which I ask to many): what are your preferred sources of news? I understand about WSJ. Again, thank you.
The "Nothing is true..." is by Peter Pomerantsev, who also has a newer collection of essays, "This is NOT propaganda." Masha Gessen builds on this work in "The Future is History" (on Russia) and the more recent "Surviving Autocracy" (closer to home).
Ted, can you clarify this comment a bit for me, please? I'm not too up on Manafort/Ukraine and would like to know, in a very general sense what you are referring to. Thanks.
Background on Paul Manfort, Ukrainian Politics, and Operation of Russian and Ukrainian Oligarchy
In the early 2000's Paul Manafort was recruited by Russians to help Russian stooge
Viktor Yanukovych, who had lost the presidency to a young capable female idealist, Yulia Tymoshenko.
Russia needs Ukraine under their boot. This is where Putin's Oligarchs through the oil and gas mark up trade, launder much of their money stolen from the Russian people. As Ukraine was courted to join the EU, this infuriated Putin. Ukraine is a tool for Putin to make $ and launder it so he and oligarchy can repatriate the money into the Western Banking system (in the early 2000's Putin was not as strong nor entrenched as he is now). If the Ukraine joins the EU, Putin loses the ability to make and launder $ via Ukraine. Putin needs maintain his cash cow to keep the oligarchs paid and thus fat and happy or they will rise up against him politically and threaten his power (Mikhail Khodorkovsky challenged and barely escaped prison from prison, torture and possible execution ).
Yulia Tymoshenko was EU and western leading, an economist, former finance minister. She ran and won a fair election with joining the EU as a big part of her platform. This was unacceptable to the Kremlin. Yanokovich needed help defeating the popular and Pro EU Yulia Tymoshenko. Manafort rebranded Viktor Yanokovich to appear like a Ronald Reagan to the Ukrainians, but he also taught and deployed the "Dirty Tricks" tactics of Nixon. ( Manfort and Roger Stone are former partners/ political consultants). Manfort devised a slander campaign against Yulia, full of made up stories of epic misogynistic proportions. Just nasty stuff leading to "lock her up" chants. ( sound familiar?).
You can find a lot of news articles telling this story in real time in the 2000's WSJ A section. I read the WSJ for twenty years, but cancelled by subscription when Rupert Murdoch purchased it.
Anyway, it should be of importance to every American as to what and how Paul Manafort was being paid by Russians maintain influence over Ukrainian politics. If he has been helping Russians win in Ukraine for decades, wouldn't it be easy to do the same for Donald Drumf?
How did it end for Yanokovich? With people protesting his election in the streets, . Both sides poured into Kiev to protest, riots, burning, tempers flared, and shots fired, blood in the streets, he fled to Moscow. Then War and occupation of Eastern Ukraine and Crimea by Russia.
So, when HCR talks about Oligarchy in this country and our history of it, I believe it, and how far it can go here I do not know. ( and there is soooo much more 411 to support her views)
OH. Oh, No.
oh yes. "do not look away" - Tim Snyder. It is time to dig in harden the defenses of Democracy. Snyder goes on, "History can not inform us of the future, but it can instruct", just like HCR is doing so graciously. Snyder instructs that peaceful protest is the key defense, time and time again against the forces of Authoritarianism. King. Mandela. Ghandi. Not the IRA way.
Thank you for this information. I have read an article or listened to a podcast about how Europe counters false messaging in the media which we obviously donтАЩt do here. .I canтАЩt remember the details. I will see if I can find itтАЩs it and listen to it again. Anybody remember that episode?
Yes! First read up on Ukraine politics and Yulia Tymoshenko. Manafort coined the тАЬLock her upтАЭ chant/slogan to defeat her and helped the Russian stooge win their presidential election. And they did put their former president, Yulia in prison, unjustly. There are so many parallels to Eastern Europe election campaigns with Russians meddling. ALL my European contacts know and understand these tactics and recognize them with ease. Europeans were at first laughing at how gullible we Americans are. Now they are crying for us.
The first thing u do to destabilize a political opponent or an entire country is take control of its mass communications or as much as you can. FB is an open door to Russians, but also our own Oligarchs to first overwhelm with news volume, confuse with conflicting reports, and conspiracy theories, create Apathy in the political process to reduce dialogue and participation. Trust is eroded everywhere. Sew division through vulnerabilities of racism, religion, classes. Politicize every issue, even education, public health, environmental protections. This is the way to radicalize of millions of Americans. And Paul Manafort was paid tens of millions to do this in Ukraine for a long long time. He is a professional at it.
Read тАЬnothing is true and everything is possibleтАЭ Peter ?
тАЬRed NoticeтАЭby Bill Browder
On tyranny and The road to unfreedom by Tim Synder
Read Malcom Nance and Clint Watts ( counter insurgency and counter cyber terrorism experts)
Fiction but worth it to understand more:
The Plot Against America - Phillip Roth
Malcolm Nance is an eye opener.
I liked and agree with Nance on the Syria Civil War viewpoint. How the Russians encourage it, facilitate it, to move mass refugees into Europe to destabilize Germany. This is just one of Putin's Active Measures against democratic Governments. Russia is the gateway to Europe to sell the 'stan country's gas at a huge mark up, when European countries try to negotiate gas prices with Russia, Vladimir sends more bombs weapons to Assad. Putin is a master at taking a crisis, making it worse to create and add more leverage where there is little or none.
You will like "messing with the enemy" Clint Watts, A West Point Grad and FBI Counter Cyber Terrorism expert. But also, Gary Kasporov, Masha Geshen, Alexander Litvenchenko, Boris Berezovsky, Anna Politkovskaya, All are or were critical Putin for explaining the schemes and active measures inside and outside Russia that I 've described and three have been murdered, two in England for explaining these things and more in their books.
London, like New York are destinations for Putin's money via Cypress and Maltese banks after Ukraine ( Wilbur Ross, your Commerce Sec was on the board of the banks there). The key to understanding Drumf's corruption is through Deutche Bank lending, New York Real Estate and lax US corporate real estate adn PAC laws. The more I read and research, the more convinced I am we are an oligarchy and need a rebalance.
The NRA donated 10 million to Mitt's campaign in 2012, but 30 million to Drumf in 2016. Where did all that excess cash come from? More memberships? I doubt it. I 'd like to know, but thanks to Republican's, the NRA does have to disclose anything.
I do not think we now enough about our own history, HCR is such a huge help. But we also do not understand enough about eastern Europe and Russian History. We think they are a democracy or at least were on a democratic trajectory post Yeltsin. But as Russia adopted Capitalism, it slowly fell to Oligarchy and worse.
If you want a case study of how a fledging democracies or any democracy can wither slowly from capitalism to oligarchy, to Authoritarianism, Russia from 1989 to present is your ticket.
What is happening this week, has happened throughout eastern European democracy's more than once. It is a cycle with patterns, tactics and strategies, with parallels to here and now, and we need to pay close attention.
Postwar, Tony Judt
Red Notice, Bill Browder
The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin, Masha Gessen
Russian Roulette, Michael Isakoff
Winter is Coming, Gary Kasporov
Democracy in Chains, Nancy MacLean
Dark Towers, David Enrich
Putin's Russia, Anna Politkovskaya
Blowing up Russia, Alexander Litvinenko
The Future is History, Masha Gessen
Red Mafia Robert Friedman
The Threat, Andrew McCabe
Plot to Betray American, Malcom Nance
McCabe's book is terrific.
I've been NOT reading Democracy in Chains for 6 months. It sits next to me on the side table, and I pick it up alot, but right now, I can't handle more than a paragraph at a time. Switched to Michael Connely and John Sandford until after the Inauguration.
Michael Connelly & John Sandford are life savers at this point, arent they?
I'd recommend reading a recent article in Salon titled "Donald Trump's gift to America: Realizing we've never been a liberal democracy". The concept (or reality) of "Competitive Authoritarianism" seems to fit well with what you've said about the political destabilization of Ukraine.
Agreed.
Scary, isn't it!
Indeed. One thing the Salon article elides, but that the Levitsky and Wray paper give emphasis to in their competitive authoritarianism article is the role of shaping "compliant judiciaries." If the courts give judgments supporting anti-democratic legislation or executive decrees, the last institutional check on authoritarian controls is removed. A couple of days ago I posted two articles strongly arguing that we should not think "the system worked" because state and federal courts threw out the ridiculous election lawsuits. Longer track records and statements in decisions make it clear that the courts have been completely hands-off re: political gerrymandering and quite supportive of state-level voter suppression efforts.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/01/donald-trump-courts-election-legal-hangover-453217
https://www.justsecurity.org/73950/the-system-is-not-working-the-lopsided-election-result-not-the-courts-saved-our-democracy/
Many, many thanks for all you've written. I understand it, and I will follow through with research. Thank you for the book references. I recently watched the documentary, "Get Me Roger Stone," where I glimpsed something ugly I was not really aware of. Now I'm wide awake. A further question (which I ask to many): what are your preferred sources of news? I understand about WSJ. Again, thank you.
Your welcome! Reuters & AP, and Wa Post! NY Times, Seattle Times( still family owned!) and San Francisco Chronicle, Idaho Statesman
The "Nothing is true..." is by Peter Pomerantsev, who also has a newer collection of essays, "This is NOT propaganda." Masha Gessen builds on this work in "The Future is History" (on Russia) and the more recent "Surviving Autocracy" (closer to home).