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As US sanctions on Venezuelan oil restrict one of the last lifelines for the embattled regime of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, talk of all-out civil war has intensified (one US admiral even suggested that the US could dispatch ground forces to the ailing socialist republic if it feels its diplomatic personnel are being threatened). And with opposition leader Juan Guaido winning the support of a growing share of the international community, his government will soon benefit from more financial support in the form of escrow accounts that will be seeded with revenues from Venezuelan oil.

Last month, John Bolton tweeted that he sincerely hopes Maduro will abandon his claim to power and flee to “a nice beach somewhere far from Venezuela.”

I wish Nicolas Maduro and his top advisors a long, quiet retirement, living on a nice beach somewhere far from Venezuela. They should take advantage of President Guaido’s amnesty and move on. The sooner the better.

— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) January 31, 2019

Though he declined to name names, Elliott Abrams, the State Department’s special envoy to Venezuela, said that countries other than Russia and Cuba “have come to us privately and said they’d be willing to take members of the current illegitimate regime if it would help the transition.”

And Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, reportedly has been pressuring her husband to have a “Plan B” ready

With Maduro’s fate looking ever more tenuous (though, to be sure, despite a wave of defections, he still commands the loyalty of the Venezuelan military), Bloomberg on Monday offered a comprehensive look at all of the countries where Maduro and the senior ranks of his government could end up seeking asylum.

To be sure, offering safe haven to Maduro could carry risks both for the Venezuelan dictator and the country involved. Still, the locations reportedly under discussion include both unsurprising candidates (Cuba) and surprising ones (…the Vatican?).

Here’s a quick roundup, sourced from BBG:

Cuba:

The Cuban Communist regime led by Miguel Diaz-Canel has been both an ideological ally to Maduro’s Bolivarian Republic and a source of financing during times of stress. But taking in Maduro could put Cuba “back on the US radar” after President Trump has done surprisingly little to roll back the detente ushered in by the Obama Administration.

Russia

Moscow has been one of the Maduro regime’s most outspoken backers (its state-controlled oil company Rosneft has sunk billions of dollars in investments into Venezeula’s state-run oil company). Still, Russian lawmakers insisted they would rather see Maduro remain in power in Venezuela. One Russian lawmaker said he believes Maduro and his allies would sooner take to the hills and become guerillas before leaving the country.

Moscow is not fond of Maduro, but has little choice in the matter, according to a person with knowledge of the internal discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Kremlin won’t encourage him to flee unless there is a clear alternative — and for Moscow that is not Guaido, the person said.

“He is not planning to go anywhere,” Russian lawmaker Andrey Klimov, deputy head of the upper house of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said by phone. He dismissed talk of Maduro’s evacuation as “psychological warfare” aimed at “sowing panic and hysteria.“

“I think Maduro and his people are more likely to become guerrillas and make a second Vietnam of Venezuela,” he said. Russia, he added, is “talking to Maduro in order to ease tensions inside the country and abroad. But we can’t command him.”

Still, Russia said it doesn’t “give up on its own”, suggesting that if Maduro was truly desperate, he could turn to Moscow.

If Maduro turned to Russia, President Vladimir Putin would give him refuge, said Andrey Kortunov, head of the Russian International Affairs Council, a research organization set up by the Kremlin. “It’s not in our rules to give up our own – and he is still one of ours,” he said.
Russia, however, thinks Maduro can survive the crisis, according to Kortunov. “I believe Maduro has boltholes closer than Russia,” he said. “But this is still premature. So far, the regime has shown some resilience.”

Mexico

Another likely contender is Mexico, which has a long tradition of taking in leftist exiles and also the Shah of Iran. After his falling out with Stalin, Leon Trotsky, the infamous Soviet revolutionary, fled to Mexico, where he was welcomed proudly by the country’s leftist leader (though he was later murdered by agents of Stalin). Lazaro Cardenas, the leader who took in Trotsky, is a hero for AMLO, Mexico’s current leader. Mexico has remained one of the few countries in Latin America to continue to recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate ruler.

In another sign that Mexico could offer asylum to Maduro,  Jorge Rodriguez, Venezuela’s communications minister, traveled to Mexico last month while Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was also in the country. Talks between the various parties reportedly focused on Mexico’s utility as a conduit for talks between Maduro and the opposition. 

Turkey

President Erdogan has praised Maduro, and officials in his government have suggested that Maduro could seek asylum there, though only as a last recourse.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Maduro last month to assure him of his support, addressing him as “my brother!” The destination for tons of Venezuelan gold, Turkey has offered to take in Maduro, although only as a last recourse, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Any decision would be taken by Erdogan directly, and right now the priority is on backing him at home, a senior Turkish official said.

The Vatican

Last month, Guaido appealed to Pope Francis for help in acting as a mediator between Guaido and Maduro, though the Vatican remains an unlikely source of respite for Maduro and members of his regime.

One factor that could complicate a Maduro exit is his vice president, Diosdado Cabello, who has been under investigation by US prosecutors since at least 2015 for his alleged involvement in cocaine trafficking.

* *  *

Still, anybody who believes the demise of the Maduro regime is imminent should take another look at what happened in Syria during the wake of the Arab Spring. Back in 2011, almost every analyst quoted in Western media predicted that Assad’s downfall would take a matter of weeks, not months or years, according to BBG.

Nearly eight years later, not only is Assad still in power, but he is stronger than ever before. The same could very well hold true for Maduro, who also enjoys the backing of Russia and Iran.

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2TFCl8Q Tyler Durden

Authored by Tom Luongo,

Russia is winning its war of attrition against aggressive U.S. sanctions policy. Diplomatically, Russia is winning on all fronts, finding positive solutions through its abundant energy reserves to open gaps in relationships hat have been frozen in geopolitical amber for two generations.

The latest balance of trade data from Rosstat tells the tale. Russia continues to run a massive trade surplus even though oil prices crashed in the fourth quarter and have only somewhat recovered.

I’ve covered the surprising stability of the Russian ruble over the past six months given the volatility in oil prices in the past. That stability is key to the future of central Asia as well as eastern Europe.

Putin is positioning Russia and the ruble as the glue which ties central Asia’s development together through the Eurasian Economic Union. So, it and Russia’s economy defying the best efforts of the U.S. to impede its growth is something to keep watch on.

Russia’s overall exports are governed by it’s oil production. With the U.S. threatening all manner of new sanctions throughout 2017, Russia turned on the oil spigots after Trump’s disastrous Aluminum tariffs and his exiting the JCPOA.

But, let’s do some math. From 10.5 million bbl/day to 11 million bbl/day is only an increase of around $1 billion per month assuming all of that oil is exported at an average price of $60/bbl and zero cost of production.

500,000 bbl/day X $60/bbl X 30 days/month equals $900,000,000.

So, the $5 billion / month increase in Russia’s trade balance can’t be covered by simply the production of more oil and gas. And since May of 2018 the Ruble has held in a pretty tight +/-3% band between RUB64 and RUB70 versus the dollar. So there’s no currency effects with respect to oil.

But beginning in November, Russia’s balance of trade numbers have hit record levels, jumping nearly $5 billion per month.

Balance of trade went from around $14-15 billion per month to $19-20 billion. Now, this is likely due to currency depreciation sparking exports with a six month time lag.

Before the sanctions the ruble was trading in the low to mid 50’s versus the dollar and then jumped 20% to the 60’s, where it has held ground ever since.

But, the ruble’s weakness was a market correction due to the U.S. trying to retard Russia’s growth through sanctions. Weaker oil prices, however, didn’t send the ruble and domestic inflation soaring. It’s back above 5% up from a low of 2.3% mostly due to rising food prices.

The takeaway here is that Russia’s export economy is showing signs of decoupling from oil.And they have the U.S.’s short-sighted use of sanctions to thank for it.

It’s also underscoring the strength of Russian/Chinese trade which grew another 30% to $107 billion in 2018 after nearly 21% growth in 2017.

Russia ran an $11.1 billion surplus with China last year. Maybe Donald Trump could ask Putin how he does that? Either way, Putin and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping are well ahead of their original goal of $100 billion in trade by 2020.

And with Power of Siberia nearly complete and should begin shipping gas by the end of the year, those numbers will increase dramatically again.

The ruble/yuan exchange rate has settled into a much tighter band as trade volume expands, so the potential effects of further sanctions on Russia seem muted at best.

2019 should be a mixed bag for the ruble with oil prices likely to stay where they but the dollar strengthening draining global liquidity.

But it has been Putin’s insistence on diplomacy that has assisted this export boom for his country. Japan is now making serious noises about signing a peace treaty to take advantage of Russia’s energy projects nearby.

Japan wants Russian gas. It’s currently buying it as LNG from Yamal and shipping it via the Arctic Sea Route.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reiterated this position this weekend after signing a major agreement with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. At some point there is only so long you can hold countries as vassals. Their best interests eventually come to dominate the relationship.

The U.S. is feeling that now with Japan and Germany and it all because of Russia’s vast energy reserves and their ability to craft win/win relationships with everyone.

That’s why Russia’s exports are booming and why in the long run Putin can wait for the U.S. to regain its senses and come to him. Or not. There are plenty of other potential partners.

*  *  *

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via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2WXoA7f Tyler Durden

Senior Pentagon officials are becoming increasingly concerned that the Chinese military can monitor and target US satellites from a secret deep-space tracking facility in Las Lajas, Argentina.

In testimony before the US Congress on Feburary 07, Admiral Craig Faller, the new commander of US Southern Command, warned about China’s rapid expansion into South America.

Fallar told lawmakers that China actively supports autocratic governments in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and employs predatory lending practices across the continent. He said Beijing has been instrumental in developing infrastructure such as a secret antenna located in the deserts of Patagonia.

US intelligence officials have been tracking the development of the facility since inception.

In the last several years, a massive 16-story antenna has been erected on a 200-hectare compound located in the west of the country, at the northern end of Patagonia.

An 8-foot high-security fence surrounds the space station, operates with limited oversight from Argentine officials, experts say.

Brian Weeden, a space policy and security analyst with the Secure World Foundation, indicated that the US military deploys antennas similar to the one in Argentina.

“Unless there is something specifically different about this, it’s a little bit of the pot calling the kettle black,” he said.

“To me, there is no specific piece of evidence other than it happens to be Chinese that signals that it is nefarious.”

However, US military officials are concerned that the antenna could be used for collecting sensitive information on the position and activity of US spy satellites.

“Beijing could be in violation of the terms of its agreement with Argentina to only conduct civilian activities and may have the ability to monitor and potentially target U.S., allied, and partner space activities,” said Faller, who until recently served in the Pentagon as the top military aide to former Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

Experts point out that Beijing’s claim to use the facility only for peaceful purposes could be deceptive, as the Chinese national space agency (who currently runs the facility) is closely linked with the People’s Liberation Army.

Frank Rose, who served as US assistant secretary of state for arms control from 2014 to 2017 and is currently a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, said the positioning of the antenna provides China with critical space coverage in the Western Hemispheres.

“It’s a question of covering certain orbits. There’s a reason why the U.S. has satellite tracking stations around the world—it gives you global coverage,” Rose said. “You can’t get global coverage from China.”

Evan Ellis, an instructor of Latin American studies at the Strategic Studies Institute of the US Army War College, said the antenna’s primary purpose might, in fact, be for space research. The features of the facility are “consistent with what the Chinese say that it is,” he said, noting that the location in the Patagonia desert  “does make a certain amount of sense” because scientists need antennas positioned across the world for deep-space observations.

The personnel who operate the facility are either active-duty or former Chinese military, that is “not inherently nefarious” given how closely the army is tied with the Chinese space program, Ellis said.

Ellis said there is a chance the facility could be used to collect sensitive data on commercial and military satellites that occasionally pass overhead.

With the lack of openness and oversight at the secret Patagonian space station facility, it is anyone’s guess what exactly the Chinese are doing in the Western Hemisphere.

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2tizHKI Tyler Durden

Authored by Jennifer Mitsui via Counterpunch.org,

A multibillionaire met his first appointment of the day, a political candidate looking for a donation to his party before an upcoming election.

“So just where do you stand on taxes”, the billionaire inquired of his guest as they were waiting for the pheasant soufflé to arrive.

“Well, Sir, our party doesn’t believe that wealth creators should be taxed at all”.

“Excellent”, the billionaire said as he rubbed his gnarled fingertips together in glee. “May I ask what your stance is on fossil fuels?”

“We are wholly committed, Sir, to extracting every last drop of them. We fully intend to push pipelines wherever we damn please. Preferably up the asses of the Chinese, if you’ll pardon my French. As for the so-called endangered species and coral reefs, they can complain to the Board of Extinction . As far as we’re concerned, they can get in line behind the autoworkers, licensed taxi drivers, and brick-and-mortar retail staff.”

After a hearty, minute-long chuckle, the billionaire composed himself and barked, “Nuclear Disarmament!”

“For anyone who threatens our hegemony.” The candidate had the wherewithal to resist making an extended arm salute. “Otherwise we’re cool with an undeclared arsenal in the hands of a bugged out ally who might just launch them – with our blessing, of course, – rather than face impending prosecution for corruption.”

The billionaire leaned in conspiratorially and whispered, “Speaking of which . . . ?”

Without missing a beat, his guest replied, “We fully intend to increase Israel’s military aid significantly and declare all Arabs enemy combatants. We will encourage more settlements in the quote, unquote occupied territories and replace financial aid to the Palestinians with raw sewage. We solemnly swear not to allow any criticism of the Only Democracy in the Middle East to go unpunished . . . even the mildest offenders will face career death at the hands of a social media firing squad.”

“I’m beginning to like you even more, Kid,” the billionaire muttered as he ordered yet another bottle of a Chateau Margaux robotically pried from the hands of a Titanic passenger. I trust your views on our great ally Saudi Arabia are similarly enlightened”?

“No one will slobber on the outstretched ring finger of the Great Bin Salman more ardently than I, Sir. I will make our own security apparatus fully at his disposal so that it can officially determine benign intent at every crime scene where a Muslim Brotherhood operative is dismembered by the rogue minions of the innocent reformer.”

“So you’re not squeamish about Yemen, I take it.”

Slightly emboldened by the 1897 vintage whose last dregs formed a brackish blood circle around his mouth, the candidate answered with a rhetorical flourish:

“What do you call the time before the Stone Age? We plan to bomb them back to that.”

“Afghanistan? Iraq?”

“Ditto!”

“Syria?”

“Ditto squared”.

“Putin,” he ventured cautiously.

“Blame him for weaponizing social media and using it to gas Syrians”. Here, he said, handing over an envelope. “I’ve laid out our policy on Russia and North Korea with a series of homophobic memes. Feel free to share.”

“Venezuela”, the billionaire barked, not caring now who could hear him.

“We see the World Bank partnering with our top SEAL teams to pry the last vestiges of oil wealth from the mouths of impoverished children. Then we’ll plant tiny kitten skulls in the basement of Maduro’s . . . (ahem) opulent palace before we raid the place. That way we’ll have PETA and the Pussy Hats on board with another military invasion of a sovereign country unwilling to play nice with Exxon.”

“I’m liking it. Go on”, the billionaire prompted in the same tone he used on his ‘sugar baby, Sveltlana97, aka Elon Musk, who had been catfishing his former mentor to keep Tesla afloat.

“Our experts have determined anyway”, his interlocutor continued, the guy is actually Saddam Hussein. Managed to tunnel his way from a Baghdad prison cell into Caracas using Hezbollah’s main supply route. Might have gotten away with it, but decided to keep the mustache.”

“Well, I’m almost convinced of your party’s commitment to making this country great once again, but I need to know where you stand on domestic policy. I hate to think of the taxes I don’t pay being used to provide lifesaving medications to . . . ”

“If you can twerk, then we say . . . you can WORK, . . . if you get my drift.”

The billionaire scanned the room, hoping to not to catch a glance of Oprah and Gayle at the next table.

“To put it bluntly, Sir, we believe in healthcare for all”, the candidate said with a barely concealed smirk beneath the deadpan.

Before the billionaire could spit out his white rhino tartar with a spritz of yuzu and truffle vinaigrette, his now thoroughly sated guest, pausing for greater effect blurted out “Purchased with pay day loans and foreclosed houses! . . . Booyah!”

“Booyah back atcha”, the billionaire snorted, proffering a spotty, heavily veined fist for his first ever fist bump. You had me fooled there for a nanosecond. Now tell me, young man, who do I write this five million dollar cheque to? What is the name of your organization?”

“The Moderates.”

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2SKekAe Tyler Durden

An almost unbelievable and shocking spy revelation has been uncovered in a new report by The Daily Mail. An Iranian nuclear scientist who was smuggled out of Iran and into the UK, and then on to the United States had previously helped Israeli intelligence plan the assassination of another nuclear scientist inside Iran. 

The defected Iranian scientist, only identified as a 47-year-old male “nuclear technician” reportedly crossed the English channel on an inflatable raft while hiding among a larger group of migrants. In a line that sounds straight out of a James Bond movie, the report says “MI6 spies smuggled a defecting Iranian nuclear scientist into the UK on a dinghy by using Channel migrant crisis as cover.”

Crucially, the unnamed defector was allegedly involved in the 2012 assassination of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan in Tehran, who at the time was considered Tehran’s top nuclear expert. The defected scientist appears to have been working as a source for Mossad and other foreign intelligence agencies for years prior to what The Daily Mail is calling an “extraction” operation which began in October of last year.

In 2012 the Sunday Times had identified Mossad as being behind the car bombing that took Mostafa Roshan’s life, which the defected 47-year-old scientist had reportedly supplied information for, according to sources cited in the Daily Mail.

According to a description of the January 2012 assassination in The Guardian at the time:

On the morning of 11 January Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, the deputy head of Iran’s uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, was in his car on his way to work when he was blown up by a magnetic bomb attached to his car door. He was 32 and married with a young son. He wasn’t armed, or anywhere near a battlefield.

Since 2010, three other Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed in similar circumstances, including Darioush Rezaeinejad, a 35-year-old electronics expert shot dead outside his daughter’s nursery in Tehran last July. But instead of outrage or condemnation, we have been treated to expressions of undisguised glee.

More recently in 2018, a plan was hatched to finally “extract” the valuable intelligence asset and defector, which involved Mossad facilitating his escape from Iran to Turkey, after which MI6 used the migrant crisis as “cover” for his entry into the UK.

His exit immediately triggered a widespread search by Islamic Revolutionary Guard forces.

Citing an anonymous intelligence source The Daily Mail report describes:

Once in France, the question of how to get him into Britain remained. We couldn’t simply fly him in. Though unusual, it was determined infiltrating him into a group of fellow migrants preparing to cross the Channel by boat offered one solution.

And apparently it worked, the report continues:

The 47-year-old man is thought to have hidden among other Iranians on an inflatable boat when making the crossing.

The scientist travelled by 3,000 miles by land to the French coast near Calais after he was reportedly smuggled out of his homeland and into neighbouring Turkey by the Israeli secret service Mossad. 

The rationale for such a bizarre operation is that MI6 wanted to interview the defector, yet it was politically sensitive given that Britain is still part of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

So MI6 reportedly interviewed the man before he ultimately continued en route to the United States. The Daily Mail describes that “MI6 interviewed the nuclear technician on Iran’s nuclear plans before he was flown to America.”

Meanwhile Israeli media outlets have picked up and begun circulating the story, which has yet to meet with any high level of government confirmation, not likely to happen in operations involving Israeli Mossad, MI6, or the CIA. 

The Jerusalem Post notes the amply documented history of such bizarre and high risk intelligence and assassination operations targeting Iranian officials: “Israel is said to have launched a secret operation to dissuade scientists from taking part in the Iranian nuclear program by eliminating those it deemed valuable.” But the report also says, “Israel has never confirmed or denied such claims.”

If it’s true that the CIA is currently talking to a high level Iranian nuclear scientist defector now residing on American soil, could this be the next “Curveball” type informant that feeds the administration with everything it needs to make the case for regime change in Iran? 

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2BygYPF Tyler Durden

On the 40th anniversary of Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, President Trump attempted to reach out to Iranians in their own language by tweeting “the long-suffering Iranian people deserve a much brighter future.” Notably this marks the first time in history a sitting US president issued a social media statement in Persian, or the Farsi language.

Though we don’t expect the “birthday wishes” on the occasion of the Ayatollah’s founding their Islamic Republic to be received too warmly inside Iran, as the message also appeared a veiled threat of regime change. 

“40 years of corruption. 40 years of repression. 40 years of terror. The regime in Iran has produced only #40YearsofFailure. The long-suffering Iranian people deserve a much brighter future” — the president tweeted in Farsi and in English. 

۴۰ سال فساد. ۴۰ سال سرکوب. ۴۰ سال ترور. رژیم ایران فقط موجب #چهل_سال_شکست شده است. مردم ایران که مدتهاست در رنجند شایسته آینده روشن تری هستند pic.twitter.com/nKMQCHQFCZ

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 11, 2019

We wonder what poor low-level CIA or State Department analyst had to be pulled from their work and into the White House to compose the foreign language tweet for the president. 

But on a more serious note, a number of observers were quick to point out that between national security adviser John Bolton’s prior tweet and the president’s statement, it appears regime change in Tehran is indeed the administration’s current policy, something that’s been adamantly denied in the past.

For example starting last August Bolton has repeatedly claimed “our policy is not regime change” but opted for language that stops short, describing instead a policy of “unprecedented pressure on the government of Iran to change its behavior.” This didn’t stop political opponents like former Secretary of State John Kerry from accusing the White House pursuing an active policy of regime change in Iran. 

Dear Iran regime,

Happy birthday 🎈🎁🎂

We will end you,

Johnhttps://t.co/NVM8xcWvS4

— Max Abrahms (@MaxAbrahms) February 11, 2019

Bolton earlier on Monday tweeted two messages with a similar theme with that of Trump’s, saying Iran’s leaders have “failed to fulfill its promises to uphold and safeguard the rights of its citizens” and that it’s up to the people to “determine the direction of their country” which Bolton follows by saying the US plans to “support the will of the Iranian people” and will “stand behind them”.

Moreover, Bolton was featured in a one minute video on Monday which was uploaded to the White House’s official Twitter account, wherein he issued perhaps the most blunt and direct threat of the day, addressed specifically to Ayatollah Khamenei: 

“I don’t think you’ll have many more anniversaries left to enjoy.”

A message to the Ayatollah of Iran: “For all your boasts, for all your threats to the life of the American President, YOU are responsible for terrorizing your own people.” #40YearsofFailure pic.twitter.com/gpCL1FeLis

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 11, 2019

“What a 40 years its been, tyrannizing its own people and terrorizing the world, Iran continues to seek nuclear weapons to intimidate peaceful people all around the globe and ballistic missiles to use as delivery systems,” Bolton said in the clip. “Iran under the ayatollahs remains the central banker of international terrorism and its conventional military forces are all over the Middle East, in Yemen, Iraq and Syria.”

“Perhaps worst of all the people of Iran have suffered grievously, right now unemployment is at record levels, inflation is at all-time highs, the Iranian currency has gone through the floor,” he continued. “So Ayatollah Khamenei, for all your boasts, for all your threats to the life of the American president, you are responsible for terrorizing your own people and terrorizing the world as a whole, I don’t think you’ll have many more anniversaries left to enjoy.”

After both Trump and Bolton’s messages related to the “40YearsofFailure” hashtag, Iran analyst and author for The National Interest  observed, “OK, so its official: This policy is regime change.”

Though we doubt the president had to address the Iranians directly in Farsi for them to figure that out, but perhaps it helps with the propaganda value. 

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2SKPQXt Tyler Durden

After Congressional investigations in both the House and Senate have failed to produce evidence that Donald Trump and his campaign colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 US election from Hillary Clinton, The Hill‘s John Solomon points out the deafening silence over clear links between the Kremlin and the woman who would have been President had Donald Trump lost. 

Aside from the fact that the Clinton-funded Steele Dossier heavily relied on a Russian source. And the fact that John Podesta (who would have likely become Secretary of State) sat on the board of an energy company with a Kremlin official and a Russian oligarch – tangible evidence of Russian collusion exists, Solomon digs deeper into the upside-down to reveal Russian ties that would see Donald Trump jailed for treason by the left’s standards. 

Congressional investigators have painstakingly pieced together evidence that shows the Clinton research project had extensive contact with Russians.

…

Steele’s main source of uncorroborated allegations against Trump came from an ex-Russian intelligence officer. “Much of the collection about the Trump campaign ties to Russia comes from a former Russian intelligence officer (? not entirely clear) who lives in the U.S.,” Ohr scribbled. –The Hill

In today’s episode of the Twilight Zone, Solomon spotlights Hillary Clinton’s close relationship with Russian leaders which raised concerns over a wholesale technology transfer to the Kremlin, right around the time of the Uranium One deal and Bill Clinton’s now-infamous trip to Russia (where he hung out at Putin’s house) and picked up a $500,000 check for one speech. 

As secretary of State, Hillary Clinton worked with Russian leaders, including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and then-President Dmitri Medvedev, to create U.S. technology partnerships with Moscow’s version of Silicon Valley, a sprawling high-tech campus known as Skolkovo.

Clinton’s handprint was everywhere on the 2009-2010 project, the tip of a diplomatic spear to reboot U.S.-Russian relations after years of hostility prompted by Vladimir Putin’s military action against the former Soviet republic and now U.S. ally Georgia.

A donor to the Clinton Foundation, Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, led the Russian side of the effort, and several American donors to the Clinton charity got involved. Clinton’s State Department facilitated U.S. companies working with the Russian project, and she personally invited Medvedev to visit Silicon Valley.

 

The collaboration occurred at the exact same time Bill Clinton made his now infamous trip to Russia to pick up a jaw-dropping $500,000 check for a single speech. –The Hill

The Clinton State Department ignored a 2013 warning from the US military’s leading European intelligence think tank over the Skolkovo project – which suggested that it could be a front for economic and military espionage. 

“Skolkovo is an ambitious enterprise, aiming to promote technology transfer generally, by inbound direct investment, and occasionally, through selected acquisitions. As such, Skolkovo is arguably an overt alternative to clandestine industrial espionage — with the additional distinction that it can achieve such a transfer on a much larger scale and more efficiently,” reads a 2013 EUCOM intelligence bulletin. 

“Implicit in Russia’s development of Skolkovo is a critical question — a question that Russia may be asking itself — why bother spying on foreign companies and government laboratories if they will voluntarily hand over all the expertise Russia seeks?“

The FBI followed EUCOM’s warning the following year with letters outlining the dangers of US tech companies falling prey to Russian espionage through the Skolkovo project. A Boston FBI agent in particular wrote an “extraordinary op-ed to publicize the alarm,” writes Solomon. 

The Skolkovo project “may be a means for the Russian government to access our nation’s sensitive or classified research development facilities and dual-use technologies with military and commercial application,” wrote Assistant Special Agent Lucia Ziobro in the Boston Business Journal.

The FBI also sounded the alarm about the Uranium One deal – after an informant named William D. Campbell infiltrated the Russian state-owned energy giant Rosatom and gathered evidence of a racketeering scheme which included bribery, kickbacks and extortion. 

Campbell also obtained written evidence that Putin wanted to buy Uranium One as part of a strategy to obtain monopolistic domination of the global uranium markets, including leverage over the U.S.

Campbell also warned that a major in-kind donor to the Clinton Global Initiative was simultaneously working for Rosatom while the decision for U.S. approval was pending before Hillary Clinton’s department. Ultimately, her department and the Obama administration approved the transaction.

The evidence shows the Clintons financially benefited from Russia — personally and inside their charity — at the same time they were involved in U.S. government actions that rewarded Moscow and increased U.S. security risks. –The Hill

Beyond the Steele Dossier

While it is now publicly known (and below the investigatory double-standards of the DOJ to pursue) that the Steele dossier was a clear case of Russian collusion against then-candidate Donald Trump, there lies a lesser-known link between the Steele Dossier and a Belarus-born Russian businessman, Sergei Milian. 

What’s more, “Steele and Simpson had Russian-tied business connections, too, while they formulated the dossier,” writes Solomon. 

Steele worked for the lawyers for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and tried to leverage those connections to help the FBI get evidence from the Russian aluminum magnate against Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

The effort resulted in FBI agents visiting Deripaska in fall 2016. Deripaska told the agents that no collusion existed.

Likewise, Simpson worked in 2016 for the Russian company Prevezon — which was trying to escape U.S. government penalties — and one of its Russian lawyers, Natalia Veselnitskaya. In sworn testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Simpson admitted he dined with Veselnitskaya both the night before and the night after her infamous meeting with Donald Trump Jr. at Trump Tower in June 2016. –The Hill

And yet, nobody bats an eye.

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2SoSrqN Tyler Durden

Two of Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax’s staffers and two employees of his political action committee have resigned following a Friday report of a second sexual assault allegation against the embattled politician, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. 

The PAC employees who left are Dave Mills, who was the executive director of We Rise Together, and Courtney McCargo, a fundraiser for the PAC.

Mills is the husband of state Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, who is considered a strong contender to replace Fairfax as lieutenant governor should Fairfax resign.

On the government side, Adele McClure, the policy director, resigned, as did Julia Billingsly, the scheduling director. –Richmond Times-Dispatch

Developing…

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2GE1z3O Tyler Durden

Authored by Raul Ilargi Meijer via The Automatic Earth blog,

The problem is, of course, that not only is economics bankrupt but it has always been nothing more than politics in disguise.

-Hazel Henderson

It’s often hard to understand how people can be aware of something but then fail to link it to a perfectly logical next step, or even multiple steps, and see where it fits in a larger scheme. There really are people out there, believe it or not, who look at economic and political developments over the past decade in any particular western country and believe they are unique to that country.

In reality, while things may play out slightly differently from one place to the other, the core causes of what’s been unfolding are the exact same ones in every single location. The reactions of incumbent politicians and economics has been the same as well: massage the numbers and the media, keep the rich and powerful happy, and make sure you and yours are on the ‘right side’ of the line.

In France, the main complaint that the Yellow Vests movement has now taken into its 13th consecutive weekend is crystal clear: people can’t pay their bills anymore. In the UK, austerity has demolished wages, social care, the NHS and much else. In the US, many millions of Americans can’t afford a $400 emergency payment, have ever scarcer access to healthcare and live from paycheck to paycheck.

Rinse and repeat for every western nation. The storylines vary somewhat, but they all tell the same tale, they could be, they are, chapters in the same book. And it makes one think if people are not connecting them.

Renowned French philosopher Michel Onfray summarizes Emmanuel Macron’s ongoing Yellow Vests (Gilets Jaunes) problem in these words:

“Macron is trying to explain that there is not enough liberalist Europe in our lives, while the Gilets Jaunes are saying back to him that there is too much – not too much Europe, but too much liberalism.”

That is true in France, and it is also true in the UK, US and many other countries. People may not see liberalism as their problem, or even know, let alone understand the term, but what they do understand is they can’t pay their bills anymore. And Macron’s response, just like that of Washington and London, is more neoliberalism, or, again in Onfray’s words:

“This is an order that is strong against the week, as we can see on the streets, and weak against the strong”. [..] “The [liberal] Maastricht state is “cruel to those who carry the burdens of globalization” and “simply by declaring their poverty, these people have been ideologically criminalized.”

The sign in the picture below says: 

“We live in a world where those who make 100,000 a month convince those who make 1,800 that everything is going wrong because of those who live on 535 euro. And it works… (thanks to the media)” That’s what the Yellow Vests are about.

©Reuters/Gonzalo Fuentes

Again, it’s not about the term (neo-)liberalism, and it’s not some ideological question or fight, it’s about people not being able to pay their bills, and about politicians leaving them hanging all alone in a freezing wind. Nor is it a left against right issue. Western countries only have formerly left parties left; people who can’t pay their bills have been left to fend for themselves, no matter what they vote, and they finally understand that.

In Italy, traditional parties were all but wiped out to be replaced with the Lega and M5S. In France, ditto, but there Macron was the ‘new’ guy. In Germany, Merkel still holds the CDU/CSU ship somewhat steady, but she’s a goner and the right rises.

In Britain, there’s still only the two main parties, but they’re already history. It makes no difference what Jeremy Corbyn does or doesn’t do, he’ll be crushed by the betrayal Tony Blair inflicted on the nation in name of the same Labour Party now ‘led’ by Corbyn. While the Tories, like the Democrats in the US, rely on having taken over the media.

But it’s still a bit bewildering to see Andrew Rawnsley, the Observer’s “award-winning chief political commentator”, no less, write an entire article about what’s ailing British politics without linking this to the rest of the world, where the exact same issues play out. Of course it’s obvious that Brexit has become a divisive issue, not only in UK politics but also there, and not just between parties but also within them.

But if anything, Brexit is not a cause but a mere symptom of the British variety of the Great Discontent. The cause is that in Britain, too, people can’t pay their bills anymore. One country gets Trump, the next one Yellow Vests, and the third gets Brexit.

Why The Sickly Ugly Sisters Of UK Politics Deserve To Suffer The Splits

It is true that the big two can still gather up a lot of votes. After decades of decline in their combined vote share, it blipped up at the last election. But I don’t think that truly indicated renewed enthusiasm for either of them. It was a false positive induced by an electoral system that compels many voters to make a forced choice between the unappetising and the inedible.

It doesn’t mean that these nose-holding voters like what’s put before them. The current choice on offer is so disdained that, when pollsters ask who would make best prime minister, Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn are regularly beaten into second and third place by Neither.

More than half of the electorate say their views are not properly represented by the existing political parties. Many politicians can’t stand the parties they represent. Some actively and publicly rage about what has become of them. I cannot recall a period in my lifetime when so many MPs have expressed so much disgust and despair with the state of their own parties.

Mr. Rawnsley manages to avoid any mention of anything at all existing outside of the British borders in the entire article, other than chiding Corbyn for failing to condemn Maduro. And you’re right, if that is the extent of your media, or even that of the formerly left-leaning bit, you may need an extra decade or so to figure out what the rest of the world already knows.

In the US, Trump replaced and/or took over the Republican Party, while Ocasio-Sanchez -AOC- is the only strong voice for the Democrats. Sure, she’s 29 and can’t run for the White House, but given that the alternative is Pelosi/Schumer and much more of that exact same cabal, anyone with presidential dreams had better get her blessings.

And sure, her Green New Deal/Dream can easily be dismissed as crazy, but pray tell what the difference is between how the Green New Deal might be financed, and how the Federal Reserve has financed its QE schemes. Perhaps the big difference is who profits; in one instance, the banks, in the other, society at large.

Or from a different perspective, there, too, AOC is like Trump: first, you start big and after, you see what can be done. Her version of the art of the deal. Besides, she has a plan, and nobody else has one. Except perhaps for Bernie, but his credibility was fatally wounded by letting the DNC waltz all over him in 2016.

And his age is not going to help: if you’re really fed up with what’s there because it’s disappointed you three ways to Sunday and now you can’t pay your bills, you’re not going to vote for grandpa, you’re going to go for someone young. Still, if Bernie hooks up with Ocasio, he may have a shot.

For all the others in the already crowded field, it’s what have you done for me lately, and they all either haven’t done dick all or they can’t string two words together without looking like someone wrote it all down for them. Look for a whole bunch from the Clinton/Wasserman mold (i.e. every candidate so far) to support the Green New Deal, but only to sabotage it, and Ocasio, at the first available opportunity.

If people already find the very large and very obvious political changes too much to comprehend, here’s some awkward news for you, and it’s not just that the media vs social media fight must inevitably lead to an ever stronger tsunami of ‘news’ overkill. Though that’s a big one: the media once upon a time reported the news, an outdated business model; today they don’t report the news, they manufacture it.

It’s more profitable because people are more gullible and/or they’re drowning in the giant overkill waves. I like that tsunami metaphor for news dissemination: people think social media will work to their advantage, like when the waters recede after a quake, that they have more control over their news. But then it all comes back in one big go and they’re completely lost.

The main upcoming event in media and politics won’t be the Great Political Discontent, it will be the economic one. Those who can’t pay their bills today will be the first victims of the massaged economic numbers finding themselves subject to gravity once again. Central banks won’t be able to prop up the zombies anymore, or the facade. The media will turn against the prevailing order when they deem it profitable. Or, rather, in a desperate attempt at survival.

What once was the middle class will join the various Yellow Vest groups around the world. So will whatever it is you call what took the place of the middle class. Certainly after their housing bubble mortgages become eligible for margin calls. Then all that’s left will be the very rich and the very poor. It’ll be back to the Middle Ages. Just with 20 times as many people. And with over half the wildlife gone, and the arable land, and 80% of insects gone since 1980 alone.

But yeah, we can also pretend that any problem we encounter can only possibly be a temporary blip, and there’s sunshine on the way around the corner, not pitchforks. Still, I’m pretty sure it’s precisely because we do nothing but pretend, that we gather all the problems in the first place that make one think of pitchforks, if even so briefly.

And I’m also pretty sure that we’re a lot less smart than we tell ourselves we are considering we kill off that without which we have zero chance of survival, and considering we let people starve in the richest human society the world has ever seen (make that: will ever see), but we still have trouble seeing our own noses, let alone following them.

We’re such blind masters of pretence that we hardly ever noticed the Great Discontent entering our nations, our communities and our homes. What then are the odds we will perceive the arrival of the Great Unraveling?

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2I5YWd6 Tyler Durden

It has been years since Teslas debuted its Autopilot and, despite numerous software updates and fixes in response to a litany of accidents involving Autopilot, it doesn’t look as though drivers are getting the message that the software may not be as innovative, safe or autonomous as Elon Musk has led them to believe.

Yet another example came to light on Monday when a driver in North Brunswick, New Jersey wrecked his Tesla on a highway while the vehicle was in Autopilot mode. According to a report published by News 12 New Jersey, the driver said that the vehicle “got confused due to the lane markings” at a point where the driver could have stayed on the highway or taken an exit. The driver claims that Autopilot split the difference and went down “the middle”, between the exit and staying on the highway.

The car then drove off the road and collided with several objects before coming to a stop. The driver claims that he tried to regain control of the vehicle but that “it would not let him”.

Some of the driver’s claims and Tesla’s full response were later edited out of the News 12 New Jersey report without explanation. 

This is the latest of numerous similar Autopilot accidents that have taken place as a result of Autopilot being “confused” and acting indecisively when passing exits on the highway. As the details of these accidents have emerged, it has become evident that Autopilot may have serious issues with determining where to go when given the opportunity to exit a highway.

Tesla disputed the driver’s claims about not being able to regain control of the vehicle. According to a statement Tesla provided to News 12 New Jersey that was later removed from the report, Tesla said “the driver always has control”.

This has wildly contradicted a number of public Autopilot demonstrations where Elon Musk has allowed a Tesla on Autopilot to drive while removing his hands from the steering wheel.

 

This accident comes on the same day that Business Insider published a report where industry experts critiqued Elon Musk’s recent comments about Autopilot, claiming that they were “reckless” and could “put drivers at risk”. Specifically, they took exception to Musk’s Q4 comments claiming that Tesla vehicles had full self driving capabilities on the highway.

“We already have full self-driving capability on highways. So from highway on-ramp to highway exit, including passing cars and going from one highway interchange to another, full self-driving capability is there,” Musk said.

Mary Cummings, a professor at Duke who studies the interaction between humans and autonomous driving systems said of Musk’s comment:

 “He’s wrong, but it’s his job to sell cars.”

Sam Abuelsamid, a senior research analyst for Navigant, said:

 “Nothing has changed for Elon. He remains as reckless as he’s ever been with regard to the way he talks about Autopilot and its capabilities.”

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2UV4IAa Tyler Durden