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Mogilevich and Putin | ||
![]() Semion Mogilevich remains a subject of fascination in the Trump-Russia story. I’ve written before about Mogilevich’s ties to Trump Tower and how the man called the most powerful Mobster in the world may be a subject of interest to Special Counsel Robert Mueller. I thought it would be worthwhile to take a deeper dive into Mogilevich to understand who he is and what it means for Trump to be connected to him. If you want cut to the chase, here you go: Having a relationship with Mogilevich was in some ways like having a relationship with Putin himself. Semion Mogilevich and Donald Trump both were born in June of 1946, only two weeks apart, in vastly different circumstances. Trump, as we know, was the son of a wealthy New York developer. Mogilevich was born to a Jewish family in Kiev and before he began his life of crime he earned an economics degree. Calling Mogilevich a Mobster is a bit misleading. He is a Mobster, but he’s much more than a Russian version of Tony Soprano. Mogilevich is better described as a secret billionaire who made his fortune in the murky gas trade between Russia and Ukraine. US Attorney Michael Mukasey said in 2008 that Mogilevich “exerts influence over large portions of the natural gas industry in parts of what used to be the Soviet Union.” The man called “the Brainy Don” also ran a publicly-traded company that defrauded investors in the United States and Canada out of $150 million. He sells weapons and drugs, arranges contract killings, runs prostitutes — all on an international scale. He has connections and influence at the very top of the Russian oligarchy. But the biggest sign of his power and influence is that he today lives free in Russia. How is this possible? How can an international criminal live openly in Moscow? To understand this, consider this secretly recorded conversation between then Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and Ihor Smeshko, who was then head of Ukraine’s military intelligence:
This conversation, which was secretly recorded by a Kuchma bodyguard, is difficult to follow, but it gives you a sense of Mogilevich’s power and reach. First, he ran his own powerful intelligence service that was useful to a Russian president. He was an agent of the KGB in the days of the Soviet Union and remains a source to modern Russian intelligence. And he is protected by powerful interests in Russia.
In Russia, criminals and intelligence services aren’t adversaries. They are birds of a feather. They share information. The Mob helps the state, and in return, Russian criminals like Mogilevich get to share in the riches and remain free.
Mogilevich’s ties to the Russian political “upperworld” go deep. Very deep.
According to Litvinenko, the poisoned ex-FSB agent, Putin was Mogilevich’s “krishna” or protector in Russian underworld slang.
Most countries, even corrupt ones, go after their biggest criminals. But in Russia, criminals have their uses. |
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Vanity Fair: Trump Revealed to Russians Sayeret Matkal, Mossad, Syria Operation – The Jewish Press – JewishPress.com | ||
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“Kindness and empathy are still present in the hearts of our citizens.” ![]() |
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Alt-America and English Uprising review Trump, Brexit and the far right | ||
Both David Neiwerts book on the US radical right and Paul Stockers on Brexit argue that economic factors take second place in explaining populismDonald Trump is US president because just under 80,000 people in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin flipped those states his way. Many of his extra voters were working-class white men who had voted for Obama in 2012 and switched because of Trumps pledge to bring jobs back to the rust belt. They may not have liked Obamas liberal policies on gay people and guns, but for them the big issue remained the economy. But Trump would not have won without the support of three other groups: his gains in suburban and rural counties outweighed Hillary Clintons success in the big cities; despite the reservations of the Republican establishment about his candidacy, Trump retained the partys base, particularly among religious voters (the three times married pussy-grabber won more than 80% of white evangelicals); and he energised a movement of supporters that gained him the Republican nomination, without which he wouldnt have got any votes at all. Continue reading… |
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Classified Israeli intel Trump disclosed to Russia revealed – Ynetnews | ||
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Seth Meyers Hilariously Imagines The Trump Family’s First Thanksgiving | ||
As told by Donald Trump Jr. ![]() |
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Donald Trump Jr.’s Thanksgiving Conversation Starter Tips Spectacularly Backfire | ||
“Thanks Obama!” ![]() |
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Donald Trump Jr.’s Thanksgiving Conversation Starter Tips Spectacularly Backfire – HuffPost | ||
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