Avenatti said he has further "substantial evidence and facts that were not included in the complaint" to back up his claims, though he said he was "not going to lay all of our cards out on the table" Friday.He also said that Stormy would pay back the $130,000. How can she afford to do so and afford Avenatti's fee? One can only presume that whatever she's sitting on is big. (Yes, there's a porny pun to be made out of the previous sentence, but let's not go there.) What I don't understand is why she doesn't just spill the beans, agreement or no agreement. If what she reveals is really that humiliating for Trump, is he likely to sue?
"When that evidence and those facts come to light, the American people are going to conclude that attorney Cohen and the White House have not shot straight with them on this," he alleged.
Maybe she already has told all to 60 Minutes. Maybe Avenatti's suit is just a bid for publicity.
Michelle Goldberg just published an excellent analysis which argues that this "sex scandal" is actually a campaign finance scandal. I agree. But if it were not also a sex scandal, few would be paying attention.
Prince. Erik Prince was recently exposed by the WP as an ad hoc Trump representative during that meeting in the Seychelles. Despite his denials, it's now clear that he was trying to set up a secret back channel with the Russians.
This claim was first made in an anonymous communication sent to the Post. Prince denied it -- under oath, no less -- but his denial now looks very questionable. Mueller, we are told, has learned more about this matter from George Nader -- a Lebanese mystery man whom MSNBC seems to have just now discovered, although I wrote a very full account of his comings and goings on January 23.
(In that earlier piece, I wrote that Nader must have played a role in the Seychelles episode. Nice to see one of my little theories confirmed!)
But: Who was the secret pen pal who first tipped off the Post?
I'm now leaning toward Mark Corallo, the former spokesperson for the Trump legal team. He quit after Trump (in Corallo's opinion) requested him to obstruct justice. Corallo was the one who revealed that Hope Hicks played an important role in covering up the truth about the Trump Tower meeting. An uncharitable soul might characterize that as obstruction of justice.
Corallo is, or at least was, a friend to Erik Prince. Mueller interviewed Corallo last month. We've been told that they discussed Hicks -- but did they also talk about Prince?
The important point is this: Prince -- like Jared -- set out to create a secret Trump-Russia communications channel, a channel designed to avoid American intelligence. This fact tells us all we need to know: Russiagate is not a hoax. Collusion is real. There is no innocent reason for a new, incoming administration to treat American intelligence as The Enemy. The establishment of a secret backchannel proves collusion.
The Prince connection becomes even more ominous when we consider last December's revelation that Erik Prince and Oliver North proposed setting up a private intelligence network with covert action capability. These "mercenary spooks" would be loyal only to Trump and unrestrained by congressional oversight.
In other words, Prince hopes to use the myth of the "the deep state" to create an even deeper state -- one which would be utterly lawless. (You may recall North's own contempt for the CIA, privately expressed during the Iran-Contra episode.)
Trump and his apologists frequently blame the CIA for the bad intel that led to the Iraq war. Wrong. Fake history. In that case, the intel was fixed around a predetermined policy, as the Downing Street memo proved. Moreover, the dubious intel came not from the CIA (which hesitated to go along with the Bush/Cheney program) but from several ad hoc groups set up within the Department of Defense, as is demonstrated by the story of "the Italian letter".
In essence, Prince wants Trump to recapitulate and to enlarge upon that great error.
History buffs might say that Prince seeks to recreate the Praetorian guard, who (as many forget) were secret policemen as well as bodyguards. I guess nobody ever told Trump what happened to Caligula.
Prince, the UAE and the slave trade. Keep Prince's ominous ambition in mind as I present the findings of an investigator we shall call F. She sent me a large mass of material a few days ago, before the latest twists in the Prince/Seychelles saga. (Since then, I've stumbled across much more -- too much for this post.)
Her message offers deep background on Erik Prince and the UAE -- the kind of material you don't see elsewhere. As you read, keep two facts in mind:
1. Erik Prince, formerly of Blackwater, has transferred his operation to the United Arab Emirates, where he created a secret army, similar to the one he hopes to bestow upon Trump. Prince's secret army protects an evil, corrupt regime which profits from slave labor.
2. George Nader, the smooth-talking facilitator now cooperating with Mueller, primarily works for the UAE.
F believes that the UAE and the illegal trade in weapons and slaves may have played a role in the under-investigated Niger incident. Personally, I'm not convinced by this notion -- yet -- but I'm willing to consider the idea. I'm sure of this much: Too few people are paying attention to the UAE's role in the slave trade, which is the most under-reported story of our time.
I have little doubt that Erik Prince knows all about what the UAE is doing in that part of the world.
The material below the asterisks was originally my correspondent and edited by me.
* * *
It's hard to see exactly where UAE fits into Mueller investigation at this point, but there are glimmers.
My personal take is that the Prince investigation will lead to a revelation that some of Trump's "best people" -- like Erik Prince, corrupt elements of the CIA, and perhaps Wilbur Ross -- are directly involved with weapons and human trafficking in Africa and the Arabian peninsula. The trail leads back to mercenary-style outsourced security contracts in Africa, money laundering, and UAE slave trading.
Without doubt, U.S. military operations in Niger are interfering with the internal affairs of some African nations, without Congressional consent.
Perhaps the U.S. or the UAE is underwriting private contractor security operations that are complicit in unauthorized use of U.S. drone intelligence. Perhaps corrupt security contractors have provided cover for trafficking routes for militants, weapons and humans in Africa.
I think a betrayal by security contractors or operators financed by UAE (and perhaps run by Erik Prince) occurred when Special Forces got too close to the truth in Niger. This is just my unsubstantiated conjecture at this point.
There are two U.S. drone bases in Niger. Questions:
1. Who is getting access to U.S. drone intelligence and military communications?
2. What is the full scope of the U.S. mission in Niger?
3. Is this tied into the Saudi and UAE investment in troops from 5 African Nations (see below)?
4. Who vets U.S. or UAE security contractors to be sure that these guns for hire aren't vulnerable to bribes, drugs, and other perks?
From the Washington Post:
Agadez, about 500 miles northeast of Niamey, is much closer to Saharan smuggling routes that Islamist militants use to transport arms and fighters from Libya to northern Mali. U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones have a range of about 1,150 miles.I suspect trafficking between Libya and northern Mali is 2-way. Slave trading in refugees and migrants in Libya finances weapons and fighters. UAE has a finger in the slave trade in a couple of ways, including creating market for the labor of persons who have unpaid migrant debt.
The Air Force initially budgeted $50 million to build an airfield, living quarters and other facilities at the Agadez site, but the project has taken far longer than expected to finish. The cost has doubled to about $100 million, according to a report last year by the Intercept, an investigative media website.
Also see here:
The gateway to Europe was left wide open. Instead of Gaddafi's functioning state, Libya became a country of vast ungoverned spaces awash with weapons.
Into the power vacuum militias have presented as the most effective deterrent to the refugee influx into Europe. Within this messy situation, a complex people trafficking system has emerged.
It is a money spinner: Sub-Saharan Africans pay fees to militiamen - the gatekeepers - but money can go missing and passage can be arbitrarily denied. Without authority or oversight, increasing numbers of Africans have become ensnared.
Powerful Libyan militias operate detention centres which hold fresh arrivals from sub-Sahara, including many from Nigeria, Chad and Niger.
Testimony from the International Organization for Migration suggests that the Libyan trade in human beings has become normalised to the point that people are being openly traded in public. CNN released footage in November apparently showing Africans being sold at auction for as little as $400.
Some arrivals in Libya are held in makeshift prisons controlled by militias and carry out forced labour. The militias will call the captives' family homes and demand a ransom. Africans are sold between prisons, when the demand arises, and are held without sufficient food in unsanitary conditions. If no ransom is forthcoming, the slaves can be killed.
* * *
Cannon here. Perhaps I should add an additional note which will explain the fuller implications of this last point. War and strife in the region has forced many unfortunates to make a horrifying choice. To escape starvation or slavery, they must take their chances as illegal immigrants.
The destabilization of sub-Saharan Africa created a massive surge in African migration to Europe -- in particular, to Italy. The eight-fold increase in migration led directly to the recent surge of fascism in Italy.
Similarly, the Syrian civil war -- fomented by the west -- led to an influx of Syrian refugees in Europe. (A handful came to America, thus laying the groundwork for that insane conspiracy theory involving Chobani yogurt.)
Syrian refugees, through no fault of their own, helped fuel anti-Islamic madness in Europe. Who benefited from this madness? Far right demagogues.
If we step back and take in the entire picture, it seems as though the right is deliberately creating a massive upsurge in illegal immigration. When more immigrants arrive in Europe and the U.S., the public is more likely to turn to the extreme right.
19 comments:
Joseph Cannon said: "If we step back and take in the entire picture, it seems as though the right is deliberately creating a massive upsurge in illegal immigration. When more immigrants arrive in Europe and the U.S., the public is more likely to turn to the extreme right."
Mr. Cannon, in a previous post, you talked about an international fascist movement that relies upon conspiracy theories (always the Jewish canards, the myth of Judeo-Bolshevism [which is a spectre that still haunts Europe and the US], the myth of cultural Bolshevism [today called Cultural Marxism], the classics, the original conspiracy theories, the Ur-conspiracies) yet are in actuality the conspiracy practitioners. You are absolutely, 100% correct in your suspicion that an international fascist movement exists. It is, in effect, a shadow multinational organization that seeks to usurp power in "the West" (United States, United Kingdom, Continental Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) and to conquer the rest of the world.
Matteo Salvini and his fascistische thugs prevailed with a plurality in Italy, Donald Trump (who was created by many shadowy men behind the throne) and his neofascists prevailed with a plurality here in America, etc. The problem of neofascism, resurgent fascism, is only going to get worse.
And by casting their enemies with terms such as "snowflakes", "SJWs (Social Justice Warriors, as if 'social justice' is bad)", "cultural Marxists", etc. the neofascists are winning and gaining ground in the wider culture.
It isn't just restricted to YouTube comments or hangout dens like 4Chan. Steam, a digital video game marketplace that relies entirely on DRM, is replete with fascists and their groups. Atomwaffen, a notorious and notable group (who achieved their notoriety through murder), is only one such NeoNazi group that was just recently removed from Steam. Removed after having been in place for YEARS.
I often see it claimed that the left must want illegal immigration because it provides them with a dependent voting block, although of course they are not able to vote. It makes far more sense, in a qui bono way, that it is favoured by the right. It provokes ethnic tension, divides the working class, provides more supply of labour to weaken wages, and all to be caused by the government subsidising the destruction of the far off parts of the world.
Whoever described the resulting cluster tuck post Iraq Murder Spree as "Arab Spring" should be taken behind the barn and shot. We played no small role in the misery of the Middle East and are due a large dose of karma.
I have heard the theory that Putin's strategy for intervening in Syria is to prolong and the war as much as possible so more and more refugees flee to the west which helps the far-right parties he promotes. It sounds far fetched, but we live in times where a reality TV host won the Presidency because of Putin's help, so the only crazy ones are those dismissing it out of hand.
Josh, I agree with everything you've said. I saw this day coming back in the 1990s, when a quasi-fascist right was emerging as the Only Permissible Alternative to the mainstream.
In the '90s, I kept running into people who really seemed to believe that one either accepted the mainstream "Dan Rather" view of political reality or one accepted the "Spotlight" or "Bill Cooper" version of reality. No third choice. It was if the 1960s had never happened. As if there had never been a hippie movement. Never been a Chomsky.
I realized then: If mainstream culture fails -- and in a number of respects it HAS failed -- young people will see no alternative except for fascism. Which will, of course, call itself ANTI-fascism.
And that's where we are today.
Mike: You're right, but with a few caveats. I think that the Arab Spring began well in Tunisia and Egypt. Those regimes needed to go. But even at the time of the first Egyptian rebellion, I had this queasy feeling that not all was as it seemed. And I got to thinking Michael Ledeen's clever way of repackaging American/Israeli imperialism in the region as a "fight for democracy."
That said, I'm now rethinking much of what I said then. I still think that Obama-era policy in Syria was disastrous, because there simply was no democratic alternative to Assad, and because the civil war was just too brutal and had to end. But that was an issue where the Alt Right more or less felt as I felt. Which kind of makes me believe that I should rethink everything.
As for karma -- look, from a karmic perspective, what happened to America in 2016 can be justified as simple payback for what we did to Chile in the early 1970s. (To cite but one of many examples.) But as I've said in previous posts, I can't think in karmic terms right now. I LIVE here. I live in Donald Fucking Trump's America. And I feel obligated to change that situation, using every legal means at my disposal. You may say: "Well, karmically speaking, it's your turn to eat shit." But I refuse.
Let's look on the bright side: at least Yulia Skripal and her dad hadn't taken a recent trip to Stonehenge. Removing the megaliths to Porton Down for examination by chemical warfare specialists would irk those who respect the ancient sites of these islands; and army tanks would spoil the site awfully.
The agreement that Stormy signed requires she pay a million dollars to Trump every time she speaks about their alleged affair. What is getting somewhat lost in all of this, Trump's attorney early on stated the affair never happened and that Stormy was lying, that in and of itself could be grounds to nullify the agreement. It was only after that statement had been made that Stormy's attorney vowed to have the agreement nullified.
If instead Stormy's attorney wants the agreement null and void because Trump never signed it, that may not work because the purpose of the agreement was to keep the alleged affair hidden from the public, so even if Trump had signed it, nobody would have been able to see his signature, the act of showing that Trump never signed it nullifies Trump having to sign it. I hope Stormy's attorney sticks to Trump's attorney calling Stormy a liar since that is the real grounds for nullification of the lawsuit, moreso than the lack of Trump's signature, in my opinion anyways.
Joseph, Today's state of affairs is a direct result of Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton had the rustbelt backing her in 2008. When the Media, Soros and the Chicago Mafia or whatever they are called decided to back Obama, the ensuing 8 years showed Obama to be obtuse about helping the rust belt states when it came to saving their homes.
The combination of the bitter midwestern states clinging to their guns and religion comment that Obama made before Obama was elected, followed by his administrations high brow attitude towards the midwest in general caused an exodus of Democrat Moderates to Trump in 2016.
Sure Obama was able to give Hillary Clinton progressive support in 2016, but Hillary Clinton lost her own Moderate base at the same time, more than nullifying the Obama push. People keep focusing on the Mexico Wall, there is a bigger wall in the midwest that won't give up on Trump as long as Trump connects with them.
The Russia Investigation could backfire on Democrats. Trump should have never been allowed to lie about Hillary Clinton which he did every time he called her a criminal without a disclaimer being inserted at the end of the Trump tirade. that one act alone would have reminded the entire country that Trump was basically a liar, the ultimate fake newser. If Trump's IRS income tax filings are not made public, then the Russia Investigation will miss the mark while creating a new wall along the rust belt.
The Independent (owned by billionaire Russian oligarch Evgeny Lebedev, but still, a "quality" British newspaper):
"one UK Government minister has revealed Britain will be discussing the (Skripal) case with its Nato allies".
If Britgov invokes NATO's Article 5, we could be in very deep shit here. That article has only been invoked once before - by the US in 2011.
The EU has a similar clause of "mutual defence" - Article 42(7) of the Lisbon Treaty. As far as I know, that too has only been invoked once, by France after the Charlie Hebdo shootings in 2015.
Don Lemon interviewed an attorney who has represented Donald Trump in the past, and they discussed the Stormy Daniels situation. The lawyer said that the absence of Trump's signature on the contract was a non-issue... Said that it's been long accepted in the courts that taking the money demonstrates that the party has accepted the contract. Stormy can't have it both ways. You can't take the $130,000 and then state that there's no contract.
But the real issue here is that Trump is using this contract to violate federal election laws and deceive the voting public. There's not a chance that Trump will ever receive a cent from Stormy being forced to pay monetary penalties for revealing this fraud.
On another note, Stormy is going to be a lousy spokesperson for the "Me Too" movement. She was abusive to her former husband. She physically assaulted him for not doing her laundry properly.
See "Weapons Of Mass Migration", Kelly M. Greenhill, Cornell Press:
http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100627270
"This "coercion by punishment" strategy can be effected in two ways: the first relies on straightforward threats to overwhelm a target's capacity to accommodate a refugee or migrant influx; the second, on a kind of norms-enhanced political blackmail that exploits the existence of legal and normative commitments to those fleeing violence, persecution, or privation."
If you google it there is a 30 page PDF summary of the book also
Yes, please do update your thinking on Syria.
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/problem-leftist-myths-syria-180304145557984.html
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/15/lesson-from-syria-chemical-weapons-conspiracy-theories-alt-right
Syria? It is said that chemical weapons are a poor country's nuclear bomb... weapons to be used as a last resort when one's back is against the wall. Then why is it that chemical weapons attacks have only occurred in Syria, when Assad's forces and allies have the upper hand?
What a shame that Consortium News, Info Clearinghouse and Global Research have been banished from the blogroll, but I suppose they publish too much Russiagate skeptical material.
We have always been at war with Eurasia.
And we will be long after the clown has been retired.
Also, about Felix Sater...maybe not an agent of V. Satanovich so much after all?
Sater is exactly what I said he was when I first wrote about him. He ratted out his Al Qaeda buddies to avoid going to prison. No other reason. The Bureau had him by the balls. The fact is that he learned all that stuff because he worked for the worst of all Russian gangsters -- the same guy who probably supplies Epstein with girls, and who made him rich.
And by the way, viowa -- your reference to Orwell falls apart. Orwell risked his life fighting fascism. YOU, it seem would rather we ignore present-day fascism -- which we may now call Duginsim, and which seems to make Russia its home country.
Last word, viowa. I would compare you to those Americans in 1939 who decried the idea of American involvement in the European war, on the grounds that WWI was some sort of evil capitalist plot (which it wasn't).
Sorry, I thought Felix was part of the whole seven degrees of Putin elected Trump story..
Anyway - you know who else risked his life fighting fascism? Vladimir Spirdonovich Putin.
Volunteered for the front, wounded, highly decorated - just saying..
But seriously, if you are looking for the home country of present-day fascism then just Google image search "Azov Battalion"
We are of course now sending those clowns Javelin anti-tank missiles.
Just in time for the World Cup.
P.S. Robert Parry RIP
I have been thinking about the world cup. Russian state TV was accusing Britain of trumping this whole thing up to distract from Russia hosting the world cup, a good opportunity to cause trouble for Russia and so on. That could conceivably be a coded reference to something else. Christopher Steele's first job after MI6, before Orbis, was working for the FA, trying to have the World cup hosted in England. Obviously he failed and Russia won, and he accused Russia of using bribery to win. Which, with FIFA, is absolutely certainly true. And we have the accusation that Skripal was back to work for Steele on the dossier, and that they had known each other since Steele was under diplomatic cover in Russia while Skripal was still a double agent.
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