Category Archives: Conflict – Culture – Language – Psychology

The Latest Bombing Possibility: The False Flag Operation–Always a Show of Contempt for Constituents

14 Monday Nov 2022

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Epistemology, Islamic Small Wars, Political Psychology, Russia, Turkey

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Ambitious men with nothing to offer and old ones with even less may take an interest in designing and exploiting the political value of an explosion guaranteed to make them look strong — or strong again.

November 14, 2022.

Erdogan Rounds Up His Usual Suspects

Nothing could be more dumb or predictable than the rounding up of PKK suspects in the near immediate aftermath of yesterday’s explosion in Istanbul.

ISTANBUL, Nov 14 (Reuters) – Turkey blamed Kurdish militants on Monday for an explosion that killed six people in Istanbul and police detained 47 people including a Syrian woman suspected of planting the bomb.

No group has claimed responsibility so far for Sunday’s blast on the busy pedestrian Istiklal Avenue, and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) denied involvement in it.

Spicer, Jonathan, Ali Kucokgocmen, Ece Toksabay. “Turkey blames deadly bomb on Kurdish militants; PKK denies involvement.” Reuters, November 14, 2022.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been waging against the Kurdish community for many years but with periodic sustained ceasefire arrangements with the PKK. However, on July 20, 2015, a suicide attack against Turkish leftists had Erdogan’s government blaming the Kurds while the Islamic State was claiming responsibility. Erdogan’s own Sunni extremism appeared to have surfaced in the authoritarian’s somewhat twisted stance toward ISIL. The sense of confused politics may be gotten through this paragraph in Wikipedia–

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack the following day.[15] ISIL had allegedly made the decision to pursue more active operations in Turkey just days before the attack.[16][17] The attacker, Şeyh Abdurrahman Alagöz (20), a Kurd from Adıyaman, reportedly had links to Islamic State militants.[18] Both the Turkish government and police were accused of turning a blind eye to ISIL activities as part of their collaboration with ISIL and failing to give leftist and Kurdish gatherings the proper law enforcement protection given to other gatherings.[19] Two Turkish police officers were subsequently prosecuted over the bombing.[20] It was possibly the first planned attack by ISIL in Turkey, although previous incidents such as the 2013 Reyhanlı bombings, the 2015 Istanbul suicide bombing, and the 2015 Diyarbakır rally bombings have also been blamed by some on ISIL. Soon after, the Turkish government launched Operation Martyr Yalçın, a series of airstrikes against mostly Kurdish militant positions in Northern Iraq and Syria. Large-scale operations against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), but including some ISIL targets, began on 24 July; however, most arrests were of PKK members.[21] This led to the resumption of the Kurdish-Turkish conflict (2015-present).

Wikipedia. “Suruç bombing”.

Apparent evidence for picking up a suspect: “Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told Turkish media a woman had sat on a bench in the area for more than 40 minutes, leaving just minutes before the blast took place” (BBC, “Istanbul: Six dead, dozens wounded in Turkey explosion, Nov. 14, 2022).

Among the dead (and quoting from the previous cited article)–“…a government ministry employee and his young daughter….”

Of course, anything’s possible, and with autocratic ambition and power in place, politics as theater engineered for power is possible too. With an election taking place in 2023 and a quaking bog of a collapsing economy associated with him, the autocratic Erdogan may not have been without motivation for the once unheard of practice in the top echelon of both secretly setting the fire and publicly putting it out.

One would not bring up even the notion of a “False Flag Operation” with any liberal humanist leader of any open democracy anywhere, but for more than 20 years, Erdogan has displayed himself as another “populist” autocrat merely propping the very much nominal “democratic” of a Turkish state that has repeatedly proven anti-democratic, illiberal, and deeply repressive, and not exactly unlike what Putin has had going in Russia.

As of publishing, no trustworthy investigation of Sunday’s bombing at a popular shopping mall has been conducted (given the overnight spread of associated arrests or detentions), and given the autocratic and feudal-medieval character of Erdogan and his regime, none may be expected.

And on the other hand, “According to Istanbul police, 1,200 security cameras have been checked near the site of the explosion. Police have conducted raids at 21 different addresses the female suspect has been identified to have links with” (Al Jazeera. “Turkish police arrest 46 people over Istanbul explosion.” November 14, 2022).

It’s possible as well that given the chaos attending radical enterprises in their configurations, numbers, and relationships that one or more in the dragnet “done it” and leadership(s) elsewhere may not known of related plans for “action”.

Call the attitude here “Epistemological Ambivalence”, the possibility remains that the leader who has displayed contempt for his society’s journalists and others has indeed put on a bloody little play–and if not, who among Turkey’s journalists and publishers are left to believe him out of independent reason rather than fear?

Related Online

Al Jazeera. “Turkish police arrest 46 people over Istanbul explosion.” November 14, 2022.

Askew, Joshua. “Soaring inflation and a collapsing currency: Why is Turkey’s economy in such a mess?” EuroNews, October 11, 2022.More than two-thirds of people in Turkey are struggling to pay for food and cover their rent, according to a survey by Yöneylem Social Research Centre, fuelling a surge in mental illness and debt.

Butler, Daren and Birsen Altayli. “Turkey’s kingmaker party keeps options open ahead of Erdogan’s election test.” Reuters, September 8, 2022: “ISTANBUL, Sept 8 (Reuters) – A pro-Kurdish party set to play a key role in Turkish elections next year said it is open to talks with other opposition parties on finding a joint candidate who could end President Tayyip Erdogan’s two decades in power.”

Daou, Marc. “With an eye on re-election, Turkey’s Erdogan risks the ire of Western partners.” France24, June 22, 2022.

Erlanger, Steven. “Election Approaching, Erdogan Raises the Heat Again With Greece: Turkey’s president suggested that troops “may suddenly arrive one night” in Greece. With inflation rampant and the lira sinking, a manufactured crisis might be just the thing he needs.” The New York Times, October 16, 2022.

Genc, Kaya. “Erdogan’s Way: The Rise and Rule of Turkey’s Islamist Shapeshifter.” Foreign Affairs, September/October 2019.

Hacaoglu, Selcan. “Inflation Hits 86%, But Erdogan’s Vital Heartland Stays Loyal.” Bloomberg, November 13, 2022.

Hubbard, Ben and Safak Timur. “Blast in Central Istanbul Kills at Least 6 and Wounds Dozens.” The New York Times, November 13, 2022.

Hubbard, Ben and Safak Timur. “Turkey Accuses U.S. of Complicity in Istanbul Attack That Killed 6.” The New York Times, November 14, 2022.

Mansoor, Peter R. “False-Flag Operations.” Hoover Institution, February 23, 2022.

Phillips, David and Kelly Berkell. “The Case for Delisting the PKK as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.” Lawfare, February 11, 2016.

Satter, David. “The Unsolved Mystery Behind the Act of Terror That Brought Putin to Power.” National Review, August 17, 2016.

Turak, Natasha. “Erdogan says Turkey will keep cutting interest rates, mocks British pound.” CNBC, September 29, 2022.

U.S. Department of State. “Executive Order 13224.” Bureau of Counterterrorism.

Wikiepedia. “Suruç bombing”.

Erdogan has converted his popular mandate into power and used that power to remake Turkey’s relations with the rest of the world. He has expanded Turkish influence in Syria and northern Iraq and tilted Turkey—a NATO member—toward China, Iran, and Russia. His use of power has also generated dissent among feminists, leftists, and the secular middle class. Under Erdogan’s watch, Turkey has become the world’s largest prison for journalists. Filmmakers, novelists, photographers, and scholars are also among the imprisoned. Turkey has banned gay and transgender pride marches since 2015; Wikipedia has been blocked since 2017.

Genc, Kaya. “Erdogan’s Way: The Rise and Rule of Turkey’s Islamist Shapeshifter.” Foreign Affairs, September/October 2019.

–33–

FTAC: Kherson and Putin’s Retreat

11 Friday Nov 2022

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Philosophy, Russia, Ukraine

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November 11, 2022.

Editor’s Comment

Even though Putin has quieted on “tactical nukes”, he still has them, and he and his regime remain deeply untrustworthy. Caution seems appropriate. The true ends of the story needs must take place in Moscow and St. Petersburg and in the Kremlin, the FSB, and related criminal and defense circles. Russia has absolutely nothing to gain by way of its feudal-medieval and altogether piratical and politically criminal and retrograde “Imperial” fascist totalitarian revanche, its leader, and his regime.

#TsarVladimirTheSmaller has, both “of course” and tragically (for our species) the power to destroy himself and the world with it, would that he would keep destroying himself, at which he is excelling, and leave the world to both more compassionate and rational actors.

At his command nonetheless: doomsday underwater systems, hypersonic missiles, stealthy submarines, and “tactical” nuclear warheads.

Living within reach of that destructive capability is not an option as it has long been a given, and while the concepts of “balanced power” and “mutually assured destruction” may allay some ambitions and impulses, we seem to be waking up close to “midnight” every day with this one most execrable (#PutinFullTonto) excuse for a human being in power.

On Archaic Beliefs and Systems

Good: Expanding, Harmonious, and Open Systems; Human and Technological Evolution; Greater Peace and Prosperity On the Bedrock of a Spacious Humanism and Predominant Global Security.

Evil?

*

httpGrs://twitter.com/BarbaraLuethi/status/1590745260719841286?s=20&t=19WIDeZZ62SJHDHlxisc0g

*

I have now spent much of my blogging career–or it feels so–promoting the concepts of “Malignant Narcissism“and the related “Paranoid Delusional Narcissistic Reflection of Motivation” while co-promoting or popularizing a post-Cold War narrative that touches on Moscow’s near immediate transformation and reversion to the black fist of a secret police state as well as the world’s appetite for the illicit in earthly delights, so to speak, handily delivered by organized crime, i.e., the world’s most lucrative narcotics and slaves.

While the west approaches accepting some moderation in its policies associated with hedonism and related industries, there remains for consideration the darkest political ramifications associated with corruption, “dark money”, and “kompromat”. Most in and of the west remain deeply committed and steadfast in relation to the experience of freedom as reliant on an atmosphere in which we may live as authentic persons with our own agency, efficacy, ideas, and options, even naughty or tawdry 🙂 , within the realm (and boundaries) of the predominantly healthy and good.

The political hell of the Russian mafia state, greed-ridden and deeply hypocritical and mindlessly subject to the power of a heartless and vacuous lunatic, would have all of western freedom, law, and tradition choked by criminal intents, fraudulent political theater, and related force. Unfortunately, and it’s just my opinion, the west has been poisoned itself by KGB methods and related and equally unsightly and malign narcissism in cultural and political circles–as much would help explain the #GOPofGreed’s issues with authoritarian and reactionary bents.

It tires me to work up one more repeated reference section, but I will offer a short selection here, and with reference to my own citation, there’s plenty of additional reference on most BackChannels posts.

Related Online

Nekrasov, Andrey (Director). Poisoned by Polonium: The Litvinenko File. Documentary film, 2007.

Oppenheim, James S. “Trump, Corruption, Narcotics, Russia-A Glance.” BackChannels, October 10, 2022.

Satter, David. “The Unsolved Mystery Behind the Act of Terror That Brought Putin to Power.” National Review, August 17, 2016.

Schindler, John. “Exploring Al Qaeda’s Murky Connection to Russian Intelligence.” Business Insider, June 10, 2014.

Tiplady-Bishop, Lottie. “Jeffrey Epstein boasted about ‘flying to Moscow to visit Vladimir Putin’ as secrets behinds his millions are revealed.” The Sun, July 19, 2020.

–33–

Putin to Ukraine and NATO: Dare Destroy Me

07 Monday Nov 2022

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Russia, Ukraine

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Although Putin has been doing a fine job of destroying himself as well as the wealth, power, and relative security of his closest assigns and associations, he has still advanced weapons systems in submarines, hypersonic missiles, and “tactical” nuclear warheads, and he knows he may destabilize and destroy with impunity whatever he wishes for fear of his lunacy.

No mass death or destruction have yet come to Moscow or St. Petersburg.

The imposing of western sanctions has been but a matter of adjustment in relationships elsewhere.

The “Fragile Empire” has been proving surrounding polities, not only the “demo” made of Ukraine, more fragile in their development and heightened sensitivity to threats–or now imposed–disruptions.

And Putin’s “Mafia State” appears not to have interrupted anyone’s drug deal or other dark business for being so without conscience.

*

How would you like to be hit by an enemy you’re not allowed to hit back?

What if it was your friend’s enemy enjoying that impunity, and you knew that you and yours would be next to be beaten, bribed, intimidated, robbed?

*

What if you knew that your forces were blocking 90 percent of airborne attacks but the ten percent getting through was destroying basic civilian power infrastructure?

What does “winning” mean when your losing enemy forces are nonetheless freezing and displacing your people?

*

Of course, Putin and his Russia are losing too, but he is only losing the better–the more good–of his human resources, and his state is only losing money and international stature. That’s not enough for stopping him. As the Malignant Narcissist (#MaligNarc) that he has been, he and his circle needs must be deprived of power and stopped cold, for in his own delusional mind, he cannot lose, and his enablers, sycophants, and fellow thugs are all in too deep for leaving him. War criminals themselves for what they have abetted, they, and exactly like the Nazis before them, may find no refuge elsewhere–or sadly find it through some realpolitik involving occult cash reserves that may land an obscure outpost or two for living (very well, thank you) on the lowdown.

In Putin’s upside-down world, “winning” looks a lot like losing.
No less than the dictatorships and terrorists supported by Moscow during the Cold War Era and no less so in the post-Cold War Era–know the truth–Russia’s political culture has found no better motivation for being than the want of Absolute Power and demonic control of others via leverage, threat, and, finally, horrifying, mindless, and unwarranted violence.

–33–

Trump Hires the Best People (and Two Other Comments Over Coffee)

05 Saturday Nov 2022

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology

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Typing up briefs cost most time than they’re worth, and yet how can one old Mr. Lonely not want to share the briefest “Hey, Martha!” over the morning’s first cup of coffee? 🙂

To better “Read Along with Jim” (if I am indeed scanning news at my desktop): https://twitter.com/JS_Oppenheim & https://www.facebook.com/BackChannels .

This post: ephemera–no categories, #’s, or keys.

On the front page of The Washington Post—

Boris Epshteyn is also dealing with the legal ramifications of his conduct outside of work. He is on probation, according to court records, after pleading guilty late last year to disorderly conduct and fighting during a late-night bar incident in Scottsdale, Ariz. — the second such arrest in Arizona in seven years.

Epshteyn declined to answer questions on the record about those arrests, or any other topic, for this article.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/11/05/boris-epshteyn-trump-legal-troubles/ – “Boris Epshteyn’s loyalty to Trump pays off as investigations deepen”: Pugilistic adviser has clashed with other lawyers for Donald Trump on whether to be confrontational or conciliatory. By Josh Dawsey, Jacqueline Alemany, and Isaac Stanley-Becker

Related: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Epshteyn

Nice fella.

On the top of The New York Times—

“Family Ties. Political Divisions.”

For Carolyn Broe and her family, the 2022 midterms have unfolded the way they have for countless others: with great bitterness and turbulence.

*

Edith, I was raised on the Torah, my wife, and the Qur’an. My oldest son is an atheist, my youngest is a Scientologist, my daughter is studying Hinduism–I imagine there is room there for a Holy War in my living room, but we practice live and let live. Why don’t you sit down?

The Man From Earth. Film, 2007; original: The Man Who Fell From Earth, 1976.

On top at Politico—

ELECTIONS
“Trump and DeSantis barrel toward 2024 — but keep their distance in Florida”: Multiple people familiar with the planning around Trump’s rally, which will feature Sen. Marco Rubio and is part of a four-city tour, said DeSantis wasn’t invited and didn’t ask to attend.–By Matt Dixon and Meridith McGraw.

Related on BackChannels: “Trump, Corruption, Narcotics, Russia-A Glance” (October 10, 2022); “Trump’s America in Retrospect: Russian Real Estate Entanglement” (October 9, 2021).

And at the Front of America’s Revolutionary Existence–

I’m going to post this because the headlines of each noted “rag”–Inside the Beltway; The Gray Lady; and, I guess, Revolutionary–have probably already changed.

For any interested in preserving America’s Democracy as brought to birth with bright and fresh cause, I’d recommend reading Thomas Paine’s pamphlet “Common Sense” before all else.

–33–

Russia’s Special Truth

12 Wednesday Oct 2022

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Political Psychology, Russia, Ukraine

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Related Online

Nekrasov, Andrey (Director). Poisoned by Polonium: The Litvinenko File. Documentary film, 2007.

Thomas, Jake. “Russia’s Estimated Losses Entering Day 230 of War, Including 62K Personnel.” Newsweek, October 10, 2022.

Wikipedia. “List of Russian generals killed during the 2022 invasion of Ukraine”.

BackChannels’ Related Political Psychology

The blog’s starting to carry quite a package! 🙂

I think the “amateur psychologists” have been written off by the rough and tough get-it-done warfare analysts, but, sigh, Russia really does have a deranged narcissistic feudal-medieval “Vertical of Power” who has by his destructive and ruthless wiles and will made the powerful and wealthy of Russia dependent on his existence and his on them.

Who is Vladimir Putin to judge any of them?

Beneath heaven–and would they would ask themselves the same thing–I don’t know.

Whatever the answer (blackmail? intimidation? grandiose promises?), he has inveigled an entire class of associates, executives, and warriors in an archaic narrative of utterly barbaric cruelty, destruction, and ethnic cleansing. So far, not one of Putin’s oh-so-powerful associates appear capable of preparing any resistance to him or his crimes–or it’s they, at least a few, who have perhaps been pushing him. Either way, all have become themselves complicit in the leader’s ugly and cowardly fantasy about himself–and they are losing as mightily as they are clinging fast to this most backward, myopic, and villainous of daddies.

Are they brain dead?

Have they lost the last vestiges of conscience, humanity, and integrity?

Perhaps the worst thing–the most special truth, frankly–is they know what they have done and are doing and believing themselves bought in, doomed, and enslaved are walking themselves to their own ignominious end.

Civilizational Narcissism
Detecting Post-Soviet Russia’s Black Narrative of Revenge for ’89 and ’91
Malignant Narcissism
Malignant Narcissistic Process Distilled
Paranoid Delusional Narcissistic Reflection of Motivation
Reuters. Published to YouTube, August 30, 2022.

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FTAC: Russia’s Old Ukrainian Land Grab

12 Wednesday Oct 2022

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Russia, Ukraine

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From correspondence:

. . . two greater-than-civilizational stories run through the history of the region: 1) who were the Vikings, really, as defined both by the character of their leadership and the makeup of their complement? And 2) the condition of Russian soil (not so good) and the desirability of one of the world’s great crossroads and agricultural centers. The drive for Ukraine has been always south from today’s St. Petersburg. Boredom, corruption, criminality, greed have indeed enriched Ukraine’s soil over centuries. The inhabitants of the land in the early Byzantine Era had been Turkish (“Turkic”) tribes who chose to declare themselves Jews and probably so in defiance of expanding Christian and Muslim power.

The source I generally cite for Russian history from before the Rus has been Pipes, Richard.  Russia Under the Old Regime: The History of Civilization.  New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1974, but I have reached an age where re-reading seems in order while the taking of voluminous notes defies the contemporary zeitgeist, however enamored one may be of 19th and 20th Century methods in scholarship. Informal conversation serves the note as well, and one may indeed “fly” south from St. Petersburg via Google Maps and practically hit Kiev as is being done today but primarily for want of unobtainable pride.

Inspiration for this post: an encyclopedia entry for the “Pereiaslav Treaty of 1654”, which papering relationships into history appears about as confused as today’s Putin.

Kyiv Post, September 6, 2018.

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Trump, Corruption, Narcotics, Russia-A Glance

10 Monday Oct 2022

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, American Domestic Affairs, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Epistemology, Extreme Brown vs Red-Green, Political Psychology, United States of America

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Either Donald Trump’s associates and followers aren’t readers, or at least not discerning ones, or they’re as greedy and lusting for power as he has been, or, rather like him, they’re equally damaged narcissists with Narcissistic Personality Disorder’s (NPD’s) standard “messianic delusions of grandeur”. Also, I suppose one might suggest that some have been compromised (and blackmailed) or leveraged for want of some aspiration or dream that the Don might make come true through his legion of intimidating and obfuscating lawyers.

Approach the followers (carefully) in any manner that suits, but “missing data” upstairs–alternatively brazen disinformation, innuendo, and rumor–would seem a part of that now benighted bought or weakening, small, and violent constellation of Americans too easily led astray.

America’s moderate Democrats and Republicans have turned against Donald Trump as a candidate for the 2024 elections and beyond as they have perceived his character issues as deep and lifelong, which they are, but what remains with avaricious associates, lesser politicians perhaps hooked on his indulgence with “endorsements” (kiss of death from the inside out for those with integrity) and funding, would seem a profound denial as regards not only the common wisdom but also wisdom questioned and repeatedly corroborated. What follows in addition to telling quotations is a short list of reference associated with the former American president’s autocratic, vicious, and unscrupulous character.

More than 18 months into his presidency, Donald Trump’s modus operandi – and the danger it represents – is clear. His working method is that of the mafia boss and gangland chieftain, daily wielding his power to settle scores, teach lessons and crush dissent. Anyone who’s seen The Sopranos will know the routine: the casual intimidation, the obsession with loyalty, the brutal ostracism meted out to those who dare defy the man at the top.

Freedland, Jonathan. “This mafia style of government makes Trump a role model for all autocrats.” The Guardian, August 18, 2018.

“My name is Carmine. I don’t know why you’re fucking with Mr. Trump but if you keep fucking with Mr. Trump, we know where you live and we’re going to your house for your wife and kids,” the caller said, according to the account that the attorney, Kristopher Hansen, gave to the Holmdel police department in New Jersey. Hansen speculated that the caller was Trump’s bodyguard.

Leopold, Jason. “‘If You Keep Fucking With Mr. Trump, We Know Where You Live. ‘”. BuzzFeed News, August 5, 2017.

Many of those who bought the condos, it turns out, did so not to live there but allegedly to launder illicit money – Russian gangster money, drug cartel money, people-smuggling money.

A joint Reuters-NBC News investigation published on Friday alongside a report by the non-profit Global Witness said the skyscraper with Trump’s name had ties to international organised crime.

The reports detailed how the future president gave the project to his daughter Ivanka as a “baby” effort to gain real estate experience, and said it ended up drawing a cast of characters accused of fraud, corruption and kidnapping.

Carroll, Rory. “Trump’s Panama tower used for money laundering by condo owners, reports say.” The Guardian, November 18, 2017.

The meeting came just days after Kilimnik met in Moscow with Oleg Deripaska, a powerful oligarch and close ally of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Deripaska had been a major client of Manafort but had sued him over a failed business deal in Ukraine and was seeking to recoup almost $25m.

The Trump administration announced late last year it intended to lift sanctions on Deripaska’s companies, despite strong opposition from Democrats and some Republicans in Congress. The treasury department had imposed the sanctions on Deripaska and several of his companies in tandem with seven Russian oligarchs, 12 companies they owned or controlled, and 17 Russian government officials, for “malign activity” which included “attempting to subvert western democracies, and malicious cyber-activities”.

Stone, Peter. “Is Oleg Deripaska the missing link in the Trump-Russia investigation?” The Guardian, January 29, 2019.

Related Online

Baker, Peter, J. David Goodman, Michael Rothfeld, Elizabeth Williamson. “The 11 Criminals Granted Clemency by Trump Had One Thing in Common: Connections.” The New York Times, February 19, 2020.

Barber, C. Ryan. “Paul Manafort just put a very favorable gloss over his work for a pro-Russia leader of Ukraine in a rare radio interview.” Business Insider, March 18, 2022. For a look at Yanukovych’s Ukrainian kleptocracy, see Yanukovych Leaks. (For a look at how little Donald Trump cared about democracy in post-revolutionary Ukraine, see Smith, Jeffrey R. “Timeline: How Trump withheld Ukraine aid.” The Center for Public Integrity, December 13, 2019).

Burleigh, Nina. “Donald Trump Is a ‘Russian Asset’ Owned by the Mafia, Author Claims in New Book.” Newsweek, August 17, 2018.

Carroll, Rory. “Trump’s Panama tower used for money laundering by condo owners, reports say.” The Guardian, November 18, 2017.

Chappell, Bill. “Trump Hosts Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and Ambassador Kislyak at White House.” NPR, May 10, 2017.

Crowley, Michael. “All of Trump’s Russia Ties, in 7 Charts.” Politico, March/April 2017.

CNN. “Rauch: Trump has mastered the ‘firehose of falsehood’.”

Entous, Adam, Ellen Nakashima, Greg Miller. “Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White House.” The Washington Post, December 9, 2016.

Freedland, Jonathan. “This mafia style of government makes Trump a role model for all autocrats.” The Guardian, August 18, 2018.

Gessen, Masha. “The Trump-Russia Investigation and the Mafia State.” The New Yorker, January 31, 2019.

Glaser, April. “Investors in the Panama Trump Tower Included a Notorious Criminal Who Laundered Drug Money: The close ties between Colombian cartels and the Trump Ocean Club.” November 17, 2017.

Global Witness. “How Trump made millions licensing his name to a development used to launder drug money.” YouTube Video with associated link to a report. November 17, 2017.

Hirsh, Michael. “How Russian Money Helped Save Trump’s Business.” Foreign Policy, December 21, 2018.

Illing, Sean. “Trump’s ties to the Russian mafia go back 3 decades.” Vox, January 12, 2019.

Johnson, Kevin. “FBI surges on DC home of Oleg Deripaska, Russian oligarch from Paul Manafort trial.” USA Today, October 19, 2021.

Leopold, Jason. “‘If You Keep Fucking With Mr. Trump, We Know Where You Live. ‘”. BuzzFeed News, August 5, 2017.

Lind, Dara. “Stormy Daniels’s story of intimidation from a Trump associate fits a 20-year pattern.” Vox, March 26, 2018.

Olear, Greg. Dirty Rubles. New York: Four Sticks Press, 2018.

Onion, Rebecca. “‘Just Remember: Roy Cohn Taught Him His ABCs'”. Slate, September 27, 2019.

Oppenheim, James S. “Trump and the Question of Insurrection.” BackChannels, January 9, 2021.

Oppenheim, James S. “Trump’s America in Retrospect: Russian Real Estate Entanglements.” BackChannels, October 9, 2021.

Parker, Ned, Stephen Grey, Stefanie Eschenbacher, Roman Anin, Brad Brooks, and Christine Murray. “Ivanka and the fugitive from Panama.” Reuters Investigates, November 17, 2017. Teaser: “Exclusive: How an alleged fraudster in Panama, working with Donald Trump’s daughter, helped make Trump’s first international hotel venture a success. The broker was in business with a money-launderer and two criminals from the former Soviet Union. Then he fled.”

Rauch, Jonathan. The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth. Washington, D.C.: Brookings, 2021.

Rauch, Jonathan. “The Real Hoax.” Persuasion. December 13, 2021.

Smith, David. “‘The perfect target’: Russia cultivated Trump as asset for 40 years – ex-KGB spy.” The Guardian, January 29, 2021.

Stedman, Scott. “Decorated Russian Naval Veteran Funneled Thousands to Trump, RNC.” Forensic News, September 21, 2021.

Stone, Peter. “Is Oleg Deripaska the missing link in the Trump-Russia investigation?” The Guardian, January 29, 2019.

Unger, Craig. “Donald Trump Was Everything Vladimir Putin Could Have Wished For: From the days when the KGB sought to cultivate him 40 years ago to his term as president, Trump was a useful stooge. And if he gets another term, he still can be.” The New Republic, March 2, 2022.

Unger, Craig. House of Trump, House of Putin: The Untold story of Donald Trump and the Russian Mafia. New York: Dutton, 2018.

Unger, Craig. American Kompromat: How the KGB Cultivated Donald Trump, and Related Tales of Sex, Greed, Power, and Treachery. New York: Dutton, 2021.

Unger, Craig. “Trump’s businesses are full of dirty Russian money. The scandal is that it’s legal.” The Washington Post, March 29, 2019.

Unger, Craig. “Trump’s Russian Laundromat.” The New Republic. July 13, 2017.

Weiss, Michael and Casey Michel. “The Alleged Russian Mobsters in Trump World’s Orbit: A Dirty Dozen.” The Daily Beast, November 16, 2019; updated December 6, 2019.

Bloomberg Quicktake, June 28, 2022.

Addendum, from November 11, 2022 Forward

I’ve added to the above reference section articles published before the publication date of this post, Oct. 10, 2022, but thought here to add pieces bearing down on about the same themes involving the former American President, foremost treason abetted by questionable character and an altogether malign narcissistic psychology.

Lowell, Hugo. “Federal investigators examined Trump Media for possible money laundering, sources say.” The Guardian, March 15, 2023.

Nava, Victor. “Trump Media probed by feds for possible money laundering after $8M loans from Putin-tied lender: report.” New York Post, March 15, 2023.

Olear, Greg. “Trump vs. the CIA (with Kristin Wood): The USIC warned us. We didn’t listen.” PREVAIL by Greg Olear, November 18, 2022.

Weiner, Rachel. “GOP operative found guilty of funneling Russian money to Donald Trump.” The Washington Post, November 17, 2022.

Zembla. “The Dubious Friends of Donald Trump.” Video; posted by Ted Martin, May 18, 2017.

#CollusionNoDelusion: Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump (and, Possibly, )

Tiplady-Bishop, Lottie. “Jeffrey Epstein boasted about ‘flying to Moscow to visit Vladimir Putin’ as secrets behind his millions are revealed.” The U.S. Sun, July 19, 2020.

But her father was wrong. In the end, Trump spent plenty of time with Ghislaine Maxwell and Epstein. In fact, he fit in quite well with them. Arrivistes all—be it Epstein’s Coney Island, Trump’s Queens, or Robert Maxwell’s Eastern European shtetl—they had all come from the wrong side of the tracks. And at some point in their lives, Robert Maxwell, Trump, and Epstein all had ties to foreign intelligence agencies, arms dealers, and the sex trade.

It was a world of unimaginable decadence.

Unger, Craig. ‘He’s a Lot of Fun to Be With’: Inside Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump’s Epic Bromance.” Vanity Fair, January 21, 2021.

Winter, Tom and Corky Siemaszko. “Jeffrey Epstein introduced me to Trump at 14, Ghislaine Maxwell accuser says.” CBS News, December 1, 2021.

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