Deutsche Treat
(this post inspired by the following article)
Stephanie Kirchgaessner
following are my comments:
There is a complicated relationship involving Wilbur Ross, The Bank of Cyprus, Deutsche Bank, the Russian President's close associates, and Donald Trump.
Citizen Trump got in bad financial shape and was facing devastation through bankruptcy on failing deals- all was crashing in the downturn, Florida as bad as anywhere in the world for a collapsed real estate market. In 2008 Trump sold a derelict mansion in Florida to an extremely well connected Russian ultra-billionaire, Dmitry Ryvoloviev, for around $95 million, two and a half times what he paid for it just a couple years earlier. Trump covers his debt; Putin's close associate, the Russian ultra-billionarire - pulled Donald Trump's chestnuts out the fire. The mansion in Florida is now being demolished; the new owner reportedly never set foot inside it. Deutsche Bank handled much of this financing. Deutsche Bank laundered around $10 billion of Russian money; the US has fined the bank like $630 million. (BTW - just for simple math, each billion is one thousand million; $10B is ten thousand million dollars. In zeroes, ten billion looks like this - $10,000,000,000. The former Chairman of Deutsche Bank, Josef Ackermann, is now Chairman at Cyprus Bank. Wilbur Ross is (correct me if wrong) the largest shareholder, and vice chairman of Cyprus Bank. Last night Wilbur Ross was confirmed as Commerce Secretary. Here's Rachel Maddow's piece. I know, no one who needs to understand this will listen because they hate TRMS but what she lays out, that I have half ass plagiarized above, shows the linkages in one strand of one rope in a complicated, illegal mess. Criminality has been officially established - Deutsche Bank has been fined big league - like to the tune of $630,000,000; this is fact - and those are the kind of zeros that bump thing up by ten each time one gets scribbled. The massive $630m fine indicates very serious wrongdoing; the wrongdoing? Laundering $10,000,000,000 of illegally obtained Russian cash. Ten Billion (or so) dollars of illegal cash was laundered coming out of Russia. The chairman of Deutsche Band who did that is now co-chairman of Cyprus Bank, Josef Ackermann. Cyprus is where the finer Russians keep their expatriated rubles. Who is the vice chairman and the largest stockholder of Cyprus Bank? Wilbur Ross, the United States' new commerce secretary. For one moment I am going to bear my soul and admit that I'm a pretty loose guy. Let's say there was a little corruption, some ill gained millions here and there. Or say, someone having an affair with a secretary; or even a gay affair with a 19 year old trans woman at the gym - all that I could kinda overlook. You know, we're all human. What we are looking at is well beyond any of this type transgression - this scandal threatens the very survival of our nation. Russia is the most threatening adversary America faces; they attacked our nation's election process for the purpose of harming America, the American presidency and to help elect Donald Trump become president; Russia attacked America on behalf of Donald Trump, performing numerous illegal acts on American soil on behalf of one candidate. (this is the unanimous opinion of all US Intelligence Agencies plus the FBI). This attack on America was for the purpose of harming our nation, our democratic system, our allies and our alliances - they declared info war on us to hurt us. This is all clearly stated by the Declassified Assessment. This is all info that is public and available with a click from solid sources, like the United States Senate intelligence committee and ODNI. This isn't something we can overlook - This isn't using a private server - this is an active and ongoing attack on all that we and previous generations have earned through blood and toil. Please read the Intel Assessment - the professionals whose job it is to protect us from the really dangerous threats are alarmed! These are not people who get alarmed - and they are alarmed; please read the Assessment. Above can all be fact checked. Now - the 'unverified dossier.' Have you read it? It's 35 pages but they are thin - you can look over the document in maybe a half hour. One voice screams emotionally that it is 'unproven' and 'unverified' which for the most part is correct - it has not been proven to be correct. It is not verified publicly. Apply logic here. Does 'unproven' mean dis-proven? Unverified does not mean inaccurate. There are dribbles coming out reporting that aspects of the dossier are being verified. All involved confirm the sterling reputation of the former British agent; he had a long relationship with US law enforcement too. Significantly, the dossier has not been dis-proven at all - the drips all are of confirmations; none are discrediting. This dossier, straight up, alleges collusion with Russia during the election. It alleges the exchange if intelligence both ways. It alleges Russia agents stole private communication (serious felonies for all involved).
The Russians desired to harm America and the West; nothing new here. What is new is that they now had a mole, a turned American, working on the inside to further the goal - it was a dream for Russia. They were as surprised (and concerned) as anyone with Trump's unexpected victory. Russia was as always a dangerous hungry wolf stalking the perimeter; their grooming, blackmailing and bribing of DJT opened the gate and the door and the baby's bedroom to the wolf - this metaphor means that Gen Flynn became the top national security adviser with access to EVERYTHING, which in my metaphor is the baby.
What's verified and what's not? The following is fact - Flynn came; he had a secret relationship with Russian Intelligence (the ambassador is intelligence); he lied; he was exposed; he was fired. How much of the rest of the dossier is now verified? We cannot know; but we do know one source in the report was found dead in his car, presumably murdered, in Moscow 12-26-16 and that four other suspected sources have been arrested. A Russian diplomat in DC had a heart attack and died; they know it was a heart attack because his head was smashed in. Major, hugely well placed Western Intelligence assets have been exposed and liquidated (is that what it's called when a brave friend is killed by Russian intelligence?) at great cost to our nation's safety. All this has happened since DJT was first briefed on the reports and intelligence. Flynn was briefed alongside Trump; Flynn has been exposed as having a secret relationship with Russian Intel. How can this not be a huge deal? How could anyone who cares about our nation and our safety not be appalled? How could anyone on the Intel Committees sweep away focus from the fact that Russia attacked our nation's democracy and tried to harm America by supporting one candidate with a massive criminal and espionage operation? (It's either this, or our entire Intelligence Community and Federal law enforcement apparatus is delusional or engaged in a giant lie - they said this unanimously and publicly and under oath). We must keep pressure on members of Congress - max pressure. This isn't a sexual tryst with an of age intern. This isn't even picking up man lovers in the toilet of an obscure airport. This isn't trading guns for drugs for hostages. This isn't even placing concrete shoes on opponents - which is pretty damn bad. Our nation's most dangerous foe, the people that are killing our allies today, appears to have installed a treasonous ally into the top positions of America's defense. Russian agents, turned American citizens, may have seized the levers of our safety and security; Russia isn't a friend - they did all this to hurt us. Presumably, as some leaked reports from intel agents have expressed, Russia now knows everything. Trump opened the gate and he opened the door and he opened the baby's bedroom and is showing the wolf exactly where the baby is sleeping. America is rising. This will not bring our nation down because each of us will never stop. If the Republicans choose treachery and Russia over America and justice, then in a mere 20 months or so America will elect a vengeful, purpose-driven Congress that will uphold basic responsibilities under the Constitution. We cannot stop; it is as bad as it seems. And America will not abide.
