Today we learn that Rick Perry's good friends Bleyzer & Cranberg ALSO happen to have just started a brand new company to play in the Ukrainian natural gas market. And lo, they did win the drilling rights they wanted, with a bid offering the Ukrainian gov't several million $ less.
Everything the Trump “administration” was doing in Ukraine was about putting Republican donors in a position to siphon off Ukrainian gas money into the hands of people who would convert it into donations to Republican candidates and superPACs.
Need to run a hugely expensive campaign for president, run by people who are in it chiefly for the payday (whether paid in consulting fees or in massive tax cuts or both)?
Go where the money is. Where your billionaire oligarch friends who buy “luxury condos” from you get it.
Go where the money is. Where your billionaire oligarch friends who buy “luxury condos” from you get it.
Where do they get it? Russia & the former Soviet republics. How do they get it? Sweetheart deals with those gov’ts.
How do they get those? Donate to Republicans and promise to kick back part of the profits from these deals, if Trump leverages US power to get them those deals.
How do they get those? Donate to Republicans and promise to kick back part of the profits from these deals, if Trump leverages US power to get them those deals.
How can they afford the kind of massive kickbacks someone like Trump would demand?
1) Make sure the profits from deals wrung out of the desperate Ukrainian government are huge.
2) Make sure the huge profits are taxed at absurdly low levels.
1) Make sure the profits from deals wrung out of the desperate Ukrainian government are huge.
2) Make sure the huge profits are taxed at absurdly low levels.
How do you keep the Ukrainian government desperate enough to ink a deal worth several million dollars less than they could get from someone else? Deny them the aid and weapons they need to defend themselves against reconquest by the Russians.
