"Russian Railways" speaks for lifting ban on imports from Ukraine

Failure of Russian import substitution: "Russian Railways" speaks for lifting ban on imports from Ukraine | UNIAN

Today, Russia's import substitution is a lame duck not only in the civilian sector, but also in defense industry.

For example, Russia was never able to complete the construction of Project 11356 frigates after they lost access to gas turbine installations manufactured by Ukraine's Zorya-Mashproekt. Production of Mi-26 heavy transport helicopters, which Russian Defense Ministry very much needs, cannot be resumed due to the lack of Ukrainian engines. Five years since technology transfer restrictions were applied against Russia, the country still remains technologically dependent not only on the developed western economies, but also on Ukraine.

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It's only a matter of time before Putin ends up like Yanukovych. Even his show of strength in the Azov Sea didn't save his regime's rapidly-disintegrating support, and now both Ukrainians AND Russians are saying "ENOUGH!"

I still am concerned that Ukraine could end up going the way of Iran after its war with Iraq in the 80's.

Soviet involvement in the Iran–Iraq War

Iraq had been an ally for decades and the Soviets now tried to win over Iran as well, but their offers of friendship were rebuffed by the pro-Western Shah of Iran. After the Iranian revolution an Islamic Republic was established whose slogan was "neither East nor West". In 1982, the war turned in Iran's favour and the Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini pledged not to stop the conflict until he had overthrown the Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. Such a prospect was unacceptable to the Soviet Union which now resumed arms sales to Iraq while still maintaining an official policy of neutrality. The Soviets also feared losing Saddam's friendship to the West. After further Iranian gains in 1986, the Soviet Union massively increased its military aid to Iraq. The Soviets were now afraid of the Iranians encouraging Islamic revolution in Central Asia.

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Iran-Iraq War

There is also the problem of Lukashenko and the American Alt.-Right fighting on the side of Ukrainian ultranationalists against BOTH the Russians AND the legitimate Ukrainian Government. Even after Putin, there will still be a lot of problems and likely an ongoing insurgency in Eastern Ukraine regardless.

Read more on UNIAN: "Defend the white race": American extremists being co-opted by Ukraine's far-right – Bellingcat - news politics | UNIAN
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IMF sees no significant progress in fight against corruption in Ukraine - news economics | UNIAN

Russia (Putin) has unfortunately made the decision to reject and even attack the concept of western democratic freedom and is paying the price for it....this is likely to get much worse. The opportunity presented with the first cold war end was squandered and is now looked upon as a weakening (which it was by their own hand) and rather than attempting to embrace the rest of the world they have made it into an adversary. The Oligarchy and corruption that destroyed the opportunity have become the economic system in Russia and the desire to go back to a U.S.S.R. has made aggression their foreign policy. That mentality has no place anymore and is rejected by global norms, making the future rather dark for the Russian people. This latest game they play in U.S. politics has pushed them into enemy status for much of the American populace and blatant assassinations on foreign soil destroyed any dwindling trust.


Russia no longer has friends and those associations they do create are with nations that are as bad or worse than they are.

Abbazorkzog said:

It's only a matter of time before Putin ends up like Yanukovych.

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I don't see this occurring in Putin's Russia. If the regular police forces abandon him, Putin still has the 350,000 member National Guard (Rosgvardia - internal military) which are commanded by Putin's former bodyguard and this force only accepts orders from Putin himself. The Russian military is commanded by Minister of Defense Sergey Shoigu - a longtime close confidant of Putin. The governing siloviki political class are all former security officials just like KGB Colonel Vladimir Putin. The Rosgvardia has practiced civil disobedience scenarios and has the authority to shoot to kill. Just a few days ago the Putin regime performed a test and disconnected the country from the Internet. The Cossack's in southern Russia are another paramilitary force he can depend on. Putin will not allow a "color" revolution to bring down his regime.

But you are correct that a great deal of the technology that Russia depends on resides in Ukraine. The United States will replace Russian space launch vehicles with Ukraine's Antares and Cyclone-4M heavy launch vehicles. Ukraine (Yuzhnoye SDO and Yuzhmash) has partnered with Orbital ATK to resupply the ISS from the Space Flight Facility on Wallops Island in Virginia and begin test flights for manned missions to the Moon and Mars. Ukraine intends to build its own Cosmodrome. Ukraine is picking up speed in building its own military systems, and just recently finished testing its new Neptune anti-ship cruise missile. Last week Ukraine received permission from Boeing to fix/rebuild Boeing passenger jets in-country, which will be a number of around 60 craft a year from passenger carriers around the world. Westinghouse is now supplying the nuclear fuel for Ukraine's 15 (soon to be 20) nuclear reactors.

Abbazorkzog said:

There is also the problem of Lukashenko

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It seems Lukashenko has agreed to incorporate (union?) Belarus into Russia. Sovereignty issues are murky at this point.

Abbazorkzog said:

and the American Alt.-Right fighting on the side of Ukrainian ultra-nationalists against BOTH the Russians AND the legitimate Ukrainian Government.

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The Ukraine ultra-nationalists possess some measure of political influence, but no real power positions,. and there are no ultra-nationalists in the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament).

Abbazorkzog said:

Even after Putin, there will still be a lot of problems and likely an ongoing insurgency in Eastern Ukraine regardless.

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If the Russians remove their soldiers and weaponry from Donbas, the government would require roughly only a week to recapture all territory currently in the hands of the domestic terrorists.

This is a primarily a Russia war; commanded, staffed, supplied, and financed by Moscow. Moscow demands a federated government in Ukraine, something Kyiv will never agree to implement.

Rogue Valley said:

The Ukraine ultra-nationalists possess some measure of political influence, but no real power positions,. and there are no ultra-nationalists in the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament).

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Oh I know that, I meant para-militarily. I actually didn't know they had ANY political influence because Tymoshenko resigned as an active MP to run for Prez didnt she? I might be mistaken one that.

If the Russians remove their soldiers and weaponry from Donbas, the government would require roughly only a week to recapture all territory currently in the hands of the domestic terrorists.

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Certainly. But a lot of them are going to make it back across the border into Russia, and it'll end up deescalating into a frozen war like the Korean Peninsula at best. Russia and Ukraine as countries are too aggressive. They have that whole "warrior culture" thing going on kind of like the U.S. and its always gotta be about who's dick's bigger, while the commonfolk remain weary and oppressed under hopelessly corrupt regimes and/or out of touch elites. It'll go back and forth as we've seen in the past throughout various political entities and states and regimes and what-have-you. But Russia and Ukraine are a lot more alike (not just government either) than they are different - primarily and most prominently the fact being that they want to do their own thing and be different from all the rest of us - which is fine, but it usually involves a lot of people dying and "beeg gunz"...

This is a primarily a Russia war; commanded, staffed, supplied, and financed by Moscow. Moscow demands a federated government in Ukraine, something Kyiv will never agree to implement.

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On that we agree, mainly because Russia (and now East Ukraine and Washington D.C.) has been infiltrated by Putin and his private army/terrorist organization.

tecoyah said:

Russia (Putin) has unfortunately made the decision to reject and even attack the concept of western democratic freedom and is paying the price for it....this is likely to get much worse. The opportunity presented with the first cold war end was squandered and is now looked upon as a weakening (which it was by their own hand) and rather than attempting to embrace the rest of the world they have made it into an adversary. The Oligarchy and corruption that destroyed the opportunity have become the economic system in Russia and the desire to go back to a U.S.S.R. has made aggression their foreign policy. That mentality has no place anymore and is rejected by global norms, making the future rather dark for the Russian people. This latest game they play in U.S. politics has pushed them into enemy status for much of the American populace and blatant assassinations on foreign soil destroyed any dwindling trust.


Russia no longer has friends and those associations they do create are with nations that are as bad or worse than they are.

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Tecoyah:

While Westernized to a degree Russia is not a Western country in many respects. It has not ever been democratic and therefore never rejected it because it never really tried it in the first place. Even in the dismal Yeltsin years Russia was an oligarchy and not a real democracy. While you and I embrace and support democracy and a civil society as a means to peaceful transitions of power between political factions, the Russians and especially the Russian elites have always rejected this notion and remain very skeptical of liberal democracy. This distrust is partially self-serving, partially cultural and partially due due to the threat that Europe has posed to Russia from the days of the Hansiatic League until the end of the Yeltsin Regime. It was not Russia which invaded in the wars between the Hannse and Moskovy, nor Russian aggression during the Great Northern War or the Napoleonic Wars. The Crimean War was initiated by Russian aggression. WWI was a little more complicated but WWII was another highly destructive European invasion after June 1941. I am not saying Russia is innocent, certainly not. But it has been far less aggressive than the British Empire and Post WWII America in its use of conflict and war as a vehicle of state policy up until 2000.

The notion that western classical liberalism or its transmogrified mutation of neo-liberalism are global norms is also either western chavanism or wishful thinking at this point in world history. More humans live in states which reject liberalism and liberal democracy than those which claim to be nominally democratic; and many of those so-called liberal democracies are in fact oligarchies based on plutocracy, kleptocracy or corporatism. True liberal democracies are quite rare today and are too easily transitioned into oligarchy if the electorate become apathetic, distracted or are effectively politically neutralised by money and public relations/media manipulation.

Cheers.
Evilroddy.

Abbazorkzog said:

Oh I know that, I meant para-militarily. I actually didn't know they had ANY political influence because Tymoshenko resigned as an active MP to run for Prez didnt she? I might be mistaken one that.

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No. But she rarely attends the daily sessions of Parliament and rarely votes, one of a multitude of criticisms of the Gas Queen. Besides, she founded/leads the large Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party and could easily step down and then later reclaim a place in Parliament (proportional representation by electoral percentage).

Abbazorkzog said:

Certainly. But a lot of them are going to make it back across the border into Russia, and it'll end up deescalating into a frozen war like the Korean Peninsula at best. Russia and Ukraine as countries are too aggressive. They have that whole "warrior culture" thing going on kind of like the U.S. and its always gotta be about who's dick's bigger, while the commonfolk remain weary and oppressed under hopelessly corrupt regimes and/or out of touch elites. It'll go back and forth as we've seen in the past throughout various political entities and states and regimes and what-have-you. But Russia and Ukraine are a lot more alike (not just government either) than they are different - primarily and most prominently the fact being that they want to do their own thing and be different from all the rest of us - which is fine, but it usually involves a lot of people dying and "beeg gunz"...

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I think you possess a mistaken impression of the current Ukraine. The corruption inculcated into this society for the past 100 years or so is very resistant to change, but changing it is (albeit slowly) due to media exposure and mandated benchmarks from the EU and the WB. Ukraine now has a Anti-corruption Bureau (NABU) and is seating an anti-corruption court. This past week a Deputy Governor was arrested and charged with masterminding the murder of a political activist. This arrest would not have occurred even two years ago. In general, Ukrainians seek the economic prosperity of Poland and Lithuania to the west (they all gained independence at roughly the same time) rather than return to the moribund Russian sphere. In virtually every world indice, Ukraine has been improving its position every year. It's difficult for outsiders to fully appreciate how difficult this transition is, and with a Russian war in the industrial heartland and on the Azov Sea going on! Ukraine also lost an entire oblast (Crimea). Last month Ukraine ended the commercial/residential price subsidies for Russian gas that had been in place for decades. Now Ukraine has transitioned to the gas price of European nations. Their gas bills went up ~25%. Prices went up for the use of landline telephones so millions of these were found in the garbage bins. A lot of "sticker shock" going on. These are the sort of things people who do not live there are unaware of. What seems so easy and so simple is actually not.

Abbazorkzog said:

On that we agree, mainly because Russia (and now East Ukraine and Washington D.C.) has been infiltrated by Putin and his private army/terrorist organization.

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True. This will always be a problem to some degree with Russia right next door. One thing that has pleasantly surprised me is Ukraine's security service (SBU). They are really good at popping Russia sleeper cells and agents.

Rogue Valley said:

I think you possess a mistaken impression of the current Ukraine. The corruption inculcated into this society for the past 100 years or so is very resistant to change, but changing it is (albeit slowly) due to media exposure and mandated benchmarks from the EU and the WB. Ukraine now has a Anti-corruption Bureau (NABU) and is seating an anti-corruption court. This past week a Deputy Governor was arrested and charged with masterminding the murder of a political activist. This arrest would not have occurred even two years ago. In general, Ukrainians seek the economic prosperity of Poland and Lithuania to the west (they all gained independence at roughly the same time) rather than return to the moribund Russian sphere. In virtually every world indice, Ukraine has been improving its position every year.

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None of that is concerning to me - but what is is the fact that China - NOT the EU, is on track to become Ukraine's largest trading party in lieu of Russia, and the fact that on top of Trump campaign manager [url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/prosecutors-manafort-continued-ukraine-work-in-2018-and-key-russian-aide-came-to-trump-inauguration/2019/02/07/a0210b96-2a50-11e9-b2fc-721718903bfc_story.html]Manafort continued Ukraine work in 2018, prosecutors say, on top of the fact that the [American]bellingcat - American-Made Bomb Used in Airstrike on Yemen Wedding - bellingcat Alt-right[/url] have been contributing paramilitary to BOTH sides of the conflict, and this may go even deeper than that.

Kiev passed a law in 2018 to set Ukraine on a course for joining NATO and the European Union, but it also deepens relations with Beijing, a close military ally of the Kremlin.

On June 8, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping issued a statement saying they would together face the challenges of an increasingly unstable and uncertain world, deepening their cooperation on issues of “strategic stability”.

Some analysts feel China is acting out of self-interest in Ukraine but also serving – intentionally or not – as a proxy for Russia’s agenda.

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More than a tad bit concerning, yes?

Abbazorkzog said:

Failure of Russian import substitution: "Russian Railways" speaks for lifting ban on imports from Ukraine | UNIAN

Today, Russia's import substitution is a lame duck not only in the civilian sector, but also in defense industry.

It's only a matter of time before Putin ends up like Yanukovych. Even his show of strength in the Azov Sea didn't save his regime's rapidly-disintegrating support, and now both Ukrainians AND Russians are saying "ENOUGH!"

I still am concerned that Ukraine could end up going the way of Iran after its war with Iraq in the 80's.

Soviet involvement in the Iran–Iraq War



Iran-Iraq War

There is also the problem of Lukashenko and the American Alt.-Right fighting on the side of Ukrainian ultranationalists against BOTH the Russians AND the legitimate Ukrainian Government. Even after Putin, there will still be a lot of problems and likely an ongoing insurgency in Eastern Ukraine regardless.

Read more on UNIAN: "Defend the white race": American extremists being co-opted by Ukraine's far-right – Bellingcat - news politics | UNIAN
Lukashenko allows possibility of Belarus-Russia merger - news world | UNIAN
IMF sees no significant progress in fight against corruption in Ukraine - news economics | UNIAN

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ulus juchi is not Nigeria in snow anymore, but Somalia in snow:lamo

Modern "Russian" missile carrier encountered mechanical trouble during a demonstration

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https://www.debatepolitics.com/redi...echanical-trouble-during-a-demonstration.html

Modern "Russian" missile carrier encountered mechanical trouble during a demonstration

Abbazorkzog said:

None of that is concerning to me - but what is is the fact that China - NOT the EU, is on track to become Ukraine's largest trading party in lieu of Russia, and the fact that on top of Trump campaign manager [url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/prosecutors-manafort-continued-ukraine-work-in-2018-and-key-russian-aide-came-to-trump-inauguration/2019/02/07/a0210b96-2a50-11e9-b2fc-721718903bfc_story.html]Manafort continued Ukraine work in 2018, prosecutors say, on top of the fact that the [American]bellingcat - American-Made Bomb Used in Airstrike on Yemen Wedding - bellingcat Alt-right[/url] have been contributing paramilitary to BOTH sides of the conflict, and this may go even deeper than that.

Kiev passed a law in 2018 to set Ukraine on a course for joining NATO and the European Union, but it also deepens relations with Beijing, a close military ally of the Kremlin.

More than a tad bit concerning, yes?

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No. Ukraine isn't in an economic position to be picky about who imports its grains or sunflower oil. And all EU nations trade with China. Most of the world does. Even the US.

Trump’s Trade War With China Makes Russia Great Again

And I don't see Trump imposing any sanctions on the Nordstream-2 consortium or its Board of Directors as he threatened to do.

It is important to look at the big picture, RV, not just part of it:

Why China Loves Trump

From the very beginning, the Communist Party seems to have understood that Trump’s threats were, for the most part, merely for show. By refusing to be rattled, China has enjoyed a series of rhetorical and strategic triumphs that have enhanced its global image and increased its international influence. China also appears to have assessed that Trump, the self-proclaimed master deal maker, would rather have a bad deal than no deal at all, and could be persuaded to compromise on almost anything in order to declare a “win.”

Take the $250 billion in deals announced during Trump’s visit to China in November. Many of the agreements were nonbinding memorandums of understanding, and some had already been negotiated. And while they made a nice headline, they did nothing to address the fundamental problems that U.S. companies face in China: requirements to share technological trade secrets with Chinese partners in exchange for access to Chinese markets; restrictions on entering huge swathes of the economy; industrial policies that explicitly aim to oust foreign firms in fields ranging from information technology to electric vehicles.

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Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement further burnished China’s new image as the responsible global power. Chancellor Angela Merkel declared that Germany could no longer rely on its long-standing ally, and when China reiterated its pledge to limit greenhouse-gas emissions, she said, “China has become a more important and strategic partner.” (It’s worth noting that China’s promised carbon-emission target under the Paris Agreement won’t kick in until 2030, and that Beijing has a long history of finding ways to circumvent international promises.) In all these ways, China has positioned itself to be seen as stepping into America’s vacuum. Shen Dingli emphasized this point to me, saying that Trump’s hostility to multilateral institutions such as the WTO and nato has given China “a huge opportunity.”

With Trump in the White House, Xu Guoqi, a professor at the University of Hong Kong, told me, the Chinese are enjoying a “golden field for their propaganda.” At the same time, Trump’s election, and the wave of political disorder it has unleashed within and beyond the United States, has provided ample fodder for China to attack democracy and extol the one-party state. “American power is based on two legs, the hard power and soft power,” Xu explained. “In terms of soft power, Trump really undermined it substantially.” Trump’s election gave the People’s Daily, the Communist Party mouthpiece, the occasion to run a series of commentaries arguing that the “crisis in capitalist societies” was “proof of the truth of Marxism and the superiority of the socialist system.”

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Such messages continued to gain force during Trump’s first year in office, boosting not only Beijing’s standing internationally, but the Communist Party’s claim to legitimacy among the Chinese population. Xu describes Trump’s presidency as “a gift for the current regime in China. Because of Trump, Xi Jinping’s Chinese dream”—the resurgence of China’s dominance in world affairs—“could be achievable now.”

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So, while we've all been distracted by Russia - as was the plan agreed upon by China and Russia - China has been successfully usurping the West and bending it over like the little bitch we are.

As tariffs near, Trump’s business empire retains ties to China
Forget Russia: Is Trump Selling the U.S. out to China?
Trump is disarming America in the face-off against China
Donald Trump's China tariffs will tax Americans

(Cont'd)

The Real Reason for Trump’s Steel and Aluminum Tariffs
Ivanka Trump Receives New China Trademarks, Raising Ethics Concerns
- Ivanka Trump's China connection
- Ivanka Trump wins trademarks for products in China
- China signs off on new Ivanka Trump trademarks

ZTE, Trump, and China: Here's What It All Means

Trump’s efforts to reverse the ban haven’t gone over well in Washington. Members of Congress as well as defense officials expressed concern about reversing the ban early on, arguing that ZTE’s practices posed a threat to national security. The resistance included the rare pushback from leaders in Trump’s own party.

Following the White House’s new deal with ZTE, a bipartisan group in Congress quickly moved to reverse it. Republican Senate leaders set up a vote to retroactively reimpose financial penalties and uphold the ban on ZTE selling products to the U.S. government. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and other administration officials lobbied against such a vote.

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“Their technology is a national security threat, according to our defense and law enforcement authorities,” New York Sen. Chuck Schumer said of the efforts to block the deal. “Why on earth is the Trump administration considering relaxing penalties on such a bad actor?”

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Because Trump is a Shanghai Co-op asset, Schumer, that's why.

- Trump Orders Help For Chinese Phone-Maker After China Approves Money For Trump Project
- Trump Indonesia project gets Chinese government partner
- Did Trump Vow to Help a Chinese Phone Maker After China Approved Money for a Trump Project?

FEAR OF CHINA SCUTTLES DEAL THAT DIDN'T INVOLVE CHINA



PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP blocked Broadcom's proposed $105 billion acquisition of fellow wireless chip giant Qualcomm on Monday amidst mounting fears that US could fall behind China on technology innovation.

That’s a little odd, because on its face, the deal itself has nothing to do with China. Broadcom's key units are US-based; the company is headquartered in Singapore, which is generally considered friendly to the US. And in November, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan announced that the company would move its main office back to the US—while standing next to Donald Trump during a press conference at the White House no less.

Yet the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, tasked with evaluating foreign investments in the US, advised Trump to block the acquisition. In a letter to Broadcom last week, the agency cited concerns that if the deal went through, Huawei and other Chinese telecommunications companies could displace Qualcomm as leaders in developing the forthcoming 5G standard for faster, higher-capacity wireless networks.

The government’s real concern was probably less that Qualcomm would be controlled by a foreign power, but that Qualcomm would be less innovative under Broadcom's control. Patrick Moorhead, an analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy, says Qualcomm is one of the few wireless chip companies that invests for the long term. One of the others, he says, is Huawei. If the Trump administration is worried that the US wireless and semiconductor industries could fall behind China's, then it hardly matters whether Broadcom is a US company or not.

Broadcom is known for buying up companies and holding onto their most profitable units and then selling off the riskier parts. Analyst Ben Thompson points out in a blog post that Qualcomm's most profitable assets are its patents, which it licenses out to other companies, not its more expensive business of designing and selling chips. Slashing Qualcomm's research budget in favor and focusing on its patent business would fit Broadcom's modus operandi.

(Cont'd)

And it gets worse...

Donald Trump's ties to Russia go back 30 years

What If Trump Has Been a Russian Asset Since 1987?

The media has treated the notion that Russia has personally compromised the president of the United States as something close to a kook theory. A minority of analysts, mostly but not exclusively on the right, have promoted aggressively exculpatory interpretations of the known facts, in which every suspicious piece of evidence turns out to have a surprisingly innocent explanation. And it is possible, though unlikely, that every trail between Trump Tower and the Kremlin extends no farther than its point of current visibility.

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What is missing from our imagination is the unlikely but possible outcome on the other end: that this is all much worse than we suspect. After all, treating a small probability as if it were nonexistent is the very error much of the news media made in covering the presidential horse race. And while the body of publicly available information about the Russia scandal is already extensive, the way it has been delivered — scoop after scoop of discrete nuggets of information — has been disorienting and difficult to follow. What would it look like if it were reassembled into a single narrative, one that distinguished between fact and speculation but didn’t myopically focus on the most certain conclusions?

A case like this presents an easy temptation for conspiracy theorists, but we can responsibly speculate as to what lies at the end of this scandal without falling prey to their fallacies. Conspiracy theories tend to attract people far from the corridors of power, and they often hypothesize vast connections within or between governments and especially intelligence agencies. One of the oddities of the Russia scandal is that many of the most exotic and sinister theories have come from people within government and especially within the intelligence field.

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It is often said that Donald Trump has had the same nationalistic, zero-sum worldview forever. But that isn’t exactly true. Yes, his racism and mendacity have been evident since his youth, but those who have traced the evolution of his hypernationalism all settle on one year in particular: 1987. Trump “came onto the political stage in 1987 with a full-page ad in the New York Times attacking the Japanese for relying on the United States to defend it militarily,” reported Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “The president has believed for 30 years that these alliance commitments are a drain on our finite national treasure,” a White House official told the Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin. Tom Wright, another scholar who has delved into Trump’s history, reached the same conclusion. “1987 is Trump’s breakout year. There are only a couple of examples of him commenting on world politics before then.”

During the Soviet era, Russian intelligence cast a wide net to gain leverage over influential figures abroad. (The practice continues to this day.) The Russians would lure or entrap not only prominent politicians and cultural leaders, but also people whom they saw as having the potential for gaining prominence in the future. In 1986, Soviet ambassador Yuri Dubinin met Trump in New York, flattered him with praise for his building exploits, and invited him to discuss a building in Moscow. Trump visited Moscow in July 1987. He stayed at the National Hotel, in the Lenin Suite, which certainly would have been bugged. There is not much else in the public record to describe his visit, except Trump’s own recollection in The Art of the Deal that Soviet officials were eager for him to build a hotel there. (It never happened.)

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1987: Donald and Ivana Trump visiting Palace Square in Saint Petersburg after their trip to Moscow. Photo: Maxim Blokhin/TASS via Getty Images

(Cont'd)

So, Trump's first Moscow trip was in 1987, when Russia and Ukraine and the rest of the former-USSR were COMMUNIST and SHARED GOVERNMENT and after the Sino-Soviet split.

New book claims Trump was compromised by Russian spies in 1987

That being said:

What Did Ex-Trump Aide Paul Manafort Really Do in Ukraine?

He could attract pro-Western Ukrainians, meanwhile, by broadcasting his support for European Union membership. Some oligarchs behind the party were eager to do business with Europe anyway.

Bill Taylor, who was U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009, said Manafort would contact the U.S. embassy and tell them he was urging his client to look West. "[He said] he'd tell Yanukovych, 'You'll do better in Western Ukraine if you orient more toward Europe," recalled Taylor. "'To broaden your base, you should orient toward the EU.'"

For the next eight years, Yanukovych would adjust his positions on NATO and the EU as needed, tacking East or West depending on the electoral winds and his audience.

Sometimes his party's public actions and Yanukovych's private assurances to Western officials were at odds.

"[Yanukovych] was willing to allow all kinds of cooperation with NATO," which the Russians did not like, said Amb. Herbst, "but it's true that [Yanukovych] was organizing rallies against NATO exercises."

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Manafort meant for poll data to go to Ukrainian oligarchs - CNN Politics
Special counsel Robert Mueller calls for ex-Trump campaign boss Paul Manafort to be imprisoned for up to 24 years
Former Trump campaign chairman Manafort could face 19-24 years in prison – media
Manafort Worked With Russian-Ukrainian Peace Plan Before -- And Long After -- Criminal Charges
Ukrainian Officials Meddled in 2016 Election by Leaking Secret Manafort Ledger, Court Says

Two Ukrainian officials meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election by leaking a secret ledger showing $12.7 million in payments between Ukraine’s ousted pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych and Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, a Ukrainian court said Wednesday.

The Kyiv district court ruled that National Anti-Corruption Bureau Director Artem Sytnyk and legislator Serhiy Leshchenko broke the law by revealing that Manafort’s name and signature appeared on the ledger.

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Paul Manafort's work for Ukraine fit neatly with Putin's agenda

(Cont'd)

Ukrainians Stop Investigating Manafort After Trump Sells Them Missiles. A Win-Win for All Involved.

The New York Times reports that the government of Ukraine has put the brakes on its investigation into former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Manafort allegedly received millions of dollars in cash through an “illegal off-the-books system” used by former President Viktor Yanukovych’s pro-Russian political party. Manafort’s Ukrainian activities were a major factor leading to his resignation from the campaign in 2016. Manafort is currently facing a wide array of federal criminal charges in both D.C. and Virginia.

Yanukovych fled Ukraine amid mass protests in 2014, and the new government has been investigating corruption in his administration, including the links to Manafort. The Ukrainian prosecutor investigating Manafort says he had reached out to special counsel Robert Mueller’s office in January with an offer to cooperate but that the offer is now moot, since his own investigation is on hold.

Ukraine’s decision to halt its Manafort investigation—the cases against Manafort are technically still open, but the government has ordered the prosecutor to refrain from issuing subpoenas or interviewing witnesses—came at a time when the U.S. was finalizing the sale of Javelin antitank missiles to Ukraine. The Ukrainians are surprisingly open about the connection between the decision and the importance of staying on Trump’s good side, with one legislative ally of President Petro Poroshenko telling the Times, “In every possible way, we will avoid irritating the top American officials. We shouldn’t spoil relations with the administration.”

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The Dark Arts of Foreign Influence-Peddling

The Mueller investigation is showing the extent of Russian operations. But its real import extends far beyond that.

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Ecuador president: Manafort pitched deal for China investors - Associated Press

In a statement, Moreno said the meeting in Quito involved Paul Manafort and representatives of an unidentified Chinese company who proposed to privatize the state-owned National Electric Corp. He said the proposal was rejected because it would have violated Ecuador’s constitution.

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Moreno, who didn’t say if any other issues were discussed, broke his silence about the May meeting with Manafort after being criticized by former President Rafael Correa.

“It’s very worrying that there should be a meeting with types like Manafort and that it should be kept hidden from the Ecuadorean people,” Correa said in an interview Saturday with The Associated Press.

Manafort was recently indicted in the U.S. on money laundering charges and other counts tied to his work for Ukraine’s pro-Russian ruling party. According to court documents in the case, Manafort visited Ecuador using a phone registered under a false name and traveled on one of three U.S. passports he possesses before going to Mexico and China weeks later.

Click to expand...

Fits like clockwork.

(Cont'd)

Don't be fooled by Ukrainian nationalism into thinking that simply because Ukraine and Russia are not "friends" any more (if they ever truly were in the first place) that this automatically means that Ukraine's connections to the Soviet Union, China, the Eastern Bloc, and authoritarian corruption and - yes indeed - Ukraine's own history of being involved in Russian military aggression against sovereign countries... suddenly do not exist anymore. These are historical factors that do exist and are VERY relevant to why Ukraine or China are no more trustworthy than the Kremlin. And the simple fact that all of this evidence that has been compiled against Ukraine's next door neighbor and former fellow-constituent in the late Soviet Union by you and me and others should give pause to any full-throated sudden endorsement of Ukraine suddenly being an automatic 100% diametric polar opposite of the historically-corrupt nation that it has been for far more of its history than not.

And continues to be aligned with the Chinese-spearheaded Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Kremlin-led CIS although it claims to have severed ties as of last year I don't buy it since, after all, Ukraine is one of 9 countries - including Russia - that signed the Commonwealth of Independent States into law and continues to participate TO THIS DAY. As one would suspect, it was signed in 2011 in Russia, only a year before Ukraine allegedly suspended its participation in the COSECTOR (Collective Security Treaty Organization).

And don't be fooled by the end of the Cold War into thinking the United States no longer has ties to Russia and corrupt Russian politicians.

On July 4 of 2018, 10 GOP members of Congress were in Moscow......



July 4, 2018. Republican Senators being applauded in the Russia State Duma (Parliament)





August 8, 2018. Ron Paul, the Kremlin's favorite Congressman, in Moscow supposedly delivering a letter from Trump to Putin.