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pnwmom

(108,925 posts)
Wed Jan 3, 2018, 12:58 AM Jan 2018

***Roger Stone just registered as a foreign lobbyist for a SOMALIA-related investment firm ***

Last edited Wed Jan 3, 2018, 01:31 AM - Edit history (3)

for work he started on May 1, 2017. At the time, Somalia was under a UN arms embargo, but two weeks earlier, Russia called on the UN Security Council to loosen the embargo.

The company he is working for claims to be interested in commodities (not arms), but this work will certainly give Stone an excuse for frequent travel to Somalia. And according to the report from The Observer, he will be advocating for "commodity rights and security of same in Somalia."

"Security of same." Hard to believe this has nothing to do with Russia calling for the end of the arms embargo.

http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/business-a-lobbying/367045-roger-stone-retroactively-registers-lobbying-contract

Roger Stone, a longtime political operative with ties to President Trump, has retroactively registered as a lobbyist for a venture capital firm wanting to invest in commodities in Somalia.

His registration, which showed up in a federal lobbying disclosure database last week, says the work began on May 1 of last year.

Stone is working for Capstone Financial Group, a firm based in New York, which “buys physical commodities and transforms them into customized and consumable products,” its website reads.

The advocacy work, according to the disclosure forms, revolves around “commodity rights and security of the same in Somalia.”


APRIL 15, 2017

http://goobjoog.com/english/arms-embargo-somalia-now-obsolete-russia/

Russia has called for the loosening of the arms embargo on Somalia to enable the country’s security forces acquire needed military equipment especially in the face of expected draw-down of the African Union force in 2018.

Russia’s representative Petr V. Iliichev told the Security Council sanctions committee the sanctions on Somalia were not cast on stone and must therefore be reviewed to ‘reflect changing situations’.

The UN Security Council in 1992 under Resolution 733 imposed an arms embargo on Somalia in response to the then conflict and the deteriorating humanitarian situation.

It has however revised the embargo in subsequent years to allow the Somali military limited access to weapons. The February 2007 Resolution 1744 allowed the supply of weapons and military equipment intended solely for the purpose of helping develop Somali security sector institutions.

Russia has maintained the embargo must be reviewed. It abstained from last year’s vote which extended the embargo to November 15, 2017.

SNIP


http://observer.com/2018/01/roger-stone-files-lobbying-disclosure-for-somalia-efforts-months-after-troop-surge/

Roger Stone Files Lobbying Disclosure for Somalia Efforts Months After Troop Surge

President Donald Trump’s longtime political advisor Roger Stone filed a lobbying disclosure on Friday about his work advocating for “commodity rights and security of the same in Somalia.” According to the federal lobbying disclosure database, Stone signed Capstone Financial Group Inc. in May of last year, just two weeks after the president deployed dozens of troops to the region.

Capstone is a venture capital firm headquartered in Buffalo, N.Y. that “buys physical commodities and transforms them into customized and consumable products.” The company trades on the over-the-counter market for $.75 per share.

In addition to the over 500 U.S. troops stationed, the highest number since two Black Hawk helicopters were gunned down over Mogadishu in 1993, the U.S. government is currently working to “accelerate Somalia’s growing integration into the global economy through a combination of initiatives that improve the country’s competitiveness; spur new investments; and increase market linkages and business partnerships.”


https://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=58089#.WkxnZ7aZOnc

14 November 2017 – The Security Council on Tuesday renewed until 15 November 2018 the partial lifting of the arms embargo on Somalia, authorization for maritime interdiction of illicit arms imports and charcoal exports, and the humanitarian exemption.

In the resolution adopted by 11 affirmative votes and four abstentions, the 15-member body requested the Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group (SEMG) to continue its investigations related to the export to Somalia of chemicals that may be used as oxidisers in the manufacture of improvised explosive devices, such as the precursors ammonium nitrate, potassium chlorate, potassium nitrate and sodium chlorate.

Those abstained in the vote were Bolivia, China, Egypt and Russia.


https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/8xmmkv/trump-is-poised-to-bomb-somalia-more-in-his-first-year-than-obama-did-in-eight

With 29 airstrikes on Somalia in just 10 months, Trump is now within arm’s reach of Barack Obama’s eight-year total of 34.

“The strikes are coming quite frequently now,” Jack Serle, an expert in drone war at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, told VICE News. “This is unprecedented for Somalia.”

One reason for the dramatic increase: Trump has made the process of green-lighting strikes much easier by loosening restrictions meant to protect civilians, Serle said.

In 2013, Obama put rules in place that required an elaborate sign-off process by the White House before an attack could be launched outside of an active war zone. But in March, Trump cut through those precautions by declaring swaths of Somalia to be areas of “active hostilities,” according to the Bureau, thus laying the groundwork for an aggressive escalation.
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thbobby

(1,474 posts)
1. People around Trump
Wed Jan 3, 2018, 03:10 AM
Jan 2018

All have more interest in Russian money or any other dirty money than Americans. Traitors and profiteers: "Money: Good. Human Life: fuck it if I can get money. Let people die with no insurance: Fuck it. Tax break gives me more money."

 

mr_lebowski

(33,643 posts)
2. IOW, Hire Roger Stone to protect your weapons ... cause he knows Trump AND Putin ...
Wed Jan 3, 2018, 03:36 AM
Jan 2018

He'll tell Trump to allow the weapons you buy from Putin get thru to 'your people' (that being: whoever it is who has the bucks, of course) while also bombing your enemies (and their weapons) ... for you.

WIN/WIN, right?

OregonBlue

(7,744 posts)
3. The Pentagon has more than doubled their forces in Somalia with Special Forces troops.
Wed Jan 3, 2018, 11:29 AM
Jan 2018

Reports are that Eric Prince is also involved. Stone is not there as a commodities trader unless it is illegal weapons smuggling or the like. We don't know for sure what's going on there but once again, it's all very shady and taking place under cover of night and the military, CIA, "independent contractors", weapons smugglers, and money launderers are involved.

L. Coyote

(51,129 posts)
4. Could this mean Roger Stone is now a cooperating witness for Mueller? Wouldn't that be ironic?
Wed Jan 3, 2018, 11:35 AM
Jan 2018

Didn't Flynn do the same thing when he was under scrutiny and before pleading guilty?

Or, is he holding out for some fat bribes?


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