Glad to see that sleazeball Dimitri Simes is getting attention (Mueller report)
Volume 1 of the Mueller report, beginning page 103, discusses the role of one Dimitri Simes in introducing Sergey Kislyak and various other Russians to Trumpworld. Simes is head of something called Center for National Integrity, formerly call the Nixon Foundation (oh, the irony!)
Simes hasn't gotten any media attention, not even from Rachel Maddow, but I'm here to tell you: he is a real piece of work, and a dangerous person. There's a reason I call him Dimitri Slimes. I knew him a bit in the 80s when he was a guest "scholar" at the place where I worked at the time. He was one of the most despicable, arrogant, people I've ever met. He was so demeaning toward women that a few of us complained to our management about him and demanded that he never be invited back.
His sources of funding have always been murky. Over the year, Slimes has gone all-in for Putin, and even appeared on stage with him at Putin's annual Valday conference in Russia. There are rumors that in addition to his role in bringing Jared Kushner into contact with Russian contacts, Slimes also helped to insert Maria Butina into US political circles.
This excellent report in today's Washington Post ties things together and properly puts Slimes at the center of the story.:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/muellers-report-paints-a-portrait-of-a-campaign-intrigued-by-russian-overtures/2019/04/18/e814fe84-571a-11e9-814f-e2f46684196e_story.html?utm_term=.1ada77bb888a
= new reply since forum marked as read
Rand Paul’s Russian Connection
Paul names controversial Kremlin expert foreign policy adviser
BY: Alana Goodman Follow @alanagoodman
August 20, 2014 9:59 am
Dimitri K. Simes (born Dmitry Kostantinovich Simis, Russian: Дмитрий Константинович Симис )
Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) has named as one of his key foreign policy advisers a controversial Russia policy expert with deep ties to the Kremlin.
Dimitri Simes, the president of the Center for the National Interest, and Ambassador Richard Burt, a member of the Center’s board of directors, are recent additions to Paul’s foreign policy advisory team, the senator told National Journal earlier this year.
For years, Simes and the center have provided a sympathetic platform for the Russian government in the heart of the D.C. policy establishment. Its ties to Moscow extend throughout the organization.
Simes’ views and connections are widely known in Russia policy circles. Last September, days after Vladimir Putin published a column in the New York Times denouncing American exceptionalism, Simes joined the Russian president on stage at the Valdai International Discussion Club forum in Russia for a televised panel discussion.
Flanked by three other panelists—Germany’s former defense minister and France and Italy’s former prime ministers—Simes seemed out of place at the high-ranking, Kremlin-sponsored forum.
"No one directly addresses Putin at Dimitri Simes’ level," noted one Washington-based Russia policy expert. "It just doesn’t happen."
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