"You've got oligarchs running the United States and Russia" - New Yorker on Steele (excellent)

[sharedvalues]

There is a very excellent piece in the New Yorker this week about Christopher Steele and his work investigating the president's ties to Russia. In particular, the article says:
- Steele was a very well-respected, senior official in British Intelligence
- Steele has serious Russia cred - worked in Russia for British intelligence, then later headed the MI6 Russia desk.

Steele had spent more than twenty years in M.I.6, most of it focussing on Russia. For three years, in the nineties, he spied in Moscow under diplomatic cover. Between 2006 and 2009, he ran the service’s Russia desk, at its headquarters, in London. He was fluent in Russian, and widely considered to be an expert on the country. He’d also advised on nation-building in Iraq.
... he acknowledged that Steele “knew Russia well,” and that running the Russia desk was “a proper job that you don’t give to an idiot.”

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/12/christopher-steele-the-man-behind-the-trump-dossier

--------

But one of the things I found most interesting was this line:

The dossier had infuriated both Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump by divulging allegedly corrupt dealings between them. “You’ve got oligarchs running both superpowers,” the friend said. “And, incredibly, they both hate this same guy.”

If we step back, this is really the entire root cause of our current troubles in America.

We have let oligarchs take over our democracy. The President, the Koches, the DeVoses, the Waltons -- billionaires have worked to control our country; through CitU, JudWatch, a huge media propaganda machine, ALEC, State Policy Network, and a large network of 'non-profit' foundations and think tanks. That includes the GOP, and the NRA - which is funded by wealthy gun CEOs and gun corporations -- and by GOP billionaires. And the most politically active billionaires - the Koches and the president - want to destroy our government to cut taxes on the rich.

This is a bad time. Unless we take the United States back from oligarch control, our country, and our quality of life, are in serious, serious trouble. Do what you can for the 2018 midterms - resist, organize, vote. Stay active!

[k8conant]

1. Don't you mean "Christopher Steele" NOT "Michael Steele"???

[sharedvalues]

2. thanks, corrected!

[nocalflea]

3. Yeah those billionaires are turning out to be ordinary everyday criminals.

Time to vote their accomplices asses out of Dodge and do some rule-making that gives us all a voice.

That new sheriff in town better get- a-hoppin' though, cause those damned crooks are determined to bleed us hardworking folk dry.

[Nitram]

11. Not "ordinary everyday crimnals." Extremely wealthy criminals with powerful connections in

governments. Unlike ordinary criminals, their agenda is not merely to further enrich themselves, it is to gain control of governments.

[sharedvalues]

12. This is Piketty's theory on the Koches and people like them

When wealth concentration gets too large, multi-billionaires can't help but try to buy government. Koches and Adelson are prominent American oligarchs who are controlling the GOP and this administration.

That's what we need to fix. Piketty suggests a wealth tax. I'd support that.

Adelson:

[nocalflea]

14. Their agenda is played out everyday by mobsters handing out bribes to politicians. This is nothing new.

Their aspirations of ruling the world are ordinary and void of imagination .Their path is as old as mankind.

They are small-minded idiots full of arrogance and self-regard who have deluded themselves into believing that they are somehow special, when in reality they are no different than every tin-horn wannabe dictator before them.

They are as common as they come.

[Nitram]

15. Mobsters only cared about their business. These people have a much broader agenda.

[nocalflea]

16. Mercer , Prince, Koch, DeVos, Thiel, Netanyahu, Putin, Mogilevich , Xi.

They ARE mobsters. Their various ideology is a means to an end . Survival . Continued enrichment. No accountability or regulation. (Yeah, and some are delusional as well, how else can they justify their abhorrent behavior ? ).

Laws, secular or religious, are for the little people. It's how the fortunate few control the masses.

What's "christian theocrat" Prince doing working with the "godless " Chinese who seek to spread their godless global influence in competition with the Christian US of A ? Why's He helping Them ? Ideology ?

The Mercers owe millions in back taxes. Hmm... Yeah the old man's certifiable ,criminal too.

The Kochs like DeVos prefer their labor force ignorant and manageable. And those damn pesky regulations and laws cost money. DeVos =Amway= ponzi scheme.

Peter Thiel - russian mob money.

Bibi's in bed with the russian mob too. Putin owns Assad and Khameni of Iran. 😲.

Ever hear of the Chinese black market. Yeah, Xi's got a piece of that.

Criminals every single one of them looking to survive and thrive by any means necessary. Take away the delusions of grandeur and whattayya got ? Mobsters. Mobsters who wanna rule the world. 'Cause it's just easier that way.

[Nitram]

17. That's why "The Great Gatsby" is iconic.

[House of Roberts]

4. The RWNJ faction don't really need to mess with Steele.

He would cut them up and reassemble them backwards if they tried.

[SHRED]

5. They've fooled people into hating government

This is the natural result.

[DemocracyMouse]

10. Democrats need to DEFINE good government...

AND THAT IS IMPERATIVE. Democrats need to clarify that through non-corrupt management the public's infrastructure is treated like gold, not the pockets of oligarchs. Is that what some call "radical" or "the Democratic left"? Or is the Democratic left now the center of the party and representative of its best aspirations? I hope so.

[rocketdem1964]

6. It's Atlas Shrugged

Truly, it's no wonder that the GOP doesn't have a problem with this arrangement. They've finally completely swallowed the Ayn Rand fantasy of corporate supermen ruling the world. John Galt was an oligarch.

[FailureToCommunicate]

7. K n R

[jalan48]

8. "You've got oligarchs running the United States and Russia"

While we focus exclusively on Putin we have our own oligarchs pulling stings behind the scenes. Dealing with Russia is critically important but it won't solve the problem of our own billionaires buying our democracy.

[Honeycombe8]

9. Yes...this is a big part of the problem. When Citizen's United case was decided...

was when things started to go from bad to worse, as far as the power of the oligarchs.

Non-political junkies would never believe it, though. They wave the flag and sing the anthem and everything looks the same on the surface.

[sharedvalues]

13. And Cit U was planned by Koches for decades. They funded that 'nonprofit'.

Citizens United is affiliated with The Presidential Coalition, a 501(c)(4), and the 2007 Conservative Victory Committee, a Section 527 political action committee. Previously, it was affiliated with the National Security Political Action Committee (National Security PAC), Presidential Victory Committee and Americans for Bush. Citizens United is led by David Bossie, who has served as president since 2000. Its offices are on Pennsylvania Avenue in the Capitol hill area of Washington, D.C.

David Bossie is a Koch AND Trump operative. Cit U was funded by the Koches from the beginning. And worse- the Fed Society groomed and installed the judges that voted for the decision.

GOP billionaires have been attacking our government for decades. The first step in winning America back for average people is this 2018 election. Vote! Organize!