Putin is now desperate to get the US 'sanctions monkey' off his back.

Yesterday I wrote that,

"As evidence of the collusion between Trump and his associates, and Putin and his 'siloviki', continues to mount, it cannot be coincidental that, during his Asia trip Trump will be meeting with Putin in Danang.

As reported by Steve Holland, Trump stated that,

"We may have a meeting with Putin [at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Danang]. And, again Putin is very important because they can help us with North Korea. They can help us with Syria. We have to talk about Ukraine." (CNBC : Fri, 3 Nov 2017) (my emphasis)" (blog entry 6/11/2017)

We now learn, as reported by Irina Reznik and Henry Meyer that,

"A Russian lawyer who met with President Donald Trump’s oldest son last year says he indicated that a law targeting Russia could be re-examined if his father won the election and asked her for written evidence that illegal proceeds went to Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
...
The lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya (right), said in a two-and-a-half-hour interview in Moscow that she would tell these and other things to the Senate Judiciary Committee on condition that her answers be made public, something it hasn’t agreed to." (Bloomberg : 6 November 2017) (my emphasis)

What is rather interesting about this interview with Veselnitskaya is that it occurred BEFORE Trump and Putin are expected to meet in Da Nang.

Which raises the question :

"Did Putin sanction this Bloomberg interview with Veselnitskaya, that potentially puts Trump Jnr. in the crosshairs of landing in prison, to add pressure on US President Trump to get the 'sanctions monkey' off his back?"

And whilst Veselnitskaya was being interviewed in Moscow by Bloomberg reporters, UNIAN reports that,

"Russia's hybrid military forces attacked Ukrainian army positions in Donbas 13 times in the past 24 hours, according to the press service of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) Headquarters." (UNIAN : 7 November 2017) (my emphasis)

UNIAN further reports that,

"In the Mariupol sector, the occupiers used banned 120mm mortars twice to shell the Ukrainian fortified positions near the village of Vodiane, the ATO HQ said in an update on Facebook on Tuesday morning." (ibid UNIAN) (my emphasis)

UNIAN also reported that,

"... the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine reported its monitors had seen up to 50 tanks in occupied areas outside the city of Donetsk seized by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic ("DPR") in eastern Ukraine." (UNIAN : 3rd November, 2017) (my emphasis)

Is it these developments in the Donbas that Trump had in mind when he stated that Putin and himself, ".....have to talk about Ukraine " when they meet in Da Nang?

The obvious answer to this question is, "NO!".

Trump's presidency is imploding, and Putin is now desperate to get the 'payback' from Trump for getting him into the White House, and that he believes he so rightly deserves viz. getting the US 'sanctions monkey' off his back.

 

(to be continued)

What Putin has gained on the roundabout with German business he is about to loose on the swings of Trump's impeachment.

"The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative to aid Western Europe, in which the United States gave over $13 billion (approximately $132 billion in current dollar value as of October 2017) in economic support to help rebuild Western European economies after the end of World War II (1948)." (Wikipedia) (my emphasis)

Of this, Germany received a total of $14.52 billion in today's current dollar value.

UNIAN now reports that,

"Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze (left) says the envoys from the United States, Canada, Japan and EU countries will hear the presentation of the so-called "Marshall Plan for Ukraine" in the Lithuanian Seimas on November 6" (UNIAN : 04 November 2017) (my emphasis)

This Marshall Plan for Ukraine, proposed by the Lithuanian parliament, envisages,

".. EUR 5 billion of annual support [to Ukraine] for reforms aimed at economic growth and development." (Interfax-Ukraine : 18.08.2017) (my emphasis)

As of 18th September 2017,

"Germany will consider its participation in the long term plan for support, the so-called Marshall Plan for Ukraine, as well as other initiatives aimed at support of reforms in Ukraine." (Censor Net : 18.09.17) (my emphasis)

And then Walter Steinmeier, Former Foreign Minister and now President of Germany, had a tête-à-tête with Putin on his visit to Moscow on the 25th October, at which he stated,

“It’s essential that we use this opportunity for us as presidents to continue our dialogue to try to improve our bilateral relations, the state of which we can’t be happy about,” Steinmeier told Putin at the start of talks. (Denis Pinchuk, Paul Carrel and Andrea Shalal : Reuters : October 25, 2017) (my emphasis)

Putin's response to his tête-à-tête with Steinmeier rather says it all.

"Putin said Moscow was ready to advance its relations with Berlin, adding that German businesses were looking to expand their presence in Russia.
.......
"Despite some certain political difficulties, Russian-German ties are not at a standstill," Putin said." (RFERL : October 25, 2017) (my emphasis)

As reported by TASS,

"The trade turnover in 2016 amounted to $40.7 bln, direct accumulated investments made by German companies in the Russian economy reached $18 bln," the Russian leader said at a meeting with German businessmen.
According to [Putin], "this year [2017], bilateral trade grew by 25% and investments in the first quarter alone amounted to $312 mln, while investments for the whole 2016 were $225 mln." (TASS : October 12, 2017) (my emphasis)

The $64 question is:

"Will the Putinversteher German businessmen jeopardise their growing trade with Putin by pushing Merkel to give the Lithuanian Marshall Plan for Ukraine her full support?"


As the old saying goes, "Pigs Will Fly!".


If German businessmen are more than eager to trade with Putin, we now learn that Wilbur Ross, the US Commerce Secretary appointed by Trump, was more than eager to invest in the shipping company Navigator, one of whom's biggest customers is the Russian company, 'Sibur'.

The owners of 'Sibur' include Putin's son-in-law Kirill Shamalov and Genady Timchenko, the latter on the US sanctions list.    

Wilbur Ross did not divest himself of his stake in Navigator when taking up his position as US Commerce Secretary, as now revealed in what is becoming known as the 'Paradise Papers', even though he claimed, during his Senate hearing, that he divested himself of ALL his business interests.

As evidence of the collusion between Trump and his associates, and Putin and his 'siloviki', continues to mount, it cannot be coincidental that, during his Asia trip Trump will be meeting with Putin in Danang.

As reported by Steve Holland, Trump stated that,

"We may have a meeting with Putin [at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Danang]. And, again Putin is very important because they can help us with North Korea. They can help us with Syria. We have to talk about Ukraine." (CNBC : Fri, 3 Nov 2017) (my emphasis)

Why this urgency on the part of Trump to "talk about Ukraine" with Putin?

Could it be that Trump is beginning to feel his imminent impeachment drawing ever closer?

And is it Trump's imminent impeachment that also panics Putin, since it will mean that the current additions to the US sanctions against himself and his 'siloviki', and which Trump has NOT YET signed into law, will immediately be signed into law by his successor, Mike Pence?

What Putin has gained on the roundabout with German business he is about to loose on the swings of Trump's impeachment.

Neither Trump nor Putin can disnetangle themselves from the scarlet thread of Maidan that tightly binds them together.

(to be continued)

Both the White House and the Kremlin are now "freaking out"

Putin's 'dyed-in-the-wool' Soviet foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, yesterday entered into the fray regarding Special Counsel Robert Mueller recent indictment of Paul Manafort on a number of serious charges , including money laundering, by mantaining that,

“ ...  there is no evidence of a Russian role in the cyberattacks and email leaks that dominated the news in the final weeks of the campaign. “Without any evidence, we have been blamed for interfering not only in elections in the U.S., but in European states too,” Lavrov said. “Fantasy has no limits”. (Joel Gehrke : Washington Examiner : 30 Oct. 2017) (my emphasis)

Unfortunately for Lavrov, as reported by Doina Chiacu, Mark Hosenball, Jonathan Landay and Karen Freifeld,

"George Papadopoulos (right), who joined the Trump presidential campaign in March 2016, lied in January about communicating with those individuals to arrange a meeting between then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Special Counsel Robert Mueller said in the documents.
.....
Papadopoulos pleaded guilty on Oct. 5 [to lying in January], according to a court statement by Mueller’s office. As part of a plea deal, Papadopoulos agreed to plead guilty to making a “materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statement” to FBI agents. " (Reuters : October 30, 2017) (my emphasis)

Like Trump's White House Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who,

"..... played down Papadopoulos’ campaign role, saying it was “extremely limited” and that he was a volunteer." (cf Doina Chiacu et al), (my emphasis)

Putin's mouthpiece, Lavrov, is also desperately trying to protect Manafort in the face of mounting evidence detailing the collusion between Trump and Putin during the 2016 US presidential elections.

Let us also remind ourselves that in July of 2016, when Manafort was in charge of running Trump's presidential campaign, Josh Rogin (left) reported that,


"The Trump campaign worked behind the scenes last week to make sure the new Republican platform won’t call for giving weapons to Ukraine to fight Russian and rebel forces, contradicting the view of almost all Republican foreign policy leaders in Washington." (Washington Post : July 18, 2016) (my emphasis)

He further reported that,

"Trump’s view of Russia has always been friendlier than most Republicans. He’s said he would “get along very well” with Vladimir Putin and called it a “great honor” when Putin praised him. Trump has done a lot of business in Russia and has been traveling there since 1987. Last August, he said of Ukraine joining NATO, “I wouldn’t care.” He traveled there in September, and he told Ukrainians their war is “really a problem that affects Europe a lot more than it affects us.” (ibid Josh Rogan) (my emphasis) 

Neither Putin's mouthpiece Lavrov, nor Trump's mouthpiece Sarah Huckabee Sanders, can loosen Trump and Putin from the scarlet thread of Maidan that continues to bind them tightly together.

Everyone now, in Trump's White House is, in the words of MSNBC's Lawrence O' Donnell, "freaking out".

If Putin's Lavrov is now forced to try to denigrate the growing mountain of evidence of the Putin-Trump collusion during the 2016 US presidential elections as, "Fantasy", one can only assume that Putin and his 'siloviki' cohorts in the Kremlin are also "freaking out".

(to be continued)

Both Putin and Trump are now at 'panic stations'

Michael D. Shear and Nicholas Fandos (left) report that,

"Under pressure from Republicans and Democrats, the Trump administration on Thursday turned over to Congress a list of Russia-connected entities it will use to determine new sanctions meant to rebuke Russia for actions in Eastern Europe, Syria and the 2016 United States presidential election." (New York Times : Oct. 26, 2017) (my emphasis) (list of entities)

This is a list, however, simply to 'mollify' those, like Senator McCain (right), who had threatened to,

"  ... use his position as the chairman of the Armed Services Committee to try to force the Trump administration to comply [with the sanctions legislation that had been overwhelmingly passed by the US Congress in June, and had been signed by Trump in August]." (ibid Shear and Fandos) (my emphasis)

This list, however, simply signifies that it is,

"..... NOT an imposition of sanctions, but rather the government’s assessment of organizations or persons “that are part of, or operating for or on behalf of, the defense or intelligence sectors of the government of the Russian Federation.” (ibid Shear and Fandos) (my emphasis)

In other words, the imposition of sanctions against Russia passed by the Congress in June of this year has still NOT been implemented.

But the pressure on Trump continues to mount.

As reported by Denys Krasnikov,

"The United States is “actively considering” supplying lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine, according to Kurt Volker (left), U.S. special representative for Ukraine negotiations.

U.S. State Department envoy Volker says the debate over sending U.S. weapons to Ukraine should not be as controversial as it is, given that Ukraine is simply defending itself." (KyivPost : Oct. 29 2017) (my emphasis)

 And according to UNIAN,

"Ukrainian lawmakers are optimistic that the White House will give the green light for long-sought weapons, according to the U.S.-based news publication Foreign Policy" (UNIAN: 27 October 2017) (my emphasis)

Meanwhile, the attempt by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto (left) to veto the NATO-Ukraine summit in December, has fallen flat on its face since,

"NATO says it had no plans to hold the Ukraine-NATO Commission meeting in December.

...

At the same time, the [NATO]  alliance noted it is committed to [a] strong partnership relations with Ukraine," (UNIAN: 28 October 2017) (my emphasis)

Added to which,

"U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker during a meeting with the Ukrainian lawmakers has said he is convinced that Russians cannot participate in the peacekeeping mission in Donbas, Ukrainian MP Mustafa Nayyem (right) wrote on Facebook." (UNIAN: 28 October 2017) (my emphasis)

Furthermore, according to Nayyem,

" ... it is critically important for Volker that the peacekeeping mission is militarized, not just monitoring, and act along the Russian-Ukrainian border that is now beyond Ukraine's control." (ibid UNIAN) (my emphasis)

These developments must be giving Putin serious cause for concern. 

The payback that Putin expected from getting Trump into the White House has simply not materialised. 

Compounding Putin's anxieties is the news that yet more substantial evidence about collusion between Putin and Trump during the 2016 US presidential elections is seeing the light of day.

If Putin's anxieties are now being compounded by by the increasing evidence about just how himself and the Trump 'siloviki' colluded during the 2016 US presidential elections, Trump and his 'siloviki' themselves are now at panic stations since,

"A federal grand jury in Washington has approved the first criminal charges in the special counsel’s investigation into Russian election interference ...
....
Mueller's Special Counsel's Office will make public an indictment on Monday, a U.S. official with firsthand knowledge of the process confirmed to NBC News, without disclosing the name of the target or the nature of the charges" (Ken Dilanian, Phil Helsel and Phil McCausland : NBC News :
Oct 28 2017) (my emphasis)

Which of Trump's 'siloviki' will be charged with a criminal offense to-morrow, Monday 30 Oct. 2017?

More significantly, what will the criminal charges be?

Will these charges serve to hasten Trump's impeachment, adding to Putin's anxieties?

STOP PRESS!!

(to be continued)

Ksenia Sobchak will not save Putin when the Russian people turn against him

In 1992 Putin, whilst Deputy Mayor of St. Petersberg under Mayor Anatoly Sobchak, his former law professor, Putin commissioned a documentary about himself called "Power".

As Tim Molloy reports,

"In the film he commissioned, Putin, who was then deputy mayor, assured hungry residents that food was on its way.
.... But, as seen in the excerpt below from Putin’s Way, most of the promised food never arrived" (Frontline : January 12, 2015) (my emphasis)

We now learn from Shaun Walker that,

"Ksenia Sobchak, the [socialite] daughter of Vladimir Putin’s political mentor [Anatoly Sobchak, and rumoured to be Putin's God-daughter], has said she will stand in Russia’s presidential election next March, which Putin is expected to win.
...
Analysts said her candidacy looked like a Kremlin-backed “spoiler” campaign to boost the legitimacy of the elections and split the liberal opposition" (The Guardian : Wednesday 18 October 2017)

And as reported by Andrew Roth,

"Dmitry Peskov (left), Putin’s personal spokesman, told the channel [TV Rain] that her candidacy was seen as legitimate by the Kremlin." (Washington Post : October 18, 2017) (my emphasis) 

Is Putin taking a leaf out of the book of US president Donald Trump, who elected both his daughter, Ivanka Trump, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to senior positions in the White House?

Or is Putin showing the same contempt for the Russian people which he showed when pocketing millions of dollars in 1992 that was meant to assuage the hunger of the Russian people of St Petersberg. 

That Putin was protected by Anatoly Sobchak, father of Ksenia Sochak, even in light of all the evidence collected by Marine Salye (left), and which showed just how Putin and his cohorts embezzeled millions of dollars from the hungry residents of St. Petersberg in 1992, surely must be known by Ksenia Sobchak.

Indeed, the very financial legacy she inherited from her father, and which has allowed her to live her lavish lifestyle, is tainted by the fact that some of those monies she inherited from her father derives from that very embezzelment that Putin and his cohorts, including her father, perpetrated in 1992.

 Yet, as Andrew Roth further reports,

"In a campaign statement in the Russian daily Vedomosti that barely mentioned Putin and focused instead on public dissatisfaction with Russian politics, she said that she was “outside of ideology” and not a fan of Russia’s annexation of Crimea (though she denied being against it)."(ibid Andrew Roth) (my empahsis)

But, unlike Navalny (right), who claims that,

" ...   if he is elected president [of Russia], he is ready to withdraw Russian troops from the occupied areas of eastern Ukraine and hold a fair referendum in the Russian-annexed Crimea, according to the Russian independent television channel Dozhd." (UNIAN : 09 June 2017) (my emphasis)

nothing is being said by Ksenia Sobchak about Putin's war with Ukraine.

And whilst Ksenia Sobchak is deafeningly silent about Putin's war with Ukraine in the Donbas,

• Russia's hybrid military forces attacked Ukrainian army positions in Donbas 14 times in the past 24 hours, with one Ukrainian soldier reported as wounded in action (WIA), according to the press service of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) Headquarters.(UNIAN: 22 October 2017) 
• Russia's hybrid military forces were most active in the Mariupol sector on Monday, October 23, with one Ukrainian soldier reported as wounded in action (WIA), according to the press center of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) Headquarters. (UNIAN : 23 October)
• Russia's hybrid military forces attacked Ukrainian army positions in Donbas 22 times on Monday, October 23, as a result of which one Ukrainian soldier was wounded, according to the press center of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) Headquarters.(UNIAN : 24 October)

As Ksenia Sobchak is becoming the darling of Putin's propaganda TV network as an eligible presidential candidate, Andrew Osborn and Andrey Ostroukh report that,

"Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny held a political rally on Sunday [21 October], hours after being released from jail and pledged to continue his presidential campaign despite the authorities saying he is ineligible to stand.

.....

“We have more right to take part in the elections than all the other candidates combined,” Navalny wrote on his website." (Reuters : October 22, 2017) (my emphasis)

Navalny being arrested October 2, 2017

Putin may have spiked Navalny's chances of appearing on the ballot paper as a candidate for the Russian presidency, and cynically placed his presumed God-daughter, Ksenia Sobchak, on that ballot paper, but he has not yet managed, together with US president Donald Trump, to spike the US sanctions against himself and his 'siloviki' for his illegal annexation of Ukrainian Crimea, and his ongoing war with Ukraine in the Donbas.

 As stated yesterday by Jessica Tarlov (left),

"America must speak up louder in opposition to Putin’s twisted attempt to use U.N. peacekeepers to achieve his own strategic interests. We’ve heard from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about how critical it is that we give our full support to Ukraine. " (Fox News : 23 October 2017)

And the US Senate, Congress, and Robert Mueller, continues to accumulate a mountain of evidence pointing to the collusion between Trump and his associates, and Putin and his 'siloviki', that gained the White House for Trump, in return for Trump releasing Putin from those US sanctions.

Putin now has almost to completely rely on the changing political climate in the EU moving in the direction of the lifting of EU sanctions against himself and his 'siloviki' clique.

But will the cynical throwing of Ksenia Sobchak to the Russian people as a political 'sex-symbol' opponent, a "Let them eat cake" political moment in the illusory presidential election campaign in Russia, be enough to deflect the eyes of the Russian people from their current economic sufferings, economic sufferings that Putin's actions in Crimea and the Donbas brought upon the Russian people?

As reported in the Moscow Times,

"... behind encouraging GDP demand and retail trade numbers Russians have become increasingly hooked on credits to keep their shopping baskets full, be that a basket of luxury items or a minimum subsistence one." (Moscow Times : Oct 10, 2017) (my emphasis)

Just as in 1992, when Putin and his kleptocratic cohorts, including Anatoly Sobchak, stole millions from from the hungry residents of St. Petersberg so, too, is Putin's kleptocracy now still stealing billions from the hungry people of Russia.

Putin's fear of how the Russian people will respond when he 'automatically' wins next years' Russian presidential election has forced him to throw the political 'sex-symbol', Ksenia Sobchak, into the Russian presidential race.

But Ksenia Sobchak will not save Putin when the Russian people turn against him.

(to be continued)

Is Putin worrying about the response of the Russian people to his presidential victory next year?

In February of this year (2 February,2017), shortly after President Trump's inauguration,  Lili Bayer (left) reported that,

"As Russian President Vladimir Putin prepares to make a rare trip to the European Union Thursday, his choice of destination — Hungary — reveals a shift in the Kremlin’s strategy in Europe following the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Putin has met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán several times since the Hungarian leader came to power in 2010." (Politico-Eu: 2/2/17) (my emphasis)

She goes on to report that,

"...Putin and his entourage will be arriving in Hungary with one clear priority: to clarify and strengthen Orbán’s opposition to EU sanctions on Russia.

“There is a Russian hope that Orbán will step up against the sanctions, not just rhetorically,” said Deák. “For the Russians, it is important to find a European country that will be the first mover on this.” (ibid Lili Bayer) (my emphasis)

Fast foreward to October 2017, and UNIAN reports that Ukraine's new Education Law states that,

"Persons who belong to the indigenous peoples, national minorities of Ukraine, who have started to receive general secondary education before September 1, 2018, shall continue to receive such education by September 1, 2020, in accordance with the rules enforced before the new law becomes effective, with a gradual increase in the number of classes taught in Ukrainian." (UNIAN : 16 October 2017) (my emphasis)

And lo and behold ....

Just as Putin used the Russian language issue to invade and annex Unkrainian Crimea, and then subsequently to start a war with Ukraine in the Donbas, we now have Hungarian Foreign Minister, Peter Szijjarto (right), ranting that,

“There is a brutal violation of the human rights in the neighborhood of the European Union since the Ukrainian parliament has passed the law on education where they violated very heavily the rights of the minorities as they have taken away the right of all the minorities to use exclusively their native language in education above the age of ten,” Szijjarto said, according to an UNIAN correspondent."
(ibid UNIAN) (my emphasis)

 Even more sinister,

"Hungary's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto later announced his country's intention to block any further rapprochement between Ukraine and the EU over the language row." (ibid UNIAN) (my emphasis)

It should come as no surprise that Putin's 'fragrant' Federica Mogherini,  High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, is supportive of the Hungarian argument about minority violations. She stated that,

"Brussels will continue the dialogue with Kyiv on possible violations of minority rights with Ukraine’s new law on education based on the opinion of the Venice Commission due to be issued in December..." (UNIAN : 17 October 2017) (my emphasis)

Also, as Putin's propaganda mouthpiece Sputnik reports, it should also come as no surprise that,

"Trade between Russia and Hungary saw positive dynamics as it increased by up to 27 percent in the first half of 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday at a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban." (Sputnik : 28.08.2017) (my emphasis)
 

And as reported by Krisztina Than (left), 

"Trade ties between Russia and Hungary include a gas supply pact with Gazprom and a deal for Russia to finance and build a nuclear power plant. Construction is due to start next year." (Reuters: Sep. 29, 2017) 

But whilst Putin may be delighted with the threat of Orban to block any further rapprochement between Ukraine and the EU over the language row, and the implicit support being given to Orban's contrived argument by the 'fragrant' Federica Mogherini, things are not going too well in Ukrainian Crimea for Putin.  

• The water shortage in Crimea is having dire consequences, so much so that some think that Crimeans may have to be resettled, warning of a humanitarian crisis

• Some Crimeans are rueing the day that they voted in favour of Putin annexing Ukrainian Crimea
• The building of the bridge between Russia and Ukrainian Crimea across the Kerch Strait continues to drain vast amounts of money away from Russia's internal infrastructure investment
• Russians are awakening to the true nature of the Putin regime

Just like Donald Trump's promise to build "a beautiful wall" between the US and Mexico, Putin is determined to build a "beautiful bridge" between Russia and Ukrainian Crimea, irrespective of the cost and suffering that the Russian people will have to endure in the process.

Trump, however,  continues to be weighed down by the mounting evidence of the collusion between himself and his acolytes, and Putin, during the 2016 US presidential elections. 

Trump's impeachment is now beginning to enter into the public arena, just as the exposure of Putin's interference in the US presidential election of 2016 continues to emerge into the light of day. (cf.: Patrick Reevell : Yahoo News : October 15, 2017, tvrain (Russian):14 октября, 2016)

Putin will be the winner in the 2018 Russian presidential elections, without the help of any interference from outside sources.

What is not certain for Putin is how the Russian people will respond to his electoral victory. 

(to be continued)

Neither Putin nor Trump can disentangle themselves from the scarlet thread of Maidan that binds them together.

On the 5th of this month I wrote that,

"As reported by Patricia Zengerle,

"Two months after signing it, President Donald Trump has not begun enforcing a law imposing new sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea, Senators John McCain (left) and Ben Cardin said in a letter seen by Reuters on Friday

Also, with just two days to go, his administration has not provided information related to Russia’s defense and intelligence sectors required under the measure by Sunday, they said." (Reuters :September 29, 2017) (my emphasis) 

Surkov and Volker's impending meeting could be due to Putin's awarness that the net of impeachment is now fast falling upon Trump." (blog entry: 5/10/2017)

This deadline has now passed, and Trump has, as yet, NOT signed into law the Sanctions Bill detailing sanctions against Putin because of his meddling in the 2016 US presidential elections, and which was passed UNANIMOUSLY by BOTH the US Senate and House of Congress.

As reported by Rachel Maddow (right) (MSNBC : The Rachel Maddow Show 12/10/17)

"The president signed the Russian sanctions bill on August 2nd (2017), and here's the interesting part ... signed it on August 2nd ... the thing he signed ... that new law ... gave him a deadline of October 1st to implement these new sanctions against Russia to punish them for attacking our election .... It's now October 12th, and those sanctions are not in place .. He [Trump] has not done anything ..."
 
US Congressman Adam Schiff (left), during Maddow's interview with him, also states that,

"One of the things alleged in the [Steele] dossier ... which we are investigating ... try to corroborate ... is the claim that there was an agreement (between Trump officials and Putin) to ease sanctions on [Russia] to get derogatory information on Hillary Clinton" (cf video below)

Flailing Trump is now also trying to 'legitimise' getting rid of incriminating information that not only exposes the 'collusion' between Putin and himself during the 2016 US presidential election, but also exposes the fact that his sacking of James Comey, former FBI director, was done soley to obstruct the FBI from gathering the information that categorically proves that such collusion took place.

It now transpires that, contrary to the Presidential Records Act,

"... Trump administration staffers were using special messaging applications designed to destroy the contents of communications inspired a lawsuit by two open government groups." (Adam Mazmanian (right): FCW : Oct 10, 2017) (my emphasis)

Adam Mazmanian goes on to further report that,

"The Justice Department, in a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, argues that the president [Trump] has near-total authority over the disposition of presidential records under the law." (ibid Mazmanian) (my emphasis)

The extent and degree to which Trump will go to eliminate evidence about his collussion with Putin during the 2016 US presidential elections seems to know no bounds.

More importantly, the extend and degree to which Trump will go to pay Putin back for helping him gain the White House by witholding signing into law the sanctions against Putin for his interference in the 2016 US presidential elections and, more significantly, also desperately trying to remove those US sanctions against Putin because of his illegal annexation of Ukrainian Crimea, and his ongoing war with Ukraine in the Donbas, also seems to know no bounds. 

Neither Putin nor Trump can disentangle themselves from the scarlet thread of Maidan that continues to bind them together.

(to be continued)