Remember when the previous occupant of the White House tried to pressure the president of Ukraine into a deal? The self-described greatest dealmaker did not succeed in the art of a deal with the former member of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, ex-sovereign state and current Russian pawn. All the then-occupant of the White House got out of it was his first impeachment.
Thirty years earlier, another U.S. president—the U.S. president of Pepsi-Cola, that is—did make a deal with Ukraine.
“Trump is not much different than most of the NY real estate developers. Obnoxious, liar, screws people, impossible to trust, etc.”
If your brain can handle more background on the perpetrator of multiple business failures who occasionally spends time in the Oval Office, Foreign Policy magazine – not known as a left-wing propaganda organ – has published a well-researched and dispassionate overview of business dealings with Russia.
A
couple fun quotes:
“I
think part of it was he was toxic to the banks. I think he also probably
learned that personal guarantees [on loans] weren’t a brilliant idea either. So
he was saying to himself, ‘What else could I do in the world? I’ll just
convince people to buy my brand.’ And the only people who were willing to buy
it were tasteless Russians, people who like the absurd, ostentatious gold-leaf
lifestyle he has.”
– former business associate
“Trump
is not much different than most of the NY real estate developers. Obnoxious,
liar, screws people, impossible to trust, etc, but in NY real estate–not
unusual. None of any of that is proof of anything other than Trump was
considered a bad guy who nobody trusted to do business with in the US banking
world. That is far from any proof he did anything wrong as to collusion which
there was none.”
Despite the New York mayor’s assurance that workers on the World Trade Center 9/11 cleanup were in no danger, they have been contracting cancer and dying at startlingly high rates. The collapse of the towers released a thousand tons of asbestos into the air. U.S. manufacturers of asbestos products had already mostly gone out of business, bankrupted by claims of wrongful deaths. During their slide into insolvency, the companies set up trust funds for future mesothelioma claims. The fund currently totals $30 billion and legions of attorneys are eager to take up asbestosis suits. (Our company’s office was in the same building with a consulting economist. Most of his business derived from testifying as expert witness in asbestos lawsuits, calculating the economic loss of a victim’s early demise. He did well enough to own the building where we leased space.)
At a gathering of the World Health Assembly under the auspices of the United Nations, Ecuador was to introduce an innocuous resolution supporting breast feeding as a sensible alternative to manufactured baby formula. The resolution stated that research shows mother’s milk is healthiest for children and countries should discourage inaccurate or misleading marketing of non-breast milk alternatives. The United States would not have it. With the current administration firmly aligned with behemoth corporations, including the $70 billion baby-food market, American representatives wanted language removed that called on governments to “protect, promote and support breast-feeding.” They also wanted removed a section that exhorted government policymakers to limit promotion of food products that many experts say can have harmful effects on young children. When Ecuador did not comply, the U.S. threatened trade sanctions and withdrawal of military aid. Ecuador gave in. In the end, Russia trumped the U.S. by formally introducing the resolution in lieu of Ecuador. The U.S. dropped its demand for alterations, and gave Russia the opportunity to be the good guy and declare it was a matter of principle. “We feel that it is wrong when a big country tries to push around some very small countries, especially on an issue that is really important for the rest of the world,” said a Russian delegate. Read the entire story in the failing New York Times.
