Donald and Vladimir. The Art of the Biggest Deal Ever. The Arctic Dome.
It's About the Oil, Dummy, and the Con Job to End All Con jobs.
The Arctic ocean covers about 4 million square miles, an area about the size of the USA including Alaska or the continent of Africa. It contains an estimated 22% of the oil and gas reserves of planet Earth.
The Arctic Ocean is basically a Russian lake. A liquid water lake easy to navigate once global climate change melts most of the ice. Drill rigs don't work well in Arctic sea ice. Because their country's northern shore front surrounds about half of the Arctic with major human settlements the Russians are way ahead of any other nation in their ability to use and navigate that ocean.
The Russians are a major producer of oil and natural gas. Their economy is highly dependent on wealth created by selling these commodities. But they need a market to buy it. A world worrying about fossil fuels doesn't look like a good customer and a leader country like the USA rejecting fossil fuels is a problem.
Russians can get oil out of easy places. Easy places are drying up. Exxon Mobil is good at getting it out of difficult places and the resources to handle really big projects. Exxon Mobil wants a place to drill and make serious money. So Exxon Mobil hooks up with the Russians to supply the rest of the world with a century's worth of energy in a 500 billion dollar deal to drill the Arctic. Only the USA is big enough to get in the way.
The answer is a big gamble and one super salesman with no socially acceptable morals offers a way to get the climate huggers and everybody else out of the way. This guy needs the bucks. His financial liabilities match his assets and he finds himself in some trouble that way.
So The Donald tries a moon shot and is about to pull it off. His take from this thing is Tchump change for Exxon Mobil and the Russians. And those folks will likely stiff Trump once they stop needing him. The future of America and the rest of the world are being sold to a few predator oligarchs and we are sitting here and doing little more than wring our hands and let it happen. Worse than that America is setting itself up to abandon democracy and freedom in favor of radical nationalism and new forms of economic hardship, oppression and control. And for those who believed and supported this guy and are still waiting for him to deliver what he promised? I'll just say that the companies that make and sell hemorrhoid ointment should gear up for a big demand.
Now, do you still wonder about the Russian connection and the Vladimir love fest that characterizes his cabinet and adviser choices?
Teapot Dome 94 years ago capped the administration of President W G Harding, the man rated as America's 2nd worse president. Mr. Trump is in line to challenge that position with his own dome scandal. I wonder which dome will be alluded to when future generations speak of the Donald.