—
File this under: “Who’s got the time, to keep us with this crap? Holy Moly!”
Why did Erik Prince meet with a Russian fund manager shortly before Trump’s inauguration?
[...]
The people present to meet at the Seychelles on January 11, 2017, included the following:
Erik Prince is the founder of Blackwater [...] Prince donated about $250,000 to Trump’s campaign and to outside groups supporting Trump and was in contact with Steve Bannon during the transition. He also happens to be the brother of controversial Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
MBZ, or Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, is the crown prince and de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates. MBZ did business with Erik Prince several years ago — the UAE awarded Prince a contract worth several hundred million dollars “to help assemble an internal paramilitary force,” per the Washington Post. Diplomatically, the UAE regime is close to Saudi Arabia and unfriendly to Qatar and Iran.
[...]
Kirill Dmitriev manages the Russian Direct Investment Fund, a $10 billion Russian government-established sovereign wealth fund that’s under US sanctions. He’s believed to be close to Vladimir Putin. His fund was until recently part of the Russian government-owned bank Vnesheconombank, or VEB.
[...]
by Adam Entous, Greg Miller, Kevin Sieff and Karen DeYoung, Washington Post, April 3, 2017
The United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting in January between Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a Russian close to President Vladimir Putin as part of an apparent effort to establish a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and President-elect Donald Trump, according to U.S., European and Arab officials.
The meeting took place around Jan. 11 — nine days before Trump’s inauguration — in the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean, officials said. Though the full agenda remains unclear, the UAE agreed to broker the meeting in part to explore whether Russia could be persuaded to curtail its relationship with Iran, including in Syria, a Trump administration objective that would be likely to require major concessions to Moscow on U.S. sanctions.
[...]
Zayed met twice with Putin in 2016, according to Western officials, and urged the Russian leader to work more closely with the Emirates and Saudi Arabia — an effort to isolate Iran.
At the time of the Seychelles meeting and for weeks afterward, the UAE believed that Prince had the blessing of the new administration to act as its unofficial representative. The Russian participant was a person whom Zayed knew was close to Putin from his interactions with both men, the officials said.
[...]
by Gabrielle Ware, Newsy — March 4, 2018
[...]
The New York Times reports Mueller is investigating whether the U.A.E. tried to buy political influence by donating money to then-candidate Trump. Nader is known as an adviser to the Emirates' de facto leader.
Investigators are also looking into how much influence Nader has over policymaking at the White House. That could reportedly be part of a bigger probe into foreign monetary influence over the Trump administration.
WASHINGTON — George Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman, has hovered on the fringes of international diplomacy for three decades. He was a back-channel negotiator with Syria during the Clinton administration, reinvented himself as an adviser to the de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates, and last year was a frequent visitor to President Trump’s White House.
Mr. Nader is now a focus of the investigation by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel. In recent weeks, Mr. Mueller’s investigators have questioned Mr. Nader and have pressed witnesses for information about any possible attempts by the Emiratis to buy political influence by directing money to support Mr. Trump during the presidential campaign, according to people with knowledge of the discussions.
The investigators have also asked about Mr. Nader’s role in White House policymaking, those people said, suggesting that the special counsel investigation has broadened beyond Russian election meddling to include Emirati influence on the Trump administration. The focus on Mr. Nader could also prompt an examination of how money from multiple countries has flowed through and influenced Washington during the Trump era.
A Middle East specialist with ties to Donald Trump's team attended secret meetings during the presidential transition between the United Arab Emirates and Trump associates, and is now cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller, two people familiar with the matter say.
George Nader, a low-profile diplomatic go-between who has forged close ties to the Emirates, was stopped and questioned by the FBI at Dulles International Airport in January as he returned from an overseas trip, these sources say. Since then, he has been talking to Mueller's investigators and providing information to the grand jury.
[...]
Cue the dirt … Never mind “the dirt-bag” held meetings in the White House, and in the Seychelles, too.
Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO says joint projects, not sanctions, should be investor focus
by Mike Juang, CNBC — Jan 30, 2017
The head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund isn't worried about the ongoing U.S. sanctions on his country.
Jobs and businesses, says Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the RDIF, are key to reconnecting Russia and the U.S. "We really are open to strategic cooperation with U.S. leading corporations," Dmitriev said to CNBC's "Power Lunch" earlier today. He says his focus is on opportunities that create jobs both in the U.S. and in Russia, particularly ones that harness the infrastructure in Russia together with "U.S. capabilities and know-how."
This shared economic interest in jobs, says Dmitriev, is the key to restoring relations between the two countries.
[...]
On Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump talked by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which was described as "positive" and "a significant start to improving the relationship between the United States and Russia that is in need of repair," by the White House in a statement. However, Trump said on Friday it was "very early" to talk about lifting any sanctions.
[...]
Is it “too early now” to talk about sanctions on Russia?
The Trump administration will not impose new sanctions on Russia because it says the country is already suffering the effects of a new law punishing Moscow for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement: “Today, we have informed Congress that this legislation and its implementation are deterring Russian defense sales.
"Since the enactment of the... legislation, we estimate that foreign governments have abandoned planned or announced purchases of several billion dollars in Russian defense acquisitions.”
[...]
And this direct hit to Russia’s “defense sales” … is “our problem” HOW again?
by CNN Wire, Ray Sanchez CNN — March 1, 2018
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday used a concept video of unlimited range nuclear warheads apparently raining down on Florida — President Donald Trump’s home away from home — to tout his country’s new firepower.
Putin boasted about the Kremlin’s resurgent military might during his annual address to his nation’s Parliament, hyping weaponry that he said would render NATO defenses “completely useless.”
He drew repeated applause with animation-backed claims of nuclear-capable weapons that elude air-defense systems and “invincible” missiles that travel at hypersonic speed.
[...]
Psst. For those “keeping score” at home,
Putin is still WINNING!
...
Maybe he and Charlie Sheen should share a Beach-front party pad? In the Seychelles, perhaps?
—