How Much Is Saudi Aramco Worth? It Depends On The Country's Institutions

Capital markets are harsh judges. They lay bare the immense social costs of the poorly-run and corrupt energy companies of the world, such as Gazprom, Petrobas, and Rosneft. We now await its judgement on Saudi Aramco.

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Is Russia Gate Really Hillary Gate? Mueller Should Investigate

The most under covered story of Russia Gate is the interconnection between the Clinton campaign, an unregistered foreign agent of Russia headquartered in DC (Fusion GPS), and the Christopher Steele Orbis dossier. This connection has raised the question of whether Kremlin prepared the dossier as part of a disinformation campaign to sow chaos in the US political system. If ordered and paid for by Hillary Clinton associates, Russia Gate is turned on its head as collusion between Clinton operatives (not Trump’s) and Russian intelligence. Russia Gate becomes Hillary Gate.

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The “Golden Shower” Dossier Appears to be the Work of an Unregistered Russian Agent. Where Does this Lead Us?

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sent a letter to the Justice Department on March 31, 2017 demanding for his Committee on the Judiciary all relevant documents on the company Fusion GBS. Fusion GPS is the company that funded the Christopher Steele opposition-research “Golden Shower” dossier against then-candidate Donald Trump. Grassley writes in reference to a complaint that:

 “lobbyists (Fusion GPS) working for Russian interests in a campaign to oppose the pending Global Magnitsky Act failed to register under FARA and the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995. The Committee needs to understand what actions the Justice Department has taken in response to the information in Mr. Browder’s complaint. The issue is of particular concern to the Committee given that when Fusion GPS reportedly was acting as an unregistered agent of Russian interests, it appears to have been simultaneously overseeing the creation of the unsubstantiated dossier of allegations of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians.”

In his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, James Comey dodged Lindsey Graham’s questions about Fusion GPS.

The role of Fusion GPS and its key associates of Russian background must raise the question as to whether the Steele Orbis dossier, which was commissioned by an unregistered agent of Russia, was a plant by Russian intelligence to harm Donald Trump.

PS The Senate's efforts to pry the Fusion documents from the Justice Department has been known but scarcely reported by the media.

Comey Gives the New York Times a Black Eye While Selective Leakers Leave the People in the Dark

The (abridged) exchange with Senator Risch (R-Idaho) proceeded as follows:

RISCH: You talked with us shortly after February 14th, when the New York Times wrote an article that suggested that the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians. Do you remember reading that article when it first came out?

COMEY: I do.

RISCH:  After that, you sought out both Republican and Democrat senators to tell them that, hey, I don't know where this is coming from, but this is not the case. This is not factual (my italics). Do you recall that?

COMEY: Yes.

RISCH: So, the American people can understand this, that report by the New York Times was not true. Is that a fair statement?

COMEY: In the main, it was not true. And again, all of you know this (my italics). Maybe the American people don't.

Most damning in this exchange is Comey’s cynical “you know but the American people don’t.” Where is the outrage that the media collusion narrative was based on a falsehood of which U.S. senators were aware? The Times has issued no retraction and lamely states that “the immediate sources could not be reached” but “they have indicated that they believed the account was solid.” The anonymous sources can believe what they want, but the FBI head thinks otherwise.

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Comey Elevates The Fake Orbis Dossier By Asserting He Can Only Discuss It In Closed Session

In his ongoing public testimony, former FBI Director, James Comey dodged many of the questions to which the American public most wants answers with the excuse: “I can’t talk about that in open session.” Among the things the American people wanted to hear from Comey himself was his take on the sensational Orbis “Golden Shower” Dossier’s charges against Donald Trump. They learned nothing.

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What Comes After Kim Jong Un?

Kim’s inner circle would also characterize themselves as holders of Khrushchev’s lucky cards. Like their Soviet and Chinese counterparts, they would retreat to the relative safety of collective rule in his absence. Less fearful of violent overthrow, they would be inclined to make life better for their people and rely less on military adventurism.

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It's Not Trump, But Public Intellectuals & Lobbyists Who Are Advancing Putin's U.S. Agenda

The media and the Democratic Party are feverishly peddling the idea that Trump and his foreign policy team are somehow in cahoots with the Russians. Ukraine and the Baltic states are paralyzed by fears of a Trump grand bargain, despite Trump’s appointment of the most anti-Kremlin national security team in recent history. America’s mightiest lobbying firms, with deep ties to the Democratic Party, represent and promote Russian vital interests as registered foreign agents. Meanwhile our foreign policy cognoscenti do not understand that Putin’s fear is not an invasion by some nonexistent European military powerhouse but that a liberal democratic and prosperous Ukraine and Georgia would reveal to the Russian people what Putin is denying them.

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