Trump’s Manafort’s Troubling Ukraine Ties Routine for DC’s K Street Bottom Feeders

The brilliance of the mainstream media’s attack on small-fry Manafort is that it diverts attention from the potential granddaddy of corruption schemes. The Clinton Foundation, if there is ever a real investigation, may be shown to have eliminated the K Street middleman. By contributing directly to the Clinton machine, a foreign government or a corrupt foreign oligarch can gain access directly to the heart of government. Just think of the possibilities: Today the State Department, tomorrow the presidency of the United States.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/439065/manafort-ukraine-democrats-clinton


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Ukraine Proves That Obama Has Led The United States To Irrelevancy On The World Stage

A chastened Barack Obama, who once naively believed that his intellect, personal charm, and multicultural understanding could sway Ayatollahs, post-Soviet dictators, Muslim fanatics, and Korean loons, is left with kicking the can down the road to prevent his initiatives from collapsing before his term is out. Despite tough talk of red lines and serious consequences, our enemies know he will not use American power. Time will tell whether Obama’s power aversion served the nation, but it does mean that to he will be ignored in those situations where it is in our national interest to show resolve, have a stiff back, and be willing to carry through on threats. This is the lesson that the Ukrainian crisis is teaching us.

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Will Kiev Streets Thwart Putin's Grand Design?

A fateful drama is playing out in central Kiev. Tens of thousands of demonstrators occupy Independence Square and block entrances to government buildings. They demand “revolution.” They clamor for the resignation of President Victor Yanukovich’s government  as punishment for his surprise decision to reject the European Union’s offer of association status and to look instead eastward for partners. Yanukovich’s use of the riot police has been met with ever larger numbers of demonstrators.

An experienced observer like Anders Aslund predicts that this is the beginning of the end of Yanukovich. If so, it will be the Ukrainian people, not President Obama or professional European diplomats, who will have dealt Vladimir Putin his first major foreign policy defeat. Putin has risked a lot of skin in the Ukrainian game, defiantly calling the Kiev demonstrations a “pogrom.”

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