BrassDragon
Member
Small bump because Bill Browder had a good interview with Tommy Vietor (former Obama National Security Council staffer) on the last episode of Pod Save The World. (interview starts at at 17 minute mark, although the preceding discussion on North Korea is good too.)
It's a good short summary of Browder's testimony straight from the man himself with a few insights I hadn't seen in this thread particularly:
- There is a lot of corroboration on Putin's oligrach racket in the Panama Papers, particularly using professional cellist Sergei Roldugin as a trustee to park billions in western investments.
- The Russian security apparatus is 'like the Gestapo' in the sense that they document everything and are totally brazen about their human rights abuses and flaunting of laws; those under the protection of Putin and the oligarchs operate with such impunity they can't conceive these procedures and paper trails are in any way damaging to them... until the Magnitsky Act and similar EU measures called them out by name and moved part of their riches out of reach.
- Secretaries of State Clinton and Kerry actively fought against the Magnitsky Act to support Obama's 'Russian Reset' policy but wrangling over the travel rights of Russian Jews finally pushed this thing into law as part of a Washington give-and-take. Podcast host Vietor tries to defend Obama by pointing to accomplishments such as sanctions on Iran and the START-II treaty made possible by better relations with Medvedev/Putin.
- The Panama Papers led to the US investigation of the New York holdings of the Katsyv family (which appear to be purchased in part by the stolen money Magnitsky was tracing before his death.) When the Katsyv assets got frozen by the Magnistky Act, they put their high-powered attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya (of Trump Tower meeting fame) on the case. This money laundering case was eventually settled for relative peanuts shortly after Trump came to power.
- The Katsyvs then poured millions into the best American spin doctors/PR specialists and lobbyists money could buy to lie about Bill Browder's integrity and Sergei Magnitsky's legacy/sacrifice in an attempt to overturn the Act. The Amercian citizens who willingly went along with this despicable campaign never registered as agents of a foreign power, as required by law, which led to the testimony of the OP.
The podcast brings things back to a human level by remembering the horrifying torture of Sergei Magnitsky. The thugs who abused him thought he was a weak white-collar crucible worker who would easily break under pressure and sign a false confession. Instead he held true to his beliefs as they heaped worse and worse torture on him until he died, spirit unbroken.
Browder says poignantly that the activist lawyer represented 'Russia as it should be' - Sergei believed in the rule of law and justice until the very end of his life, documenting his abuses and waiting for his complaints to be upheld.
It's a good short summary of Browder's testimony straight from the man himself with a few insights I hadn't seen in this thread particularly:
- There is a lot of corroboration on Putin's oligrach racket in the Panama Papers, particularly using professional cellist Sergei Roldugin as a trustee to park billions in western investments.
- The Russian security apparatus is 'like the Gestapo' in the sense that they document everything and are totally brazen about their human rights abuses and flaunting of laws; those under the protection of Putin and the oligarchs operate with such impunity they can't conceive these procedures and paper trails are in any way damaging to them... until the Magnitsky Act and similar EU measures called them out by name and moved part of their riches out of reach.
- Secretaries of State Clinton and Kerry actively fought against the Magnitsky Act to support Obama's 'Russian Reset' policy but wrangling over the travel rights of Russian Jews finally pushed this thing into law as part of a Washington give-and-take. Podcast host Vietor tries to defend Obama by pointing to accomplishments such as sanctions on Iran and the START-II treaty made possible by better relations with Medvedev/Putin.
- The Panama Papers led to the US investigation of the New York holdings of the Katsyv family (which appear to be purchased in part by the stolen money Magnitsky was tracing before his death.) When the Katsyv assets got frozen by the Magnistky Act, they put their high-powered attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya (of Trump Tower meeting fame) on the case. This money laundering case was eventually settled for relative peanuts shortly after Trump came to power.
- The Katsyvs then poured millions into the best American spin doctors/PR specialists and lobbyists money could buy to lie about Bill Browder's integrity and Sergei Magnitsky's legacy/sacrifice in an attempt to overturn the Act. The Amercian citizens who willingly went along with this despicable campaign never registered as agents of a foreign power, as required by law, which led to the testimony of the OP.
The podcast brings things back to a human level by remembering the horrifying torture of Sergei Magnitsky. The thugs who abused him thought he was a weak white-collar crucible worker who would easily break under pressure and sign a false confession. Instead he held true to his beliefs as they heaped worse and worse torture on him until he died, spirit unbroken.
Browder says poignantly that the activist lawyer represented 'Russia as it should be' - Sergei believed in the rule of law and justice until the very end of his life, documenting his abuses and waiting for his complaints to be upheld.
