I assumed Trump was criticizing Schiff for literally reading the transcript the WH released, but he did improvise. Is there any gravity to the complaint against him doing so?
When called out, Schiff explained:
“I want to mention that my colleague is right on both counts. It’s not okay, but also my summary of the president’s call was meant to be at least part in parody. The fact that that’s not clear is a separate problem in and of itself. Of course the president never said, ‘If you don’t understand me, I’m going to say it seven more times.’ My point is, that’s the message that the Ukraine president was receiving in not so many words.”
I listened to The Daily this morning, and I was reminded that there were about a dozen people in the room during the call. Would be real easy to clear himself by letting all twelve people testify, no?
Except he doesn’t own it the same way Bezos owns Amazon. If he loses power, it’s all gone. Keeping the USA and Euros down helps maintain his domestic status. (very few deposed dictators get to live out their days in comfortable exile)
It’s important to note that the rules in Russia are VERY different than the rules here. I owned a stock with the ticker MOS in 2013 and got caught out badly when Belarus and Russia got into a spat about fertilizer. It was resolved when the Belorussian KGB arrested the CEO of the Russian company when he came to negotiate until a deal got struck. The entire government/business community over there operates the way the mafia did in the US during the syndicate era… Except everyone is a gangster and their organized crime operations overseas are an integrated part of their intelligence apparatus, which itself monopolizes most of their high achieving talent. The Russian Elon Musk is a gangster/spy basically not an entrepreneur. It’s a totally different world view where money is literally just ammo and is extremely transient. Power is the primary currency and money is incredibly easy to get/lose assuming you gain/lose power.
That explains why domestic investment is as low as it is, why invest in a country where your rivals could take it away at any moment if your Russian power games go sideways? That’s why so many oligarchs own so much nice stuff overseas… it’s all a hedge in case they get forced into exile.
So yeah Putin is just the biggest shark in those waters… but there are a lot of other sharks, some quite large. He’s a product of his environment and his 200B net worth is largely predicated on maintaining his power base because he’s got much more in common with a mafia chieftain than he does with Warren Buffett.
Do any of these idiot dems think before they talk? Schiff needlessly embellishing a conversation that clearly demonstrates quid pro quo and corrupt intent in its original form is beyond stupid. Now we get to listen to all the pearl clutching assholes whine about it and righteously demand his resignation. Dems are the fucking Washington Generals who win every once in a while when the Globetrotters step on their dicks.
Look into how Putin himself has treated peoples stakes in corporations in Russia. The government can and does routinely seize assets from people for political reasons. There’s a reason why Russian stocks trade at such low multiples, it’s because the guy who actually owns the asset is the person who has power over it physically not the person who has a piece of paper that says they do. Those stock certificates are fucking meaningless without the power to back them up.
This is why every Russian oligarch exports so much of the profits from their operations out of the country. It’s a hedge against something going badly wrong and their Russian assets being seized. I 100% guarantee they all have elaborate plans to escape the country if it ever goes wrong along with crazy levels of private security. It’s a full blown mafia state over there.
This absolutely includes Putin. He’s got a go bag, lots of transportation, and lots of loyal security ready to spirit him out of the country if it ever goes sideways.
The thing about having a tiger by the ears is that you can never ever let go. If Putin ever loses power in Russia his net worth will be whatever he’s managed to get out of the country… which is probably 20+B dollars at this point.
My point is that private property rights in Russia aren’t worth a whole lot, particularly things like stocks/bonds.
It’s an absolute lock that Putin losing power means the entire Russian government gets weaponized against him until he’s no longer a threat to the new government. That’s just how things go in Russia. But he’s much more likely to get assassinated than to get removed by an election at this point. Russia has been a full blown autocracy for its entire history basically.
yeah that is actually why russia has such a low per capita gdp imo. Inward investment is limited to multi-nationals who anticipate huge returns to cover for any corruption payoffs and citizens have zero motivation to start businesses.
Perhaps, and $20+B is a lot. But I don’t think it’s impossible for Putin to happily retire owning his many many many palaces in Russia. He’s legitimately popular and his support could very well be important to any of his successors.
Any exit he makes that looks like that is really him turning over day to day management to one of his minions. He never ever lets go of his power base. You’re right that he might be powerful enough to arrange a peaceful retirement… but make no mistake the new leader of the country will have to live with the fact that Putin can have his head on a platter with <5 phone calls any time he pleases.
Back on topic, it’s one thing for the Dems to take a couple days off for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but are they really taking 2 weeks off? That reeks of:
Trump is legit at the level of an 8 year old or so. Putting on a suit is a big accomplishment for him. Fortunately for him, that goes a long way in this world.
