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Bill Browder's prepared statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee - must read

T

theclosetfan

Member
midramble said:
Feel like the title should be changed to

Putin, Lord of all Mafias, murders and steels his way to world domination.

or

Putin to global mafia. "I want 50 percent"

or

Putin wants to trade sick orphans for his 50% cut of mafia money. Kills everyone who says no.

Something that gets more clicks. Title and content made this a sleeper article to me. Bit shook.
Click to expand...

I concur. This is incredibly important stuff that's going to slip under the radar.
 
D

DrROBschiz

Member
Yeah its worse than I imagined


And Trump pushed hard to get along with Putin

Fuck him

Putin doesnt deserve shit from us outside of utter contempt
 
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
I mean, this would get more hits if the title gave some idea about what the article says, e.g. ""Bill Browder's statement detailing Putin's mafia tactics to lift Russian sanctions." The current title gives you no idea what this is about.
 
L

LucidMomentum

Member
Sho_Nuff82 said:
Made a thread about some of the victims of Magnitsky-act related violence, including the lawyer for Sergei's family a little while ago:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1403880

TL:DR - he got thrown off a building in March, but somehow survived.
Click to expand...

Nevertheless.

Justice persists.

But yeah, anytime someone tells me they admire Putin / Russia, et. al I tell them that's absurd and on the level of approving of someone like Kim Jong Un.
 
S

subrock

Member
This is insane. Makes me even angrier at stooges like Oliver Stone that try to make Putin look like a misunderstood softie
 
S

Saint Gregory

Member
Mael said:
Another puzzle piece...
Click to expand...
Are you implying that Bernie was in on this? I mean yes, it's true that the Russian campaign to smear Hillary wouldn't have worked without Bernie there to cast her as a corrupt Wall Street shill but... Hmm... I can't remember the point I was trying to make now.
 
C

CopperPuppy

Member
Absolutely fascinating read. I'm at a loss for words, frankly.

Argyle said:
It looks like Bernie Sanders voted against the Magnitsky Act. Does anyone know why?
Click to expand...

I actually tried to look into this a bit and couldn't find any attempted explanation. The bill had overwhelming support, I think. Does anyone know the reason for Sanders' vote?
 
T

theclosetfan

Member
Angry Grimace said:
I mean, this would get more hits if the title gave some idea about what the article says, e.g. ""Bill Browder's statement detailing Putin's mafia tactics to lift Russian sanctions." The current title gives you no idea what this is about.
Click to expand...

This is a good suggestion for an alternate title. Mods?
 
M

midramble

Pizza, Bourbon, and Thanos
Summed up for those not wanting to read.

or

18 Steps to Crazy

1) Bill Browder does 4 billion investment in Russia and finds Oligarchs stealing from his investments

2) In 2000 Bill is helped by Putin to fight this corruption.

3) 2003, Putin takes down the top kingpin making an example of him. Other oligarchs ask how to avoid the same fate. Putin responds "50% cut... directly to me"

4) 2005 Bill's anti corruption support not only stops, he is declared a state threat. Office is raided by state. Hires lawyer Sergei Magnitsky to investigate.

5) Magnitsky discovers assets were transferred to mafioso. Bill reports this to the state to get some justice.

6) 2008 Magnitsky is arrested after testifying against those that took the assets by the people who took the assets.

7) For a year Magnitsky is put through Ivan Denisovich style hell (but worse) to try to get him to confess HE stole the assets.

8) Magnitsky's health deteriorates to the point he needs surgery. Gets sent to a place to do so. That place is a chained isolation room. The surgery is 8 riot guards beating him to death. At age 37 he leaves behind a wife and two children.

10) Bill ,vowing justice, goes to America to tell his story to Benjamin Cardin and John McCain. This sets up the Magnitsky Act (Russian sanctions freezing assets of those involved).

11) 2012 Obama signs Magnitsky Act into law

12) Putin is pissed (apparently because his money is tied up in these assets). Responds by banning American adoption of sick Russian orphans.

13) Article then mentions Putin apparently has 200 billion in dirty funds and that money is kept in the west and no longer can secure impunity to other oligarchs resulting in a keen interest to shut down the Magnitsky Act.

14) Boris Nemtsov campaigns for the Magnitsky Act. 2015 he is murdered outside the kremlin

15) Boris protege Vladimir Kara-Murza also campaigns. 2016 is poisoned and almost dies.

16) Nikolai Gorokhov lawyers for Magnitsky's mother. Is thrown off a building. Survives.

17) Bill constantly getting death threats.

18) Natalia Veselnitskaya (lawyer that met with Trump Jr) and friends run massive anti-Magnitsky repeal campaign. Smearing Magnitsky's name, trying to make him look like a criminal, and trying to remove his name from the Act. They have not registered as foreign agents and Bill is trying to rectify that while bringing this story to light.

Let me know if I missed anything dire
 
N

Netherscourge

Banned
The only way Putin is losing his hold on Russia is if another Russian oligarch has him assassinated.

But then, you're really just hitting the reset button because the next guy might be even worse.

There are no checks and balances in the Russian government. Just a bunch of desensitized, ex-Cold War carpetbaggers.
 
M

Mael

Member
Saint Gregory said:
Are you implying that Bernie was in on this? I mean yes, it's true that the Russian campaign to smear Hillary wouldn't have worked without Bernie there to cast her as a corrupt Wall Street shill but... Hmm... I can't remember the point I was trying to make now.
Click to expand...

The thing with Putin's web of corruption is that it doesn't need everyone to hand bags of money to support his goals.
We have plenty of people who are probably not on his payroll to go to bat for him.
We know that Jill Stein is supported by Russia too, so what another leftist supporting Russian corruption?
Heck look at France for example, the guy who won was the ONLY one who had a hard stance on Putin's Russia.
Literally every other candidate running were for lifting sanctions.
And LePen wasn't even the biggest paid Putin shill!
 
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
FWIW Browder isn't quoting Putin on the "50%" comment. That was how he interpreted the response given the following events.
 
N

Netherscourge

Banned
midramble said:
Summed up for those not wanting to read.

or

18 Steps to Crazy

1) Bill Browder does 4 billion investment in Russia and finds Oligarchs stealing from his investments

2) In 2000 Bill is helped by Putin to fight this corruption.

3) 2003, Putin takes down the top kingpin making an example of him. Other oligarchs ask how to avoid the same fate. Putin responds "50% cut... directly to me"

4) 2005 Bill's anti corruption support not only stops, he is declared a state threat. Office is raided by state. Hires lawyer Sergei Magnitsky to investigate.

5) Magnitsky discovers assets were transferred to mafioso. Bill reports this to the state to get some justice.

6) 2008 Magnitsky is arrested after testifying against those that took the assets by the people who took the assets.

7) For a year Magnitsky is put through Ivan Denisovich style hell (but worse) to try to get him to confess HE stole the assets.

8) Magnitsky's health deteriorates to the point he needs surgery. Gets sent to a place to do so. That place is a chained isolation room. The surgery is 8 riot guards beating him to death. At age 37 he leaves behind a wife and two children.

10) Bill ,vowing justice, goes to America to tell his story to Benjamin Cardin and John McCain. This sets up the Magnitsky Act (Russian sanctions freezing assets of those involved).

11) 2012 Obama signs Magnitsky Act into law

12) Putin is pissed (apparently because his money is tied up in these assets). Responds by banning American adoption of sick Russian orphans.

13) Article then mentions Putin apparently has 200 billion in dirty funds and that money is kept in the west and no longer can secure impunity to other oligarchs resulting in a keen interest to shut down the Magnitsky Act.

14) Boris Nemtsov campaigns for the Magnitsky Act. 2015 he is murdered outside the kremlin

15) Boris protege Vladimir Kara-Murza also campaigns. 2016 is poisoned and almost dies.

16) Nikolai Gorokhov lawyers for Magnitsky's mother. Is thrown off a building. Survives.

17) Bill constantly getting death threats.

18) Natalia Veselnitskaya (lawyer that met with Trump Jr) and friends run massive anti-Magnitsky repeal campaign. Smearing Magnitsky's name, trying to make him look like a criminal, and trying to remove his name from the Act. They have not registered as foreign agents and Bill is trying to rectify that while bringing this story to light.

Let me know if I missed anything dire
Click to expand...

Don't forget the anti-Putin activist who was banned from running for office because of a law they just made up barring anyone with a criminal record from running. (by criminal I mean - "arrested for protesting")

EDIT - Actually, that wasn't in the article, but it's part of the shield Putin has around himself to prevent anyone from opposing him.
 
Z

Zolo

Member
This is why I wondered why every thread and other piece when it's said they talked about 'adoptions' didn't throw up giant red flags on that topic.
 
S

Steeped in a Sea of Games

Member
Citizen's United was worse than we ever imagined. It's completely opened us up to foreign influence. And like everything else, it all comes down to money. It's strange it's all coming to a head now though. Putin played the game so well, did Donald Trump really screw the pooch this much?

If Putin's real goal is just to get access to his money and not to just throw the west into chaos, then he's actually screwed up really big here.
 
G

Guy.brush

Member
We went back to the middle ages and are living in a 2nd age of feudalism, just slightly better hidden from view and with more electronic toys to keep us distracted and tracked.
Our new overlords just call themselves Presidents for life.
 
M

meow

Member
Crazy stuff. Hopefully more people see this. They can decide what they want to believe or not, but this should at least be more out there.
 
G

GodofWine

Member
subrock said:
My mistake. I figured this was released before his testimony. There should be more noise about this
Click to expand...

There will be, he was on CNN last night, and I'm sure they, and other agencies are putting together a nights worth of content on this.

This is incredible. If that Drump Jr meeting really was about abortions and nothing else, I'll eat my hat.
 
K

KingV

Member
Saint Gregory said:
Are you implying that Bernie was in on this? I mean yes, it's true that the Russian campaign to smear Hillary wouldn't have worked without Bernie there to cast her as a corrupt Wall Street shill but... Hmm... I can't remember the point I was trying to make now.
Click to expand...

Bernie is not publically soft on Putin. His stance during the election was that he supported sanctions, and working with our allies to develop new sanctions.

I do believe that Putin Was turning his election meddling machine on the democratic primary, but I don't think either candidate was "in on it". I have noticed that the Bernie Bro/Hillary Shill rift always seemed greater online than in person, and I expect that the Russian bots were amplifying the worst voices to create a rift in the Democratic Party. Some of the blogs saying "all Bernie bros are racists" or "Hillary supporters are basically republicans" may have been written by trolls or distributed more widely by them.
 
R

randomengine

Banned
This is the event that Trump has been acting crazy to distract from.

This is it.

Everyone watch it and everyone share it. This should be mandatory for every American citizen.
 
S

Saint Gregory

Member
Mael said:
The thing with Putin's web of corruption is that it doesn't need everyone to hand bags of money to support his goals.
We have plenty of people who are probably not on his payroll to go to bat for him.
We know that Jill Stein is supported by Russia too, so what another leftist supporting Russian corruption?
Heck look at France for example, the guy who won was the ONLY one who had a hard stance on Putin's Russia.
Literally every other candidate running were for lifting sanctions.
And LePen wasn't even the biggest paid Putin shill!
Click to expand...
I'm sure that the Russians just took advantage of the weaknesses that Bernie exposed in Clinton but it's really unfortunate how he's been a part of this fiasco. Remember that he also wanted Obama primaried in 2012. Thank God that didn't happen.
Karkador said:
Fox News' take:

Russia probe: Democrats block key witness against shadowy firm Fusion GPS
Click to expand...
LOL, of course they did.
KingV said:
Bernie is not publically soft on Putin. His stance during the election was that he supported sanctions, and working with our allies to develop new sanctions.

I do believe that Putin Was turning his election meddling machine on the democratic primary, but I don't think either candidate was "in on it". I have noticed that the Bernie Bro/Hillary Shill rift always seemed greater online than in person, and I expect that the Russian bots were amplifying the worst voices to create a rift in the Democratic Party. Some of the blogs saying "all Bernie bros are racists" or "Hillary supporters are basically republicans" may have been written by trolls or distributed more widely by them.
Click to expand...
I agree with you completely. I think the key thing here to Putin is "Anyone but Hillary" because she's probably the only person in the world that he hates more than Obama.
 
J

Jenov

Member
Watching Browder's testimony to Senate now, amazing. Guy must have balls of steel, directly exposing Putin and Russia's oligarchy corruption. I'd be scared shitless of being the next polonium victim after so many others have been assassinated (or attempted). Really glad he's speaking out about this, it's eye opening and really puts a lot of the Russia presidential antics into perspective. Adoption talk = Russian sanctions. Period. How anyone could watch this and still deny any Russian meddling is mind blowing denial.
 
T

traveler

Not Wario
I'll take 8 years of Trump for trade if I could do so in exchange for an end to the reign of Putin and the oligarchs.
 
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