All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Exclusive: Trump says he does not fault son for meeting Russian lawyer “Trump is saying he would have taken the meeting himself?” Sees nothing wrong with meeting to get Russian help in his election?

“It was a 20-minute meeting, I guess, from what I’m hearing,” Trump said. “Many people, and many political pros, said everybody would do that.”

Source: Exclusive: Trump says he does not fault son for meeting Russian lawyer

Trump Jr. email confirms collusion attempt: Darcy cartoon | cleveland.com

While the email chain, between Trump Jr. and an intermediary for a Putin-connected Russian real estate tycoon, may not be the definitive “smoking gun” proving collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, it certainly confirms a collusion attempt was made.The email chain began in June, 2016, when an intermediary for a Russian business associate of President Trump, emailed Donald Jr. stating: “The Crown prosecutor of Russia…offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father.”   The email added, “This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”Donald Trump replied to the offer of Russian-provided dirt on Hillary Clinton, writing back, “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.”    As it would turn out, the most damaging Russian-hacked Clinton emails were released by WikiLeaks later in the summer.

Source: Trump Jr. email confirms collusion attempt: Darcy cartoon | cleveland.com

Who is Natalia Veselnitskaya: low-level lawyer or Kremlin power broker? | US news | The Guardian

That some part of the Russian elite used the Agalarovs – well-connected in Moscow and with known links to Trump – as a potential conduit of information is a theory that makes sense to some. In a blog on Wednesday, opposition politician Navalny wrote: “It looks very plausible. I don’t doubt that the Chaika-Agalarov link could have been used by Putin (or the security services) for contacts with Trump and for passing him information through a trusted channel.”

Source: Who is Natalia Veselnitskaya: low-level lawyer or Kremlin power broker? | US news | The Guardian

China just sent troops to Djibouti to establish its first overseas military base: Shanghaiist Been there – it is entry way to Red Sea.

some of Beijing’s biggest rivals didn’t completely buy its story of peaceful military expansion in the Gulf of Aden, instead pointing towards more nefarious motives.As political analyst Lai Yueqian said in an interview with Taiwan Today: “[The base] can be used to pin down the United States and any U.S.-led organizations, and if [the U.S.] wants to intervene against China’s interests, they will have to think carefully, because China will use their military to protect their citizens and their property.”But, regardless of their intentions, China continues to show that it’s serious about becoming more and more of a world player.

Source: China just sent troops to Djibouti to establish its first overseas military base: Shanghaiist

Soros, Bannon, and the anti-Semitism of Israel’s prime minister | +972 Magazine

Netanyahu’s attack on Soros, who openly supports liberal and progressive causes worldwide and does not hide his objection to Israel’s military dictatorship in the occupied territories, is now effectively an open attack on the insidious influence of the Powerful Jew. Soros is the cosmopolitan, liberal, Upper West Side Jew who looks at the increasingly fascistic trends in the Jewish state and “wants nothing to do with it,” as he himself once put it. The frightening part is that there is very little daylight between the way this Jew is viewed by far-right Zionists (and in many ways classic Zionism, too) and the alt-right.Resisting the alt-right is basic for most American Jews, yet somehow speaking out against the Israeli version of the alt-right is still considered taboo. But the fact is that Israel is way ahead of the U.S. and Europe when it comes to far-right nationalist politics. Over the past decade, pundits, commentators, liberals, and radicals have been warning against the Geert Wilders and Marine Le Pens who threaten to upend Europe’s liberal order, yet few have included the Netanyahus and Nafatali Bennetts for wanting to do the same. Israel is not “following in the footsteps” of European nationalist movements — it is actively setting the trend. And unlike in the Netherlands or France, there is nothing to stop this train.

Source: Soros, Bannon, and the anti-Semitism of Israel’s prime minister | +972 Magazine