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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump donor, Blackstone CEO Is Driving Force Behind Amazon Deforestation
TWO BRAZILIAN FIRMS owned by a top donor to Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell are significantly responsible for the ongoing destruction of the Amazon rainforest, carnage that has developed into raging fires that have captivated global attention.
The companies have wrested control of land, deforested it, and helped build a controversial highway to their new terminal in the one-time jungle, all to facilitate the cultivation and export of grain and soybeans. The shipping terminal at Miritituba, deep in the Amazon in the Brazilian state of Pará, allows growers to load soybeans on barges, which will then sail to a larger port before the cargo is shipped around the world.
The Amazon terminal is run by Hidrovias do Brasil, a company that is owned in large part by Blackstone, a major U.S. investment firm. Another Blackstone company, Pátria Investimentos, owns more than 50 percent of Hidrovias, while Blackstone itself directly owns an additional roughly 10 percent stake. Blackstone co-founder and CEO Stephen Schwarzman is a close ally of Trump and has donated millions of dollars to McConnell in recent years.
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The Amazon, where a record number of fires have been raging, is the worlds largest rainforest. It absorbs a significant amount of carbon dioxide, a major contributor to the climate crisis. The Amazon is so dense in vegetation that it produces something like a fifth of the worlds oxygen supply. The moisture that evaporates from the Amazon is important form farmlands not just in South America, but also in the U.S. Midwest, where it falls to the earth as rain. Protection of the Amazon, 60% of which is in Brazil, is crucial to the continued existence of civilization as we know it.
https://theintercept.com/2019/08/27/amazon-rainforest-fire-blackstone/
(Cross-posted in E & E Forum)
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)Huh ... whole thing seems a little FISHY, if you ask me.
I think somebody should probably explain this rather simple set of connections ... to US farmers.
mainer
(12,022 posts)Trump's donor wants to sell more soybeans to China. So Trump conveniently enacts tariffs, driving China to buy from the Trump donor who grows his soybeans in Brazil.
Trump helps destroy the Amazon.
B Stieg
(2,410 posts)Schwarzman -- like tRump -- is a locust.
Duppers
(28,120 posts)Good good threads are ignoring this info.
B Stieg
(2,410 posts)This is beyond tragic. It seems the rich backers of this "rape" of nature believe you can breathe money, 'cause that's all that will be left.
backtoblue
(11,343 posts)PS: I posted an OP about the Russian International Fund, Schwarzman's son, etc but I can't find it now. (Edit: found it...
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212088947)
His son worked for the law firm found guilty in Manafort's Ukraine case...
.(Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom) look at their Wikipedia page under Notable Alumni...LOTS of interesting stuff...
Edit to add more info:
Law Firm to Pay $4.6 Million in Case Tied to Manafort and Ukraine
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/17/us/politics/skadden-arps-ukraine-lobbying-settlement.html
Here's his son's info ...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teddy_Schwarzman
Duppers
(28,120 posts)Same corporations & companies eating into everything.
Also found this:
https://www.newsweek.com/russia-funded-facebook-and-twitter-investments-billionaire-associate-jared-702269
Read much of that Twitter thread, then an article in The Guardian similar to the one above in Newsweek. Shaking my head at how far this goes.
Thank You so much, backtoblue!
👍👍
Bayard
(22,069 posts)They just don't care if the rest of the planet burns (literally) as long as they are making boatloads of money.
"Land Grabbers", go in and chainsaw large areas, ILLEGALLY, then sell it to this company to grow grain and soybeans. So.....the company is buying land illegally. Apparently they don't have to show title? Or that's just glossed over. Once again, indigenous peoples' rights are stomped on.
This is a tough battle to fight when the leader of the country is intent on selling out said country. Oh wait a minute.....that sounds familiar.