Kleptocracy and meddling with a foreign an election looks like it pays very well

[bigtree]

ThinkProgress ?@thinkprogress 26m26 minutes ago
Trump, Putin, and ExxonMobil team up to destroy the planet: https://t.co/0ahcNhrmXA

Pick of Exxon CEO for Secretary of State clarifies why Putin wanted Trump elected: a $500 billion oil deal killed by sanctions

...So much is explained by Trump’s Secretary of State choice. Media reports now say it will be Rex Tillerson, CEO of oil giant ExxonMobil, which had made a $500 billion oil deal with Putin that got blocked by sanctions.

Stalling the biggest oil deal ever did not just “put Exxon at risk,” as the Wall Street Journal reported in 2014. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow explained last week this deal was so big it was “expected to change the historical trajectory of Russia.”

This deal could explain why Putin appears to have interfered in U.S. elections in favor of a Trump victory. Recently, “the C.I.A. altered its formal assessment of Russia’s activities to conclude that the government of President Vladimir V. Putin was not just trying to undermine the election,” as the New York Times reported Saturday, “but had also acted to give one candidate an advantage.”

___Kleptocracy — and apparently meddling with a foreign an election — looks like it pays very well.

[BadGimp]

1. we are so screwed... Bush Jr will look like a walk n the park compared to this admin

[marylandblue]

2. We have done this to other countries

Karma is a bitch.

[bigtree]

4. all things being equal?

...they seldom are.

I think it's indisputable that U.S. foreign policy has revolved around oil interests here, and in partner states like Saudi Arabia, when it suits administrations. That's not usually in the interest of the nation or citizens.

There's also oil giants like Russia and China who are constantly trying to gain an advantage or control over the oil markets to benefit their respective countries. The U.S. has been an immovable obstacle to that assertion of Russian dominance for decades. Having a man at State gives Russia leverage, right now, with the prospect of a loosened check on their ambitions.

We can certainly argue about the providence or efficacy of the U.S. maintaining that control and influence, but it's certainly a stark reversal to have such a Russian-centric administration.

We can afford to be sanguine or contrary, even, about our national interest, especially as defined by our politicians. Yet, there are consequences to the U.S. economy which shouldn't be actually engineered against our interests at the head of our government.

[Initech]

3. Yup it's all about that precious fucking money.

Tillerson will lift Russian sanctions and trade embargo, Puzder will keep the peasants in line on the domestic front from questioning their wealthy masters. Ain't capitalism great?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

5. K&R