Soros? "Follow the money."

 

 "In a Daily Caller op-ed calling the Russian meddling narrative a "false public manipulation," Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska claims that Daniel Jones - a former FBI investigator, Feinstein staffer and now a Fusion GPS operative - told the Russian Oligarch's lawyer in March, 2017 that Fusion GPS was funded by "a group of Silicon Valley billionaires and George Soros.""  Zerohedge

------------

Now, this is something different.  I have no idea what the relative truthiness of this may be, but...  pl 

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-03-09/russian-billionaire-claims-fusion-gps-funded-soros

Comments

[Jack]

Sir

This is quite plausible. Silicon Valley billionaires are definitely "investing" in their PC propaganda agenda. The Seattle billionaire and now the world's wealthiest man owns the neocon rag published from our nation's capital. He's also got lucrative contracts from our IC. Alexa is quite happy to listen into all your private conversations at home.

[JW]

I appreciate your use of the phrase ' relative truthiness', and I suggest this latest truthiness is just part of the movie, and a great movie it is. Still, it's about time Soros showed up and he's in good company too, along with this week's poisoned Russian spy and a paid prostitute with a Trump story to tell. Next ? We're probably due for a Clinton/Russia-related Julian Assange document dump, some Russian intel officer arrests in DC and....a new Steele-equivalent originator offering a more respectable document since after all any evidence is good evidence.
Anything to keep the show going and the audience enthralled !

As for Soros himself, I suggest that there are plenty of Soros's with plenty of attached money trails, but George has the watch.
All he is missing is the white cat on his lap.

[Peter AU]

Silicon Valley. A mention of them in this Politico article
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/26/state-defense-russia-propaganda-426626
“This funding is critical to ensuring that we continue an aggressive response to malign influence and disinformation and that we can leverage deeper partnerships with our allies, Silicon Valley, and other partners in this fight,” said Steve Goldstein, undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs."

The entry at wikipedia on Fredric Terman, Stanford university and silicon valley is interesting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Terman

Soros? All NGO's that apear in MSM articles, I look up their funding. Most funding traces back to State Dep NED and Soros, along with other older money 'philanthropist' type foundations.
I have often wondered if Soros is not a front company for an intelligence agency.

[Kooshy]

My understanding is that Mr. Soros has funded, participated and closely associated himself with US’ IC community, for various regime change and copes mostly Eastern Europe in past decades. We know that US IC community has the agenda ( a hard on) for discrediting and removing legally elected president of US from his office. We know US Democratic Party has paid and hired members of foreign intelligence for connecting presidential campaign of DT to Russians, for a possible killing of 2 birds with one shot. We know the cheassy silicon billionaires, are no other than the same old Move on Organization which to the bone are clintonian DLC, or the latter day Obamachies. We know Mr. Soros an Easter European migrant like Zbig is totally and fiercely anti anti Russian.
When all facts put to gather, sounds like all these elements, entities, and personalities share a common motif and goal, which centers on anti Trump and anti Puttin Russia. When put togather, makes a villain’s marriage in haven.

[Fred]

Intereseting that a former staffer from Senator Feinstein is implicated in the mess. How many others are there who have been doing the same thing? I wonder if Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultt's IT staffer Mr. Arwan was accessing any relavent iformation while he was on her payroll and for whom?

[Sylvia 1]

@ James--bingo on the Magnitsky act. It was a critical juncture in US/Russia relations. If you look at the opinion surveys in Russia you see a serious downturn in the percentage of Russians holding favorable opinions toward the US after the passage of the Magnitsky Act. These opinions surveys really got worse after the Ukraine crisis. From what I have been able to see--the US Congress, and the governing bodies of several other countries, passed the Magnitsky Act based on the word of William Browder, and his enablers, without conducting any investigation. Meanwhile, there's a growing body of evidence casting doubt on Mr. William Browder's story and his truthiness!! Finally, yes, it seems that all the above people, along with perhaps several "intelligence agencies" have cooperated in carrying out the current anti-Russian "psychological operation".

[Seamus Padraig]

You wanna hear another hot tip? Debbie's brother, Steven Wasserman, is the Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia -- the very jurisdiction where Seth Rich was murdered. Not much progress being made in that investigation ... can't imagine why!

[jpb]

George Soros collusion with powerful states against ordinary humanity began in Budapest, Hungary during the German occupation of Hungary in WWII. His father obtained forged documents allowing Soros to pass as a Christian. He collaborated with his Christian god father in locating Jews for selection and deportation to Polish work camps. Many of Soros fellow Jews died and had their property confiscated as a result of Soros hands on 'fingering' of Jews. He was a teenager at the time, so we can take this into consideration as we judge a man whose life has been one of using inside information first to survive and later to become a wealthy oligarch using his money and network to open societies for the penetration of privilege and capital. This allegation is substantiated by George Soros own words in an interview on CBS 60 Minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSyczwuTQfo

[BillWade]

I know that Soros is persona non grata in both Thailand and Malaysia - he can't step foot in either country.

[Harry]

I'm increasingly coming tip the conclusion that the Russia stuff is caused by the economic failures of the ruling classes in the UK and US. No noticeable advance in living standards since 1985. An American oligarch is now a trillionaire and doesn't pay tax. Obvious failure everywhere the supposed electorate look. Of course they want an alternative. Its lucky the Russians chose now to become aggressive cos otherwise the Dem party leaders would be fired for incompetence.

[Duck1]

"our allies, Silicon Valley, and other partners in this fight"
Steve Goldstein, undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs.
Sounds like the Moore's Law club are rather conditional allies in the vast struggle for whatever we are trying to achieve.

[rg]

Interesting comment. Maybe he was the DNC hacher/leaker.

[likbez]

I do not think it matters who funded creation of Fusion GPS. What is more important is whether it is a private entity, or an FBI front company which was allowed to have some side business (compare with Crowdstrike):

It might well be that Christopher Steele was just laundering intormation (mostly rumors) colliding three streams of data:

1. Clinton operatives such as Sidney Blomenthal http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/02/06/gowdy-hints-sidney-blumenthal-leaked-info-to-dossier-author-steele.html

2. Fusion GPS. Fusion GPS might feed Steele some of the information it obtained via their earlier use of contractor access to FISA-702(17) “about queries” and processed/enhanced/beatified for this particular purpose by their subcontractor Nelly Ohr

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/12/breaking-nellie-ohr-wife-demoted-justice-official-trump-dossier-case-worked-fusion-gps-also-worked-cia/

3. Some minor tidbits from one, or several intelligence agencies. But Steele dossier simply does not look like a document based on real intelligence; and why MI6 or any other agency would endanger their sources when dirty rumors can do the job. It is also very badly written document so it is evident that Steele did not put much efforts into it.

The blatant abuse of “about queries” was one of the reasons that ten days after the election, on November 17th 2016, Admiral Rogers traveled to Trump Tower without telling ODNI James Clapper. Rogers likely informed President-elect Trump of the prior surveillance activity by the FBI and DOJ, including the likelihood that all of Trump Tower’s email and phone communication were and still are intercepted.

There is also some interesting bits of information in John Helmer article on the subject:

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2018/01/cia-bull-glenn-simpsons-russia-shop.html

The key impression from the testimony is that Glenn Simpson is a puppet, a figurehead with the only real credential -- paranoid Russophobia:

...The second was a bombshell. It dropped during questioning by Congressman Thomas Rooney (right), a 3-term Republican representative from Florida with a career as an army lawyer. Rooney asked Simpson: "Do you or anyone else independently verify or corroborate any information in the dossier?"

Simpson replied by saying, "Yes. Well, numerous things in the dossier have been verified. You know, I don't have access to the intelligence or law enforcement information that I see made reference to, but, you know, things like, you know, the Russian Government has been investigating Hillary Clinton and has a lot of information about her."

Then Simpson contradicted himself, disclosing what he had just denied. "When the original memos came in saying that the Kremlin was mounting a specific operation to get Donald Trump elected President , that was not what the Intelligence Community was saying. The Intelligence Community was saying they are just seeking to disrupt our election and our political process, and that this is sort of kind of just a generally nihilistic, you know, trouble-making operation. And, you know, Chris turned out to be right, it was specifically designed to elect Donald Trump President."

How did Simpson know with such confidence what the "Intelligence Community" was "saying", and who were Simpson's and Steele's sources in the "Intelligence Community"? Rooney failed to inquire. Instead, he and Simpson exchanged question and answer regarding the approach Simpson and Steele made to the FBI when they delivered their dossier. In the details of that, Simpson repeated what he had already told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Rooney then asked what contact had been made with the CIA or "any other intelligence officials". Simpson claimed he didn't understand the question at first, then he stumbled.

Source: http://docs.house.gov/meetings/IG/IG00/20180118/106796/HMTG-115-IG00-20180118-SD002.pdf -- page 61.

What Simpson was concealing in the two pauses, reported in the transcript as hyphens, Rooney did not realize. Simpson was implying that none from Fusion GPS, his consulting company, had been in contact with the CIA, nor him personally. But Simpson left open that Steele had been in contact with the CIA. Rooney followed with a question about "anyone", but that was so imprecise, Simpson recovered his confidence to say "No". That was a cover-up – and the House Intelligence Committee let it drop noiselessly.

Intelligence community sources and colleagues who know Simpson and Steele say Simpson was notorious at the Wall Street Journal for coming up with conspiracy theories for which the evidence was missing or unreliable.

He told the Committee that disbelief on the part of his editors and management had been one of his reasons for leaving the newspaper. "One of the reasons why I left the Wall Street Journal was because I wanted to write more stories about Russian influence in Washington, D.C., on both the Democrats and the Republicans eventually the Journal lost interest in that subject. And I was frustrated that was where I left my journalism career."

Source: http://docs.house.gov/meetings/IG/IG00/20180118/106796/HMTG-115-IG00-20180118-SD002.pdf -- page 61 . What Simpson was concealing in the two pauses, reported in the transcript as hyphens, Rooney did not realize. Simpson was implying that noone from Fusion GPS, his consulting company, had been in contact with the CIA, nor him personally. But Simpson left open that Steele had been in contact with the CIA. Rooney followed with a question about "anyone", but that was so imprecise, Simpson recovered his confidence to say "No". That was a cover-up – and the House Intelligence Committee let it drop noiselessly.

[Richard]

We will have to wait for the evidence, but the accusation is very plausible. Soros' agenda is anti-Trump, anti-Putin, and on a more ideological level, anti-Russian, pro-globalist and in favor of uncontrolled migration. Funding Fusion GPS would fit into this perfectly well.

For example, Soros has also been funding NGOs operating in the Mediterranean Sea that "rescue" migrants that try to cross over from Libya to Italy in boats that are overloaded and not suitable for traversing off-coast waters.

Interestingly, the government in Hungary is now attacking Soros directly. There are posters on billboards that show Soros and the receivers of Soros' money, with quotes implying that those people were responsible for Hungary being overrun with migrants in summer 2015 because the Soros-funded NGOs gave support, supplies and information to migrants moving from Turkey into EU territory.

Of course, according to Western corporate or government-funded media, these are all "conspiracy theories", which are very "antisemitic": http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40554844

[Balint Somkuti, PhD]

@Peter AU
"I have often wondered if Soros is not a front company for an intelligence agency."

For me it seems he is living in a symbiosis with the CIA. While both push their own agenda, they help each other out regularly.

E.g. in my country the Soros founded Central European University recieved clear official support from the US Department of State, when it was revealed that it clearly and intetntionally does not comply with local regulations.

The official message was something like anybody who messes with the CEU crosses path with the US, by intentionally decreasing its influence. From this point of view this university is much like the School of Americas in the 19th century, as disgusting as it is for Eastern European countries with 1000+ vears of history.

[Babak Makkinejad]

I agree, if Soros wanted to help he could have supported the scholarship of Hungarians in existing universities by giving them money? But this "Gender Studies", "Network Science", etc. is just plain stupid.
In US, it took a 100 years to create an English Department but only year os so to create Wome's Studies.

[LeaNder]

E.g. in my country the Soros founded Central European University

Balint Somkuti, I seem to have appreciated some of their activities and discussions to the extend they reached me via videos related too my basic fields.

But yes, there was a US-Berlin-Praque/Czech connection network I observed for a while. What happened to the Czech location? And/or rumors about relocating the institution back to the Czech Republic?

There are of course other interesting actors in the larger privatization of education scene over here in Europe, and it seems Trump may well support this economic 'educational enterprise'. Considering some of his choices.

[Thomas]

"...all the developments towards singling out russia for everything.."

The new meme for Mischief.

"Who took the cookie from the Jar?

"The Russians did it, Dad!"

"Well it is a good thing they failed to put the top back on, or You and I would not have known of the deed."

[Eric Newhill]

For context, Soros has vowed to "take down"/"destroy", etc Trump on several occasions. Randomly selected example here:

http://yournewswire.com/soros-take-down-trump/

Is the reason this man has not been introduced to a long term stay in a prison cell let alone to a plutonium based dietary supplement or a .45 inch Q-Tip because he is a de facto agent of the Western intelligence communities?

[JW]

Or possibly because his NGOs act against the concept of nation states, which suits international commerce just fine as it reduces their barriers to entry into target national economies.
Note that his early-90's foreign currency win was carried out against the Pound, rather than against the Ruble.

[JW]

Babek, if you were Soros, how would you act against Iranian nationalism ?

[Balint Somkuti, PhD]

"What happened to the Czech location? And/or rumors about relocating the institution back to the Czech Republic?"

Originally CEU was founded and located in Prague. But after the clever czechs revealed its true purposes they more or less pressured him (or the Open Society Foundation for that matter) to leave their capital. Just like they did with the well known russian mobster Semyon Mogilyevich. Both were around 1993.

Then with willing help of the hungarian liberals and social democrat turned communists both came to Budapest. CEU recieved more than a warm welcome by recieveing free of charge properties etc, and for 15 years the authorities turned a blind eye on their machinations. When a year ago or so CEU was required to comply with hungarian laws regulating higher education, they ran screaming to Department of State.

As of "Uncle Seva" (aka Semyon), as this crook was known, the local govt was amptly informed about his expulsion from Prague, yet he also received protection, and support from the hungarian Ministry of Interior. May those traitors burn in hell! Some also celbrity turned former communist celberitiies have even boasted about their close relationship with an internationally wanted criminal. Finally around 2010 IIRC it was after the commies were finally expulsed he was put under investigation. After seizing some 10 tonnes!! of documents he was allowed to relocate to Israel.

[Babak Makkinejad]

Off Topic - Tyler, buddy, I got a book for you
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1563439069/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520705577&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=sic+semper+tyrannis+novel&dpPl=1&dpID=51kfkJ3BzjL&ref=plSrch

[Mark Logan]

My understanding is Fusion GPS does research for both sides. Soros giving them money is entirely plausible but assuming that money equals control is a bit of a leap.

It appears to be some Russians seeking to discredit the investigation with clever BS/truthiness.

I suspect a few absurdly wealthy Russians harbor a deep fear of Mueller. They may believe he is primarily after them and they may be right. I see Mueller as an old-school lawman, and suspect he is using all this as a golden opportunity to put the hurt on some Russian mobsters, particularly in their money laundering. It would not surprise me if he hopes he will not be forced to nail Trump himself to the wall, which would drag all kinds of political noise into the trials, some of the people around Trump will be bad enough. Using some of them, at least for the moment, is unavoidable, it's the politics is the source of his mission and resources.

If only our press had the bandwidth necessary to distinguish those few Russians from ALL Russians...

[robt willmann]

George Soros may be the face of various organizations, but he may not be the only provider of money, as the article about Fusion GPS asserts. His original name was likely George Schwartz, and his political activity is well-known, except for a more recent move to local elections.

He is now financing elections for District Attorney, the local office with the sole authority to file and prosecute State crimes in a particular area. In the 6 March Democratic primary for District Attorney in San Antonio, Texas, Soros injected around a million dollars in support of an opponent of the incumbent DA. The current DA, Nicholas 'Nico' LaHood, was defeated by Soros's candidate. LaHood is a very good and effective courtroom lawyer who has personally successfully prosecuted several cases as DA. He is attentive and talks in a conversational way (unlike the commonplace, stilted style of Senator Ted Cruz, for example). A DA, U.S. Attorney, or Attorney General rarely personally goes into court to handle a case. Nico's announcement for re-election was on 19 September 2017--

https://therivardreport.com/bexar-county-district-attorney-nico-lahood-announces-re-election-bid/

I immediately thought that there was going to be a candidate against him who was going to get a lot of backing and promotion. Like all people, LaHood is not perfect, but he had the audacity to support a potential lawsuit by the County against pharmaceutical companies for contributing to the destructive opioid addiction problem, often the result of prescription drugs. In addition, he publicly took the position that vaccines may contribute to autism (he has an autistic child). Local doctors organized against him because of his questioning of present immunization policies in the medical field, which policies are also promoted by drug companies.

On top of that, he opposed sanctuary cities while his wife is of Mexican heritage.

After LaHood lost, the involvement of Soros even made the Daily Caller Internet website, among others--

http://dailycaller.com/2018/03/06/soros-district-attorney-win-texas/

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/politics/article/Soros-contributions-to-LaHood-DA-challenger-nears-12713247.php

https://www.libertyheadlines.com/soros-dropping-millions-da-races-12-won-since-2015/

The front group Soros used in the San Antonio DA's race is called "Texas Justice & Public Safety PAC", a political action committee. The following report covers the period from 26 January to 24 February 2018--

http://204.65.203.5/public/100698059.pdf

Page four of the filing to the Texas Ethics Commission lists the sole contributor as "George Soros, New York, NY 10019-9710", for $950,000.00. Pages 5-15 list the expenditures, most of which went to "Berlin Rosen Ltd.; 15 Maiden Lane, Suite 1600; New York, NY 10038". That cutout -- pardon me, I mean, company -- then made the in-kind expenditures for LaHood's opponent, which included some polling, which probably concerned the same election.