One if by Land, Two if by Sea, Three if by GCHQ. The British are Coming! The British are Coming! Observations on a tangled tale, by Fred

The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill

It was a dark and stormy daniels night. In the daylight you know when they are going to use the bayonet. It is in the darkest hours of night that you least expect someone will use cold Steele to drive a dagger into the heart of American democracy – our system of free and fair elections. 

Christopher-steele

He doesn't look dangerous, does he? He looks like the very image of a noble ally, not like some ignoble troll. What possible deed could he have done to draw the ire eye of the American government? We know what Russian trolls did. Check the 13 Troll indictment:

"U.S. law bans foreign nationals from making certain expenditures or financial disbursements for the purpose of influencing federal elections. U.S. law also bars agents of any foreign entity from engaging in political activities within the United States without first registering with the Attorney General." 

" strategic goal to sow discord in the U.S. political system, including the 2016 U.S. presidential election. ….. derogatory information….."

Hmmmm. I'm sure this gentlemen, still under the obligations of the Official Secrets Act, is a registered foregn agent in the US, right? I'm sure Her Britannic Majesty's government is quite happy with what this "former" intellegence officer has done with his knowledge, skills, abilities and of course, contacts, to affect the special relationship between our nations. 

"Ex-MI6 officer Christopher Steele, named as writer of Donald Trump memo, is ‘highly regarded professional’"

I've forgotten, is it "Fake news never lies", or that "people never lie to fake news"? 

"After Mr Trump won the election, an ally of John McCain, the Republican senator, visited Britain to meet Mr Steele and read the dossier for himself. …..  He was reportedly told to "look for a man wearing a blue raincoat and carrying a Financial Times under his arm” at Heathrow Airport. A copy of the dossier was eventually passed to Mr McCain. "

That sounds like a scene from an episode of Rumpole of the Bailey. Only that episode featured biscuits……. Somehow I think Victoria Nuland will eventually come into the picture here too. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/02/07/ex-british-spy-christopher-steele-interviewed-russia-election/

Undoubtably what Mr. Steele found, compiled or created was presented to somebody somewhere – besides "allies" of one of Mr. Trump's political opponents – Senator McCain:

"Bruce Ohr, the Department of Justice official who brought opposition research on President Donald Trump to the FBI,…". 

I wonder who got that into Bruce's hands? Hopefully the FBI didn't just sit on in like it was a tip about a teenager who threatened to shoot up a school or something. I'm sure a warrant to investigate could be obtained at any Federal Courthouse. It's not like we have a secret Star Chamber court where the facts never see the light of day

What? I'm sure somebody wrote a memo. Nunes memo. Or two. Grassley-Graham memo. Wow. Something seems rather Schiffty. Sigh. "classified" It seems politicians don't trust Americans with the truth. Letting the Truth out wouldn't be good for re-election, would it? 

Confused yet? Keeping track of  this scandal is hard work; it could drive a man to drink.

I wonder what drink the big dogs would have about now? I'll just ask. 

Snoop-dogg

Snoop! Why you look like you've been inhale'n more than the leader of the Choom Gang ever did. Give us a word:

"You bitches drinkin' lemonaide, but I'm the Coolaid Man" Well. Okay then.

What flavor?

John-brennan-senate-hearing-0523-exlarge-169

Aaack! Pftwtewy. Yuk. That'll leave a bitter taste in your mouth. Like bad tea in a disreputable shop in the shady side of London. I wonder if he sent anyone to London? Maybe we could check the travel records. I'm sure they asked for reimbursement.

Now if that's the flavor I know I don't want to be Drinking the Koolaid.

Just what does that mean, Drinking the Koolaid, anyway? Let me quote:

"It signifies that the person in question has given up personal integrity and has succumbed to the prevailing group-think that typifies policymaking today. This person has become "part of the problem, not part of the solution."

What was the "problem"? The sincerely held beliefs of a small group of people who think they are the "bearers" of a uniquely correct view of the world, sought to dominate the…."

Yeah, we've all had a bit too much of that flavor. There is one thing sure to wash that particular taste away.

Positive thought

Ah, fresh covfefe.  There's nothing quite like the smell of covfefe in the morning. Just the thing to brighten your day. 

Still feeling glum? Just chill. This is the internet, and drafting this stuff is hard, expecially when you have to wear a tie:

On the internet nobody knows

Now where was I? Ah, yes, Our Noble allies. I wonder why American presidents love them so much? Like we see here.

Branson-obama-reut

Like a virgin, touched for the very first time. Sorry, wrong song. "Moon River,…" Just like "Breakfast at Tiffany's". I wonder who the weather report was shared with, or …… Or…Ohr…

Exercise in rhetoric:

ore – material from which a metal or valuable mineral can be extracted (like the metal used to make steel)

oar – useful if up a creek without a paddle. 

or - introducing a synonym or explanation of a preceding word or phrase; such as "the espionage novel, or, as it is known in the trade, the thriller" 

Ohr.

Whoa Nellie! Where have I heard that one?

Ohr. Nellie. ……. Methinks that deserves a little closer scrutiny. Let's take a look.

FBI investigation

Do I have this thing pointed at the alt-right, right wing, always at the right in the correct direction? Let's see. If only I were an agent of the FBI or a real reporter like Farheed Zakaria of GPS. I'm sure he'd get to the heart of the matter. GPS? Why oh why is that familiar? Ah. 

Let me quote one of our favorite Middle Easterners:

Oh Crap

Holy Crap!

Now why would anyone send a Breakfast at Tiffany's style weather report to an employee of Fusion GPS? To get the word out to who was to do what to whom? I wonder. Now what the heck does that have to do with Ohr and Steel? Ohr… right, an employee of Fusion GPS. Which just happens to employ our noble ally Mr. Steele. Ohr,  who's husband just happens to be…. 

https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/12/politics/bruce-ohr-special-counsel/index.html

Just happens to be married to a DOJ official. Well nobody believes fake news anymore, how about we verify before we trust:

http://dailycaller.com/2018/02/14/exclusive-doj-official-bruce-ohr-hid-wifes-fusion-gps-payments-from-ethics-officials/

"Bruce Ohr, the Department of Justice official who brought opposition research on President Donald Trump to the FBI, did not disclose that Fusion GPS, which performed that research at the Democratic National Committee’s behest, was paying his wife, and did not obtain a conflict of interest waiver from his superiors at the Justice Department,….." 

Why there can't be any conflict with that. Let's check the official DOJ code of conduct. I know it's around here somewhere.

Winston_smith_newspeak_dictionary_feature_11-22-15-1

Crimethink – Nope, not happening here.  Bellyfeel. Well a lot of that goin' on, but nope, nothing to do with integrity. Thoughtcrime- Nope. All the correct bellyfeel was happ'n.  Integrity.  That word is not in that dictionary, so that conduct must be OK if you are with her. Congratulations, you get to keep a job and your pension Bruce almighty. For now. 

What else is in that book? Doubletalk? Naw, that's in the fake news handbook. The DOJ would never stoop that low. 

Now if only somebody at the Counter Intellegence section of the FBI could get to the heart of the fbi lawyer he's banging on the side. matter about what criminal conduct was occuring. Did that FBI agent responsible for counter-intellegence talk to DOJ attorney Bruce Ohr's boss, the attorney who just happened to be….  the pièces de résistance Sally "I don't have to obey the head of the Executive Branch of Government" Yates? I wonder what's in the record of the meetings those two had? They did keep records? Maybe something simple like that email from Susan Rice - to Susan Rice. For the record. 

Well, at least after more than a year we finally have some indictments. So what kind of conduct that influenced the election is criminal, according to the indictment handed down by the Mueller team?

Count 1: "…. U.S. law also bars agents of any foreign entity from engaging in political activities within the United States without first registering with the Attorney General. And U.S. law requires certain foreign nationals seeking entry to the United States to obtain a visa by providing truthful and accurate information to the government."  If you have someone fly to london and get that info is that OK or is that criminal? 

Count 2:    "… defraud the United States by impairing, obstructing, and defeating the lawful functions of the government through fraud and deceit for the purpose of interfering with the U.S. political and electoral processes, including the presidential election of 2016."  If you delete all your emails –  384 pages  does that count as "imparing, obstructing and defeating the lawful functions of government"? Has the Mueller team interviewed Strzok and Page? How about not telling anyone your wife works for Fusion GPS, creator of the dossier that was essential to obtaining the FISA court indictment? 

Count 3:  "……. ORGANIZATION began operations to interfere with the U.S. political system, including the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Defendant ORGANIZATION received funding for its operations from ….  and companies he controlled …. Defendants ….  spent significant funds to further the ORGANIZATION’s operations and to pay …. other uncharged ORGANIZATION employees, salaries and bonuses for their work at the ORGANIZATION."

 Who paid Fusion GPS at each stage of their work? Is that criminal?

Count 4: "….. operated social media pages and groups designed to attract U.S. audiences….." 

If a firm knowingly changes the ranking of social media pages others have created does that affect the "attraction of US audiences" and thus count as interference in the electoral process? How about just making sure users of social media never see the content?    ex1     ex2

What a tangled tale they weave. Worthy of Hollywood, pre-Harvey. If nothing else the fallout has permanently affected some political families.  What was it the Dowager Empress said in "55 days at Peking"? "The Dynasty has fallen".  Just like the Hilary's. If only she had had an insurance policy

Hilary-Holofernes

Now that is a fine piece of art. Some people look younger when all the life has been taken out of their political careers. I wonder who did the final deed: Yates, Power, Rice? Perhaps the artist just merged a successful triumverate of legal beauties. Who gave the go-ahead? Somebody with a legal mind should dig into the weeds and figure that out.

Obama-portraits-01

If only we had a group of lawyers adept at trimming the verge. Sadly, I think we have too many that drank the koolaid. "What we have now is a highly corrupted system of intelligence and policymaking, one twisted to serve specific group goals, ends and beliefs held to the point of religious faith."

This entry was posted in As The Borg Turns, Current Affairs, Fred, government, Humor, Intelligence, Justice, Media, Politics, Russiagate. Bookmark the permalink.

41 Responses to One if by Land, Two if by Sea, Three if by GCHQ. The British are Coming! The British are Coming! Observations on a tangled tale, by Fred

  1. FND says:

    In that last picture, Obama should be holding the Hillary’s severed head.

  2. Leaky Ranger says:

    The Steele Dossier is looking more and more solid. Trump’s trip to Moscow in November 2013, during which he told us that he had a personal relationship with Putin, and that he greatly admires Putin, precedes the establishment of the DoJ-indicted Russian propaganda operation by just a few months.
    In April 2011 Trump was the front-runner for the GOP nomination
    http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2011/04/trump-takes-lead.html
    yet this past weekend he lied that he did not start running for President till 2014. Trump is a useful idiot.

  3. Fred says:

    Leaky,
    Trump didn’t announce his candidacy until 2012.

  4. Leaky Ranger says:

    Fred, he ran for the Reform Party nomination for POTUS in 2000. He appeared on Larry King Live in October 1999 to announce his candidacy.

  5. Chiron says:

    How much influence the British have on US intelligence?

  6. turcopolier says:

    chiron
    US and British intelligence are two branches on the same tree. This is much more true than with any of the other Anglo services (Canada, Australia, New Zealand) and also closer than with Israel. pl

  7. Pacifca Advocate says:

    What a witty way to regurgitate what has already been said.
    Gosh, it almost seems…artful.

  8. Kooshy says:

    Contrary to Mr. Muller’ investigations, and what Borg and the MSM wants us to think it’s actually US’ closest allies, the politicly corrupting three, aka UK, Israel, and KSA who have and are meddling in US elections/internal affairs without anybody questioning their involvement in our internal politics. All these three countries are more, and most, venerable than any other allies to US’ change in Trajectory of her foreign policy, with regard to their own region. They continue to meddle and insert their interests Many times against and above US’ own interest under the cover of US’ most dependable allies. These three country’ security depends on US foreign policy. Other countries may wish to meddle and empower their choices of US statesmen, but they don’t possess an unquestioned blank free security pass to freely insert themselves in US internal affairs as these three countries posses with consent of the US Borg.

  9. Fred says:

    Leaky,
    You mean Trump arranged for Putin to replace Yeltsin in 1999 so that decades later trolls at an organic troll farm would help him beat President Clinton’s wife in an election? Now that is really a conspiracy worth digging into.

  10. Anna says:

    Leaky, have you noticed that the latest Mueller indictment indicts, by extension, Mr. Steele, the hapless “agent” who is currently under investigation in his native land of UK? The paper explains why Steele is a criminal according to Mueller-Rosenstein’ opus about trolling and very-very bad trolls. This opus has been compared favorably to The Onion production (sample: https://www.theonion.com/tag/politics)

  11. Kooshy says:

    Fred
    If DT was able to plan and execute such a complicated plan a decade ago with this precision, IMO, he deserve to be not only the president of US, but ruler of all the Terrestrial planets.

  12. Anna says:

    Leaky, here is an informed opinion of Mike Whitney: http://www.unz.com/mwhitney/goofy-indictments-divert-attention-from-criminal-abuses-at-the-fbi-and-doj/
    “Robert Mueller’s Friday night indictment-spree, is a flagrant and infuriating attempt to divert attention from the damning revelations in the Nunes memo (and the Graham-Grassley “criminal referral”) which prove that senior-level officials at the FBI and DOJ were engaged in an expansive conspiracy to subvert the presidential elections…”
    1. “the senior-level officials in the FBI and DOJ were engaged in an expansive conspiracy to subvert the presidential elections.”
    — This is the most damning conclusion that speaks about violation of the US Constitution, i.e., about the treason within the national security apparatus
    2. from Mueller’ indictment: “U.S. law bans foreign nationals from making certain expenditures or financial disbursements for the purpose of influencing federal elections. U.S. law also bars agents of any foreign entity from engaging in political activities within the United States without first registering with the Attorney General.”
    — Right. Bring on Mr. Steele and the UK’ brass from the British intelligence agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) plus the Lobby cabal.

  13. DianaLC says:

    I guess if you don’t laugh at the state of our Swamp, you really have to cry instead.
    Thank you for this.
    Maybe if the Borg make it to my little home out here in the outer part of Galaxy U.S., I won’t even try to resist, since that–as we all know–is futile.

  14. Leaky Ranger says:

    Fred, are you being purposely obtuse? We are in agreement that Trump lied over the weekend. All I was doing was pointing out that he had been running for President before your 2012 date (and certainly before the 2014 date that he tweeted). Compared to Trump, Steele is a paragon of truth.

  15. Laura says:

    It is all looking very solid. Mueller is a masterful legal prosecutor and he is carefully tying up the lose ends in a very methodical way. The Constitution is well-served by this counselor and his team.

  16. Leaky Ranger says:

    Anna, that’s a parody site. Why would you inject that into the discussion?

  17. Fred and all,
    Much enjoyed this post.
    One observation. It seems to me it is time that we abandoned the pathetic pretence that the contemporary United States, and Britain, are secular, rational, societies.
    It has become increasingly clear that beneath a thin veneer of rationality, we believe in witchcraft, every bit as much as our seventeenth century forbears.
    However, I am not sure that Robert Mueller is really up to the roll of ‘Witchfinder General’.
    We need better candidates.
    Paul Krugman, perhaps?
    (See https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/01/opinion/trump-appointees-incompetent.html .)

  18. Fred says:

    Leaky,
    A public statement by Public Policy Polling is not a legal announcement of candidacy for office. They were trolling for work for their North Carolina based company and put out that puff piece in 2011. Maybe you should re-read the indictment where Meuller’s team specificlly calls out the defendants for violating Federal Elections Commission regulations. “We are in agreement that Trump lied over the weekend.” No we are not. I’ve said no such thing but am hardly surprised that a politician would lie. Did he do it in court under oath – “this weekend”? No. Did the anyone at the FBI lie in statements and submissions to the FISA court, to the House or Senate Committees or to the President – either of them – regarding this case?

  19. Quartered Safe Out Here says:

    Fred, thanks for the belly laugh. Your essay reminds me of Alan Farrell’s hilarious stream-of-consciousness movie reviews posted here years ago. Keep up the good work.

  20. Steve G says:

    Fred
    As long as Garrison Keillor has been
    Cashiered by #MeToo I see a new
    Employment opportunity for you.
    You might warm to the
    Fitzgerald Theater!! St. Paul not
    So much.

  21. robt willmann says:

    Although a few things may be said about the indictment of some Russians by the special counsel Robert Mueller — one of which is that the main criminal charge was immediately repudiated in a hilarious public statement by the person in the Justice Department who announced the indictment, Number Two Man Rod Rosenstein — nothing can top the Time Magazine cover of 15 July 1996, which told the world: “Exclusive, Yanks to the Rescue, The Secret Story of How American Advisers Helped Yeltsin Win” [I kid you not]–
    https://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19960715,00.html

  22. Jack says:

    Excellent Fred! Had a good laugh this morning.
    Apparently much of Mueller’s indictment was written up in a Radio Free Europe report from 2015. In any case this indictment opens up the question of which other foreign entities violated federal statutes? Is Mueller gonna investigate any of them? Or is it just Russia that he cares about?
    It would seem Steele violated the same statutes. When is he going to be indicted by Mueller?

  23. Jack says:

    Then there is John Podesta…
    https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-02-19/watch-flustered-john-podesta-respond-why-russians-operatives-were-smarter-hillary

    Bartiromo then goes on to break down how Podesta joined the board of the board of a small energy company in 2011 which later received $35 million from a Kremlin-funded entity. Other members of the board of Joule Unlimited included senior Russian official Anatoly Chubais and oligarch Reuben Vardanyan – a Putin appointee to the Russian economic modernization council. Podesta jettisoned his shares before the 2016 election, transferring them to his daughter via a shell corporation

  24. Anna says:

    Not everyone agrees with you: https://consortiumnews.com/2018/02/19/nunes-fbi-and-doj-perps-could-be-put-on-trial/
    “House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) stated that there could be legal consequences for officials who may have misled the FISA court. “If they need to be put on trial, we will put them on trial. The reason Congress exists is to oversee these agencies that we created.”
    — Here is explanation to the deprivation of the US citizenry of factual information: “One glaring sign of the media’s unwillingness to displease corporate masters and Official Washington is the harsh reality that Hersh’s most recent explosive investigations, using his large array of government sources to explore front-burner issues, have not been able to find a home in any English-speaking newspaper or journal. In a sense, this provides what might be called a “confidence-building” factor, giving some assurance to deep-state perps that they will be able to ride this out, and that congressional committee chairs will once again learn to know their (subservient) place.”
    — This is why The Onion could be on a par with The NYT, WaPo, The New Yorker, and such. The New Yorker used to be a great journal, but under the watchful eye of the Russophobic Remnick, the journal’s {sub}standards have become indistinguishable from the MSM’s standards

  25. Everyone knows Trump threatened to run for President many times.
    However, his tweet about 2014 evidently refers to THIS run for President. Which is therefore not a lie.
    Which anyone with a grade school knowledge of English would know.
    The notion that any earlier threat to run for President would immediately cause the Russian government to put him on the payroll is too stupid to spend time on. Especially given that the Russians gave Hillary God knows how many millions of dollars when her run was assured.

  26. Ah, yes, this is the new talking point: Just wait for Mueller to finish and Trump will be destroyed.
    Except the reality is Mueller has produced NOTHING related to Trump or any of his associates that has ANYTHING to do with Russia. Note: The 13 trolls have ZERO connection with Mueller’s remit which was to find evidence of Trump “collusion”. After a year and a half.
    So we’re all supposed to wait with baited breath for Mueller’s “grand reveal”.
    I can’t hold my breath that long.

  27. Fred says:

    Steve G,
    Thanks, a bit too much snow up there this time of year. Besides, there’s better material in the Swamp. Maybe I can get a gig with Trump?

  28. steve says:

    This is helpful. From now on I will just assume that all of those politicians roaming around Iowa are there just for the fairs and tractor pulls. Not really running for the presidency until they make an official announcement, even if they ran for POTUS in the past and even if they publicly talk about the possibility of running.
    Steve

  29. DH says:

    I’m pretty sure the Koolaid flavor is purple.

  30. Generalfeldmarschall von Hindenburg says:

    It all seems like the natural outgrowth of the RHodes-Milner Round Tables and the Atlantic Council/CFR agenda. Trump was’t plucked from the pool of those groomed by the Oxford Scholar system and his family background is not finance by the anglophile claque and he doesn’t seem to give a hoot about their ideology regarding perpetual domination through finance and subversion. Elites in the US have affected a posh Cambridge accent for a good century now.

  31. Tidewater says:

    Do you know anything about the Zinoviev letter?
    Isn’t there an interesting comparison to be made with the Steele ‘Dossier’ and all that has followed? How it seems possible that both Letter and dossier could have originated in the Baltic? How both letter and dossier seem to have been designed to check any rapprochement with Russia? And have succeeded? In spite of both having howlers of mistakes in each?
    I would love to hear your thinking on this.

  32. turcopolier says:

    All
    IMO McGovern is unfit for any government job. pl

  33. Leaky Ranger says:

    Mueller has just indicted the son-in-law of Russian oligarch German Khan. Khan is a major character in the Steele Dossier. As I said above, the Steele Dossier gains credibility with each passing news cycle.
    https://www.axios.com/mueller-probe-latest-indictment-alex-van-der-zwaan-1c2b0528-d601-4c17-99bc-c660725597a9.html

  34. robt willmann says:

    A new criminal charge has been brought by the special counsel Mueller’s office that, although filed on 16 February 2018, was apparently just unsealed today, 20 February–
    https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4382158/2-16-18-Van-Der-Zwaan-Information.pdf
    It is an “information”, which is what a charging paper is called in a felony that is filed by agreement, and so the formal charging document was not authorized by a grand jury. The defendant is Alex Van Der Zwaan, who was a lawyer in the London office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, a well-known law firm in New York City with offices all over the world. He is charged with making false statements to the special counsel’s office and FBI. He may also be married to the daughter of a “Russian oligarch”, according to Bloomberg News, which adds: ” ‘Van Der Zwaan was an associate in the London office of Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom. The firm terminated its employment of Alex Van Der Zwaan in 2017 and has been cooperating with authorities in connection with this matter,’ the firm said in a statement”.–
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-20/skadden-arps-lawyer-is-charged-with-role-in-u-s-russia-probe
    http://www.businessinsider.com/mueller-charges-alex-van-der-zwaan-russia-investigation-2018-2
    There may be a court appearance this afternoon in the case.

  35. Tidewater,
    In response to #33.
    I had not thought of the comparison with the Zinoviev Letter, but it is certainly a very interesting one, about which I need to think further.
    Doing a quick Google search, I see that when the FCO historian Gill Bennett produced a study of the incident in 1999, her best guess was that it was commissioned by White Russian intelligence circles from forgers in Berlin or the Baltic states, most likely in Riga. And it brings one up against a question of continuing relevance – where credulity ends and active mendacity begins.
    As to what is happening now, so much has been happening on so many fronts that I am finding it difficult to keep up. With regard to Steele, there is ample material available demonstrating that fabricating evidence and corrupting judicial procedures are part of his ‘stock-in-trade’.
    I can prove this, and I can also prove that ample evidence establishing a ‘prima facie’ case that he had been involved in a ‘conspiracy to obstruct the course of justice’ in relation to the death of Alexander Litvinenko was made available by me to Sir Robert Owen years before his Inquiry into that event opened, and suppressed by him.
    In relation to current events, however, it still seems to me very much an open question how far Steele was actually involved in producing the memoranda attributed to him, and how far he was simply brought in to make it seem as though a hodge-podge put together by others was a proper intelligence product, adequate to justify FISA applications.
    Another set of puzzles has to do with information from pro-Russian sources. With ‘The Duran’ and ‘The Vineyard of the Saker’, it is rather more than possible that, at least some of the time, these are channelling material from Russian intelligence. This, incidentally, is not an argument against reading them. Both Alexander Mercouris and Andrei Raevsky are highly intelligent people, whose views are commonly well worth pondering.
    An ironic element, moreover, is that information channelled from Russian intelligence sources can be both important and accurate because, much of the time, these have every interest in telling the truth.
    As it happens, in relation to the ‘Internet Research Group’, I think Russian repudiations of the suggestion that this was used in a Russian government attempt to influence the American elections are highly likely to be true.
    Something so transparent, for so little gain, does not make much sense. And I agree with ‘Smoothie X12’: “We had a slight crisis here at work: the FBI busted our activity (not a joke)” sounds like someone trying to frame Russian intelligence, not an operative caught red-handed.
    However, while I have not got to the bottom of this, I think the Scott Humor piece to which people have linked may mix up the arrests of the two FSB cybersecurity people, and one Kaspersky person, with those of the members of the ‘Shaltai Boltai’ group. And Mercouris earlier appeared rather too happy to suggest that the former were simply involved in criminal activity.
    To my mind, the second memorandum in the dossier, and the final memorandum, read as though they could have been the product of material supplied through the contacts between the FBI and FSB cybersecurity people, with a view to laying a trap.
    For one thing, if the first memorandum was a fabrication pure and simple, I would expect it to have ‘meshed’ better with the improvised disinformation from Alperovitch, of the ‘Atlantic Council’, and the former GCHQ operative pretending to run a consultancy which did not actually trade and writing for ‘Lawfare’ Matt Tait.
    For another, I think the ‘howlers’ in both memoranda could have been deliberately included, in the expectation that people like Nellie Ohr might believe them – indeed, I think I may be able to detect a wicked sense of humour.
    To have Steele compelled to defend himself in court against a libel suit brought by Aleksej Gubarev, in relation to claims which would be very difficult to defend, and for which he had to accept responsibility, although he was not actually responsible, might well have struck some people as, how shall one put it, ‘neat.’
    So I think there are a very great many inadequately explored questions about the origins of the dossier – and also that its eventual effects are very unpredictable.
    Both MI6, and Steele personally, have in the past very successfully manipulated judicial processes in the U.K. in their favour.
    However, they have had at least one spectacular failure, which comes of particular interest in relation to the indictment against German Khan’s son-in-law, where he is apparently entering a guilty plea. It may be material here that Khan, along with his Alfa colleagues Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven, was the subject of another memorandum which provoked a lawsuit.
    Interestingly, it was the firm for which Alex Van Der Swaan works, Skadden Arps, which instructed Lord Sumption on behalf of Roman Abramovich in the case brought up against the latter by the late Boris Berezovsky. Having been given a very easy ride by the British courts up to that point, the latter found himself confronting one of the best legal minds in recent British history. As a result, Mrs Justice Gloster did not simply throw his case out, but delivered a damning and long overdue verdict on his credibility as a witness.
    Whether Berezovsky’s subsequent death was suicide or murder remains an open question. That if it was murder, the Russian security services were about the least likely culprits does not. (As with Stephen Curtis and ‘Badri’ Patarkatsishvili.)
    In addition to the Gubarev suit against Steele, and his suit and that of Khan and his colleagues against BuzzFeed, suits against that company have also been brought by Carter Page and Michael Cohen.
    Unfortunately, Lord Sumption is no longer practising. But the spectacle of Christopher Steele being cross-examined by some really heavyweight counsel in one or other of these cases might be a very interesting one. (I would enjoy it!)

  36. Jack says:

    Mueller announces another process charge, while the Flynn sentencing is on hold as a federal judge orders Mueller to provide Flynn all related documents.
    Then there is Nunes, Goodlatte, and Grassley with their investigation, which as this article notes is slowly reaching into Brennan, Clapper, Rice and Powers.
    https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2018/02/11/former_cia_director_john_brennan_investigated_for_perjury.html

  37. Fred says:

    Robt,
    So what is the actual charge? Statements to the FBI not matching what was in the “secretly” recorded meeting tapes from a later date? From the bloomberg article you linked to:
    “Alex Van Der Zwaan was charged Feb. 16 with lying to the FBI and Mueller’s office about conversations related to his work on a report prepared by his law firm on the legitimacy of the criminal prosecution of a former Ukrainian prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko.”
    “After the pro-Russian government was run out of town in 2014, the new authorities began investigating.”
    That’s some classic doublespeak there. Just who ran whom out of town? How’d that happen? A free and fair election? Nobody got more than a tiny paper cut on the purple fingers? Let me help the poor reporters for Bloomberg:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Ukrainian_revolution#United_States_involvement
    “In a leaked recorded phone conversation…..”
    “Nuland: “I think Yats is the guy who’s got the economic experience the governing experience. ….. We want to try to get somebody with an international personality to come out here and help to midwife this thing.”
    Nothing says international experience quite like getting shitcanned by the USN for using coke.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_Biden#U.S._Naval_Reserve
    “…he sits on the Chairman’s Advisory Board for the National Democratic Institute (NDI). NDI is a project of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).”
    Could real news reporters of Bloomberg remind us how much money the NED spent in Ukraine and why?
    Bloomberg (your link):
    “Manafort and Gates are accused of failing to register as agents in the U.S. for political consulting they did in Ukraine….”
    Question: Is Christoper Steele registered under FARA? Did anybody in the DNC/Clinton campaign/Fusion GPS know he was a “foreign person” (see the SVR 13 indictment) and thus had to register…..
    Leaky:
    Remind me again of the Ukrainian collusion to interfere with the US election so Donald Trump would get elected President? Perhaps Axios – founded by completely nonpolitical ex-Politico executives – could do an expose of Mr. Biden’s son, the employee of Bursima and just what the Ukrainian company does.
    Let me help them out: From BBCnews, 14 May 2014.
    http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27403003
    “…. ”Joe Biden has been the White House’s go-to guy during the Ukraine crisis, touring former Soviet republics and reassuring their concerned leaders,” writes the National Journal’s Marina Koren. “And now, he’s not the only Biden involved in the region.”…..”
    “The younger Mr Biden isn’t the only American with political ties to have recently joined Burisma’s board. Devon Archer, a former senior advisor to current Secretary of State John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign and a college roommate of Mr Kerry’s stepson HJ Heinz, signed on in April.”
    My, my, in less time than it took the USN to cashier the son of the Vice Present of the United States for cocaine use a Cyprus based Ukrainian gas company managed to hire him – after the Glorious kumbayah Maidan Square thingy ran Putin’s puppets out of town. If only the FBI leadership during the Obama administration had been as adept with internet trolls and a 17 yo kid in Broward County Florida. But we know what the leadership of the FBI was doing, don’t we?

  38. In response to #38
    Apologies.
    I should have written Alex Van Der Swaan ‘worked’ for Skadden Arps, rather than ‘works.’

  39. Barbara Ann says:

    Very good Fred, thanks.
    Comedy is one way of dealing with this profound idiocy and mockery surely as good a way as any to fight idiotic use of the law to undermine First Amendment rights.
    I am reminded of the wags who years ago printed the RSA encryption algorithm on a T-shirt so that wearers were able to export ‘Auxiliary Military Equipment’ (cryptography was so-classified until 1992). Perhaps similar mockery & mass ‘law-breaking’ may work in this case.
    http://www.cypherspace.org/adam/rsa/
    On the subject of the real motivations for Mueller and the Russophobic hysteria, I came across a Twitter user the other day who clearly gets it; @BethLynch2020‘s Twitter name is “Killing Russians because Hill lost is bad actually”. Outstanding.

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