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Why isn't Palin asking, after all she is such an expert on foreign affairs, especially with the country she can see from her state (but has never seen), Russia.
Why isn't Palin asking, after all she is such an expert on foreign affairs, especially with the country she can see from her state (but has never seen), Russia.
Despite McCain's tough talk, behind the scenes his top advisers have cultivated deep ties with Russia's oligarchy--indeed, they have promoted the Kremlin's geopolitical and economic interests, as well as some of its most unsavory business figures, through greedy cynicism and geopolitical stupor. The most notable example is the tale of how McCain and his campaign manager, Rick Davis, advanced what became a key victory for the Kremlin: gaining control over the small but strategically important country of Montenegro.
Indeed, today, after its "independence," Montenegro is nicknamed "Moscow by the Mediterranean." Russian oligarchs control huge chunks of the country's industry and prized coastline--and Russians exert a powerful influence over the country's political culture. "Montenegro is almost a new Russian colony, as rubles flow in to buy property and business in the tiny state," Denis MacShane, Tony Blair's former Europe minister, wrote in Newsweek in June. The takeover of Montenegro has been a Russian geostrategic victory--quietly accomplished, paradoxically enough, with the help of McCain and his top aides.
Russia's virtual takeover of Montenegro was well under way by January 2006, when Rick Davis introduced Deripaska to McCain at a villa in Davos, Switzerland. They met again seven months later, at a reception in Montenegro celebrating McCain's birthday, as reported in the Washington Post.
[Rick] Davis's team was vetted by Montenegro's Russian ambassador Rocen, who was returning from Moscow to oversee the independence campaign. Why was Davis hired? The top McCain aide was as much a political symbol as a campaign consultant. "I think the Montenegrins hired Rick to have political cover--it was important to show they had support from the United States," said an American democracy expert who's worked in Montenegro. Though disclosure is required by Montenegrin law, Davis Manafort's contract with the ruling Montenegrin party was never publicly released. In addition, Djukanovic's party never listed payments to Davis Manafort on its election filings, lending credence to private claims by top Montenegrin officials that Russian business interests paid for Davis's work through hired third parties, an oft-used though illegal tactic in Eastern Europe to disguise money trails.
Aside from a little campaign dough, what has McCain gotten out of all this? It's hard to tell--either he was utterly clueless while his top advisers and political allies ran around the former Soviet domain promoting the Kremlin's interests for cash, or he was aware of it and didn't care. McCain was reportedly so angry about Davis Manafort's role in stifling Ukraine's Orange Revolution that he almost removed Davis as campaign manager. But in the case of Montenegro, he should have known what Davis & Co. were up to. After all, McCain lent a helping hand. And by the time he visited the country, the Russian takeover was plain to see.
The story of how McCain's closest aides and employees have been undermining his vociferously expressed opposition to Putin and Russia's oligarchs offers a highly disturbing preview of what a McCain administration might look like. When McCain's campaign proclaims "country first," one has to wonder, Which country? The one with the highest bidder?
Usually it takes from 3 days to a week for news on Huffington Post and other small media outlets to hit the big media. But this is a VERY big deal and would be a killer for McCain when the big media gets all over this.
I like my source better. It's a Russian site in English. I also read Iranian websites and Al-Jazeera English just to understand the spin coming out of DC.
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