FBI Raids Putin's GOP Bagman Deripaska--- What Does It Mean, And Why Now?

When asked to comment on dramatic and otherwise important news events, I've made the same point consistently about how I see these things and make sense of them. I look at "Analysis Situs" which is to locate the event within its strategic context. I look at "Cui Bono" which is to ask the question of who benefits from a specific action. And I look at the timing of events, by asking the question of "why now"? And I've asserted that in evaluating a news story, frequently the context and timing of events is as important or more so than the event itself, that it is superficial and redundant to view such developments in isolation as discreet events in time as if they are simply phenomena. In short, whoever the celebrated social commentator was who coined the expression "Shit Happens" has likely never bothered taking up the study of the production, transportation, consumption and digestion of food. 

Ok, I know what you are thinking. "Just tell us already, will ya'"? "Do we always have to wade through one of your long winded pieces of historical psychobabble just to get a simple answer to a simple question, huh?" "I just want to hear the juicy stuff, ok, the meat and potatoes"? Get to the point already, please"?  "It's really that simple, or, it's not that complicated"  is something I hear often from many folks out there. 

Sorry. No can do. It's really not that simple, and it is complicated. If your blood sugar and energy levels are a little low, then now is probably the time to bail and switch over to that video on Facebook about the Mama Wombat that nurses the orphaned sick baby Kangaroo back to health, and then they fall in love. Meanwhile, I'm going to do what I do, because that's what you pay me for. Or should be. Only kidding, I'm retired now. 

Let's start out with a little thing on methodology. There have been a lot of famous investigators in our history, mostly fictional, some of whom are worthy of emulation. There is Edgar Allan Poe's celebrated detective, C. Auguste Dupin, of the famous "Murders in the Rue Morgue", and "Purloined Letter", who taught us that often the missing thing you are looking for is "hidden in plain sight", and that we are often fooled by our physical senses. Then, there is the plodding Coke addicted British Empiricist Sherlock Holmes, whose rumored struggles with Bowel trouble always led him to adopt the concept of the "process of elimination", as his methodology. Hence the time worn expression, "No Shit Sherlock". Elementary my dear Watson.

We also have come to know and love a few American TV detectives such as Columbo, whose seeming bumbling persistance and disarming rumpled appearance always led the criminals to underestimate him and ultimately leave incriminating clues due to overconfidence. But we all know that without the trenchcoat, Columbo was virtually useless. It was his Superman's cape, and without it he would lose his super powers. 

Then you had the truly WOAT District Attorney in human history, Hamilton Burger, whose unspeakable won-loss record in cases against Defense lawyer Perry Mason was 2-163, the all time record for prosecutorial incompetence.  His flaw of course was the assumption that everyone who was arrested, charged, and indicted was guity, and all he had to do was mail it in to win his case. And yeah, he was kind of an asshole, which led to him having trouble winning over juries, even when he had a strong case.  He always lost with the last witness, who Perry would break down with those gigantic eyes and huge voice, reducing them to a blubbering quivering mess as they fell apart and confessed on the witness stand. You see, evidence doesn't always matter. (Just look at Trump's two Impeachments) I get it. If I was the one on the witness stand I would have confessed to anything, before I even swore on the Bible. The thing is, no one ever explained to me how in the living hell this guy Burger still had a job. Nevertheless, Perry Mason always won, because he was huge and intimidating, and he had two totally celibate but attractive staffers, Della and Paul, who were his devoted followers. They did all the work. Perry did all the acting. (did you ever see either Della or Paul actually hook up with anybody, ever? All work, no play)  Sorry, I digress

Which finally brings us to the famous Joe Friday, lead figure of LA's finest, starring in "Dragnet". You all remember his famous watchword I would bet. "The facts, Ma'am, just the facts".    

Well, I hate to tell you, but Sgt. Friday wasn't being honest. His only interest in "facts" was the necessity of giving his DA evidence to convict. He also hated the drama of having to interview hysterical crime victims, so he would try to shut them up by asking them to stick to facts. The truth is, that facts in themselves don't always give you what you need to either solve crimes, or prevent them. Subjective insight and emotional intelligence is required to arrive at motive, see through fabricated alibis, and figure out how the perpetrators will attempt to cover up their crimes. Judgment is required for how to lawfully go about collecting evidence and gathering facts. A great deal of police work is anticipating criminal behaviors. That comes from insight, not the empirical method of the fictional British turd gatherer, Holmes, and those who follow in his tradition.

We, in the spirit of Dupin are going to go the subjective route, employ hypothesis, and find that which is missing "hidden in plain sight". On that note, I would conclude that Joe Friday the stoic and robotic TV crimefighter might have been a fine detective, but for our purposes here would have made a lousy spy. Old time TV was Black and White, but the world we live in is mostly not. Ok, got all that? Good. I'm done with this part. 

Now, moving forward, (the loud whooshing sound of you all releasing your breath, "finally he's getting to the effin' point" has become palpable) we will look at Oleg Deripaska's and Vladimir Putin's very, very bad day. 

It's really not that complicated. (Omigod, did I really say that?) Joe Biden, our President, is on the warpath. He has had it up to here, wherever "here" is.  

I have written and posted two articles in the past week and a half which most of you glossed over or ignored. One was titled "President Biden's JFK Moment--Harbinger Of New Fighting Orientation?". In it, I said unambiguously that the mere threat by Joe to nuke the fillibuster in order to raise the debt ceiing was similar to JFK's threat to break up US Steel in response to their raising prices, jeopardizing the economy and national security. Joe was prepared to go to the wall to defend the full faith and credit of the US dollar system. McConnell, like US Steel, blinked, and then caved. Joe didn't have to go through with it, the mere threat was enough. Was McConnell the actual target of the threat? No. It was Manchin and Sinema. Biden was prepared to turn them into politcal roadkill to raise the debt ceiling, and the reason McConnell caved was to prop Manchin and Sinema up as his allies in obstructionism, then come back again to fight another day. Did you read my article? I told you all that this was an inkling of a character shift, and a change in the dynamics of the White House which was very hopeful. 

Also, don't lose sight of the President's disgust at having to reduce his budget proposal for infrastructure to 1.9 trillion from 3.5, thanks to the Centrists sabotage, thereby antagonizing the Progressive wing of his party and breaking his promises to Bernie Sanders. These things and others have piled up, and I've been observing closely the nuances of his reactions.

But, many of you lead busy lives, or weren't ready to hear this. Here is the link, give it another roll. 

https://therosenreport.blogspot.com/2021/10/president-bidens-jfk-moment-harbinger.html

Then, a week later, I saw coverage buried in CNN's Politics section, not the homepage, in which Biden was quoted saying in response to a reporter's question that he supports the filing of charges and prosecution of anyone obstructing Congress in their investigation of the January 6 events. Most people wrote that off as him giving the green light to Congressional Democrats to pursue contempt charges against Steve Bannon. I said something completely different, because I saw what Biden had done the week before. What I heard was Biden saying something unprecedened, in effect giving Attorney General Garland a green light to prosecute ALL of those obstructing Congress. I said that this represented a complete departure from any previous public statement by him regarding January 6, and a break with the "hands off" policy toward Trump's team. One might wonder whether Garland is now considering an obstruction of Justice investigation of Trump himself for orchestrating the noncooperation of those subpoenaed. And I said that this was really good, in an article entitled "Signs that Biden Shifting Onto War Footing."  I'll tell you one thing though... some of you might not have seen or appreciated these signs of a shift, but the Trumpian Parrots over at Fox News have been squawking at high volume about it for weeks. So, once again, let's have a "take two" on perusing that article, this time with feeling.

https://therosenreport.blogspot.com/2021/10/signs-that-biden-shifting-into-war.html

Now you have the Justice Department lowering the boom on Oleg Deripaska with the raid on his home today. Let us for a moment take a look at who he is. First "the facts Ma'am". 

Deripaska is a Russian Oligarch. He is the former boss and paymaster for Trump Campaign top official and convicted felon, Paul Manafort, long time Trump crony going back to the days of the Nixon dirty tricksters with Roger Stone. Deripaska was a target of the Mueller investigation for conspiring to circulate polling data given him by Manafort from his crony Kilimnik. He has been investigated for his connections to organized crime, money laundering and other criminality. He was sanctioned for his illegal election activity, and was caught violating those sanctions, however in 2019, McConnell got the sanctions lifted, and shortly thereafter Deripaska built an Aluminum plant in McConnell's Kentucky.  He is up to his neck in a variety of funding schemes to help the GOP, has patronized the campaigns or circles of the GOP leadership and Right wing organizations, and is rumored to be under investigation in New York. However, you don't need me to list all the facts of who he is, after all, you have Google.    

The most important thing about Deripaska is that his very existence is itself not self-evident. He is about as real as a Hologram, and has less substance. He is a not an actual person. He is Vladimir Putin's American "Birkin Bag," here as Russia's delivery boy, his "dropoff guy".  Are you getting this yet?

The 100's of millions of dollars that Deripaska has been spreading around to the GOP, the Trump machine, the businesses benefiting Trump's cronies, the campaigns and legislative initiatives of the Conservatives... This. Is. All. Putin's. Money. Once you understand that, then you can figure out what was actually set into motion today.

Joe Biden's DOJ is going after Putin's personal financial operations, and his closest crony. This has implications far greater than the US led economic sanctions against Russia. And Vlad is likely going completely apeshit about it as we speak. Let me buttress this argument with a few...pardon me again for saying, facts.  

First, is that according to multiple sources, Vladimir Putin is the world's richest man. (Forbes, etc) He was worth upwards of 200 Billion dollars as of three years ago, even after Russian sanctions. Putin runs his country in the fashion of the old Russian Czars, and in this tradition is known to take his "Czar's Cut" of virtually every enterprise in the Russian economy of substance in every state run and private sector category, from energy, to raw materials, and Vodka. 

Additionally, as a lifelong intelligence professional, Putin has decades of experience in hiding his fortune offshore where there is no regulation or transparency, and deploying his resources as a kind of slush fund for running varieties of intelligence operations, from disinformation, to "wetworks". 

It is the case however that for appearances sake, he has always managed to hide his wealth through cutouts and straw men, who he trusted from his family and his longtime circle of friends, and in turn made rich in exchange for their compliance and loyalty. This is how he has ruled Russia. In those few cases of Oligarchs who broke ranks and thought they were big enough to challenge him, they suffered sudden lead poisoning or a bad reaction to a Starbucks Triple Matcha Polonium Fru Fru Latte, and had to be buried deep undergound. Or otherwise they would take flight into exile somewhere they could obtain asylum.

So, in summary, Deripaska, notwithstanding his very heavy American public footprint, is just a pass through for "The Boss".

Now, Joe Biden in his current state of mind has never been more homed in, combative, or ready to rumble, in my estimation. I've been waiting for this for two years, and I can see it happening. One other indication was a White House leak on Monday in which it was reported that the President was beyond angry and frustrated with Senators Manchin and Sinema because of their irresponsible and obstructionist sabotage of Voting Rights, and the President's Build Back Better program due to their conflict of interest and corporate payola. Make no mistake about it, if the President is angry and frustrated with someone in his own Party, it is a closely held sentiment, and very few are privy to it. Only someone very close to the President is capable of making such a leak, and because it is so few, likely it would be extremely risky were it an unauthorized leak. In this business, we all knew that the majority of White House leaks were calculated trial balloons or signal pieces that were leaked intentionally. This has all the earmarks of an intentional leak, and one which the President wanted to come out. 

So, if my hypothesis is correct, the President wants it to be known that he has reached a limit, that the battlefield has shifted and that he is hitting back.

Yesterday, Vladimir Putin escalated his conflict with the Biden administration by withdrawing his diplomatic mission from NATO. From NATO!  This is not symbolic. This is the next thing to disconnecting the Hot Line. It is a step toward a complete break in relations which is a serious piece of brinksmanship. And Putin has done this in response to US charges that Russia has "gamed" the price of Natural Gas higher by reducing Russian supplies to Europe as blackmail, to force the completion of the proposed energy Pipeline which Russia has committed itself to. It is a power play in response to recent US sanctions and a test of NATO's unity, as well as President Biden's will. 

Well, we all know how Russian asset Donald Trump would have responded to such a challenge. He would have defended Putin, attacked his European allies, pulled the US out of NATO, and invited Putin to Mar-a-Lago to play Golf on Christmas and hang with Ivanka and Melania. 

Joe Biden did the opposite. His Justice Department is busting Putin's personal American Piggy Bank. And he is saying "Fuck You" in an international language to a lot of people who need to feel the power of the US Presidency. 

It really is (OMG, I'm doing it again!) That. Simple.