All Things Russia & Ukraine

[ardilla secreta]

Mail.RU a popular Russian email site had an article lamenting the fallen state of their space program which has fallen well behind the US and China. What money that’s available is being squandered by administrators which are rewarding themselves handsomely while engineers make about $1,000 a month. The best and brightest aren’t staying at that wage and priority and are likely to hook up with the likes of Siemens or Schlumberger domestically or outside of Russia.

[old salt]

Here's one, for starters.

Butina, no journalist, was called on by Trump at a presser as his campaign was ramping up. No prior positions put forth by Donnie regarding Russia...and he surprised a lot of people by saying we didn't need to sanction Russia. Many brushed it off at the time as something a know-nothing-about-policy "businessman" would say. it was very curious, but taking on new interest today. Who got Maria into the presser? Did jerk Grabber just call on her thanks to her red hair and cleavage?

Donnie the Grifter never GOT to the Exxon deal, and Rex is now long gone. The numbers involved in that sanctioned deal no doubt made Don's eyes light up like he was sitting down in front of a platter full of Big Macs.

Right. She's a real Jennifer Lawrence Red Sparrow.

[MDlaxfan76]

Here's one, for starters.

Butina, no journalist, was called on by Trump at a presser as his campaign was ramping up. No prior positions put forth by Donnie regarding Russia...and he surprised a lot of people by saying we didn't need to sanction Russia. Many brushed it off at the time as something a know-nothing-about-policy "businessman" would say. it was very curious, but taking on new interest today. Who got Maria into the presser? Did jerk Grabber just call on her thanks to her red hair and cleavage?

Donnie the Grifter never GOT to the Exxon deal, and Rex is now long gone. The numbers involved in that sanctioned deal no doubt made Don's eyes light up like he was sitting down in front of a platter full of Big Macs.

Right. She's a real Jennifer Lawrence Red Sparrow.

Jennifer Lawrence made a good movie, IMO. Fun to watch. Pretty darn terrific actress.
But holding that standard up is like saying that if a British agent doesn't have Bond's skill set, or a CIA agent doesn't have Bourne's, he's really not a spy.

dis...Trump may well have called on her just because she looked good to him. We don't know if he was prepped to respond the way he did, or he was just being a useful idiot and it was a matter of time. We may never know that one, unless Butina gives it up.

[dislaxxic]

Give me a link to make fun of. Your account provides insufficient comic potential.

Didn't know much about Butina, didja salty?

Here's some more: Why Russians Keep Visiting Mariia Butina in Prison



...and there she was at a presser for Candidate Trump....hmmmm...that IS some Moose und Sqvirrel stuff right there...

..

[old salt]

Great spycraft -- insert your red sparrow secret agent in a CNN video with Trump, ...asking a question. okie dokie.

[MDlaxfan76]

Great spycraft -- insert your red sparrow secret agent in a CNN video with Trump, ...asking a question. okie dokie.

Hilarious that you think you know anything about "spy craft" and keep throwing out the 'red sparrow' ...red herring.

It's likely she was a low level operative who achieved far more than her bosses expected. The NRA connection, and their eagerness, was a heck of a long shot, seems to me. Pretty appalling that she got the reception she did.

We don't yet know the full story about the Russia-NRA-GOP influence operation. We may ultimately learn more. But that she got any traction at all on that path is darn disturbing.

[old salt]

If you had an agent you were trying to keep covert, would you encourage her to get on tv with a Presidential candidate accused of colluding with you ?

She may be a spy, trying to gain political influence, but her actions detract from the theory that Trump was colluding with Russia.

[dislaxxic]

Ignorant hubris?

..

[old salt]

...& lobbyists never employ attractive young women to gain the attention of politicians they hope to influence.

[dislaxxic]

How does she end up in front of a presidential candidate, who was smoozing with Russian oligarchs and politicians and had a huge commercial deal in Moscow pending at the time, to ask a question at a press conference about sanctions?

..

[dislaxxic]

Ask Boris, da?

..

[old salt]

How does she end up in front of a presidential candidate, who was smoozing with Russian oligarchs and politicians and had a huge commercial deal in Moscow pending at the time, to ask a question at a press conference about sanctions?

Not that hard. Her paramour was a low level GOP operative & she made NRA friends.
Just because she was in a room at a public event with Trump is not evidence of collusion by Trump.
Maybe she was trying to find a way in. Where's the evidence that she succeeded ?
Where's her connection to Trump ?

Papadop got a spot on the foreign policy team because he went to the model UN while in HS.

[dislaxxic]

Old SaltyRad, familiarize yourself with the name Aleksandr Torshin, then come back and make fun of this story some more...K?

..

[old salt]

Sure thing dis -- Sheriff David Clarke is the missing link that ties them all together. The smoking gun, ...so to speak.

[MDlaxfan76]

If you had an agent you were trying to keep covert, would you encourage her to get on tv with a Presidential candidate accused of colluding with you ?

She may be a spy, trying to gain political influence, but her actions detract from the theory that Trump was colluding with Russia.

Covert, sure. Pretending to be a journalist may have been the best they expected out of her. Gotta think what they pulled off with the NRA was unexpected.

As I said, we don’t know if trump was prepped for the question but it sure is one heck of a ‘coincidence ‘!!

[old salt]

Maybe she wasn't the sharpest red sparrow in the nest. She flew into a closed glass door.

[Trinity]

Look at the marks. Ya gotta know your audience.

[old salt]

NATO ally Bulgaria discourages naval show of force in the Black Sea in response to Kirch Straits crisis.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukra ... SKBN1O61O1

Wonder when NATO Exercise Sea Breeze 2019 starts ?
How many 2019 days in the Black Sea planned for NATO's SNMG2 ?
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/nato-na ... black-sea/
https://www.upi.com/Multi-nation-Sea-Br ... 531329187/

Is it not obvious yet that our EU/NATO allies don't care what Russia does, so long as their cheap gas keeps flowing ?
Did you see our BIG RED 1 troopers cheering the Army-Navy game from Poland.
...keeping the EUroburghers safe for Gazprom.

[MDlaxfan76]

Maybe she wasn't the sharpest red sparrow in the nest. She flew into a closed glass door.

I don't know how 'smart', but it sure looks like she was remarkably successful at getting the NRA involved with laundering money to the GOP. I'd like to know more, but I wouldn't think that the GRU thought she'd actually get that deep.

BTW, every spring we have a bunch of male canaries that knock themselves out on our windows. Apparently they see themselves in the reflection and attack what they think is a rival.

[holmes435]

Maybe she wasn't the sharpest red sparrow in the nest. She flew into a closed glass door.

I don't know how 'smart', but it sure looks like she was remarkably successful at getting the NRA involved with laundering money to the GOP. I'd like to know more, but I wouldn't think that the GRU thought she'd actually get that deep.

BTW, every spring we have a bunch of male canaries that knock themselves out on our windows. Apparently they see themselves in the reflection and attack what they think is a rival.

It's an interesting case - it looks like the GRU was possibly probing how far they could get in overt ops... and they got pretty dang far.