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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDONALD TRUMPS WORST DEAL
Last edited Sun May 28, 2017, 02:29 PM - Edit history (1)
I thought this was one of the most interesting articles on Trump yet and I am amazed I didn't come across it earlier. I wondered what others on DU might think. I hope this isn't a duplicate post.
Link:
[link:http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/13/donald-trumps-worst-deal|
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The Azerbaijanis behind the project were close relatives of Ziya Mammadov, the Transportation Minister and one of the countrys wealthiest and most powerful oligarchs. According to the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, Azerbaijan is among the most corrupt nations in the world. Its President, Ilham Aliyev, the son of the former President Heydar Aliyev, recently appointed his wife to be Vice-President. Ziya Mammadov became the Transportation Minister in 2002, around the time that the regime began receiving enormous profits from government-owned oil reserves in the Caspian Sea. At the time of the hotel deal, Mammadov, a career government official, had a salary of about twelve thousand dollars, but he was a billionaire.
The Trump Tower Baku originally had a construction budget of a hundred and ninety-five million dollars, but it went through multiple revisions, and the cost ended up being much higher. The tower was designed by a local architect, and in its original incarnation it had an ungainly roof that suggested the spikes of a crown. A London-based architecture firm, Mixity, redesigned the building, softening its edges and eliminating the ornamental roof. By the time the Trump team officially joined the project, in May, 2012, many condominium residences had already been completed; at the insistence of Trump Organization staffers, most of the buildings interior was gutted and rebuilt, and several elevators were added.
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In recent months, American officials have expressed concern that Trump Administration figures might be blackmailed by foreign entities. U.S. law-enforcement investigators and congressional staffers have probed claims that Russian government officials possess compromising information about President Trump, which might be used to blackmail him. (The President maintains that there is no such information.) In January, the Department of Justice informed the White House that Michael Flynnthen the national-security adviserwas vulnerable to being blackmailed by the Russians because he had lied about having spoken with the Russian Ambassador. Flynn subsequently resigned.
In Azerbaijan, the power and the influence of the Mammadovs has declined sharply. Elton lost his seat in parliament in 2015. In February, Ziya was abruptly removed from his ministry. Anar has settled in London, an associate of his told me, and is living on a fraction of his former wealth. Meanwhile, in Iran, government officials are likely facing additional sanctions on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. If the Mammadovs or powerful Iranians have evidence that the Trump Organization broke laws, they might be tempted to exploit it.
The best way to determine if a crime was committed in the Baku deal would be a federal investigation, which could use the power of subpoena and international legal tools to obtain access to the contracts, the due diligence, internal e-mails, and financial documents. The Department of Justice routinely sends investigators to other countries to pursue possible F.C.P.A. and sanctions violations.
Senator Sherrod Brown, of Ohio, who is the ranking Democratic member of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, said, in an e-mail, that a federal investigation was warranted: The Trump Organizations Baku project shows the lack of extreme vetting Mr. Trump applied to his own business dealings in corruption-plagued regimes around the globe. . . . Congressand the Trump Administration itselfhas a duty to examine whether the President or his family is exposed to terrorist financing, sanctions, money laundering, and other imprudent associations through their business holdings and connections.
More than a dozen lawyers with experience in F.C.P.A. prosecution expressed surprise at the Trump Organizations seemingly lax approach to vetting its foreign partners. But, when I asked a former Trump Organization executive if the Baku deal had seemed unusual, he laughed. No deal there seems unusual, as long as a check is attached, he said. ?
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Rachel's video on the topic:
[link:
H2O Man
(73,605 posts)Thank you for this.
mopinko
(70,215 posts)she thought the obvious vagina was pretty hilarious.
i agree.
H2O Man
(73,605 posts)coeur_de_lion
(3,681 posts)what does that mean?
countryjake
(8,554 posts)coeur_de_lion
(3,681 posts)H2O Man
(73,605 posts)inside of the cathedrals in Ireland.
coeur_de_lion
(3,681 posts)Which ones?
H2O Man
(73,605 posts)I'll look up some of the examples today. But if you google "inside Irish cathedrals," I suspect you will see lots and lots of them. In that context, it has to do with the divine female powers of "God." In the Ivanka context, it is something distinct.
FM123
(10,054 posts)I remember hearing on the news last month (Rachel maybe) that this hotel that Ivanka was promoting and posting pics of was never even meant to be up and running at all. It was located in a weird warehouse district where there were not even proper roads leading to it. And it was alleged that it was all for illegal money laundering with that guy Mammadov who supposedly has ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
coeur_de_lion
(3,681 posts)why the Trumps would want to be involved in money laundering?
H2O Man
(73,605 posts)the Treasury investigators will provide an answer to that question!
coeur_de_lion
(3,681 posts)Never heard of this country until I looked it up after someone from there tried to hack into my computer yesterday afternoon.
coeur_de_lion
(3,681 posts)Last edited Sun May 28, 2017, 07:36 PM - Edit history (1)
Me.
(35,454 posts)Yes, Rachael did discuss it a while back but nothing since. And the thing is we need to keep all of this in the forefront as it's all part of the criminal, traitorous picture and nothing should be forgotten. Plus I've not seen the actual article before so well done
coeur_de_lion
(3,681 posts)I didn't see the show where Rachel discussed it but here is a link to the video:
[link:
Love her.
Me.
(35,454 posts)And let me just add for good measure that we could use more of your insight during these fraught times.
coeur_de_lion
(3,681 posts)Me.
(35,454 posts)I am a genius and beautiful
coeur_de_lion
(3,681 posts)countryjake
(8,554 posts)But I remember reading a few years ago about a couple things on this Trump project in Azerbaijan that confirmed my belief in his world "mob" ties all over our planet.
Donald Trump Is Doing Business With a Controversial Azerbaijani Oligarch
He's partnered with the billionaire son of a government official accused of using his position to enrich his family.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/donald-trump-azerbaijan-anar-mammadov
And this one...
Produced by the "Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project"
Mixing Government And Business In Azerbaijan
https://www.rferl.org/a/azerbaijan-transport-minister-corruption/24947711.html
Thanks again for digging up that New Yorker piece! I hadn't seen it and I'm glad to read that the Trump Family questionable shady dealings, everywhere, are still in the news since the inauguration.
Whatever it takes to expose our prez, the crook.
(on edit)
And another one I've just found in my bookmarks, from late 2015:
Hotel Project in Muslim Country Mysteriously Vanishes From Donald Trump's Website
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/12/azerbaijan-hotel-vanishes-from-donald-trumps-website
coeur_de_lion
(3,681 posts)a former Soviet Socialist Republic.
Did the Trumps get paid millions for a building that will never be occupied?
Wow Countryjake you did some awesome digging there.
One of your articles talks about the dangers of mixing government and business. Maybe Trump is using this Mammadov family as a model for his presidency.
Is this one of the reasons Jared is under investigation?
Or is this one of the reasons why people are talking about the emoluments clause?
[link:https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/05/donald-trump-conflicts-of-interests/508382/#Azerbaijan|
Curiouser and curiouser.
countryjake
(8,554 posts)man, that piece is long and in depth...great reporting on the part of Adam Davidson!
My interest in Azerbaijan goes back quite a while because of its position on the Silk Road, the route straight to China, and the pathways of US Imperialism.
Coeur_de_lion, with a history such as Trump's family, I'd sooner think that Mammadov and company probably have learned some things from the Trump clan, especially how to effectively reap profit, gain power, and manage to get away with it all, in the end.
Yes, curiouser is what we all must become, to get this jackal out of our White House.
(apologies to honest jackals, everywhere)
Thanks for adding Rachel's report to your OP...off to listen to that, now.
coeur_de_lion
(3,681 posts)of Rachel's analysis.
countryjake
(8,554 posts)Repression of a free press in Azerbaijan (i.e. Mammadov's lawsuits and blatant thuggery against curious journalists and newspapers) in comparison to Trump's own rants about "treasonous leaks" and "fake news" seems to be more than a mere coincidence to me and needs at least a mention in future stories about the ties between these two criminal families. Maybe you're right about Trump using that Azerbaijani clan as a model; looks like he's taking lessons from Mammadov on how to deal with the press (as are other Rethugs, too, like certain Montana pols).
These articles from Reporters Without Borders are just as frightening and serious to me as any shady business ties the Trumps have to foreign oligarchs...the similarities to Trump's accusations and Mammadov's actions are extremely worrisome and I have no illusions that the same couldn't happen right here if the Trump cabal isn't exposed soon.
Police prevent staff of opposition newspaper from working
https://rsf.org/en/news/police-prevent-staff-opposition-newspaper-working
Main opposition daily on verge of suffocation: its editor speaks out
https://rsf.org/en/news/main-opposition-daily-verge-suffocation-its-editor-speaks-out
In reference to Ms Maddow's story intro using the Bechtel Corp and my own state's Galloping Gertie, I find the perfect excuse to share one of my most favorite vids:
Just for the hell of it, retitled "Dance of the Invisible Inhabitants of Trump Baku Resort Tower"
coeur_de_lion
(3,681 posts)but this is a much bigger country -- more of us to raise hell. I won't believe that can happen here.
Cool video. Great music to match.
I wish I had the ear of a responsible journalist. Because this kind of stuff should be screaming headlines not back page stories.
countryjake
(8,554 posts)any other of our nation's oppressed minorities, how the "Justice" System conveniently morphs into InJustice when it comes to basic Human Rights, Free Speech, Right to Assemble, or any other freedom that a majority of Americans take for granted.
That crash of the Tacoma Narrows bridge video was enhanced by the guitar of John Fahey.
I have a sneaking feeling that the main reason this exposure of Trump's deal with the Mammadov mob has not been top of the news headlines nor a major focus of the myriad investigations currently underway might be due to the fact that our Prez and his cronies are not the only higher-up, official government entities who have actively courted the incredibly corrupt Azerbaijan regime, including both President Aliyev and that Mammadov family. Just look into the Azerbaijan America Alliance; there are some journalists who have kept a sharp eye on Anar Mammadov over the years, before Trump ever partnered with him.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,036 posts)coeur_de_lion
(3,681 posts)Unfortunately that means almost half this country are gullible as hell.