I’m now not the only person who is noticing how greatly Putin benefits from the Panama scandal and wonders if he had anything to do with provoking it.
Aside from everything mentioned in the linked piece, the damage done to Cameron is very useful to Russia. If Corbyn were to come to power in the UK, that would be an enormous gift to Putin.
Overall, any damage inflicted on Europe, anything that casts it in a bad light is great for Putin. And this scandal does that.
Let’s see, even though the leak included members of the Vladmir Putin buddy circle, Vlad was behind it because why?
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Plausible deniability?
And Putin’s position is strong enough in Russia that he can make up some stupid story and the majority will little choice other than pretend to believe him.
Russians, in general, tolerate vast amounts of corruption (the same way they tolerate governments killing them).
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“Russians, in general, tolerate vast amounts of corruption (the same way they tolerate governments killing them).”
Exactly. This is the same as why Americans keep electing millionaires to political office (e.g. Rauner.) They love looking at these rich fellows and imagining that they, too, can become as rich. Russians look at corrupt governmental officials and fantasize that one day they, too, will be able to take a large bribe or join a corruption scheme.
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Have you read the linked article?
Putin has no reason to fear the scandal with the violinist. Why should he? In his country, such things are a badge of honor. There have been enormous corruption revelations in Russia, involving Putin directly. And the people of Russia just love him even more.
Now you got me wondering what the PM of Iceland did to piss Putin off.
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Do you remember back at the height of the global economic crisis how it was revealed that many of Russian ill-gotten fortunes were hidden in Icelandic banks? And then how the people of Iceland eviscerated the banks for the fraud?
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It does seem odd that they were apparently tipped off before the PP were published, and tried vainly to get ahead of the story. I don’t believe a former KGB man who has successfully killed opponents with polonium is that sloppy or short-sighted, given that the PM was anti-EU:
In March, Anna Sigurlaug Pálsdóttir, the wife of (now former) Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, posted a status update on Facebook that seemed to come out of nowhere. In that post, she went into some detail about a company called Wintris Inc. Located in the British Virgin Islands, this company was owned by her, and was tasked with managing the assets she received as an inheritance. Why she made this post would come to light a couple weeks later, with a remarkable investigative news broadcast that would end up unseating Sigmundur Davíð and, at the time of this writing, possibly dissolving Parliament altogether.
The news that the Prime Minister’s wife had an offshore company was galling to many Icelanders, and not just because of the obvious conflict of interest. Sigmundur Davíð rose to power as a self-appointed crusader for the Icelandic króna. He talked a lot about the importance of staying out of the EU. He called the króna “the strongest indexed currency in the world.” He presided over capital controls, touted the importance of keeping business in Iceland, and railed against the claimants on Iceland’s fallen banks as “vultures” while neglecting to mention that Wintris, his wife’s own company, was one of the vultures in question.
This prompted some of the usual: protests planned, a petition in circulation calling for his resignation, his assurances that he did nothing wrong. It seemed like just yet another road bump on Highway Sigmundur, and that it might even blow over in a couple days. That all changed on April 3.
There’s a saying we have in America, “Let sleeping dogs lie.”
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It is certainly frustrating for those of us Westerners who hold anti-establishment sentiments, that Putin and his cronies seem to play so well into the sentiments of our crowd. One only need watch enough RT to see that. Some interesting analysis, but one wonders. I rarely trust anything I read from online sources 100%. Too many seem to have all too obvious interests.
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” I rarely trust anything I read from online sources 100%. Too many seem to have all too obvious interests.”
And you are absolutely right to do that.
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If Cameron were to resign (which I don’t think he will), it is fairly likely that someone extremely pro-Brexit like the odious Boris Johnson would take the Conservative leadership. This would indeed be a great boon for Putin.
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“This would indeed be a great boon for Putin.”
Absolutely. He wants nothing more than for the EU to collapse.
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