Jamal Khashoggi

People have said to me recently, here in the UK, that Donald Trump isn’t that bad – or is he? We all suffer from that phenomenon known as news fatigue. Nothing is as shocking as when we first hear of it and, soon, we think of it as just another story. You know, all those people dying in Yemen,  for example, in a war of genocide master-minded by Saudi Arabia and supported by the United States. Bad things happen. What can we do about it. Maybe it’s not as bad as they say, we think. We know about ‘fake news’ and we’re told that the media is the enemy of the people. So, who can we believe? Let’s not get too depressed about world affairs, politics, or anyone’s personal tragedies if they are not people we meet every day. It might not be as bad as we think.

You know the kind of thing. A mild-mannered Saudi journalist goes into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, to get the papers he needs to get married. He was not the wild-eyed radical some would have us believe; he was a moderate royalist journalist who worked for the Washington Post. If, as we now must believe, the next events really happened, then he was dead very soon after he walked into that building. He had upset people in high places, it seems. A team of 15 Saudi special agents flew into Turkey the same day, including an expert in dismemberment and the disposal of body parts, who allegedly advises  listening to music through headphones when things get really shocking. The journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, had walked straight into a trap. The gory details of his probable death have now been widely reported so I won’t go into them again, but, believe me, if they are true, I for one won’t put the thought to one side and blame it on news fatigue, let alone fake news.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

I’m not a fan of the Saudi royal family. Especially not of the sinister and, apparently cruel, young crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman who, it seems, knew a number of those 15 agents who arrived in Turkey on that fateful day. Ok, I know that the royal family of the house of Saud is very rich, that its royal princes spend loads of cash in places like London and New York, and that they are valuable customers for weapons designed and built in, say, the US and the UK, and, that are also used in Yemen. I know too that some of the members of the family are close to the British royal family, well, Prince Charles,  and to that even grander dynasty, the family Trump, well, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. BUT. If this sordid story of murder, political intrigue and, yes, loads of money, is true, then surely it is time for us in the West to finally say enough is enough from the  royal house of Saud. (Not just say it’s very sad but he wasn’t an American citizen). You would think that the president of the United States would have  been the first to condemn the horror of this event. He will probably have to do something eventually, of course, but his first reaction, as  with many other shocking events, was to at least appear to side with the perpetrators, whether they were far-right racists, accused women-molesters or the possibly (ha, bloody, ha) treacherous Russian president. And he’s doing it now with the Saudi royal family. It’s all the art of the deal, for Donald Trump. The Saudis and the Russians have been particularly valuable investors in his companies and now he sees the United States as an extension of the family business. Moral dilemma? What dilemma? Yes, there will be conversations inside the White House about this, and, eventually, he will have to come out with all the right words but, let’s remember his first reaction.

Donald Trump

The United States of America used to be seen as moral guardian of the world but that was before President Trump was elected to make America great again. No wonder western democracy is under threat and why it is no longer seen as an attractive option in so many countries in the world. A recent poll showed that only 33% of the world population would prefer life in America to life in China or Russia.

Maybe it is time for us  to do something about our own democracies before it is too late. The something might be to be a lot more careful about who or what we vote for. And to those folk who say that Donald Trump isn’t that bad, I say, open your eyes and look at the consequences as they begin to pile up. If there is no perceived decency at the head of the world’s greatest democracy, then nasty people will think that they can get away with practically anything.

Cleaners arriving at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul where, allegedly Jamal Khashoggi was murdered and dismembered,  before Turkish investigators were allowed inside.

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        Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States of America

So what’s it going to be for the President of the USA? We learn something new about his Russian obsessions every day, it seems. Now, of course, we have the extraordinary smoking gun that is revealed in those emails to his eldest son Donald Trump Junior about setting up a meeting with a Russian attorney who was, allegedly, offering the dirt on Hillary Clinton during last year’s Presidential campaign.

Donald Trump Junior

The meeting with the Russian was arranged with Donald Junior,  who, at the time, was busy campaigning for his father.

Jared Kushner

Also there was Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser,  now Head of the White House Office of American Innovation.

Paul Manafort

The third man on the list was  Paul Manafort (Donald Trump campaign manager)., all of whom have denied at various times that they had any meetings with Russians during the Trump campaign.

Donald Trump with his son-in-law, Jared, and eldest son, Donald Jnr

Well, as time goes by, one American newspaper or TV channel after another have come up wth stories which contradict their statements and, each time, these three men’s stories alter. Now we know that they were at the very least giving us alternative versions of the truth and that the American media weren’t, after all, delivering fake news.

Vladimir Putin, President of Russia and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Federation

Whatever the final, real truth is about Trump and the Russians, we will probably find out and, American democracy being what it is, Donald Trump will probably, sooner or later, have to pay the price of  his actions. One thing is already undeniable, the President of the United States, for all his many wildly inaccurate statements and tweets, has never said anything directly condemning about President Vladimir Putin whom, as almost everyone else knows, was directly involved in the hacking of the Hillary Clinton’s Presidential campaign. Far from condemning President Putin, President Trump, as we saw only too clearly at the G20 summit,  gets on with him famously.

President Putin and President Trump at the G20 Summit 2017

As a citizen of the United Kingdom, currently a perilously  leaderless country on the verge of the most calamitous moment in its history since the Second World War, I can hardly act all superior to the USA these days. I have great admiration for the USA and for the American people. Some of the cleverest, most impressive and innovative folk I know are American, but the current president only reinforces what was once an erroneous and minority prejudice in this country, that all Americans are vulgar, flashy and incurably addicted to money. Far from mocking all Americans, the American people have my sympathy for this breath-taking moment in their history.

President Trump on his first official overseas trip –  in Saudi Arabia

President Trump does his country no favours overseas except in places like Saudi Arabia, Israel and Poland, where right-wing authoritarians are in government and have reason to praise this most vain-glorious of men. Oh yes, I should’ve included Russia in that list, silly me. The Russian, Polish, Saudi Arabian people have my sympathy too.

British music publicist, Rob Goldstone

The New York Times got hold of the now infamous emails between Donald Trump Junior and a British music publicist and former tabloid journalist called Rob Goldstone. The newspaper informed Donald Junior that they were going to publish them and Donald, on advice, rushed out the publication himself as a form of desperate damage limitation.

Russian pop star, Emin Agalarov

The exchange of emails spells out the facts. Mr Goldstone says, 3 June 2016,  he has spoken to the Russian pop singer known as Emin (Agalarov), who has, apparently asked him to contact the Trumps because the Russian “Crown prosecutor’ had met the pop star’s father, the millionaire former Trump business partner, Aras Agalarov and ‘offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary (Clinton) and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father.’

Russian millionaire businessman, Aras Agalarov

Rob Goldstone adds; ‘This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but it is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr Trump – helped along by Aras and Emin.’

Donald Trump with Aras Agalarov and Emin Agalarov in happier days

Donald Junior replied the same day: ‘If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer. Could we do a call first thing next week when I’m back?”  He meant back from being on the road campaigning with his dad. The meeting was arranged and happened at Trump Tower in New York six days later when Junior, Jared Kushner and Paul Mannafort met with the Russian attorney, Natalia Veselnitskaya (the Russians are claiming, as is KGB style, that she is merely a private citizen). Apparently,  that day, President-elect Trump was upstairs  in the same building.

Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya

Donald Junior released the emails with an explanatory note saying that  ‘the woman’ had ‘no information to provide’ Even if this is true, Donald Junior, along with Kushner and Manafort went to the meeting with, at least, Donald Junior acting on the expectation that the Russian government was prepared to give valuable information that would incriminate Hillary Clinton in the American election. Eventually Mr Trump Junior will have to give his version of the truth under oath, but, don’t hold your breath, the Trump family believes in alternative truth.

In case you’re confused by the B-movie characters in this seedy but potentially dangerous affair, here are the principal players – they seem to be friends. President Trump co-owns the company that produces the Miss Universe Competition. The 2013 Miss Universe show came from Moscow and the Russian oligarch, Aras Agalarov invested $20 million into the event. Aras, remember, is the father of the pop star, Emin, who approached the writer of that email, the music publicist, Rob Goldstone. Thank God this story doesn’t get any seedier!

Miss Universe Competition in Moscow, 2013

Donald Trump and Miss Universe 2013

 Donald Trump and Aras Agalarov

Vladimir Putin and Aras Agalarov

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump

And, if any of you out there, were wondering about Russian pop star, Emin, here’s one of his videos brought specially to you by wolfiewolfgang. It could be an anthem for the Putin-Trump era:

The post So, President Trump, take your pick: Treason, Perjury, Obstructing Justice, Conflict of Interest or simple Incompetence? appeared first on Wolfie Wolfgang.