Today, Russian dissident Denis Voronenkov was assassinated in Kiev. Mr. Voronenkov, a colonel in the Russian Armed Forces and a former member of the Russian Parliament, was an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Mr. Voronenkov planned to testify against former Ukraine President Victor Yanukovych. Mr. Yanukovych, a pro-Russian Putin ally forced into exile since 2014, is being tried in absentia for treason. From at least 2006 until 2012, Mr. Yanukovych employed former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort as a political consultant.
[How Trump adviser Manafort revived his career — and business fortunes — in Ukraine]
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/23/521215078/former-russian-lawmaker-is-shot-to-death-outside-hotel-in-kiev?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20170323
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/23/anti-putin-exile-gunned-down-in-the-streets-of-ukraine.html
There is a point where coincidence ends and conspiracy begins. Not the tinfoil hat type X-Files conspiracies, but the two interested parties working together to achieve mutual goals.
The Russian government did not want Hilary Clinton to win the 2016 Presidential Election. They didn’t necessarily want Donald Trump to win, but like Bernie Bro voters, the Russians were in the anybody but Hillary camp.
Donald Trump and his supporters wanted to win the 2016 election. That is a “no shit Sherlock” statement true of any campaign, but you do what you need to do to win. And supporters select candidates based on their interests.
That Paul Manafort, a well established GOP player, supported Donald Trump in 2016 isn’t much a shock. It also isn’t shocking that the Russian Government, who wants anybody but Hillary Clinton to win, would use those connections (and the power of the state) to advance their national interests.
Everything else that follows is just business.
And that is why business and government shouldn’t mix. Business is about making money and maximizing profits for investors.T here isn’t any ethical long term goal beyond profit.
Government is about enacting policy that benefits it’s citizens. Government doesn’t make a profit. Government works for the security and benefit of all citizens. Government is ethical, or at least it should.
And if you elect a profit driven businessman who then surrounds himself with other profit driven businessmen……….
