Russia

The bigger question, of course, is whether congressional Republicans treat this whole brouhaha as just another partisan food fight, or as a potential threat to the rule of law that requires some independence from the administration. As veteran journalist James Fallows notes in an authoritative piece on parallels between the present saga and Watergate (which he covered): … [Read more...] about Senate Dems Looking for 3 Republicans Brave Enough to Help Them Get a Russia Probe

“Emin just called and asked me to contact you with something very interesting,” Goldstone emailed Trump Jr. on June 3, 2016. Trump Jr. tweeted the emails Tuesday, just moments before the Times published a story on their contents. Russia’s prosecutor general “met with his father Aras this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father. … [Read more...] about Rob Goldstone, Inside the Semi-Secret Life of the Playboy Who Could Bring Down Trump

Together, the Klyuev Group allegedly stole $107 million from public coffers—and therefore from the Russian people—using dummied-up registrations for companies that formerly belonged to a Renaissance subsidiary, Rengaz Holdings Limited. The Group then allegedly used these companies to file bogus refund claims in Kazan and Moscow. All the money was duly refunded thanks the accomplices in the Moscow tax offices, according to the investigative website Russian Untouchables, then wired to accounts at the Universal Savings Bank, an institution which Klyuev owned and operated. Then Klyuev, Stepanova and Stepanova’s husband Vladlen Stepanov all went on holiday together to Dubai, as plane records obtained and published by Russian Untouchables demonstrate. From there, Klyuev and the Stepanovs traveled to Switzerland, where the husband-and-wife team reportedly kept deposits at Credit Suisse in the names of their offshore shell companies. They all returned to Moscow on the same … [Read more...] about Moscow’s Long, Corrupt Money Trail

Yet all of the shifting duties among state organs that Putin proposes is a feature, not a bug, of the new system. It provides him with both the time and opportunity to land in a senior government post from which he can continue to guide, if no longer dictate, the course of the system that he built. The new system is less for establishing checks and balances than establishing a framework for consensus, where the ultimate authority could have little to do with an organizational chart in the constitution. … [Read more...] about Vladimir Putin will not be president for life but he is sure to have power

Russia's leading opposition politician, Alexei Navalny, and other Kremlin foes have denounced Putin's move as an effort to extend his rule after his term ends, but it didn't immediately trigger any major protest. The vagueness of proposed changes helped mute the public response, and the dismissal of Medvedev along with his Cabinet also diverted attention from the suggested amendments. … [Read more...] about Putin sends his constitutional proposals to Parliament