For Sale to the Highest Bidder – How Middle Eastern Governments Are Buying Off the U.S. Political Process

Screen Shot 2015-01-13 at 2.28.10 PMThe quaint notion that the U.S. political system remotely resembles either a Republic or a Democracy should have been abandoned long ago. Any lingering illusions were surely extinguished last year, when an academic study empirically proved that the USA is nothing more than a corrupt oligarchy. I highlighted this groundbreaking piece of research in the post: New Report from Princeton and Northwestern Proves It: The U.S. is an Oligarchy. Here’s an excerpt from the study itself:

Despite the seemingly strong empirical support in previous studies for theories of majoritarian democracy, our analyses suggest that majorities of the American public actually have little influence over the policies our government adopts. Americans do enjoy many features central to democratic governance, such as regular elections, freedom of speech and association, and a widespread (if still contested) franchise. But we believe that if policymaking is dominated by powerful business organizations and a small number of affluent Americans, then America’s claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatened.

While having super rich and powerful American oligarchs running the show is one thing, the reality of the situation is actually far worse. Thanks to a recent article in Vice, we now know that foreign governments are aggressively employing their extraordinary wealth to advance their interests here on American soil. In many cases, these are autocratic regimes, which not only do not care about the best interests of the nation, they are often caught actively funding ISIS and even perpetuating 9/11 itself. Here are some excerpts from the piece:

For ex-congressman and GOP strategist Vin Weber, Christmas came a few days early and from an unlikely source: the Qatari government. In December, three days before the holiday, the former Minnesota lawmaker and his lobbying firm, Mercury LLC, signed a lucrative lobbying contract with theGulf State,receiving a $465,000 advance for the first few months of work.

Weber isn’t alone. Over the past year and a half, regimes throughout the Middle East, from Turkey to the United Arab Emirates, have gone on what appears to be a shopping spree for former members of Congress. Compared to the rest of the world, Middle East governments have accounted for more than fifty percent of the latest revolving door hires for former lawmakers during this time period, according to a review of disclosures by VICE.

What’s also striking about the latest surge in foreign lobbying is that many of these former lawmakers maintain influence that extends well beyond the halls of Congress. Former Michigan Representative Pete Hoekstra, who used to chair the House Intelligence Committee, appears regularly in the media to demand that the US increase its arms assistance to the Kurds in northern Iraq. Writing for the conservative news outlet National Review, Hoekstra argued that, “the United States needs to immediately provide [the Peshmerga] with more than light arms and artillery to tip the scales in their favor and overcome the firepower of the Islamists.” In that instance and in others, Hoekstra has often not disclosed that since August 12th, he has worked as a paid representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government, which relies on the beleaguered Peshmerga militia for safety against ISIS.

The same goes for former US Senator Norm Coleman, a lobbyist who serves on the board of the influential Republican Jewish Coalition, and whose Super PAC, American Action Network, spent over $12.3 million to help elect Republicans last year. Since July, Coleman has been a registered lobbyist for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, hired in part to work on sanctions against Iran, a key priority of Saudi Arabia’s ruling family. Shortly after signing up as a lobbyist for the Saudis, Coleman, introduced only as a former Senator, gave a speech on Capitol Hill imploring his congressional allies to realize that Israel and Saudi Arabia have many shared policy priorities, and that the United States “should be hand in glove with our allies in the region.” And in a Twitter message greeting the new Congress last week, Coleman wrote that a “nuclear Iran” is the biggest threat and linked to an article calling for Congress to prioritize a new round of Iran sanctions. 

It’s not always clear what these lawmaker-lobbyists say or do on behalf of their foreign supervisors, but what is clear is that many of these politicians are willing to renege on their past commitments to human rights. Delahunt, for example, led inquiries in Congress to cast a light into the brutal abuses of Azerbaijan. If anything, Azerbaijan has gotten worse, according to international observers, who note that since last year, the country has gone on an unprecedented crackdown of activists, journalists, and other perceived opponents of the regime. But instead of pushing back against such crimes, Delahunt now works to put a positive spin on the developments. 

The influx of foreign influence into Washington is a growing phenomenon. As the New York Times reported late last year, major think tanks, including the Brookings Institute and the Atlantic Council, have allowed foreign donors to call the shots on their policy prescriptions. Major trade groups that can now play an unlimited role in influencing elections, thanks to the Citizens United ruling, receive direct funds from corporations headquartered in foreign lands. The American Petroleum Institute, for instance, is run by a board of directors that includes an executive from ARAMCO, the Saudi state-owned oil company that takes its orders from the Saudi ruling family. 

Remember that next time you read a report from a “think tank,” or hear one of their “expert” analysts on some mainstream media propaganda show. You’ll probably hear as much truth from them as you received from Fox News’ recently shamed “terrorism expert,” Steve Emerson.

It appears that this trend of former powerful politicians getting revolving door payouts via shady, human rights abusing regimes represents the wave of the future. After all, why attract all that publicity by joining JP Morgan, when you can just as easily start your own consulting or lobbying firm and earn millions from the likes of say, Kazakhstan. This is precisely what former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has done. Recall: Letter Reveals Tony Blair Advised Kazakhstan’s President on How to Spin Massacre of Innocent, Unarmed Protesters.

Even more troubling, is the fact that several of the governments mentioned in the Vice piece, specifically Qatar and Saudi Arabia, were instrumental in funding the emergence of ISIS, the latest existential terrorist threat du jour. Remember the post, America’s Disastrous Foreign Policy – My Thoughts on Iraq, in which it was noted that:

But in the years they were getting started, a key component of ISIS’s support came from wealthy individuals in the Arab Gulf States of Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Sometimes the support came with the tacit nod of approval from those regimes; often, it took advantage of poor money laundering protections in those states, according to officials, experts, and leaders of the Syrian opposition, which is fighting ISIS as well as the regime.

So these individuals are funding ISIS with one hand, and feeding former U.S. politicians with the other. It’s basically oligarchy on steroids. And it’s not just ISIS either. Bear in mind the increasingly clear connection between Saudi Arabia and the 9/11 attacks highlighted in the piece: Two Congressmen Push for Release of 28-Page Document Showing Saudi Involvement in 9/11.

Are we simply being played as fools by a bunch of authoritarian desert monarchs? Certainly appears that way.

In Liberty,
Michael Krieger

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12 thoughts on “For Sale to the Highest Bidder – How Middle Eastern Governments Are Buying Off the U.S. Political Process”

  1. What a hilarious article—An article about the Middle East buying off the US government that only mentions Israel because it supposedly has similar goals to the Saudis. Truly inept hasbara!

    Reply
    • I fail to see a pro-Israeli slant here. It points out that Coleman, a paid shill for a Jewish lobby group, also flipped over to Saudi Arabian cash since the objectives (slam Iran) where the same.

  2. Where do these desert monarchs spring from? What is their history? How come they have so much power? Are they really Arabs? What is really going on there? What is their agenda? What is YOUR agenda?

    Reply
  3. It is true that many Islamic countries are attempting to gain influence in lobbying Congress. While perhaps regrettable, it is quite understandable, as the Israelis and all the other Jews have for far too long controlled our Congressman and Senators with impunity, leading to multiple domestic and foreign policy disasters, which have done nothing but harm to Americans.

    It is the Jews who control banking, politics, most businesses, the “entertainment” industry; who promote, are involved in, and profit from abortion, sodomy, pornography, and usury; who impose their perverse views and desires on the rest of us, although they are only 1.7% of the US population–the same as the Muslims.

    And then they whine and cry and scream about “anti-Semitism”, if they don’t get their way, while persecuting their perceived opponents by ruthless means.

    The Israelis, along with the US, are the ones who started, fund, and direct ISIL, al-Qaeda, and the Jewish-run dictatorship installed by violent coup in the Ukraine. The “Charlie Hebdo” murders appear to be another Mossad false-flag operation to get non-Jews to fight Israeli wars for them.

    Frankly, I am surprised that Liberty Blitzkrieg has fallen into the obvious Jewish propaganda trap with this article. It is well below your normal standards and unworthy of free men.

    Reply
    • Comments like yours is why many people are getting rid of comment sections altogether. It truly brings out some of the most insane and hateful people on planet earth. Plus a lot of paid psy ops operatives intent on fueling divide and conquer, which clearly is your MO.

      Yes, right the Jews control the world. How novel of you. Did you come up with that thesis on your own? I happen to know many, many Jews on a personal level who are struggling mightily in the current economy. I should just tell them to call up their fellow tribesmen in the media and banking and they’ll be set for life right? You’re a real idiot.

      I grew up in Manhattan, so I’m sure I grew up with and knew far more Jews than you. Just like within any population set, there are some horrible individuals and some wonderful ones. How many Jews do you know? Where do you live?

      As far as ISIS, it’s been widely reported that Qatar, Saudi and Kuwaiti interests funded them. Here are some articles:

      http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/whos-funding-isis-wealthy-gulf-angel-investors-officials-say-n208006

      http://www.newsweek.com/2014/11/14/how-does-isis-fund-its-reign-terror-282607.html

      http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/14/america-s-allies-are-funding-isis.html

      But it’s the Jews! The Jews run the world! That’s not anti-Semitic so much as it is ignorant and imbecilic. Please provide your proof that it was the Jews! I’d love to see it.

      You’re right, sodomy and pornography wouldn’t exist if not for the Jews!

      Oh and your last line is laughable. “It is well below your normal standards and unworthy of free men.”

      My normal standards? You’ve never left a comment on this site before, and I doubt you’ve ever even read the site before. You are obviously either a very depressed loser with a low IQ, or a paid troll. Toss up really.

  4. Mr. Krieger:

    Methinks thou dost protest too much. Your response is histrionic to the point of being hysterical. It is an ad hominem attack, not a reasoned response. Even the three articles you cite prove my point, as all three organisations are Jewish-owned or -controlled. Or maybe you never stopped to find out who runs those companies?

    The three countries you mention relative to ISIL are, of course, involved, but they are US/Israeli proxies, being guided and partially funded by the US and the Zionist Occupation Government in Palestine. That is well known and documented, too. It’s just that the Jewish-controlled media prevent most Americans from finding out the truth, since they have a stake in promoting Zionist interests. If you go to “www.americanfreepress.net”, or to any number of news sources outside the US, you will find plenty of proof–proof which you likely already know but choose to ignore. Even the mainstream media here have reported some of it, like the fact that the US (and Mossad) trained ISIL fighters in Jordan and elsewhere. Al-Qaeda was a CIA/Mossad creation.

    As a thought experiment, try substituting “Russian” or “Muslim” or “Chinese” for “Jewish” in my initial comments. Assuming there would be a factual basis, as there certainly is for using “Jewish”, would you respond so outrageously to my remarks? No, of course not. It is only the Jews who supposedly cannot be criticised, even when it is justified. That is why Abe Foxman, in an interview with the Cleveland Jewish News, boasted that people who criticise Jews will “pay a price”: that their careers and lives will be ruined by the oh-so-wonderful Jews.

    I have no intention of “dividing and conquering”. That is the Zionist modus operandi. I never commented before, because I never had a reason to disagree with the other things I have read on your site. In fact, I have often used your postings as sources for my own articles elsewhere.

    Your angry statements display only the typical Jewish and crypto-Jewish hatred for non-Jews, as evidenced by the silly rash judgements you make, in order to try to insult me.

    In fact, I have known many Jews over the years, and also worked for them. Some of them are very decent people. The ones I worked for treated me very well, and one was a good friend. You are trying to throw your readers off of the real topic by engaging in your Gentile-baiting. Your final remarks to me are so undignified and unworthy of rational discussion, that I will not respond to them, even though they are manifestly untrue. And your request to know where I live is obviously a veiled threat, which ought to be reported to the FBI.

    I am sorry to know that some Jews are suffering economic hardship due to the insane avarice of their Landsmaenner among the Rothschilds, at Goldman Sachs, at the Federal Reserve Bank, and in Israel, just to name a few of the perpetrators. But the fact that some Jews suffer does not disprove my thesis, which is well-documented historically.

    Your problem is that you cannot prove a negative, i.e., your assertion that the Jews are not responsible for the things I listed before. On the other hand, just reading through the list of names of major figures in all of the activities I listed–easily available on the internet–proves my thesis beyond a shadow of a doubt. So does the hugely disproportional respresentation of Jews in government, media, academia, finance, etc.

    You are the one who started this discussion with your one-sided propaganda column. I am merely attempting to refute it with the truth. That you do not like the truth is obvious. Childish name-calling, however, will do nothing to undo facts.

    Reply
    • You have exposed yourself as a paid troll based on the above. I will let regular readers come to their own conclusions, I’ll just note that:

      1) You talk about hatred for non-Jews. Ok, so I hate my mother and my girlfriend. Who knew!

      2) You wrote: “And your request to know where I live is obviously a veiled threat, which ought to be reported to the FBI.”

      That is the nail in the coffin that you work for the state itself. Unless the FBI is the one organization that hasn’t been co-opted by those all powerful filthy Jews. Strange that reporting me to the FBI would be your first thought.

      I’d be honored if you never came back to my site again, you sad, depressed soul filled with hate. But we both know you never did before today, and someone is paying you to spew nonsense.

      Methinks you are exposed.

  5. Wow! I think you’ve got that keppe stuck a little too tight on your head! It seems to have cut off the circulation to your brain and affected your ability to employ logic and reason. Sad, really, that you are able only to resort to enraged vitriol in response to factual statements you are unable to disprove. Hardly adult behaviour.

    I only wish I got paid for writing comments on web-sites like yours! My only interest, as I told you before, is to bring out the truth. The fact that you do not like the truth and get angry that someone has the courage to present it to your readers, does not make me a “troll”.

    In fact, because I have been impressed by many things you have reported, I was very surprised by your acting as a shill for Zionist interests with the present article.

    1-Your mother and your girlfriend have nothing to do with anything. That is a sorry attempt at deflection.

    2-If I were working for the “state”, I wouldn’t be wasting my time trying to bring the truth to the wilfully ignorant. I wouldn’t say that the FBI is uncorrupted by Jewish influence. After all, they conspired to frame the late Rep. Jim Traficant on false charges, suborned perjury, and tampered with the jury in that case, in order to get Traficant thrown out of the Congress, because he stood up to the Jewish-run IRS, and most of all, because he obtained the evidence which proved that John Demjanjuk was innocent of the false charge made by corrupt Jews that Demjanjuk was “Ivan the Terrible”. However, when someone in cyberspace threatens another person on his blog, as you did, the FBI is the legally competent investigating police authority. You would have no other reason to ask me where I live, except as an indirect threat against my person.

    It’s funny how you think that the truth about Jewish influence is “hate”, yet the hate-filled rhetoric and lies–and even the twisting of the truth which you present in your article, above–which Jews and apologists for Jewry employ against their perceived enemies is apparently acceptable to you.

    I wouldn’t be surprised if you think it’s just fine that the Israelis are committing daily acts of genocide against the mostly unarmed native Palestinians in the Holy Land. Oh! But we’re not supposed to notice that the apartheid, racist, terrorist, genocidal, rogue nuclear state of Israel is an occupying power in a land where it has no legitimate presence, and that its leaders and military are guilty of numberless war crimes and crimes against humanity in their attempts to annihilate the Palestinians. And I suppose you also think it’s o.k. for the US to act as a proxy state for Israel, fighting and dying in wars of aggression all over the world, destroying the countries of Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, and more, while stealing those countries’ resources and impoverishing their peoples, in order to establish Eretz Yisrael. Or weren’t you aware that Mossad and the CIA used a bloody coup to overthrow the democratically elected government of Ukraine, placing corrupt Jewish oligarchs in power and committing genocide against pro-Russian and Russian Ukrainians–even going so far as to make Hebrew the second official language–preparatory to re-establishing Greater Khazaria on the backs of the Ukrainians newly enslaved by the Jewish international banksters?

    You may wish that I never come back to your site, but you will be disappointed. I appreciate the truthful things you report on. But I am not about to accept that you mislead people with an old piece of warmed-over Jewish propaganda, like the article above.

    Reply
    • You have already been exposed. I will let the readers see your sad and tired statements and make their own judgements.

      As far as Israel, I am no fan of how that nation conducts itself.

      As far as the Middle East wars of aggression the U.S. engages in, I am constantly writing about that and criticizing it. The fact you didn’t know that proves once again that you have never read this site, and are a paid troll looking to divide and conquer.

      As far as asking where you live, I was asking only because I am certain you don’t live anywhere near many Jews and are just talking out of your ass. Or you live somewhere near Langley, VA. That is my real suspicion. Your quickness to run to the FBI because of a simple question demonstrates either one of two things. One, your statist love affair with your state employer. Two, you are a terrified, paranoid little child scared of his own shadow so you need to run to authority because someone asked you a benign question on a website. These are typically the types of people who espouse “Jews run the world” theories. Rather than acknowledge your sad existence and try to change it, you blame an entire group of people. It’s pathetic.

      It’s also pathetic that you’d continue to peruse a website of someone who you claim is guilty of Jewish propaganda. Then again, go for it. I’ll take the page views. However, this will be the last time I acknowledge you. I have work to do, unlike you, who prefers to shiver like a frightened little puppy dog in a corner, shaking with fear that some Jew is coming to get you.

      You won’t hear from me again, but by all means continue to generate page views for me, and continue to demonstrate your sad, tired, idiotic theories so all my readers can have a giant laugh.

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