by Nomad
Nikki's Non-Sarcastic Remark
A most extraordinary thing happened this week. Oh, I know. You are saying, "But Nomad, you say that every week." Every week I mean it, too. It is usually something extraordinary mixed with a dollop of ridiculousness combined with a whole septic tank of nastiness.
When U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced her resignation, she lavished praise on the president's daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner. But that wasn't the extraordinary thing.
After all, sucking up to this president is a full-time job. That and swiping documents off his desk, coming up with the appropriate lies to explain the inexplicable, and finding a way to tell the man there is a tiny bit of you-know-what stuck to his heel.
Halley said
"I can’t say enough good things about Jared and Ivanka [Trump]."
That pithy remark has remarkable pivoting power if you cared to analyze it. Enough good things? Claiming Jared and Ivanka are well-washed and smell nice is probably sufficient for any half-way honest person.
Ambassadors, as we all know, are trained to say the most absurd things without blinking and Nikki, as incompetent as she is, has picked up that talent along the way. She added:
Ambassadors, as we all know, are trained to say the most absurd things without blinking and Nikki, as incompetent as she is, has picked up that talent along the way. She added:
"Jared is such a hidden genius that no one understands."
Haley has, in recent days, credited Kushner for renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) deal. It took over two years with a lot of troublesome tweeting from President Trump, but eventually, a new NAFTA materialized.
Trump all-too-predictably gave it rave reviews as he does everything he takes credit for. However, the New Republic called the new NAFTA, "almost the same as the old NAFTA but with a different name."
Other economists say that unless you are a cow or a car maker, you might never notice any difference at all.
Trump all-too-predictably gave it rave reviews as he does everything he takes credit for. However, the New Republic called the new NAFTA, "almost the same as the old NAFTA but with a different name."
Other economists say that unless you are a cow or a car maker, you might never notice any difference at all.
The most astonishing thing that happened this week? Certainly, it wasn't Ms. Haley saying something patently untrue. This sort of thing happens on an hourly basis in the Trump era.
No, the really striking thing was that not one of the news media heard Ms. Halley's pronouncement and nobody in the room burst out laughing.
Everybody- except the eyeball-rolling public- took it as a non-sarcastic remark.
No, the really striking thing was that not one of the news media heard Ms. Halley's pronouncement and nobody in the room burst out laughing.
Everybody- except the eyeball-rolling public- took it as a non-sarcastic remark.
Kushner's Idea of Peace
So, let's cut Nikki some slack. This walking mannequin with the voice of testicles undescended is not a one-trick pony. Jared's accomplishments also include attempting to solve the perpetual and complex Middle East problem. Of course, people have been endeavoring to resolve this headache cum nightmare since before the establishment of the state of Israel.
Smart people too.
Even before the inauguration, Trump had claimed that if Kushner "can't produce peace in the Middle East, nobody can." Which is probably accurate in a backward sort of way. Nobody can produce peace in that region and Kushner is as good at not achieving that as anybody else.
So, much to everybody's disbelief, Trump's son-in-law, unqualified in every respect, was tasked in 2017 with "reviving the stalled peace process." That's like teaching swimming lessons to a 40-lb rock.
The hopeless mission was made more hopeless by Trump's interference, namely, his unquestioning loyalty to Benjamin Netanyahu. Kushner oversaw the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem which sparked violent clashes between Israelis and Palestinians along the Gaza Strip. Dozens of Palestinians were killed.
Even with Palestinian blood on his hands, the president has constantly kept up the rhetoric about peace, talking about how close his administration was to making "the ultimate deal." Few people in Washington were fooled. We have all gotten used to having the president speaking like a used car salesman.
Being a good boy, Jared made his visits to Middle East capitals, had tea and talked and listened and talked some more. He rode the merry-go-rounds, ate the cotton candy and crashed the bump-em cars.
No breakthroughs. None were expected.
No breakthroughs. None were expected.
Then, in June of this year, the administration announced that, despite all evidence to the contrary, the “prospects for peace are very much alive.”
And if you were prepared to believe that, Kushner also claimed that the admininistration is getting preparing to release its long-awaited plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace.
We are still waiting.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian people were wondering if they could survive Israeli's current definition of peace. Here's how Human Rights Watch describes Palestine in 2018:
The Israeli government continued to enforce severe and discriminatory restrictions on Palestinians’ human rights; restrict the movement of people and goods into and out of the Gaza Strip; and facilitate the unlawful transfer of Israeli citizens to settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israel operates a two-tiered system in the West Bank that provides preferential treatment to Israeli settlers while imposing harsh conditions on Palestinians....
Israeli security forces used lethal force against demonstrators and against suspected attackers in the West Bank and at the Gaza border.
How can any sort of peace plan be fair and meaningful when one side is under such pressure to accept any conditions? Even if Kushner were to succeed, he would not be overseeing a peace plan but negotiating the terms of a Palestinian surrender.
When it comes to being an honest broker for peace, Kushner is a lost cause in other ways.
"In His Pocket"
In late October last year, Kushner took an unannounced trip to Riyadh. According to the Washington Post, he and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are said to have "stayed up until nearly 4 a.m. several nights, swapping stories and planning strategy."
Just a pair of princes name-dropping over a jolly game of whist.
According to a report in The Intercept, Prince Mohammed allegedly bragged to the Emirati crown prince and others that Kushner was “in his pocket." What did he mean by this remark, you ask?
The timeline is important. Less than one month later. under the cover of a corruption crackdown, dozens of business leaders and government officials were arrested, and many of them were very rich and very powerful with lots and lots of connections in the West.
That being said, the prince's private remarks were widely reported as factual or at least, credible. And perhaps that is all that matters. The Middle East is a land where perceptions matter as much (or more) than reality.
Back in 2007, the Kushners acquired the property for a jaw-dropping (and record-setting) $1.4 billion. It was a gamble, straining the family fortunes to the breaking point should there be any, say, unexpected economic downturn.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller seems to be looking into Kushner’s pursuit of foreign financing and Qatari officials may (or may not) be cooperating with that investigation.
As CNN reported recently:
Just a pair of princes name-dropping over a jolly game of whist.
According to a report in The Intercept, Prince Mohammed allegedly bragged to the Emirati crown prince and others that Kushner was “in his pocket." What did he mean by this remark, you ask?
Well, the phrase is usually defined as being "under the direct control or influence of someone or some group." How could that apply here?
This unconfirmed report also claimed that the crown prince revealed to his confidants that he and Kushner had discussed the names of Saudis disloyal to the crown prince which later became targets of an unexpected and ruthless purge in the Saudi kingdom.
Where would Kushner obtain such information?
The timeline is important. Less than one month later. under the cover of a corruption crackdown, dozens of business leaders and government officials were arrested, and many of them were very rich and very powerful with lots and lots of connections in the West.
There's a lot of speculation in that report, to be sure. Admittedly, the Intercept is not the most reliable of sources.
That being said, the prince's private remarks were widely reported as factual or at least, credible. And perhaps that is all that matters. The Middle East is a land where perceptions matter as much (or more) than reality.
And the perception that Trump's son-in-law is sharing -perhaps classified- information would, as one a U.S. government official pointed out, send "a powerful message to the crown prince’s allies and enemies that his actions were backed by the U.S. government."
But there's more.
Last week, Kushner's princely pal was suspected of being behind the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi. The exact fate of the internationally respected journalist is, as yet, unknown.
This Saudi royal family critic marched into a Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October and never left. Not in one piece anyway.
Turkish authorities believe he was murdered in the embassy, butchered and removed by members of a 15-man hit squad. It was said to have been a very well-organized murder operation, completed within two hours, with all members of the team departing Turkey for various countries.
(Thanks, Vladimir, bumping off one's enemies in foreign lands seems to be the latest fashion in silencing critics. Yet, to be fair, Mossad's been doing it for decades. There's one critical difference: in this alleged incident, it would be an outrageous abuse of both diplomatic immunity and the traditional protections of embassy compounds.)
The implication is, of course, that the hit was ordered by Kushner's favorite prince. So far, that is only a logical assumption and nothing has been confirmed.
We may never know. In his client's defense, Kushner's lawyer said the allegation was "so obviously false and ridiculous that they merit no response.
Still, if there was a hit list, Khashoggi would definitely have been on it. He had fled Saudi Arabia in September 2017 and had been regularly posting articles critical to his home country. He had also criticized Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. The Washington Post is now reporting that the Crown Prince had ordered that Khashoggi be lured into detention.
We may never know. In his client's defense, Kushner's lawyer said the allegation was "so obviously false and ridiculous that they merit no response.
Still, if there was a hit list, Khashoggi would definitely have been on it. He had fled Saudi Arabia in September 2017 and had been regularly posting articles critical to his home country. He had also criticized Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. The Washington Post is now reporting that the Crown Prince had ordered that Khashoggi be lured into detention.
Whether or not the operation was sparked by classified information that Kushner delivered is impossible to say.
Now the phrase, "in my pocket" starts to make more sense. By illegally delivering classified information, Kushner could have opened himself up for blackmail by the Saudis.
The Trump administration has been unusually subdued in its comments about the disappearance of Khashoggi.
That is in itself rather suspicious.
Kushner's Qatari Connection
This corruption works on a more personal level too. Around the same time as Kushner was supposedly ironing out everlasting peace in the Middle East, he was also resolving one of his serious financial problems. I am speaking of the " troubled" skyscraper in Manhattan located at 666 Fifth Avenue.
Back in 2007, the Kushners acquired the property for a jaw-dropping (and record-setting) $1.4 billion. It was a gamble, straining the family fortunes to the breaking point should there be any, say, unexpected economic downturn.
Later that same year, the bottom dropped out of the economy and
the global financial crisis turned every high-risk deal into an investment nightmare.
Bloomberg picks up the thread:
Bloomberg picks up the thread:
The Kushners found themselves on the hook for an $80 million high-interest loan that Vornado extended to the family. They also were obligated to make good on a $1.2 billion mortgage on 666 Fifth coming due in early 2019. How, the Manhattan real estate community wondered, would Kushner find his way out of the mess he had created?
Tenants fled like well-heeled locusts and the result, as one source noted, has been "a slow-motion, failed fire sale, with the Kushners trying to find someone, anyone, to bail them out." Cash-hemorrhaging, at its worst.
According to reports, Brookfield Property Partners (BPP) came to the Kushner's rescue. BPP agreed to pay the rent for the entire 99-year term upfront, banishing the family’s biggest financial headache: a $1.4 billion mortgage on the office portion of the tower that was due in February next year.
In actuality, thanks goes to the government of Qatar which controls Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and this, in turn, owns a 44% stake in its partnership with Brookfield. However, it should be added that a spokeswoman for Brookfield said:
In actuality, thanks goes to the government of Qatar which controls Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and this, in turn, owns a 44% stake in its partnership with Brookfield. However, it should be added that a spokeswoman for Brookfield said:
"No Qatar-linked entity has any involvement in, investment in or even knowledge of this potential transaction. They are in no way involved."It was a super-sweet deal in any event, but it also raised concerns about Kushner's role as White House negotiator in the Middle East while also being a stakeholder in the family's failing company.
In February, Kushner lost his top-secret security clearance as rumors swirled that foreign governments could attempt to gain influence with the White House by doing business with his firm.
On paper, none of it can be called a conflict of interest, but it certainly doesn't pass the smell test.
Even though he resigned as chief executive of the family’s company when he joined the White House in January 2017, Mr. Kushner retained most of his stake in the firm. He shed some of the assets — including his stake in 666 Fifth Avenue — by selling them to a trust controlled by his mother. His real estate holdings and other investments are worth as much as $761 million, according to government ethics filings.
In the end, miraculously, it all worked out for the Kushners. The details are murky but what shines through is Jared's genius. Right, Nikki?
From All Angles
In Kushner's case, the stink of corruption comes from every side, Arab and Israeli. As the New York Times reported, Kushner's firm received a $30 million investment from Menora Mivtachim, a large Israeli insurer, just a few days before Mr. Kushner flew to Israel for his first diplomatic trip to the region.The deal, which was not made public, pumped significant new equity into 10 Maryland apartment complexes controlled by Mr. Kushner’s firm. While Mr. Kushner has sold parts of his business since taking a White House job last year, he still has stakes in most of the family empire — including the apartment buildings in and around Baltimore.
A spokesperson for Kushner’s attorney called the allegation of foreign investment in the Kushner business influencing his work for Trump, "a fantasy and part of a misinformation campaign." Fake news, in other words.
This kind of balanced conflicts of interest is just the kind of thing Trump would call "smart business." The problem is that this pay-to-play situation makes for a disastrous foreign policy.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller seems to be looking into Kushner’s pursuit of foreign financing and Qatari officials may (or may not) be cooperating with that investigation.
As CNN reported recently:
Mueller’s investigators have been asking questions, including during interviews in January and February, about Kushner’s conversations during the transition to shore up financing for 666 Fifth Avenue, a Kushner Companies–backed New York City office building reeling from financial troubles, according to people familiar with the special counsel investigation.If that's the case, Kushner's "genius" will not remain hidden for much longer.
