Trump's puppeteer's puppeteer.

Very ominous interview with expat oligarch, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, on the BBC. Khodorkovsky made his fortune in the usual manner by seizing Russian oil filed assets in the mid-90s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The other Russian oligarchs turned on Khodorkovsky in 2003, stripped him of his billions and later imprisoned him. He was pardoned by Putin and allowed to flee to Switzerland where he lives on a meager half billion he hid somewhere. Probably what was left after he bought his freedom. In his new life he has become an advocate for a restoration of civil rights and democracy in Russia, but, alas only to other Russian expats since his words are censored in Russia. From Moscow his proposals are likely seen as the squeak of a small mouse and hence ignored. Khodorkovsky himself admits that if he really irritated the Russian oligarchs, they would simply kill him.

Nevertheless, Khodorkovsky is a credible source and he has something important to say. In this interview ( https://twitter.com/imthemadridista/status/976632893782085634?s=12 ) with the BBC, Khodorkovsky states a simple fact: Putin himself is a puppet. While unstated, I think he is referring to the head puppeteer, e.g.,the boss of all Russian bosses, Simeon Mogilovich, a resident of the FBI’s most wanted list from time to time. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semion_Mogilevich ) Simeon controls an international crime syndicate and is a very bad hombre. In one almost believable speculation, Putin is an enslaved billionaire whose talent for politics made him so indispensable to Mogilovich that he can’t retire. There are not enough billions on earth to protect one’s family from Mogilovich. Whether he is controlled by a single oligarch or a consensus of the oligarchs, Putin is their puppet.

Here are the key implications of all of this:

Trump is the puppet’s puppet. Ironically, his retort to Hillary, “ I am not a puppet.”, is true. If everyone is a puppet, then no one is a puppet. Labeling the conspiracy “Russia”, “Putin”, or the “Kremlin” misses the point. The problem is the mob. One difference between the Russian mob and others is that the Russian mob has nuclear weapons and the support of 160,000,000 Russian citizens (not to mention 62,000,000 Republican voters who are looking for help in establishing an American white oligarchy ) Blaming Putin for assassinating former Russian operatives in Great Britain, genocide in Syria, rigging the 2016 election and an annoying North Korea is pointless. Here is a timely example of how this works. It is easier to understand Facebook’s and Twitter’s Russian fealty as a result of their life saving multi-hundred million dollar loans from the Russian oligarchs when they were strapped for cash. While these notes were long since retired, one’s obligation to the mob can never be liquidated. If Russian oligarchs want American citizens enmeshed in a web of bots and algorithms, then Facebook and Twitter say, “Yes sir.”. If they want three Facebook employees embedded in the Trump campaign, then that happens. If they want all tweets ( https://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-yandex/twitter-partners-with-yandex-for-real-time-search-idUSTRE81K08E20120221 ) and Facebook posts ( https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yandex-facebook/russias-yandex-to-get-access-to-facebook-content-idUSBREA0D0IB20140114 ) to be incorporated into Yandex (the Russian Google ) and hence be made available to the GRU and FSU, then this is what will happen. It is laughable to see Zuckerberg so concerned over lost Facebook data. He deliberately gave everything to the Russians to protect his family and his company. 50,000,000 million Facebook profiles to Cambridge Analytica is a drop in the ocean and just a proof of concept of what GRU can do with billions of tweets and Facebook profiles. The Russian mob and their international cousins have established a foothold in personal data hegemony and are exploring other means of weaponizing it against nation states. The US’s ability to counter them is limited by the fact that this mob is well armed. So, this is what Mueller faces. Not the simpleton Trump, but an international crime syndicate testing and prodding where they can find new power.

I’m puzzled. What makes the Mercer’s, the Adelmans, the Singers, or other American oligarchs think that the Russian mob is going to let them keep their wealth or their lives after they have handed the Russians the keys to the American government?