Kushner Extorted Qatar - Or Did He?
The Hillreporter just published a very juicy story about Jared Kushner, the son in law and senior advisor of President Trump.
It says that Kushner, with the help of the Saudi clown prince Mohammad bin Salman, extorted Qatar for $1 billion to save his families real estate business in New York.
While the story sounds plausible and fits the public known timeline of other events, there is so far no evidence that supports it.
The tale is based on the work and information of author Vicky Ward, who recently published Kushner Inc - Greed. Ambition. Corruption. The Extraordinary Story of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.
Ward first talked through the story on yesterday's KrassenCast, a podcast by the anti-Trump and somewhat shady Krassenstein brothers who also run the Hillreporter.
In 2007, at the hight of the real estate bubble, the Kushner family bought the 666 5th Avenue building in New York City for $1.8 billion. Ten years later the Kushners were in real trouble. Plans to replace the building with a new one found no financing. The property was losing lots of money and a huge mortgage payment was due in January 2019. The family had to look for a bail out.

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In early 2017 the Kushner family had several meetings with Qatari officials to discuss a deal. The Intercept reported:
Joshua Kushner, a venture capitalist and the younger brother of White House adviser Jared Kushner, met with Qatari Finance Minister Ali Sharif Al Emadi the same week as his father, Charles Kushner, did in April 2017, in an independent effort to discuss potential investments from the Qatari government. Both meetings took place at Al Emadi’s St. Regis Hotel suite in Manhattan.This revelation comes after Charles Kushner, in an interview with the Washington Post this week, confirmed for the first time that his meeting with Al Emadi had indeed taken place on the subject of financing for the underwater Kushner property at 666 Fifth Avenue.
According to Vicky Ward this is what happened next:
"What I have learned is that in the ensuing month [May 2017] before the US visit to Riyadh, Jared Kushner got on a plane and flew to Doha, the Qatari capital, and he reamed the Qatari ruling family, the al-Thanis, for not doing the deal with his father … They began to feel that he was indirectly threatening their sovereignty. The next thing they know, when they show up to the summit in Riyadh, the Emir, the ruler of Qatar, arrives with an entourage, but his entourage is suddenly cut off from him, and not allowed into the summit at the same time by the Saudis, which he felt was a move to deliberately make him look weak. You have to remember during this summit, Jared and Ivanka go off for a cozy secret unmonitored dinner with [Saudi Crown Prince] MBS. Nobody knows what they talked about.”
Fifteen days later the Saudis and the UAE blockade Qatar and send troops to its border. Trump supports the Saudi blockade against the advice of his Secretary of State Tillerson and his Defense Secretary Mattis and despite the fact the the biggest U.S. base in the area is in Qatar.
Nine months later, a Canadian company, Brookfield Partners, who the Qatari Investment Authority owns a $1.8 billion or 9% stake in, bailed out Kushner Properties, with a 99-year lease agreement for 666 5th Ave.
...
Around this same time, President Trump publicly shifts course, no longer supporting the blockade, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tells Saudi Arabia to stop the embargo.
If the blockade of Qatar originates in a Kushner extortion scheme, as the story insinuates, it would have serious political consequences. But is that true?
The sequencing of the real estate deal and the change in the Trump policy on the blockade is somewhat problematic. The Trump shift was reported on April 29 2018 while the Brookfield Partner deal was first published about three weeks later on May 17:
Charles Kushner, head of the Kushner Companies, is in advanced talks with Brookfield Asset Management over a partnership to take control of the 41-story aluminum-clad tower in Midtown Manhattan, 666 Fifth Avenue, according to two real estate executives who have been briefed on the pending deal but were not authorized to discuss it.
The deal only closed in August 2018 on terms that had changed from the first report and were unusual:
Brookfield Asset Management has agreed to lease the troubled office tower for 99 years and is paying for the lease up front, rather than in the typical yearly ground rent, the Wall Street Journal reports. The financial terms of the deal were not made public, but the New York Times reports that Brookfield is paying $1.1B.
What was the real sequencing here? Was the property deal agreed upon before the Trump administration changed its stand on the Qatar blockade or after that happened? Was it related to it or not? We don't know.
There is no public record of the alleged Jared Kushner flight to Qatar. There is so far no other evidence that would support the story.
The tale fits the publicly known timeline, but that is not enough to believe it. Its authors may have used the public timeline to then fit a story onto it.
It is possible that the Kushner property deal and the Qatar blockade are intimately intertwined but there is, so far, no proof for it.
That idea that Kushner played the Saudis is dubious. The other way around is more likely.

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Saudi Arabia and the UAE had plenty of reason to blockade Qatar. Both countries fear the Qatari support for the Muslim Brotherhood. They hate Qatar's Al Jazeerah TV because it often publicly opposes their policies. The Saudis need money and annexing the very rich Qatar would solve all their problems.
Brookfield Properties denies that Qatar or the Qatari investment agency had any involvement in 666 5th Ave. deal.
Even if Qatar, through Brookfield, made a deal with the Kushner family, it does not mean that it was extorted. The Qatari rulers might simply have hoped that the deal would help them. It did not. The blockade still continues despite the real estate deal.
Trump had his own reasons to support the Saudis Qatar blockade. He wanted them to buy as many U.S. weapon system as possible, if only to beat out Obama, who sold the Saudis all sorts of military trash for a record amount of money.
During the Mueller Russia investigation lots of smoke seemed to show that there was a 'collusion' fire burning somewhere under the hundreds of facts and figures. There wasn't.
The story about the Kushner 'extortion of Qatar' might create a similar 'the walls are closing in' (vid) farce only to end up with nothing.
It is interesting that the Vicky Ward story was published on March 29, a day after Jared Kushner was interviewed behind closed door by the Senate Intelligence Commission:
President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner returned to the Senate Intelligence Committee for a closed door interview Thursday as part of the committee's Russia investigation.
...
The first time Kushner appeared before the panel in 2017, he was interviewed by committee staff. The committee has wanted to re-interview witnesses central to the investigation. On Thursday, senators were sitting in on the interview.
Russiagate is really finished. The Republican's rule the Senate. Why would they continue to interview Kushner and why would senators sit in on it?
Might the 'Kushner extorted Qatar' be a planned sequel to Russiagate or why else was it launched right now?
Posted by b on March 30, 2019 at 21:28 UTC | Permalink
Here is an article that explains how the Trump Administration was trying to export nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia:
https://viableopposition.blogspot.com/2019/02/saudi-arabia-and-american-nuclear.html
One has to wonder whether Kushner's influence was involved in this deal which would have seen the geopolitical balance in the Middle East tilt into Saudi Arabia's favour.
Posted by: Sally Snyder | Mar 30 2019 21:42 utc | 2
What the holy fuck is going on in that picture in the background?
Posted by: Ross Stanford | Mar 30 2019 21:50 utc | 3
Thanks b and you are wise to be sceptical. The up front payment to the Kusher kleptocracy by Brookfield Partners (Asset Management) is not just unusual but more like extraordinary! One test will be how this deal compares to other deals. Was Kushner avoiding taxes by doing a lease? Is this a common practice?
I did like the reference to Trump outdoing Obummer in arms deals and had a good laugh at Trumps childish racism in that game. He sure hates Obummer but he sure won't go after him in any way. Trump wont even go after $hillary and her global empire shakedown Foundation. Sometimes I think he is now a sitting duck but then I am an optimist.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Mar 30 2019 22:27 utc | 5
It is an old story. From February 12, Bess Levin, Vanity Fair
Qatar Shocked, Shocked to Learn It Accidentally Bailed Out Jared Kushner
In addition to likely having had the chance to hear about the deal through Brookfield directly or read about it in the paper of record, one would imagine the Qataris were keeping tabs on all things Kushner on account of Jared’s father, Charles Kushner, taking a meeting with Qatar’s finance minister, Ali Sharif Al Emadi in April 2017. (Kushner the Elder later said he accepted the invite purely “out of respect” for the Qataris to tell them there was no way “we could do business.”)
Of course Trump throwing the full weight of the US behind Saudi Arabia and UAE was a de facto shake down of Qatar. And of course, Saudi and UAE were actively lobbying for it.
Posted by: somebody | Mar 30 2019 22:29 utc | 6
@3 "so what if the askanazim are satanist.'
So what indeed. Thank you menachem. Satanism is actually performing a very useful function as it allows people to express their inner evil. Freud would certainly condone it. Even human sacrifice can be beneficial to humanity as it provides us with a safety valve. Look what it did for Abraham.
Posted by: dh | Mar 30 2019 23:01 utc | 7
thanks b.. it will be interesting to see how much traction vicky wards reporting gets and whether any of it gets substantiated.. i do believe the usa is crazy enough to do another witch hunt, so anything is possible here... she works for the huffpost.. that is grounds to discredit here right there in my books..
Posted by: james | Mar 30 2019 23:06 utc | 8
More theatrics as diversion, while the crooks in D.C. dismantle the agencies that keep the
wealthy oligarchs at bay, as they rewrite the rules to allow greed and avarice to become virtues.
"Rules and regulations never changed a man's heart, but they can restrain the heartless."
MLK...
Posted by: ben | Mar 30 2019 23:25 utc | 9
Meanwhile, propaganda organs in America won't publicize real Donald Trump scandals like the case of ''Maria'' a Waterbury 12-year old alledged child rape victim of Donald Trump and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The crimes allegedly occurred at a midtown Manhattan mansion owned by Epstein’s friend Les Wexner.
Donald Trump recently named as his Secretary of Labor, Alex Acosta, former U.S. Attorney for South Florida, the federal official directly overseeing sweetheart future immunity deal for Grifter in Chief acolytes like Jeffrey Epstein... As Labor Secretary, Acosta is charged with overseeing federal laws designed to combat domestic and international sex trafficking. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York is currently deciding whether to unseal the documents from a 2017 lawsuit involving one of Epstein's sex trafficking victims and Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's assistant.
Other possible corrupt practices involving stable genius center around China's decision to grant Ivanka Trump 38 new trademarks in the middle of a trade war dispute... Part of current trade war negociations are EB-5 investment visas. Jared Kushner and Trump stand to benefit from EB-5 visas designed to attract Chinese investment in the United States in return for permanent residency. Curiously an EB-5 visa scam was being run out of an office in Jupiter, Florida, located across the street from the Orchids of Asia massage parlor raided by police where Trump billionaire friend Kraft was caught in a possible Chinese honey Trap.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article227186429.html?fbclid=IwAR1FkjigXKFOf8gcPoKRqwqfqSLRuzPNDig5sg7XWtBQClavo73RQRsVWYs
Posted by: Augustin L | Mar 30 2019 23:29 utc | 10
b asks: ... planned sequel to Russiagate or why else was it launched right now?
LOL. Is b trolling the commentariat? IMO its definitely NOT a "sequel to Russiagate".
<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>
@7 savvy globalist somebody wants us to know that there's nothing to see here!
But the Vanity Fair article he links to, written by Bess Levin, makes this unsubstantiated(!) point:
So why is Doha taking pains to insist it accidentally bailed out the First-in-Laws on their no good, very bad investment now?
1) Actually, the Reuters article that she refers to explicitly states that Qatar has a minority position and no board representation! It is a known in the financial world as a "passive investment".
2) Levin's wording is extremely disingenuous: the Qataris never said they bailed out anyone, accidentally or otherwise!!
MoA readers are probably already asking:
>> why would Doha be associated in any way with such a sweetheart deal for Kuchner (a deal that screams: PAYOFF!)?>> why would Levin spin the Reuters story this way?
Interestingly, Vicky Ward used to work at Vanity Fair, and is currently an editor at HuffPost (a Democratic rag). And Levin and Krassenstein are Jewish surnames (AFAIK). This naturally begs the question if suspicions about a "Jared bailout" is related to Israel's conflict with Iran. Qatar shares a huuge gas field with Iran so Qatar has been reluctant to join KSA and Israel against Iran.
Qatar paid over a billion dollars to build and expand the US base in Qatar and charges no rent for that base. This allows Qatar to easily brush aside any question of loyalty that may be posed by USA and makes the US/US military reluctant to pressure Qatar. But Israel would have no qualms about apply pressure. The "Kirchner bailout" allows for a narrative of Qatari leadership as weak and corrupt - much like the ridiculous claims that Putin is pro-Israel.
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PS I urge everyone to listen to the podcast. What strikes me is the inane way that Ward describes the whole affair (including her tone and measured speach, as though reading it) and the fact that a Podcast is the perfect way to relate shoddy journalism as you can't actually SEE the journalist to make a fuller assessment of credibility.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Mar 31 2019 1:03 utc | 11
Russiagate may be done but thats because it was defined improperly. Sometimes it helps to look back to get a big picture perspective
Starting in 1999, Putin enlisted two oligarchs Lev Leviev and Roman Abramovich, who would go on to become Chabad’s biggest patrons worldwide, to create the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia under the leadership of Chabad rabbi Berel Lazar, who would come to be known as “Putin’s rabbi.”
Roman Abramovich is the owner of the Chelsea Football Club of the English Premier League. He was a victor (along with Paul Manafort’s patron Oleg Deripaska) in the aluminum wars of the 1990s and reportedly the person who convinced Boris Yeltsin that Putin would be a proper successor.
Ivanka Trump is very close friends with Abramovich’s wife, Dasha Zhukova. Zhukova reportedly attended the inauguration as Ivanka’s personal guest.
Leviev is the one with the closest links to the Trumps and Israel
It starts with Bayrock . This is the company that Donald Trump teamed up with to build his Trump Soho project. There were three main actors . One was convicted mob associate and FBI informant Felix Sater. Another was Tevfik Arif, a likely Russian intelligence connection who was once was arrested by the Turks . The third was the late Tamir Sapir, another man with ties to Russian intelligence.
The late billionaire Tamir Sapir, was born in the Soviet state of Georgia .
Trump has called Sapir “a great friend.” In December 2007, he hosted the wedding of Sapir’s daughter, Zina, at Mar-a-Lago. The groom, Rotem Rosen, was the CEO of the American branch of Africa Israel, the Putin oligarch Leviev’s holding company, and known as Leviev’s right hand man.
As mentioned Leviev was one of two oligarch’s who Putin had establish the “Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia” under the leadership of Chabad rabbi Berel Lazar, who would come to be known as ‘Putin’s rabbi.'” Sater, Sapier, Jared, Ivanka are all Chabad members and/or donors
Trump had business discussions in Moscow in 2013 about Moscow real estate projects with Agalarovs, Alex Sapir (son of Tamir Sapir, brother of Zina, and brother-in-law of Rotem Rosen.) and Rotem Rosen, a pair of New York-based Russian . This may also have been discussed during the June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower that was attended by Kushner, Manafort and Donald Trump Jr and a Russian lawyer associated with Fusion GPS (Steele dossier) and the Leviev linked Prevezon
Agalarovis a Moscow-based property developer who had won major contracts from Putin’s government. He hosted Trump’s 2013 Miss Universe contest at his concert hall in Moscow. He orchestrated the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting and formed a new American shell company a month beforehand with
the help of the Russian lawyer who attended the meeting.
In 2015, Kushner and his family business, Kushner Cos., bought a portion of the New York Times building on West 43rd Street from Russian /Israeli real estate billionaire Lev Leviev for $295M, where $285M was borrowed from Deutsche Bank to complete the transaction, despite the 666 albatross hanging over Kushners head
Deutsche Bank and two companies tied to Leviev, Africa Israel Investments and Prevezon, have all recently been the subject of money laundering investigations. A laundering case against Prevezon was settled two months after Trump fired Bharara, with a $6M slap on the wrist settlement that raised some eyebrows.
As for 666, Kushner gets bailed out by Brookfield who has Qatar as its 2nd largest investor. But consider that at the same time they did this deal they also acquired Westinghouse Electric, a nuclear power company. Now members of the Trump administration propose selling nuclear power plants to Saudi Arabia. Interesting.
Cant seem to find a Putin/Russian oligarch connection although thats probably due to the fact you cant use anonymous shell companies to buy property in NYC any longer due to new rules by FinCEN
But so many conflict of interests here, Israel, China, Saudis, Russian oligarchs, etc and virtually no oversight or transparency. With twitter being used to manipulate markets one has to imagine rampant insider trading as well (hey guys, my tweets going out at 3 pm, get your trades in and remember my 5%).
Posted by: Pft | Mar 31 2019 1:05 utc | 12
My post didn't appear. Hopefully you'll see it soon.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Mar 31 2019 1:05 utc | 13
The address of the building is 666 Fifth Avenue? Who wouldn't pay an extortionate price for that? But his devotion to his Master has paid off. Now he can squeeze a spare billion or so out of unshaven sheiks while enjoying his marriage to Trump's trophy daughter. "I want to buy your women! How much for the little girl?"
Posted by: Donnie | Mar 31 2019 1:07 utc | 14
b asks: ... planned sequel to Russiagate or why else was it launched right now?
LOL. Is b trolling the commentariat? IMO its definitely NOT a "sequel to Russiagate".
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Mar 31 2019 1:09 utc | 15
I urge everyone to listen to the podcast. What strikes me is the inane way that Ward describes the whole affair (including her tone and measured speech, as though reading it) and the fact that a Podcast is the perfect way to relate shoddy journalism as you can't actually SEE the journalist to make a fuller assessment of credibility.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Mar 31 2019 1:10 utc | 16
Ross Stanford 4:
That's the notorious meeting between Roosevelt and Ibn Saud on the way from Yalta, when they made the infamous deal between the US and the Saudis:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Franklin_D._Roosevelt_with_King_Ibn_Saud_aboard_USS_Quincy_%28CA-71%29%2C_14_February_1945_%28USA-C-545%29_%281%29.jpg
For mankind, very few post-WWII events were worse than this.
Posted by: Clueless Joe | Mar 31 2019 1:11 utc | 17
@7 savvy globalist somebody wants us to know that there's nothing to see here!
But the Vanity Fair article he links to, written by Bess L-evin, makes this unsubstantiated(!) point:
So why is Doha taking pains to insist it accidentally bailed out the First-in-Laws on their no good, very bad investment now?
1) Actually, the Reuters article that she refers to explicitly states that Qatar has a minority position and no board representation! It is a known in the financial world as a "passive investment".
2) L-evin's wording is extremely disingenuous: the Qataris never said they bailed out anyone, accidentally or otherwise!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Mar 31 2019 1:12 utc | 18
Ask yourself:
1) Why would Qatar be associated in any way with such a sweetheart deal?
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Mar 31 2019 1:22 utc | 19
2) why would the Vanity Fair author spin the Reuters story this way?
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Mar 31 2019 1:23 utc | 20
Interestingly, Vicky Ward used to work at Vanity Fair, and is currently an editor at HuffPost (a Democratic rag). And media that broke/promoted this story (Leevin and Krasseenstein) could (naturally) rise some suspicions of a connection to Israel's conflict with Iran. Qatar shares a huuge gas field with Iran so Qatar has been reluctant to join KSA and Israel against Iran.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Mar 31 2019 1:26 utc | 21
Qatar paid over a billion dollars to build and expand the US base in Qatar and charges no rent for that base. This allows Qatar to easily brush aside any question of loyalty that may be posed by USA and makes the US/US military reluctant to pressure Qatar. But Is.ra-el would have no qualms about apply pressure. The "Jared bailout" allows for a narrative of Qatari leadership as weak and corrupt - much like the ridiculous claims that Putin is pro-Israel.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Mar 31 2019 1:27 utc | 22
PS I urge everyone to listen to the podcast. What strikes me is the inane way that Ward describes the whole affair (including her tone and measured speech, as though reading it) and the fact that a podcast is the perfect way to relate shoddy journalism as the inability to SEE the journalist impairs one's ability to assess credibility.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Mar 31 2019 1:29 utc | 23
I agree with this blog's author.
1) Documentation is scarce and the few that exist don't fit the journalist's story chronology (even though, in the concrete case, you could argue for expediency/bureacratic delay, so this criterium alone doesn't bust the journalist's chronology)
2) The whole narrative simply doesn't have social cohesion. It simply doesn't make any sense for Trump to risk be impeached in such polarized scenario just to rescue his son-in-law. It makes even less sense for the Arab royalties to submit to a much weaker political player such as Kushner. And, as b mentions, Trump had many more powerful reasons to sanction Qatar.
Posted by: vk | Mar 31 2019 1:31 utc | 24
@11 &12
Corruption abounds, but any of it that touches Zionists, the Clinton's, or the royal family (Epstein, Prince Andrew) is off limits. They are untouchable to the MSM.
Posted by: mourning dove | Mar 31 2019 1:34 utc | 25
@ Cluless Joe who broke the page formatting with his non formatted HTML link
Try not to live up to your moniker
Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 31 2019 1:35 utc | 26
@ Cluless Joe who broke the page formatting with his non formatted HTML link
Try not to live up to your moniker
Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 30, 2019 9:35:39 PM | 26
You wish...
The formatting was broken (in my browser) by the link in
the comment by Augustin L | Mar 30, 2019 7:29:22 PM | 11
I copied it into the comment box in the MAX thread and
PREVIEWed it. The result was identical to the effect in
this thread.
The longest line in Clueless Joe's link stops a couple of
inches short of the margin created by Augustin L's link.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Mar 31 2019 2:20 utc | 27
people like Brennan & Clapper are feeding the "trump really, really, no really hearts putin" narrative to the msdnc crowd, and this of an administration being helmed by CIA men like Pompeo. like the fbi's manufacture wholesale of "islamo-terrorist" non-events in part to distract from the presence of the actual threat of rising fascism & racism (a la Nazism, as in NZ) from the usual suspects, much beloved of the fibbies, it's convenient for all, incl trump, to be painted as bff's with Vlad. if the goal was to stop or in any way impede the trump admin (not just trump himself, who is a know-nothing shit golem animated by the glad-handing he receives from the people actually in charge, who just feed his narcissistic fantasies), there are other, more practical & achievable ways to do it. in-fighting among the herd who have not yet jumped off the Gadarene cliffs is not the same thing as opposition, not among the Legion possessed swine in D.C. they are just grunting & snorting at each other, occasionally, very occasionally & deliberately, trampling one of their own, as they plummet over the edge. it's pretty clear that funny things like such pigs' full-throated support of Zionism is more important to Pelosi & Schumer than resisting the Trump admin *in any way,* no matter how much they personally despise trump. and mainly they despise him for helping to reveal what some POTUS would have sooner or later: the pointlessness of Congress; that the "unitary executive", as the titular head of the corporate security state, is already fully in charge; that "dyarchy," dual rule by legislative & executive, is non-existent.
Posted by: j | Mar 31 2019 2:23 utc | 28
Is it possible/ feasible/ practical for a journalist such as
b for example, to make contact with the Media Liaison folks
associated with the key players in a suspicious story?
Does anyone ever try?
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Mar 31 2019 2:42 utc | 29
It'd be loverly to occasionally read an MoA post which
began with "I spoke to an individual associated with
Qatar's Media Liaison Office, who asked not to be named,
who told me "No! That's wrong. This is what happened...""
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Mar 31 2019 2:59 utc | 30
Hoarsewhisperer@27
It's the link @17 that's broken the format on my browser.
The one @11 looks normal.
Posted by: mourning dove | Mar 31 2019 3:03 utc | 31
Posted by: mourning dove | Mar 30, 2019 11:03:34 PM | 31
In my browser the link @17, when PREVIEWed in the MAX
thread, leaves the right margin undisturbed and moves
the left margin 1/2" closer to the left of the screen.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Mar 31 2019 3:43 utc | 32
@ Hoarsewhisperer with the conflicting link break data
It is sounding like it is browser related as well...sigh
The comment you refer to in my browser has the link broke into two lines at the ?
I am using Opera Version:58.0.3135.118 and as soon as I post this comment I will let it reboot and apply the latest update
On a Mac mini 10.12.6
Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 31 2019 3:47 utc | 33
I've got only two browsers installed at the moment, and of the two of them Firefox has the MOA text about 3/4 of the way across the big LCD monitor. Chrome goes another inch further than that. For me they both merely look strange. No doubt people with the tiny handheld screens are having some real problems.
Posted by: Zachary Smith | Mar 31 2019 4:09 utc | 34
Is Jared Kushner related to Bernard Kouchner, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs of France?
Posted by: Cyril | Mar 31 2019 4:54 utc | 35
Google “Kushner extortion” and this post is on the first page with
“clown prince” in the lede, bravo B!
Posted by: AHB | Mar 31 2019 6:41 utc | 36
For me they both merely look strange. No doubt people with the tiny handheld screens are having some real problems.
Posted by: Zachary Smith | Mar 31, 2019 12:09:12 AM | 34
YANDEX browser solves that problem in Android. It will display the text optimised to fit the screen size, irrespective of the presence of lenghty urls posted by incompetent idiots in these threads
Posted by: FFS | Mar 31 2019 7:47 utc | 37
Charles Kushner was sentenced to 2 years in prison on a witness tampering charge... "The witness-tampering charge arose from Kushner's act of retaliation against William Schulder, his sister Esther's husband, who was cooperating with federal investigators; Kushner hired a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law, arranged to record an encounter between the two, and had the tape sent to his sister.[Wikipedia]". Trump ripped off contractors working for his businesses before becoming President etc etc. Both families consist of con men and criminals who would put the mafia to shame. Hope I don't get to sleep with the fishes for those little home truths.
Posted by: Harry Law | Mar 31 2019 11:01 utc | 38
Having empire makes no sense if you cannot engage in bribery and extortion, or "cozy co-existence that is a positive sum gain". Real estate moguls do that for living all the time, contributing generously to all politicians that influence necessary permits, the process of giving fines etc. Apparently, Kushner investment was a net loss -- purchase for 1.7 billion, lease that is practically a sale for 1.1 billion, although they did collect rent and the ownership of a property leased for 99 years has some value, especially if it is projected to be still above water after that period, so the loss was tolerable, and the deal Kushners got could be better because it created the impression of influence.
The whole Gulf policy of United States makes no sense if we remove the motivation to squeeze money from the timorous Gulfie royals. Consider Obama's "deal with Iran". Naively, I thought that USA being interested in eliminating ISIS and stuff plus some solutions in Afghanistan, and some markets could gain a lot from normalizing relationship with Iran. Instead, the follow-up of Obama was to keep hounding corporations for violating sanctions in the period prior to the agreement and aggravating Iran in various ways. But the deal made a ton of sense by making Gulfies more paranoid, redoubling arms purchases, donations to pet causes of various folks and making "strategic investements".
The conflict of Qatar and KSA+UAE is beneficial in the same way. Competition for the grace of Americans increases. Brookfield Parters appears to be an elegant financial vehicle because it combined several parties having separate reason to need "friendly attitude". That influence exists regardless of the rather arbitrary legal lines being crossed or not. For example, there was no doubt that USA will not allow KSA to invade Qatar and replace rulers with their relatives that fled intra-family disputes to KSA and UAE, and surely not because USA would never, ever allow a decision who is legitimate ruler to be made outside the respective country (Venezuela, Yemen etc. etc.). Instead, Qatari al-Thanis (to differentiate from those other al-Thanis) are "members of the club" who paid their dues. Perhaps more than strictly necessary -- overpriced weapon, military base provided for free, and assorted strategic investments and donations, but better safe than sorry.
To recap, Trump and Kushner may behaved legally, but the laws regulating the conduct of swamp creatures were written under the influence of swamp creatures. It is an entire ecology...
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Mar 31 2019 11:24 utc | 39
I read somewhere about this a few months back.. from memory the article said Jamal Khashoggi (JK spelling?) was a supporter of the Muslim brotherhood, I d/n know if Qatar is, The article i cannot find, (so from my memory) mentioned something to the effect that Jamal's murder was ordered because he was about to reveal something very similar to the claims in the Vicky Ward research. . it wanted to know who arranged the highest levels of state intelligence and security to murder JK or something like that .. you might look at the following article with the same degree of skepticism that B used in his article https://www.veteranstoday.com/2019/03/30/insider-scoop-at-vt-trump-has-begged-saudi-intel-the-khashoggi-killers-to-get-biden-and-bezos/
Posted by: snake | Mar 31 2019 11:29 utc | 40
Is Jared Kushner related to Bernard Kouchner, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs of France?
Posted by: Cyril | Mar 31, 2019 12:54:19 AM | 35
Until early 1800s most of Ashkenazi Jews did not use family names, and names like "Berman" were bestowed by authorities of Austria, Prussia etc. from some lists. Thus names that were on those lists and the names derived from them by misspelling do not imply any common ancestry. In particular, if you transliterate a German name (Prussia administered most of Poland in the period of 1795-1807) to Cyrillic (Russia administered most of Poland after 1814) and back to Latin alphabet you obtain Berman from Biermann, Beermann, Bärmann etc.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Mar 31 2019 11:43 utc | 41
@41.Piotr. Early immigration to newly formed 'states' in the ME was also cause for name changes as some names 'stuck' out and the attention was not wanted, or so I've read anyways.
Posted by: Tannenhouser | Mar 31 2019 13:06 utc | 42
i'm pretty sure that Jared (Ivanka too) is some kind of bioengineered entity. subjected to a Voight-Kampff machine he'd no doubt be exposed as a full-blown replicant(all that blushing).
Kushner Extorted Qatar - Or Did He
by hacking the circuits inside his yarmulke capped cranium one could retrieve the implanted memories, identify the insipid programming, and really perceive the yuge propensity for schmoozing.
just a hunch.
Posted by: john | Mar 31 2019 14:39 utc | 43
Could the new bloc - “the Middle Eastern Entente” - perhaps be a factor? I just found the link via ZH.
Posted by: roza shanina | Mar 31 2019 14:54 utc | 44
42, 43 both names are derived from professions and not necessarily Jewish. Kushner means furrier, an occupation with many Jewish people but not exclusively so. Biermann would be a brewer, and indeed Bavarian beer has a Jewish history.
Posted by: somebody | Mar 31 2019 15:07 utc | 45
Kushner père did Fed prison time for illegal campaign contribs, tax evasion, and witness tampering.
It is the milieu - not: like father, like son. Ivanka married a wimp in her father’s social circuit.
That building, no. 666 attracted much attention, one ex. where symbolics associated with
numbers gripped hard - the number of the Beast, the Anti-Christ. It was bought
by Kushner Companies (mega extractive landlords!) in 2007, for a far too high price, it is said.
Jared was about 25 then, just graduated (which took him some time..) He became CEO of KC in 2008.
KC website, for ex., their projects:
Jared is a co-founder of CADRE
Brookfield Asset Management is HUYGE, 188 Billion (dollars) real estate assets managed…
Our global portfolio includes office, retail, multifamily, logistics, hospitality, self-storage, triple net lease,
manufactured housing and student housing assets on five continents.
https://www.brookfield.com/our-businesses/real-estate
The Donald and Jared K. have always been minor players in these mega-corp. real estate deals.
So who knows, as b rightly writes..
D. Trump being elected transferred much power, which is precisely what the PTB (deep state) object to,
small-time upstarts from the ‘wrong side’ of the tracks taking control … how did that happen .. Halp!
As son-in-law of US pres. some bail-out was bound to be implemented.
Apparently though it was only grudgingly accorded (imho, can’t substantiate.)
see also: somebody at 7, pft at 13 (who outlines far more as I see after typing my response, I offer
some bare bones with generalist slant), Jack Rabbit, Harry Law 39..
My point, bluntly stated, aka wildly exagerated: large Corps are taking over the planet,
the media side show of ‘democratic’ multi-party functioning is kept alive to keep the plebs
fooled and in their place. Trump (his family..) is part of that process. The Age of the Grifters. (say.)
Cyril at 36, No.
Posted by: Noirette | Mar 31 2019 15:19 utc | 46
@#4
Color-by-numbers? Not conceivable that an actual artist should find royal favor in the Kingdom.
Posted by: oldhippie | Mar 31 2019 15:46 utc | 47
Perhaps the mic and Aipac have grown weary of trying to prop up the trump fiasco.
Posted by: jared | Mar 31 2019 15:58 utc | 48
I try to believe that it is Trumps plan to try to counter his owners by causing the US to look really more stupid and confused thsn ever. I give him credit for it wether he intends it or not.
But really to watch the US foreign policy at work it truely looks like a shell of an entity being controlled by some outside influence. The US acts outside of reason. Its proclamatings make no sense in context - eg to accuse Russia of tampering in Venezuela (our back yard - our bitches).
Posted by: jared | Mar 31 2019 16:14 utc | 49
This article is a prime example of why you are losing all credibility with me lately. Not that you would care what I think about integrity or the lack of it. You even claim that Obama sold record military trash to the Saudis when Trump himself bragged about the unprecedented deal he made on weapons sales with KSA and then covered MbinSaw's murderous ass to sustain this relationship. It's such a cheap distortion and beneath some of the other better stuff I've read from you. Honestly, you sound like a shill for the corruption of the rich. Jared's father tried to blackmail his own father-in-law to stop him from testifying in the corruption case against him! So why wouldn't this story be true? Personally, I'm a big believer in the wisdom of the apple doesn't fall far from the tree adage. How do you know that Qatar's ruler didn't privately put something in writing or make a downpayment to secure the deal BEFORE the Brookfield deal was officialized and before Trump's shift to make it appear there was no extortion. And do you really think under normal circumstances Qatar would invest in a bankrupt 666 fated project? Do you think Jared is stupid enough not to cover the tracks of his machination? Jared had all the desperation needed to play the extortion card. In my book, that's a classic guilty impulse motive. You know exactly what the rest of us know about behind-the-scenes manoeuvres i.e. bupkis, and yet here you are whitewashing the corrupt filthy rich with zero proof of your own. ARGH!
It begs the question: WHY? Why would you trouble yourself with such a low endeavor? It'll become clearer if you continue on this low road.
Posted by: Circe | Mar 31 2019 17:00 utc | 50
Pft @13 wrote:
"As for 666, Kushner gets bailed out by Brookfield who has Qatar as its 2nd largest investor. But consider that at the same time they did this deal they also acquired Westinghouse Electric, a nuclear power company."
Westinghouse was also involved in an extremely dodgy deal trying to retrofit Westinghouse-designed fuel rods into Soviet design nuclear reactors in Ukraine. Sounds like a recipe for disaster akin to the 737 Max problem, but on a massive scale.
Posted by: Yonatan | Mar 31 2019 17:32 utc | 51
Here is what Wiki says about Brookfield--
"This company is reportedly related to the interests of the Saudi Royal Family, specifically Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.[9"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brookfield_Business_Partners
Posted by: arby | Mar 31 2019 17:59 utc | 52
@Piotr Berman | Mar 31, 2019 7:43:29 AM | 42
@Tannenhouser | Mar 31, 2019 9:06:40 AM | 43
[On Kushner vs Kouchner]
Thanks.
Posted by: Cyril | Mar 31 2019 18:46 utc | 53
Piotr Berman@40
While the Trump clan is running the US government as a mafia real estate operation the Middle East is being realigned. Turkey, Iran and Qatar along with involvement of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and perhaps Jordan are starting to create a new Middle East hydrocarbon economy.
The plan involves creating a secure oil and gas transportation route from Qatar and Iran to the Mediterranean city of Latakia via Iraq and Syria with branch lines to Turkey. Road and especially rail lines are being built to provide access for the new silk road (BRI). Russia is providing military security overwatch while China (PCR) infrastructure support.
Ultimately, this new economic alliance is meant to reduce terrorism while providing incentives for all states to cooperate for the mutual benefit from trade. The second goal is to “smother and subdue” Saudi Arabia and ultimately dismember it into the Shi’te, anti Saud Nejdi highlands and Sunni house of Saud lowlands near the Persian Gulf. This also serves to save Yemen from Saudi attacks and create alliances with Oman and Pakistan for transport their new offshore gas discoveries.
Additional details and timelines are presented along with potential roadblocks to this grand cooperation in the following article:
“New Middle East Alliance Shakes World Powers” by Yossef Bodansky
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-03-30/new-middle-east-alliance-shakes-world-powers
Then there is the Russian coordination of Egypt, Libya and Algeria into an economic and security block which is another whole strategic plan. There seem to be a lot of Geopolitical fronts to watch
Posted by: Krollchem | Mar 31 2019 18:54 utc | 54
Posted by: Krollchem | Mar 31, 2019 2:54:57 PM | 55
How long do Middle Eastern alliances last?
Arab leaders call for good neighborly ties with Iran
TUNIS — Arab leaders on Sunday invited non-Arab Iran to work with Arab countries on the basis of good neighborly ties and without interfering in each others' internal affairs."We affirm that cooperative relations between Arab countries and the Islamic Republic of Iran be based on good neighborliness," they said in a statement at the end of a summit
Saudi King was there.
Posted by: somebody | Mar 31 2019 20:11 utc | 55
reply to Krollchem 55
"“New Middle East Alliance Shakes World Powers” by Yossef Bodansky
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-03-30/new-middle-east-alliance-shakes-world-powers"
All, I would recommend reading that zerohedge article with a jaundiced eye, it's claims about Assad's relationship with Iran and with Russia contradict anything else I have read about their relationships. It is also worthwhile to read the article's comments as they provide some insight into the author of the article.
Posted by: frances | Mar 31 2019 21:47 utc | 56
@55K
That's why the U.S. is selling nuclear secrets to the Saudis--to put the burgeoning
Alliance on edge.
@55 s
Iran is really going to trust the Saudis want cooperative relations while
they're getting nuclear secrets and meanwhile Iran is sanctioned after giving up
it's nuclear ambitions for strict oversight. Who can trust the Saudis when they
invite a citizen to their Embassy and he leaves in suitcases and garbage bags?
Posted by: Circe | Mar 31 2019 22:18 utc | 57
__OT--
Just like Boeing dredging up an old plane and trying to soup it up, the administration is dredging up some good old boys like Abrhams and Bolton to fly into what is increasingly becoming rough weather.
Posted by: arby | Mar 31 2019 23:35 utc | 58
So President Kushner is back in the news, a little
Kushner is the embodiment of foreign influence in the White House. Negative influence, driving an agenda completely divorced from what Trump told his supporters they’d be getting.
It’s a big, controversial story, and understandably it is taking time for the (((media))) to settle on a way to explain it.
So far they’ve mostly just ignored Kushner, compensating by loudly and quite consciously shifting attention and blame to Russia instead. Likewise, and for the same reason, they’ve been screeching continuously about WHITE supremacism and WHITE nationalism, as Israel-first governments across the West are literally making it illegal to oppose their Zionist agendas.
Posted by: Hector | Mar 31 2019 23:56 utc | 59
- My take on this story is that the "Deep State" has started to undermine the credibility of Trump. I think this could be the first step in which the reputation of Trump is undermined step by step. Or as someone has put it: Death by a thousands cuts.
- I see more signs that that there is a concerted effort to get rid of Trump. And this is one of those steps.
Posted by: Willy2 | Apr 2 2019 15:07 utc | 61
Interesting story that has a certain logic. Flip a coin, true or false? All speculation on both sides. Is Vicky Ward a CIA asset? Bush family business/empire Harken was bailed out and existed due to Saudis as well. And there was no major investigation that this was a perversion of the Oval Office and foreign policy. We got 9/11 under Bush, too. Yes, maybe a CIA planted story and maybe not. Who benefits?
Posted by: Westcoast | Apr 3 2019 17:29 utc | 62
The comments to this entry are closed.
Russiagate the gift that keeps on giving ... not
Posted by: DG | Mar 30 2019 21:37 utc | 1