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Everyone else here seems to hear the words "big bank", and think Sberbank must be sort of like Wells Fargo. But the thing is, Sberbank just isn't any old "bank
by kafkaesq 11y ago
Everyone else here seems to hear the words "big bank", and think Sberbank must be sort of like Wells Fargo. But the thing is, Sberbank just isn't any old "bank":
Funds moving through Sberbank are regularly used to support clandestine Russian intelligence operations, while the bank uses its offices abroad as cover for the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service or SVR. A NATO counterintelligence official explained that Sberbank, which has outposts in almost two dozen foreign countries, “functions as a sort of arm of the SVR outside Russia, especially because many of its senior employees are ‘former’ Russian intelligence officers.” Inside the country, Sberbank has an equally cosy relationship with the Federal Security Service or FSB, Russia’s powerful domestic intelligence agency.
Which make the question of why the Podestas would choose to take their business a very interesting question indeed.
- xemdetia 11y agoIt seems incredulous to me to suppose that lobbyists would reject it on that basis. US banking is a powerful force in the world of international banking, it seems naturally prudent to retain lobbyists to make sure you aren't shut out of the world economy. I'm sure there are some very large banks in the US that have lobbyist equivalents in other countries that would look at our banks the same way. I'm sure major US banking institutions provide cover for US officers abroad as well.
- x0x0 11y agoJust wait until you hear what the cia gets up to. Or the state dept. I think your surprise all over this thread is due to people not being stunned that water is wet, politicians need money, and associated hangers-on are venal. Hell, look at the ties between Bush and the Saudi theocrats, whose greatest hits include 9/11 and are currently doing their best to drag us into their Iran proxy war.
- kafkaesq 11y agoI wasn't saying that I was conceptually surprised by the connection. I was just providing background for those who seemed not to appreciate its importance.