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The law is becoming a weapon in the US election.
That's what happens when kleptocracy starts to take hold.
Here's why.
(1/15) https://twitter.com/nytmike/status/1313990589499744256
That's what happens when kleptocracy starts to take hold.
Here's why.
(1/15) https://twitter.com/nytmike/status/1313990589499744256
Anyone who's witnessed elections in kleptocracies – places ruled through corruption, like Nigeria or Ukraine or Malaysia or Brazil – can tell you they become struggles to control the looting machine. But above all ... (2/15) https://qz.com/379750/goodluck-jonathans-journey-to-nigerias-presidency-is-also-a-story-of-how-he-lost-it/
... kleptocrats fighting elections are seeking, more even than retaining the power to loot, to keep the immunity from prosecution that comes with high public office.
Here I am with @FrankFigliuzzi1 and @SRuhle on @MSNBC discussing this point. (3/15)
Here I am with @FrankFigliuzzi1 and @SRuhle on @MSNBC discussing this point. (3/15)
Once kleptocracy takes hold, the law becomes a weapon to attack rivals within that kleptocracy. As in this chilling episode that unfolded one night in Rome (an extract from the audiobook of my new book Kleptopia)
https://tomburgis.com/kleptopia#audiobook (4/15) https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Kleptopia-How-Dirty-Money-Is-Conquering-the-World-Audiobook/0008308373?qid=1602140523&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=c6e316b8-14da-418d-8f91-b3cad83c5183&pf_rd_r=ZT3335J6A280X52A7KRB
https://tomburgis.com/kleptopia#audiobook (4/15) https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Kleptopia-How-Dirty-Money-Is-Conquering-the-World-Audiobook/0008308373?qid=1602140523&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=c6e316b8-14da-418d-8f91-b3cad83c5183&pf_rd_r=ZT3335J6A280X52A7KRB
And the law becomes a shield for those who wield corruption. @realDonaldTrump has reason to think he might need that shield. His campaign manager Paul Manafort (veteran adviser to kleptocrats) has been jailed. His lawyer and bagman Michael Cohen too (5/15) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-54060687
Oh and of course Trump's old strategist Steven Bannon is up on charges (which he denies) of embezzling political donations https://www.foxnews.com/politics/steve-bannon-among-4-arrested-indicted-in-online-fundraising-scheme-doj-announces (6/15)
Trump has found ways to enact what the brave 1930s German legal scholar Ernst Fraenkel called "the dual state". In essence: the rule of law applies, except when the powerful need it not to. Here's @jentaub explaining the dual states of Kleptopia (7/15) https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/trump-among-the-kleptocrats/2020/09/03/db0fef02-ed5d-11ea-ab4e-581edb849379_story.html
Trump's attorney general William Barr is pushing get rid of the case against Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser who is accused of lying to the FBI about his contacts with the big gorilla of kleptocracies, Russia. (8/15) https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/29/politics/flynn-court-sullivan-doj/index.html
And Trump used his office to keep his dirty-tricks man Roger Stone from jail. @RepAdamSchiff said: "With this commutation, Trump makes clear that there are two systems of justice in America: one for his criminal friends, and one for everyone else." (9/15) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/10/us/politics/trump-roger-stone-clemency.html
Now, Trump has every reason to think that if he loses the election – and with it his immunity – he, his family and his businesses will face prosecutions. That's what happens when you govern like a kleptocrat, openly putting yourself up for rent.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/09/how-everyone-is-quietly-lining-trumps-pockets (10/15)
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/09/how-everyone-is-quietly-lining-trumps-pockets (10/15)
There are already cases that came from Mueller's Russia inquiry. Plus the questions that arise from the long years before his presidency when Trump's wealth was sustained by flows of money from ex-Soviet kleptocracies, as in this bit of Kleptopia https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-kleptocrats-money-laundering-middleman-who-did-deals-with-trump (11/15)
Everywhere, the spread of kleptocratic power is testing justice. The UK's Serious Fraud Office faces a crunch decision in this huge case – involving Alexander Machkevitch, the oligarch ally of Trump's ex-Soviet business partners. (12/15) https://twitter.com/tomburgis/status/1311554218873028608
Worst of all is how kleptocracy is underwritten by violence. If you rule by theft rather than consent, there are only two ways to secure loyalty: buy it or stir up tribal hatred. "Only I can protect you from Them..." Here's me and @mrjamesob (13/15)
It's vital to remember that dirty money doesn't care about left or right or ideology or culture or colour or anything other than corrupting power. And thus worth mentioning that Trump's opponent has questions to answer on this front too. (14/15) https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/as-vice-president-biden-said-ukraine-should-increase-gas-production-then-his-son-got-a-job-with-a-ukrainian-gas-company/2019/07/21/f599f42c-86dd-11e9-98c1-e945ae5db8fb_story.html
This is the world I've tried to reveal in Kleptopia. There's more on the book here http://tomburgis.com/kleptopia .
The weeks up to November 3 (and the storm that is likely to follow) will show us how far the spirit of kleptocracy has penetrated the greatest democracy. (15/15)
The weeks up to November 3 (and the storm that is likely to follow) will show us how far the spirit of kleptocracy has penetrated the greatest democracy. (15/15)
