There are two recent stories in the news about some of the large donors to the Clinton Foundation. The first is a story from last week posted at Hot Air, relating back to a Newsweek article. The second story is from a New York Times article posted today. The Newsweek article deals with the fact that one of the large donors to the Clinton Foundation was trading with Iran despite the sanctions imposed by the United States.
The Newsweek article states:
Ukrainian oligarch Victor Pinchuk, 54, has courted the Clintons for at least nine years – in the United States, the Alps and Ukraine.
Earlier this year, he was confirmed as the largest individual contributor to the Clinton Foundation, whose aims include the creation of “economic opportunity and growth”. He also has links to the Tony Blair Foundation and represented its biggest single donor in 2013.
The fourth richest man in Ukraine, Pinchuk owns Interpipe Group, a Cyprus-incorporated manufacturer of seamless pipes used in oil and gas sectors.
Newsweek has seen declarations and documents from Ukraine that show a series of shipments from Interpipe to Iran in 2011 and 2012, including railway parts and products commonly used in the oil and gas sectors.
Among a number of high-value invoices for products related to rail or oil and gas, one shipment for $1.8m (1.7m) in May 2012 was for “seamless hot-worked steel pipes for pipelines” and destined for a city near the Caspian Sea.
Both the rail and oil and gas sectors are sanctioned by the US, which specifically prohibits any single invoice to the Iranian petrochemical industry worth more than $1m.
Follow the link to the Newsweek article to read the whole sordid story.
The New York Times article reports:
The headline on the website Pravda trumpeted President Vladimir V. Putin’s latest coup, its nationalistic fervor recalling an era when its precursor served as the official mouthpiece of the Kremlin: “Russian Nuclear Energy Conquers the World.”
The article, in January 2013, detailed how the Russian atomic energy agency, Rosatom, had taken over a Canadian company with uranium-mining stakes stretching from Central Asia to the American West. The deal made Rosatom one of the world’s largest uranium producers and brought Mr. Putin closer to his goal of controlling much of the global uranium supply chain.
But the untold story behind that story is one that involves not just the Russian president, but also a former American president and a woman who would like to be the next one.
At the heart of the tale are several men, leaders of the Canadian mining industry, who have been major donors to the charitable endeavors of former President Bill Clinton and his family. Members of that group built, financed and eventually sold off to the Russians a company that would become known as Uranium One.
Again, follow the link to the New York Times to read the entire story.
So what is this about? The mainstream media is actually reporting scandals related to the Clintons. Theories abound. One of the more interesting theories espoused on Rush Limbaugh today is that the media is quietly hinting to Hillary to step aside of they will expose more of her questionable dealings. Another theory (which I believe is more likely) is that the media is trying to get all of this out of the way so that it is old news next year when people begin to pay attention.
Either way, there are some basic facts here. The Clintons have never been known for being squeaky clean in their financial (or political, or personal) dealings. Americans may well be faced with a decision next November as to whether or not they want to endure the drama of another Clinton in the White House. These stories are important, if only to remind us of the angst that comes with electing a Clinton.