Head of the Sovereign State of Exxon----Rex Tillerson.

                                             February  1st

 Good day looming for the recent head of the Sovereign State of  Exxon----Rex Tillerson.

 His Senate confirmation as Secretary of State,reporting to white supremacist Steve Bannon, is scheduled for tomorrow.

Then:   "Exxon Set for Early Victory as Congress to Rescind Payments Rule "                                                                                                                                Bloomberg News

• The  House and Senate is set to vote on the same day to kill an SEC edict that requires publication of overseas payments by oil, natural gas and mining companies listed on US Stock exchanges. Part of the Dodd-Frank reforms.
• Republican house leader Kevin McCarthy pledged in the Wall Street Journal , to "take the ax" to the SEC rule "an unreasonable compliance burden."
• In the Senate Jim Inhofe, Mitch McConnell and Mike Rounds are proposing the matching resolution on the same day.

"Canceling this rule would hurt important initiatives to stop corruption..send a message to corrupt leaders everywhere that their misdeeds are no longer a serious US foreign policy priority"                                                            Human Rights Watch

•  Tillerson's Exxon lobbied for this change claiming that such disclosures gave an unfair advantage to their foreign competitors who are not listed on US stock exchanges .
• His lobbyists apparently did not know –or did not disclose-- that oil and mining companies listed in London and elsewhere in Europe have the same obligation of transparency.  
• Indeed the rule was modeled on that in the UK.

                           But then on the Russian Sanctions Legislation Mr.Tillerson                               was “unaware” on which side Exxon  were  lobbying. 

Straight shooter and lifelong Boy Scout activist  Texas Rex must be taken at his word.        

Should be fun :     Tillerson's and Trumpf's Foreign Policy   c/o Stephen Bannon

                             Still at least he will "Be Prepared" ----    Geddit?                                                

ITS THE OIL .ALWAYS THE OIL

 



         On Woman's March day: 

                           Trumpf To CIA: ''Maybe we'll have another chance" to take Iraq's oil                   

                                                 "TO THE VICTOR GOES THE SPOILS"
                                         " MAYBE WE WILL HAVE ANOTHER CHANCE"
                                                 "We should have kept the oil" 

                                        

                             
          Today :
                  The Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmed as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson                        the ceo-god -king of the Sovereign State of Exxxon,
                 
                                    Another profile in courage for little Marco!

         Tomorrow:

                   American boys at Mossul go into battle against ISIS.
                   They will fight side by side with Iraqi boys and Kurdish Pesh Murga.
                   Whose oil do you  think those  boys believe should have the oil?

                                                Feel your sons are safer now mom?

                                                  Trumpf's "got your back" guys.

                                 

The Marches---A Silver Lining?

               The women of the court came back to the princess' Georgetown Palace SO energised.

            New generation has seized the banner of progress. 

                                      The King is Proud

                               NUMBER OF MARCHES: 673        MARCHERS (EST): 4,797,50

Nearly  5 million  world wide.Twice Clinton's plurality in the presidential election.

Women of the world unite you have nothing to lose but your chauvinist uncles.

                                    AVANTI   MARCHENT  FORWARD

The scope and scale of these events are probably greater than the Vietnam protests that took place 12 years into the war.After tens of thousands of American boys and hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese dead,mutilated or traumatized.

.   

                     DC                                            CHICAGO                                                                  
 
      

                        DUBLIN                                         NY

          
                   SYDNEY                                     BUENOS AIRES

              

                        KOLKOTA                               MOSCOW

    

                         LONDON                                       PARIS

                  

                          LONDON                                          ROME                                                          

                                         

      

                  BELGRADE                                       HONG KONG


                
                                 ANTARTICA                                   WARSAW                                                                                                                            

                   
                                               

                                DC                                            BARCELONA                          

     Trump now lying about the "million"attending his inauguration compared with Obama .

                             Fragile ego does not get close to describing his clinical narcissism.

 
\                                       
                             His press office will have to be apprised of the invention of photograpy.


Particularly for our International subjects we post this  video from Saturday Night Live last night.
   

                       

   The King awaits next weeks  visit of Theresa May to make fealty to King  Donald the Dope.

  She expects a trade deal from Trumpf to help her with her disastrous Brexit negotiations. 

 It seems the British government has yet to get the "AMERICA FIRST" memo.

  One more self imposed delusion.Humiliation to follow.

                                                             

Trumpf Campaign and the Kremlin

   Today's headline:

• Trump, Russia, and the News Story That Wasn’t                                         https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/20/public-editor/trump-russia-fbi-liz-spayd-public-editor.html?_r=0
•    U.S. counterintelligence officials examining possible ties between Russia, Trump associates   http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-russia-trump-associates-intercepted-communications-20170119-story.html 
• Trump is about to take over a government that has suspicions about whether he has been compromised by Russia                                                                                    http://www.salon.com/2017/01/20/the-fbi-is-leading-an-investigation-into-donald-trumps-connections-with-russia/
• Intercepted Russian Communications Part of Inquiry Into Trump Associates  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/us/politics/trump-russia-associates-investigation.html
• Trump connections under investigation for Russia ties                               https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-connections-under-investigation-russia-001514144.html

These follow the the more salacious "golden shower"stuff of two weeks ago.

And the Mystery of  Trump's national security adviser General Flynn's five phone calls to the Russian ambassador on the day the Obama administration expelled 30+ Russian diplomats over the political hacking scandal.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-russia-trump-associates-intercepted-communications-20170119-story.html 

                                        

                             

                                   Flynn at the Senate                  At dinner in the Kremlin with Putin

The page below between the large parentheses, was posted 5 months ago on 17 August 2016,on the same day as the Kremlin stooge Paul Manafort became too toxic for even the Trumpf camapaign.

                                           The Polonium 190 of Presidential Politics. 

He was of course replaced by Kelly Anne Conway who proved to be the most effective campaign manager and strategist this cycle.David Axelrod where were you when we needed you?
       

The point of reposting here is of course To allow the King to crow and preen;and to highlight that beneath his parody and BS,50 years of engagement in such matters has taught him something.

But the crowing and preening is the most important.

In any event the financial links to shady Russian actors were being highlighted in the international press.It was also obvious that Manafort

and others had direct, covert and nefarious contacts with the Kremlin espionage operation.Paul Manafort a long time gun for hire directly linked to Putin.

The fact that FBI director Comey used his resources to constantly investigate a decrepit email server rather than the well-known Russian activities and Trumpf team access is beyond a scandal.

Regardless of whether or not Comey's obsession with the Clinton email server cost her the election or not, it is extraordinary that the head of an agency charged with protecting the US and its citizens from foreign espionage gave this nonsense a higher priority than Manafort's operations within the Trumpf campaign.

If the Republican Congress has the patriotism to prevent the White House closing down these investigations then I have little doubt that Manafort will be charged with treason.Failing a full inquiry he may get away with serving time for tax evasion.

                                                    Al Capone Redux

{

• Two days ago the Financial Times published a full one page reporting of Trump's business dealings with the Russian Mob. In this case did not mean with the Russian government or Putin directly. According to the FT, the "Trump Soho" development was funded with shady money. It of course, like many of Trump's business initiatives went bankrupt. Apparently 95% of deposits had to be returned to condominium buyers. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/549ddfaa-5fa5-11e6-b38c-7b39cbb1138a.html#axzz4HXkY2D2o
• There will be much more on TRUMPf's Russian connections http://time.com/4433880/donald-trump-ties-to-russia/
• Ties to the Italian Mob in New York being held back till closer to the election.

On the same day as the FT article it was revealed that Trump's campaign manager  Paul Manafort had received over $12 million of secret payments from President. Yanukovych  of the Ukraine. He of course denies receiving such "cash" sums.http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/us/politics/paul-manafort-ukraine-donald-trump.html?_r=0  Now the fact that Manafort had sold his sold his soul to to the Ukrainian dictator is not news. He has in fact sold it many times over to a series of despots. This is how he makes his living.

Nor is it surprising that Yanukovych so grossly overpaid. It was just the people's money.  Manafort can be bought for much less than this.



It may not be widely known to King Cyclops readers but back in the day the King was the chairman of a large[by Ukrainian standards] commercial bank from Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. The area is now now under threat of annexation from that cuddly Mr. Putin.During the period when I was involved with this bank the board had  to deal with a number of irregular loan activities. The original founder of the bank became Minister of Finance.


During this period several journalists were murdered by the Kuchma regime.State assets were plundered by a small group of Oligarchs linked to the then president,including Kuchma's son in law.

These same oligarchs later joined with Putin to fund Yanukovych, then the  governor of Donetsk, to run for President.In 2004 his first opponent VictorYushchenko[a good guy] was subject of  an assassination attempt during the election campaign.Yushchenko was confirmed to have ingested a dioxin contained in Agent orange.                                              
                                                
He suffered disfigurement as a result of the poisoning,but still beat  Yanukovych.
In 2010  following her loss to Yanukovych the second,Yulia Tymoshenko[not such a nice lady]was imprisoned for seven years on trumped up charges--pun intended.

Following a popular uprising, Yanukovych fled the Ukraine in February 2014.Tymoshenko was released a week after his flight to Moscow.Putin gave him asylum and citizenship.Interpol placed issued an arrest warrant in 2015.

                   It seems Manafort left the Ukraine in February 2014


A  favorite story in my time there is of  cooperation between Ukraine and the Bush administration.At the time Ukraine was on an international blacklist as a centre of money laundering.This was very inconvenient for the transfer of money from the then president's clicque.The Bush administration was actively seeking to expand the "coalition of the willing" in Iraq. The Kuchma government sent a single antiaircraft battery with 30 troops to join in the occupation.Ukraine was removed from the blacklist. Cost them a lot less than they later paid Paul Manafort.


I thought that nothing would astonish me about Ukrainian off the book payments,corruption or violence.The Manafort revelations/accusations have shocked me .Less about the money but rather what he did for it.http://www.redstate.com/leon_h_wolf/2016/08/17/report-paul-manafort-laid-groundwork-russias-invasion-crimea-trump-will-probably-recognize/"The senior Ukrainian prosecutor alleges that in 2006 Mr Manafort orchestrated a series of anti-Nato, anti-Kiev protests in Crimea led by Viktor Yanukovych’s pro-Russian Party of Regions — now designated a criminal organisation. The protests forced planned Nato exercises there to be cancelled. No charges were pursued because of a lack of evidence after Crimea was annexed. "

If true--are you betting against it?-then this is Treason.No really it is Treason.

I guess Paul Manafort is looking forward more to his Tax Audit than to the coming National Security Investigation.Probably not good for future assignments.             

BREAKING NEWS--as I edit this, news is breaking of  a Trump campaign shake up sidelining Manafort.                     No doubt more revelations to follow.


Lets hope Kuchma,Yanukovych or the Ukrainian Oligarchs did not make donations to the Clinton Foundation!!   

                                                                           }

German Spat

         Dotty Donald has now picked a fight with Angela Merkel

She has not Bent the Knee,Kissed the Ring,Brown Nosed or sufficiently Abased herself.

Perhaps Theresa May will give her some tips.

In an interview with the London Times:

• Donald Trump says Merkel made 'catastrophic mistake' by admitting more than 1m migrants
• The EU: "It's basically a vehicle for Germany" and 
• You look at the European Union and it's Germany. Basically a vehicle for Germany. That's why I thought the UK was so smart in getting out."
• "other countries will also leave because of anger over immigration ".   http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38632485.

An interview with  Der Bildt:

• Why, the president-elect asked  do so many well-heeled drivers in New York drive a Mercedes-Benz,while Germans buy so few Chevrolets? he asked. 
• "for every car that comes to the USA, you will pay 35 percent tax,"    

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/16/business/trump-germany-bmw-mercedes.html

He tweeted in reference to BMW:

•     “Car companies and others, if they want to do business in our country, have to start making things here again. WIN!,” Sunday's Tweet.                                         http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-singles-out-bmw-mercedes-benz-2017-01-16

Trumpf is unaware[of course]that German companies make cars and engines in Tennessee,Alabama etc.--all in Trumpf voting states.

• Daimler's Mercedes-Benz and BMW have factories in the US making SUVs for export to Asia and Europe.
• They build  850,000 units,over half of which are exported.
• That is more than the TOTAL number of units exported by so called US companies--including Fiat -Chrysler---yes that Fiat.
• Around 65 percent of BMW's production from its factory in Spartanburg,South Carolina, is exported. 
• Mercedes vehicles built in Mexico have engines manufactured in Tennessee .
• German car makers employ about 33,000 workers in the United States and German automotive suppliers about 77,000 more.
• These 110,000 are over 150 times the number of "Carrier" jobs Trumpf,dishonestly, claims to have saved.

Doubtless he also is ignorant of the fact that the Opel and Vauxhall factories in Germany are subsidiaries of General Motors of Detroit.
German's do not buy GM Chevies cos GM sells them Opal's and Vauxhaul's.

                              His ignorance is staggering AND dangerous.


Trumpf himself drives  a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren:

                                                                                                                   
Ivanka has a BMW ; Son Eric a Porche ; Son in-law Jared has both a Porche and the family BMW .

Donald Jr. a Mercedes [and of course a Tesla-he's very green !]

Difficult to know exactly but it seems the immediate family plus ex-wives own 8-10 high end German cars.
                                   
                   Sorry kids got to give them all  to charity 

Trumpf's tweets on this seem a bit odd [well there's a redundant sentence King Cyclops].He after all has a proud German heritage emanating from his grand father of whom he has spoken proudly.They hail [how does one spell that]from Kallstadt in Prussia.

The URL below is really worth viewing.Trumpf  bangs on about his "hugely successful"grandfather and about his own German blood and heritage --that's the heritage which replaced the Swedish one he claimed in"The Art of the Deal"
                                         http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/22/politics/trump-grandfather-germany-friedrich/

 Ah maybe that's  the clue !       Trumpf is famously vengeful.

As stated in the King's blog "Dear Old Dad"on 26 July 2016:

 In 1904 the Prussian state deported his blessed Grand Papa for draft evasion and tax dodging.

Apple and Tree come to mind?

                                          A Tariff on German Cars is Payback!

UN RESOLUTION

                                                     It's been a while.

Very difficult for a blogger who fancies himself writing with a wry sense of humour to compete with the self parody ofTrumpf tweets.Keeping up with this dangerous narcissist would be an almost full-time job.

I will eschew writing the standard New Year's blog predicting the future or reprising the past.

Rather I will start the year by simply responding to requests for comments on the latest UN resolution condemning Israel and the spat between Netanyahu and Obama/Kerry.

First if I might,I attach two URLs.The first,a column in the London Times by one of their regular columnists--Melanie Phillips.This is in the form of a letter to Theresa May that is rant against Obama and an unpleasant attempt to delegitimize Palestinian aspirations. http://melaniephillips.com/open-letter-theresa-may/

The second is a short article in the Daily Beast sent to me by a passionate Zionist reader.It is  by a Palestinian activist Maajid Nawaz and  is intelligent, balanced and wise.It gives one continued hope that sooner or later there will be two states and two peoples living in peace-- however fraught.  http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/30/why-did-obama-pander-to-the-un-s-stunning-anti-israel-bias.html

Part of the foundation of Nawaz's  piece is a criterion King Cyclops typically uses when looking at the latest shenanigans by the Israeli government,Palestinian spokesmen,Downing Street,the Arab League, the UN, the White House,innumerable columnists and lobbyists :

                      Does what ever is being said, proposed or done                                 make the two state solution more or less likely.

                         More is good. Less is bad. The King is ultimately a simple soul.


I am at a loss to see how yet another UN resolution helps,anymore than Netanyahu's provocative finger to the U.S. http://www.timesofisrael.com/full-text-of-unsc-resolution-approved-dec-23-demanding-israel-stop-all-settlement-activity
It seems the original sponsor,Egypt,saw things the same way and tried to table[remove from the agenda]the resolution.Too late.


So one of the UK Duchesses  --who is increasingly frustrated by Theresa May's incompetence--wanted the King's view on the UN resolution and the UK role in its drafting.So here be it.

• Melanie Phillips is nuts .
• Theresa May is ignorant,inflexible ,shallow and out of her depth.
• The F.O.[foreign office] never much liked Jews--pushy people--romantically Arabist  and desperately hanging on to the USA coattails.
• Delusions of glory and influence.
• Some still trying to be the Greeks to the Pax Americana Romans--too many classicists not enough economists I guess.
• Obama and Kerry are irked and annoyed with  Netanyahu's posturing and pandering to the Israeli right and its religious fanatics.
  
  
• They misjudge him--its not just pandering,he really does want to destroy a two state solution
• [of course O and K understand this hence their frustrated belligerence].
• But Chaver  Barack,pique is not policy.
• Netanyahu  is a nasty piece of work who happens to be articulate in American English.
• No doubt his provocative siting of settlements on the border of Ramallah has nothing to do with the investigation of his family's finances by the Israeli police-- he, Putin and like-minded crooks love a good distraction for the masses.
• The Israeli electorate did not used to be that dumb, we shall see-- hope springs!
• Trumpf is a wise,subtle,learned and patient peace maker.
• For those Israelis who think a Trumpf presidency is in their interest I have some shore front land to sell you in the Sinai.
• The resolution is grand standing,unnecessary and unhelpful.
• Building more settlements in provocative areas is  even more so.
• All-and I mean ALL-informed observers know that these settlements will be dismantled if a two state solution is agreed .
• Netanyahu's anger reveals his weakness, lack of a coherent foreign policy and economy with the truth.  or perhaps just convenient posturing.

•  King Cyclops understands the weakness of men[ generic, women just as bad] 

As a postscript,after I had drafted the above,Therese May has taken issue with Obama and Kerry criticism of the Israeli government-- on the rather strange and  spurious grounds that one should not  criticize the internal politics of an ally.

The British press immediately realised this criticism of Obama/Kerry was blatant pandering to Trumpf. She she did not seem to realize that the UK foreign office fingerprints are all over the drafting of the UN resolution. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/28/uks-key-role-in-brokering-un-resolution-on-israeli-settlements-confirmed It seems she has an extraordinarily short memory or  the F.O. mandarins do not feel the need to keep her in the loop.

Much less Boris who seems to be on his Christmas Hols.Not a peep throughout the fuss.No problem, Boris,nothing much happens at this time of year.

                               
                         

Have these British Trumpf Panderers lost all sense of perspective and judgment?

                                 Humiliatus est quam Leo