Yeah, that’s a good example. Wealthy Russians are desperate to get their money out of Russia because the economy is collapsing, and it’s really hard to do for a lot of them because they’re named in nations’ legislation like the US Magnitsky Act, and several UN thingymajigs too.

One of the more obvious ventures after the Atlantic City bankruptcies using the Trump name and no money required. He struck a deal with a Florida developer attaching his name to three high-rises in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida. Russians loved the Trump brand and maybe one-third of the five hundred apartments went to Russian speakers. The area became known as Little Moscow. Hundreds of the condos were bought by shell companies, so you don’t know the true owner. Money laundering on a large scale.

Yeah, you’re probably right there. It might not have been the plan initially, but it wouldn’t surprise me to discover their encouragement was a big part in the decision making process.

Yanukovych was getting millions from Putin. Ukrainians were shocked at what they found when he debunked.

I’m not so sure it was basically luck.
I suspect his Russian Mafia creditors somehow ‘suggested’ he should run for president. After all he was a moderately well-known TV personality in the US.
I suspect he was ‘groomed’ too (Mr Putin’s specialty in the KGB): his populist jingoistic rhetoric is barely distinguishable from Mr Putin’s. It worked for Mr Putin in Russia, why would it not work for Mr Trump in the US?
And with a little help from counting fraud and voter disenfranchisement (not really Russian, I think) a massive 24/7 smearing of his opponent and ‘micro-targeting’ (made possible by their hacking of voter lists) they succeeded.

According to the book I am reading Manafort and Gates all worked for Yanukovych for more than a decade – in return for millions of dollars.
He was likely deeply in hock to Deripaska and offered him private briefing — a back channel to Putin while Manafort was in the campaign.

Thank you, Linda, the link works. Indeed about all of it should already be under investigation.

The political thing is far more recent, but the Russians will try to get their hooks into anyone they think could be useful, and that’s why I agree that this could go back 30 years. it’s basically luck on the part of the Russians that this guy they targeted back then because of business turned out to be a presidential candidate. Trump could have renewed old ties to get the money he needed later on. The Russians filmed/taped everyone in certain hotels just in case. There were also issues apparently with Ivana because of coming from a communist country, and what she had to do when she went back to visit family.

Idk. There are places in Asia where they’re a bit more relaxed about the mixing of religions and getting on with others, so that might be it.

I note that whenever Trump talks about who Manafort worked for, he only ever mentions Reagan and Dole. I don’t really remember anything about Bob Dole, but for some reason I have a bad feeling about him. I really didn’t like Reagan at all. I thought he was dreadful and have never understood why he is lionized by so many. I was still in high school when he became president and I remember my best friend and I being horrified at the idea of him in the White House. We both considered him a warmonger, we hated his attitude to women, we thought he was excessively religious (and I was still a devout believer myself then), and we thought his mind was going (turns out we were right about that one). We wrote a letter to someone in the US about our worries, but I can’t remember who. It ended with a prediction that in a confused moment he would start a nuclear war! Of course, both are basically normal GOP candidates, and working for them doesn’t make you a disgrace of a human being like working for those people you mention does.

The chair is about $2,200.