The sleaze runs deep

[Richard Romeo]

I think the key figure here is former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder who once leaving govt I believe quickly became immersed in fostering economic ties with Russian business interests. And made himself rich of course.  He laid the groundwork but I wouldn’t put all the blame on Germany. Lots of western interests from many countries, including the US and UK, were there trying to make their fortunes, in post Soviet times
What’s the current equivalent of American Depository Receipts wrt to Russia? To be able to invest in things you can’t directly (like De Beers and Anglo American during apartheid). The answer is somewhere in NY London or Antwerp

> On Apr 19, 2022, at 5:40 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> https://www.politico.eu/article/german-social-democrats-face-more-heat-over-russian-energy-ties/
> 
> Germany's ruling Social Democrats are facing fresh pressure over their
> links to Moscow after accusations that a regional leader worked with
> Kremlin-backed energy giant Gazprom to undermine U.S. sanctions and spread
> Russian propaganda.
> 
> The allegations center on Manuela Schwesig, a senior member of Chancellor
> Olaf Scholz's SPD party.  [•••] political heat on Schwesig has been growing
> since documents obtained by Welt newspaper showed
> <https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/plus238086779/Klimastiftung-Wie-sich-Schwesig-von-Nord-Stream-2-einspannen-liess.html>
> her
> government cooperated closely with the company Nord Stream 2 AG, a
> subsidiary of Gazprom, as it tried to complete the project in the face of
> American sanctions. The documents showed that a foundation backed by the
> company and the regional government, supposedly meant to champion
> environmental causes, was a vehicle to circumvent the U.S. measures.
> --
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