by DAVID BROWN | CLEARNFO.com | May 11, 2015

Vladimir Putin

Below is a fascinating –and I believe important speech– by Putin critic Mr. Bill Browder given on April 20th, 2015 at The Chicago Council on Global Affairs entitled Putin’s Number One Enemy?.  It is fascinating, because of the very personal and up close accounts and the unique delivery style of Mr. Browder; and it is important, because it provides some insight and detail on Putin and his relationship to the criminal oligarchs he must manage to stay in power.  I think  Mr. Browder identifies key elements necessary for Russia to prosper as a nation.  Those elements are the rule of law and the ideal of personal property rights.  It has been proven back in the Soviet era that a single pig farmer who owned his land was ten times more productive than a large collective of the state.  individual protections by law and the right to own land are primary for any society to prosper in my opinion.  These issues also point to what is wrong with America today and how America has strayed from its founding documents.  The Russian people are striving for a new and better way, yet the oligarchs –as in America– seek to secure monopolies and unfair advantage.  A fatal flaw in Mr. Browder’s speech is his unfortunate and mistaken belief that Putin invaded Ukraine, but much of the remaining is well worth your time.

While Mr. Browder is affable, likable and seemingly very approachable, he definitely has an insider’s pedigree evidenced by his massive fortune, attendance at Davos and his personal friendship with former Managing Director of Goldman Sachs Muneer A. Satter who provides the introduction to this speech.  Not only this, the money laundering bank, HSBC, serves as the trustee and manager at Browder’s Hermitage Capital Management Company. BTW,  HSBC was fined almost $2 billion for laundering money for the Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel and Colombia’s Norte del Valle cartel.

And of course you should know I can’t agree with some of the default positions of the sponsor (The Chicago Council on Global Affairs) regarding Russian aggression against Ukraine which is a myth whipped up by Western globalists and their vassal media organs. The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, was founded in 1922 and includes a who’s who of elites from Goldman Sachs, the Federal Reserve, Boeing and token political lightweight elite wannabes like Michelle Obama.

Show notes from The Chicago Council on Global Affairs:

“In 2013 foreign investment in Russia reached a record high of $94 billion and Bloomberg Business called it one of the “50 Best Countries to do Business In.” Just one year later, the Ukraine crisis decimated Russia’s international standing, and the country’s economic fortunes plummeted in tandem with the value of the ruble. As the relationship between Russia and the West continues to deteriorate, economic problems appear of little concern to Vladimir Putin—a fact that former hedge-fund manager Bill Browder attributes to the endemic corruption among top Russian officials. Since 2005, Browder has publicly lambasted Putin for leading a regime he characterizes as brutal and corrupt, comparing it with a widespread criminal enterprise. Can Russia’s aggressive actions be attributed solely to Mr. Putin, or do they instead represent a return to the politics of Russia’s past? And as companies continue to invest in Russia and other emerging markets, what lessons can they take from Browder’s brush with Vladimir Putin’s Russia?”

Putin’s Number One Enemy?  The Chicago Council on Global Affairs (Apr 20, 2015):

Mr Browder has also written a book about his experience in Russia entitled Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice.

Additional Reading from ClearNFO related to The Chicago Counsel of Global Affairs:

George Friedman, “Europe: Destined for Conflict?”

More on HSBC and the illegal drug industry:

HSBC Bank: Secret Origins To Laundering The World’s Drug Money