The Obama administration’s rapprochement with Iran was obviously driven by commercial interests. Western companies, including many American ones, stood to profit handsomely when the sanctions were lifted. Given the longstanding Russian involvement in Iran, it’s no surprise to find that Russia has planted strategically-placed agents of influence in Western governments and corporations to advance its own Iran-related interests.
According to a report published today by the Center for Security Policy, a prominent foreign policy advisor to Hillary Rodham Clinton may be one of those agents of influence. Below is the press release from CSP:
Clinton’s Shadow Diplomat: Thomas Pickering and Russia’s Pipeline Sales to Iran…
“Clinton’s Shadow Diplomat” is a hard-hitting investigative report [pdf] from the Center for Security Policy, exposing the ties of former Ambassador Thomas Pickering to a Putin-linked Russian company that sold oil and gas pipelines to Iran and Syria when Pickering was on its Board of Directors. The report reveals Pickering’s overlapping roles: as Clinton’s Foreign Affairs Policy Advisor, as an Advisory Board member for two Iranian advocacy groups, as a paid Director for a Russian firm selling pipeline to Iran and Syria, as a paid consultant to Iranian aircraft contractor Boeing, and as a Senate committee hearing witness, all with a common goal of ending economic sanctions on Iran and reversing U.S. Iran policies.
As meticulously documented in “Clinton’s Shadow Diplomat,” Pickering was a paid Director for the Russian-owned company Trubnaya Metallurgicheskaya Kompaniya (TMK) from June 30, 2009 to June 26, 2012. TMK is majority-owned by Russian billionaire oligarch Dmitry Pumpyansky, a close Putin ally.
The investigation discovered extensive proof of TMK’s business dealings in Iran and Syria while Pickering was on the Board, including a financial offering disclosure, catalogs, marketing materials, websites, press releases, legal documents, reports from the steel industry press and Iranian customer websites. Sales of oil and gas pipelines to Iran were specifically prohibited under U.S. laws and executive orders.
According to TMK’s records, Pickering attended 143 of the 145 TMK Board meetings. Pickering is estimated to have been paid over half a million dollars for his service to TMK, based on TMK’s compensation rules.
“Clinton’s Shadow Diplomat” documents TMK’s relationships with three Iranian customers, all listed by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as “Specially Designated Nationals” during the years Pickering served on the Board: the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Petropars, and Pars Oil and Gas Company.
The investigation also shows TMK’s relationships with three Syrian customers listed by OFAC as “Specially Designated Nationals” in 2011, while Pickering was on the Board: the Syrian Gas Company, the Syrian Petroleum Company, and the Al Furat Petroleum Company. U.S. persons are generally prohibited from conducting any kind of business with “Specially Designated Nationals.”
Thomas Pickering was appointed by Clinton as Chairman for the Benghazi Accountability Review Board three months after he left TMK. Starting in December 2011, he also served in official capacity on Clinton’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board. Emails released from Clinton’s private server show that Pickering was emailing and meeting with Clinton and her staff from the beginning of her time as Secretary of State, arguing for an end to economic sanctions on Iran, during the same years he was on TMK’s Board of Directors.
“Clinton’s Shadow Diplomat” raises questions for the American public and policymakers about Thomas Pickering’s and Hillary Clinton’s priorities. Did they put America’s interests first, or those of Iran and Russia?
…about Thomas Pickering’s and Hillary Clinton’s priorities:
did they put America’s interests first, or those of Iran and Russia?
We’ve known of her priority for some time. It’s called The Priority of the Purse. Her office-seeking has only ever been in aid of growing the bottom line. It would appear that her lust is for money, since that is the surest road to power. I’d be willing to be that by the time she and Soros shuffle off this mortal coil they will be locked in a battle for “the most” wealth – whatever form it takes.
Bill’s lust is every bit as compulsive and pathological as hers but it’s also more comprehensible. One turns away from even trying to take the measure of that black hole in Hillary’s soul.
“Josef Stalin’s Housekeeper ” { Hillary } as Michael Savage describes her represents all that is evil in a chameleon like humanoid. Don’t try and understand her. Intelligent people who are grounded in reality can make a quick appraisal of her core simply by reviewing her history many years past as a savage defense attorney who traumatized a twelve year old Rape victim. Move on. Intelligent people who are grounded in reality understand that Islam { in any form } will not co exist with Judaeo Christian values. Expect many more revelations about flawed ,immoral, greedy personages who will gravitate to the Hillary’s of the world for a few bucks. Look at Soros…a Hungarian Jewish teenager who faked being a Christian and willingly helped the Nazi’s steal Jewish property. That was in the early forties…Think he has changed ??. Look at Merkel….You look at her; a pudgy faced mediocre East German Soviet Academic who used her soft voice and non threatening demeanor to capture power for the destruction of Germany. Look at Putin…A Russian Nationalist who loves his Nation and people who is exercising unbelievable restraint in the face of provocations from Western Nations under the control of Central Bankers and the likes of Obama. Bush and the other less than Human beings. Iran is not being ruled by saintly people { Mossadech} was their last decent ruler; but they are bush league compared to the devils in the west. Just pray that Putin continues to exercise restraint….and if he does finally snap…The profound difficulties will be visited on the personages mentioned in this commentary. AND THE INNOCENTS WILL BE SPARED…..FAT CHANCE.
The perfect rant! Thank you!
Pickering sounds like he might end up as Secretary of State in a Clinton Whitehouse.
Le Bingo. He almost made it before. Now that he’s had the opportunity to grow truly wealthy perhaps he won’t be quite as beset with greed…and HRC trusts him – at least as much as she trusts anyone. He’s “in” with Russia and Iran.
Don’t you feel reassured?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_R._Pickering