What Is An Oligarch?

Ed.'s note: Obviously, something urgent is going to have to be done to rid ourselves of this predatory plague. Their access to such extremely vast sums of money is irrational and completely irresponsible. We've had historical precedents. Ivan the Terrible (Ivan the 4th) who came to power in the Russian kingdom went to war on oligarchs. The Russian peasants viewed Ivan the Terrible as the liberator from the tyranny of the Russian oligarchy (machiavellian mentality). Ivan the Terrible was the Russian leader who it was seen braking the back of the Russian oligarchy even though British and American intellectuals have never been able to figure this out. Ivan the Terrible put an end to the pillaging of society by the aristocracy. The Russian oligarchy pretty much took everything in Russia that wasn't nailed down. Contrary to this author's opinion in this article below that America is a "democracy," which it is emphatically not, America is an oligarchy. Of course, there are those who would disagree and that depends on who is paying them to do their research and reporting.

The U.S. is an Oligarchy? The Research, Explained
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Source: The Conversation

November 16, 2019

Boris Yeltsin shakes hands with Russia's most powerful businessmen in Moscow. AP Photo

With the impeachment hearings for President Donald Trump under way, several American diplomats and ambassadors have testified about the influence of oligarchs on the Trump administration.

I am a scholar of international law who has been working in the Soviet and post-Soviet space since the early 1990s. As the impeachment hearings in Washington take center stage and talk turns to the politics of Ukraine, I believe it's important to understand what oligarchs are and what power they wield.

The history of oligarchs

Over 2,300 years ago, Aristotle coined the term oligarchy as he contemplated the forms of state governance.

Aristotle coined the term 'oligarch.' Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

Like aristocracy, oligarchy meant rule by the few, as contrasted with democracy, which is rule by the people. From Aristotle's time until the early 1990s, the concept of an oligarchy – and oligarchs – largely remained the stuff of academic writing. But with the breakup of the Soviet Union, a new group of actors emerged. In the early 1990s, these men ate lavish meals in the newest hotels and built massive houses on the outskirts of Moscow. They mostly were young players in the financial sector who were able to finance Russia's first post-Soviet president, Boris Yeltsin.

These oligarchs were not formally part of the government. They were private individuals who benefited from government connections to amass huge wealth in short periods.

This wealth came from the privatization of state enterprises, a process developed and driven by American and Western European academics.

Oligarchs today

I covered the role of organized crime in Russia in the early 1990s and witnessed firsthand the transfer of wealth from the state to a handful of individuals, all of whom had ties to Russia's leaders.

By owning the major industries – from oil and natural gas to steel, nickel and other basic industries – Russian oligarchs held sway over all aspects of daily life. With time, they expanded to other areas, such as media and sports. But, at their core, the oligarchs gained their wealth from industry and wielded their power openly and with impunity.

Over the past 20 years, the number of oligarchs has grown, but the base of their power remains the same: a relationship with the president that leads to personal financial gain.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin told the Financial Times earlier this year, "Oligarchs are those who use their proximity to the authorities to receive super profits."

Putin effectively offered an alternative, modern definition of oligarch. And like Yeltsin, Putin has been responsible for the rise – and, on occasion, the fall – of Russia's modern oligarchs.

The former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, testifies during the second day of public impeachment hearings in Congress on Nov. 15, 2019. AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

Impeachment and Ukraine

But oligarchs are not restricted to Russia. And this is why we have been hearing the term so often in recent months.

In Ukraine, the spring 2019 presidential election that led to the stunning rise of actor-turned-politician Volodymyr Zelenskiy was as much a referendum on Ukraine's oligarchs as it was about the two men vying to become president.

Please go to The Conversation to read the entire article.
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Ed.'s note: This oligarch named his yacht "Tits" and the two life boats "Nipple 1" and "Nipple 2."


Source: New Zealand Herald

The Sultan of Brunei's salacious family secret

7 Apr, 2019 | By Candace Sutton

Jillian Lauren, was one of many women kept in a harem by Brunei's Prince Jefri. Photo / Channel 9

Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah has a family secret: His sex-obsessed and profligate spending brother, Prince Jefri. The playboy Prince Jefri Bolkiah led an exorbitantly lavish lifestyle, flying in planeloads of women who he entertained and showered with gifts. The notoriously extravagant and wanton lifestyle past of Prince Jefri is in stark contrast to his older brother's stringent new laws, reports news.com.au. The Sultan of the tiny sovereign gas and oil rich state has introduced a death penalty for gay sex.

Adulterers in the Muslim-majority sultanate blessed with a pleasant climate, excellent roads, golf courses and yacht clubs may now be stoned or whipped.

Convicted robbers face the cutting off of their right hand or left foot.

Prince Jefri Bolkiah, the brother of the Sultan of Brunei attends a parade in honor of Queen Elizabeth II's birthday. Photo / Getty Images

However, the sultan's brother Prince Jefri once allegedly kept a paid harem of up to 40 women, and was accused of embezzling $14.8 billion.

He entertained women on his luxury yacht called "Tits" which had lifeboat tenders named "Nipple 1" and "Nipple 2".

Until his assets were frozen in 2000, Jefri "has probably gone through more cash than any other human being on earth", Vanity Fair reported.

At one point the diminutive prince, whose full name is Jefri Bolkiah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien Sa'adul Khairi Waddien, allegedly spent $50m a month.

He bought colossal diamonds for his numerous consorts and collected 2300 luxury cars, including Ferraris, Rolls Royces and Bentleys.

One girlfriend later auctioned off the necklace given to her by the prince for $100,000.

Jillian Lauren was 18 years old when Jefri wooed her to Brunei. Photo / Channel 9

He paid $7 million for a rug woven of gold thread and embroidered with jewels.

Jefri owned a helicopter and eight airplanes including a private Boeing 747, and bought paintings by Renoir, Manet and Degas.

Through his 200 companies, he bought more than 500 properties including a collection of five-star hotels.

He owned the New York Palace, Los Angeles' Hotel Bel-Air, the Plaza Athénée in Paris and bought London's former Playboy Club for $34 million, more than four times its market value.

In 2010, American woman Jillian Lauren published a book about her former experiences as Prince Jefri's "number two girlfriend".

In Some Girls: My Life in a Harem, she said the prince paid for young attractive women for short-term hires of three weeks, and others for stays of up to a year or more.

She wrote that Jefri, who liked to be called "Robin", housed the women in luxury digs in the grounds of Brunei's royal estate and paid them around $2000 a week.

Prince Jefri flew in planeloads of women to the royal palace. Photo / Getty Images

The palace is located among the leafy, riverside hills on the banks of the Brunei River, a few kilometres southwest of Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei's capital city.

The women, who were also given jewelry, were required to attend Prince Jefri's parties where he entertained his male friends.

The prince would ultimately depart the function with one particular girl of his choice.

The harem allegedly included a Penthouse Pet of the Year, and a TV actress.

Now aged 64, for his 50th birthday in 2004 Prince Jefri paid Michael Jackson $17 million to perform at a custom-built stadium.

He commissioned artist J. Seward Johnson to create an $800,000 sexually explicit statue.

Please go to New Zealand Herald to read the entire article.
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Ed.'s note: Remember these people? Adnan Khashoggi goes way back into the criminal annals of history who was involved in the Iran-Contra affair. Adnan Khashoggi's sister was author Samira Khashoggi who married businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed and was the mother of Dodi Fayed. Dodi Fayed along with Princess Diana were assassinated in 1997. Adnan Khashoggi was the uncle of Jamal Khashoggi alleged to be assassinated on 2 October 2018 inside the Saudi Arabian consulate offices in Turkey. The Sultan of Brunei loaned Adnan Khashoggi $50 million to purchase the yacht the Nabila though one of the Sultan of Brunei's offshore companies in Panama. How many people do you know who can simply borrow $50 million to buy a yacht? When Adnan Khashoggi couldn't pay the loan off the Sultan of Brunei seized the yacht the Nabila.

These oligarchs go way back together considering this Los Angeles Times article goes back to 1987. President Donald Trump purchased the yacht the Nabila and after refitting, renamed it to Trump Princess in 1988. After the Sultan of Brunei seized the yacht, he sold it to Donald Trump for $29 million. Then the yacht was sold in 1991 to Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal for $20 million. As it turns out, Jeffry Epstein was working for Adnan Khashoggi. It was Bill Clinton and Jeffry Epstein who flew together to Brunei in 2002 to meet with the Sultan of Brunei. As has been covered by many news sources now, Brunei is a major sex trafficking country. Can anyone just image the sex parties that took place on this yacht over the years on the ocean which is a no-man's-land?

Trump Princess

Source: Los Angeles Times

Latest Financial Setback for Billionaire Saudi Arms Dealer : Sultan of Brunei Seizes Khashoggi Yacht

By WILLIAM C. REMPEL | MAY 15, 1987

It also has been confirmed that Khashoggi's luxury DC-8 jetliner has been grounded by litigation over a $15-million loan he defaulted on last year. And a DC-9 that associates call his "spare plane," has been locked up on a Paris airfield awaiting resolution of a $3.5-million dispute with a former business associate in London.

"He's had a cash-flow problem for seven or eight years but now his debt bubble seems about to burst," said a source close to Khashoggi who also noted that "everything he owns is mortgaged."

'Story Isn't Over'

However, Robert Shaheen, a New York spokesman for Khashoggi, cautioned that reporters “shouldn't be too hasty to say" Khashoggi is in financial trouble. "Our story isn't over," he said.

The legal actions involving the yacht and planes indicate that financial pressures have been mounting in recent months against the Saudi deal-maker and international arms merchant once regarded as "the richest man in the world." They suggest that Khashoggi's chronic financial problems were in no way eased by his role as a broker in the U.S. arms deals.

One source close to Khashoggi told The Times that the arms merchant thought that the profits he would earn in brokering the arms sale between the United States and Iran "would be his next big score." But Khashoggi, who has claimed he acted as a middleman in the scheme only to help foster peace in the Middle East, now says he lost money in the deal.

Ousted as Directors

Panamanian business records and sources said that in April Khashoggi and his partners were ousted as directors of the Panamanian company, Silingroup Investment Inc., that owns the Nabila, a 287-foot, helipad-equipped yacht named for Khashoggi's daughter.

They were replaced by representatives of the sultan, who guaranteed the yacht construction loan of about $50,125,000 made by a Swiss bank. The sultan was forced to pay off the loan personally in 1985 after Khashoggi defaulted on his first annual interest payment.

Knowledgeable sources said Thursday it is doubtful that Khashoggi can prevent the yacht from being auctioned, but there are reports that he may be trying to negotiate a last-minute compromise.

Shaheen said he could not comment on "the whole situation of the Sultan of Brunei (which) has lots of complications and entanglements. . . . I'm sure you’ll find out that there are mirrors upon mirrors in that deal."

Complicating one possible compromise is the legal tangle involving Khashoggi's $35-million DC-8. Sources said the financier might have been able to surrender it to the sultan to keep the yacht.

However, last year the plane was grounded in Paris after London tycoon Roland W. (Tiny) Rowland seized it to satisfy a $2.5-million debt that Khashoggi had secured with the aircraft.

Rowland, who has called Khashoggi "the great unbillionaire," a derisive reference to his reputed wealth, released his claim against the jetliner early this year after $2.5 million was paid by Kamal Adham, a friend of Khashoggi and the former head of Saudi intelligence.

Jet Seized Again

But no sooner was the DC-8 released than it was seized again in connection with litigation brought in the Cayman Islands by Aetna Life & Casualty Co.

Please go to Los Angeles Times to read the entire article.
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Ed.'s note: Sometimes after looking at Bill Clinton carefully, you get the impression he wanted to be part of the jet-setting billionaire oligarchy club where they can buy beautiful women and likely children like purchasing and owning physical objects. This network are all involved in sex trafficking and Jeffrey Epstein was a trafficker just like Adnan Khashoggi trafficked weapons. The Sultan of Brunei was known to have kept as many as 40 European and American women on call to have sex with him and his well connected and extremely wealthy buddies. A harem of trafficked children and young beautiful women. If the connections are followed, Donald Trump owned Miss USA from 1997 onward, not when Shannon Marketic won Miss USA in 1992.



Source: Page Six

Bill Clinton's shady friendships outed by tabloids

By Richard Johnson | February 4, 2015

Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein WireImage/Gregory P. Mango

As if Bill Clinton's friendship with Jeffrey Epstein weren't embarrassing enough, the two flew on Epstein's jet in 2002 to meet with the Sultan of Brunei.

Sultan Bolkiah, one of the richest men in the world, not only plans to execute homosexuals, but his brother, Prince Jefri, has been accused of duping American women into "white slavery."

The National Enquirer reports flight logs reveal Epstein — before he was arrested and jailed for soliciting teenage masseuses — picked up the former president at a Japanese naval airport and flew with him to Brunei on May 25, 2002.

Also onboard Epstein's private 727 — dubbed "the orgy jet" — were Ghislaine Maxwell and Sarah Kellen, "both alleged 'madames' for Epstein's kiddie sex ring," the Enquirer states. Kellen was never arrested or charged with a crime and was granted immunity in a non-prosecution agreement in 2007. Maxwell has denied the allegations.

The Sultan later donated a sum between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Presidential Library.

The Post broke the story in 1997 about Shannon Marketic, the former Miss USA who sued Prince Jefri, claiming he had held her captive and forced her into performing sex acts for his party guests.
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Ed.'s note: One set of laws for the peasant class and one set of laws for the oligarch class. Shannon Marketic won the Miss USA beauty pageant in 1992 and returned from Brunei in 1997. The Miss USA was owned by Donald Trump from 1997 to 2015.


Source: Page Six

Prince Jefri should be first convicted under Brunei's Sharia law

By Richard Johnson | May 8, 2014

Brunei's Prince Jefri Bolkiah Warzer Jaff

If the Sultan of Brunei is going to enforce Sharia law fairly, his playboy brother Prince Jefri should be stoned to death for committing adultery.

Jefri, 59 — who has had five wives, three of whom he is still married to — was known for keeping as many as 40 highly paid American and European women on call to have sex with him and his friends.

Enlarge Image Jillian LaurenGetty Images

New Jersey-born Jillian Lauren came home after 18 months in Brunei with $300,000 and wrote a book, "Some Girls: My Life in a Harem," about her experience.

Besides having sex with Jefri, the then-teen also hooked up with the Sultan, she revealed this week in a piece in the Daily Beast.

"As the citizens of Brunei face the erosion of their rights, I imagine the man I once knew, holed up in a posh hotel suite somewhere, maybe with another American teenager in his lap, making laws that legislate morality," Lauren wrote.

Ex-Miss USA Shannon Marketic returned from Brunei in 1997 and sued Jefri and the Sultan, claiming she was held against her will as a sex slave. Marketic lost her lawsuit after Jefri claimed diplomatic immunity.

The first round of Sharia law, imposed on May 1, calls for fines and prison sentences for those who have a child out of wedlock, fail to pray on Friday or promote religions other than Islam.

Please go to Page Six to read the entire article.
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Jillian Lauren who is Jewish and 18 at the time was likely fully aware of what she was getting into when she decided to go to Brunei.

The Moth Presents Jillian Lauren: The Prince and I

Shannon Marketic - California Full Performance @ Miss USA 1992

 

How utterly tragic and a shame what has happened to Shannon Marketic. From the 1992 Miss USA who wanted to be a lawyer for children's advocacy, to a run down desperate 38 year old (49 years old today) woman arrested for shoplifting at the time of her arrest. Note the differences in how they came out of their experience in Brunei between Jillian Lauren above and Shannon Marketic in the clip below. Marketic seems to be doing well these days.

Police say a former Miss USA has been released from a Texas 

jail after she was accused of stealing a 

Prince Andrew: The Epstein scandal has become a 'major disruption' - BBC Newsnight 

Related:

Prince Andrew To Officially Disappear From Public Life After Interview Disaster


More:

The sex-obsessed world of Brunei

Remember that study saying America is an oligarchy? 3 rebuttals say it's wrong.

Full text of "Against Oligarchy by Webster Griffin Tarpley.pdf (PDFy mirror)"

Against Oligarchy

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Prince Andrew To Officially Disappear From Public Life After Interview Disaster