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Пока в Сенате завершается процесс импичмента, сохраним для истории заключительное слово Адама Шиффа.

"Russia, too, has a constitution. It's not a bad constitution. It’s just a meaningless one. In Russia, they have trial by telephone. They have the same ostensible rights we do to a trial. They hear evidence and witnesses. But before the verdict is rendered, the judge picks up the telephone and calls the right person to find out how it’s supposed to turnout. Trial by telephone.
Is that what we have here, trial by telephone? Someone on the other end of the phone, dictating what this trial should look like?
The founders gave us more than words. They gave us inspiration. They may have receded into mythology, but they inspire us still. And more than us, they inspire the rest of the world. They inspire the rest of the world: From their prison cells in Turkey, journalists look to us. From their internment camps in China, they look to us. From their cells in Egypt,those who gathered in Tahrir Square for a better life look to us. From the Philippines,those that were the victims, and their families, of mass extrajudicial killing,they look to us. From Evin prison, they look to us. From all over the world,they look to us.
And increasingly they don’t recognize what they see.
It's a terrible tragedy for them; it is a worst tragedy for us.
Because there's nowhere else for them to turn. They’re not going to turn to Russia. They’re not going to turn to China. They’re not going to turn to Europe, with all of its problems.
They look to us, because we are still the indispensable nation.
They look to us, because we have a rule of law.
They look to us, because no one is above that law.
And one of the things that separates us from those people in Evin prison, is the right to a trial. It’s the right to atrial. Americans get a fair trial.
And so I ask you, I implore you, give America a fair trial.
Give America a fair trial.
She is worth it.
Thank you."

Donald Trump must be convicted and removed from office.

Because he will always choose his own personal interest over our national interest.

Because in America, right matters. Truth matters.

If not, no Constitution can protect us.

If not, we are lost. pic.twitter.com/USfx6v9KsT
- Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) January 24, 2020

По теме этого сообщества Шифф тоже высказался, вспоминая печально известную встречу в Хельсинки.

"I'm sure you remember this. It was I think unforgettable for every American. But I'm sure it was equally unforgettable for Vladimir Putin. I mean, there he is, the President of Russia, standing next to the President of the United States, and hearing his own Kremlin propaganda talking points coming from the President of the United States.
Now, if that's not a propaganda coup I don't know what is. It's the most extraordinary thing. It's the most extraordinary thing. The president of the United States standing next to the president of Russia, our adversary, saying he doesn't believe his own intelligence agencies. He doesn't believe them. He's promoting this crazy server theory cooked up by the Kremlin. Right next to the guy that cooked it up. It's a breathtaking success of Russian intelligence. I don't know if there's ever been a greater success of Russian intelligence.
Whatever profile Russia did of our president, boy, did they have him spot on. Flattery and propaganda. Flattery and propaganda is all Russia needed. And as to Ukraine, well, they needed to deliver a political investigation to get help from the United States. I mean, this is just the most incredible propaganda coup.
Because as I said yesterday, it's not just that the President of the United States standing next to Vladimir Putin is reading Kremlin talking points. He won't read his own national security staff talking points but he will read the Kremlin ones. But it's not just that he adopts the Kremlin talking points. That would be bad enough. It is not bad enough, not damaging enough, not dangerous enough to our national security that he's undermining our own intelligence agencies. It's not bad enough that he undermines those very agencies that he needs later that we need later to have credibility.
We've just had a vigorous debate over these -- the strikes against General Soleimani and the president made his argument of what the intelligence says and supports. How do you make those arguments? When you say the U.S. Intelligence community can't be believed.
Now, we have had a vigorous debate about what that intelligence has to say. That's not the issue here. The issue here is that you undermine the credibility of our own intelligence agencies. You weaken the country! For when you need to rely on them. For when you need to persuade your friends and allies. You can trust us when we tell you this is what the intelligence shows.
How do you make that argument as the President of the United States when you just told the world you trust the Russians more than your own people? You trust Rudy Giuliani more than Christopher Wray. How do you make that case? If you can't make that case what does that mean to our security? But that's not the end of it. It's not just a propaganda coup. It is not just the undermining of our agencies.
It is also that the buy-in to that propaganda meant that Ukraine wasn't going to get money to fight the Russians. I mean, that's one hell of a Russian intelligence coup. They got the President of the United States to provide cover for their own interference with our election. They got the President of the United states to discredit their own intelligence agencies, to drive a wedge between the United States and Ukraine, the President of the United States to withhold aid from Ukraine in a war with Russia, in a war claiming Ukrainian lives every week.
Has there ever been such a coup? I would submit to you in the entire length of the Cold War the Soviet Union had no such success, no such success and why? Because a former mayor of New York persuaded a president of the United States to sacrifice all of that. Was it worth it? I hope it was worth it. I hope it was worth it. For the president. Because it certainly wasn't worth it for the United States."



Наглядный пример "flattery and propaganda", о которых говорит Шифф ("На хвастуна не нужен нож") - в опубликованной записи приватного ужина 30 апреля 2018, сделанной Фруманом и Парнасом.

Стоило Парнасу напеть Трампу, что посол США в Украине предсказывает его импичмент, как Трамп немедленно соглашается отделаться от посла, даже не зная ее имени.

On the tape, a voice that appears to be Mr. Parnas’s can be heard telling the president: “The biggest problem here, I think where we need to start is we gotta get rid of the ambassador. She’s still left over from the Clinton administration.” The ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, began serving in the U.S. Foreign Service under the Reagan administration.
Mr. Parnas adds: “She’s basically walking around telling everybody, ’Wait, he’s gonna get impeached, just wait.’”
“Get rid of her,” a voice that appears to be Mr. Trump’s replies. ”Get her out tomorrow. I don’t care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. OK? Do it.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/recording-appears-to-show-trump-calling-for-ukraine-ambassadors-ouster-11579996308

Характерно, что Парнас стал добиваться снятия посла до того, как познакомился с Джулиани и узнал об его интересе к украинскому компромату. Причина простая - Мари Йованович поддерживала Андрея Коболева, главу Нафтогаза, которого пытался сместить Фирташ.



Q: What is Naftogaz?
A: It is the gas monopoly that is owned by the Government of Ukraine.
Q: Has it had some corruption issues in the past, to your knowledge?
A: It has. You know, it's really cleaned up its act. I mean, we consider it to be one of the success stories in Ukraine. But that doesn't mean it's done. I mean, there's still issues going forward.
Q: Did the act cleaning up occur in conjunction with the fact that they added a supervisory board to the company?
A: I think that was important. I think the most important thing, though, was actually the head of Naftogaz, a guy by the name of Andrei Kobalyev, who is, you know, as clean as they come, and was fearless and determined to sort of shake everything up and really made some amazing steps forward, I mean, from a country that was getting the vast majority, something like 93 percent, of its gas from Russia to importing zero from Russia. So, I mean, if you think about that from a security standpoint, huge steps forward.
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6538626/Marie-Yovanovitch-Testimony.pdf

Из выступления Йованович в Нафтогазе:

“Let me be clear: No country should be able to use energy to put political pressure on Ukraine or to put Ukraine’s security at risk. But let me also be clear that Ukraine needs to do its part as well.
Energy and the reform of Ukraine’s largest state-owned enterprise are the keys to securing economic and political sovereignty, safeguarding the well-being of all of the people, and continuing on Ukraine’s path to Europe.
The U.S. will help, will try to help you achieve those goals with the start of a new $90 million energy sector reform program that is set to start in the very near future.
This is a program that we hope will further strengthen Ukraine’s energy security by ensuring compliance with European energy standards and greater connectivity with Europe. The program will help establish competitive markets in energy sectors, improve renewable energy generation, and enhance private-public dialogue on energy.“
https://ua.usembassy.gov/remarks-ambassador-yovanovitch-opening-naftogaz-oil-gas-forum/



Руководство Нафтогаза благодарило Йованович за помощь в победе у Газпрома в арбитражном суде в Стокгольме. Дополнительно компания успешно подала иск к России в Гааге на $5 миллиардов за потерю активов в Крыму.

Благодаря позиции посла США Мари Йованович "Нафтогаз" сохранил контроль над компанией "Укртрансгаз", что позволило ему выиграть иск в Стокгольмском арбитраже у российского "Газпрома". Об этом 22 марта написал исполнительный директор группы НАК "Нафтогаз України" Юрий Витренко в Facebook.
"Во многом благодаря послу Мари Йованович, ее неравнодушию к интересам Украины, ее способности понимать суть проблемы мы выиграли в Стокгольмском арбитраже по транзитному делу против "Газпрома" $4,6 млрд. Вместо того чтобы заплатить $2,1 млрд "Газпрому", мы сейчас взимаем с него $2,8 (с процентами) млрд", - отметил он.
https://gordonua.com/news/politics/vitrenko-vo-mnogom-blagodarya-poslu-ssha-yovanovich-my-vyigrali-v-stokgolmskom-arbitrazhe-u-gazproma-46-mlrd-828843.html

В январе 2019 Йованович написала письмо в защиту Нафтогаза и его руководства в адрес премьер-министра Гройсмана, который намеривался вмешаться в управление компанией.
https://www.epravda.com.ua/rus/news/2019/04/11/646948/



Кобoлев рассказывает о проблемах с Фирташом и облгазами:

Kobolyev spoke at length about one of his primary headaches: the Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash, who he said has caused Naftogaz trouble for many years.
Firtash and his companies have long taken part in “corrupt schemes” that have siphoned money away from Naftogaz, Kobolyev contends. The Naftogaz chief said he has ended some of these dealings but has struggled to stop one that is costing the company big money.
Firtash owns a group of companies that acquire gas from Naftogaz and sell it to households for use in heating and cooking. Ukrainian regulations require Naftogaz to supply these companies, called oblgazy, even if they don’t pay for the gas, Naftogaz said. And often the oblgazy don’t pay, acquiring gas for nothing and selling it for a large profit, Kobolyev said.
Naftogaz says Firtash controls 70 percent of the oblgazy in Ukraine, which in total owe Naftogaz debts of $3 billion. “They take our gas without limitation,” Kobolyev said. “It is a big problem for us.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/11/06/head-ukraines-gas-company-has-been-shot-pilloried-tv-attacked-by-giuliani-associates-its-all-days-work/

Парнас интригует о смене руководства Нафтогаза, а заодно и американского посла:

In an interview, Perry said Parnas and Fruman’s grand plan included one other element that Favorov found puzzling at the time: They said Naftogaz should put aside financial disputes with Firtash, a decision that could provide a windfall of more than $1 billion for the tycoon.
“He was like, ‘The Firtash debt? Why are these guys talking about that?’ ” Perry said of Favorov. “He just couldn’t understand it.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/prosecutors-flagged-possible-ties-between-ukrainian-gas-tycoon-and-giuliani-associates/2019/10/22/4ee22e7c-f020-11e9-b648-76bcf86eb67e_story.html

During this meeting, Parnas and Fruman gave the impression that they were working with Firtash, according to Dale Perry, an American gas executive who does business in Ukraine. Perry tells Mother Jones that Parnas and Fruman informed Favorov that they wanted Naftogaz to pay Firtash $200 million he claims the company owes him. Perry, who did not attend the meeting but spoke to Favorov shortly after it occurred, says he memorialized Favorov’s account in a document he sent to State Department officials.
According to Perry, Parnas also told Favorov that Yovanovitch, the US ambassador to Ukraine, would be fired within months. Yovanovitch was a vocal supporter of Kobolyev due to his reputation for opposing corruption; her removal could have cleared a significant road block in the campaign to oust Kobolyev. Yovanovitch had also backed Kobolyev in a dispute pitting Naftogaz against Firtash, in which Kobolyev claimed Firtash’s firms had illegally pocketed up to $2 billion since 2017 by stiffing the state-owned company on payments.
Parnas and Fruman “couldn’t get rid of Kobolyev because of the strong support that he enjoyed from the ambassador,” explains Perry. “So they [thought], We need to get the ambassador removed.”
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/10/how-an-indicted-oligarch-became-a-key-player-in-trumps-ukraine-scandal/



Йованович срочно отозвали из Киева 25 апреля 2019 - в день, когда Байден обьявил о начале избирательной кампании.

О том, почему американцам небезралична судьба Украины, пишет (отвечая госсекретарю Помпео) сменивший Йованович в качестве и.о. главы американской миссии Билл Тэйлор.

"Russia’s attack on Ukraine and the West is an attack on democracy. The question of how nations govern themselves - democracy versus autocracy - is being fought out among and within nations. Russia, China, Iran, Egypt, Turkey, the Philippines, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, Syria - all are autocracies, all are unfree. In the contest between democracies and autocracies, the contest between freedom and unfreedom, Ukraine is the front line.
To support Ukraine means to support a young democracy, fighting to regain sovereignty over its internationally recognized borders. It is to support a nation that has broken from its troubled past to embrace European and Western values and that seeks to join European and North Atlantic institutions, to defeat post-Soviet corruption, and to give its citizens the chance to prosper in a normal country.
To support Ukraine is to support a rules-based international order that enabled major powers in Europe to avoid war for seven decades. It is to support democracy over autocracy. It is to support freedom over unfreedom. Most Americans do."
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/26/opinion/Pompeo-ukraine-taylor.html

The core values of this nation… our standing in the world… our very democracy...everything that has made America -- America --is at stake. That’s why today I’m announcing my candidacy for President of the United States. #Joe2020 https://t.co/jzaQbyTEz3
- Joe Biden (Text Join to 30330) (@JoeBiden) April 25, 2019