Money: MKB, Helmer Call Out Putin, Vivek Calls Out GOP

It’s hardly a secret that money and the laundering thereof, um, facilitates much of what happens in the world. We just don’t talk about that fact too much. M. K. Bhadrakumar—a perceptive geopolitical commentator—and John Helmer are not merely suggesting but openly stating that President Putin is trying to keep a lid on polling that might lead to more open discussion of such matters:

M. K. Bhadrakumar @BhadraPunchline

Kremlin's dalliance with Israel brings out the worst in Russian political system. It is anchored on sleaze. Israel allows money laundering by rich Jewish-Russian oligarchs who handle the loot of the ruling class. And Kremlin shows gratitude. Such Cynics! What a shame!

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Dances_with_Bears @bears_with

President Putin is fiddling while Gaza burns – Kremlin imposes blackout on Russian opinion polls showing majority Russian support for the Palestinians. https://johnhelmer.net/russias-pollsters-refuse-to-report-public-feeling-towards-the-palestine-israel-conflict/…

5:42 AM · Oct 13, 2023

For the record, I have no knowledge of the truth of MKB’s and Helmer’s claims but, on the other hand, they’re both close observers of the Russian political and geopolitical scene. Both are pretty generally pro-Russian and pro-Putin in their analyses. Their views, therefore, deserve to be taken seriously. Helmer writes:

The leading Russian opinion pollsters said today they are “not planning” to survey nationwide opinion towards the Palestinians, the Israelis, and the current fighting “in the near future”.

The blackout on public opinion comes as President Vladimir Putin gave his first direct interview on the conflict to the Arab press.  “The issue is complex, very sensitive,” Putin told the Jordan-based al-Ghad television channel. “But at the moment, of course, it is necessary to refrain from harsh statements and, no matter what, it is not necessary to offend the feelings of people who are involved in this conflict”, the Kremlin website recorded.  

The refusal of the pollsters is not new. It has been thirteen years since the Levada Centre, the independent national polling organisation in Moscow, reported a survey of Russian attitudes towards the Palestine-Israel conflict.  “We had such a poll in 2010,” Denis Leven, a Levada sociologist, said in 2021.  

“I can’t say exactly if we are going to make another one in the near future. Now we focus on the events in Russia and neighbouring countries.”

This was untrue. Levada has regularly polled Russians on their attitudes towards Turkey, the US, the European Union, China, as well as the states which Russians regard as enemies —  Great Britain, Poland, the Baltic states, Germany, France, Japan,  and Canada. The most recent Levada poll of this kind was reported a month ago. 

However, there is a bit of recent data, albeit with “no identified provenance”:

Another press source claims that in a multinational survey of sentiment, Russians supporting the Palestinians outnumber supporters of the Israelis by five to one; 34% said they were on the Palestinian side, 7% for Israel, while 46% were neutral, saying “this isn’t our war”.  The survey, with no identified provenance, suggested that support for the Palestinians was proportionately higher in Russia than in other European countries.

The Kremlin line remains one of equivalence between the Palestinians and Israel, as Putin told an Arab interviewer he does not favour Russian engagement against the US show of force for Israel,   or against the Israel Defense Forces plan for invading and destroying Gaza. Instead, Putin said he is ready to negotiate with the US and the European Union, Russia’s adversaries in the Ukraine war.

Arguably, Putin’s position makes sense in terms of pushing for Russian inclusion in international disputes as an “honest broker”. MKB and Helmer want Putin to take sides—that much seems clear—but Putin may have longer term Russian interests in view.

Vivek Ramaswamy doesn’t seem as concerned as Putin about “offending the feelings of people.” Speaking with Tucker Carlson, Vivek didn’t hold back:

Ramaswamy Says GOP ‘Selective Moral Outrage' on Israel Driven By Money, Lobbying Groups

I’ll quote this article at some length, since it’s largely quotes from the interview with Tucker. The presentation is a bit complicated. The Armenia - Azerbaijan conflict that Vivek brings up is interesting, in terms of US politics. Vivek states that Azerbaijan has a powerful lobby in the US, and for all I know they do. On the other hand, Nancy Pelosi flew to Armenia before the conflict—that’s kind of a clue that Armenia has one helluva powerful lobby of its own. That suggests that that conflict was resolved according to the wishes of the wealthy Armenian diaspora and the Armenian government that it controls, and neither wanted US politicians making an issue of it:

Vivek Ramaswamy criticized Republicans for their "selective moral outrage" at the mass terrorist attacks in Israel, and argued that politicians calling for a stronger military response against Hamas and Iran are driven by donor money.

The Republican presidential candidate questioned why his GOP opponents are not expressing similar outrage about the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and accused them of "ignoring the interests of the U.S. right here at home." Specifically, Ramaswamy, in an interview with Tucker Carlson, equated the influx of fentanyl over the southern border—a "genocide," in Carlson's estimation—with Hamas's attack against Israel.

"The selective nature of ignoring certain other conflicts—even more importantly, ignoring the interests of the U.S. right here at home—is what irritates the heck out of me," Ramaswamy told Carlson.

"It is shameful. And I think that there are, frankly, financial and corrupting influences that lead them exactly to speak the way they do, that's just the hard truth," he added.

Ramaswamy, who is polling at 5.9 percent in the RealClearPolitics average, …

The polling data at the link is rather interesting. As usual, the RCP average is a pretty mixed bag. However, of the 9 polls that went into the average, Vivek is actually leading Nikki in 5 of them. One assumes that his remarks to Carlson were based on polling data, which suggests that Vivek sees a strong anti-foreign entanglement tendency among the GOP base.

"You only hear about [foreign conflicts] in certain selective cases that the media and the existing establishment and both parties deem fit for the American public," he said.

…

Ramaswamy told Carlson that he is open to providing "limited military support" for Israel by sending weapons but slammed his opponents for calling for a stronger military response against Iran and "refus[ing] to take the option of ground troops off the table."

The candidate said the "Lindsey Grahams or the Nikki Haleys or the John Boltons, or, you know, other people of this persuasion" support military interventions because of "money."

"Some people do have ideological commitments that are outdated but earnest, but a lot of it comes down to money, the corrupting influence of super PACs on the process," said Ramaswamy.

Overall this definitely sets Vivek apart from the pack, and it also looks like a direct shot at Haley, whom he clearly sees as his competitition. But the bigger consideration may be that he sees the issue of money on policy to be a winning issue if he gets out ahead on it, because he believes it will resonate with voters.