I suspect this is where Trump/Russia collusion will be found in the end

"Microtargeting" of content is really interesting. Because Robert Mercer, the billionaire hedgefund guy behind Trump, is the main investor in Cambridge Analytica - a company that specializes in exactly that. It's parent company is SCL Group (Strategic Communication Laboratories) which has been described as a "global election management agency" known for involvement "in military disinformation campaigns to social media branding and voter targeting". In short, they specialize in military propaganda or ‘psyops’.

Cambridge Analytica was brought in by Mercer to help Trump win.

Cambridge Analytica: The company claims to use “data enhancement and audience segmentation techniques” providing “psychographic analysis” for a “deeper knowledge of the target audience”. The company uses the OCEAN scale of personality traits. Using what it calls "behavioral microtargeting" the company indicates that it can predict "needs" of subjects and how these needs may change over time. Services then can be individually targeted for the benefit of its clients from the political arena, governments, and companies providing "a better and more actionable view of their key audiences."

Combining data and content obtained through nefarious means (hacking) with sophisticated software and targeting to maximize its effectiveness is evil genius. All the pieces are coming together now. What is becoming much clearer now is that Trump's victory was no bumbling accident.

Interestingly, Cambridge Analytica's software is based on models developed by Cambridge academic Michal Kosinski - he didn't want to have anything to do with the company. The guy that first approached Kosinski was Aleksandr Kogan, a Russian. It was Kogan that apparently introduced SCL to Kosinki's models. Kogan then moved to Singapore and changed his name to Alexander Spectre. Was he working for Russian Intelligence? Given the key role Cambridge Analytica and SCL played in the US election (and in Brexit), it would be good to know who exactly is behind them.

Who exactly owns SCL and its diverse branches is unclear, thanks to a convoluted corporate structure, the type seen in the UK Companies House, the Panama Papers, and the Delaware company registry. Some of the SCL offshoots have been involved in elections from Ukraine to Nigeria, helped the Nepalese monarch against the rebels, whereas others have developed methods to influence Eastern European and Afghan citizens for NATO. And, in 2013, SCL spun off a new company to participate in US elections: Cambridge Analytica.

It gets more interesting. The largest shareholder of SCL was on record as being Vincent Tchenguiz, an Iranian-British businessman. Tchenguiz is a business partner with Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash, who is known as a Putin protégé. Tchenguiz used the same Guernsey holding company, Wheddon Ltd., to invest both in Cambridge Analytica’s parent company and in another privately held U.K. business whose largest shareholder was the Ukrainian gas middleman Dmitry Firtash - a close friend of Putin who is currently indicted and awaiting extradition on corruption and racketeering charges.

Over the same time period, other documents show, bankers close to Putin granted Firtash credit lines of up to $11 billion. That credit helped Firtash, who backed pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovich's successful 2010 bid to become Ukraine's president, to buy a dominant position in the country's chemical and fertiliser industry and expand his influence.

And guess who was Dmitry Firtash's former business partner? Paul Manafort - Trump's former campaign manager. Manafort of course worked directly for Yanukovych and Firtash was the middleman between Putin and the Yanukovych electoral operation in Ukraine.

So the largest shareholder of Cambridge Analytica is a business partner with Firtash, who has direct ties with Putin. Firtash is known to operate as a financing middleman for Putin's foreign policy "operations". Could SCL, parent of CA, be a front for a Russian Intelligence operation? If you think about it, SCL specializes in new sophisticated technology models for military propaganda. If you read up on new Russian military doctrine, it's clear they are placing a big emphasis on information warfare. The 'Gerasimov Doctrine’ is quite insightful about how Russia views defeating their enemies:

The role of nonmilitary means of achieving political and strategic goals has grown, and, in many cases, they have exceeded the power of force of weapons in their effectiveness....All this is supplemented by military means of a concealed character, including carrying out actions of informational conflict.

Among such actions are the use of special-operations forces and internal opposition to create a permanently operating front through the entire territory of the enemy state, as well as informational actions, devices, and means that are constantly being perfected.

Did Russia view Bannon/Trump and co as the perfect vehicles to ferment and support "internal opposition"? Was Cambridge Analytica one of the vehicles to achieve this and to help execute their ideas around information warfare?

Guess who a Board Member of Cambridge Analytica was? Steve Bannon. And it was Robert Mercer that bankrolled Steve Bannon and Breitbart to the tune of $10 million - no doubt to be the front-facing tool to execute on their ideas around influence, manipulation and propaganda.

And with the help of Russian Intelligence, it is entirely plausible Breitbart was involved in using bots and social media to help propagate news they knew would damage Hillary and help Trump.

There are very clear and direct ties between powerful Russian/Ukrainian figures and Cambridge Analytica - which specializes in military propaganda. Steve Bannon was a board member and Robert Mercer was its biggest investor. And of course Mercer, Banner, Cambridge Analytica and Brieitbart all played a key roll in helping Trump get elected. It's not a big stretch to suggest that there was cooperation and collusion with Russian Intelligence, who provided hacked data to Cambridge Analytica, who then used it to carry out a sophisticated propaganda campaign, with Breitbart as the lead.

Cambridge Analytica also played a key role in BREXIT - offering Firage and the Leave campaign their services for free.

The firm is said to have advised Leave.eu by harvesting data from people's Facebook profiles to decide how to target them with individualised advertisements.

Brexit was of course seen as a big geopolitical strategic win for Putin and Russia.

Another interesting bit of info that is a bit tenuous but nonetheless intriguing - the largest shareholder of SCL Group was Vincent Tchenguiz.

In March 2011 the Tchenguiz brothers were arrested in dramatic predawn raids as part of an investigation into the 2008 collapse of the Icelandic bank Kaupthing. Just before its collapse, Kaupthing’s loans to the Tchenguiz brothers totaled 40 percent of its capital. It has been charged that Kaupthing—which had a far-from-transparent ownership structure—was effectively the Tchenguiz brothers’ bank and that they looted the bank, leading to its collapse.

Kaupthing’s largest shareholder, Meidur, now called Exista, which owned 25 percent of its shares, had ties to Alfa Bank, the largest Russian commercial bank; Alfa chairman was “deep state” figure Mikhail Fridman, chairman and co-founder of Alfa Group, the parent of Alfa Bank. Meanwhile, Trump adviser Richard Burt (who also was being paid by Russia to promote a Gazprom pipeline) is on the “senior advisory board” of Alfa Bank.

Was this how Russian intelligence bankrolled SCL in the early days? Perhaps Vincent Tchenguiz was the cutout man, and funds were channeled from Alfa Bank into Kaupthing and on to Vincent Tchenguiz. Russian Intelligence seems to work well with ambitious businessman who are happy to be corrupted if they can make some money. Trump also seemed to fit this bill.

Alfa Bank was the bank that a Trump Server was mysteriously communicating with and was likely the subject of an FBI surveillance warrant

My take: First off, I think we all can finally conclude that when Trump brazenly tried to tell the world he hadn't had contact with Russia in years, and didn't know anyone who had, I think we can finally throw that lie in the same bin with the rest of the lies.

That said, it's abundantly clear that not only does Trump have ties everywhere, he's also heavily connected with folks in Russia, out of Russia, and with companies affiliated with hacking elections with disinformation and propaganda that helped him win the election. Of course that company is Cambridge Analytica.

And folks tied directly or indirectly to Cambridge Analytica include Putin, Manafort, and our friend Steve Bannon, who was a board member. It's even suspected that Breitbart was in on the fun.

If a person can't connect the dots for themselves as to who colluded with who to influence the 2016 election, you need to get your head examined. Proof? Guilt by association when that association initially was denied, leaves zero doubt in my mind, that the extensive number of players both from the U.S. and Russia coalescing around one common goal, leaves no doubt that the Trump team and Russia colluded to destroy Clinton.

 

Lol! I reveal some really compelling information that supports a great foundation for collusion, and I can't even find a cricket around here anywhere?

 

One problem with this... Robert Mercer gave Ted Cruz his backing... not Trump.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/ted-cruzs-litigious-hedge-fund-backer-emerges-top-2016-donor

And when Cruz exited, Mercer supported Hillary.

 

Yes, but it's best not to confuse things with facts. There's an issue with Trump. Come on, people, get with the program...

 

Mercer never supported Hillary Clinton. I have no idea where you got that. RobeH Mercer is a far right wing reactionary, as is his daughter Rebekah. Any notion that they ever supported Mrs Clinton is ridiculous on its face!

Mercer did, indeed, at first, support Cruz. Cambridge Analytica was doing its data work for the Cruz campaign. But when Cruz faded, the Mercer's pulled back.

 

From the bottom up.

Yes, Mercer is not only connected with Breitbart News, he controls it.

The Mercers had already come out for Trump right after the GOP Convention, when Ted Cruz refused to endorse Trump. They repackaged their super pac into "Make America Number One", a pro Trump pac (contrary to assertions elsewhere on this thread).

In August, Trump was invited to a party at Mercer's Hamptons estate, where he was ushered into a side room and introduced to his new campaign manager. From that moment on, Mercer owned Trump (and still does).

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/19/us/politics/robert-mercer-donald-trump-donor.html?mcubz=1&_r=0

You also may be interested in Jane Meyer's piece in the New Yorker on this subject as well.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...hedge-fund-tycoon-behind-the-trump-presidency

Mercer is well known to the Russian oligarchs who have been the principal investors in Trump ventures for some time. They've even rafted their yachts together!

http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news...h-seen-close-together/gI074W3JLqvEYrQ0hm9zlN/

I'm quite sure that alarm bells sounded in the White House when Robert Mueller said he was expanding his investigation into money laundering.

Russian gansters and money launderers have been principal Trump investors for some time. Nobody in New York would trust him enough to lend him money. He had screwed just about everyone he had ever done business with. But the Russians know how to play that game!

 

You have to be in posession of a fact in order to make that claim!

 

Trump has been into money laundering for decades, first for the mafia in NY and NJ and later for the Russians.

 

The part about backing Hillary seems bogus. The part about Mercer initially supporting Ted Cruz is a fact.
https://www.publicintegrity.org/201...-pac-targets-hillary-clintons-trustworthiness

When his horse didn't win the Republican nomination, Mercer switched over to the horse who did...

 

Good God. I hope you have better sense than to think a jury, or even a congressional committee could sit through this recital ... It's a very small niche who'd invest the time to read this tale of anticlimatic political intrigue. I doubt this astonishing accoun could hold the attentions of Bob Woodward himself.

 

Got proof? Of course not your a dem therefore proof is optional to spleen and invective. It Doesn't matter if the charge has any factual existence or not, It only matters if it's serious unless of course it is leveled a a Democrat and then the Dem is always innocent unless he breaks rank on some PC bs.

 

What a hilarious thread! Conspiracy theorists extraordinaire! Let us instead investigate the Hillary/Russia collusion while she was Secretary of State.

 

I posted a fair amount of documentation. Of course, you didn't bother to read any of it.

Mercer effectively took over the Trump campaign in August and installed his people. They're still there.

There is no shortage of information about Trump's dealings with Russian gangster, or Mercer's.

I have known about the Trump-Russia connections for years. It's hardly secret. Although the details of it are one of the many things Trump was trying to hide when he refused to release tax returns, and said "trust me" on his financial filings.

BTW, Trump claimed he was worth $10 billion when he came down that esculator. His latest filing rates him at $ 1.8 billion.

He either lost a lot of money in the last 18 months, or he lied to you and you fell for it as usual!

 

Thanks, I'll read those links. Personally, for me, this was and always has been the collusion part of Trump/Russia. Meaning, that Trump himself may have not colluded personally, but through his money transactions and or money laundering was beholding to them, and they to him.
It was sort of a mutual understanding that if they did for Trump and he for Russia/Putin, by way of Flynn, Manafort, and others, that's how they would pull this con off. Which they did.

The problem for Trump is, it's the money trail that leaves him most vulnerable, and he knows it. Connecting those dots to dirty money and Russians tells me that collusion most certainly occurred without ever being there. You wouldn't even need to be a fly on the wall to understand what happened.

 

We'll, when Cruz was out, Trump was in. Why is that a problem?

 

Can you imagine that party? It must have been like a Baptism?

 

Unbelievable! In essence you are saying that US businessmen with foreign contacts developed during their business career should be considered foreign agents!

Do you *really* think most Americans are going to care that a rich man in NY knows a rich man in Ukraine?

Contacts are not proof of *anything* other than people know people!

You provide not one single scintilla of proof of any kind for any allegation. None.

If I know someone in Ireland does that mean I am an agent for Ireland to push businesses to do inversions to Ireland?

Again, the only dots you have provided is that Trump knows important people in other countries. No proof of any overt or covert actions inimical to the US.

Give us a break!

 

Damn, you liberals just keep on and on and on. Well keep digging, you may find out if Admiral Richard E. Byrd was right or not....

 

Now that you mention it, Trump went to the Mercer's Christmas party, which was supposed to be a costume affair. it was the "Villains and Heroes." party. He went as himself.

http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-attends-mercer-lavish-villains-and-heroes-costume-party-2016-12

 

Are you getting any of those straws?

 

You do an excellent job of whistling past the graveyard!

"Unbelievable! In essence you are saying that US businessmen with foreign contacts developed during their business career should be considered foreign agents!"

Well, let's think about that.

This particular American businessman started dealing with Russian gangsters back in the 1990's, when no one in New York would trust him enough to lend him money (for the same reason he can't get top flight legal representation now).

This particular businessman is unusual in that he boasts of political interests, and frequently claims access and acquantences taht he doesn't actually possess.

This particular businessman has a well deserved reputation for being totally corrupt, totally for sale, and serially dishonest.

As Trump expanded his dealings with various Russians, he increasingly came into contact with the sort of people that Vladimir Putin uses as agents of influence. He is obviously well aware of it too. He brags about a non existant relationship with Putin.

Trump sold a mansion he bought in Palm Beach to a Russian money launderer close to Putin for twice what it was worth, and used the cash he got from the Russians to bail himself out of the near default to Deusche Bank on his Chicago hotel.

The CEO of Deusche Bank then, is now the CEO of Alpha Bank, the go to place for Russians wanting to hide cash.

Why do you think that Trump routinely lies about the extent of his business dealings, his net worth, and works hard to hide real information from anyone?

I have no idea whether Trump, or any of the people close to him were actually stupid enough to collude with the Russians during the elections.

But the utter recklessness, irresponsibility, and lack of discipline in the Trump campaign and the Trump White House suggests an arrogant we-can-get-away-with-anything mentality. Indeed, Trump likes nothing better than getting away with something.

I do know that it is almost unheard of for any US Presidential campaign to be in routine contact with agents of any foreign government the way the Trump team was.

I strongly suspect that the Russians hold the paper on most of Trump's holdings, through cutouts and shell corporations, and he knows it.

Then there is Trump's abject silence on what appears to be the most significant disinformation and psy ops operation ever run in the history of intelligence.

It is just short of an act of war. And the President of the United States says not one word about it.

The Russian objective is to weaken the United States, cripple its leadership, undermine the Western Alliance, and sow division throughout the western world.

Trump is ready made for the role.

 

Yeah, we dig into the backgrounds, look at facts, and follow the money.

 

And Trump would never have to be personally involved. His underlings would know what is at stake and would have taken steps independent of direct involvement from Trump.

 

I find this rather interesting, that one who follows an ideology that once lamented the existence of the trilateral commission now acts shocked, surprised, defensive even over the idea that wealthy businessmen would collude to manipulate the masses and governments for their own selfish greed.

I never fail to be amazed at the level the right-wing has gotten average joe conservatives to carry their water for them.

 

No, he never had to be. Neither did any one of them.

If the Russian goal was to get the weakest possible candidate elected, they didn't need to work directly with the guy. Particularly since they already know that the guy is a sleazy, arrogant, clown. All they have to do is help him win. He can do all the damage even without their help or guidance.

But then, one can't assume that anyone in Trump world has the discipline or smarts to take steps to insure plausible deniability.

Look at the circus that happened when they tried use Devin Nunes to derail the investigation!