IS IT DIPLOMACY OR IS IT GRAFT
Poll - Total Votes: 0
It is self-serving GRAFT
It is the way the US Government should conduct itself.
You can only vote on one answer.
Another post penned by Diane Francis. See: https://dianefrancis.substack.com/
Trump Profiteering Part 2
September, 18, 2025
Diane Francis
Sep 18
READ IN APP
My August 28 newsletter, “Trump’s Peace Profiteering”, was about how President Donald Trump’s peace efforts in Ukraine have been impeded because he has not threatened to escalate or impose ruinous sanctions on Russia to stop the war. Instead, he quietly offers business opportunities to Russia as an incentive to stop its war. It’s an all-carrot-and-no-stick approach, which, of course, is doomed to fail when dealing with a genocidal dictator who is on a rampage. Equally concerning was Trump’s acceptance of a jumbo jet gift from Qatar, as well as money that other foreign governments have invested in real estate and cryptocurrency businesses owned by his family and friends. The latest story appeared in The New York Times this week about the commingling of diplomacy and business in Africa concerning Massad Boulos, Tiffany Trump’s father-in-law and senior advisor for the State Department on Africa. All are examples of how Trump has commercialized foreign policy to benefit himself, donors, his family, cabinet members, and cronies. What follows are more examples of “profiteering” contained in a piece written by anti-corruption activist Frank Vogl, a founder of Transparency International.
Qatar’s jumbo jet for Trump in May 2025
Vogl’s piece appeared in online magazine The Globalist and was headlined “Cash-for-Favors Diplomacy” and described more self-dealing underway in the Middle East, Pakistan, and Africa. Trump claimed he prevented India and Pakistan from going to nuclear war, but India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi called out Trump in June for taking credit for a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, clarifying that peace talks took place directly between the two rivals, and not through American mediation as Trump had claimed. That angered Trump, and one month later, Trump singled out India and slapped 50% tariffs on any Russian oil that it buys, not on other buyers such as China or Brazil. This has backfired. In early September, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi displayed his pique by stomping out of the Western alliance to attend a confab in Beijing, which was also attended by Putin. Then, also in defiance, the country tripled the amount of oil it’s buying from Russia, which has helped Moscow finance its war in Ukraine.
But a Trump business side deal with Pakistan may have also upset Modi. Vogl wrote: “On April 28, Zach Witkoff met in Islamabad with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif. The last name may sound familiar. After all, Steven Witkoff is President Trump’s special international envoy. But who is Zach Witkoff? He is the 32-year-old son of Trump’s envoy. Notably, Witkoff Jr. was not meeting the Prime Minister to resolve the hot war that had suddenly erupted between Pakistan and India over Kashmir. True to the Trump team’s crass way of commercializing every conceivable angle of U.S. `foreign’ policy, he was in town to do a cryptocurrency deal.”
“Pakistan’s government, with [crypto company] Binance founder Changpeng Zhao [who pleaded guilty to violating the US Bank Secrecy Act in 2023] as its adviser, agreed to sign a deal – the details of which have not been disclosed – with World Financial Liberty. The company is run by Zach Witkoff together with President Trump’s sons Eric, Don Jr., and Barron. Its website features as members of its leadership team two smiling “emeritus chairmen” – President Trump and Steven Witkoff.”
Guess who’s coming to lunch? Not Modi but Pakistan’s Asim Mun
“Earlier this year, on June 19, President Trump hosted the head of Pakistan’s military, Field Marshal Asim Mun, to lunch at the White House. Pakistan’s civil government leaders were not invited. A military statement after the meeting noted that they discussed `trade, economic development, and cryptocurrency,” wrote Vogl.
Congo: Peace and Paying off the U.S.
“Trump also claims that he brokered a peace deal in eastern Congo. Steven Wittkoff, for his part, dutifully declared at a recent televised White House cabinet meeting that Trump fully deserves the Nobel for all the peace deals he is concluding. At the signing at the White House between officials from the governments of the Congo and Rwanda (which has been backing the M23 rebel group), President Trump noted: `We’re getting, for the United States, a lot of the mineral rights from the Congo.’”
Trump and Brian Ballard, cashing in on the Congo.
“Witkoff did not mention that, despite the signed deal, hostilities are continuing in the Congo and that this is jeopardizing the business deal. Lobbying for the deal has been a company called Ballard Partners, owned by Brian Ballard, a major financial donor to Trump campaigns. The firm’s former employees include current White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and current U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. Ballard is said to have business interests that would have access to major Congolese mineral rights if Trump’s peace deal is realized.”
The Middle East: The Biggest Bonanza
Trump’s Abu Dhabi “partner” shows him around the Palace.
“In mid-May, President Trump was greeted with full honors and a tidal wave of flattery on his arrival in Abu Dhabi. The President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, greeted his U.S. guest at the airport. It must have been by sheer coincidence that, about 10 days earlier, Zach Witkoff arrived in Dubai to join Eric Trump to announce that World Financial Liberty had secured a $2 billion investment in a transaction involving the state-backed Emirati investment firm MGX and Binance,” wrote Vogl.
“As in Islamabad, so in Dubai, the former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao was involved with World Financial Liberty. His involvement with the Trump family’s business may be significantly more extensive. The New York Times reported that he is financing a major lobbying campaign in Washington to secure a pardon from President Trump: In 2024, he served four months in U.S. prison and Binance paid a record $4.5 billion fine for what prosecutors claimed were crimes that included the non-reporting of more than 100,000 suspicious transactions with designated terrorist groups including Hamas, al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.”
Vogl concluded: “It’s an unbelievable double standard. Without any shame or reservation, they are very publicly touring the world, meeting with government leaders and doing deals not only with the President’s blessing, but with his absolute encouragement. And, so U.S. foreign policy is forged.”
Trump Profiteering Part 2
September, 18, 2025
Diane Francis
Sep 18
READ IN APP
My August 28 newsletter, “Trump’s Peace Profiteering”, was about how President Donald Trump’s peace efforts in Ukraine have been impeded because he has not threatened to escalate or impose ruinous sanctions on Russia to stop the war. Instead, he quietly offers business opportunities to Russia as an incentive to stop its war. It’s an all-carrot-and-no-stick approach, which, of course, is doomed to fail when dealing with a genocidal dictator who is on a rampage. Equally concerning was Trump’s acceptance of a jumbo jet gift from Qatar, as well as money that other foreign governments have invested in real estate and cryptocurrency businesses owned by his family and friends. The latest story appeared in The New York Times this week about the commingling of diplomacy and business in Africa concerning Massad Boulos, Tiffany Trump’s father-in-law and senior advisor for the State Department on Africa. All are examples of how Trump has commercialized foreign policy to benefit himself, donors, his family, cabinet members, and cronies. What follows are more examples of “profiteering” contained in a piece written by anti-corruption activist Frank Vogl, a founder of Transparency International.
Qatar’s jumbo jet for Trump in May 2025
Vogl’s piece appeared in online magazine The Globalist and was headlined “Cash-for-Favors Diplomacy” and described more self-dealing underway in the Middle East, Pakistan, and Africa. Trump claimed he prevented India and Pakistan from going to nuclear war, but India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi called out Trump in June for taking credit for a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, clarifying that peace talks took place directly between the two rivals, and not through American mediation as Trump had claimed. That angered Trump, and one month later, Trump singled out India and slapped 50% tariffs on any Russian oil that it buys, not on other buyers such as China or Brazil. This has backfired. In early September, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi displayed his pique by stomping out of the Western alliance to attend a confab in Beijing, which was also attended by Putin. Then, also in defiance, the country tripled the amount of oil it’s buying from Russia, which has helped Moscow finance its war in Ukraine.
But a Trump business side deal with Pakistan may have also upset Modi. Vogl wrote: “On April 28, Zach Witkoff met in Islamabad with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif. The last name may sound familiar. After all, Steven Witkoff is President Trump’s special international envoy. But who is Zach Witkoff? He is the 32-year-old son of Trump’s envoy. Notably, Witkoff Jr. was not meeting the Prime Minister to resolve the hot war that had suddenly erupted between Pakistan and India over Kashmir. True to the Trump team’s crass way of commercializing every conceivable angle of U.S. `foreign’ policy, he was in town to do a cryptocurrency deal.”
“Pakistan’s government, with [crypto company] Binance founder Changpeng Zhao [who pleaded guilty to violating the US Bank Secrecy Act in 2023] as its adviser, agreed to sign a deal – the details of which have not been disclosed – with World Financial Liberty. The company is run by Zach Witkoff together with President Trump’s sons Eric, Don Jr., and Barron. Its website features as members of its leadership team two smiling “emeritus chairmen” – President Trump and Steven Witkoff.”
Guess who’s coming to lunch? Not Modi but Pakistan’s Asim Mun
“Earlier this year, on June 19, President Trump hosted the head of Pakistan’s military, Field Marshal Asim Mun, to lunch at the White House. Pakistan’s civil government leaders were not invited. A military statement after the meeting noted that they discussed `trade, economic development, and cryptocurrency,” wrote Vogl.
Congo: Peace and Paying off the U.S.
“Trump also claims that he brokered a peace deal in eastern Congo. Steven Wittkoff, for his part, dutifully declared at a recent televised White House cabinet meeting that Trump fully deserves the Nobel for all the peace deals he is concluding. At the signing at the White House between officials from the governments of the Congo and Rwanda (which has been backing the M23 rebel group), President Trump noted: `We’re getting, for the United States, a lot of the mineral rights from the Congo.’”
Trump and Brian Ballard, cashing in on the Congo.
“Witkoff did not mention that, despite the signed deal, hostilities are continuing in the Congo and that this is jeopardizing the business deal. Lobbying for the deal has been a company called Ballard Partners, owned by Brian Ballard, a major financial donor to Trump campaigns. The firm’s former employees include current White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and current U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. Ballard is said to have business interests that would have access to major Congolese mineral rights if Trump’s peace deal is realized.”
The Middle East: The Biggest Bonanza
Trump’s Abu Dhabi “partner” shows him around the Palace.
“In mid-May, President Trump was greeted with full honors and a tidal wave of flattery on his arrival in Abu Dhabi. The President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, greeted his U.S. guest at the airport. It must have been by sheer coincidence that, about 10 days earlier, Zach Witkoff arrived in Dubai to join Eric Trump to announce that World Financial Liberty had secured a $2 billion investment in a transaction involving the state-backed Emirati investment firm MGX and Binance,” wrote Vogl.
“As in Islamabad, so in Dubai, the former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao was involved with World Financial Liberty. His involvement with the Trump family’s business may be significantly more extensive. The New York Times reported that he is financing a major lobbying campaign in Washington to secure a pardon from President Trump: In 2024, he served four months in U.S. prison and Binance paid a record $4.5 billion fine for what prosecutors claimed were crimes that included the non-reporting of more than 100,000 suspicious transactions with designated terrorist groups including Hamas, al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.”
Vogl concluded: “It’s an unbelievable double standard. Without any shame or reservation, they are very publicly touring the world, meeting with government leaders and doing deals not only with the President’s blessing, but with his absolute encouragement. And, so U.S. foreign policy is forged.”
70-79, M
