April 26, 2022   •   Issue 165

Trump: "Putin is a Genius. He would not have invaded Ukraine if I was President."

"...because I would have given him Ukraine on a silver platter..."

WHN EXCLUSIVE: Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacts to the February 24, 2022 World (WAR III) Premier of "Quid Pro Quo Act II: A Perfect Love Story" While an apparent hit in Russia, Ukrainians are less than impressed with the movie. Noted film critic Ned Ander-Thal states: "Putin 's acting is wooden and unconvincing, thought 'The Donald' is convincing as a love struck psychopath. Overall the movie is a disaster."   World Headline News © 2022 Ned Ander-Thal.

Almost Washington State (WHN) April 26, 2022. As the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its third month, many Western analysts have claimed that Putin's 'special military operation' [i.e., WAR] is failing spectacularly. But this assessment is not universal.

Noted military genius (e.g., see Issues 77, 78, 92, and 107) and former pResident of the White House, Donald Trump has praised [actual quotes] the bold move by Mr. Putin: "This [invasion] is genius. Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine—of Ukraine. Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful. So, Putin is now saying, ‘It’s independent,’ a large section of Ukraine. I said, ‘How smart is that?’ And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. That’s the strongest peace force. We could use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen. There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’re gonna keep peace all right. No, but think of it. Here’s a guy who’s very savvy, I know him very well. Very, very well. It doesn't make sense why Russia and Ukraine haven't yet come to an 'agreement'." Mr. tRump clearly feels that it is up to Ukraine, at the expense of their democracy and territorial integrity, to placate Russia's demands.

Has Donald Trump Lost His Rubles?

The CO$T of the War To Russia

(or Orcs as the Ukrainians refer to them)

Estimated Per Unit COST (US $):

Manpower:              $600,000

Fighter Jet:              $85,000,000

Helicopter:               $14,000,000

Tank:                        $2,400,000

Armored Vehicle:     $1,000,000

Artillery:                   $1,500,000

Air Defense Syst:     $2,500,000

Rocket Launcher:     $15,000,000

UAV Drones:            $300,000 (avg. low to high end)

Ships:                       $750,000,000 (Moskva only)

           other small ships likely >$40,000,000 each

Transports Trucks:    $50,000

Total Estimated Material Losses to Date:

Manpower:              $ 12,960,000,000

Fighter Jet:              $ 15,045,000,000

Helicopter:               $  2,156,000.000

Tank:                        $  2,049,600,000

Armored Vehicle:     $  2,205,000,000

Artillery:                   $     604,500,000

Air Defense Syst:     $     172,500,000

Rocket Launcher:     $  2,145,000,000

UAV Drones:            $       54,600,000

Ships:                       $  1,030,000,000

           Muskova + Costal Naval Ships

Transports Trucks:    $       77,150,000

Does NOT include the actual costs of waging war: personnel costs, hospitalization, cruise missiles, rockets, ammunition, maintenance, fuel, food and other consumables.  

DIRECT MILITARY LOSSES As of April 23, 2022: $38.5 BILLION

The actual CO$TS of waging war vastly exceed the actual losses. It is estimated that the 'Special Military Operation' is costing Russia well in excess of $20,000,000,000 per day -  

or ~$2.3 TRILLION to date (April 23, 2022).

The ANNUAL Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Russia in 2021 was only ~$1.7 Trillion

The cost of the War and Foreign Sanctions are likely to dramatically reduce the GDP leading to a severe recession or depression within Russia. Russia's primary source of foreign trade is oil and gas - which they are now selling well below market price due to the sanctions - and sales of these products are decreasing as nations replace Russian oil/gas with other sources.

Almost Washington State (WHN) April 26, 2022. Florida's recent passage of it's anti-history law is clearly racist and an exceptional example of what Critical Race Theory (CRT) is focused on.  CRT is a university level theory that examines how societies utilize laws and cultural norms to legitimize and perpetuate the dominance of a particular subpopulation of a country/culture. Importantly, CRT can be applied to any country/population. In the United States, CRT is focused on how laws were used to enforce the disenfranchisement of minority populations via anti-voter acts, property exclusion laws (you must be white to buy here), legal statues (more severe penalties for crack cocaine vs. cocaine) and cultural prohibitions (e.g., no minorities allowed in downtown areas after 6 pm unless they were working).

Florida, as well as other states, do not want these past (and in many cases still current) practices to be discussed period, but especially in an educational setting (CRT is a university level course). In reality what these laws really want to do is to 'protect' children with European ancestry from 'feeling bad' about the historical and colonial acts of Europeans.  Strangely, these laws completely disregard addressing the 'feelings' of children of African, Asian, Native American, or Hispanic descent who are denied learning about not only the trials and challenges of their ancestors, but also the accomplishment of their ancestors.

Todays snowflake 'conservatives' claim that children (from Grades 1-12 as well as in State Universities) will be traumatized by being exposed to factually-accurate, balanced, objective history, science and math.  Strangely, these same politicians see nothing wrong with children participating in active-shooter drills or, even worse, being targets of actual active shooters. As others have noted, "No child has ever died in a mass reading!", yet today's GQP want to ban books but not guns. In their view, the Second Amendment supersedes the First Amendment.The gains of the 1950s-1980s are rapidly being reversed by the  GQP  in much of the United States.

Quid Pro Quo Act II:

A Perfect Love Story

Data as of April 23

Data as of April 26

The Bayrock Group was founded in 2001 and, despite no clear funding, rented expensive offices two floors down from Mr. Trump’s offices in the Trump Tower. Bayrock was run by two investors: Tevfik Arif, a Kazakhstan-born former Soviet official who had a seemingly bottomless sources of money from the former Soviet republic; and Felix Sater, a Russian born business man; and who had pled guilty in the 1990s to a huge stock-fraud scheme involving the Russian mafia. With Bayrock, Trump transformed from a real estate developer to a 'self-promoter' sell his TRUMP brand.  Instead of building, he sold the TRUMP name for other peoples building, received a minority stake in the property, and often received a management contract for the Trump Organization. This proved highly lucrative and, equally important, legally safe for Mr. Trump as he collected branding fees up front, and if a project failed, he had limited/no legal exposure. Bayrock also brought in numerous Russian investors, many with highly dubious sources of funding, to buy units at highly inflated prices. Mr. Trumps 2015 Federal Election Commission disclosure reported around 500 corporations, trusts, limited liability companies, and numerous "Trump Marks" (i.,e brandings; many overseas).  Investigations into Bayrock have found that their money sources most often led back to Russia.  For example, major funding was obtained from an Icelandic investment group (FL Group), the FL Group's funds could be further traced back to Russia and Putin.  Another major Trump lender, Germany based Deutsche Bank, has also been implicated in Russian money laundering. A 2017 report by Reuters, citing public documents, interviews and corporate records, also found that at least 63 Russians or people with Russian addresses bought nearly $100 million worth of property in seven Trump-branded Florida luxury buildings. Indeed, Deutsche Bank was fined $630 million by the United Kingdom for failing to prevent $10 Billion of Russian Money laundering. Similarly, the US has fined the bank $425 million for similar Russian money laundering. Directly and indirectly, some of this Russian money helped fund the Trump Organization.

While we know from his Presidency and post-Presidency actions that Crazy Donny has lost his marbles, the current question becomes, with the international banking sanctions in place on Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine, is "HAS DONALD TRUMP LOST HIS RUBLES?"

Good thing Trump's Political Action Committee (PAC) has scammed $100,000,000+ from his supporters. PAC's have very, very FEW restrictions on how they spend their money. TRUMP: "I need a hamberder!"

WHN EXCLUSIVE: In the early 2000's, a nearly bankrupt Donald Trump reinvents himself as the golden King of Branding: Trump Steaks, Trump Suits, Trump Ties, Trump University, Trump Urinals, and Trump President. World Headline News © 2022 Ned Ander-Thal.

Almost Washington State (WHN) April 26, 2022.  Following the financial collapse of the Trump Empire in the 1980's and 1990s, Trump was largely written off as a major real estate developer/entrepreneur. Indeed, American banks refused to touch him with a 10 ft pole. So how did the purported billionaire 'recover'? Fortuitously, Mr. Trump's father died and 'The Donald' pressured his siblings to liquidate the elder Trump's real estate holdings.  This provided an initial bolus of money to avert the total collapse of 'The Donald's' shaky empire. But more crucially, according to former real-estate partners and sources familiar with the internal workings of the Trump Organization, Mr. Trump's true revival begun in the early 2000s when he began working with the Bayrock Group. It was also at this time, that Mr. Trump refocused on selling his 'brand' and appealing directly to others who similarly enjoyed sitting on gold plated 'thrones'.

The                  Culture War Spreads

No child has ever died in a mass reading, yet the GQP want

to ban books but not guns.

WHN EXCLUSIVE: The GQP CULTURE WAR is raging throughout much of the United States. But the neoconservatism underlying this movement is NOT limited to the United States.  Historically, most democracies are categorized as 'Liberal' democracies, but this form of permissive democracy is being replaced by nationalistic autocracies; much like the western world had before World War I and World War II.  This trend does not bode well for the prospects of future peace.  Ukraine may JUST be the start... World Headline News © 2022 Ned Ander-Thal.