The ‘dirty money’ dilemma facing Boris Johnson and the Tory party

By TruePublica Editor: The whole world is focused on a madman in the guise of Vladimir Putin and his crazed attack on a sovereign nation that did nothing to provoke such aggression, whilst Boris Johnson sees it as an opportunity to divert attention from his own lawbreaking.

In global terms, Ukraine is just down the road from the UK (1100 miles) and it’s on European soil. This time, unlike previous wars we have witnessed in modern times, we have access to imagery through social media and can feel the anguish, heartbreak and pain in real-time. And it is agonising to witness.

We have seen the courage of Ukraine’s president and his call to arms. We can see the bravery of its people, from pharmacists to football players, from doctors to dancers, from mechanics to military men. And don’t forget there are many brave women bearing arms standing in the face of a tyrant’s death machine. Many will give up their lives for their homeland. It makes us all wonder just how brave we might be ourselves if faced with the same dangers. But truthfully, what choice do they have – it’s run or fight. Both options provide a ‘lose everything’ scenario.

How did all this happen in the first place we ask. In reality, Putin himself is the result of extreme market fundamentalism. After the collapse of the USSR, privatisation of the machinery of government immediately led to violence and theft of state assets on a grand scale. From this, the oligarchs emerged. They made the type of fortunes difficult to contemplate and there were dozens and dozens of them, many we have never heard of.

To get there, thuggery, corruption, bribery and assassinations was what won through in the vacuum of the lawlessness that followed the fall of an empire. And it was Putin who orchestrated much of its outcome.

To a much lesser extent, these same forces – much diluted and adapted for a more sophisticated political regime were the tools that has brought Western democracy to the edge in recent years. This has been demonstrated no more so than in Britain and America.

We know for a fact that the current Conservative party are immersed in dirty money bestowed by Russian oligarchs. These oligarchs, on the whole, have got their money through this system of extreme market fundamentalism and manipulation. In other words – it’s all about money. We know Britain has issued over 700 so-called ‘golden visas’ to Russian nationals. We did it for the money. We know the City of London and their facilitators have provided safe haven for Russian money that was stolen from the people of Russia to whom it belongs. They did it for the money. And we know that the quantity of dirty money running through the veins of London is staggering. As they say – follow the money.

Boris Johnson owes his place, in part, to this stolen and laundered dirty money. We know that ‘dark money’ (‘raised for the purpose of influencing elections by non-profit organisations that are not required to disclose the identities of their donors’) funded the campaign to influence just 1.2 million people into voting for Brexit. Boris Johnson owes his position as PM to Brexit. We know that Johnson is heavily tainted by this money. This is the same money source that is recklessly killing Ukrainians.

Johnson cynically now puts himself forward as some sort of leading light in the fight against Russia’s aggression knowing full well he can only go so far because he himself is compromised by Putin’s grand plan. To be fair, Britain has done a lot and Johnson has authorised it, but there’s a but.

The Tory party has accepted millions in dirty Russian money. One in ten of Tory MP’s have accepted cash tainted by Putin’s puppets that we know of. I suspect the reality is worse though, as many other commentators do as well.

We know Johnson is a shallow, narcissistic individual focused on self-interest and not public duty. And it is here that Johnson and the entire Tory party faces a new dilemma. The very people that he should be attacking with the full force of the state – are to some extent, his backers.

Russian oligarchs should be forced, with their families to leave the United Kingdom. Their assets should be frozen or seized.

Right now, over 40 million Ukrainians are facing a very grim future. Many will die. It is estimated that 5 million could end up being refugees. Sending a few Russians back to their place of birth to point the finger at Putin and his cronies should garner no sympathy from us. That is their problem – after all, this is war.

And let’s not forget what we are dealing with here. The Russians are threatening the West with nuclear weapons.

Don’t think for one moment as you sleep tonight that World War 3 has not started – it has. A cyberwar is underway. It threatens our banks, water, food and power supplies. It threatens to undermine everything we know about liberal democracy if they succeed. Right now, the security services will be working with critical infrastructure systems to ensure we are safe. At the same time, they are attacking our enemies. And the same is happening all over Europe, America and all of our allies. President Biden’s ‘State of the Union’ speech yesterday was very focused on this aspect of the war effort against Putin.

In the meantime, the West is attempting to crush the economy of Russia, destabilise its currency, create rampant inflation, which in turn forces the rocketing of interest rates. The import into Russia of critical products of medicine, food, technology and hardware is being denied as is the global architecture of the internet. Russia’s exports (except oil/gas at $700m a day) are being flattened. Countries are scrambling to apply for membership of Nato and the EU to ensure safety. This is what a global war looks like before someone blinks and pulls a trigger.

Billions of Euros, Dollars and Pounds are being spent on weapons, transport and defence systems – some of it filtering through Poland to Ukraine. Belarus is looking to cut off this supply line. Europe is looking to stop them. The stakes could not be higher in the battle of tyranny versus democracy.

And here we are, with a Prime Minister, cynically using this ghastly and dangerous global event as a shield to divert attention away from police investigations into his own behaviour back home. Johnson is in power partly because of his dalliance with the devil who is now threatening not just Europeans in Ukraine but you, me and everyone dear to us. Johnson is not impartial here. The huge redaction of information from the Russia Report designed to defend Boris Johnson is confirmation of this dangerous and toxic alliance. And where is the result of the police investigation and Sue Grey report that we were promised?

If Johnson had a shred of decency or an ounce of moral authority he would admit that his government is a threat to national security, purge the Conservatives of dirty money and step down as leader of what is now a political party associated with corruption and deception. No matter what, Johnson will forever be associated with Russian dirty money, so will Brexit and the cabinet who in reality partly owe their places in high office to Putin and his cronies. In any other industry, people would be fired at the very least for conflict of interest, let alone the scale of corruption allowed to endanger the functionality of governance.

This war will mark a turning point for the world. It is an enormous event, far bigger than many give credit for. A Cold War has started. The huge fracture of globalisation is going to be painful and dangerous. Countries and regions are now taking sides. Political ideologies are now being tested and there is a global reshuffle of the geopolitical world order.

Britain, if anything, should be standing in the global world order as a country not just defending democracy, the judiciary, free speech and the ability to protest but to promote them in defiance. In reality, Johnson’s regime has ushered in the opposite – tainted and funded with the same dirty money that fuels Putin’s attack on Ukraine.

Boris Johnson cannot possibly represent Britain as compromised as he is, can he?

 

 

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