More information is dribbling out about Charles McGonigal, the former FBI counterintelligence chief in New York City facing numerous money laundering and corruption charges in connection with a Russian oligarch.
Business Insider: “To write McGonigal off as a case of greed and not espionage is to misunderstand how foreign influence works. It doesn’t have to be greed or espionage. It can be both.”
Manilla envelopes being passed between Mr. McGonigal and a former Russian diplomat, use of a non-FBI encrypted phone, bags of cash, an extramarital relationship that rendered Mr. McGonigal a target for blackmail (a favored recruitment technique used by Russian intel services), leading a double life — it sure smells of espionage, not just corruption.
If this former senior counterintelligence officer was tied to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska — as alleged — then it’s conceivable he acted for the Russian Federal Security Service, having pointed out himself (in October 2020 on an Atlantic Council panel) that oligarchs are tied to Russia’s “preeminent security service.”
Business Insider: “McGonigal was not charged with espionage, and although there is currently no evidence that McGonigal committed espionage, an FBI source told Insider that the investigation is ongoing.”
So at least the bureau is scrutinizing Mr. McGonigal’s past cases, hopefully to include our case from Monaco intelligence of a U.S. Air Force colonel we suspected of spying for Russia. The FBI formally opened its own case in 2003, put Mr. McGonigal in charge of it and two years later supposedly passed it to the IRS.
Simple question: Did the IRS ever take possession of the case? If not, Mr. McGonigal buried it.
Our own data check reveals that the target of our investigation sold his Malibu house in 2005 and has been a ghost ever since, leaving us to speculate that he either fled the country or is no longer alive.
Business Insider: “A Washington insider with decades of experience said, ‘What McGonigal and all these chuckleheads don’t understand is that for the Deripaskas of the world, this is like shopping at Walmart. They laugh at how cheap Americans are to buy.’”
It is well known in intelligence circles that while Russian spies are recruited through ideology, American spies are by money (or through blackmail).
The other side of the coin: A former senior FBI official told me, “So far no indication of espionage, looks like a corruption case.”
— “How America Took Out the Nord Stream Pipeline.”
Literally, a bombshell report by one of America’s most venerable investigative reporters, Seymour Hersh, that has been largely ignored by mainstream media even though the ramifications are huge, not least because …
— “Russia Demands Those Responsible for Nord Stream Must be Named and Punished After Claims Joe Biden Ordered U.S. Navy to Destroy the Gas Pipe.”
The Kremlin creepers will, justifiably, view the attack on their pipeline as an act of war (which it is), and this could lead to them taking direct action against the U.S.
One thing is clear: The Russians are studying Mr. Hersh’s blockbuster exposition under a magnifying glass. Putin spokesperson Dmitry “Pesky” Peskov astutely points out that the article is “remarkable for the depth of analysis.”
Indeed, the details are riveting, making this a must-read for everyone at seymourhersh@substack.com.
If true …
— “Is the Biden Administration Late to WWIII?”
A question posed by The Hill.
No, in fact we’d be ahead of the game, fighting a covert war with Russia.
This piece points out that Joe’s State of the Union looks backward at COVID-19 and Jan. 6, 2021 (obsessed, as always, with the previous administration) but largely ignores the looming specter of world war, starting with …
— “COUNTDOWN TO Z-DAY: Russia ‘Massing 1,800 Tanks, 700 Aircraft & 500K Men For New Ukraine Assault in 10 DAYS” and “Ukraine Braces For Grisly Russian Offensive.”
Not unlike World War I, it has now become a question of how many bodies can be dispatched (and sacrificed) to the trenches. Mad Vlad Putin has long stopped caring (if he ever did) about Russia’s casualties on the battlefield. He simply wants to overwhelm Ukrainian forces at whatever cost to human life.
WASHINGTON WHISPER FROM OUR OWN INTELLIGENCE SOURCE
“Putin held a meeting last week with military commanders, was told the new Russian offensive might not be as effective as he expects. They advised NOT to waste resources in vain and focus NOT on mounting a new offensive but on defending already occupied territories. Putin rebuffed these recommendations — as usual — by interjecting with obscene language and threats.
“Putin waits until the last moment to solve problems, and those around him do not know how to escape a worsening crisis in a system that depends on one very indecisive person.”
As if to prove that true…
— “Russian Soldiers Dying at Highest Rate Since Beginning of War.”
Over 800 Russian soldiers are sent to their deaths each day by an evil despot who thinks he’s Peter the Great and Stalin reincarnated.
Says the U.K. Ministry of Defense: “The uptick in Russian casualties is likely due to lack of trained personnel, coordination and resources.”
—“Thin-skinned 5ft 7in Putin Has Secret Team Dedicated to Protecting Him From Memes Portraying Him as a Dwarf.”
Anything that questions Mad Vlad’s macho image, his health or mental acumen is censored in Russia.
Truth is, he is a coward, unwell from various maladies and his mental “acumen” (or lack thereof) got his country into a quagmire.
— “Top Putin Ally Says He ‘Will Not Hide’ Intention to Invade Poland Anymore.”
This be Chechnya’s militant leader Ramdan Kadryov saying Russia should “denazify and demilitarize” Poland as well as Ukraine. And since Poland is a NATO member, this would result in a war against all NATO countries. Which also means Mad Vlad is not the only imperialistic nut-job in Central Asia.
Leaving us to ponder…
— “Would YOUR Neighborhood be Targeted in a Nuclear Conflict?”
As we have previously reported, the Russian nuclear program targets strategic military facilities (in the hope of staving off retaliation) and heavily populated cities.
The safe zones?
According to a FEMA hotspot map: Northern California, most of Oregon, Idaho (not Boise) and Maine.
— “How Monte Carlo Went to Hell.”
This gem from Taki in The (U.K.) Spectator: “Monte Carlo is an overbuilt, overcrowded cement hell out of a Hieronymus Bosch painting … a shabby place for not so sunny people.”
A weak sovereign, corrupt courtiers and greedy builders equate to Cement Hell.
— “Why Scientists Are Worried About Bird Flu.”
Thus begins the narrative for peddling a new round of vaccines.
One word of advice: RUN!
— “Mass, Mom Who Killed Kids Was Overmedicated ‘Zombie’ on 12 Prescribed Drugs.”
The problem is not the Second Amendment but Big Pharma. (Unless, of course, your name is Alec Baldwin …)
Behind every mass shooting in the U.S. is a cocktail of psychiatric medications (or abruptly going off them without doctor approval).
Mainstream media will not report on the studies that prove this because much of its advertising revenue comes from … Big Pharma.
— “California Hasn’t Seen a Catastrophic Earthquake Recently. But ‘Quiet’ Period Won’t Last.”
Geologists expect a 7.8 earthquake (like the one in Turkey that took over 35,000 lives) to strike California at any moment.
Some folks around here shake uncontrollably just thinking about Mother Nature’s version of rock ’n’ roll. And if it happens at 5:33 p.m., it means my martini will get shaken instead of stirred (unless there’s a cow nearby, a milkshake instead).
—“Bill Gates Claims His Private Jet Habit ‘Not Part of’ Climate Problem.”
BBC reporter: “What do you say to the charge that if you are a climate change campaigner, but you travel around the world in a private jet, you’re a hypocrite?”
Bill Gates: “By the gold standard of funding Climeworks to do direct air capture that far exceeds my family’s carbon footprint, and I spend billions of dollars on climate innovation.”
Sorry, Bill, not only are you somewhat incoherent, but you cannot buy yourself out of hypocrisy. If you truly believe in climate change as opposed to climatic cycles, your personal comfort should be no more important than anyone else’s.
But at least your fellow climate change private flyers like Prince Albert of Monaco, Al Gore and John Kerry will be sympathetic.
THE SAD STATE OF THE UNION or JOE BIDEN PARTIALLY DECONSTRUCTED
JOE: “We’re the only country that has emerged from every crisis we’ve ever entered stronger than we got into it.”
In fact, President Joe Biden is digging us deeper and deeper into various crises (e.g. no southern border), and we are becoming weaker and weaker because of it (e.g. a weakened welfare state and the import of fentanyl killing our children and grandchildren).
JOE: “Two years ago COVID shut down our businesses, our schools were robbed of so much.”
COVID-19 just did its thing, Joe. It was you who unnecessarily kept businesses shut and schools locked down.
JOE: “Two years ago, democracy faced its greatest threat since the Civil War.”
Chuckle, oink, barf.
JOE: “That’s always been my vision of our country, to rebuild the backbone of America, America’s middle class.”
You mean by exporting our manufacturing and product needs to foreign countries and most especially China so their slave labor could feed corporate America’s insatiable greed? C’mon, man — you were in D.C. for 50 years while all this was happening!
JOE: “Once thriving cities and towns that many of you represent became shadows of what they used to be.”
And now they are WORSE due to homelessness, drug addiction, crime and district attorneys who refuse to lock up criminals.
JOE: “Folks, inflation has been a global problem because the pandemic disrupted our supply chains and Putin’s unfair and brutal war in Ukraine disrupted energy supplies as well as food supplies, blocking all that grain in Ukraine.”
No, inflation is a problem, Joe, because you recklessly printed money out of thin air based on nothing and gave it away, mostly to criminals who figured out how to scam the system.
JOE: “But we’re better positioned than any country on Earth right now.”
Sorry, but the World Happiness Report ranks the USA at No. 19. Unlike Joe’s statistics, which are pulled out of thin air (the same thin air from which greenbacks are printed), ours are fact-check ably accurate.
JOE: “Americans are tired of being played for suckers.”
You got that right. And the smart ones know who’s playing them. Sadly, half the country has become victim to an educational system more interested in critical race theory and tearing down this country than true academic disciplines.
JOE: “When we made public education — 12 years of it — universal in the last century, we became the best-educated, best-paid nation in the world. But the rest of the world has caught up.”
Not just caught up, Joe — they’re way ahead of us. We are ranked No. 21 in the world. But at least we’ve got transvestite library readings and teachers who coax our children to surgically alter their gender!
In the course of one hour, 13 minutes, there was more hot air coming out of Joe’s lungs than in China’s spy balloon.
Late night TV host Jimmy Fallon quipped that the biggest winners at this year’s satanic Grammys were the ones who didn’t watch it. We might say the same about those who chose not to tune in on Joe Biden’s codswallop.
Maybe it’s an age thing, which brings us to our…
CHUCKLE OF THE WEEK
The older I get, the earlier it gets late. Or put another way, 60 might be the new 40, but 9 p.m. is the new midnight. And 80? Time to hang it up, Joe. Otherwise, we’ll be looking like the old Soviet Union (think Leonid Brezhnev).
We have nothing against old white guys, but it’s time for you (and The Donald too) to shift their butts aside and open the door to fresh eyes. May the best man or woman move into the Oval Office in 2024.
Robert Eringer is a longtime Montecito author with vast experience in investigative journalism. He welcomes questions or comments at reringer@gmail.com.
