4/2/2023

JRB,

            Should we care that the junta is building a runway on the Coco Islands? The Indian media speculates the Chinese paid for it. WINTA!

            News of you is scarce this AM. Your mentions are as follows:

G = 0,

WP = 2

CSM = 1

NYT = 1  

I read the NYT article about possibly removing sanctions on Dan Gertler. (DG). “The U.S. government estimated that the lost revenues to Congo associated with Mr. Gertler’s deals from 2010 to 2012 were about $1.36 billion.”

My dad visited the Congo in the ‘80s trying to make a grain deal. He couldn’t figure out how to do it without contributing to corruption, so he gave up. If the Congolese leaders are asking you to pull the sanctions on DG, you can be sure he bribed them.

I don’t know how you’ll get the mining rights straighten out, but as Justyna Gudzowska, expert on illicit finance policy says “If DG succeeds, his will become the playbook for other wealthy sanctions targets, including Russian (& Burmese) oligarchs, from all over the world.” My suggestion is to keep the sanctions.

I tried to learn about your trip to MS & saw a moving video of people in Rolling Fork who lost loved ones. The depth of their sorrow was palpable. we, as a nation are indebted to them, as descendants of enslaved people, for the harms we have caused them over generations. Let’s do right by them now & help all we can.

Thinking of tornadoes reminded me of 1996 when my husband & I witnessed the Oakfield, WI F5 event, as strong as the one in MS. We took cover in a gas station convenience store with the other customers in the walk-in cooler. Thanks to the WSR-88D doppler radar system that the National Weather Service had just installed folks knew it was coming, took shelter & no one died. A nice example of government investment paying off.

I am heading out to the “Communit-tea” where my neighbors enjoy some fellowship each month.

BYBS,