Suddenly it gets complicated

Who does Putin own? These are the pieces of the puzzle won't get the media obsessing over.

Democrats pushing the Trump collusion investigation learned to their dismay that they too had a Russia problem. "NBC reports that Tony Podesta (the brother of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta) and his firm are the subjects of a criminal investigation by the special prosecutor. ... The Podesta probe concerns suggestions he failed to fully disclose spending (a felony) while lobbying for a pro-Russian Ukrainian group."

This was unforeseen. Nor did they realize that none the compartments of the great global world were watertight. Within days of being berated by Senator Diane Feinstein for not doing enough to stop Putin's meddling in elections Silicon Valley had a Russia problem too. The New York Times today reported that Putin secretly bought a large stake in the social media companies through a dummy. Leaked documents from a Bermuda law firm reveal "that a state-controlled bank in Moscow helped to fuel Yuri Milner’s ascent in Silicon Valley, where the Russia investigation has put tech companies under scrutiny".

Behind Mr. Milner’s investments in Facebook and Twitter were hundreds of millions of dollars from the Kremlin. Obscured by a maze of offshore shell companies, the Twitter investment was backed by VTB, a Russian state-controlled bank often used for politically strategic deals. And a big investor in Mr. Milner’s Facebook deal received financing from Gazprom Investholding, another government-controlled financial institution, according to the documents. ... Ultimately, Mr. Milner’s companies came to own more than 8 percent of Facebook and 5 percent of Twitter, helping earn him a place on various lists of the world’s most powerful business people.