After Rostatom finally secured 100 percent of Uranium One in 2013, the Russian-government news website Pravda declared: \u201cRussian Nuclear Energy Conquers the World.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
The acquisition of uranium-mining stakes stretching from Central Asia to the American West made Rosatom one of the world\u2019s largest uranium producers and brought Putin closer to his goal of controlling much of the global uranium supply chain, the New York Times said.<\/p>\n
In an interview after the U.S. government approved the deal, Putin sat down for a staged interview with Rosatom\u2019s chief executive, Sergei Kiriyenko.<\/p>\n
\u201cFew could have imagined in the past that we would own 20 percent of U.S. reserves,\u201d Kiriyenko told Putin.<\/p>\n
The agreement came as the Obama administration, led by Hillary Clinton\u2019s State Department, famously was seeking to \u201creset\u201d strained relations with Russia.<\/p>\n
Because uranium is considered a strategic asset that has implications for national security, the agreement had to be approved by a panel of representatives from a number of United States government agencies, including the State Department.<\/p>\n
The Times noted that both Rosatom and the U.S. government made promises intended to ease concerns about ceding control of the company\u2019s assets to the Russians, but the promises were repeatedly broken.<\/p>\n
The Times commented that while it can\u2019t be proved that the donations had a direct impact on the approval of the uranium deal, \u201cthe episode underscores the special ethical challenges presented by the Clinton Foundation, headed by a former president who relied heavily on foreign cash to accumulate $250 million in assets even as his wife helped steer American foreign policy as secretary of state, presiding over decisions with the potential to benefit the foundation\u2019s donors.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the Times prepared its story during the 2016 election campaign, it obtained a statement from Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon, who insisted no one \u201chas ever produced a shred of evidence supporting the theory that Hillary Clinton ever took action as secretary of state to support the interests of donors to the Clinton Foundation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fallon argued that the Canadian government and other U.S. agencies also had to sign off on the deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo suggest the State Department, under then-Secretary Clinton, exerted undue influence in the U.S. government\u2019s review of the sale of Uranium One is utterly baseless,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The appearance of undue influence, however, prompted the Clinton Foundation to announce changes, including limiting donations from foreign governments and barring Russia from giving to all but its health care initiatives.<\/p>\n
But the Times noted the foundation continued to \u201caccept contributions from foreign sources whose interests, like Uranium One\u2019s, may overlap with those of foreign governments, some of which may be at odds with the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Times got insight into the significance of the deal from\u00a0Michael McFaul, who served under Clinton as the U.S. ambassador to Russia.<\/p>\n
\u201cShould we be concerned? Absolutely,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo we want Putin to have a monopoly on this? Of course we don\u2019t. We don\u2019t want to be dependent on Putin for anything in this climate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bill Clinton at his side<\/b><\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s acquisition of American uranium deposits began in 2005 in Kazakhstan, where Canadian mining financier Giustra orchestrated his first big uranium deal.<\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n
Bill Clinton, strategically, was at his side, the Times noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cClinton Cash\u201d author Schweitzer explained the importance of Clinton\u2019s role, in an interview with Breitbart News Daily in March 2016.<\/p>\n
Giustra had wanted a large uranium concession in Kazakhstan but had never been able to get it from the country\u2019s repressive dictator, Nursultan Nazarbayev.<\/p>\n
\u201cBill Clinton shows up, declares at a press conference that Nazarbayev is a wonderful leader, should actually lead an international human rights organization,\u201d Schweizer said. \u201cAnd lo and behold, a couple of days later, Nazarbayev gives Frank Giustra this uranium concession.<\/p>\n
\u201cA few weeks after that, Bill Clinton\u2019s Clinton Foundation gets more than $30 million from Frank Giustra.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Times noted Bill Clinton undercut \u201cAmerican foreign policy and criticism of Kazakhstan\u2019s poor human rights record by, among others, his wife, then a senator.\u201d<\/p>\n
Giustra\u2019s fledgling company, UrAsia Energy Ltd., signed a preliminary deal with Kazakhstan giving the company\u00a0stakes in three uranium mines controlled by the state-run uranium agency Kazatomprom.<\/p>\n
UrAsia merged in 2007 with Uranium One, a South African company with assets in Africa and Australia, which\u00a0soon began purchasing companies with assets in the United States.<\/p>\n
By June 2009, Uranium One\u2019s stock had dropped 40 percent, but Russia, lacking domestic uranium reserves, was eyeing a stake in the company.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when Uranium One pressed the U.S. Embassy in Kazakhstan, which was under Hillary Clinton\u2019s authority, to talk with Kazakh officials about clearing the way for a deal.<\/p>\n
American cables show the U.S. Embassy energy officer met with Kazakh officials, and three days later, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rosatom completed a deal for 17 percent of Uranium One.<\/p>\n
Within a year, Russia sought a 51 percent controlling stake.<\/p>\n
The only obstacle to the deal was that the U.S. government, namely the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, had to sign off on it.<\/p>\n
The Times pointed out that when a company controlled by the Chinese government sought a 51 percent stake in a tiny Nevada gold mining operation in 2009, it set off a secretive review process in Washington.\u00a0Officials were worried about the mine\u2019s proximity to a military installation\u00a0and the possibility that\u00a0minerals at the site, including uranium, to come under Chinese control.<\/p>\n
The U.S. officials killed the deal.<\/p>\n
Schweizer pointed out that when the Uranium One deal was under way, \u201ca spontaneous outbreak of philanthropy among eight shareholders in Uranium One\u201d took place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese Canadian mining magnates decide now would be a great time to donate tens of millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The national security issue at stake in the Uranium One deal was not primarily about nuclear weapons proliferation but about American dependence on foreign uranium sources.<\/p>\n
While the U.S. gets one-fifth of its electrical power from nuclear plants, it produces only about\u00a020 percent of the uranium it needs, according to Marin Katusa, author of \u201cThe Colder War: How the Global Energy Trade Slipped From America\u2019s Grasp.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Russians are easily winning the uranium war, and nobody\u2019s talking about it,\u201d Katusa told the Times. \u201cIt\u2019s not just a domestic issue but a foreign policy issue, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Giving the Russians control<\/b><\/p>\n
Four members of the House of Representatives signed a letter expressing concern\u00a0about the Uranium One deal. Two more began pushing legislation to kill it, including Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wy., who wrote to President Obama, saying it \u201cwould give the Russian government control over a sizable portion of America\u2019s uranium production capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Times observed: \u201cStill, the ultimate authority to approve or reject the Russian acquisition rested with the cabinet officials on the foreign investment committee, including Mrs. Clinton \u2014 whose husband was collecting millions in donations from people associated with Uranium One.\u201d<\/p>\n
A person with knowledge of the Clinton Foundation\u2019s fund-raising operation, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about it, told the Times\u00a0that for many people, the hope is that money will in fact buy influence:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy do you think they are doing it \u2014 because they love them?\u201d<\/p>\n
Two months later, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States began its review.<\/p>\n
Did the committee weigh the U.S. desire to improve bilateral relations with Russia against the potential risks of allowing the Russian government control over the biggest uranium producer in the United States?<\/p>\n
That information has never been disclosed, but the deal was approved in October after, the Times said, citing two people involved,\u00a0\u201ca relatively smooth process.\u201d<\/p>\n
___
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