Saudis, Indians among Clinton foundation donors (updated)

[ProSense]

Saudis, Indians among Clinton foundation donors

By BETH FOUHY and SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writers Beth Fouhy And Sharon Theimer, Associated Press Writers –

WASHINGTON – Former President Bill Clinton's foundation has raised at least $41 million from Saudi Arabia and other foreign governments that his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton may end up negotiating with as the next secretary of state.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia gave $10 million to $25 million to the William J. Clinton Foundation, a nonprofit created by the former president to finance his library in Little Rock, Ark., and charitable efforts to reduce poverty and treat AIDS. Other foreign government givers include Norway, Kuwait, Qatar, Brunei, Oman, Italy and Jamaica.

The foundation disclosed the names of its 205,000 donors on a Web site Thursday, ending a decade of resistance to identifying the sources of its money. While the list is heavy with international business leaders and billionaires, some 12,000 donors gave $10 or less.

Clinton agreed to release the information after concerns emerged that his extensive international fundraising and business deals could conflict with America's interests if his wife became Obama's top diplomat. The foundation has insisted for years it is under no legal obligation to identify its contributors, contending that many expected confidentiality when they donated.

The list also underscores ties between the Clintons and India, a connection that could complicate diplomatic perceptions of whether Hillary Clinton can be a neutral broker between India and neighbor Pakistan in a region where President-elect Barack Obama will face an early test of his foreign policy leadership.

The former president did not release specific totals for each donor, providing only ranges of giving. Nor did he identify individual contributors' occupations or countries of residence.

Donors gave Clinton's foundation at least $492 million from its inception in 1997 through last year, the most recent figures available.

After negotiations with Obama's transition team, Clinton promised to reveal the contributors, submit future foundation activities and paid speeches to an ethics review, step away from the day-to-day operation of his annual charitable conference and inform the State Department about new sources of income and speeches.

Representatives of the foundation, including CEO Bruce Lindsay and attorney Cheryl Mills, met privately Wednesday with aides to incoming Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry of Massachusetts and ranking Republican Dick Lugar of Indiana to discuss the foundation's activities and review a memorandum of understanding drawn up by the Clinton and Obama teams.

more

Clinton dumps 2,922 pages of donor info

By MIKE ALLEN | 12/18/08

Former President Bill Clinton beat his end-of-the-year deadline for disclosing the 208,000 donors to his foundation and presidential library, as part of the agreement that allowed President-elect Obama to name Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) as secretary of State.

The list is here – all 2,922 pages.

<...>

According to the William J. Clinton Web site, here are the 18 largest donors:

Greater than $25,000,000
The Children's Investment Fund Foundation
UNITAID

$10,000,001 to $25,000,000
AUSAID
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Stephen L. Bing
COPRESIDA-Secretariado Tecnico
Fred Eychaner
Frank Giustra, Chief Executive Officer, The Radcliffe Foundation
Tom Golisano
The Hunter Foundation
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
The ELMA Foundation
Theodore W. Waitt

$5,000,001 to $10,000,000
Government of Norway
Nationale Postcode Loterij
Haim Saban and The Saban Family Foundation
Michael Schumacher
The Wasserman Foundation

more

Update:

$1,000,001 to $5,000,000
Sheikh Mohammed H. Al-Amoudi
Nasser Al-Rashid
Dubai Foundation
Friends of Saudi Arabia
Princess Diana Memorial Fund

$1,000,001 to $5,000,000
State of Kuwait
State of Qatar
Swiss Reinsurance Company
Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office
The Government of Brunei Darussalam
The Sultanate of Oman

link

[Jackeens]

1. $10m to $25m from the Saudis? I love Bill, but that's grim. n/t

[Captain Hilts]

2. And every other charitable foundation there is. nt

[blm]

3. The Foundation money isn't the problem - the PAYOLA from Dubai and Saudi royals since he left office

is, especially since Dubai and Saudi royals also benefited from Bill's protection of GHWBush on IranContra and BCCI's outstanding matters throughout the 90s.

Bill banked 20 million just this year alone lobbying for Dubai - add that to what they paid him in past years and you're talking HUGE numbers.

[ProSense]

4. I think this one is going to be scrutinized

The Company is advised that the securities were acquired by the Radcliffe Foundation and Mr. Giustra for investment purposes. While they do not currently have any intention to acquire further securities of the Company, the Radcliffe Foundation or Mr. Giustra may in the future acquire or dispose of securities of the Company, through the market or otherwise, as circumstances or market conditions warrant.

The Radcliffe Foundation is a charitable foundation established to support local and international charities with the support of Frank Giustra, who is a member of the Foundation. The Radcliffe Foundation, together with the newly created Clinton-Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative, provides support to alleviate poverty and build sustainable local economies in the world's developing countries.

link

Radcliffe Foundation - Press Release

[karynnj]

11. Here's another that gives cause for concern

"Another donor listed as giving between $1 million and $5 million is Victor Pinchuk, a Ukrainian tycoon who is the son-in-law of that nation’s former authoritarian president, Leonid Kuchma, whose handpicked successor was prevented from taking power during the so-called Orange Revolution of 2004."

from the NYT article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/us/politics/w19clinton.html?_r=1&hp

[ProSense]

13. Interesting.

This is the stuff people always suspected. The Dubai donations may also be cause for concern. Clinton was advocating on their behalf during the Dubai ports deal.

[Jackeens]

16. Good grief, he wasn't fussy about the calibre of his donors!

[karynnj]

19. Nothing new - the Democratic party was hurt by the lack of

fund raising ethics in 1996. It ended up hurting the clean cut Gore in 2000.

[Hutzpa]

5. This is the problem

Americans always selling America for bottom dollar.

[jakem]

6. why would a non-profit donate 25 Mil+?

Isnt there better use for that money?

[karynnj]

7. I assume you mean UNITAID - They are helping fund the Clinton AIDS work

Here is a link to there "about" page - http://www.unitaid.eu/index.php/en/Why-UNITAIDY.html

This really is related to good things Clinton has done.

[jakem]

15. ah, library AND foundation. got it.

[NYC_SKP]

8. No surprises here, just proof of what we knew all along.

For all the good his foundation might be doing, Bill is still a globalist and was and continues to be willing to sell out the American worker and for the most part our security and economic interests.

Never cared for that about him.

[NYC_SKP]

9. Also, recommended. Too much crap about Rick Warren, we're missing the rest..

..of the news.

The bad guys love it when we fight amongst ourselves, we are our own distraction.

[SwampG8r]

12. i always figured that was the plan

like a good magician draw attention away
while the press goes on and on about warren and we wet our pants over a silly prayer to an unlistening god this will go largely undiscussed
later when it comes up again the same distractors will say "but its old news"

[blm]

23. Yep---the left will be too busy with Warren to notice there's no daylight between Bill and Poppy

Bush when it comes to being there for the powerful elite and global fascists.

[karynnj]

10. The comment in the AP article that HRC might not be perceived as an honest broker between

India and Pakistan shows why it is necessary to have this list out and to have Bill Clinton no longer soliciting money internationally. When India and Pakistan first flared up, there were many articles that spoke of the fact that the Obama administration might need a special envoy there - and Bill Clinton was mentioned. This suggests that he would be a poor choice, in spite of his abilities.

I would hope that HRC will be the first person to deal with this in the administration, but she and President Obama would need to be sensitive to any fears of the Pakistanis that she is biased. If there is a problem an under secretary or maybe Susan Rice could deal with it. The same problem exists in the middle and near east - so it will be important that HRC can overcome that perception.

[ProSense]

18. Alot of these will be scrutinized. Giustra is another

Also in this category is Frank Giustra, the Canadian mining financier whose dealings with Mr. Clinton have drawn questions in the past. Mr. Clinton traveled with Mr. Giustra in 2005 to Kazakhstan, where Mr. Giustra was seeking uranium contracts. Mr. Clinton lavished praise on Kazakhstan’s authoritarian leader, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and Mr. Giustra’s company soon afterward signed preliminary agreements to buy into state-controlled uranium projects.

Months later, The New York Times reported earlier this year, Mr. Giustra donated $31.3 million to the Clinton foundation. On the list posted Thursday, Mr. Giustra is reported as having given between $10 million and $25 million personally and the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative-Canada is reported as having given between $1 million and $5 million.

link

[ProSense]

14. The Blackwater Training Center donated $10,001 to $25,000

The Blackwater Training Center donated $10,001 to $25,000. The State Department — to be led by Hillary Clinton if she is confirmed — will have to decide next year whether to renew Blackwater Worldwide's contract to protect U.S. diplomats in Iraq. Five Blackwater guards have been indicted by a U.S. grand jury on manslaughter and weapons charges stemming from a September 2007 firefight in Baghdad's Nisoor Square in which 17 Iraqis died.

link

[leftstreet]

17. RICK WARREN! RICK WARREN! RICK WARREN!

:eyes:

Thanks for posting this.
K&R

[Jackeens]

21. LOL...

[karynnj]

22. I almost think it necessary to put that in the op subject - just to get it read

Have we passed 100 threads on it yet?

[karynnj]

20. A new one from your last link:

$1 million to $5 million each:

• Bernard L. Schwartz, former chief executive of Loral Space & Communications. Considered by Bill Clinton for defense secretary in 1992 and 1996, Schwartz ran a thriving satellite business during the Clinton years, even after its involvement in a Chinese rocket explosion in 1996 that was carrying a $200 million Loral satellite. The company eventually paid a $14 million fine as part of a State Department investigation into whether it improperly shared sensitive rocket technology with China.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/12/clinton-foundat.html