“I don’t feel terribly offended that they talk to billionaires. Just another fact of life.”
I do feel offended. Avoiding special access and influence is why we have specific laws in place (that are too often circumvented). Every bad ‘leader’ in history has used rationalizations to justify their actions. It’s an extremely slippery slope. IMHO, one would be well served to start with the realization that politics is full of not-so-impressive people, both in the context of original thought and ethics. They need to have their feet held to the fire - constantly.
I suspect that the common people on the ground are behind this e-mail. They were afraid of 1997 happening again and talked to the people who knew people who in order talked to the people who knew people. Albania is a small country. 3800 killed there interpolated to the USA is 377 thousand(!) killed.
I am not affiliated with any racist movements nor I share their views, but I think it is “white man’s burden” and duty to exert effort to bring order and progress to the world.