This article was published by
Mother Jones back on October 31, 2016, as recently unearthed by
Aaron Klein. The author, David Corn, helped launch Plamegate, as I summarized
here (see Question #21: "
21. What role did David Corn play in triggering the DOJ probe of Novak’s column? Prior to Novak’s column, David Corn had met Wilson on the set of FOX News and had invited him to contribute a column to The Nation. According to Corn, after Novak’s column came out, he called Wilson and suggested to him that Novak’s column may have been a criminal violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. Corn then published an article making the first public accusation that the Bush administration had committed a crime by blowing Plame’s cover. Three years later, Corn would coauthor the first book identifying the actual leaker as Richard Armitage."). This whole scandal begins to look increasingly like Plamegate/Nigergate, to the point of involving some of the same players.
Yawn.
Executives who have business interests in foreign countries have sophisticated and meaningful exchanges with foreign governments and foreign executives in order to facilitate business.
Better contacts than the government hacks manage. Period.
It’s for generating profits.