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Casey Michel

Casey Michel is the head of the Combating Kleptocracy Program at the Human Rights Foundation. He is the author of American Kleptocracy, and his writing has appeared in Foreign Affairs, ThinkProgress, The Atlantic, Politico, and The Washington Post, among others.

All Articles
October 18, 2021
The Soapbox
American Law Firms Are Enabling Foreign Kleptocrats
Despite what you may have heard, the Pandora Papers did not let the United States off the hook for facilitating global corruption.
September 6, 2021
The Soapbox
The Traitor Robert E. Lee Finally Gets His Just Deserts
A gargantuan monument to the rebel general will come down in the capital of the Confederacy.
August 2, 2021
The Soapbox
Russian Oligarchs Are Bludgeoning Western Media With Their Wealth
A book about Vladimir Putin has prompted several lawsuits by his billionaire cronies, including Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich. It’s part of a worrying trend.
May 24, 2021
The Soapbox
Will Europe Finally Stand Up to Belarus’s Plane-Hijacking Bully?
The forced landing of a Ryanair flight and arrest of journalist Roman Protasevich is President Aleksandr Lukashenko’s most brazen dare yet to the EU.
March 30, 2021
The Soapbox
The Republican Poseurs Who Claim to Be True Texans
Dan Rodimer and Chip Roy are just the latest carpetbaggers who have moved to the Lone Star State to capitalize on the GOP’s Trumpian turn.
March 12, 2021
The Soapbox
An Honest History of Texas Begins and Ends With White Supremacy
One Texas Republican state House member wants to create a “patriotic” education project to celebrate the Lone Star State—and whitewash its ugly past.
December 23, 2020
The Soapbox
How to Make Kleptocrats Fear America Again
Joe Biden might be the perfect president to restore America’s standing as a champion against foreign corruption.
September 30, 2020
The Soapbox
Ivanka Trump’s Starring Role in Her Father’s Financial Troubles
If the president’s tax shenanigans land him afoul of the law, the first daughter could go down with him.
August 31, 2020
The Soapbox
The “Oath Keepers” Are Today’s Blackshirts
In the Obama era, they resisted “presidential tyranny.” Now they want to help Trump crack American skulls in the streets.
August 10, 2020
The Soapbox
Alexander Lukashenko’s Belarusian Dictatorship Is Going Down in Flames
The former Soviet republic has exploded into unrest after its most recent sham election, and there may be no going back.
July 7, 2020
The Soapbox
The Left’s Deafening Silence on China’s Ethnic Cleansing
Anti-imperialist leftists can’t afford to cede this issue to centrist Democrats and the Trumpist right.
March 24, 2020
The Soapbox
Could Trump Spark a New Balkan Ethnic War?
As the coronavirus racks the globe, White House lackeys and lobbyists are converging on the former Yugoslavia and reopening old wounds.
March 9, 2020
The Soapbox
The Kleptocrat Next Door
Moldovan oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc has been sanctioned by Trump’s State Department. So why is he now holed up in the U.S.?
February 25, 2020
The Soapbox
Bernie Sanders’s Dumb Defense of Fidel Castro
The late Cuban strongman was everything the Democratic front-runner has long railed against: a grifting plutocrat from the top one percent.
January 16, 2020
The Soapbox
NATO Is Expanding, and Everyone Is Curiously Silent
Why isn't anyone talking about North Macedonia's accession into America's most important strategic alliance?
January 6, 2020
The Soapbox
Donald Trump’s Quiet Christmas Gift to the Kleptocrats
Despite being under the intense scrutiny of impeachment, the White House remains devoted to enabling foreign graft and corruption.
December 16, 2019
The Soapbox
Meet Trumpworld’s Next Top Ukrainian Grifter
Dmytro Firtash once furnished Rudy Giuliani with the freshest conspiracy-theory dirt on Joe Biden, but now a new shady oligarch is seeking an audience.
November 14, 2019
The Soapbox
Paul Manafort’s Lurid Shadow Hangs Over Impeachment
Long before he took up with Trump, the infernal operator laid the groundwork for the crimes that led us to this point.
November 9, 2019
The Soapbox
Trump Has Squandered the Legacy of the Berlin Wall
Trump's belief that Ukraine is not a "real" country threatens to unwind three decades of post-Cold War gains.
November 1, 2019
The Soapbox
Biden’s Super PAC Buddy Has a Paul Manafort Problem
After the 2016 election and its fallout, it's astonishing that the vice president would team up with someone tied to despotic foreign actors.

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