When Foreigners Brief Congress... WITH EDIT
What if "Defense Tech" was funded by the enemies of America?
I edited this piece about Botha because I learned something altogether interesting after it went to press from a family member who had served the U.S. intelligence community in South Africa.
It seems to me that Sequoia is being turned by the U.S. intelligence community and that Roelof Botha is a key player in that operation. I regret
Here's what was sent me from the South African Press Association and an August 13, 1997 article:
Retired foreign affairs minister Pik Botha was suspected of being an American spy, former Conservative Party politician Clive Derby-Lewis alleged at his amnesty hearing on Wednesday.
"It is well-known in right-wing circles that Pik Botha was not what he presented himself to be. We suspected him of being an agent of the Americans," Derby-Lewis told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee.
He was explaining the presence of Botha's name on the alleged hit list found at the Derby-Lewis residence after his arrest in April 1993 for the murder of SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani.
Derby-Lewis said the list, containing the addresses of political leaders, journalists and Judge Richard Goldstone, had been obtained by his wife, Gaye, for journalistic purposes.
Denying suggestions that it was a hit list, he said it was to have been used by his wife for a series of articles on people jumping onto the gravy train.
"They were all people who had done something (in) opposition to the CP."
Pik Botha, he said, was suspected of leaking details of a SA Defence Force special operations mission in Angola, which failed when the soldiers were ambushed.
"The reason the (mission) was aborted was that Botha had informed the Americans what was going to happen."
Beeld deputy editor Tim du Plessis also featured on the list because of a visit he made to the United States.
"People coming back from America are totally different people because of the systematic brainwashing they receive," Derby-Lewis explained.
Fascinating stuff.
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How many of the participants speaking before Congress’s The Hill and the Valley conference could pass a background check?
Let’s consider Roelof Botha. Botha is now managing director of Sequoia, a Chinese-connected venture firm which has been rocked in recent years due to the rather credible accusations that it is too close to the Chinese.
We’ve explored Botha elsewhere on this Substack, including his ties to his strange Chinese-Singaporean wife. One wonders if the rest of Sequoia’s “investments” aren’t themselves weaponized against America.
How then should we take Botha’s ascension? Is he the most interesting man in Silicon Valley?
This is extremely strange thing and not really remarked upon, especially when you consider that Sequoia has invested in Chinese companies like SenseTime and DJI, both of which are banned by the U.S. military and the Department of Commerce.
That’s right. The grandson of the man who developed a joint atomic bomb development program with Israel, was suspected of being a Soviet spy, and had a special talent for keeping his hands clean, is part of the PayPal mafia.
On May First — the same day that another Botha declared Workers’ Day — Roelof Botha will be discussing AI with none other than Israeli-American Dan Gross and Senator John Thune of South Dakota.
The Jerusalem-born Gross of American parents once told me that the Israeli state owed him one for his having negotiated the deal between Waze and Google. Make of that what you will.
Returning to the grandfather for a moment…
During Botha’s term as foreign minister the apartheid regime’s military ties with Israel thrived; despite a UN weapons embargo, South Africa was believed to have been the Jewish state’s largest arms customer in the 1980s.
Botha was a passionate opponent of the economic sanctions that ultimately helped bring down apartheid, and for a long time was able to lobby Ronald Reagan, and Margaret Thatcher against them. Israel was the last significant power to violate the sanctions.
And this isn’t old history. The elder Botha died only five years ago. It should also be remembered that Pik Botha kept his fingers on South Africa’s wealth, as Nelson Mandela’s Minister in charge of South African Mines from 1994 to 1996.
We’ve talked about how Elon Musk got his start as a smuggler. We might also ask if the other members of the PayPal Mafia are similarly situated. Is the PayPal Mafia an actual mafia?
It’s important to note that Botha was introduced to Elon Musk by Jeremy Liew, an early Snapchat investor with ties to the CCP, per The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley.
I’ve come to think of this as the fake because for the South African mob and the South African deep state to meet.
After all, right around the time that the PayPal Mafia got going was right as resources were being transferred out of South Africa. At PayPal, Botha became Peter Thiel’s right hand and recall that Thiel’s father was a uranium miner.
I’ve come to think of this period as the domination of the East German/South African deep state against the International Mob, as evinced by the swift removal of Musk from the leadership position at PayPal.
One wonders if the dodgy money, venture capital, crypto scene has its roots in the development of a workaround for potentially busting sanctions and laundering plundered state wealth.
History has taught us not to let the grifters in. And now we’re acting accordingly.
Could it be that the recent unrest at the colleges is because America has closed down a lot of the means by which the deeply compromised Silicon Valley has gotten cash from America’s universities?
Is Silicon Valley bankrolling the backlash to the protests?
How many Silicon Valley companies are actual fronts?
When you consider that Delian is accused of doing exactly that with his scam start up Varda.
He’s going to be talking at the Hill and the Valley, too, despite him being an obvious fraudster. He’d best be careful.
There are now tighter controls against using state pension funds and with university endowments.
Part of the reason Defense Tech has exploded in recent years isn’t just the opportunity to corrupt the defense stack of the leading military power on the planet but because the U.S. government has a really large problem carefully screening Chinese parts.
American Dynamism loves demanding production contracts but they don’t do enough to keep Chinese parts or capital out of their deals.
This simply won’t do. And it’s being noticed.