Turkmeniscam: How Washington Lobbyists Fought to Flack for a Stalinist Dictatorship

About this book

As I have often said I would represent the devil himself for the right priceits not personal just business. a Washington D.C. lobbyist For nearly as long as there have been politicians in the United States there have been lobbyists haunting the halls of Congressshaking hands bearing gifts and brandishing agendas. Everyone knows how the back-scratching game of money power and PR is played. For a good enough offer there are those who will gladly dive into the dirtiest political waters. The real question is: Just how low will they sink? Veteran investigative journalist Ken Silverstein made it his mission to find outand Turkmeniscam was born. On assignment for Harpers magazine and armed with a fistful of fake business cards Silverstein went deep undercover as a corporate henchman with money to burn and a problem to solve: transforming the former Soviet-bloc nation Turkmenistanbranded one of the worst totalitarian systems in the worldinto a Capitol Hill-friendly commodity. Even in the notoriously ethics-challenged world of Washingtons professional lobbying industry could Kenneth Case (Silversteins fat-cat alter ego) find a team of D.C. spin doctors willing to whitewash the regime of a megalomaniac dictator with an unpronounceable name and an unspeakable reputation? Would the Beltways best and brightest image-mongers shill for a country condemned for its mind-boggling history of corruption brutality and civil rights abuse? Who would dare tread in the ignoble footsteps of Ivy Lee the pioneering PR guru who sought to make the Nazis look nice? And who would stoop to unprecedented new lows to conquer Congress and compromise the red white and blue for the sake of the almighty green? As Ken Silverstein discovers in this mordantly funny disturbingly enlightening jaw-dropping exploration of the dark side the real question is: Who wouldnt? Praise for The Radioactive Boy Scout Alarming . . . The story fascinates from start to finish. Outside An astounding story . . . Silverstein has a novelists eye for meaningful detail and a historians touch for context. The San Diego Union-Tribune Silverstein does a fabulous job of letting David Hahns surrealistic story tell itself. . . . But whats truly amazing is how far Hahn actually got in the construction of his crude nuclear reactor. The Columbus Dispatch Enthralling . . . The Radioactive Boy Scout has the quirky pleasures of a Don DeLillo novel or an Errol Morris documentary. . . . An engaging portrait of a person whose life on Americas fringe also says something about mainstream America. Minneapolis Star Tribune Amazing . . . unsettling . . . should come with a warning: Dont buy this book for any obsessive kids in the family. It might give them ideas. Rocky Mountain News