I'm John Batchel with Ken Vogel, who's written in a highly entertaining revelatory book about lobbying in Washington for foreign powers, especially if they are rascals, scoundrels, devils.

Here we are with Robert Strick, a man who dropped out of college, who dropped out of high school, who never

wrote a good check that you could count on the first time, who's walked away from all

of the leases that he has, as far as I can see, who basically tells the story, and if you

believe it, he's happy.

If you don't, he'll tell you another story.

But he's actually in an armored Toyota Toyota driven by a security guard he's hired

named Douglas, and he's traveling into the capital of Somalia called Mogadishu to the

offices of a man named Formage, that's at Namdegere. He's an American citizen who is from Somalia,

and he's been put in place as the president of Somalia,

a war-torn land.

The city of Mogadishu has been under permanent siege by jihadists for many years,

and the State Department wants to know where its money's going.

So the Frramage, this

the American citizen president who can pull the ripcourt any time and go back to

America, I believe he was in Buffalo the last time we checked on him

before being the president of Somalia, wants to make

good relations with the White House so that the money will keep flowing.

And in this armored vehicle is Robert Stryke.

In the vehicle following, as a young woman named Fontenrose, who is his guide because

she's a professional and foreign policy expert, has served on the National Security Council,

is now at the Atlantic Council.

...