What are your problems with it, exactly?
Oh, a few.
How about the line "saturated with hard-hitting questions about climate change and his cozy relationship with Russia’s oligarchy." in the first sentence?
Go back and read the transcript of the hearing for Hillary Clinton's nomination for SOS before the same committee
http://www.cfr.org/elections/transcript-hillary-clintons-confirmation-hearing/p18225 and see if there was ever any talk about the "cozy relationship" between Clinton's foundation and any countries. Gee, I wonder why?
Reading on, "incisive questions"? What drivel. Does anyone believe this is reporting or editorializing?
The entire premise of the article is that Exxon was just trying to get rich by making a dictator rich and intentionally not allowing the country's income from oil and gas get to the people of EG. Does anyone but me see a problem here? If you do business in EG, who do you pay if not the government of that country? I worked for an international company in many different venues and we ensured we always paid the government power whether it was the Saudis, Gadhhafi, or the Russian Oligarchs. Do you really have a choice?
Is Exxon the one responsible for kleptocracy? I daresay that more countries on this earth have despicable rulers than not. Does that mean no one should do business with them?
Once again the phraseology "I have no direct knowledge of that,” Go back and read the many times that Hillary answered similarly. Was that reported in similar manner?
How about "Why would Tillerson dodge questions about a nation where, just two years ago, his company pompously celebrated its 1-billion-barrel-production threshold?"
Good grief, is this real reporting or just placing a target onto someone's chest hoping the bullseye is seen by those who can shoot?
All of this is just in the first portion of the article. It keeps going on.
My bottomline is that Exxon is a big company. It does business in many many countries. Singling out one company and attempting to show it is an enabler of corruption the way this author tries to do minimizes the reality of the world's way of transacting business around the world.
If we wish to just shut down our businesses with places like EG, does one think the people there will be better or worse off?
I know Exxon. I worked awhile for them. They are the quintessential US oil company in the world. I would trust them and their judgement well before other US companies that do international ventures, and sure as hell trust them more than Chinese, Middle Eastern or Russian companies in places like EG.
@Weird Tolkienish Figure