“The Emperor has no clothes”

PREFACE: By Maria Butina Prisoner #374794
US Bureau of Prisons In the nineteenth century, the expression “The emperor has no clothes” was firmly planted in the world’s lexicon thanks to the children’s morality tale by Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen. Since then, it has come to be used in the context of the uncertainty that a person feels attempting to criticize someone or something that is highly regarded and supported by the masses. Over the course of two centuries, the expression’s usage has expanded to more than one hundred languages of the world. And despite its considerable age, its use is more relevant than ever, as today’s society seems less able than ever to process critically the information given to it. Fortunately, not everything is lost. The braves, the lone wolves continue to emerge, men and women courageous enough to tell the truth despite the crowd’s blindness. Now in modern America such a fearless knight is Patrick Byrne. The Fate brought us together on a sad occasion—the American government decided to set me up then scapegoat me for so-called “Russian Collusion” with Trump’s presidential campaign (collusion which was non-existent, as both the Durham and Mueller reports later confirmed). I ended up in an American prison for eighteen months. To my deep regret, Patrick was directly related to this, as he became “patient zero” in the Maria Butina case working for the FBI against me. However, when Patrick figured out what was happening behind the scenes and how both he and I were simply being used in Barack Obama’s political games, he went public and told the truth about his role in this case, and the dirty games of the American deep state. Patrick lost everything: the truth cost him the company he created, a huge media campaign was launched against him, he was threatened with criminal prosecution. But Patrick has pressed on. Just as he did once at other times in his life, such as when he exposed the truth about the Wall Street corruption, and more recently, the fraud of the 2020 US presidential election. He doesn’t give up. He just keeps going. Just as he is doing now. Patrick Byrne is the man who in today’s America who is not afraid to say, “The Emperor has no clothes.” This is worthy of respect. During those rare times we had together, Patrick and I spent hours and hours talking. I have translated his articles and books into Russian. And as a Russian I can say for sure that, although Patrick isn’t Russian by nationality, he has the depth of soul of a Russian.

Maria Valerievna Butina

November 2023

Moscow, Russia