Mississippi governor Haley Barbour decided to stay out of the 2012 GOP presidential race, and this might have something to do with it: his lobbying group, BGR Group, represents a Russian bank that has financed a company that helped build Iran’s clandestine nuclear power plant. The nuke program is a subject of stern international concern, and Barbour himself has unleashed saber-rattling rhetoric about Iran. The owner of the Russian bank is one of the richest men on the planet, and pays Barbour at least $300,000 a year through a blind trust.
