Newest WaPo Story Claims Putin Directly Ordered Russia to Interfere in US Election
The Washington Post today published a story, "Obama’s secret struggle to punish Russia for Putin’s election assault," that Obama was warned by the CIA that Putin gave the order to "defeat or at least damage the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, and help elect her opponent, Donald Trump."
The timeline of the story as reported by WaPo is summarized by me as follows (quotation marks indicate direct language from Wapo's article):
1. On July 22nd, the DNC Leaks were released by Wikileaks.
2. In late July, DNI chief, James Clapper, at a conference in Aspen, expressed concern about possible Russian meddling on the US election, but stated that the US intelligence community did not have enough evidence to "“make the call on attribution” regarding Russian responsibility for alleged Russian hacking of the DNC, RNC and the subsequent release of the DNC leaks by WikiLeaks.
3. At some point, CIA Director Brennan convened a team of intelligence professionals from the CIA, NSA and FBI who worked solely on determining to what extent Russia was interfering in the US elections. The WaPo story does not indicate if this was done after or prior to the CIA report sent to Obama.
4. In early August, CIA Director John Brennan sent a special eyes only report to President Obama and four senior aides (including National Security Adviser, Susan Rice) that the CIA had received intelligence that Putin directly ordered a Russian cyber campaign to "disrupt and discredit the U.S. presidential race." Eventually the list of administration officials with knowledge of the CIA report expanded to include Vice President Biden and others. Meetings were convened by Rice and/or the homeland-security adviser Lisa Monaco, at which Brennan, Clapper, AG Lynch and FBI Director Comey met to discuss the intelligence gathered that supported Russia's cyber campaign to disrupt the election.
5. Other intelligence agencies did not immediately accept the CIA'a conclusions. The NSA in particular expressed concern based on the fact that the source of critical information supporting the allegations came from a specific country. That country is not named in WaPo's report.
6. Before departing for his vacation to Martha's Vinyard on August 6th, Obama "instructed aides to pursue ways to deter Moscow and proceed along three main paths: Get a high-confidence assessment from U.S. intelligence agencies on Russia’s role and intent; shore up any vulnerabilities in state-run election systems; and seek bipartisan support from congressional leaders for a statement condemning Moscow and urging states to accept federal help."
7. On August 15th, Jeh Johnson, the homeland-security secretary, held a conference call with numerous state officials to float his idea that state voting systems be declared "critical infrastructure" and receive federal cybersecurity protection. He met with resistance from some officials, including Georgia's Secretary of State, Republican Brian Kemp, who voiced suspicion that the intelligence was faulty and that this was an attempt by federal officials to violate states rights.
8. In early September, Johnson, Comey and Monaco met with 12 key members of Congress in September, including senior leadership of both parties to disclose this information to them. The meeting did not go well. Democrats wanted the info released to the public and Republicnas did not, based on the claim that warning "the public that the election was under attack would further Russia’s aim of sapping confidence in the system." Mitch McConnell, Senate majority leader, also expressed "skepticism that the underlying intelligence truly supported the White House’s claims."
9. In September, and also later in an October 31st phone call, Obama delivered messages to Putin warning him not to interfere in US elections. Putin responded that this claim was untrue and demanded proof. Nonetheless, some Obama administration officials stated that they believe Russia abandoned more extensive cyber measures to "sabotage" the actual voting process after Obama's warnings.
10. "On Sept. 22, two California Democrats — Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Adam B. Schiff — did what they couldn’t get the White House to do. They issued a statement making clear that they had learned from intelligence briefings that Russia was directing a campaign to undermine the election, but they stopped short of saying to what end." About a week later, " "McConnell and other congressional leaders" issued a statement issued a cautious statement that encouraged state election officials to ensure their networks were “secure from attack.” The release made no mention of Russia and emphasized that the lawmakers “would oppose any effort by the federal government” to encroach on the states’ authorities.
11. Obama was advised to issue very punitive sanctions to punish the Russians and "crater" their economy, but chose not to do anything until after the election, in December when he issued much milder sanctions and ordered the withdrawal of a number of Russian Diplomats from the country.
12. On Jamuary 6, 2017 December the DNI, NSA and CIA released their 25 page declassified assessment of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Nowhere in that report doies it state that Putin was directly responsible for any cyber campaign by Russia to influence the US elections.
The WaPo story makes several assertions that I judge hyperbolic. For example, read the following excerpts:
In political terms, Russia’s interference was the crime of the century, an unprecedented and largely successful destabilizing attack on American democracy. It was a case that took almost no time to solve, traced to the Kremlin through cyber-forensics and intelligence on Putin’s involvement. And yet, because of the divergent ways Obama and Trump have handled the matter, Moscow appears unlikely to face proportionate consequences. [...]
The CIA breakthrough came at a stage of the presidential campaign when Trump had secured the GOP nomination but was still regarded as a distant long shot. Clinton held comfortable leads in major polls, and Obama expected that he would be transferring power to someone who had served in his Cabinet.
The intelligence on Putin was extraordinary on multiple levels, including as a feat of espionage.
I suggest you read the entire article for a complete picture of WaPo's investigation.
I do note that no one disclosed anything about this August 2016 CIA report until now, more than 10 months after the CIA allegedly informed Obama that Putin was directly responsible for a cyber campaign by Russia to disrupt our elections. The articlde also comes from a source, The Washington Post, whose owner, Jeff Bezos has a $600 million contract with the CIA. Make of that what you will.
To me the most important information revelation contained in this article is the following:
Despite the intelligence the CIA had produced, other agencies were slower to endorse a conclusion that Putin was personally directing the operation and wanted to help Trump. “It was definitely compelling, but it was not definitive,” said one senior administration official. “We needed more.”
Some of the most critical technical intelligence on Russia came from another country, officials said. Because of the source of the material, the NSA was reluctant to view it with high confidence.
One has to wonder why the name of the country that the NSA brass did not trust was excluded from the WaPo article. I find that troubling, though I doubt many will notice it, since its buried deep within the story and not remarked upon other than this one instance by the journalists who authorized the story. One more thing that makes you go "Hmmmmm."
Comments
It was a case that took almost no time to solve?
Really WaPo, then how come "we" haven't solved it yet? Why is there still not one actual shred of evidence supporting any of this?
My 11th dimensional chess meter is going off a bit - with all this supposedly known BEFORE the election, why was nothing done to stop it? And if they knew so much about Russian efforts, why did they not even bother to look at the actual electorate to see what was coming? Did they perhaps WANT Trump in office, with Russia merely being used to blame HER loss to him when in fact, a loss was well expected and would be tolerated? And they set this up back last summer, so they'd have a ready made excuse for Trump's win, along with a pretext for war with Russia? And with Impeachment hearings for Trump to boot? An extra savory little bonus to humiliate him and the Repuke party?
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
This is all you/we need to know
Ted was dead. Jackie was dead. No panache. No photo opp yacht sailing around the island with the pass by of the "Compound" in Falmouth. Just another rich guy with a gazillion (tax payers) dollars and the 3 plane loads of Secret Service agents along with the fg dog...
Putin? Really? All this supposed crap happened when HE was Potus.
The sheeple will be.
Just stop trying to make sense of all this.
No one ever promised it would make sense.
Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!
Firesign Theater
Stop the War!
All you need to know is the source.
The Washington Post is a CIA tool, purchased via Bezos of Amazon.
Sadly, PBS news featured the story writers (not really journalists, amirite?) from this completely disreputable rag tonight, thereby dragging themselves further into the swamp.
I can't read that and I assume it's a load of hogwash.
I think the writers, Greg Miller, Ellen Nakashima and Adam Entous should be investigated and charged with treason.
My one question would be, exactly what did Putin and the hackers do to undermine the election? What was it they allegedly did, is that explained anywhere? Was it articles on RT, was it actually hacking into the voting machines and messing with votes?
If they can't say that, then it's obvious it's all lies.
There's no point in reading it.
It is convoluted, intentionally confusing, manipulative, substance-free propaganda. It is not intended to inform, it is intended to deceive.
native
From the little bit I did read that was obvious.
Which is why I said those writers should be brought up on charges, not to mention the WaPo itself. This was intentional propaganda.
That's one of the actions we'd have to take in a full blown revolution against the oligarchy and plutocracy, take down this media. Part of that would be calling out, going after those "traitors" who are willingly spreading the lies for the Empire.
I wrote an essay once doing that, can't remember the guys name but I used it in the headline. I was perturbed to say the least.
What I heard on TV (MSM):
Someone (assumed to be the Russian government) accessed databanks with the names, addresses, and party affiliation of 180 million Americans. That's it. Spoken with an ominous voice. (BTW: Remember the film, Canadian Bacon?)
I don't know why that would be of interest to Putin. I can see where it would be interesting to the RNC or DNC (who had one of the databases already).
Actually, I thought all that was public record anyway. I can access the Cook County web page and find my own voting record without any ID.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
It's important to Putin because he's considering running
for the US presidency in 2020 if he fails to get elected for another term in Russia.
ROTFLMAO!
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
@CB
And with Putin's wide-ranging super-powers, he's sure to be just as popular in America as he is in his own country, with I believe it was an 85% approval rating.
Certainly far more than any Two-Faced Corporate Party offerings, since even with rabid wolves posturing on his country's borders, Putin cut military spending in Russia to ensure that the people had their pensions, this effectively signing his own(to-be-attempted) death/depose-warrant, as both wings of the corporate Party cannot suffer those serving the public interest in any country to survive as a bad example to their own citizens in raising their expectations, rather than meekly submitting to being further drained, dispossessed and poisoned for ever-increasing billionaire/corporate enrichment and empowerment.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Obama made government propaganda legal
We can guess what happened after he rescinded that law. Good ole Obama, always looking for ways to stick it to the little people.
Get With the Program!
Don't ya know that Putin took "boring" Hillary/Podesta emails, changed their content to make Hillary look bad and scare voters away, conspired with 1000s of Macedonian hackers and (((Americans))) and Russian WikiLeaks, all to install Trump and steal the presidency from Hillary? These are Hillary's own words.
Good old wapo... beating that war drum
After all, the allegations that saddam did 911 started day of...
It was only when we needed a war excuse that all of the evidence was manufactured aND shipped to the msm distributors.
My rule is that if it comes from the cia it is a lie. They want their war with Russia because they need their job security. If they don't come up with something, politicians start looking to have a few heads on a platter for failure of intelligence.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
How long as Putin been the czar of Russia?
2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 equals 5 POTUS elections. Both the Repukes and Dimocrats won. With the exception of 2016, where was all the screeching and bloviating about the Russkies interfering and throwing the election???? The sad, simple truth is that both tRump and $hrill were the 2 worse candidates offered up to voters in many, many decades!! They were both equally evil and stunk up the place! Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
Oy vey, not another rwnj CT
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
Deep state actors have finger on the American pulse.
If one steps back and looks at the sweep and emergent themes around Russia, one must admire the deep state actors in feeling the pulse of the media and at least the democratic party to spread its message.
The first charges of publishing Podesta emails and documents/emails while sensational at first but quickly wore off in their effect. After all, the shit was true. Here is Obama several weeks after the election.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/25/us/politics/hacking-russia-election-f...
Since that time, there have been a series of successive, each more severe than the previous accusations Finally, now, the exact opposite of what the Obama administration claimed--Russians under Putin's direct orders hacked in the very machines dedicated to the vote infrastructure.
One point. These charges have been released in a serial fashion. There are all these revelations that were known according to the WaPo article, but looking back, none of them are being revealed at one time. Drip by drip by drip in a very calculated manner. One accusation in effect answers the objections raised over a previous charge and keeps the narrative on the front pages of American media.
In the latest one, people have been asking that if Obama knew, why didn't he act? Even Obama is being potentially thrown under the bus to further the narrative. At TOP looks like gopers forced Obama to NOT reveal the information--the good name of Obama is saved.
Agreed
It's water torture.
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
So if Russia "hacked into the voting machines..."
@MrWebster
That 'Russian hack' claim was evidently needed to try to cover over Two-Faced Corporate Party election machine and other cheating.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2016/05/16/clinton-does-best-where-voting-m...
(A must-read in full at source)
http://canadafreepress.com/article/yuge-election-fraud-in-california-to-...
http://www.csoonline.com/article/3144513/security/wisconsin-to-recount-u...
But this was not Hillary and her numerous minions or Trump and his, either, even if it was made to appear that way! American ingenuity and all just can't manage this - but somehow Putin does it - all the way from distant Russia to affect machines not even on the internet - and outcheats the local cheaters with actual access to the machines:
http://blackboxvoting.org/
http://blackboxvoting.org/fraction-magic-video/
Must be Russian subcontractors, working for Putin who wanted Hillary to win the Dem nomination and general election... probably how she apparently also won the popular vote in the general, although the Electoral College stepped in to vote for Trump, to confound the Russian puppets known as the Clintons, who'd already handed Putin 20% of America's already inadequate for power-plant energy generation strategic uranium resources. Bet Hillary wanted to sell Putin those nuclear bombs she's so obsessed with...
https://www.thenation.com/article/wisconsins-voter-id-law-suppressed-200...
But you can tell that Putin really passed those laws, too, just before pooping in the hallway and hoping that it would be attributed to the resident dogs - who promptly leaked, and who were featured in a photo posted on this site recently.
No, the snark will never end, not until political morals improve.
Edit: and neither will my belated discovery of a typo-ed letter finally occur prior to pressing 'post'... and edited again because I missed a Trump reference and then removed the excess names up top from doing 2 edits... so far... going to bed since I can't see straight anyway, lol, so whatever else else I've missed will just have to stay.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Great articles. Thanks. Only insiders can cheat the system.
Having worked many an election inside and outside the polling places, it is only the insiders who are capable of massive cheating. One article I read, and of course whose link I lost, looked at what the Russians would have to do, and literally it would have required literally tens of thousands of infiltrators to move the election to any one candidate. This backs up my experience.
Yup, neglected in all of this blaming of super duper genius Russian hackers is the memory hole that the US has historically had in many places an insecure voting infrastructure. From what I can tell, neither major party has proposed or willing to fund a hardening the voting infrastructure that for me at least, makes sense as it then could prevent the major parties from cheating--such as massive party flipping of independents in the democratic primaries to prevent them from voting for Bernie.
@MrWebster
Exactly!
And the memory hole intended to suck down in an all-consuming whirlpool the public's knowledge of the long-running issues with what get termed 'electoral irregularities' and indications/proof of electoral cheating committed by both wings of the US Corporate Party goes in tandem with the confusion tactic of mass accusations against everyone and corks it with, most especially ???the enemy country??? with their RUSSIAN Hackers!!! Of Mass Destruction!!! and who must be invaded/nuked for fun and profit, in the hope that the fuzzy-headed public sheep will simply replace their memories of what actually has been happening with their oft-repeated lies so that they can blow up the universe, including themselves and their piles of soon-to-be-radioactive-and anyway-worthless piles of money they could never possibly spend all of anyway.
Luckily, the Dems are also circling the drain...
Was just looking at this - I only hope that there's time left for such efforts to take effect, and if anyone can can manage to pass and have this sort of thing enforced. I haven't been hearing much about this over the past year, so might as well plunk it around a bit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhe286ky-9A
Edit: although Hillary won what was publicized as being the popular vote - so that all the RUSSIAN!!! HACKERS!!! could do was to hack the Electoral College. Unless they're all Putin Puppets, of course...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Antoher story that fits in with this one re: DNC and DWS
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-reg-wasserman-schultz-homel...
DWS throwing a black man and a high-ranking Obama administration official under the bus. Something tells me she's the one who is "misinformed." LOL
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
Notice the shift in perspective?
Johnson said "that the DNC didn’t accept help from his agency after its email systems were hacked.". But DWS said "At no point during my tenure at the DNC was I contacted by the FBI, DHS or any government agency or alerted or made aware that they believed that the Russians, an enemy state, was intruding on our network."
No, Debbie, they didn't. They didn't say they did. YOU mentioned the Russians. Johnson just said "hacked".
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
This has been the pattern for the Russian propaganda
The headline will state categorically that they have proof that Russia interfered with the election because they hacked into the voting machines in 39 states.
Then inside the article that's full of innuendos, there are words like, we believe, they might have, an anonymous source told us, and other words to that effect.
Then at the bottom of the article, they make this huge leap of logic and repeat the headline.
How people can read this and believe the conclusions are mind numbing. I read the articles and laugh.
The biggest propaganda that is a total lie is this one.
This has been debunked numerous times, yet people are still saying it. What actually happened was that only 4 agencies have information about Russia interfering with the election.
As the saying goes, a lie is around the world while the truth is putting its pants on.
Even that debunking
doesn't mention that those agencies "claim" they might have evidence...
Maybe.
It's really good, special intelligence. Really. We know because they carefully told us how it has all the marking's of russians. They even put in Cyrillic letters, so you know it had to be them...
Uhm, no you can't see the evidence... it's classified. But we definitely have it.
/snark
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
If you have it please use it, Debbie.
I do not judge WaPo's assertions to be merely hyperbolic,
I judge them to be pure unadulterated bullshit. I don't care how many "anonymous officials" WaPo pulls out of its magical top hat, I refuse to believe anything published by that duplicitous, warmongering, CIA-loving rag. What, we're expected to take at face value whatever tall tales are concocted by the likes of James Clapper and John Brennan? These two men, both of them proven liars and shameless propagandists for the MIC, are now to be regarded as paragons of virtue, patriotism and truth? WaPo has been peddling this nonsense for months. Why?
Talk about "fake news", Jeff Bezos & Co take the cake.
native
That's it. I'm becoming a journalist
So to be clear, I can write any damned story I want so long as I attribute it to some number of anonymous sources? Heck, I could even do so truthfully simply by picking my story then interviewing known supporters of that story.
Honestly I stopped reading as soon as I got to the anonymous sources part. What that means is that whether or not the story is balderdash I won't be buying it. This is a claim that we should start WW3 and I'd like to see some actual proof before agreeing to nuke the planet. Maybe I'm more pragmatic than I thought?
A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard
Western tech firms bow to Russian demands to share cyber secrets
Now what? lol Under pressure, Western tech firms bow to Russian demands to share cyber secrets
Russian authorities get source code access, but the users of the products don't? No, just say no. Make the code widely available to all, that's the answer. Break up a few monopolies as a side benefit. SAP, really? A Russian Software Billionaire Takes on SAP and Oracle. Yeah, right. Russians are not the enemy, oligarchs are the enemy.
Billionaire foreign policy fight as the world burns. Priceless.
Russians could be too. It's not either/or
But your points are well taken. Turn it around. Would we want US companies to accept Russian software without full disclosure?
I sure wouldn't. "But we're the good guys!" Not to Russia we aren't.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
@eyo
But it's already been established that US spy agencies have both implanted their own and utilized existing vulnerabilities in computers sold around the world, thereby hazarding the security of people's systems and personal information around the world.
I have to assume that sooner or later anything I have on my computer/the interwebz is going to be snickered over by some bored private corporation employee and wince a bit whenever anyone emails me painful personal details, seeking consolation from someone who they know would keep it private... and am equally peeved that computer illiterates with no money for debugging/replacement like myself may have to try to cope with unnecessary computer infections as a result of these created/retained vulnerabilities. All for the personal satisfaction of a relative few control-freaks.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
We are supposed to take the word of the CIA?
These people torture. They lie. They disrupt other countries elections. They topple governments and cause devastating harm all over the globe.
I'll believe that Jeffrey Dahmer was a vegan before I even toy with the possibility those thugs are telling the truth about anything.
I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa
So What Exactly Did Russia Do?
I feel like my brain is in a fog after reading that article.
Could someone please explain to me exactly what Russia is accused of doing?
Does this give us any new information? If so, I missed it.
Evidently they hacked the voting machines but didn't
do anything to affect the integrity of the voting machines because they're hack proof so it really wasn't a hack even though they have no proof but that's why Trump won instead of Clinton. Therefore we need to go to war.
"... we need to go to war."
just another "theatre" for the big picture.
" We are glad to help with your war on everything, Senor."
@Big Al
Apparently, the Russians successfully hacked the Electoral College - unless maybe they didn't want the Mad Bomber turning the world into radioactive sludge either?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
@Big Al
They apparently hacked the Electoral College to give Trump the Presidency after Hillary won the popular vote.
And I, for one, am immensely grateful that the Mad Bomber did not get in to immediately start tossing nukes around, leaving us with a little breathing space in which to practice yoga and lip-stretching exercises in preparation for kissing our butts good-bye.
Edit: got side-tracked and answered this again.
We have a cat (fresh, clear ear tattoo - but nothing known of her at the Humane Society as of today's closing time there) who's been missing now for two days, and it's evening. She's not my cat but still has become my personal lap cat and nearly always spends the night snoozing with 'Aunt Mum'... What, me worry?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
They hacked the brains of millions of Americans and
made them cognizant of what a piece of crap Shillery would be as POTUS. In the olden days this was called enlightenment.
In the olden days this was called enlightenment.
Now we just"wise up".
OMFG the Russians!!!
Even if they were responsible for the hacking--and I won't concede that until there is evidence based on something other than anonymous sources and classified documents--what did they do? They exposed the Democrats. It's not like they used Jedi mind tricks to change people's votes. They didn't alter the documents they sent to Wikileaks. They didn't physically change any of the votes.
That said, hacking into voter information is a big deal. While we should be very concerned about that and take efforts to avoid it, the state level politicians who told DHS to take hike need to be exposed and held accountable. Otherwise, this just seems like a reason for politicians to look serious and large and in charge. And they also get to do a whole bunch of shitty stuff under the radar while the media lap dogs chase the next BREAKING NEWS RUSSIA LEAK.
That's my biggest frustration
That's my biggest frustration about this whole mess. Absolutely no self-reflection as a country about what we've done in other countries. If any of those people in Washington has a shred of intellectual honesty or integrity, they'd be taking measures to reform the CIA (or dismantle it). Alas, integrity is too much to ask.
And every one of those names they mention
is dirty, and most have been proven dirty. Dirty - lying outright, taking money, completely co-opted and ready for war. But they're still supposed to be taken seriously? They will be by far too many but damn, for those of us now watching this, the level of open contempt for anyone's intelligence is breathtaking. I know it should not be, but sometimes it still shocks me.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
What a pile of horse manure.
Putin has said, time and time again, that it doesn't matter who is president of the US. Foreign policy is set by the Deep State (bureaucracy) - not the President. So why should he try to manipulate the US elections? Fucking the electorate over with bullshit has been the purview of the US media and pundits for decades.
For the damn proof, just look at the Obama administration. Compare his words before and after the election. Did Putin interfere and make him change his policies after he was elected or maybe Putin did it before Obama was elected. s/
This country is really fucked if people believe the excrement exuding from the western MSM. This kind of shit will eventually destroy the country. Stupid is as stupid does.
This piece from the NYRB
touches on the "Russian question" too:
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/07/13/nihilism-of-julian-assange-wi...
How much is believeable, how much sensationalized here? This used to be a trustworthy publication.
The NEW WaPo - Home of the Whopper!
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
If you were wondering what that gawd awful smell was...