Russiagate: The dog that didn't bark

Gregory (Scotland Yard detective): "Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"
Holmes: "To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time."
Gregory: "The dog did nothing in the night-time."
Holmes: "That was the curious incident."

Today's NY Times headline speaks volumes: Mystery of the Midterm Elections: Where Are the Russians?

The National Security Agency, which failed to respond when Russian hackers were first seen inside the Democratic National Committee’s computer systems in the summer of 2015, has now taken to sending messages directly to Russian hackers, reminding them that they are being watched.
...“The Russians are too smart to run the same play a second time,” said Dmitri Alperovich, one of the founders of the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, who was central to identifying the Russian military inside the D.N.C., touching off chaos in the Democratic Party. “If they were going to do anything in today’s environment, they certainly wouldn’t want to act until the very last moment.”

Ah, yes. Those sneaky Ruskies are just waiting to attack at the last second.
Maybe they are waiting to reach out from under our beds.
It was only weeks ago that Russia was about to pounce on us.

. USA Today (10/9/18) warned, “As Russia and perhaps other foreign governments seek to undermine democratic elections, Congress and states need to get serious about defenses.” The PBS NewsHour (10/11/18) quoted one official who noted, “Given our experiences of 2016 and what we saw the Russians attempt to do across the nation’s election equipment, the election infrastructure, we certainly have a degree of concern of what their capability is.” Meanwhile, the Washington Post (9/26/18) writes, “While Russia is clearly trying to influence the 2018 elections, this time the United States is prepared and taking action to counter it.”

They are going to attack any minute now, for realzies.
Or maybe we've seen this story before.
Let me take you back 15 years ago.

British officials are circulating a story that Saddam Hussein may have been hoodwinked into believing that Iraq really did possess weapons of mass destruction.

The theory, which is doing the rounds in the upper reaches of Whitehall, is the result of an attempt to find what one official source called a "logical reason" why no chemical and biological weapons had been found in Iraq.

Yes, it was Saddam that was fooled!
That makes perfect sense.
And who do you think did all that fooling? Why Russia, of course.

John A. Shaw, the deputy undersecretary of defense for international technology security, said in an interview that he believes the Russian troops, working with Iraqi intelligence, “almost certainly” removed the high-explosive material that went missing from the Al-Qaqaa facility, south of Baghdad.

“The Russians brought in, just before the war got started, a whole series of military units,” Mr. Shaw said. “Their main job was to shred all evidence of any of the contractual arrangements they had with the Iraqis. The others were transportation units.”

Mr. Shaw, who was in charge of cataloging the tons of conventional arms provided to Iraq by foreign suppliers, said he recently obtained reliable information on the arms-dispersal program from two European intelligence services that have detailed knowledge of the Russian-Iraqi weapons collaboration.

"Reliable information". That sounds believable to me.
It couldn't possibly be that Russia has been used by our intelligence agencies as a boogyman.

Either way, the Pentagon is ready to attack.

The US has prepared to launch a cyberattack on Russia if the country directly interferes with the midterm elections next week, according to a report from the Center for Public Integrity.

For some odd reason, the Dems aren't mentioning Russiagate in their political ads. It seems odd that this dog isn't barking.

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EdMass's picture

Here's some Holmes. Jeremy Brett was the best.

Conan Doyle, even better?

How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?

It's a 3 pipe problem

Heh!

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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!

Russiagate is fueled by the same sorts of people pushing the Prosperity Gospel and other sorts of scams. Start with the big money of both US and NATO defense budgets, and everything around that. We are talking billions. All the instant experts pundits getting gigs as consultants and think tank appointments who can't even read Russian. Man, the fact free books that have been written. The private and government grant funding undistinguished academics to find out Russian influence. Government agencies fighting turf wars to get funding for there special Russian hysteria. And oh, the media reputations and money generated from all this conspiracy talk.

The competition field is getting larger, but still money to be made using the right angle.

And of course you have the cult members like those at TOP who while not making money get the emotional experience of any true believer knowing they have fond out the devil and been delivered into the truth. Hillary has been vindicated as both martyr and saint. They are like cult members who are crushed that the end times did not come, but rise up in faith for the new day and vindication (Mueller).

Not much effort is required. I forgot which pundit said it, but something to the effect that lack of evidence is considered evidence of Russian perfidy. Russians not acting up this election? Ah, proves they are waiting until the last moment. From the books and articles I have seen, mere assertion is proof enough to find the Russians guilty of something.

I am afraid this will all get worse.

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@MrWebster Russiagate II will emerge. Bet on it.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@The Voice In the Wilderness @The Voice In the Wilderness

Wherein Mueller reveals evidence of Russia’s extraordinary influence on voting in a certain number of key midwestern states to such an extent that the 2016 Presidential election results must be thrown out. Consequently the Supremes affirmin the ascension of Her in place of Hair.

Hillary has said she still “would like to be President”, isn’t that all that’s really necessary?

[edit: punctuation]

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“ …and when we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine,and understand who God is, and what our own potential is and duties are as human beings.- RFK jr. 8/26/2024

snoopydawg's picture

See all you people who don't believe in Russia Gate, the Russians have been pulling stunts like this going back 15-20 years. Don't forget that Mueller has charged 32 people since he started his investigation. Never mind though that none of them are the least related to the original charge that Trump colluded with Vlad to win the election. BTW. What's happening with the Mueller trial where Russian lawyers showed up to defend their clients? Is Mueller still claiming that he can't show them the evidence because of national security?

Next thing we will hear is that it was actually Russia that attacked us on 9/11 and they are the biggest supporter of terrorists and they are working with Iran on their nuclear weapons.

And of course you have the cult members like those at TOP who while not making money get the emotional experience of any true believer knowing they have fond out the devil and been delivered into the truth. Hillary has been vindicated as both martyr and saint. They are like cult members who are crushed that the end times did not come, but rise up in faith for the new day and vindication (Mueller).

Well said, Mr. Webster.

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There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Not Henry Kissinger's picture

@snoopydawg

They are like cult members who are crushed that the end times did not come, but rise up in faith for the new day and vindication (Mueller).

always a PUMA.

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The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

Ladies and Gentleman of the jury, let us look at what has come into evidence, and I implore you to take these ideas and propositions into the jury room for discussion as you arrive at your verdict.
1. Post election 2016, Russia was the vote thief.
2. At critical mass for mid-terms, Russia was not mentioned as a vote thief.
3. If Democrats make gains, Russia is not a vote thief.
4. If Republicans retain their current dominance, Russia is a vote thief.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, please consider that Democrats want to prevent making complete asses(as in their party logo) of themselves as opposed to promoting an honest and fair election.
And consider the source of Russia's vote stealing, such as hacking, interfering, influencing, etc... was Democrats.
Thank you so much for your presence, your time, your attention, and your careful consideration of the evidence before you. You are the heart and soul, the great mind of this mighty country.
I am honored to have participated in this case.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

snoopydawg's picture

With Just Days to the Midterms, Russiagate Is MIA

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There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

WoodsDweller's picture

If the Democrats win, that's proof that millions of people voted illegally.
If the Republicans win, that's proof that the Russians destroyed the integrity of the election by running some ads on Facebook.
Only results that validate the existing power structure are legitimate. All other results are to be Resisted by shouting at people trying to eat dinner.

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone