Russiagate runs out of road
Year after year, every time that there was an unproven, poorly-sourced rumour about Russia, Democrats demanded new sanctions.
The idea was that the sanctions would force Russia to "change its behaviour".
And so they piled up the sanctions, until inevitably this happened.
Trump, O'Brien said, has been tougher than his predecessors. So much so, he argues, that there's little else Washington can do since they've already "sanctioned the heck out of" individuals, companies, and the government in Russia, kicked Russian spies out of the U.S., and closed down consulates and other diplomatic facilities. "Nevertheless we continue to message the Russians, and President Trump continues to message the Russians: don't get involved our elections," O'Brien said, adding that the warning extends to Beijing and Tehran, as well.
Brennan, however, pointed out throughout the interview that intelligence reports indicate that the messaging — and the sanctions — don't seem to have gotten through to the Kremlin, as there's still evidence Russia is working to undermine the electoral process stateside. Foreign policy experts have also suggested current sanction policy doesn't always prove to be a deterrent, since Moscow views them as permanent and therefore has little incentive to change its behavior purely based on those actions.
When every bullsh*t, easily disproven, politically-motivated story is believed and sanctioned, then Russia is right - they're permanent.
And since the charges are entirely fictional, there's no behavior that Russia can change to satisfy Washington.
So what happens the next time some BS story about Russia is reported? What exactly are we going to threaten them with since there's nothing left to sanction?
Are we going to move troops to the border? Oops, that's already been done too.
Just in case there was any doubt that the accusations against Russia were total lies, take a look at this development.
Russia’s exports of petroleum products to the United States more than doubled in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period last year, reaching their highest levels since at least 2004, Russian outlet RBC reported, citing Russian customs data.
Russia’s oil products exports to the U.S. jumped to 9.1 million tons between January and June 2020, up from 4 million tons for the same period in 2019.
The U.S. was Russia’s second-largest buyer of oil products – accounting for 12 percent of Russia’s petroleum products exports – after the Netherlands, which accounted for 16.3 percent of all oil product exports, the customs data showed.
We are the second biggest buyer of Russian oil in the world. Does that sound to you like someone who feels threatened by Russian?
Comments
I'm going to have to see that evidence immediately.
Brennan can produce it, or it's a lie.
You want proof? Just say the word Russia and you got it.
Saw this current piece in the online version of The Oregonian, biggest paper in OR.
How a Bible burning in Portland reveals Russia’s efforts to upend the 2020 U.S. election
So the basic contention is that a video taken by Ruptly (Russian video news) of a a bible and flag burning that went viral among conservatives was Russian efforts to undermine the election. From what I can tell doing a search, this video was big in right wing sites. Compare this to images of a burning elk statue which went international. I am sure that now environmentalists will change their vote to Trump at such an outrage.
How images of a bible and flag burning, which happened, effects the election is anybody's guess in the middle of a pandemic and national economic collapse. This portends just a continual stream of the most absurd claims until Jesus comes back. The best one to date is that Russians want Trump to win and the Chinese and Iranians want Biden to win. Americans apparently have no choice in the matter.
Given what is happening in Portland, I doubt if conservatives need any reason to vote against Biden. How does this compare to American media showing a Navy vet getting beaten and maced in changing opinions? Isn't that video causing division?
So the creative license here is it must involve something Russian. No more proof needed.
BTW Ruptly was the only news organization with video of Julian Assange being taken out of the Ecuadorian embassy. No other news outlets around.
Rutly responds to NYT article about bible burning.
It's entirely possible..
That some clickbait farm in Russia is posting puppy memes on facebook.
and to some that counts as "evidence".
You mentioned that the other day
...and I'm still chuckling over it. Yet, I fear it could be true. These Neocons are saboteurs.
Sanctions against our European allies also counterproductive
From RT last month:
US sanctions move for Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline spells end of Transatlantic bond – German ex-Chancellor Schroeder
Every aspect of Russia Gate has been exposed as bunk
From Mueller saying that he saw no evidence of Trump colluding with Putin to how the FBI lied on their Fisa Warrants to how CrowdStrike admitted that they saw no evidence that Russia hacked the DNC computers. But hey once you've made up your mind to a conspiracy theory why let facts change your mind.
But oh isn't it fun to make fun of people who believe in conspiracy theories? Centrists laugh all day at what the QAnon folks believe.
LMAO:
So how does Kos who was pushing for Warren to be Joe's VP react to Kamala's pick?
Which goes back to the poll that 51% of Bernie supporters will not vote for Biden. Gee I wonder if that number has gone up?
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
In the end, it didn't matter who Biden picked
He's a Fake candidate who belongs in Adult Day Care, not in the White House.
On the other hand, he's
the perfect candidate for those who would stick their hands up his ass and wiggle his arms and jaw like some obscene meat-puppet. And he'll probably and predictably keel over soon without any effort on their part, and make way for their anointed authoritarian. Candidates with all those desirable properties are hard to come by...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
The nomination of Biden looks like to me
It looks like Democrats giving up.
Giving up on a better world. Giving up on a better future. Giving up on any possibility of reforming our political system.
It's just sad.
The Democratic Bosses are fighting for their ideology
It's an ideology made possible by the stealth of Obama and Obiden.
They can only win if they trick the Left into joining the Democratic Party — as they have successfully done.
The Left have been chasing crumbs for decades.
This question is now required on entry to TOP.
Putin is:
a. Devil
b. Lucifer
c. All above.
We know that Putin is all of the above because.
a. Shut your mouth you Russian puppet.
This is where it could get scary
Inevitably there will be a report of Russia doing something that we disapprove of.
Politically it will demand a response.
And then someone will report that we've already sanctioned everything.
So the response will be "but we have to do something!"
We've long since given up on diplomacy. And now we've run out of economic bullets.
And that only leaves punishing our allies or a military response.
Neither of which have a good outcome.
Media and democrats believe not enough hurt on Russia
In the propaganda narrative that Trump is Putin's best friend, they have come to believe and push the point that Putin/Russia have not been punished enough--of course due to Putin and Trump being secret gay lovers. And of course, if Biden wins, the push will be to take it to Russia/Putin somehow. Naturally, given the current sanctions only more extreme measures would be available which include military action (most likely in Syria).
There's some interesting stuff going on there
I'm going to try to knock out a diary about Syria today.
Proxy War is an understatement.
Going directly after allies now.
I still think that Biden at least will try to totally kick Russia out of SWIFT. But so far SWIFT has declined to do it. But of course this would also hurt countries and banks trying to do business in Russia. The result of course is that both Russia and China has set up systems for payments outside of SWIFT.
But with Nord Stream 2, the US is imposing sanctions directly on allies. And the Germans are none too pleased with Merkel's FM ranting about the US trying to dictate Germany's energy policies.
There is this idea that Biden can repair the damage that Trump created with the Europeans. Well, I think Biden will go even more ballistic on sanctions which will cause a lot of anger on the part of the EU as they will have to foot the bill.
They can't stop nord stream 2
The fact that you have US senators calling private citizens in Germany to threaten them only proves that the German government isn't going to bend the knee.
Of course it's not being reported that way.
It's similar to how it doesn't get reported this pipeline controversy is all about Russia not wanting to fund hostile foreign governments.
I think you're right
Because Biden would be run by the Neocons, who now populate the Democratic Party. You could watch them as they overran that think-tank rat-lab they operate at Daily Kos.
The latest from the DK think tank
Good lord. This piece is full of propaganda and lots of made up facts. The folks who denigrate Putin don't know what the F they are talking about. They think that Putin has kept the country in poverty because he's mean and that is what mean people do when the truth is that he cut the military budget to lift more people out of poverty. You know the poverty we helped create after the fall of the USSR and we installed Yeltzin so we could asset strip the country? Putin came in and put a stop to that and any billionaire that wouldn't get on board with rebuilding the country was put in jail. We keep increasing our military budget no matter how many of us fall further into poverty. Putin cut his by 10%. Our congress including most democrats voted against a 10% cut in ours.
The author of this diary has been the biggest cheerleader to keep Russia Gate going. Even after the truth about it was released he has kept pushing propaganda. And lots of them swallow it. The whole republican party is working for Putin. Do they know how insane that sounds? And the only thing dems had a problem with that scenario is that Trump wouldn't give Ukraine lethal weapons to fight against Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Never any mention of how we are propping up the same Nazi group that our grandfathers fought during WWII though.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/8/12/1968631/-Russia-s-COVID-19-va...
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
They be mad that Trump is removing troops from Germany
but apparently could care less that many of them are joining NATO troops in countries that border Russia. Yeah I am sure Putin told Trump that he wanted that to happen. Clinton blew our chance for peace after the collapse of the USSR and instead set us on a path to permanent war. Clinton was the greater evil.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
He is their version of Goebbels
Lots of good information on the vaccine and propaganda on it.
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/08/western-media-falsely-claim-that-r...
That's an excellent reference.
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/08/western-media-falsely-claim-that-r...
Displaying again the horrific propaganda smothering the US.
Thanks, Mr Webster
You should see the xenophobic rant on Russia
and Putin that Sumner wrote on DK. He takes so many liberties with the truth it’s just downright laughable. No links to back it up either. Then there’s the echo chamber that weighs in. But this was one of his worst.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
I did look at it when you mentioned it before
...but I was too overcome by disgust to comment. Sumner's article was seething in ignorance, and was based on a willful misinterpretation of the Russian announcement pushed by US propaganda media — accusing Russia of its own failings:
.
The reality is that Russia has not approved a vaccine against Covid-19 and it is not skipping large-scale clinical trials.
Newspapers around the globe have picked up on this Anglo mental disorder of continuous lying to provoke Russia — and the disgrace of US media. They point out the truth as does MOA:
.
The rest of it was just a depressing display of mental degeneration.
Dumb, Dumber, and even More Stupid.
Apparently, that's how we run.
The usefulness of "The Enemy"
Orwell, in the novel 1984, talks about the usefulness of the state perpetually creating an enemy. The identity changes from time to time and the people are always willing to hate the new enemy.
From Wiki:
We are now witnessing this full-on, using first Muslim countries, and then Russia and then China and back and forth. This is utter and complete bullshit, and dangerous as hell.
Take Russia as an example. What has Russia done to the US? I can't come up with a single thing that is anything other than US media fantasy. What has the US done to Russia? The list is endless. The US is continuing the British tradition of centuries of irrational hate and fear of Russia. The irony here, which is well appreciated by Russians, is that Russia completes Europe. It has everything that Europe lacks. Europe becomes a much greater power when integrated with Russia. Russia would like that also, and is predisposed to favor Europe. The fact that is is being driven towards the East is an enormous loss for the West. Russia can, and will, complete China (and India).
The usefulness of Russia as an enemy works at every level in the West. My local congresscritter, Seth Moulton, had a town hall in which his main theme was that Russia is a very dangerous enemy and he will protect us in Congress with aggressive legislation against Russia. He cited the often used "17 intelligence agencies said". It was a magnificent display of complete bullshit, but oriented to get him elected.
This will prove to be an incredibly costly tactic. The world "gets it". The US cannot rule if it is hated and the people see through this bullshit. Both Russia and China are independent and well defended against American aggression, economic, propaganda and other. They become stronger, more independent and better respected around the world. I don't see how we change. Hate and fear are well baked into our society as effective marketing tools.
Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.