b. traven
How ridiculous can this be? The Clinton/Obama effort to Blame it on Putin (BOP) is more of a ‘reach’ than the illusory WMD was. Will James Clapper get a national Medal of Honor for letting the CIA carry water for this, like Tenet got for helping Bush’s lying us into Iraq?
Who knows what really has taken place? We can be sure that Russia, just like us, has hackers working hard to get into Lockheed’s secrets on our military planes. And I am sure that, the report that the Russians hacked into an insecure Pentagon messaging system is probably true, but it is a reach to think that Vladimir Putin personally told his hackers to let us know that the Democratic National Committee connived with the Clinton campaign to sh*tcan Sanders primary success.
Where did all of this start? It started when the WikiLeaks released the e-mails that showed how the DNC, in coordination with the Clinton primary campaign,was systematically undermining the Sander’s campaign which was gaining momentum. To divert attention from the damaging content of the leaked messages Hillary Clinton immediately blamed the leaks on the Russians. No surprise since Russia has been on her radar for “regime change” for a long time.
Targetting Putin is a major escalation which has a vastly broader goal than covering up the DNC’s and Clinton’s collusion to sink Sanders’ campaign. Why make Putin personally responsible for a scenario about which no serious evidence has been shared that the Russian State was at all interested in our election at that early stage in election season. Try these reasons on for size:
- Who is Donald Trump’s BF?
- Does this BOP help de-legitimize Trump and set a trap for his foreign policy?
- Does this, just maybe, stand a chance of eliminating Trump’s electoral victory?
- Does this make the DNC-Clinton-Obama loss in the election due to the Russians and Putin rather than their own failures?
This is a desperate and dangerous game the Democrats are playing, one that could rattle the democratic process far more than the unfortunate election of Trump itself. In this article Peter Van Buren explores the dangers of where the BOP effort could lead us, something far more dangerous than the Bush Administration lies about WMDs a decade ago.
The Contrary Perspective 
One thing is certain, traven: the Democrats didn’t lose because of Russian hacking. They lost because they undermined their populist candidate (Sanders) and embraced their Republican-lite one (Hillary). She may have won the popular vote, but she didn’t win enough votes in critical states to carry the electoral college, despite her vaunted organization and all of its money. For that error, the blame is squarely on her (and their) shoulders.
As President John F. Kennedy famously said: “The Ship of State leaks from the top.” Therefore, when real information somehow manages to find its way into the public sphere for the edification of the citizenry, it pays to suspect a leak from a disgruntled but well-placed insider rather than some nefarious computer hack perpetrated by omnipotent foreigners or some computer-knowledgeable teenagers with a cell phone and a WI-FI connection to either You-Know-Her’s home-bathroom server or Anthony Weiner (Clinton aide Huma Abedin’s husband)’s personal computer, which he used mainly for displaying pictures of his genitalia to teenage girls online. I mean, either a “Deep Throat” FBI informant (like the one who brought down Richard Nixon during Watergate) did the leaking of You-Know-Her’s and John Podesta’s e-mails or the NSA, CIA, and entire U.S. “intelligence community” have proved once again that they have no earthly reason for their existence. I mean, haven’t they, by this transparent resort to cheap scapegoating, proved once again that they collectively possess neither intelligence nor competence when it comes to “defending” America from more technically savvy foreign leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin. How ignorant, weak, and incompetent America’s erstwhile “leaders” (like You-Know-Her and Barack Obama) look by comparison.
BIOP (“Blame It On Putin”) indeed.
Furthermore, none of this farcical blame-shifting by Democratic Party “leaders” makes any logical or consistent sense. The Clinton and Podesta e-mails — and no one has disputed their authenticity — clearly show the Democratic National Committee working in league with You-Know-Her’s campaign to promote the candidacy of Donald Trump because, ostensibly, You-Know-Her would have the easiest time defeating him and his crazy cabal of idiot “advisers” like Newt Gingrich, Rudi Giuliani, and Chris Christy. So, in truth and oh-so-ironically, no one bears a greater responsibility for Donald Trump than the Democratic Party and You-Know-Her — the Damsel of Distress, as I like to call her — who put in real resources and much time goading the corporate media into shamelessly publicizing everything that this narcissistic billionaire political rookie said and did. Therefore, if Russian President Vladimir Putin indeed engineered the election of Donald Trump, then no one served him as a more “useful idiot” dupe and tool than You-Know-Her, Barack Obama, Bubba Bill and the rest of the sorry Democratic Party “leadership.”
Q.E.D. (“Thus it is Demonstrated”)
Thanks for bringing up the “Pied Piper” strategy, which was Hillary’s campaign strategy to get the weakest candidate (Trump, she thought) to win the Republican primary in order for her to more easily beat him. Trump was an accidental president. He did not expect to win. But you can’t rig against low turnout, and so he did. This election has truly exposed the desperation and hollowness of the Democratic Party, as their arrogance in not having to make sense when it suits their purpose shows. The election has been a perfect storm and the milieu following it sort of like weathering a pyroplastic flow, both on the ground as relationships are sundered, and externally, if you believe the mainstream media. Division! Division! screams the Bum’s Rush.
For those of us well-grounded in disdain for the Uniparty (that behemoth wearing both Democratic and Republican outfits, as necessary) it is a time of bliss and opportunity. Broad swaths of the populace are in agreement about much (not wanting endless war, universal healthcare, bringing jobs back home). This is nowhere to be found in the media although some blogger/podcasters courageously voice it. In this miasma the public waits, watches and as usual in times of heavy propaganda, sees through it. Will we even matter?
The real news is taking place underneath the distraction, Unheralded measures flew through Congress, (and will continue to do so for the rest of the year), establishing a DOD ministry of news to guard against “Fake News”, e.g., Russian propaganda; lifting sanctions on providing arms to opposition groups in Syria; and more. Trying to lock the next president into a nice quagmire in Syria, just in case their bid to have the Electoral College reject him doesn’t work. Welcome to Game of Thrones. You could not make this stuff up.
Are these the lashing tentacles of the dying Demstablishment, or are they the tail of the Uniparty repositioning itself? I believe it is the latter, as concurrent moves are being made in the UK, in Germany, and in Israel re the control of the press. So maybe it is the New World Order we’re actually dealing with here. By the end of next year we will know, won’t we? After all, it is the Year of the Rooster, a good time for all chickens to come home to roost.
With fond hopes to see you then, from my henhouse I remain
Faithfully yours,
Kathryn Barbour
Thanks, Kathy. Good to see you back in action. As usual, you done good, girl.
Thanks especially for reminding me of that “Pied Piper” electoral gambit revealed in the John Podesta e-malls. I had intended to write an essay on this subject, but one thing led to another and I got distracted by other concerns.
I know that you keep up-to-date on such things, but for those who missed this incredible insight into the strategically insane – if not politically suicidal – world of “deep thinking” in the Democratic Party, Ben Norton of Salon.com (Thursday, Nov 10, 2016 05:30 AM CST) wrote a post-election account of it entitled:
How the Hillary Clinton campaign deliberately “elevated” Donald Trump with its “pied piper” strategy: An email released by WikiLeaks shows how the Democratic Party purposefully “elevated” Trump to “leader of the pack”
Writing up an essay on this fascinating topic will take more time than I can spare right now, but I promise to get right on it. I owe you one. And this I can promise you: neither Julian Assange (an Australian journalist) nor Vladimir Putin (the current Russian President) will have made me write a word of it. I just love deconstructing bastardized children’s fables misused by lunatic American political and military “leaders.”
Thanks again for the timely and appropriate reminder.
Mike and Kathryn, the timing of your posts was just made rather fascinating by CNN’s website (which I use for my computer home page). Large headline: “McCAIN’S OMINOUS WARNING” Sub-headline: “Senator: Hacks May Mean The World Order Is Unraveling” And has ever there been a World Order (call it Old or New, as you wish) more deserving of unraveling?? The UN sits on its hands while Syria collapses into apparent universal slaughter, the uber-rich have never been richer compared to the rest of us, the polar ice caps accelerate their melting…I’m sure you get the picture. Sen. McCain, of course, is part of the problem, not the solution. At this point, is there even a glimmer of a solution on the horizon? President-Elect Trump has offered no concrete plans for dealing with the crisis in Syria and its wider region–he’d say it’s because, unlike Obama, he doesn’t believe in informing “the enemy” of his plans in advance. He has nominated a “Mad Dog” Marine general to run the Pentagon. This gentleman is said to possess a personal library of 7,000 volumes, all of which he has allegedly read. I would love to ask him if he believes the US learned anything from its defeat in Vietnam. The best grasp I can get on military tactics under Trump, given his vagueness, is that he would like to drop enough bombs on the Middle East to level every building. Guess what, Donald? That was done to the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and the US still had to settle for a stalemate! So I say good riddance to the current World Order! Unfortunately, there will be unprecedented levels of destruction and suffering before a better order can ever arise. There’s my own “ominous warning” as large parts of the world prepare to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace. Happy Holidays!
I have observed that many otherwise level-headed, “liberal” leaning folks on Facebook (I don’t have a Twitter account and never will) have swallowed the anti-Putin propaganda campaign. They can’t look at themselves in the mirror and admit that Madam Clinton lost because she was such a wretched, unpopular candidate. They fell “in love” with Hillary only because she WASN’T Trump. It’s political denial probably on an unprecedented scale in this country.
For some time now, I’ve opted for NBC TV News as my source of dubious daily information. I could just as well choose CBS or ABC, but for now it’s NBC. Of course I subject everything I see and hear to a plausibility test. I want to note here, since others haven’t mentioned it, that several weeks before the US elections NBC anchor Lester Holt came on air gushing with enthusiasm that the Obama administration had given his organization an exclusive look at their own “counter-hacking” operations. We were told that “hundreds” of ace hackers were mobilized and ready to sucker-punch (they would say merely “counter-punch”) the evil Russkies; Obama merely had to give the word. If the current accusations against Russia are true–which I totally reject–it would seem that these ace hackers should all get pink slips immediately! Yeah, great job, fellas and gals! This is all just a smallish aspect of the propaganda war, “the New Cold War,” that’s been underway against Russia for years now. The USA, of course, has a long and very sordid history of taking direct action to remove from office foreign leaders of which it disapproves. (They couldn’t get rid of Fidel, though!) This goes far beyond merely issuing propaganda. Are the Russians using propaganda against the US? Of course. Standard operating procedure. Did the Russians directly interfere, as in altering the results at US polling places on November 8, as the more hysterical accusations imply? Poppycock!!
Finally, Peter Van Buren suggests concerns over the Trump administration “burn[ing] civil rights to the ground” and “destroy[ing] life on the planet” are overblown. This is a bit too flippant for my liking. It is no exaggeration to say that these particular ideologues would LIKE to bring about the former; it only remains to be seen how much they can get away with. As to the second menace, we are already well down the road to self-extinction. Nevertheless, filling governmental posts with anti-science oil company executives and employees is decidedly NOT what the planet needs.
1. I have not seen anything which would compel me to agree that the President claims the Russkies meddled with votes cast at polling sites.
2. HRC is lashing out when nothing she says about anything, but especially reasons for her defeat, improves upon silence.
3. Dealing with Russian computer hacking related to the 2016 United States presidential election is a matter of national security and has to be undertaken by the present administration. Right now. End of story.
Dealing with computer hacking of headquarters of political parties by foreign governments/agents which does not affect ballots cast at any local American precinct ideally could be dealt with using a number of strategies, some of which do not include immediate sunlight on the situation.*
There would be risks associated with publicly silent backchannel negotiations/reckoning, of course (5 & 6 Dec 1941, for example), as there always is with discovered espionage (which is what this hacking situation is all about, after all) concealed from the public for strategic reasons.
Doesn’t matter now though, does it, because that ship sailed weeks if not months ago. No, this is a shit mess which has to be publicly cleaned up while everyone watches, even as Putin drags his feet trying to delay until his comrade is sworn in Jan 20, thinking that is when he will be able to pick up a Get Out of Jail Free card from the deck. Which, despite what President Chump might personally prefer, will not happen then, either.
I hope worse things don’t result in this sordid process. I’m glad Obama will handle it instead of Pence and the three generals. Oh, and President (elect) Chump, of course. But no matter how it all turns out geopolitically/strategically, we are all muddy now and pig Putin loves it.
*Thankfully, there is no need to consider the limited and potentially catastrophic — domestic & international — response set from which to select if actual votes had been altered, or deleted, or a large number cast which could be tracked back to illegal voters.
Just a quick response: I pointed out that media “reporting”–may as well call it sensationalistic speculating, in this “Post-Truth Era”–and Clinton supporters in denial are making it sound as if Russian hackers tampered with actual election results. And Obama himself has openly accused Putin/Russia of influencing, meddling, interfering, intervening–pick your term–in the election process to seek their preferred outcome. This is all innuendo and good old McCarthyite slander. Since the US government offers not a shred of proof, Obama would step in even deeper doo-doo if he joined the chorus of more hysterical, sensational accusations. He continues to say that at the right time, he will unleash his “hundreds” of ace hackers against Russia. Yup. Shades of that “red line” he drew in the sands of Syria and immediately backtracked on. Not a very appealing “legacy” you’re bequeathing to the world, Mr. Obama.
T. S. Eliot — in the last stanza of his poem “The Hollow Men,” accurately foretold the lame, inept end of the Barack Obama presidency:
This is how the world ends.
This is how the world ends.
This is how the world ends,
Not with a bang, but a whimper.
It goes beyond simple whimpering for the Democratic Party to blame the Russians and their several-times elected President, Vladimir Putin, for performing a remote Vulcan mind-meld on the credulous Zombie American voters, compelling them against their better judgement to elect the distasteful Donald Trump instead of the revolting You-Know-Her whom they otherwise would have elected if not for President Putin’s awesome powers of compulsion. However you slice it: either President Putin made us elect Trump because of his power over us, or we couldn’t stop him from making us elect Trump because of our own weakness. We Americans — especially our “security services” — sure do look like inept, whimpering crybabies. And this is how the Obama administration ends, whimpering all the way.
Remember a week before the election when FBI Director Comey gave Clinton a pass on breaking the law but made clear that her decision making was flawed? At the time the Clinton camp, including Hillary, claimed that Comey’s timing harmed her campaign and then when she lost they claimed his statement was crucial to her loss.
Fast forward a few weeks and doesn’t it seem strange that the FBI joined the other intelligence and enforcement agencies in endorsing the “evidence” (where is it?) that Russia hacked the Democratic DNC and otherwise “meddled” in our election. All of this tending to help clear Clinton’s faults (which the hacked e-mails exposed) and raise questions about Trumps relationship to Putin and Russia.
Here is a conspiracy theory to ponder. Of the three, the CIA is the operational heavy-weight that can effect US foreign policy and CIA likes Clinton’s confrontational attitude towards Russia and are unnerved by Trump’s possible detente position vis-a-vis Russia. So this kerfuffle is really a quiet coup by the intelligence agencies to get the country and Trump back on track for a renewed “cold war.” Got to keep those arms makers happy.
traven.
Russian hacking clearly explains why there were more votes counted in Hillary-land Detroit than were cast. After all, I think it was a Russian who observed that who voted was not important, but who counted the votes.
Walter Good to hear from you again. I do wonder why we haven’t heard from Sarah Palin on this issue since she can see Russia from her back porch.
Very droll, “traven”! One sign that Donald Trump is NOT an idiot–though I can think of innumerable other less than complimentary words to describe him–is that he has NOT named Palin to a governmental post, despite speculation he would. That is, he hasn’t made such a move YET. I guess he could still appoint her Official Climate Change Denier-in-Chief, as this has become her special area of interest.
It is pretty ridiculous, isn’t it? The oligarchic rape of Russian resources with the puppet Yeltsin was reversed by Putin, and that still rankles as Russia’s vast resources were thought to be “won” for the multinational corporate elite. So the geopolitical aims of the oligarchs and their minion warmongers must be greased with lies because the truth just gets in the way. Kind of like Russia being “in the way.”
The truth about Putin’s presidency and internationalism, the Ukraine coup, the Crimean referendum, and the terrorizing of Syria is not a topic of consideration because it upsets the whole good -guy, bad-guy paradigm that deceivers and self-righteous simpletons like best. So they all chime in with their deceptions and stupidities as if something besides their bottom lines depended on it.
“The reporting on the supposed Russian hack of the elections is one of the most egregious examples of unprofessional journalism since 2003, particularly because of the stakes involved.”
https://consortiumnews.com/2016/12/19/russia-hack-story-another-media-failure/
I really think that Russia can’t be forgiven for the following “crimes”: 1.) the Bolshevik Revolution and the very survival of the USSR for almost 75 years (its perversion under Stalin is way too big a topic to dwell on here); 2.) the victorious march of the Soviet Red Army to Berlin, which forced the US to frantically accelerate its own efforts in the European Theater of War; 3.) the removal from the Capitalist Sphere for several decades of a large swath of Eastern Europe; 4.) Soviet assistance to revolutionary China before their falling out; 5.) Soviet acquisition of the technology to counter the US’s hoped for world monopoly on nuclear weaponry; 6.) Soviet assistance to revolutionary Cuba, the latter still a thorn in US Imperialism’s side; 7.) Soviet firsts in launching an artificial Earth satellite and putting humans into space; 8.) Soviet assistance to Viet Nam, empowering it to inflict a humiliating defeat on the US colossus–a defeat the US government has never acknowledged.
Thus, in what passes for minds at Departments of State, “Defense,” etc., there is still an equal sign between the USSR and today’s Russia under Putin. Ossified minds move sluggishly! Memo to Washington D.C.: A new year approacheth. It will NOT be 1951, 1961, 1971 nor 1981.