An Old American Story: Foreign Government Interfering In American Elections. Watch Out for the New Story

putin-bombI don’t like Putin’s or the anti-American criminal cabal that surrounds him. I have accepted that since the 1917 Russian Revolution and the establishment of the Bolshevik government in Russia and what was to become the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics that it has been the goal of those who have been in power in the USSR and Russia (except for a short period after 1989) to undermine the United States.

Looking back at the beginning of the 20th century I find it interesting to see how many in America supported the overthrow of the Tsar Nicholas II. It was hoped that the Russian people would then organize themselves into a democracy. Unfortunately that did not happen.

Under communist rule it became a large prison where vast amounts of people suffered through great famines and losses of liberty – words such as gulag and Walter Duranty would become well-known.  We allied ourselves with the USSR in our fight against the Nazis but shortly after that victory the Iron Curtain came down and the USSR began the imprisonment of its own people.

Now we see as we have seen through the years there have always been groups of Americans looking kindly upon a nation where the people have little rights. The socialists became communists after the Russian Revolution and worked under Moscow’s direction seeking to provoke an overthrow of our country; we suffered through the Cold War rubbing against each other so often that during 1962 we were prepared to nuke each other. We are now at the stage where Putin the Good according to the Trumpeteers is someone we should associate with – apparently his good is that he is homophobic and pro-life. That is enough for some to admire him as being “very, very, very intelligent.”

These are the new Walter Durantys. He, as most know, was writing admiring articles in the New York Times about Joseph Stalin who was in the process of starving millions of  people in Ukraine who he controlled. Look up the word Holodomor. It is the overlooked genocide of the 20th Century. Like with Putin, some Americans could point to some things that they found favor with when it came to Stalin and ignore all the inherent evil of the man and his system.

Former ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said everyone there knows they are under surveillance and that they are constantly engaged in disinformation campaigns, disinformation being another word for lying. It is known by Russian experts that when Putin took over after his short hiatus, A raw and resentful anti-Americanism, unknown since the seventies, suffused Kremlin policy and the state-run airwaves.” 

Russia is not our friend and while Putin is in power it will never be since he needs us as his enemy to keep up his heavy hand at home. We are now reading how upset many in our Congress are that Russia undertook to influence the outcome of the election between Trump and Clinton by favoring the former. We are told this is an outrageous attempt by a foreign government to interfere with the American presidential election.

Now as you can tell I am not about to minimize anything when it comes to the Russians. However it must be pointed out that this is nothing new. Foreign leaders have in the past tried to interfere and few seemed to complain about it. Wasn’t it only four years ago that Benjamin Netanyahu came to America and was invited to speak before Congress (imagine that happening to Putin) while at the same time he was supporting the Republican candidate Romney and working against the American president Obama.

How then one must ask is there such a furor over Putin’s activities when those of Netanyahu were of the same moment?  I am sure there have been prior interferences by other foreign governments in the same way we have interfered with elections in other countries. The uproar over this is watching an old act (the election) in a side ring of the three-ring circus. In the center ring which is the main part of the show we should be watching what Russia’s role will be in Trump’s America. Is Trump going to be our next Walter Duranty?

23 Comments

  1. Ms Freeh: That was a long post. Use more of your own writing. I want to know about what you think, not, all these others. I can find that second-hand stuff for myself.

    • Dear msfreeh, That’s impressive information about people paid to protect us who are pedophiles. I keep thinking of your response to my comment concerning Khalid’s friend “crazy about 9111.” You responded with a comment containing information about a committee investigating 9/11. That was a very impressive list of concerned Americans. My recent posts mentioned William Camuti never facing trial for murdering Stephen Rakes (it’s been three and a half years). I wrote that Matt writing a Patriot Ledger article questioning why Wllliam Camuti has never faced trial would be “a wonderful Christmas gift for America.” We still have a week before Christmas. Maybe Matt would undertake that not to difficult task. It would be a wonderful gift for America.

  2. The arch-reactionary restoration era Provencal philosopher was a conservative’s conservative. He didn’t approve of the French Revolution. Shaykh Abd-al Qadir as-Sufi lifted his whole kooky political theory from de Mastries. The Shaykh just replaced the Pope with the Kalipha in his version of de Mastries’ thought.

  3. “Toute nation a le gouvernement qu’elle mérite.”
    (“Every nation gets the government it deserves.”) – Joseph de Maistre

    https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_de_Maistre

  4. The thumbnail sketch of US-Russian relations was accurate but it left out one very important element. With the abandonment of communism the Russian economy went into a tailspin that hastened the death of millions, especially older males. The new rulers reached out to America who sent a Harvard “expert’ to advise on the transition to a more market oriented economy.

    Jeffrey Sachs was a disaster for the Russian people only comparable to a lost war. The natural resources and state corporations were set upon by shipload of pirates that stripped the country bare. Putin has clawed back a goodly portion of the wealth. He is hated for doing so.

    Much of the biased anti-Putin reporting that has formed the narrative reflects the financial power of the tiny group of individuals who, though still mega-wealthy, have lost vast riches to Putin’s nationalist resurgence. Russian men are now living longer. But Russia’s psychic scars remain.

    Jeffrey Sachs besmirched America’s reputation in Russia. He enriched a cabal of criminals, thieves and murderers. The fall out continues. The Russians resent being robbed. The Oligarchs are filled with malice at being called to justice in some small measure. The whole loathsome tale was celebrated in a popular TV program, The Oligarchs, narrating the exploits of ten of the eleven richest, newly minted, Jeffrey Sachs enabled, billionaires.

    http://www.countercurrents.org/avnery020804.htm

    It is a tawdry tale of the triumph of criminality. There are substantial links between the policy of Sachs, the dual citizen Oligarchs and the anti-Putin animus of the neocon media figures promoting wars. Draw your own conclusions about what binds them all together.

    • Tadzio:

      Ah! So the light of the Trump has caused you to become starry eyed. It wasn’t Putin whose friends in the KGB enriched themselves it was some pirates. Yes, Putin has clawed back the wealth and put it in the hands of his buddies and himself. The CIA estimated his wealth at 40 billion in 2007. (Oh, you would rather believe Putin than the CIA and believe he only made $`119,000 last year.)

      Have you read: Red Note. You should. It will give you an idea of how wealth is handled in Russia today. The article you referred me to was written in 2004. Did you know that Putin’s on in law is a billionaire and he was practically broke before he married Putin’s daughter. You may want to look at this most current site about Putin and his friends: http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/russia-capitalism-shamalov/

      • The article was written in 2004 by a former MK. It describes events that took place over the previous 12 or so years. The events are still echoing in anti-Putin rhetoric.

        It comes as no surprise that Putin and his cohort are self-enriching. If your numbers are correct, he is better at it than the Clintons and they are very good at it.

        The Russian misery during the 1990s and for years thereafter in great measure resulted from US ‘assistance’. It is a pity that further corruption has happened since then, but that is an internal Russian problem. It is none of America’s business.

        The Russian ex-pats and their MSM toadies vilifying Putin should be given short shrift. These thieves offer nothing to us. On the other hand Putin is in place. Accept it. Do business with him. Stay at peace with Russia. America is not the world’s policeman. If you look at Washington, neither is it much of a example of piety as far as corruption – political, financial or moral, is concerned.

        At one point in history America was a source of hope to much of the globe. That is no more. The people who laid low that which inspired many are the very same people who are prancing about, virtue signalling, with their snouts high in the air while stolen riches drip down from those snouts that rummage about in the fetid trough that is Washington.

        The anti-Putin propaganda aims at war. Whatever Putin’s faults they are not worth the clippings off one fingernail of a single American lad. Our foreign policy should be America First. That means minding our own business. That means peace.

        • Tadzio:

          That is a narrow perspective on America’s role in the world. Like it or not without us being involved beyond our borders the world will go to hell in a handbag. The avoidance of world wide wars has been because of America’s willingness to stand up for other nations. Minding our own business will not bring peace. Helping other nations stay free will. We cannot pretend the rest of the world does not exist.

  5. What I suggest the intriguing Putin interference story has to do with the fact thst under 60,000 votes spread over I think four states decided the electoral college. My computer contacts have been telling me since summer how easy it would be to hack electronic voting in a reasonably subtle and undetectable way. This must be the elephant in some Washington rooms thinking constitutional crisis. I would give one to four odds on it having happened. The fun is only beginning. Just one unimportant citizen’s opinion.

    • Doug:

      America is mad up of “unimportant citizens” but if we work together to better the country we do acquire a bit of importance. True the 60,000 votes over 4 states put Trump into office but that is the way the system works. As Obama noted in his talk today when asked about the Electoral College that is the way it was set up pointing out that Wyoming with a half a million people and California with 39 million each have two senators.

      Obama dismissed any suggestion that the electronic vote was tampered with. That horse has gone out of the barn. The voters will give the Trump the presidency next Monday when the electors meet and vote.

      I like to tell people who were born too late to enjoy the turbulent 1960s that they are going to see a rerun of them next year with the arrival of spring.

  6. Putin is the modern day Tsar of Russia. Glorious Leader wants to be the Putin of America. That’s not hard to figure out. We’ll even have our own creepy royal family. Don’t conflate Putin’s Russia with the USSR. There’s nothing socialist about Putin’s program. Like the Tsar, Putin has a share of everything making money in Russia. The Tsar’s lion-share in the economy was a huge complaint of the 1917revolutionaries, both bourgeois, and, socialist. In late Tsarist Russia, entrepreneurs found that they couldn’t found any industries, or, exploit any resources, without cutting in the Tsar, and, his family. To get ahead, one had to be a courtier, or, have access to a courtier. Glorious Leader will impose a similar corrupt system once he assumes power. We need no Tsar in America. Impeach Trump, as soon as possible.

    Will it take a terrible war coming upon us from outside to make Americans wake up? That’s what’s coming, unless Trump, and his greedy nits can be derailed.

    • Khalid:

      You are right on the money with the creepy royal Trump family. They will make the Kennedys, Clintons, and Bushes look like amateurs. I’d guess is daughter Ivanka is being primed to run in eight years for the job; that is unless Hillary can make a come back in four. I know Senator Warpath is planning to run but she and Bernie the Socialist will finish each other off leaving Hillary alone in the front. Before the terrible war there will be Sixty type disturbances. We will get a chance to see how the Trump acts to them. Will they open fire on Americans?

      • I think much will depend on “deep state” resistance to the Trump agenda. The FBI is now lining up with the CIA to question Trump’s ties to Putin. I was worried that a politicized FBI would ignore Trump’s connections to Moscow. The opposing sides in this momentous struggle are starting to take shape. The situation is changing by the hour.

        Overseas the battle for Mosul is not going well. The numbers of attacking troops have blossomed to 100,000 from the original thirty thousand (remember Monty’s dictum: 3-to-1). Despite that increase, the DAESH are counter-attacking, and, taking back lost ground in the eastern half of Mosul. Coalition air-power has not prevented IS from taking advantage of its interior lines, and, freely moving units between Iraq, and, Syria. They chased the Russians out of Palmyra a couple days ago. Ash Carter had to fly in, and, re-assess the whole situation. Does that sound like US proxies are prevailing? According to the Defense Dept, there’s already 5000 US troops on the ground. That’s a bit of VN style mendacity, there’s at least double that, and, a good portion are banging away on the front lines. Bodies are going to start coming back, soon. No one seems to, or, wants to, remember how most VN war era US generals proved to be complete incompetents. The only one who escaped that mess with his reputation intact, was Rosson up in I Corp. Iraq war II will be a similar cluster-fuck, only worse.

  7. Matt: I don’t know where the disinformation is coming from. (Remember WMD?)
    1. Julian Assange, Wikileaks founder, says the DNC and Podesta email leaks did NOT come from the Russians.
    2. Historically the Japanese Empire was as brutal as Stalin’s Soviet Empire. We’ve made allies of Japan; we can do the same for Russia. It doesn’t help to dredge up the atrocities of WWII as reasons for beating war drums today.
    3. I’ve read today, that the US is moving armored units to Poland, and one battalion to the border with Russia’s Kalinigrad. Who’s provoking whom?
    4. There are very complex issues and arenas in the world —- Ukraine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, the West Bank, et al. —- which will best be ameliorated through peaceful negotiations, not through bellicosity, violence and strident militancy.
    5. Today, according to Pew Research, 85% of Russians support Putin, and the Russian people enjoy a comfortable standard of living.
    6. Let’s focus on today and the future. Let’s look for peaceful resolutions! Reject the war-mongering! De-escalate!

    • Bill:

      1. I don’t suppose you watched Obama today. He expressed bewilderment that people would believe Putin over their own American sources. The CIA, FBI and all other agencies have pin pointed the Russians. Those who seek us harm, Assange, Putin and others deny it. Obama told how he told Putin to knock it off to his face.

      2, Disagree that Japan was as brutal as Stalin. Stalin executed millions of his own people; the Japanese never did that. We made peace with Japan when it became a democracy after WWII. Russia is not a democracy. It is ruled by one man who as I’ve shown lies (not Russian troops in Crimea, fixes the Olympics, not Russian troops in Eastern Ukraine, etc.) You cannot make peace with someone who is intent on undermining democracy or whose forces are butchering civilians in Aleppo. We kept the peace by being willing to stand up to Russia not by making peace with them.

      3. Sweden just called up its armed forces to get ready for the anticipated Russian strike. Russia has just moved attack aircraft into position of Latvia. We are acting as a defense force; Russia is acting as an aggressor. It has already attacked Georgia and Ukraine under Putin. Who have we attacked? Stop the nonsense that we are provoking Russia with one battalion. The Baltic States and Poland are running scared and hoping we will defend them. Russia has moved nuclear-capable Iskander-M missiles into the Kaliningrad enclave bordering Poland and Lithuania. We have been involved in Europe with NATO for over 60 years. We are there because of the Russian threat. We have never threatened Russia even when it was crumbling in 1989. Enough of that.

      4. There are not complex issues. Ukraine doesn’t want to be under Russian rule. What is complicated about that? Afghanistan does not want to go back to the hell of the Taliban and we are trying to help it. Iraq was messed up by Bush and the neo-cons who were interested in protecting Israel. Syria is messed up because of Russia and its ally Assad who are not using peaceful negotiations. Who will you negotiate with in Libya, or Yemen. As far as the West Bank is concerned the new American ambassador to Israel issued a statement that Jerusalem will be the location of the American embassy. No negotiations over that. He has also said the Israel should take over all the West Bank and cleanse its Arab population.
      5. Do you know 95% of the Russians supported Stalin; a comparable percent of the Germans supported Hitler; most dictators have high levels of support because to suggest you don’t support them has fatal consequences. The Russians outside the cities are in dire poverty. They live with dirt roads to this date. Obama noted today the Russians produce nothing except oil, gas and guns that anyone outside Russia wants. it is a third world nation with nuclear weapons which makes it scary. As I noted, more and more are people sounding like Walter Duranty.
      Here is a true look at Russia: “The rapid decline in the situation facing the majority of the population is accompanied by a further growth of social inequality. Every member of the governing board of the Rosneft oil corporation averaged a salary in 2015 of 336 million rubles ($4.3 million). At the same time, the average wage in Russia stood at 33,000 rubles ($425), or 1/850th of the income of the oligarchs running the state-controlled energy giant.
      An ever growing number of the country’s inhabitants views the Soviet period positively. According to a recent survey by the Levada Center, when indicating their preferred economic model, 52 percent of respondents chose “state planning.” Only 26 percent chose a market economy based on private property, while 22 percent could not make up their minds.”
      https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/03/18/reco-m18.html

      6. America has always sought peace but we have kept it by being willing to fight. Don’t close your eyes to reality. Do you think the Taliban, ISIS, al Qaeda are looking for peaceful solutions. Do we just sit back and let them slaughter the people they can get their hands on.

      4.

  8. No one from the CIA would appear before a House committee to explain the leaks or the Agency’s assessment. The FBI refused to provide a witness to Congress to explain what they knew about the Boston Marathon bombing. Doesn’t the Congress have oversight responsibilities of these agencies? Why does Congress fund them if they are going to act as unaccountable secret police? The East German Stasi use to act in that fashion. Trump needs to drain the swamp and end the lawlessness in DC. The elected officials represent the American people not the agencies. 2. BHO said two months ago that it was impossible to fix the American presidential election. He was probably right then and the present controversy is just a media invention. Better relations with Russia could be beneficial to both countries. Hillary and BHO tried the reset button. Maybe an American and Russian joint energy program could help the entire world and diminish the Gulf oil states power. Jimmy Carter pointed out that after seven plus years of the Obama presidency he couldn’t name one country in the world that the U S had better relationships with than in 2008. Cuba may be the one exception.

    • Just reading now that the IC is not reporting to Chairman Nunes (R-Calif) as Nunes orders. Nunes on the Trump transition team …. I’m not surprised the IC wants to give anything to him
      Reading also that Nunes is also one of the greatest advocates for the weakening of Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act and other environmental laws He sounds like another great Darth Vadar

    • NC:

      1. They would not appear because they were told by the White House to finish working with it before going there. They said they will appear after they finish. The FBI issue is different. Congress could have subpoenaed the FBI but was afraid to do it and has been afraid of the FBI for decades. The only time it stood up to them was after J. Edgar died and it found tons of civil rights violations. It soon backed down and the FBI has run free since the mid-seventies. The Trump is part of the swamp – have you taken a look at the people he has brought on board.

      2, Obama was on television today and he said there were no voting irregularities. The present controversy is a valid concern to the nation. Russia did, according to all our intelligence agencies, break into the DNC computers and give the information to Wikileaks. I said there are getting to be a lot of Walter Durantys out there who are thinking Russia is on the level under the dictator Putin. How could better relations with that bankrupt country possibly benefit America. I’d like to know one way.

      You can tell your enemies by its friends. Russia is allied with Assad and Iran and slaughtering civilians as I write in Aleppo. It has invaded Georgia and Ukraine and annexed territory. It fixes its athletes, it tries to disrupt elections in Europe and America. America is now energy independent we don’t need Russia.

      You cite Jimmy Carter of all people. Obama said today that our relations with most countries in the world are better today than when he took over. Jimmy’s had too many squirrels chasing him.

  9. John Kerry REFUSES to join in claims Putin hacked the election and casts doubt on whether intelligence officials have been speaking about it.

    “Kerry said Thursday: ‘I’m not going to comment on anonymous reports from intelligence officials that are not identified'”

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4039038/John-Kerry-REFUSES-join-claims-Putin-hacked-election-casts-doubt-intelligence-officials-speaking-it.html

    • Henry:

      John Kerry fell in love with Sergey Lavrov years ago. Lavrov plays him like a Uilleann Pipe. Kerry as usual is looking out for John Forbes and is now ready to abandon his boss who today definitely said the Russians hacked the election. If he upsets Lavrov who will pat him on the back when he begins his lobbying career. He recently saw Lavrov about the Esimit Europa 2 yacht and wants to get an invite himself. And, if you wonder why the EU is in the dumps read about the yacht.