Concluding that Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to help President Donald Trump win the election, the intelligence community acts like there something unusual about Russia’s ongoing attempts to advance its agenda in the U.S. or elsewhere. Putin didn’t blame the U.S. for poisoning the minds of Ukrainians who revolted Feb. 22, 2014, tossing out duly elected Kremlin-backed President Viktor Yanuckovich. CIA officials had worked the civilian population, hyping the benefits of European Union membership, no matter how unlikely. Fingering Putin for having some magical influence, the intel community states the obvious when insisting Putin tried to influence the U.S. election. Most foreign leaders have a dog in the fight when it comes to U.S. elections and Putin was no exception. Why Putin’s preference constitutes an “act of war” to Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) is anyone’s guess.
Foreign leaders have their preference when it comes to elections, whatever the country. When 61-year-old German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeir warned Oct. 24 that Democratic nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s foreign policy in Syria could lead to WWIII, it’s no wonder that Putin and other foreign leaders preferred President-elect Donald Trump. Trump’s been promising throughout the 2016 campaign to stop unnecessary foreign intervention, especially toppling Mideast dictators causing much of the chaos since former President George W. Bush toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein April 10, 2003. Trump’s been bothered by the $5 trillion cost of conducting unnecessary Mideast wars, including the one in Afghanistan going on since Oct. 7, 2001. Putin and other world leaders care about the foreign policies of U.S. presidential candidates.
Revealing the conclusions of a Top Secret report yesterday, the CIA, FBI and National Intelligence Agency all believe Putin tried to sway the U.S. election, using propaganda, disinformation and fake news stories posted on Facebook and other social network sites. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee Jan. 5 that Putin did much more than hack the Democratic National Committee or emails of Hillary’s Campaign Chairman John D. Podesta. Clapper insists that Putin used propaganda, disinformation and fake news stories to damage U.S. credibility, something so obvious, so elementary that it defies common sense. Everyone knows that the info-wars between major adversaries go on a daily basis. United States Information Agency was created in 1953 to confront Soviet Era propaganda threatening take over the world.
Calling Putin’s effort to influence the 2016 the “boldest effort yet,” the Top Secret report say absolutely nothing how to deal foreign hacking and U.S. cyber-security. Ongoing spying and propaganda operations by foreign governments, including the U.S., are part of today’s playing field. Calling Putin’s efforts “an act of war,” McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C) seek any way to sabotage Trump’s reset of U.S.-Russian relations. Answering a question of whether or not Putin’s efforts impacted the U.S. election, WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange said, “who knows?” No one in the U.S intel community can quantify the extent to which Putin’s efforts influenced U.S. voters. While Trump sees zero impact, it’s doubtful voters in key battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania paid attention to Putin’s preference in the 2016 presidential election.
Fingering Putin for trying to influence a U.S. election ignores the daily flow of propaganda between the U.S. and Russia. Putin didn’t complain loudly when the CIA hired Osama bin Laden in the 1980s to wage a concerted guerrilla war against Barbrak Karma’s Soviet-backed Afghan government. Former President Jimmy Carters was so outraged by the Soviet Afghan invasion in 1979 he cancelled the U.S. participation in the 1980 Summer Moscow Olympics. No one stopped the U.S. from pushing its propaganda message against the Soviets back then. Yet NSA Director James Clapper said Putin’s propaganda campaign targeting the 2016 election was so unusual. It’s one thing to finger Russian hacking the DNC or Hillary campaign officials but another to call usual-and-customary propaganda campaigns an “act of war,” spreading Cold War hysteria on Capitol Hill.
Ascribing evil motives to Putin in expressing his preference for Trump over Hillary in the 2016 goes over the top. While there’s nothing wrong in identifying a specific hacking scheme, there’s something very wrong with calling everyday propaganda an “act of war.” “Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton and harm her electability and potential presidency,” concluded the Top Secret report. Since the end of WWII and rise of the Soviet Union, it’s always been the Kremlin’s goal to turn the world communist. “We further assess Putin and the Russian government developed a clear preference for President-elect Donald Trump,” stating the obvious but offering nothing new. Foreign governments always have preferences for U.S. presidential candidates, no matter what the election cycle.
