Posted on 12/30/2016 10:48:00 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
In an extraordinary development Thursday, the Obama administration announced a series of sanctions against Russia. Thirty-five Russian nationals will be expelled from the country. President Obama issued a terse statement seeming to blame Russia for the hack of the Democratic National Committee emails.
"These data theft and disclosure activities could only have been directed by the highest levels of the Russian government," he wrote.
Russia at first pledged, darkly, to retaliate, then backed off. The Russian press today is even reporting that Vladimir Putin is inviting "the children of American diplomats" to "visit the Christmas tree in the Kremlin," as characteristically loathsome/menacing/sarcastic a Putin response as you'll find.
This dramatic story puts the news media in a jackpot. Absent independent verification, reporters will have to rely upon the secret assessments of intelligence agencies to cover the story at all.
Many reporters I know are quietly freaking out about having to go through that again. We all remember the WMD fiasco.
"It's déjà vu all over again" is how one friend put it.
You can see awkwardness reflected in the headlines that flew around the Internet Thursday. Some news agencies seemed split on whether to unequivocally declare that Russian hacking took place, or whether to hedge bets and put it all on the government to make that declaration, using "Obama says" formulations....
(Excerpt) Read more at rollingstone.com ...
I just ran across this:
New Year’s Eve in Russia-—
Russia is sending invitations for children of US diplomats in Russia for New Year celebrations in the Kremlin.
President Vladimir Putin invited the children to a series of parties to ring in the New Year that are traditionally held at the walled government compound in the heart of Moscow.
This came in response to US media reports that a school attended by children of US diplomats faced a shutdown in retaliation for the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats from the United States in the row over Russia’s alleged role in Donald Trump’s win. A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman denied the school would be closed.
This story was originally published by Sputnik News.
When Obama went DOWN LOW, Putin went HIGH!
Thank God Putin is not a child.
Even though it’s from the left it’s a very fair report.
And another view of the hacking: Perhaps it was Obama!
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/12/what_if_obama_dropped_hillarys_email_bombs.html
excerpt: “If you think about this as a mystery story, you can ask, “Who had the motive, the means, and the opportunity” to leak Hillary’s most embarrassing secrets, thereby blowing the election? The list of suspects is huge, but Obama is never mentioned. Still, think about it for a second.”
“Motive: Obama is a major narcissist who always wants to expand his personal power. Being president has not satisfied his power-hungry ego; nothing ever will. For months he has been talking about running for a third term, and he’s back at it today.”
Screw the media. This is a chance to develop truly “investigative” techniques to get to the bottom of this. But the media is interested in innuendo that sells not facts that inform. Piss on them.
This guy is RABID left. Comparing the kenyan to Bush & WMD? LMAO.
Spending New Years in the Kremlin is a BIG, BIG, Frickin deal.
CNN got caught in a lie. CNN = “Fake News”
Drudge Report: CNN RUNS FAKE NEWS STORY ABOUT RUSSIA CLOSING ANGLO-AMERICAN SCHOOL IN MOSCOW...
https://twitter.com/DRUDGE_REPORT/status/814828585898766336
CNN Runs Fake News Story About Russia Closing Anglo-American School in Moscow
Supposed retaliation measure is not actually happening
http://www.infowars.com/cnn-runs-fake-news-story-about-russia-closing-anglo-american-school-in-moscow/
TASS: Diplomat blasts CNN report on closure of Anglo-American School in Moscow as blatant lie
http://tass.com/politics/923468
Wrong Again: Russia’s Anglo-American School Not Closing To Spite Obama
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2016/12/30/wrong-again-russias-anglo-american-school-not-closing-to-spite-obama/#33ca3c776373
http://theslot.jezebel.com/in-response-to-u-s-sanctions-putin-invites-american-c-1790624369
In Response to U.S. Sanctions, Putin Invites American Children to His Christmas Party -Brendan O’Connor-Today 10:50am Filed to: RUSSIAN HACKS
Obama Administration Sanctions Russia for Election Hacking, Ejecting 35 Operatives On Thursday, in retaliation for Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election, the Obama… “While we reserve the right to take reciprocal measures, we’re not going to downgrade ourselves to the level of irresponsible ‘kitchen’ diplomacy,” Putin said, using what the New York Times glosses as a Russian idiom for unseemly bickering. “In our future steps on the way toward the restoration of Russia-United States relations, we will proceed from the policy pursued by the administration of D. Trump.” From the Times:
Mr. Putin said he did not want to deprive children of access to a recreational area on an island in the Moscow River that his foreign minister had recommended closing. He went one step further, inviting all children of American diplomats accredited in Russia to celebrate the New Year and the Russian Orthodox Christmas with him at the Kremlin. For decades, the Kremlin has held a series of parties for children in December and January. Tickets start around $82 and can be bought online. While they are usually limited to Russian children, Mr. Putin invited Americans.
In a statement on Thursday, Obama had said that Russia’s actions could only have been directed by “the highest levels” of the Russian government—essentially accusing Putin himself of coordinating the cyber attacks. By essentially ignoring the Obama administration’s punitive measures, however, Putin has defused a potentially explosive situation and allows the Trump administration to continue to pursue a warmer relationship with Russia than Obama did.
“Russia views these not as U.S. sanctions, but Obama sanctions,” Fyodor Lukyanov, chairman of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, a Kremlin foreign-policy advisory group, told Bloomberg.
“So he will go and we can both decide that we don’t bear any responsibility for the actions of a jackass.”
Taibbi is one of the last real journalists out there. Of course, he gores our ox from time to time so he is dismissed by those with no stomach for truth. Just as he will be dismissed by the Left for this piece.
The Money$ quote: from above-
“Russia views these not as U.S. sanctions, but Obama sanctions,”
Fyodor Lukyanov, chairman of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, a Kremlin foreign-policy advisory group, told Bloomberg.
“So he will go and we can both decide that we don’t bear any responsibility for the actions of a jackass.”
Exactly. What, exactly, happened? What is the evidence? We are taking it on faith that Russia seriously damaged our electoral process. First, its not a given that Russia set up the phishing scam that Podesta fell for. But even if it did and got and released his emails, does that warrant a diplomatic crisis? Remember when Sarah Palin's emails were released? Remember how the press poured over them to find dirt on her? Where was the outrage then? Hacking email is illegal and should be punished. But we need a sense of proportionality. Palin's email hack was treated as an opportunity to find dirt on her with the hack being secondary. Podesta's email hack is the story in and of itself.
Where’s the proof? Assange and others have insisted it was insider leaks not Russian hacking that provided the info.
They have burned too many times
The stink is coming from the White House.
Bfl
Not even the far left buys this bullshit.
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