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 ...
There will be some who will be suspicious that Putin plans to KIDNAP the children and use them to negotiate with 0bama. LOL
Ping
Anyone who knows anything about hacking knows that hacking is at its most basic elements an individualistic endeavor.
Also the theft of the Democratic Party emails could have been an inside job and would most easily have been done from the inside.
The idea that only the Russians could have done this is simply ridiculous on its face. For one thing what would be the Russian's motive for doing something like this? What is the payoff?
Russia hopes that it can ride out the storm and put ties with the U.S. on a better track once Trump takes office, said Fyodor Lukyanov, chairman of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, a Kremlin foreign-policy advisory group.
“Russia views these not as U.S. sanctions, but Obama sanctions, so he will go and we can both decide that we don’t bear any responsibility for the actions of a jackass,” Lukyanov said.
“The new sanctions will mildly impede the likely détente between the incoming administration of Donald Trump and Russia, but we still expect Trump to ease Ukraine-related sanctions in 2017,” stated Eurasia Group -the New York-based research group.
Their analysts predicted that the U.S. sanctions won’t deter Russia from future cyber actions or cause it to change its policies on Syria.
Yo Amerika!
You still do not get it ?
Illegal Kenyan impostor was installed in presidency to dismantle US, to strengthen UN and to facilitate Caliphate to reign over the world.
So hard to see??? Just look at his actions.
Who enabled him???? Lock’em up, hang for treason!
It is actually called we have traitors who would throw the information to Wikileaks. The Democrats are too arrogant to admit the real problem.
Better to be kidnapped or captured by Ruskies than Islamists. I hope the lefties are reading this!
I believe there is significant truth in what you say.
Frankly after all I’ve seen and learned about over the years, I don’t believe anybody anymore. I’m from Missouri and I want to see the evidence.
Operation Mockingbird - Government shaping the news
Operation Northwoods and Mongoose - proposal for false flag on American citizens, to blame Cuba - vetoed by Kennedy.
CIA - Assassinations of world leaders, fomentation of instability to achieve regime change, hiring mob to do dirty works etc.
Gulf of Tonkin-excuse to expand the Vietnam War.
Just a few of the little Gems from declassified materials
Democrat strategy is run by very old people who inaccurately assess Trump voters to be the same thing as Reagan voters from the 80’s.
All this “Russian hacking “ stuff is only being touted to distract from the actual content of the emails. Everyone should be outraged and demanding prosecution for the content.
It goes all the way back to “Remember the Maine!”
Obama, the intelligence community, Hillary, McCain and the Democrats, and the mainstream media claim hacking. I always believe the opposite of what all of them tell me.
This has never failed me
This was all a Hillary and Obama and neocon meme. They were wanting to win conservatives. They remember the cold war and how we were Russia’s enemy, and *presto*... Trump is a Russian stooge, and Hillary would shoot Russian planes down. They thought we would eat it up.
It shows how little they actually understand us.
I was surprised by this too, since Rolling Stone has usually had a near-worshipful attitude towards Obama. I suppose that even some liberals are starting to cut their losses on Obama's "legacy."
Yes, even the left is skeptical.
At best.
The story is so obviously cooked, a lot of people will be running for the exits shortly, leaving the outgoing Obama administration holding another bag of shit.
And all the Democrats standing in the picture with them. Smiling.
Rarely has an incoming President been gifted so much political capital from his erstwhile opposition.
It is funny. Obama makes a fool of himself many times. Trashes his own country on his apology tours. Draws fictitious lines in the sand and does nothing. But if he thinks you have hacked DNC emails, that is finally over the line.
Indeed it does. The spin doctors didn’t just suddenly appear in the 20th century.
They can explain it away by telling us the Russians hacked them. The left will then be outraged by the Russian interference in our free and fair press.
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