[Peter ODonnell]

I think the truth is somewhere between extreme positions that are taken by those who admire Putin to the extent of being sycophants, and those who have not adjusted their thinking since Brezhnev ran the USSR.

Trump seems to have established a position in this new reality, HRC is still back in the Cold War mentality and some internet bloggers seem to be on Putin’s payroll.

On the question of Ukraine, we should negotiate an end to that unnecessary crisis, set the border in east Ukraine where demographics work best, accept the Crimean reality, and make it clear that further incursions are not tolerated. This principle should then extend to the Baltics and Poland, no further adventurism there.

And on Syria, we should acknowledge that the policy followed by NATO for the past several years is idiotic, that Putin’s support for Assad makes more sense than any other alternative, and work to co-ordinate strategy against ISIS, Al Qaeda and other bad actors in that complex war zone. Assad was far less of a threat to western interests and security than almost anyone else who could conceivably govern Syria but the fact is self-evident that nobody else can govern Syria anyway.

As for Iran, we need to hassle that out in a second round of talks that would take place once a better relationship is restored. The main thing we all need to do in relation to Iran is to nullify their nuclear threat and keep them contained until some future date when a less radical government is offered up by their political system.

Having Russia as an enemy right now is a dangerous and unnecessary risk. Our real enemies are radical Islam and China, as well as non-state rogue actors with abilities to disrupt cyber networks. If it turns out that the Russian government is behind any of that, we need to raise it as a serious concern, but I believe it’s more likely to be happening from other sources, notably China.

This issue alone is probably a foundation for electing Trump and not Clinton. With Clinton, we are going to get all of Obama’s bad judgment times a worse attitude and the hawkishness of an era that is not exactly fully relevant to the modern situation.

I hope Trump delivers a major speech on this set of issues and offers a detailed and (dare I say) nuanced position on a better relationship we need to have with Putin and Russia. This could win him the election but tick tock. People are already voting.

[ETL]

I think the truth is somewhere between extreme positions that are taken by those who admire Putin to the extent of being sycophants, and those who have not adjusted their thinking since Brezhnev ran the USSR.

In case you haven't been following too closely, Putin's Russia is fast approaching the dark times of the Soviet Union/Evil Empire.

For just one of many examples...

Mikhail Lesin, co-founder of the Russian government-controlled news outlet "Russia Today" (RT), which the FR Putinistas often link to in their threads, was found dead in a Wash DC hotel this past November (2015).

Word is he had had a falling out with Putin and was about to become an informer, a 'snitch'. Putin's Russia is very much like the Mafia.

RT (Russia Today) and the other Moscow-controlled media outlets reported at the time that there were no signs of foul play--that he died of a heart attack.

However, when the autopsy report came out 5 months later (May 2016) it was revealed that he actually was murdered. Beaten to death with a blunt object.

_________________________________

Mikhail Yuriyevich Lesin (July 11, 1958 – November 5, 2015) was a Russian political figure, media executive and an adviser to president Vladimir Putin.[1]

In 2006 he was awarded the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", one of Russia's highest state decoration for civilians.

Mikhail Lesin was nicknamed the Bulldozer because of his ability to get virtually all Russian media outlets under The Kremlin's control.[2]--wikipedia
___________________________________

"RT [Russia Today] has been called a propaganda outlet for the Russian government[10][11][12] and its foreign policy[10][11][13][14] by former Russian officials[15] and by news reporters,[16] including former RT reporters.[17][18][19]

It has also been accused of spreading disinformation.[20][21][22]

The network states that it offers a 'Russian perspective' on global events.[24]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RT_%28TV_network%29
______________________________________

RT = RUSSIA TODAY

Nov 2015...

Vladimir Putin's media Svengali who was found dead in DC hotel was 'murdered for being an FBI informant'

• Millionaire Mikhail Lesin, 57, was found dead in $240-a-night in Washington DC last Friday [Nov 6, 2015] and police are investigating

• The pro-Putin 'propaganda channel' he set up, RT [Russia Today] , claimed he 'had been suffering from a prolonged unidentified illness'

• But DC police have made no such finding

  "Nicknamed the 'Bulldozer', Lesin was one of the key props of the Putin presidency, personally masterminding a wide-ranging media crackdown which has left the vast majority of Russian TV stations and newspapers obedient to the Kremlin."

  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3315994/Vladimir-Putin-s-media-mastermind-dead-DC-hotel-murdered-FBI-informant-alive-claim-Russians.html#ixzz3rOUopg7Q

  _________________________________________

  The following article is from last December (2014)

  "Mikhail Lesin has stepped down as head of major state-controlled media holding Gazprom-Media, the company said late last week.

  Gazprom-Media, whose holdings include independent radio station Ekho Moskvy, said Lesin's resignation was due to family reasons, Russian media reports said Friday.

  The holding's board of directors will finalize his resignation at an upcoming meeting, Gazprom-Media was cited by Ekho Moskvy as saying. No replacement has been named.

  Earlier, a flurry of reports of Lesin's imminent resignation appeared on Russian news wires, all based on undisclosed sources and giving divergent accounts of the motive.

  Forbes Russia cited sources in the media and government as confirming the resignation, with one of the individuals claiming that the decision was made personally by President Vladimir Putin."

  http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/513690.html
  _______________________________________________________

  UPDATE: MAR 2016...

  Mikhail Lesin, Ex-Putin Aide, Died of Blunt Force Trauma in Washington: Autopsy

  by Alastair Jamieson and Alexey Eremenko
  Mar 11 2016

  A former aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin found dead in a Washington hotel room was killed by a blunt force trauma to the head, U.S. authorities said Thursday.

  Mikhail Lesin, 57, was found dead on the floor of his room in Dupont Circle on November 5.[2015]

  Autopsy results show that he died from “blunt-force injuries of the head,” according to a joint statement Thursday from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and Office of the Chief Medical Examiner reported by NBC Washington , but the exact manner of death was undetermined.

  Also contributing to his death were “blunt-force injuries of the neck, torso, upper extremities and lower extremities,” the statement said.

  Russian media originally reported that Lesin, a former government minister, had suffered a heart attack. ...”

  http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/mikhail-lesin-ex-putin-aide-died-blunt-force-trauma-washington-n536456

  ______________________________________________________________

  "On Friday, November 6 [2015], RIA Novosti reported that Lesin died of a heart attack citing a spokesman for the family as saying: "Today, Mikhail Lesin died ... His death came supposedly from a heart attack."[35][38]

  RT [Russia Today] reported the next day that the cause of death was a heart attack.[31][39][40][41]

  https://web.archive.org/web/20161026095000/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Lesin

  ______________________________________________________________

  "When he [Mikhail Lesin] quit Gazprom Media in December [2014], a move seen as a shock, he cited ‘family reasons’ although there were unconfirmed claims he had fallen out with other influential figures close to Putin. ..."

  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3315994/Vladimir-Putin-s-media-mastermind-dead-DC-hotel-murdered-FBI-informant-alive-claim-Russians.html
  ______________________________________________________

  From 2014...

  "Mikhail Lesin has stepped down as head of major state-controlled media holding Gazprom-Media, the company said late last week [Dec 2014].

  Gazprom-Media, whose holdings include independent radio station Ekho Moskvy, said Lesin's resignation was due to family reasons, Russian media reports said Friday.

  The holding's board of directors will finalize his resignation at an upcoming meeting, Gazprom-Media was cited by Ekho Moskvy as saying. No replacement has been named.

  Earlier, a flurry of reports of Lesin's imminent resignation appeared on Russian news wires, all based on undisclosed sources and giving divergent accounts of the motive.

  Forbes Russia cited sources in the media and government as confirming the resignation, with one of the individuals claiming that the decision was made personally by President Vladimir Putin."

  http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/513690.html

______________________________________________________

"When he [Mikhail Lesin] quit Gazprom Media in December, a move seen as a shock, he cited ‘family reasons’ although there were unconfirmed claims he had fallen out with other influential figures close to Putin. ..."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3315994/Vladimir-Putin-s-media-mastermind-dead-DC-hotel-murdered-FBI-informant-alive-claim-Russians.html
______________________________________________________

" [RT (Russia Today) founder, Mikhail] Lesin was a central figure in the early Putin years, spearheading the Kremlin's effort to silence the country's independent television, the first step in the consolidation of authoritarian rule.

The first target was NTV, at that time Russia's largest and most popular independent TV channel, whose hard-hitting news broadcasts, talk shows, and satirical programs criticized the government over growing corruption and the war in Chechnya and gave airtime to the opposition.

In June 2000, a month after Putin's inauguration, NTV's founder and majority shareholder, Vladimir Gusinsky, was arrested and placed in Moscow's infamous Butyrka prison.

While he was there, the information minister made an offer: Gusinsky could have his freedom if he agreed to transfer his media holdings to Gazprom, the state-owned energy monopoly. ..."

http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog/vladimir-kara-murza/ominous-return-putins-media-enforcer

[ETL]

Putin's Poison?
by Peter Brookes, November 27, 2006

The death of former Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko, last week from radioactive Polonium-210 poisoning is the latest in a series of politically motivated attacks on the outspoken opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed112706a.cfm

Or,

https://web.archive.org/web/20070116123048/http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed112706a.cfm
___________________________________________________

"Over the next six years, Litvinenko became an anti-Kremlin journalist, accusing the Russian government of abuses during their battles with Chechen separatists in the 1990s, and the FSB's alleged 1999 bombing of 300 people in explosions at apartments in Russia that was used to justify its second war against Chechnya.

He also claimed two of the Chechen separatists who took hostages at a theater in Moscow in October 2002 during which 162 people died were working for the FSB. He also pointed the finger at the FSB for having trained al Qaeda deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri."

http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/237045/long-awaited-investigation-alexander-v-litvinenkos-arnold-ahlert

Or,

https://web.archive.org/web/20150924180509/http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/237045/long-awaited-investigation-alexander-v-litvinenkos-arnold-ahlert
___________________________________________________

Litvinenko: A deadly trail of polonium [poisoned by Putin?...case now concluding]
BBC - Magazine ^ | July 28, 2015

"The polonium trail started on 16 October 2006 when Litvinenko met Lugovoi and Kovtun in London. ..."

"When Lugovoi and Kovtun's movements were mapped against the sites of polonium contamination, there was an exact match. The evidence of guilt was strong. In May 2007, the then Director of Public Prosecutions Ken Macdonald announced that Andrei Lugovoi was to be charged with murder and his extradition would be sought from Russia. Kovtun was charged in 2010. ..."

Prof Norman Dombey, a physicist who has a deep knowledge of Russian nuclear sites, gave evidence at the public inquiry.

Dombey says there is only one place where it can be produced in the quantities used in the murder - a military nuclear reactor at the Avangard plant in the closed city of Sarov. Sarov was where Russia produced its first nuclear bomb in the days of Joseph Stalin. This is a clear link to the Russian state.

But why would the Russian state want him dead? ..."

It is clear that Alexander Litvinenko had powerful enemies in Russia. ..."

The first red line concerns a book he co-wrote called Blowing Up Russia about a terrorist attack in Moscow in September 1999. Chechen separatists were blamed.

"Litvinenko claimed that Russia's own security services carried out the attack to give Putin the cover to launch a new Chechen war. Some 300 people had died. ..."

His co-author, Felshtinsky, stands by their conclusions and says: "This [attack] helped Putin...the reaction of the population was we now have to have a strong leader. ..."

The inquiry will now hear secret evidence from intelligence agencies in special closed sessions. It will report back at the end of the year and, until then, the mystery will rumble on."

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...

Or,

https://web.archive.org/web/20150809080905/http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33678717
___________________________________________________

BBC, 27 July 2015

Litvinenko inquiry: Key suspect 'cannot testify'

"UK officials believe Dmitry Kovtun and another man, Andrei Lugovoi, poisoned Mr Litvinenko in 2006, which they deny.

Mr Kovtun had been due to appear by videolink from Moscow on Monday, but said he had been unable to get permission from Russian authorities.

Mr Litvinenko's family lawyer said it seemed the case was being manipulated."

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33674469

Or,

https://web.archive.org/web/20160603104658/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33674469
___________________________________________________

Jan 21 2016...

Vladimir Putin Likely Approved Murder of Alexander Litvinenko: Inquiry

by Alastair Jamieson and Alexey Eremenko

LONDON - Russian President Vladimir Putin "probably" personally sanctioned the nuclear murder of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko, a British judge ruled Thursday.

The dissident died in 2006 after drinking green tea poisoned with radioactive polonium-210 in a London hotel. Litvinenko had predicted that Russia would assassinate him and claimed on his deathbed that Putin likely ordered his killing.

After a six-month public inquiry, a British judge ruled that the one-time KGB agent was murdered on the orders of Russia's FSB security agency - and that the action was "probably approved" by Putin. ..."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/vladimir-putin-likely-approved-murder-alexander-litvinenko-inquiry-n500996

Or,

https://web.archive.org/web/20160205154202/http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/vladimir-putin-likely-approved-murder-alexander-litvinenko-inquiry-n500996

[ETL]

Russia's Director of Military Intelligence Dies Unexpectedly

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Jan. 4, 2016 | Paul Sonne

Since you need to subscribe or log-in to access the article at WSJ, here below is the same from another source...

___________________________________________

MOSCOW-The director of Russia's military intelligence agency has died unexpectedly, according to a short statement released Monday on the Kremlin website, which didn't specify the cause of his death.

Col. Gen. Igor Sergun had run the Main Intelligence Directorate of Russia's General Staff, known as the GRU, since late 2011. He was 58 years old.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, in a statement released to the Interfax news agency, said Col. Gen. Sergun died suddenly on Sunday. Mr. Shoigu's statement offered no additional details.

The military intelligence chief joined the Soviet military in 1973 and became director of the secretive GRU and deputy chief of Russia's general staff in 2011, according to his official biography on the Russian Defense Ministry website. He served in military intelligence since 1984, according to the biography.

Last year, the U.S. and European Union sanctioned Col. Gen. Sergun after Russia annexed Crimea and backed a rebel uprising in east Ukraine.

Western and Ukrainian officials have accused the GRU, one of the most important parts of Russia's foreign intelligence apparatus, of playing a sizable role in the conflict in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the military intelligence chief for dedicating his life to the motherland in a message to his friends and relatives that the Kremlin press service released to Russian newswires on Monday.

"His colleagues and subordinates knew him as a real military officer, and experienced and competent commander, a person of great courage and a true patriot," Mr. Putin said. "They respected him for his professionalism, strength of character, honesty and integrity."

http://www.advfn.com/news_Russias-Director-of-Military-Intelligence-Dies_69876453.html

[ETL]

Mom of murdered Russian opposition leader: Putin will "kill you for that"

FoxNews.com, February 28, 2015

The murder of prominent Putin critic Boris Nemstov in a gangland-style killing steps from the Kremlin came just weeks after the dissident told a magazine his mother worried the Russian leader would have him bumped off for his outspokenness.

" 'When will you stop cursing Putin? He'll kill you for that.' She was completely serious," Nemstov told Sobsesdnik earlier this month, according to the Wall Street Journal. The paper added that the former Deputy Prime Minister under Russian president Boris Yeltsin expressed some worry about his safety but not as much as his mother.

-snip-

Nemtsov, 55, was gunned down in a drive-by shooting Friday near midnight as he walked on a bridge near the Kremlin with a female companion.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/02/28/russian-investigators-fail-to-mention-nemtsov-was-top-putin-critic.html

[ETL]

Symposium: To Kill a Russian Journalist
By Jamie Glazov
FrontPageMagazine.com | November 17, 2006

The murder of internationally renowned Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya in early October 2006 was yet another troubling sign of Russia's retreat into its totalitarian past. Today Frontpage Symposium has gathered a distinguished panel of experts to discuss why Anna Politkovskaya was killed and what the tragic loss of her life symbolizes about the direction in which Vladimir Putin's Russia is heading.

http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=1490
_______________________________________________________

'PUTIN'S RUSSIA' by Anna Politkovskaya:
http://www.amazon.com/PUTINS-RUSSIA-ANNA-POLITKOVSKAYA/dp/1843430509
_______________________________________________________

[ETL]

From 2014

Yushchenko, hero of Ukraine's Orange Revolution warns Europe that Putin won't stop at Crimea

by Matthew Schofield - McClatchy Foreign Staff
March 27, 2014

Many Ukrainians believe you need look no further than the face of Viktor Yushchenko to understand Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

Once smooth and ruggedly handsome, it still bears the scars from an assassination attempt when someone slipped dioxin into Yushchenko's food. ..."

Read more here:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article24765781.html#storylink=cpy
______________________________________________

[ETL]

Having Russia as an enemy right now is a dangerous and unnecessary risk. Our real enemies are radical Islam and China,

Russia is in bed with both. Iran is the world's leading state sponsor of islamo-nazi terrorism, and the Russians have forged a closer-than-ever military alliance with the ChiComs, staging annual war games with them since 2005, in obvious preparation for large-scale war with us and our allies. And 2005 was of course before Comrade Obama came onto the scene. In fact, the tight alliance began right around the time of Bill Clinton's ChinaGate scandal (1990s), which was knocked off the front pages by the far less serious "MonicaGate" scandal.

Once again...

From the Sino-Russian Joint Statement of April 23, 1997:
"The two sides [China and Russia] shall, in the spirit of partnership, strive to promote the multipolarization of the world and the establishment of a new international order."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/HI29Ag01.html
______________________________________________________________

" Joint war games are a logical outcome of the Sino-Russian Friendship and Cooperation Treaty signed in 2001, and reflect the shared worldview and growing economic ties between the two Eastern Hemisphere giants."

http://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2005/09/war-games-russia-china-grow-alliance

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,170287,00.html
______________________________________________________________

Sept 11, 2014

China and Russia to build major seaport: report

China and Russia will build one of the largest ports in north-east Asia on Russia's Sea of Japan coast, reports say, in a further sign of the powerhouses' growing alliance.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-11/china-and-russia-to-build-major-seaport-report/5738036
______________________________________________________________

Obama: "We Welcome China's Rise"
CBS News ^ | January 19, 2011 | Stephanie Condon
______________________________________________________________