Posted on 02/17/2018 11:24:58 AM PST by T Ruth
So let’s restate the likely explanations. Why did the Russians do this? Because they could. It was useful for them to discover how much they could infiltrate the political process in the U.S., and above all to sow chaos. Actually favoring a Trump victory over Hillary makes little sense on substance, because most of Trump’s foreign policy positions—cheaper energy, expanded defense spending by us and NATO, more missile defense—are averse to Russian interests. But an election result that leaves chaos in its wake works perfectly well whether Hillary had won or Trump. In that sense, the Russian operation has been a sweeping success for them. Maybe our media ought to reflect that they are serving Russian interests very well with their rabid sensationalism of the “collusion” story.
the effort apparently began taking shape as early as May 2014 (and perhaps as early as 2013), an entire year before Trump became a candidate. Then, as they got underway during the primary season, the indictment says (p. 17) that “They engaged in operations primarily intended to communicate derogatory information about Hillary Clinton, to denigrate other candidates such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and to support Bernie Sanders and then-candidate Donald Trump,” and instructions to their online “specialists” to “use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump—we support them).” It didn’t take any kind of special intelligence to perceive that Sanders and Trump represented the two most disruptive candidates in the field. Just think of how the political establishments of both parties would have regarded a Sanders-Trump general election in 2016.
Third, the Russian operation organized and promoted numerous pro-Trump rallies, but also attempted to manipulate anti-Trump groups and organize anti-Trump events, especially after the election.
(Excerpt) Read more at powerlineblog.com ...
The indictment says they are nationalists. But are they in fact?
What were they “up to?” ... about the same thing half of Twitter is “up to” every day. This is the weakest bunch of indictments he could have ever devised ... and they are in St Petersburg ...as in RUSSIA ... good luck putting the cuffs on them. We spent “millions” for this ... a press conference?
And I suspect anyone here on FR pushing these articles and other people chiming in on it in an interested manner are the real trolls and/or team of trolls. Including the chap who has posted this thread. Hope Jim R does something about this.
If they were seeking both Sanders and Trump in the general election, it would ensure a president from outside either major party. They sought disruption more than a particular candidate.
There was nothing in the indictments about “hacking” was there?
Assange said it wasn’t the Russians. Apparently Mueller knows that too.
Did you notice that no one was indicted for that?
The Russians were up to the same thing they’re always up to. It’s the same thing US operatives are always up to. And operatives from every country on earth.
The only ones seeking disruption are Mueller, Comey, Hillary and the cabal of conspirators who are literaly on the verge of indictment.
I just saw this on Zerohedge:
So let me get this straight...
Mueller, a bunch of politicans, and a large segment of the media - including many on Fox News - would have us believe that on election day...when Hillary was polling so high they were talking “landslide”...a large enough number of people walked into a voting booth, remembered all these “malicious” stories on social media, and decided at THAT moment to change their vote for Trump or a throw away candidate - thus costing Hillary the election...
And it was and is repugnant - according to them...
These stories had no effect until Hillary LOST.
Once she lost, it had to be because a significant portion of the population was so stupid and brain dead as to enable 13 Russians with computers and fifty thousand dollars to poison their brains with a tiny little “rosebud” thought bomb set from social media and timed to explode as soon as they saw a f***ing voting booth.
That thought goes double for all the news weasels - including the idiots on Fox News who are pushing this meme about the 2018 elections as hard as everyone else.
Get f***ing real.
Please...
These guys had some computers and a few thousand dollars.
If that’s all it takes to “sow dissent” in the US, then this party is over and the last person out needs to turn off the lights.
Come on...even at our dumbest we are smarter than to fall for this.
JMHO
Oh there's a team of trolls right here on this thread. Probably paid for by George Soros trying to point the finger at Russians so as to distract from the corrupt Marxist cabal in our own government that has impending indictments bearing down on them.
Yes we have been self-dividing, self-destructive without any foreign interference to be sure. “These guys” capitalizing on our pre-existing conditions is not that big a deal.
But separate from Mueller and fake Trump collusion conspiracies:
We are at the point now DBG, where US troops have attacked and killed Russian mercenaries in Syria just last week in response to an initial attack on our outpost...
Proxy war in Middle East is something Putin wanted as he joined forces with Iran and after bringing Assad under his belt. To me this is the real revelation of how far downhill things have gone.
Unfortunately, the “real” Russia conflict is overshadowed by the “fake” election stuff. Playing devil’s advocate here: Trump should not have been so complimentary of Putin while on the campaign trail.
To Russian elites any talk of “reset” in relations is mocked and mistaken for weakness, and for our leftist media: any compliment of Putin - however valid or well meaning- will be distorted as sympathizing with him and his agenda. And thats how much of this started.
They hate each other, but Soros and Putin are both bad.
As for Marxists, yeah, that's the democrat crowd but don't forget the Trotskyites as embodied in Bill Kristol and others in the perpetual war, unipolar world, school of American 'conservatism'. There's no real difference between what they preach and what Trotsky preached once you strip away the buzzwords and flowers embellishing it to keep useful idiots in their camp.
They sponsor just as many trolls as the DNC and have a greater interest in places like FR than the Marxist crowd does.
If Putin really thought Trump could win, he was more knowledgable about the country than most Americans and 95% of Washington DC and the media, and maybe deserved a vote in the election.
Maybe Hillaryy upped requests for 'donations' to her slush fund... maybe she got greedy. Or Bill was upping the price for his 'speeches'? Or the Russians got greedy - WANTED EVEN MORE than Hillary and the Deep State had already given them.
Uranium One was one small potato in a large sack...
Take a look at this and see if you think there was a falling out... This was poster by freeper Liz:
While serving as Obama's secretary of state, Hillary Clinton oversaw a program meant to “reset” relations with Moscow and improve ties. The program centered around the Russian city of Skolkovo near Moscow with the stated aim of “identifying areas of cooperation and pursuing joint projects and actions that strengthen strategic stability, international security, economic well-being, and the development of ties between the American and Russian people.”
Obama had Hillary's State Dept program transform Skolkovo into a technology hub akin to a Silicon Valley. Sensitive American technology was transferred to the Russians, substantially enhancing their military and cyber capabilities.
Hillary said they wanted to "help" Russia.
The US Army and the FBI concluded that Russia had exploited the program for military applications. The FBI warned American technology companies doing business in Skolkovo that the Skolkovo project was a means by which the Russians would acquire dual use technologies and apply them for military ends.
According to investigative author Peter Schweizer, Russian and American companies and individuals involved in the Skolkovo fiasco “had major financial ties to the Clintons.”
Moreover, during the Russian reset period, those entities provided the Clintons with “tens of millions of dollars” in the form of “contributions to the Clinton Foundation, paid for speeches by Bill Clinton, or investments in small start-up companies with deep Clinton ties.”
I think people are starting to look at some of Clinton's 'stuff'... she might be in a box.
This is a post from Liz - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3632660/posts?page=173#173
You either misunderstood what I meant - and what the guy I copied and pasted meant - or you are being deliberately obtuse.
There is no way these 13 Russians - or any other number of Russians - or anyone else - had any “influence” on this election. At all. None.
Hillary was a shoe-in until they announced the results. If these guys had been effective at all it would have shown up in the polls long before election day. People didn’t suddenly wake up and vote Trup - or anyone else - based on a bunch of bullshit posted on social media.
Hillary lost because she came off like a drunk old bat of a neighbor who is always stirring shit up. Not to mention her past...
And even if some Russians (or Brits or Turks or Frogs or whoever) bought the ads and placed fake stories, it is neither serious nor repugnant nor “hacking” nor any of the other things they are calling it. It’s a joke is what it is. The US government does much worse than this trying to influence elections everywhere. It seems pretty saucy for us to get our panties all in a bunch because a few Russians - even if Putin paid them himself - put up a few ads and created some Facebook events.
As for all that other crap - we reap what we’ve sown. If we would stop believing we have the right to go into other people’s countries and tell them how to live we would be a lot better off.
Bring our military home. Offer to trade with whomever we deem we like. Do so fairly. And tell everyone, everywhere that if someone attacks us, we turn their country into a parking lot.
Problem solved.
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