BoatBanter.com - View Single Post - Russia, Iran Acted to Influence 2020 Presidential Election, Report Says

justan

On Thu, 18 Mar 2021 15:44:56 -0400, wrote:

On Thu, 18 Mar 2021 12:43:12 -0400, Wayne B
wrote:

On Wed, 17 Mar 2021 10:58:39 -0400, wrote:

On Tue, 16 Mar 2021 23:20:21 -0400, Wayne B
wrote:

On Tue, 16 Mar 2021 22:17:46 -0400, wrote:

On Tue, 16 Mar 2021 18:21:03 -0400, Wayne B
wrote:

From the Wall Street Journal:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/putin-authorized-influence-operations-to-hurt-bidens-2020-candidacy-report-says-11615918958

"Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized operations last year
intended to hurt Joe Biden’s presidential campaign and support
President Trump’s re-election while sowing discord to exacerbate
tension in the U.S., a U.S. intelligence assessment released Tuesday
said."
.
.
.
"Russia’s efforts relied on proxies linked to Russian intelligence
services, which promoted “influence narratives—including misleading or
unsubstantiated allegations against President Biden—to U.S. media
organizations, U.S. officials, and prominent U.S. individuals,
including some close to former President Trump and his
administration.”

Of course this begs the question of why Putin favored Trump over
Biden. Neither the WSJ or the intelligence assessment addressed that
important question. There has been speculation in the past that
Russian intelligence had compromising information on Trump but those
allegations have bever been proven. It's well known however that
Russia helped Trump secure financing for his business interests after
US banks refused to lend him more funds.

What do you say? Let's nuke them.

Otherwise it is just the game we have been playing for 75 years with
them. Life's tough, wear a cup.
They try to meddle in our politics and we meddle in theirs (that is
everyone, not just Russia and Iran although Iran has the biggest
beef).

Since Iran wanted Trump gone, wouldn't they meddle FOR Biden?
I don't hear people getting upset about that.

===

To me the real story is getting to the bottom of why Trump is soft on
Putin. Is it business dealings, blackmail or something else?

Maybe he just thinks the cold war is over.
I understand the war mongers want it to go on forever. It is good
business.
The Europeans certainly want the cold war to end. They can use the
energy. We are not going to see those tanks flowing through the Fulda
Gap. The only thing flowing out of Russia now is oil and gas.

===

It seems clear to me that Putin's ultimate ambition is to rebuild as
much of the old USSR as possible, and to regain as much global
influence as possible. Neither of those are in our long term best
interest. I think he saw Trump as a useful idiot out of the old Lenin
playbook.

Isn't that the goal of most national leaders?

These days their main influence is dead dinosaurs coming out of the
ground and it seems to be working for them. The only real expansion
you can talk about is the Crimea. That is still where they have a
strategic naval base they want to keep. Until we give Gitmo back to
the Cubans, we have trouble complaining about that.
Gitmo was the spoil of a war we lied to get into and the last major
land grab that still exists today. I am not surprised the Russians
want to keep their Gitmo. They took it in a war a couple of centuries
ago (1783). The last vestiges of the native population was shipped
out in WWII.
The place has been Russian since then.

As for our national best interest, getting along with the Russians is
better than having continuous proxy wars with them like we did for the
45 years after WWII.
Europe, the place we feared the most about, seems to think trading
with the Russians is better than fighting them. Why are we still
trying to stir up the cold war again?
In that regard NATO is a cold war relic that should go the way of
fallout shelters and Operation Chrome Dome.

Nuke em and drill through the glass!

--
Thanks Donald. Do you miss him yet?

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