Only people who've committed crimes require immunity. They only get immunity if they can provide evidence of bigger crimes by bigger people. Wall Street Journal
@WSJBreaking: Mike Flynn has offered to be interviewed in probe of Trump team's Russia ties in exchange for immunity
@WSJBreaking: Mike Flynn has offered to be interviewed in probe of Trump team's Russia ties in exchange for immunity
[h=3]U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is a lovefest for Russophobia
[/h]
Mark Werner wary of 1000 Russian Twitter trolls & promising to ‘get to the bottom of it’.
It proves our government has become a total joke. What's in the water these days in Virginia,
Tim Kaine, Mark Warner, Terry McAuliffe.. is this state so dead set on proving to the world
you can elect the worst possible politicians imaginable?
Another tidbit they informed us about was that Russian media said bad things about Rubio,
and that supposedly "hurt" him in the primaries? The stupid over Russia has reached critical
mass or maybe we've gone past critical mass and into
"Glenn Beck chalk board" territory.
[FONT=SkolarSans-BdCond_Cyr-Ltn]RUSSIA[/FONT]
[h=1]U.S. Senator Seeks Probe Of Firm Linked To Russia Dossier[/h]April 01, 2017
Pins bearing portraits of Sergei Magnitsky, for which the Magnitsky Act was named.
WASHINGTON --- A leading Republican U.S. senator has called for deeper Justice Department investigations into the Washington lobbying firm connected to the explosive dossier compiled on President Donald Trump during last year’s election campaign and the firm’s alleged Russian ties.
The focus of the March 31 letter, from Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is Fusion GPS and the work it did in particular connected to the human rights law passed last year known as the Global Magnitsky Act.
The letter, addressed to Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente, targets the work Fusion did in 2015 and 2016 connected to the act, which had been introduced in Congress but at the time not yet voted on.
The letter cites from a complaint filed by British-American businessman William Browder that alleged Fusion GPS, a public relations firm founded by a former Wall Street Journal reporter, may have worked as a lobbyist "for Russian interests in a campaign to oppose the pending Global Magnitsky Act [and] failed to register under [U.S. law]."
"The issue is of particular concern to the committee given that when Fusion GPS reportedly was acting as an unregistered agent of Russian interests, it appears to have been simultaneously overseeing the creation of the unsubstantiated dossier of allegations of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians," the letter said.
William Browder
Fusion GPS surfaced in the public eye earlier this year when a report compiled by a former British intelligence officer about Trump’s business dealings in Russia emerged. The report, which was published in full by BuzzFeed, contained salacious and damning allegations about Trump, was reportedly commissioned by Fusion GPS initially for Trump’s Republican opponents, but then was acquired by Democratic operatives.
The Grassley letter highlights the work done by a Russian-American man named Rinat Akhmetshin, who was instrumental in the Washington premiere of a film that sought to undermine the narrative surrounding the Magnitsky law’s namesake, Russian whistle-blower Sergei Magnitsky.
Barely showing up in U.S. lobbying records, the 48-year-old Akhmetshin cut a low profile in Washington lobbying circles, even as he was tied to such efforts as bolstering opponents of Kazakhstan's ruling regime; discrediting a fugitive former member of Russia's parliament; and undermining a Russian-owned mining firm involved in a billion-dollar lawsuit with company information allegedly stolen by hackers.
Asked to comment on the allegations in the Grassley letter, Fusion GPS said in an e-mail to RFE/RL: "Fusion GPS was working for the U.S. law firm of Baker Hostetler, at its direction, in a litigation support role. That work is a matter of public record. By the very nature of that work, Fusion GPS was working with a law firm to ensure compliance with the law. Fusion GPS was not required to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act."
Akhmetshin did not respond immediately to an e-mail seeking comment.
For his part, Browder is a London-based businessman who invested millions in Russia before being forced to leave the country in the mid-2000s. After the Russian companies he founded began to see unusual financial activity, Browder hired Sergei Magnitsky to investigate.
According to U.S. federal court records, Magnitsky then uncovered what appeared to be an audacious tax fraud scheme that stole $230 million from the Russian treasury. Magnitsky was later imprisoned by Russian authorities, accused of committing the same fraud he reportedly uncovered.
He died in a Moscow prison in 2009, suffering from ill health and, his supporters say, after being tortured. Three years later, after lobbying from Browder, the U.S. Congress passed the original Magnitsky Act, which sanctioned people allegedly connected to Magnitsky’s death, the underlying tax fraud, and other human rights abuses.
Last year, as Congress was considering passing new legislation that would expand the authority of the president to sanction rights abusers anywhere in the world, a film was screened in Washington that cast doubt on the narrative surrounding Magnitsky, insinuating instead that he was an accomplice in the tax fraud that was orchestrated by Browder.
The film, by Russian filmmaker named Andrei Nekrasov, was screened at the Newseum, at an event organized by Akhmetshin.
"It is particularly disturbing that Mr. Akhmetshin and Fusion GPS were working together on this pro-Russia lobbying effort in 2016 in light of Mr. Akhmetshin’s history and reputation," the letter from Senator Grassley said.
By tying Fusion to Akhmetshin’s work, Grassley appeared to be also trying to undermine the salacious dossier, which Trump has repeatedly and resoundingly denied.
"As you know, Fusion GPS is the company behind the creation of the unsubstantiated dossier alleging a conspiracy between President Trump and Russia," the letter said.
"It is highly troubling that Fusion GPS appears to have been working with someone with ties to Russian intelligence -- let alone someone alleged to have conducted political disinformation campaigns -- as part of a pro-Russia lobbying effort while also simultaneously overseeing the creation of the Trump/Russia dossier. The relationship casts further doubt on an already highly dubious dossier," it said.
In a closely related matter, U.S. federal prosecutors have been engaged in a multiyear battle in U.S. courts to seize what they say are some of the proceeds netted from the original $230 million tax fraud in Russia.
Тhat case, known as USA v. Prevezon, alleges that a Russian businessman named Denis Katsyv used some of the Magnitsky funds, after they were laundered through European banks, to buy real estate in Manhattan.
Тhe case, which has prosecutors seeking to seize more than $11 million in real estate and bank accounts, went on hiatus last year after a U.S. judge threw the defendants' lawyer, Baker Hostetler, off the case.
Last month, the defendants’ new lawyers again asked the U.S. judge to throw out the case.
[h=1]U.S. Senator Seeks Probe Of Firm Linked To Russia Dossier[/h]April 01, 2017
- Mike Eckel
Pins bearing portraits of Sergei Magnitsky, for which the Magnitsky Act was named.
WASHINGTON --- A leading Republican U.S. senator has called for deeper Justice Department investigations into the Washington lobbying firm connected to the explosive dossier compiled on President Donald Trump during last year’s election campaign and the firm’s alleged Russian ties.
The focus of the March 31 letter, from Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is Fusion GPS and the work it did in particular connected to the human rights law passed last year known as the Global Magnitsky Act.
The letter, addressed to Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente, targets the work Fusion did in 2015 and 2016 connected to the act, which had been introduced in Congress but at the time not yet voted on.
The letter cites from a complaint filed by British-American businessman William Browder that alleged Fusion GPS, a public relations firm founded by a former Wall Street Journal reporter, may have worked as a lobbyist "for Russian interests in a campaign to oppose the pending Global Magnitsky Act [and] failed to register under [U.S. law]."
"The issue is of particular concern to the committee given that when Fusion GPS reportedly was acting as an unregistered agent of Russian interests, it appears to have been simultaneously overseeing the creation of the unsubstantiated dossier of allegations of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians," the letter said.
William Browder
Fusion GPS surfaced in the public eye earlier this year when a report compiled by a former British intelligence officer about Trump’s business dealings in Russia emerged. The report, which was published in full by BuzzFeed, contained salacious and damning allegations about Trump, was reportedly commissioned by Fusion GPS initially for Trump’s Republican opponents, but then was acquired by Democratic operatives.
The Grassley letter highlights the work done by a Russian-American man named Rinat Akhmetshin, who was instrumental in the Washington premiere of a film that sought to undermine the narrative surrounding the Magnitsky law’s namesake, Russian whistle-blower Sergei Magnitsky.
Barely showing up in U.S. lobbying records, the 48-year-old Akhmetshin cut a low profile in Washington lobbying circles, even as he was tied to such efforts as bolstering opponents of Kazakhstan's ruling regime; discrediting a fugitive former member of Russia's parliament; and undermining a Russian-owned mining firm involved in a billion-dollar lawsuit with company information allegedly stolen by hackers.
Asked to comment on the allegations in the Grassley letter, Fusion GPS said in an e-mail to RFE/RL: "Fusion GPS was working for the U.S. law firm of Baker Hostetler, at its direction, in a litigation support role. That work is a matter of public record. By the very nature of that work, Fusion GPS was working with a law firm to ensure compliance with the law. Fusion GPS was not required to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act."
Akhmetshin did not respond immediately to an e-mail seeking comment.
For his part, Browder is a London-based businessman who invested millions in Russia before being forced to leave the country in the mid-2000s. After the Russian companies he founded began to see unusual financial activity, Browder hired Sergei Magnitsky to investigate.
According to U.S. federal court records, Magnitsky then uncovered what appeared to be an audacious tax fraud scheme that stole $230 million from the Russian treasury. Magnitsky was later imprisoned by Russian authorities, accused of committing the same fraud he reportedly uncovered.
He died in a Moscow prison in 2009, suffering from ill health and, his supporters say, after being tortured. Three years later, after lobbying from Browder, the U.S. Congress passed the original Magnitsky Act, which sanctioned people allegedly connected to Magnitsky’s death, the underlying tax fraud, and other human rights abuses.
Last year, as Congress was considering passing new legislation that would expand the authority of the president to sanction rights abusers anywhere in the world, a film was screened in Washington that cast doubt on the narrative surrounding Magnitsky, insinuating instead that he was an accomplice in the tax fraud that was orchestrated by Browder.
The film, by Russian filmmaker named Andrei Nekrasov, was screened at the Newseum, at an event organized by Akhmetshin.
"It is particularly disturbing that Mr. Akhmetshin and Fusion GPS were working together on this pro-Russia lobbying effort in 2016 in light of Mr. Akhmetshin’s history and reputation," the letter from Senator Grassley said.
By tying Fusion to Akhmetshin’s work, Grassley appeared to be also trying to undermine the salacious dossier, which Trump has repeatedly and resoundingly denied.
"As you know, Fusion GPS is the company behind the creation of the unsubstantiated dossier alleging a conspiracy between President Trump and Russia," the letter said.
"It is highly troubling that Fusion GPS appears to have been working with someone with ties to Russian intelligence -- let alone someone alleged to have conducted political disinformation campaigns -- as part of a pro-Russia lobbying effort while also simultaneously overseeing the creation of the Trump/Russia dossier. The relationship casts further doubt on an already highly dubious dossier," it said.
In a closely related matter, U.S. federal prosecutors have been engaged in a multiyear battle in U.S. courts to seize what they say are some of the proceeds netted from the original $230 million tax fraud in Russia.
Тhat case, known as USA v. Prevezon, alleges that a Russian businessman named Denis Katsyv used some of the Magnitsky funds, after they were laundered through European banks, to buy real estate in Manhattan.
Тhe case, which has prosecutors seeking to seize more than $11 million in real estate and bank accounts, went on hiatus last year after a U.S. judge threw the defendants' lawyer, Baker Hostetler, off the case.
Last month, the defendants’ new lawyers again asked the U.S. judge to throw out the case.
Breaking: FBI Uncovers Evidence That 62 Million Trump Voters are All Russian Agents
Anonymous sources within the FBI have revealed to The Times that they have new evidence indicating that everyone who voted for Donald Trump is an…
THEPOLITICALHERALD.COM
We lost a war: Russia’s interference in our election was much more than simple mischief-making
TIMOTHY SNYDER MAR 19, 2017 7:00 AMWe no longer need to wonder what it would be like to lose a war on our own territory. We just lost one to Russia, and the consequence was the election of Donald Trump. The war followed the new rules of the 21st century, but its goal was the usual one of political change.The greatest student of war, Carl von Clausewitz, defined war as "an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will." In his own time, the 19th century, force meant battle: "there is only one means in war: combat." Combat is not war, but a means to win a war, to impose one's will.
But what if the enemy's will can be altered without the blood and treasure of military engagement? If that were true, then a country with a smaller military budget, like Russia, might beat one with a better army, like America.That just happened, and we are still wiping our eyes in foggy denial.In 2011, a Russian information war manual concluded that operations in what Russians like to call the "psychosphere" were more important than conventional military engagements. The chief of staff of the Russian armed forces concurred in 2013. The basic aim of war, he averred, was to get inside the national mind of the enemy, reconfiguring habits of mind and frames of discourse so that Americans would do what the Russian leadership wanted.After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014, the main enemy was the United States.The information manual very well describes the experience of being an American citizen in 2016: "the population doesn't even feel it is being acted upon. So the state doesn't switch on its self-defense mechanisms." Even though many American citizens had a vague sense that something was uncanny about the presidential campaign, and those who read the newspaper knew that Russia was interfering, few realized the scale of the operation or its significance.
In a close election where a few thousand ballots across a few states brought victory to a man who lost the popular tally by almost 3 million votes, the hacks of the Democratic National Committee and the associated WikiLeaks email bombs were easily enough to make the difference.Still more important was the unexpected advantage Trump displayed over Hillary Clinton in social media. The Trump staff did not exhibit much technical expertise. And yet, somehow, the generators and distributors of fake news were, as if magically, on his side. The Clinton "ground game" was crushed by the Trump meme game. The bots worked 24/7 for Trump.We know that hackers tried to steal data about registered voters from more than 20 states, and succeeded in at least four cases. The FBI and CIA issued official reports blaming Russia. Last week, the Justice Department issued indictments for two Russian secret policemen, accused of harvesting data from hundreds of millions of Yahoo accounts. Big political data allows fake news to be targeted to the right demographic, thereby changing political discourse.
At home, Russia governs by creating a close web of alternative reality through media. The spread of what the Trump White House approvingly calls "alternative facts," fictional news stories that build conspiracy theories and sow distrust, now seems to be a strategy for export.In campaigns that received less media attention than they deserved, Russia used the internet to export alternative reality to Estonia, Poland, Ukraine, France and Germany. The 2016 Russian cyberwar against America, like these previous ones, aimed at very real weaknesses — just like a sniper aims for the head or the lungs.In 2016 Russian authorities made no attempt to hide their preference for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton.After the election, the Russian parliament gave Trump a standing ovation and a leading talk show host congratulated Russians on their victory in the American elections. And of course, Trump actually called upon Russia to intervene in the election and, for good measure, recited Russian fake news at a rally. He shared his main adviser with Russian oligarchs and solicited foreign policy advice from people with stakes in a Russian gas company.His first national security adviser took money from a Russian propaganda organ, and his secretary of state was granted the "Order of Friendship" from Vladimir Putin. And, as we have been hearing, other members of the Trump campaign were in touch with Russian diplomats before and after the elections.Now, the Kremlin is far from unified, and it is hard to believe that the top Russian leadership actually thought it could swing the election. Why should the U.S. prove an easier mark than, say, Ukraine, where Russia tried but failed to hack the presidential election in 2014?One can detect three schools of thought in Moscow: the disrupters, the triumphalists and the wise men. The triumphalists thought that Trump should be supported because his victory, as the head of the foreign affairs committee of the Russian parliament memorably put it, would "can lead the Western locomotive right off the rails."The disrupters believed Trump should be supported despite his likely defeat because his form of politics would generate weakness and confusion.The wise men maintained that any intervention would be a mistake because it would generate unpredictability. Perhaps these differences explain a certain incoherence in the Russian effort: the slowing of the campaign in October, the slowing of favorable press coverage of Trump in February.We are all standing on uncertain ground now, including the Russians. These kinds of provocations are inherently risky. In another age, Russian secret police supported certain revolutionaries, leading to the revolution of 1905 in the Russian Empire and so indirectly to the end of their own regime.It seems that, in our own age, winning a cyber war can be confusing. Actions taken in a psychosphere have consequences beyond it. Real people pull a real lever at a real polling station because of false impressions that they have gained from fake news.But the consequences in the real world, once they begin, are not subject to the same tight control as the cyberwar itself. It is one thing to sit in a room thousands of miles away and dream of disrupting the enemy; it is quite another, even for Russian leaders, to actually watch the world-historical bumbling of a Trump. It is perhaps more comfortable to portray the United States as an enemy than to watch it topple.It is impossible to prove that the disarray in and around the Kremlin is a result of a distressing cyber victory, but there are certainly some coincidences that are more than suggestive. In early December, Russia arrested four of its own leading cybersecurity experts.On Dec. 26, a former KGB chief was found dead in his car in mysterious circumstances. The suspicion seems to have been that he had something to do with the dossier on Russia and Trump compiled by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele. Again, it is impossible to be sure, but this certainly looked like blowback from Russia's own meddling.Meanwhile, Russian diplomats have been dying at an alarming pace since the election. On the morning of election day, a Russian diplomat in New York was found unconscious in the Russian consulate and died on the scene. On Dec. 19 two Russian diplomats were shot dead, one of them the ambassador to Turkey. The Russian consul in Greece was found dead in his apartment on Jan. 9.Russia's ambassador to India died on Jan. 27 after a "brief illness." Russia's ambassador to the United Nations died suddenly at work in New York on Feb. 20. On March 9, for good measure, Putin fired 10 generals from the security services.Losing a cyber war is presumably worse than winning one. It would take all the pages of this newspaper to explain how Trump's victory has weakened the United States. Given that our President fails to engage in depth with briefings provided by American intelligence services, who is actually briefing him?Questions like these, which carry the whiff of unreality but are perfectly justified, are the kind that arise from defeat in cyberwar. The unreality of the internet pervades real life, and it is hard to get one's bearings.
President Trump holds a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the East Room of the White House on March 17.IMAGE BY: JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGESTrump says that he wishes to expand the U.S. military, but in ways that have nothing to do with the war that his country just lost. We can hardly expect that he, with his obsession with "winning," could even begin to see himself as the punishment for America's great defeat. For this and for many other reasons we will have to think about this for ourselves.So here's a start. We know that occupation follows defeat in war. But not since the Napoleonic Wars, in which Clausewitz served (and which we remember as the War of 1812), has continental American territory been occupied by a foreign power. And no one has any comparable experience of the aftermath of defeat in cyberwar, of an occupation of the psychosphere.What would a mental occupation feel like? What would it mean, in other words, if the behavior we came to accept during the campaign remained acceptable during a Trump administration?Perhaps certain things would start to feel normal that, only a short time before, would have seemed abnormal. If we sleepwalk, the next steps would be towards a Russian style of rule. By this I do not mean, strictly speaking, a situation where Russia calls all the shots in America, or even a perfect replication of Russian practices. I mean that we would come to accept an essentially different rhythm of politics.The Russian system, broadly speaking, involves the unsupervised accumulation of wealth by a President beyond the rule of law. This now has a whiff of familiarity, as we face a President who reveals nothing about his own finances and profits in obvious ways from his office.From day to day, the Russian media generate an alternative reality. Anyone who pays attention to the President, Kellyanne Conway, or Sean Spicer could hardly fail to notice the resemblances. The Russian leadership manages real and fake terror attacks by Muslims to mobilize public opinion. Think of the Muslim ban and the invocation of fictional terror attacks in Kentucky and Sweden.If an occupation of the psychosphere is the right way to think of our present condition, then what comes next? The checks and balances enshrined in the Russian constitution became meaningless. Elections are held in Russia, but as ritualistic exercises in maintaining power. The changes would be gradual, such that it is hard to say exactly when tyranny has emerged or solidified. We sleepwalk off the cliff.Of course, we could wake up. What seems normal is, in the final analysis, our decision. It is up to individual Americans to decide. And it will be up to all of us, as a national community, to resist or accept these terms of occupation.As the first to lose a cyber war in grand style, we can also be the first to respond. We can have a hard look at the real world, mobilize self-defense mechanisms and regain control over our own will. Resistance sometimes succeeds. But only after a defeat is seen as such, and understood.Snyder is a professor of history at Yale University and the author, most recently, of "On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century."
TIMOTHY SNYDER MAR 19, 2017 7:00 AMWe no longer need to wonder what it would be like to lose a war on our own territory. We just lost one to Russia, and the consequence was the election of Donald Trump. The war followed the new rules of the 21st century, but its goal was the usual one of political change.The greatest student of war, Carl von Clausewitz, defined war as "an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will." In his own time, the 19th century, force meant battle: "there is only one means in war: combat." Combat is not war, but a means to win a war, to impose one's will.
At home, Russia governs by creating a close web of alternative reality through media. The spread of what the Trump White House approvingly calls "alternative facts," fictional news stories that build conspiracy theories and sow distrust, now seems to be a strategy for export.In campaigns that received less media attention than they deserved, Russia used the internet to export alternative reality to Estonia, Poland, Ukraine, France and Germany. The 2016 Russian cyberwar against America, like these previous ones, aimed at very real weaknesses — just like a sniper aims for the head or the lungs.In 2016 Russian authorities made no attempt to hide their preference for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton.After the election, the Russian parliament gave Trump a standing ovation and a leading talk show host congratulated Russians on their victory in the American elections. And of course, Trump actually called upon Russia to intervene in the election and, for good measure, recited Russian fake news at a rally. He shared his main adviser with Russian oligarchs and solicited foreign policy advice from people with stakes in a Russian gas company.His first national security adviser took money from a Russian propaganda organ, and his secretary of state was granted the "Order of Friendship" from Vladimir Putin. And, as we have been hearing, other members of the Trump campaign were in touch with Russian diplomats before and after the elections.Now, the Kremlin is far from unified, and it is hard to believe that the top Russian leadership actually thought it could swing the election. Why should the U.S. prove an easier mark than, say, Ukraine, where Russia tried but failed to hack the presidential election in 2014?One can detect three schools of thought in Moscow: the disrupters, the triumphalists and the wise men. The triumphalists thought that Trump should be supported because his victory, as the head of the foreign affairs committee of the Russian parliament memorably put it, would "can lead the Western locomotive right off the rails."The disrupters believed Trump should be supported despite his likely defeat because his form of politics would generate weakness and confusion.The wise men maintained that any intervention would be a mistake because it would generate unpredictability. Perhaps these differences explain a certain incoherence in the Russian effort: the slowing of the campaign in October, the slowing of favorable press coverage of Trump in February.We are all standing on uncertain ground now, including the Russians. These kinds of provocations are inherently risky. In another age, Russian secret police supported certain revolutionaries, leading to the revolution of 1905 in the Russian Empire and so indirectly to the end of their own regime.It seems that, in our own age, winning a cyber war can be confusing. Actions taken in a psychosphere have consequences beyond it. Real people pull a real lever at a real polling station because of false impressions that they have gained from fake news.But the consequences in the real world, once they begin, are not subject to the same tight control as the cyberwar itself. It is one thing to sit in a room thousands of miles away and dream of disrupting the enemy; it is quite another, even for Russian leaders, to actually watch the world-historical bumbling of a Trump. It is perhaps more comfortable to portray the United States as an enemy than to watch it topple.It is impossible to prove that the disarray in and around the Kremlin is a result of a distressing cyber victory, but there are certainly some coincidences that are more than suggestive. In early December, Russia arrested four of its own leading cybersecurity experts.On Dec. 26, a former KGB chief was found dead in his car in mysterious circumstances. The suspicion seems to have been that he had something to do with the dossier on Russia and Trump compiled by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele. Again, it is impossible to be sure, but this certainly looked like blowback from Russia's own meddling.Meanwhile, Russian diplomats have been dying at an alarming pace since the election. On the morning of election day, a Russian diplomat in New York was found unconscious in the Russian consulate and died on the scene. On Dec. 19 two Russian diplomats were shot dead, one of them the ambassador to Turkey. The Russian consul in Greece was found dead in his apartment on Jan. 9.Russia's ambassador to India died on Jan. 27 after a "brief illness." Russia's ambassador to the United Nations died suddenly at work in New York on Feb. 20. On March 9, for good measure, Putin fired 10 generals from the security services.Losing a cyber war is presumably worse than winning one. It would take all the pages of this newspaper to explain how Trump's victory has weakened the United States. Given that our President fails to engage in depth with briefings provided by American intelligence services, who is actually briefing him?Questions like these, which carry the whiff of unreality but are perfectly justified, are the kind that arise from defeat in cyberwar. The unreality of the internet pervades real life, and it is hard to get one's bearings.
President Trump holds a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the East Room of the White House on March 17.IMAGE BY: JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGESTrump says that he wishes to expand the U.S. military, but in ways that have nothing to do with the war that his country just lost. We can hardly expect that he, with his obsession with "winning," could even begin to see himself as the punishment for America's great defeat. For this and for many other reasons we will have to think about this for ourselves.So here's a start. We know that occupation follows defeat in war. But not since the Napoleonic Wars, in which Clausewitz served (and which we remember as the War of 1812), has continental American territory been occupied by a foreign power. And no one has any comparable experience of the aftermath of defeat in cyberwar, of an occupation of the psychosphere.What would a mental occupation feel like? What would it mean, in other words, if the behavior we came to accept during the campaign remained acceptable during a Trump administration?Perhaps certain things would start to feel normal that, only a short time before, would have seemed abnormal. If we sleepwalk, the next steps would be towards a Russian style of rule. By this I do not mean, strictly speaking, a situation where Russia calls all the shots in America, or even a perfect replication of Russian practices. I mean that we would come to accept an essentially different rhythm of politics.The Russian system, broadly speaking, involves the unsupervised accumulation of wealth by a President beyond the rule of law. This now has a whiff of familiarity, as we face a President who reveals nothing about his own finances and profits in obvious ways from his office.From day to day, the Russian media generate an alternative reality. Anyone who pays attention to the President, Kellyanne Conway, or Sean Spicer could hardly fail to notice the resemblances. The Russian leadership manages real and fake terror attacks by Muslims to mobilize public opinion. Think of the Muslim ban and the invocation of fictional terror attacks in Kentucky and Sweden.If an occupation of the psychosphere is the right way to think of our present condition, then what comes next? The checks and balances enshrined in the Russian constitution became meaningless. Elections are held in Russia, but as ritualistic exercises in maintaining power. The changes would be gradual, such that it is hard to say exactly when tyranny has emerged or solidified. We sleepwalk off the cliff.Of course, we could wake up. What seems normal is, in the final analysis, our decision. It is up to individual Americans to decide. And it will be up to all of us, as a national community, to resist or accept these terms of occupation.As the first to lose a cyber war in grand style, we can also be the first to respond. We can have a hard look at the real world, mobilize self-defense mechanisms and regain control over our own will. Resistance sometimes succeeds. But only after a defeat is seen as such, and understood.Snyder is a professor of history at Yale University and the author, most recently, of "On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century."
[*=center]
[h=1]US ambassador calls for 'very strong' stance on Russia[/h]HOPE YEN2 hours 31 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says there's no question Russia was involved in the U.S. presidential election and insists President Donald Trump would fully support strong action against the Kremlin once investigations are complete.
Speaking in television interviews broadcast Sunday, Nikki Haley contended there is no contradiction between her tough stance and Trump's repeated public statements seeking to minimize Russia's role. She said Trump "has not once" told her to stop "beating up on Russia."
She joins Defense Secretary James Mattis as Trump administration officials who have forcefully called out Russia for its actions during the 2016 U.S. campaign.
"We don't want any country involved in our elections, ever," Haley said. "We need to be very strong on that."
Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied his country meddled in the 2016 contest between Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. While Trump himself has said he believes Russian operatives hacked Democratic Party emails during the election, he has repeatedly lambasted as "fake news" any suggestion that he or his staff had connections to Russia.
Trump continued his attacks over the weekend, tweeting: "It is the same Fake News Media that said there is 'no path to victory for Trump' that is now pushing the phony Russia story. A total scam!"
He added on Sunday: "The real story turns out to be SURVEILLANCE and LEAKING! Find the leakers."
U.S. intelligence agencies report that Russia tried to help Trump's campaign effort. The FBI as well as congressional committees are investigating whether the Russian government coordinated with Trump associates during the campaign. The White House is also trying to quell a firestorm over its behind-the-scenes role in helping the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee, Rep. Devin Nunes, view secret intelligence reports that he says pointed to inappropriate leaking.
Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the panel, went to the White House on Friday to view materials that he said were "precisely the same." He declined on Sunday to describe the contents, but criticized the unorthodox disclosure to Nunes, suggesting that the material was more likely an "effort to deflect attention" and "create a cloud through which the public cannot see."
"Whenever they see the president use the word 'fake,' it should set off alarm bells," Schiff said. "I think that's really what going on here."
Trump as president persuaded Haley to leave the governorship of South Carolina to represent the U.S. at the United Nations. She said she was "beating up on Russia" over issues such as its actions in Crimea and its dispute with Ukraine.
When asked if she believes Trump should publicly take a harder Russia stance, she said: "Of course, he's got a lot of things he's doing."
"There's no love or anything going on with Russia right now," Haley said. "They get that we're getting our strength back, that we're getting our voice back and that we're starting to lead again, and, honestly, at the United Nations, that's the No. 1 comment I get is that they're just so happy to see the United States lead again."
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who chairs the Armed Services Committee, said it was indisputable that Russia attempted to influence the U.S. election, reiterating his call for a special select committee.
But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he didn't think another review was necessary, citing the bipartisan work from the Senate Intelligence Committee.
"I think they clearly laid out that they're going wherever the facts take them," McConnell said, referring to Republican chairman Richard Burr of North Carolina and Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the panel. "We don't need yet another investigation. We know the FBI is looking at it from their perspective."
Dmitry Peskov, Putin's press secretary, said Russia was not worried about what any U.S. investigation might reveal. "We insist that any blaming that Russia could have been interfering in domestic affairs of the United States is slander," he said.
On other topics, Haley said the U.S. is also pressing China to take a firmer stand regarding North Korea's nuclear program. Trump is scheduled to meet later this week with Chinese President Xi Jinping over a range of issues. While China provides diplomatic and economic support to its neighbor, it claims that its influence over Kim Jong Un's government is limited.
U.N. resolutions have failed so far to deter North Korea from conducting nuclear and missile tests. Last year, the North conducted two nuclear tests and two dozen tests of ballistic missiles.
"They need to show us how concerned they are," Haley said. "They need to put pressure on North Korea. The only country that can stop North Korea is China, and they know that."
Asked what the U.S. would do if China doesn't cooperate, Haley said: "China has to cooperate."
Former Defense Secretary Ash Carter, however, said he doubted that Beijing will cooperate.
"I've been working on the North Korea problem since 1994," he said. "And we have consistently asked Chinese leaders ... because they uniquely have the historical and the economic relationship with North Korea to make a difference.
"They haven't used that influence, and so it's hard for me to be optimistic with that," he said.
Haley, Peskov, McCain and Carter appeared on ABC's "This Week," Haley also was on CBS' "Face the Nation," Schiff spoke on CNN's "State of the Union," and McConnell appeared on "Fox News Sunday" and NBC's "Meet The Press."
___
AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace and AP writer Catherine Lucey contributed to this report.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says there's no question Russia was involved in the U.S. presidential election and insists President Donald Trump would fully support strong action against the Kremlin once investigations are complete.
Speaking in television interviews broadcast Sunday, Nikki Haley contended there is no contradiction between her tough stance and Trump's repeated public statements seeking to minimize Russia's role. She said Trump "has not once" told her to stop "beating up on Russia."
She joins Defense Secretary James Mattis as Trump administration officials who have forcefully called out Russia for its actions during the 2016 U.S. campaign.
"We don't want any country involved in our elections, ever," Haley said. "We need to be very strong on that."
Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied his country meddled in the 2016 contest between Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. While Trump himself has said he believes Russian operatives hacked Democratic Party emails during the election, he has repeatedly lambasted as "fake news" any suggestion that he or his staff had connections to Russia.
Trump continued his attacks over the weekend, tweeting: "It is the same Fake News Media that said there is 'no path to victory for Trump' that is now pushing the phony Russia story. A total scam!"
He added on Sunday: "The real story turns out to be SURVEILLANCE and LEAKING! Find the leakers."
U.S. intelligence agencies report that Russia tried to help Trump's campaign effort. The FBI as well as congressional committees are investigating whether the Russian government coordinated with Trump associates during the campaign. The White House is also trying to quell a firestorm over its behind-the-scenes role in helping the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee, Rep. Devin Nunes, view secret intelligence reports that he says pointed to inappropriate leaking.
Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the panel, went to the White House on Friday to view materials that he said were "precisely the same." He declined on Sunday to describe the contents, but criticized the unorthodox disclosure to Nunes, suggesting that the material was more likely an "effort to deflect attention" and "create a cloud through which the public cannot see."
"Whenever they see the president use the word 'fake,' it should set off alarm bells," Schiff said. "I think that's really what going on here."
Trump as president persuaded Haley to leave the governorship of South Carolina to represent the U.S. at the United Nations. She said she was "beating up on Russia" over issues such as its actions in Crimea and its dispute with Ukraine.
When asked if she believes Trump should publicly take a harder Russia stance, she said: "Of course, he's got a lot of things he's doing."
"There's no love or anything going on with Russia right now," Haley said. "They get that we're getting our strength back, that we're getting our voice back and that we're starting to lead again, and, honestly, at the United Nations, that's the No. 1 comment I get is that they're just so happy to see the United States lead again."
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who chairs the Armed Services Committee, said it was indisputable that Russia attempted to influence the U.S. election, reiterating his call for a special select committee.
But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he didn't think another review was necessary, citing the bipartisan work from the Senate Intelligence Committee.
"I think they clearly laid out that they're going wherever the facts take them," McConnell said, referring to Republican chairman Richard Burr of North Carolina and Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the panel. "We don't need yet another investigation. We know the FBI is looking at it from their perspective."
Dmitry Peskov, Putin's press secretary, said Russia was not worried about what any U.S. investigation might reveal. "We insist that any blaming that Russia could have been interfering in domestic affairs of the United States is slander," he said.
On other topics, Haley said the U.S. is also pressing China to take a firmer stand regarding North Korea's nuclear program. Trump is scheduled to meet later this week with Chinese President Xi Jinping over a range of issues. While China provides diplomatic and economic support to its neighbor, it claims that its influence over Kim Jong Un's government is limited.
U.N. resolutions have failed so far to deter North Korea from conducting nuclear and missile tests. Last year, the North conducted two nuclear tests and two dozen tests of ballistic missiles.
"They need to show us how concerned they are," Haley said. "They need to put pressure on North Korea. The only country that can stop North Korea is China, and they know that."
Asked what the U.S. would do if China doesn't cooperate, Haley said: "China has to cooperate."
Former Defense Secretary Ash Carter, however, said he doubted that Beijing will cooperate.
"I've been working on the North Korea problem since 1994," he said. "And we have consistently asked Chinese leaders ... because they uniquely have the historical and the economic relationship with North Korea to make a difference.
"They haven't used that influence, and so it's hard for me to be optimistic with that," he said.
Haley, Peskov, McCain and Carter appeared on ABC's "This Week," Haley also was on CBS' "Face the Nation," Schiff spoke on CNN's "State of the Union," and McConnell appeared on "Fox News Sunday" and NBC's "Meet The Press."
___
AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace and AP writer Catherine Lucey contributed to this report.
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