NEWSLINK: “How the Russia Spin Got So Much Torque” – Common Dreams/ Norman Solomon

“… Soon after #Clinton’s defeat, top strategists decided where to place the blame. ‘Within 24 hours of her concession speech,’ the authors report, campaign manager Robby Mook and campaign chair John Podesta ‘assembled her communications team at the Brooklyn headquarters to engineer the case that the election wasn’t entirely on the up-and-up. For a couple of hours, with Shake Shack […]

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NEWSLINK: “Key Democratic Officials Now Warning Base Not to Expect Evidence of Trump/Russia Collusion” – The Intercept/Glenn Greenwald

File Photo of White House with South Lawn and Fountain

“… The principal problem for Democrats is that so many media figures and online charlatans are personally benefiting from feeding the base increasingly unhinged, fact-free conspiracies … there are now millions of partisan soldiers absolutely convinced of a Trump/Russia conspiracy for which, at least as of now, there is no evidence. And they are all waiting for the day, which they […]

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NEWSLINK: “From Russia, with Panic; Cozy bears, unsourced hacks-and a Silicon Valley shakedown” – The Baffler/Yasha Levine

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

“… It seemed like a plotline from a vintage James Bond film. From his Moscow lair, Vladimir Putin struck up an alliance with Julian Assange to mount a massive cyber-offensive to discredit Hillary Clinton and her retinue of loyal Democratic Party operatives in the eyes of the American public. The plot was full of twists and turns and hair-raising tangents, […]

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David Johnson: How we got here: one theory

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

Just for arguments sake here’s one speculative hypothesis about how we got to where we are today vis-a-vis the “Russian hacking” story. In the context of the 2016 highly emotional presidential election pitting Clinton vs. Trump there was a concerted effort on the part of Clinton-partisans to try to make the central campaign theme an expose of alleged Trump-Russia connections. […]

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NEWSWATCH: “Intelligence panel chair asks why Democrats denied FBI access after Russian hacking (excerpt)” – McClatchy/ANNA DOUGLAS

U.S. Capitol in Bright Sunlight

… [Senator Richard] Burr wanted to know why the Democratic National Committee didn’t give the FBI direct access to servers and devices that had been compromised in a cyberattack. FBI Director James Comey told Burr the agency and its investigators had made ‘multiple requests at different levels’ for access to DNC infrastructure and John Podesta’s devices for the purposes of […]

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NEWSLINK DailyBeast: “Sorry, Hillary Clinton Fans. There’s ‘Zero Evidence’ of Election Hacking.”

Multilingual Polling Place Sign from U.S. Election Polling Place

“Democrats cried hallelujah when computer scientists reportedly pressed Hillary Clinton ask for recounts. But even those experts say an election hack is beyond unlikely.”

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Leonid Bershidsky: Clinton Should Stop Whining About Russian Hackers

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Leonid Bershidsky – October 25, 2016) Leonid Bershidsky is a Bloomberg View columnist. He was the founding editor of the Russian business daily Vedomosti and founded the opinion website Slon.ru. Hillary Clinton and her team hold that “the Russians” were responsible for almost any disruptive or embarrassing hack in the U.S. Many articles about the recent […]

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NEWSWATCH: “America’s Russia Policy Has Failed; Here are seven things the next U.S. president should do to put Washington back in the driver’s seat” – Foreign Policy/Thomas Graham, Matthew Rojansky

File Photo of White House with South Lawn and Fountain

By any number of measures, Washington’s Russia policy has failed. While ostensibly suffering from diplomatic and economic isolation under a U.S.-led international sanctions regime, Moscow has succeeded in challenging a wide range of American interests, most notably in Ukraine, Syria, and cyberspace. Coming up with a new approach on Russia should therefore be a top priority … 1) Understand That […]

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Our Domestic Political Quandary on Russia

File Photo of White House with South Lawn and Fountain

(Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – E. Wayne Merry – October 11, 2016) E. Wayne Merry is Senior Fellow for Europe and Eurasia at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, DC. He is widely published and a frequent speaker on topics relating to Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus, the Balkans, European security and trans-Atlantic relations. In twenty-six years in […]

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I’m an Anti-Putin Russian and Clinton Makes Me Nervous

Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sergei Lavrov, Seated With Flags

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Leonid Bershidsky – October 11, 2016) Leonid Bershidsky is a Bloomberg View columnist. He was the founding editor of the Russian business daily Vedomosti and founded the opinion website Slon.ru. Whoever wins the U.S. presidential election will have a hard time dealing with Russia: The relationship between the two countries is in tatters. Donald Trump obviously […]

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Wikileak: Clinton Told Oil Majors Environmentalism Is Russian Hoax

Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sergei Lavrov, Seated With Flags

(Oilprice.com – Erwin Cifuentes – October 10, 2016) In 2014, United States presidential candidate Hillary Clinton purportedly accused the Russians of running fake anti-fracking and environmentalist groups who were trying to upend major projects such as the Keystone XL pipeline. According to Sputnik International, #Wikileaks reportedly uncovered a paid-for speech made in 2014 by the former Secretary of State in […]

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NEWSWATCH: “What Clinton and Trump need to know about Putin’s Russia” – The Hill/Ariel Cohen

File Photo of White House with South Lawn and Fountain

When Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump address security challenges … Putin’s Russia will loom large. This is no longer post-communist Russia attempting the transition to a market-based democracy and looking up to the West. That transformation was an epic failure. In Putin’s words, ‘Russia is rising from its knees’. … therein lies the threat. … The next American president will […]

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NEWSWATCH: “Putin’s Meddling in the U.S. Elections. How It Helps Him Back Home.” – Foreign Affairs/Gregory Feifer

File Photo of White House with South Lawn and Fountain

Every four years, whenever there is a U.S. presidential election, a melancholy settles over Russia. When global fascination mounts over the selection of the free world’s next leader, Russians feel ignored. … * * * … On top of its usual peddling of influence, disinformation campaigns, and, in some cases, war, Moscow tried discreetly hacking Ukraine’s elections in 2014. Ukrainian […]

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VIDEO NEWSWATCH: PBS NewsHour: “How would the candidates navigate high-stakes ties with Russia?”

File Photo of White House with South Lawn and Fountain

(PBS Newshour – September 8, 2016) What kind of relations should the U.S. have with Russia and President Vladimir Putin? It’s a question that could affect the future of the Syrian conflict and European security, and the two candidates have strikingly different takes. Judy Woodruff speaks with former Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon, an advisor to the Clinton campaign, […]

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NEWSWATCH Fred Weir/facebook: “So, this is a ‘potential’ plot …” Re: Washington Post: “U.S. investigating potential covert Russian plan to disrupt November elections”

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

Fred Weir of the Christian Science Monitor comments on Russia and investigations into cyber incursions relating to the U.S. elections, while posting a link to an article from the Washington Post, “U.S. investigating potential covert Russian plan to disrupt November elections.” So, this is a ‘potential’ plot, even according to the headline, and the story requires the insertion — well […]

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Putin Blasts Trump and Clinton for ‘Shock’ Campaign Tactics

Vladimir Putin file photo with VOA logo; screen shot from video still

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Ilya Arkhipov, John Micklethwait, Henry Meyer – September 2, 2016) Vladimir Putin blasted both Donald Trump’s and Hillary Clinton’s tactics on the campaign trail but refused to publicly take sides in a U.S. presidential race in which he’s been accused of secretly favoring the New York real estate billionaire. “They’re both using shock tactics, just each […]

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NEWSLINK Anders Åslund/Project-Syndicate.Org: “The Putin Question”

Vladimir Putin

As war fever returns in Ukraine, the question of why Russian President Vladimir Putin went from would-be modernizer to aggressive autocrat is being revived. Whatever the reason – fear for his safety, a sense of historical grievance, or both – Putin’s inability to reform Russia’s economy seems certain to be his downfall.

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NEWSWATCH: “Why the Kremlin might not be the fan of Trump that it’s said to be. Whether or not Trump truly was asking Russia to step into the US presidential campaign by releasing Hillary Clinton’s emails, Russia has reason to doubt whether he would be a friend.” – Christian Science Monitor

White House

When Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump … made a public request to Russia that it publish missing emails from Hillary Clinton’s personal web server, it ignited rampant press speculation …. Was … Trump really proposing that Russia, already accused by US authorities of breaking into the Democratic Party’s servers, violate US law? Or was he merely being sarcastic, as Trump […]

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Clinton Should Listen to Russian-Americans

Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sergei Lavrov, Seated With Flags

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Leonid Bershidsky – July 26, 2016) The willingness of Hillary Clinton campaign’s to suggest that Russia has interfered in the U.S. presidential election — in the form of President Vladimir Putin’s supposed help for Donald Trump — exposes the weakness of the Democratic candidate’s presidential bid. The campaign is wasting ammunition on loud but inefficient accusations, […]

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NEWSWATCH: “Putin’s suspected meddling in a U.S. election would be a disturbing first” – Washington Post

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

Credit for the internecine furor that disrupted the Democratic Party on the eve of its convention should go to Vladimir Putin. … cybersecurity experts say Russian intelligence operatives were likely responsible for the hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s computer network, as well as for leaking to the Moscow-friendly WikiLeaks website some 20,000 emails. The trove appeared online Friday, just in […]

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RBTH: U.S. elections: Does Moscow really care if it’s Clinton or Trump?

File Photo of White House with South Lawn and Fountain

Hillary Clinton has warned that should her opponent, Republican maverick Donald Trump win the U.S. presidential elections, “They’ll be celebrating in the Kremlin.” Is she right? And does this mean that a Clinton presidency would be perceived as a disaster in Moscow? (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – VLADIMIR MIKHEEV, SPECIAL TO RBTH – June 8, 2016) Addressing her […]

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Clinton Says Kremlin ‘Will Celebrate’ If Trump Becomes U.S. Leader

File Photo of White House with South Lawn and Fountain

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – June 3, 2016) U.S. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has claimed that Russia and China will celebrate if her opponent Donald Trump wins the upcoming U.S. elections. Speaking on national security in San Diego on Thursday, Clinton said that Trump’s isolationist views would weaken the country while playing into the hands of the Kremlin, Time Magazine […]

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Why Russia sympathizes with Trump: Super Tuesday in the Russian press

File Photo of White House with South Lawn and Fountain

Following big wins for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the contests for the Republican and Democratic nominations for the U.S. presidency on Super Tuesday, Russian media offered their interpretations of the leading candidates’ credentials. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – ANNA SOROKINA, RBTH – March 3, 2016) Super Tuesday, the day on which 11 U.S. states hold their […]

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Hillary Clinton’s Role in Losing Russia

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Leonid Bershidsky – August 10, 2015) Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, and the Russia expert Kathryn Stoner say U.S. foreign policy has had a relatively neutral effect in determining Russia’s course. In an article published last week, they argued that President Vladimir Putin’s virulent anti-Americanism was driven by domestic, tactical considerations, allowing us […]

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Hillary Clinton as U.S. President ‘Wouldn’t Fix’ Russia-U.S. Relationship

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – April 14, 2015) Should Hillary Clinton – who once compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler – become the next U.S. president, no improvement should be expected in U.S.-Russian relations, political analysts said Monday. Relations between the two countries suffer as the result of a fundamental conflict in which Russia is […]

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Pushkov does not expect improvement of Russia-U.S. relations

Putin and Obama with U.S. and Russian Flags

MOSCOW. March 16 (Interfax) – Chairman of the State Duma International Affairs Committee Alexei Pushkov is not expecting any improvement in Russia-U.S. relations in the foreseeable future. “Such hopes are expressed here from time to time: they are claiming that we will be good with America again when the crisis passes. No, we won’t be good with America, and this […]

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Russia Slams Clinton’s “Bias” Over Moscow’s Syria Position

Syria Map

MOSCOW, January 31 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian Foreign Ministry slammed outgoing US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday for a recent statement which referred to Russia’s “unwillingness” to assist in settlement of the Syria conflict, saying it was symptomatic of America’s obstructive attitude to resolving the crisis. “Unfortunately, we have repeatedly said that in their public statements, American […]

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Clinton Urges Russia to be More ‘Integrated’

File Photo of Hillary Rodham Clinton with Nazarbayev

WASHINGTON, January 30 (RIA Novosti) The United States and Europe should work to persuade Russia’s leadership to let their country become more “integrated” with the West despite challenges in relations with Moscow, outgoing US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in an interview published Tuesday. “It’s going to have to be a mutual effort, Europe and the United States both […]

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Lithuanian Speaker Gedvilas Rebuts Clinton on Russia, Radio Says

File Photo of Hillary Rodham Clinton with Nazarbayev

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Bryan Bradley – January 4, 2013) U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s opposition to Russia’s growing economic might in Europe wasn’t practical, Vydas Gedvilas, the head of Lithuania’s new parliament, said in an interview with Russian radio. The international influence of Russian businesses is an economic reality that European countries must separate from politics and deal […]

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Peskov blames Clinton for lack of understanding of processes in FSU

File Photo of Hillary Rodham Clinton with Nazarbayev

MOSCOW. Dec 19 (Interfax) – Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov thinks that the phrase of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about re-Sovietizing CIS countries is an indication of her incompetence about the processes taking place in the region. “To associate the natural processes that are maturing throughout the former Soviet Union with Sovietization is not to understand practically […]

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Clinton’s presidential ambitions could be behind her concern over “sovietization” of post-Soviet space – source

File Photo of Hillary Rodham Clinton with Nazarbayev

MOSCOW. Dec 10 (Interfax) – Concern expressed by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the danger of the “sovietization” of Eastern Europe and Central Asia suggests that she probably wants to continue her political career, a high-ranking source in Moscow told Interfax on Monday. “Hillary Clinton’s tough statements about the alleged threat of the ‘sovietization’ of Eastern Europe and […]

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