One Candidate That Putin Can Blackmail; The Other In Bromance

[Kathianne]

Interesting times indeed.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/07/25/wikileaks-emails-dnc-putin-bernie-hillary-trump-blackmail-guccifer-russian-column/87524386/


<section id="module-position-PN4UqCHo_5c" class="storytopbar-bucket story-headline-module story-story-headline-module" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px;">Glenn Reynolds: Putin for president 2016

</section><section id="module-position-PN4UqCH5XQE" class="storytopbar-bucket story-byline-module story-story-byline-module" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px;">Glenn Harlan Reynolds3:10 p.m. EDT July 25, 2016
</section><section id="module-position-PN4UqCG4S6Q" class="storytopbar-bucket piano-module story-piano-module" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px;"></section>Great, we can vote for someone who appears subject to Russian blackmail or someone who already seems to be buddies with them.


Call it the Putin Election if you want, because we have two candidates leading the pack who seem, in one way or another, likely to prove congenial to <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Vladimir Putin" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: help; z-index: 9000; border-bottom-style: dashed !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(100, 98, 94) !important; background: inherit !important;">Vladimir Putin</culink>.

On the Democratic side, we have <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Hillary Clinton" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: help; z-index: 9000; border-bottom-style: dashed !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(100, 98, 94) !important; background: inherit !important;">Hillary Clinton</culink>, whose secret private-server emails are almost certainly already in the hands of <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Foreign Intelligence Service (Russia)" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: help; z-index: 9000; border-bottom-style: dashed !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(100, 98, 94) !important; background: inherit !important;">Russian intelligence</culink> (probably along with several other nations’ spy services as well).

What that means is Putin can embarrass Hillary — or worse — whenever he wants. We’re getting a small foretaste of that in the release of hacked Democratic National Committee emails this weekend. The emails show dirty tricks aimed at <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Bernie Sanders" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: help; z-index: 9000; border-bottom-style: dashed !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(100, 98, 94) !important; background: inherit !important;">Bernie Sanders</culink>, including a plan to go after his lack of faith.

They also show the DNC and Clinton folks getting awfully chummy with some allegedly professional journalists, and putting pressure on news organizations — and show how staff worried that letting a Florida lawyer with ties to sex offender (https://wikileaks.org/dnc-emails/emailid/2077) <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Jeffrey Epstein" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: help; z-index: 9000; border-bottom-style: dashed !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(100, 98, 94) !important; background: inherit !important;">Jeffrey Epstein</culink>, whose private island (http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/05/13/flight-logs-show-bill-clinton-flew-on-sex-offenders-jet-much-more-than-previously-known.html) <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Bill Clinton" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: help; z-index: 9000; border-bottom-style: dashed !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(100, 98, 94) !important; background: inherit !important;">Bill Clinton</culink> had visited several times, host a fundraiser might cause trouble.

These have already brought heat to the Clinton campaign, as Bernie supporters lash out at a system that looks rigged. But the real point, I suspect, is to deliver a message: Hillary is vulnerable, and if she crosses Putin she’ll pay. The leaks that are out are allegedly from a hacker calling himself Guccifer 2.0 (https://www.rt.com/usa/349193-guccifer-clinton-expenses/), but given that many suspect this is just a blind for Russian intelligence. And Hillary has some shady Russian deals (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/us/cash-flowed-to-clinton-foundation-as-russians-pressed-for-control-of-uranium-company.html?_r=0) in her background, too. I’m pretty sure the message is received.

So if you don’t want a president who’s likely to be influenced by Putin, you should vote for <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Donald Trump" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: help; z-index: 9000; border-bottom-style: dashed !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(100, 98, 94) !important; background: inherit !important;">Donald Trump</culink>, right? Well, the good news is that Putin probably won’t be blackmailing Trump. The bad news is that he might not have to, because Trump has openly admired Putin, and the two appear to be on the same page about many things. Trump has said that he doesn’t think the Baltic States (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/07/21/donald-trump-cast-doubt-on-the-baltics-involvement-in-nato-heres-what-they-actually-do/) are worth going to war over, expressed dissatisfaction with NATO and suggested that the U.S. shouldn’t get on its high horse (to use an Obama phrase) about other countries’ treatment of dissent, given our problems at home.

So it seems possible, and maybe even likely, that our two main choices in November will be a woman who’s subject to blackmail by the Russians, and a man who generally sympathizes with the Russians. That’s good news for Putin, but probably not such good news for the rest of us.

Of course, Hillary could be harder to blackmail than Putin thinks — it’s hard to blackmail someone who has no shame, and who is used to escaping the consequences of her actions. And the press is, as usual, on Hillary’s side, soft-pedaling the <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/WikiLeaks" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: help; z-index: 9000; border-bottom-style: dashed !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(100, 98, 94) !important; background: inherit !important;">WikiLeaks</culink> story while Twitter users (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jul/23/twitter-users-erupt-dncleaks-disappears-from-trend/) accuse the platform of hiding it from the “trending” section.

And Trump, as Sen. <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Tom Cotton" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: help; z-index: 9000; border-bottom-style: dashed !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(100, 98, 94) !important; background: inherit !important;">Tom Cotton</culink>, R-Ark., has suggested, might change his mind (http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/07/tom-cotton-donald-trump/489890/) on Putin once he gets the classified intelligence briefings. Much of his pro-Putinism could stem from admiration of a strong, outspoken leader who’s not afraid to stand up for his own country. Perhaps once Trump starts thinking about standing up for his own country, he’ll realize that Putin is generally an adversary.

The other bright spot, if you can call it that, is that neither Clinton nor Trump represents a big change from the current administration. President Obama famously promised Russia “more flexibility (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-nuclear-summit-obama-medvedev-idUSBRE82P0JI20120326)” after the 2012 election, and in fact he has done very little to frustrate Putin’s ambitions in <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Eastern Europe" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: help; z-index: 9000; border-bottom-style: dashed !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(100, 98, 94) !important; background: inherit !important;">Eastern Europe</culink> or the Middle East. So there’s that.

I’ve written about our dysfunctional system (http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/06/16/shrink-presidency-attract-better-candidates-trump-clinton-column/85843656/) for choosing candidates for the White House, but this is just more evidence that we need to do better. Hope is not a plan, and when you’re down to hoping that your candidates won’t be as bad as they seem, something is deeply wrong.

[Black Diamond]

How long before we have another mural on what's left of the Berlin Wall. Next to Brezhnev and Honecker kissing, they put Trump and Putin :laugh:

[Black Diamond]

How long before we have another mural on what's left of the Berlin Wall. Next to Brezhnev and Honecker kissing, they put Trump and Putin :laugh: Kathianne. I clicked on your link and it looks like someone already has the mural design prepared. :laugh:

[Kathianne]

Onto the 'blackmail' discussion:

https://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2016/07/25/not-knowing/

[QUOTE]Email Hack Unmasks a Commander-in-Chief Who Can't Even Protect Herself


BY RICHARD FERNANDEZ (https://pjmedia.com/columnist/richard-fernandez)JULY 25, 2016

The Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-anxiety-for-democrats-are-more-leaks-to-come/2016/07/25/0d8798e8-5282-11e6-bbf5-957ad17b4385_story.html) describes the atmosphere of fear now haunting the Hillary campaign in the aftermath of an email dump showing how the DNC swindled Sanders. A team of writers note of "the anxiety for Democrats: Are more leaks to come?":


Activists and campaign officials, anxious about what leaks may be yet to come, also worried about the alleged involvement of the Russian government, with campaign officials suggesting that the Kremlin was releasing the documents to damage Clinton’s candidacy. National security experts, while cautious about leaping to premature conclusions, warned of the possibility of a significant escalation in an ongoing information war.

If the Russians were behind the leaks, said former CIA director Michael Hayden, “they’re clearly taking their game to another level. It would be weaponizing information.” He added: “You don’t want a foreign power affecting your election. We have laws against that.”


It is doubtful that Putin is worried, but anyone in Washington who once knew a skeleton is now looking over his shoulder (https://www.buzzfeed.com/sheerafrenkel/what-if-the-dnc-leak-was-just-the-beginning?utm_term=.drqxE5a9P#.auk8BDm4z):


"As journalists and political operators pored over the 20,000 emails leaked from the servers of the Democratic National Convention, one Democratic staffer frantically searched for his name. It was only when he failed to find it, that he began to fear for the worst."

“Like everyone in D.C., I immediately searched my name,” said the strategist who works with the DNC. “I wasn’t in there which I was happy about, until I realized just how sinister this leak actually was.”


The staffer, like cybersecurity officials who spoke to BuzzFeed News, said the leaks were sinister because those behind the attack might be drip-feeding the emails to the public to create maximum damage for the Clinton campaign.
...
The question now is what comes next -- according to the security firm Crowdstrike, the hackers were parked in the DNC servers for months, raising the possibility that there may still be more emails to come, potentially some that are fabricated.


On the eve of Hillary's coronation, her courtiers are suddenly waking up to the fact that she cannot protect them.


The shock may be intentional. If Putin was indeed behind the hacking, he is only doing what underdogs through history have done to even the odds. Unable to match the foe in weight, he went for the king, or in this case the queen.


Recall how in ancient Gaugamela, the outnumbered Alexander staked everything on a thrust at Darius. Darius fled in fear. When the mass of the Persian army saw this, they scattered in dismay. By demonstrating the impotence of Darius, Alexander broke the Persian monarch's aura and with it his majesty. Alexander knew that for a king to rule he must be regarded as more than mortal by the masses. Once the king is humiliated and put to flight he becomes psychologically no better than his subjects and the greater part of his power vanishes.


By striking at Hillary's aura, the Russians may be attempting the same thing. Democratic voters looked up to her to protect and defend the nation because that's what presidents do. By hacking Hillary and humiliating her, Putin has sent the message that she cannot even defend herself -- and what's the use of a president who can't defend herself?


This is why the Taliban target the chiefs of police and the district heads to show the populace that their leaders are vulnerable, that no protection can be expected from them. The same threat logic is being applied by Putin.


Amazingly, the DNC has compounded the blow by turning it into a talking point. They are acting as if Hillary were a child needing sympathy because her lollipop has been stolen by a bully, rather than a competent person in firm command.


In so doing, they're admitting that Hillary cannot hold her own with the hard men of Putin's caliber. You don't elect a victim to protector-in-chief unless you want to be one yourself.

...