["It is perhaps no coincidence that Ms Le Pen’s party has received a hefty loan from a Russian bank and Mr Macron’s organisation has suffered more than 4,000 hacking attacks." (Source: <http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21717814-why-french-presidential-election-will-have-consequences-far-beyond-its-borders-vote>.]
I/II. http://www.livemint.com/Politics/suOfsMUSIiRDrVK5G296qJ/Donald-Trump-Russia-and-the-US-election-What-we-know-so-fa.html Last Modified: Fri, Mar 03 2017. 04 35 PM IST Donald Trump, Russia and the US election: What we know so far The key highlight s of the controversy dogging Donald Trump’s presidency Various congressional inquiries are looking into contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials. Photo: AFP Washington: President Donald Trump’s administration was plunged back into turmoil over its connections to Russia after it was revealed that his attorney general failed to disclose he met Moscow’s ambassador twice during last year’s election campaign. Following the revelation Jeff Sessions recused himself from any probe into the election on Thursday. Here is what we know so far about the controversy dogging Trump’s young presidency: In October last year, US intelligence agencies publicly blamed Russia for hacking and leaking embarrassing documents from the Democratic Party during the 2016 presidential campaign. Three months later, on 6 January, intelligence chiefs released a limited report stating they were confident that Russian President Vladimir Putin was behind an effort to damage the election chances of Trump’s Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. ALSO READ: Trump’s attorney general Jeff Sessions removes himself from campaign probes The justice department and intelligence agencies are continuing to investigate Russia’s alleged interference in the campaign. In Congress, three Senate committees and one House committee have also opened overlapping investigations into multiple aspects of the Russia controversy. The various congressional inquiries are notably looking into contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, both before and since the 8 November election, to determine whether there was any collusion with Russian attempts to influence the vote outcome. Several Trump aides had longstanding business links to Russia or Moscow-backed Ukrainian politicians, including his campaign manager Paul Manafort who resigned last August under scrutiny over the issue. The White House has vehemently denied a New York Times report that Manafort and two others from the campaign communicated with Russian intelligence officials prior to the election. Late Thursday, Trump accused Democrats of having “lost their grip on reality” and carrying out “a total witch hunt!” in a statement defending Sessions. Revelations of sensitive contacts between the Trump team and Russia have already caused one high-profile casualty for the incoming administration. ALSO READ: Donald Trump pushes for more military spending for the US Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn was forced to resign 13 February after it was reported that he had talked to the Russian ambassador the same day that outgoing president Barack Obama was expelling 35 Russian diplomats in retaliation for the election meddling. Congressional inquiries are notably looking into whether Flynn undermined the Obama administration’s sanctions on Russia in his discussions with envoy Sergey Kislyak. On Thursday, Sessions, Trump’s attorney general, recused himself from any probe into the presidential election campaign after it was revealed he had failed to disclose his own contacts with Kislyak while testifying in his Senate confirmation hearing. Trump came to his defence late Thursday, stating that Sessions “did not say anything wrong. He could have stated his response more accurately, but it was clearly not intentional.” As head of the department of justice, Sessions oversees any FBI investigations. In light of the new revelations, politicians from both parties had urged him to recuse himself from probes into the Russian controversy, while top Democrats demanded that he resign. Democrats fear that Trump’s Republicans, who hold a majority in both chambers, will seek to stifle congressional inquiries to protect the president. Many are now calling for a major bipartisan or independent investigation into Russian interference. Options could be a powerful independent prosecutor, a select congressional committee, or a bipartisan commission led by experts outside government. Republicans have so far resisted going beyond the existing committee probes. AFP II. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/russias-top-diplomat-at-center-of-trump-controversy/articleshow/57441987.cms Russia's top diplomat at center of Trump controversy AP | Updated: Mar 3, 2017, 09.34 AM IST WASHINGTON: The Trump administration's back-to-back controversies over its Russian ties now have at least one thing in common: Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Moscow's top diplomat in the US has become the Kevin Bacon of the Trump White House's Russia imbroglio. A Washington fixture with a sprawling network, he has emerged as the central figure in the investigations into Trump advisers' connections with Russia. In a matter of weeks, contact with Kislyak led to the firing of a top adviser to the president and, on Thursday, prompted calls for the attorney general to resign. Separately, a White House official confirmed Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and ousted national security adviser Michael Flynn met with Kislyak at Trump Tower in December for what the official called a brief courtesy meeting. Flynn was pushed out of the White House last month after officials said he misled Vice President Mike Pence about whether he and the ambassador had discussed US sanctions against Russia in a phone call. At issue Thursday were two meetings between Sessions and Kislyak - one in July and another in September, at the height of concern over Russia's involvement in hacking of Democratic officials' emails accounts. Intelligence officials have since concluded Moscow ordered the hacks to tilt the election toward Trump. In his confirmation hearing, the Alabama Republican denied having contact with any Russian officials, neglecting to mention the meetings with Kislyak, which were first reported by the Washington Post. The Russian Embassy did not respond to a request for comment. Although the White House dismissed the revelation as part of a political witch hunt, Sessions' former colleagues took the omission seriously. At the urging of some in his own party, Sessions recused himself from the Department of Justice's investigation. Still, Democrats called for him to step down. Observers note Kislyak is a somewhat unlikely figure to cause controversy. Over the course of a long diplomatic career, he's led the life of a somewhat typical global envoy - making himself a reliable presence on the circuit of receptions, teas and forums that make up the calendar of any ambassador. Kislyak, who was appointed to his post in 2008, is regularly spotted walking around town, heading to and from meetings. Early in his tenure, he often opened the doors of the Russian Embassy, hosting dinners for foreign policy professionals, Pentagon officials, journalists and Capitol Hill staffers. Those who have attended the events describe him as a gracious and amiable diplomat, although perhaps not as polished - nor as confrontational - as his more famous boss, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. In 2015, when Kislyak invited a group of Washington-based journalists, including one from the Associated Press, to the Russian Embassy for tea, he used the meeting to push warmer relations between the two nations - despite the conflict over Russia's seizure of Crimea and the crisis in Ukraine. Kislyak framed US-Russian relations as salvageable and hoped specifically to combat what he considered cartoonish, anti-Russian depictions of his government in the American press. At a press conference where he recused himself from the investigation into the Trump campaign's ties with Russia, Sessions said he discussed a number of things with Kislyak, including counterterrorism. He said the meeting became confrontational when the discussion turned to Ukraine. Kislyak, 66, has bounced between the United States and Russia for most of his long career. His first foreign posting was to New York where he worked at the Soviet delegation at the United Nations in the early 1980s. He spent the following years as the first secretary and then councilor at the Soviet Embassy in Washington before returning to Moscow in 1989, where he took a succession of senior jobs at the Foreign Ministry. He did a stint as Russian ambassador to Belgium and simultaneously served as Moscow's envoy at NATO. He then returned to Moscow to serve as a deputy foreign minister, overseeing relations with the United States and arms control issues before being sent to Washington. Kislyak's contacts have sparked questions about his role or involvement in the hacking, questions that are difficult to answer. The US and Russia, along with many other countries, have made it a practice to separate their top diplomats from espionage activities, although it is not uncommon for an intelligence agent to operate under the cover of a senior-level diplomat. Foreign diplomats to the United States likely expect that their activities will be monitored by US authorities in the same manner that American diplomats are monitored in countries like Russia. Russian ambassadors most likely are aware of the intelligence agents operating under diplomatic cover, but are not believed to part of the security services themselves. Top Comment It is all Media''s efforts to highlight possible estrangement between the two countries to sustain and provoke cold-war strategies . Though it is true that one or two heads have rolled by in the Wh... Read More Sankara Narayanan Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Thursday ridiculed the claims of Kislyak's involvement in espionage as "total disinformation" and part of efforts to sway public opinion. "I'll open a military secret for you: It's the diplomats' jobs to have contacts in the country they are posted to," she said sarcastically. "It's their obligation to meet with officials and members of the political establishment." -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
