Again, it’s the Lansing Institute, but… https://lansinginstitute.org/2021/01/08/russian-involvement-in-the-capitol-building-attack/
The Southern Poverty Law Center identified a "Russian Insider” Charles Bausman, linked to various hate groups, among those invading the Capitol wearing a Trump hat. https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2021/09/23/jan-6-video-suggests-russia-insider-entered-capitol > On Mar 3, 2022, at 1:13 AM, patrice riemens <[email protected]> wrote: > > Molly had already send the url, but I think it's worthwhile to have the text > in full on the list (& Molly agrees ;-) > > Cheers, & even more: peace, to all > > > Original to: > https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/02/time-to-confront-trump-putin-network > > <https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/02/time-to-confront-trump-putin-network> > > It’s time to confront the Trump-Putin network > By Rebecca Solnit, March 2, 2022 > > > A stunning number of Trump’s closest associates had deep ties to the Kremlin. > The significance of this cannot be overstated > > > > > In 2014, the Putin regime invaded Ukraine’s Crimea. In 2016, the same regime > invaded > <https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/13/us/politics/russia-hack-election-dnc.html> > the United States. The former took place as a conventional military > operation; the latter was a spectacular case of cyberwarfare > <https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/13/us/politics/russia-hack-election-dnc.html>, > including disinformation that it was happening at all and promulgation of a > lot of talking points still devoutly repeated by many. It was a vast > social-media influencing project that took many forms > <https://www.texastribune.org/2018/12/17/texas-secession-russia-disinformation-2016-social-media-new-knowledge/> > as it sought to sow discord > <https://www.businessinsider.com/bernie-sanders-central-to-russias-pro-trump-2016-strategy-study-2019-4> > and confusion, even attempting to dissuade > <https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/12/17/18145075/russia-facebook-twitter-internet-research-agency-race> > Black voters from voting. > > Additionally, Russian intelligence targeted voter rolls > <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/us/politics/russian-hacking-elections.html> > in all 50 states, which is not thought to have had consequences, but > demonstrated the reach and ambition of online interference. This weekend, > British investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr said on Twitter, “We > failed to acknowledge Russia had staged a military attack on the West. We > called it ’meddling.’ We used words like ‘interference.’ It wasn’t. It was > warfare. We’ve been under military attack for eight years now.” > > > As she notes, Putin’s minions were not only directing their attention to the > United States, and included pro-Brexit efforts and support for France’s > far-right racist National Front party. The US interference – you could call > it cyberwarfare, or informational invasion – took many forms. Stunningly, a > number of left-wing news sources and pundits devoted themselves to denying > the reality of the intervention and calling those who were hostile to the > Putin regime cold-war red-scare right-wingers, as if contemporary Russia was > a glorious socialist republic rather than a country ruled by a dictatorial > ex-KGB agent with a record of murdering journalists, imprisoning dissenters, > embezzling tens of billions and leading > <https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/03/world/americas/alt-right-vladimir-putin.html> > a global neofascist white supremacist revival. In discrediting the news > stories and attacking critics of the Russian government, they provided > crucial cover for Trump. > > In her 2019 testimony to House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee > on Intelligence, former National Security Agency staffer Fiona Hill declared > <https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/11/21/transcript-fiona-hill-david-holmes-testimony-front-house-intelligence-committee/>, > “Russia was the foreign power that systematically attacked our democratic > institutions in 2016. This is the public conclusion of our intelligence > agencies, confirmed in bipartisan congressional reports. It is beyond > dispute, even if some of the underlying details must remain classified. The > impact of the successful 2016 Russian campaign remains evident today. Our > nation is being torn apart; truth is questioned; our highly professional > expert career Foreign Service is being undermined. US support for Ukraine, > which continues to face armed aggression, is being politicized. President > Putin and the Russian security services aim to counter US foreign policy > objectives in Europe, including in Ukraine, where Moscow wishes to reassert > political and economic dominance.” > > The assertions of interference were compelling all along. On October 7, 2016, > US intelligence agencies released > <https://www.dhs.gov/news/2016/10/07/joint-statement-department-homeland-security-and-office-director-national> > a bombshell press release declaring “The US Intelligence Community (USIC) is > confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of > e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from US political > organizations.” In one of the weirdest days in US political history, the > Access Hollywood tape of Trump boasting about sexually assaulting women was > released half an hour later, and half an hour after that > <https://www.cnn.com/2017/10/07/politics/one-year-access-hollywood-russia-podesta-email/index.html>, > “WikiLeaks began tweeting links to emails hacked from the personal account > of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.” Wikileaks is thought to have > gotten > <https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/how-the-russians-hacked-the-dnc-and-passed-its-emails-to-wikileaks/2018/07/13/af19a828-86c3-11e8-8553-a3ce89036c78_story.html> > its material from the Russian intelligence agency GRU; longtime Republican > operative and Trump ally Roger Stone appears to have been a liason > <https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/12/roger-stone-trial-donald-trump-wikileaks-070368> > between Wikileaks and the Trump team. > > On October 30, 2016, then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reidput out a furious > letter to then-FBI director James Comey, charging “it has become clear that > you possess explosive information about close ties and coordination between > Donald Trump, his top advisors, and the Russian government – a foreign > interest hostile to the United States, which Trump praises at every > opportunity.” He demanded, unsuccessfully, that Comey publicize this > information. On October 31, Obama contacted called Putin > <https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/17/us/politics/white-house-confirms-pre-election-warning-to-russia-over-hacking.html?_r=0> > on the nuclear risk reductions hotline to demand he stop this interference, > but the public didn’t know about this until after Trump had lost the popular > vote but won the electoral college. > > Of course the most striking role of the Russian government in the 2016 US > election was its many, many ties with the Trump campaign, including with > Trump himself, who spent the campaign and the four years of his presidency > groveling before Putin, denying the reality of Russian interference, and > changing first the Republican platform and then US policy to serve Putin’s > agendas. This included cutting support > <https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/trump-campaign-guts-gops-anti-russia-stance-on-ukraine/2016/07/18/98adb3b0-4cf3-11e6-a7d8-13d06b37f256_story.html> > for Ukraine against Russia out of the Republican platform when he won the > primary, considerable animosity > <https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/28/trumps-effort-rewrite-history-his-support-nato-ukraine/> > toward Nato, and ultimately trying to blackmail Ukrainian President > Volodymyr Zelensky in 2019 by withholding military aid while demanding he > offer confirmation of a Russian conspiracy theory blaming Ukraine rather than > Russia for 2016 election interference. > > A stunning number of Trump’s closest associates had deep ties to the Russian > government. They included Paul Manafort, who during his years in Ukraine > worked to build Russian influence there and served as a consultant to the > Kremlin-backed Ukrainian president who was driven out of the country – and > into Russia by popular protest in 2014 (the Russian line is that this was an > illegitimate coup and thus a justification for invasion is still widely > repeated). Manafort was, during his time in the campaign, sharing data > <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/18/us/politics/paul-manafort-konstantin-kilimnik.html> > with Russian intelligence agent Konstantin V Kilimnik, while campaign > advisor Jeff Sessions was sharing information > <https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-discussed-trump-campaign-related-matters-with-russian-ambassador-us-intelligence-intercepts-show/2017/07/21/3e704692-6e44-11e7-9c15-177740635e83_story.html> > with the Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Manafort, Donald Trump Jr and > Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner held an illegal meeting > <https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/mueller-report-no-evidence-trump-knew-about-trump-tower-meeting-n995816> > in Trump Tower with a Kremlin-linked lawyer on June 9, 2016, where they were > promised damaging material on the Clinton campaign. > > After being seated next to Putin while being paid to speak at a dinner > celebrating RT > <https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/guess-who-came-dinner-flynn-putin-n742696>, > Russia’s news propaganda outlet, Michael Flynn briefly became Trump’s > national security advisor. He was soon was fired for lying to White House > officials and later pled guilty > <https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-flynn-plea-20171201-story.html> > to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador. Jared > Kushner allegedly directed him to make those contacts and as the Washington > Post reported > <https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russian-ambassador-told-moscow-that-kushner-wanted-secret-communications-channel-with-kremlin/2017/05/26/520a14b4-422d-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a_story.html?utm_term=.ecdc9aa4c17b> > in May 2017, “Jared Kushner and Russia’s ambassador to Washington discussed > the possibility of setting up a secret and secure communications channel > between Trump’s transition team and the Kremlin, using Russian diplomatic > facilities in an apparent move to shield their pre-inauguration discussions > from monitoring.” The Guardian reported > <https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/11/donald-trump-jr-email-chain-russia-hillary-clinton> > the same year that “Donald Trump Jr has been forced to release damning > emails that reveal he eagerly embraced what he was told was a Russian > government attempt to damage Hillary Clinton’s election campaign.” > > What’s striking in retrospect is that all of this was made possible by > corruption and amorality inside the United States. It was Silicon Valley’s > mercenary amorality that created weapons and vulnerabilities and sat by > pocketing the profit as they were exploited to destructive ends. It was > corrupt Americans – from Manafort to Trump himself – that gave Putin his > influence. It was international players such as Wikileaks and Cambridge > Analytica that helped. It was corruption of media outlets such as Fox News > that continued – in Tucker Carlson’s case until last week’s invasion of > Ukraine caught up with him – to defend Putin and spread disinformation. > > The Republican party met its new leader by matching his corruption, and by > covering up his crimes and protecting him from consequences, including two > impeachments. The second impeachment was for a violent invasion of Congress, > not by a foreign power, but by right-wingers inflamed by lies instigated by > Trump and amplified by many in the party. They have become willing > collaborators in an attempt to sabotage free and fair elections, the rule of > law, and truth itself. > > Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. Her most recent books are > Recollections of My Nonexistence and Orwell’s Roses > > > # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission > # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, > # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets > # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l > # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [email protected] > # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject:
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