There was nothing in those emails that was sufficient to blackmail - it was mostly noise, innuendo and distraction and it served their purpose - sow chaos, distrust in our institutions (media, intelligence, electoral system) by hacking, dissiminating through wikileaks, and propogating fake news
Which would have MORE effective if Clinton had gained POWER and was trying to run an Admin. There was ENOUGH in those DNC emails to cause a chain of resignations, and DOMINATE the news cycle for months. Had all the jabs at Bernie's campaign been released as BLACKMAIL to get favorable deals from a Clinton Admin, it most CERTAINLY would cast doubt on the validity of her election and hobble her effectiveness..
I disagree - what was in the emails that was actually "black mailible" - nothing. Think about it closely. Most of it was "noise" - pre-election noise. There was nothing criminal, or even really embarressing for her. And she's not political novice - she's been scrutinized and investigated more than any other candidate, and she has a lengthy political history behind her.
Even the jabs at Bernie's campaign - nothing illegal, nothing that doesn't occur typically in primary politics (the contact sport)...it was EMBARRASSING to the DNC but had no substantial impact on Clinton's ability to govern has she won and to think they could use it for blackmail as opposed to simple disruption would be highly risky because in all likelihood - she'd laugh at them. Russia has a long history of attempting to disrupt democratic process through disinformation, propoganda etc - from back in the Soviet days, this is right in line with what they typically do only now it's a lot easier.
Their goal is also to get the sanctions lifted - that's hurting them. Putin hates Clinton because she came down tough on Russia's actions in Ukraine. There is no way she would lift the sanctions.
And yet -- as you've been told by various posters here and in other threads. Getting sanctions lifted is EXACTLY what the Podesta Group was hired to do. During the ******* campaign. So how sincere was Clinton's commitment to being "tough on Russia" when her CAMPAIGN MGR is a paid lobbyist for SberBank controlling 1/3 of the total assets in Russia?
This is likely LESS about Putin and MORE about the way the Russian economy is run and controlled by several HUNDRED oligarchs and Mafioso types that Putin is buddies with. They all compete. They ALL hire influence in foreign govts and they all conduct their OWN "foreign intel". INDEPENDENT of FSB/GRU/KGB... For instance, Manafort and Podesta COMPETED for consulting status with some of these same Oligarchy interests. Both in Russia and in the Ukraine. There's a LOT more here than Putin having a circus of inept, incapable clowns in his Intel CyberWar groups.
And there were US investments and money at stake in WHO dominated in the Russian markets. See the huge number of shares of Russian stocks GIVEN to Podesta for his efforts..
In all likelyhood - Russia approached many (
including Trump campaign staff and associates) in attempts to get sanctions lifted. Clinton's commitment to Russian sanctions is clear in her own political record regardless of what Podesta might or might not be doing.
Putin has VERY capable "clowns" in his CyberWar groups - extremely so since it took us this long to figure out what they've been chipping away at for a long time and leaving few traces. The only reason we were so clueless before was our people didn't know what to look for before. But eventually, even the best hackers leave traces.
Putin is cold blooded, shrewed and calculating. He's effectively shut down media watchdogs and political dissidents. He has a proven reputation of poisoning or assassinating whistle blowers, journalists, dissidents and political opposition. It's even quite possible that
he himself engineered the bombings in the middle of the night...killing hundreds of sleeping people when they pancaked...and blamed on "Chechnyan terrorists". An action that, brought him in to political power. Putin takes the long view on global politics. It doesn't pay to underestimate him.
All the intelligence agencies, Congress, Obama, and the media in collusion? All of these people who are professionals at their job, many serving under multiple administrations in positions of trust suddenly - are corrupted where as before they weren't? That people can't do a professional nonpartisan job solely because they vote D or R?
Nope.. Only requires the CONCENTRATED power vested in proven deviants and liars as James Clapper. HE was the POLITICAL appointee that tasked all the agencies for Admin goals and policies. He's a POLITICAL operative at that point. Despite his years of actual service to these agencies. His NEW job gave him "cross program" access that LITERALLY -- less than a dozen people possess. So just that ONE and maybe a few flaming partisans in other areas like the FBI or DOJ or HSecurity would be sufficient to CORRUPT and weaponize the Intel agencies for political hijinks...
THAT is nightmare of EVERY faithful patriotic person who has served in the Intel areas. And for DECADES the chances of that EVER happening were close to Nil.. Until 9/11 and the Patriot Act and the consolidation of POLITICAL power in Admin controlled new positions and groups were created. Along with that awesome Big Brother Domestic spying operation we ALL have to cope with.. It's a doomsday scenario. An Intel infrastructure political insurgency could take this Republic down in a year...
I totally disagree - you would have to have the press, the Republican congress, and everyone in the intelligence community in on it at the very least and when you consider how leaky and partisan everything is now - there is no way it could be hidden - not from the media and not from the Republicans, and they aren't denying it was Russia.
[/QUOTE]
