cnelsen
Gold Member
- Banned
- #1
I watched a few minutes of the Senate Intelligence Committee's hearing on Russian interference in the US election just passed. I'm not sure whether, with age, I am more sensitive to political farce or our political class is becoming more embarrassing, but this shit takes the cake in terms of national humiliation.
Sen Warner's opening statement was a rhetorically inflammatory bucket of cynicism and hypocrisy. He alluded darkly to the vast network of Russian secret, almost supernaturally sophisticated, operatives, mysterious powers of coordination, and a nefarious "fake news" operation churning out a "deluge" of misleading disinformation and feeding it to our well-meaning, but naive, media who were duped by the sinister Russkies into passing along the lies.
The Virginia Democrat waxed downright warlike with a patriotic denunciation of any defilement of the sanctity of the American electoral process. Sitting behind him were a row of rabbis down in DC for the AIPAC convention just wrapped up. It was hard to ignore their collective sniggering at the towering hypocrisy of Warner's phony outrage. AIPAC, you'll recall, is the official arm of Israeli interference in, not only US elections, but the whole of US politics. Warner seemed unaware of how sickeningly pharisaical it is for a member of the body that voted 77 - 23 to invade Iraq based on phony intel provided by Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, to be dishing indignation at Russia's "foreign meddling".
In his opening statement, the first witness, a professor at Georgetown, said:
But then went on to note we do the same thing:
And, in fact, we require foreign actors to meddle in our politics:
The professor finished by recommending we counter Russian fake news with fake news of our own:
Sen Warner's opening statement was a rhetorically inflammatory bucket of cynicism and hypocrisy. He alluded darkly to the vast network of Russian secret, almost supernaturally sophisticated, operatives, mysterious powers of coordination, and a nefarious "fake news" operation churning out a "deluge" of misleading disinformation and feeding it to our well-meaning, but naive, media who were duped by the sinister Russkies into passing along the lies.
The Virginia Democrat waxed downright warlike with a patriotic denunciation of any defilement of the sanctity of the American electoral process. Sitting behind him were a row of rabbis down in DC for the AIPAC convention just wrapped up. It was hard to ignore their collective sniggering at the towering hypocrisy of Warner's phony outrage. AIPAC, you'll recall, is the official arm of Israeli interference in, not only US elections, but the whole of US politics. Warner seemed unaware of how sickeningly pharisaical it is for a member of the body that voted 77 - 23 to invade Iraq based on phony intel provided by Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, to be dishing indignation at Russia's "foreign meddling".
In his opening statement, the first witness, a professor at Georgetown, said:
"Little evidence has come to the fore of Soviet direct meddling in the actual mechanical election processes of major countries; but they did try to influence the outcomes of the elections and the behavior of foreign leaders in parties, trade unions, the media, and culture."
But then went on to note we do the same thing:
"Yes, from the late 1940s forward the U.S. and other liberal democracies did use overt and covert measures to defend and assist democratic elements abroad—labor, media, intellectuals, and parties—that were under direct attack abroad by well-trained and financed political forces from the Soviet Bloc"
And, in fact, we require foreign actors to meddle in our politics:
"The U.S. National Counterintelligence Strategy of 2016 does call for the collection and analysis of the threats from foreign intelligence"
The professor finished by recommending we counter Russian fake news with fake news of our own:
"Another is to disseminate a positive narrative to refute specific Russian attempts to undermine the democratic narrative."
The swamp gas is already malodorous in this hearing room, but Sen Schumer is on the committee and so look for the atmosphere to turn downright noxious when it's his turn on camera. As for Actual Evidence of the impact of Russia on this election: zero.
