By Luke Harding, Julian Borger and Dan Sabbagh / The Guardian / July 15, 2021
Vladimir Putin personally authorised a secret spy agency operation to support a “mentally unstable” Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election during a closed session of Russia’s national security council, according to what are assessed to be leaked Kremlin documents.
The key meeting took place on 22 January 2016, the papers suggest, with the Russian president, his spy chiefs and senior ministers all present.
They agreed a Trump White House would help secure Moscow’s strategic objectives, among them “social turmoil” in the US and a weakening of the American president’s negotiating position.
Russia’s three spy agencies were ordered to find practical ways to support Trump, in a decree appearing to bear Putin’s signature.
By this point Trump was the frontrunner in the Republican party’s nomination race. A report prepared by Putin’s expert department recommended Moscow use “all possible force” to ensure a Trump victory.
Western intelligence agencies are understood to have been aware of the documents for some months and to have carefully examined them. The papers, seen by the Guardian, seem to represent a serious and highly unusual leak from within the Kremlin.
The Guardian has shown the documents to independent experts who say they appear to be genuine. Incidental details come across as accurate. The overall tone and thrust is said to be consistent with Kremlin security thinking.
For the balance of this article, please go here.
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Trumpity Dumpty sat on a wall … Trumpity Dumpty had a great Fall
Unfortunately, did he fall? We are still talking about him 6 months after he is out of office. He still has a very tight grip on the Repugnantcan Party. The Party still has his “win at ALL costs” stance. And let’s not forget, he can/will most likely run again in 2024. With the way that Republican Legislatures are suppressing votes, he has a good chance of winning.
Luke Harding? Isn’t that the same guy who wrote the utterly discredited Guardian story about the supposed Trump’s Manafort visit to Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy when there wasn’t a single shred of evidence that this happened?? No video of him going in or out of a heavily controlled-access building full of cameras etc etc? Oh yes it was! This guy tried to hang investigative publisher Assange’s credibility by falsely associating him with Trump.
https://theintercept.com/2019/01/02/five-weeks-after-the-guardians-viral-blockbuster-assangemanafort-scoop-no-evidence-has-emerged-just-stonewalling/
Harding’s track record stinks.
We know who the people who financed Trump, who STILL finance Trump. And McConnell et al. The same people/CLASS who campaign ‘contributed’ to the campaign of the Mentor of neoliberalism/neoconism Ronald may-he-rot-in-hell Reagan. Who else but the wealthy plutocrats, industrialists, and fossil fuel planet destroyers that continue to fill the pockets of politicians that they think they can control and mostly do as they suck the wealth out of the rest of us! Just like the same Class of German industrialists did when they funded a little Austrian dude with a pencil mustache back in the 30s.
Remember that the ‘Tea Party’ was started by and completely subsidized by the KOCH brothers back in the 90s through shell companies and bought & paid for ‘think tanks’ to hide their attempted ‘soft’ coup. Same Class war as it’s always been, and the way things are looking all that the China and Russia oligarchs need to do, and whomever else are conjured up to be the boogieman (like tiny helpless Cuba or Venezuela or Nicaragua), is just wait for this country to implode from its own rotten sleazeball politics. We know it’s bad, we just have no idea what the hell to do about it.
sealintheSelkirks
So seal, you doubt that Putin helped Trump? (Harding was joined by 2 other reporters in the story.) Now, it seems you doubt that Assange aided Putin or Trump during the “we love wikileaks!” campaign in 2016.
Respectfully, I doubt Putin helped Trump.
Our many secret police agencies and our not-so-secret military get power and money from tension with Russia. The Guardian has been running press releases from the CIA and MI6 for years. Is there any real journalism in the article we’re discussing? Are there any named sources? Does the main reporter’s prior history support or undermine his credibility?
The story is based on “what are assessed to be leaked Kremlin documents.” Really? Why should I make the leap of faith required to believe the assertions made by the author? Even assuming for a moment that all the claims are 100% true, it would be useful to have a little meaningful evidence about the actual impact of this nefarious conspiracy to undermine American Democracy.
I think it was Malcolm X who said words to the effect that our corporate media present the people with two lies and then get them to debate which one is true. Here we are, debating among ourselves about whether or not Boris and Natasha are going to come and debase our precious bodily fluids, as the American Empire gets meaner (and more expensive) with each passing year.
Frank do you think our vast investment in weapons and violence is wise? Are you nostalgic for Boris Yeltsin? I recall that President Trump pulled out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty back in 2019. Is this something “Putin’s Bitch” would do? Has President Biden apologized and rejoined the INF? Is the US military budget going up or down?
My reading of recent history is that Hillary Clinton and her fellow corporate Democrats very much wanted to run against Trump. They crushed Bernie Sanders and were amazed how much a lot of the country detested them when it came to the general election campaign in 2016. It is easier for them to blame Putin than it is to look in the mirror, which is what Dr. King had been begging America to do for ten years before he was gunned down.
Let’s work together to demilitarize our consciousness and create a truly “rules-based” social order.
Were you in this country during the Mueller investigation?
Yes, of course. Let’s consider how the Guardian summarized its findings on April 18, 2019:
“The special counsel Robert Mueller’s highly anticipated report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election was made public on Thursday, examining potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Moscow and whether Donald Trump obstructed justice.
The special counsel found 10 episodes in which Trump’s own actions may have amounted to obstruction of justice, detailing several instances in which the president’s demands to interfere with the investigation were blocked by his aides. And in a separate instance, it was found there were additional efforts by the Trump campaign before the election to obscure its contacts with Russian figures.
The report separately examined the repeated contacts between the Trump campaign and individuals with ties to the Russian government. While Mueller did not find evidence of a criminal conspiracy, investigators made clear the Trump campaign was “receptive” to offers of assistance from the Russians.”
Mueller “did not find evidence of a criminal conspiracy.” I say Putin did not meddle. Where does Mueller say he did? Nowhere.
Russia has an economy about the size of Italy. Your big Darth Vader figure, Mr. Putin, has been cutting the Russian military budget consistently. The USA, on the other hand, has run violent military operations in many dozens of nations all around the world over the last year. We just spent something in the range of $1.5 Trillion on “upgrading” our nuclear weapons arsenal – with a happy bipartisan majority voting yes! Frank, do you approve of this approach to foreign policy?
As Walt Kelly wrote, “We have seen the enemy, and he is us.”
Here’s the link to the Guardian article I’m quoted from:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2019/apr/18/mueller-report-trump-russia-key-takeaways
Gee, not a hint of what trump did – or continues to do.
The Washington Post Editorial Board Warns the Director of National Intelligence Is Providing Cover for Putin’s Attacks on Our 2020 Election,(see above) … oh, sorry this is about 2020.
But wait! What about Russian Hacking and the 2016 Presidential Election https://obrag.org/2017/01/russian-hacking-and-the-2016-presidential-election/
Many have pointed out the absurdity of this ongoing RussiaGate BlueAnon cult thinking.
Here is some useful analysis:
https://consortiumnews.com/2021/07/17/luke-hardings-hard-sell/
Scott, yeah, I checked it out, and it continues the GOP-based narrative that Mueller never, ever found evidence of any collusion between the orange and putin, that the Steele “dossier” was bs, that the media are Democratic-controlled, and that there’s NO NO evidence of any Kremlin efforts at fucking with our elections. Gee, dude, it’s like we never lived through the last 5 years. I’m done with this.
Citing the Washington Post over Robert Perry’s excellent long-term investigative reporting website… REALLY? I’m shocked that you would do that, Frank! WaPO is like Fox, another billionaire mouthpiece news, freaking OWNED BY JEFF BEZOS.
Dude, that’s like saying you won’t accept the Pentagon Papers because Ellsberg went against the accepted narrative and government propaganda! Funny that the Rethug/Trump meme about Covid being released from a China lab has been picked up and run with by Biden, eh? Is Biden in the power of the orange baboon too? Or is it the case of a broken clock being accurate twice a day?
I’d much rather read what Consortium News is saying over what that right wing sociopath oligarch allows to print in his WaPo. Just like Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Spews and his Wall Street Urinal; both are just conservative right wing outlets, and billionaires are part of the damned problem no matter which corporate party they support.
Frank, I doubt very much that Russia isn’t trying to shift opinions favorable to itself or not trying to crack internet security. Or that China isn’t. Or India. Or Iran. Or Australia. Or Italy. Or Singapore. Or Norway. Or Israel. Or the US.
By hook or by crook, EVERY damn government is full of nasty greedy politicians, murderous career military men, and wealthy corporate vampires pushing to gain power and resources and more wealth for themselves so they can buy more politicians. We all know this or should by now! They all fund their spies and torturers and murderers against every other country and always have. Why should anybody expect Russia be any different than the US? After all, one don’t get to be a Great Power if you’re a ‘good guy.’
Hell, we even tap the phones of our Allies…and get caught! How embarrassing was that?
The US is still secretly or blatantly overthrowing certified fair elections of leftist and/or Socialist ELECTED governments. Our ex-prez Jimmy Carter called Venezuela the cleanest election he’d ever seen. But our illustrious government of either party still immediately ‘recognizes’ attempted violent right wing coups (Bolivia, Venezuela) and right wing military take-overs (Honduras, Peru, Chili etc etc), and the US continue to fund right wing dictator types and sell weapons all over the world to freaking anybody.
Or if all else fails our government use violent force covering ourselves by using that quaint term ‘bringing democracy’ to the peasants…like Libya where they now hold slave auctions in the market squares. We don’t even have a ‘real’ democracy in this country! Nor does Putin of course but at least he isn’t putting on airs.
A silver-spoon inheritance frat boy billionaire who asked what was the point of having nuclear missiles if you don’t get to use them was Putin’s buddy? Really? Putin was a KGB guy and I’m sure he absolutely knows exactly what will happen to this planet if the missiles start getting thrown around. He is not an uneducated stupid like Trump. Why would he want a dangerous loose cannon dumbf**k like Trumpie with the world death button in his greasy little fingers? Nuclear winter anyone? Of course Hillary wasn’t any better with her public threats to start a war with Russia…
Did you count how many financial ‘sanctions’ (a modern term form of war) Trump imposed on Russia his supposed BFF who supposedly helped him get elected?? And all the treaties he broke with Russia? This is somebody being controlled by Putin? Come on, Frank, get past the right wing DNC propaganda.
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Frank, yeah we’ve been here the last five years and Trump STILL got 74 MILLION freaking votes against Biden! But couldn’t pull off the Elector College scam this time. That’s the only reason the prick isn’t still in power. And with what the Republicans are doing in states across the country to voting; if Biden won’t fight the Rethugs instead blabbering on about being in favor of ‘bi-partisanship’ with people who easily will do anything to steal elections (as Hillary did to Bernie TWICE so maybe I’m asking too much of the Dems?), this country may never see another election. It won’t need one. After all, this is what we’ve been doing around the world to other countries! But it won’t affect Bezos or Murdoch much, will it? They’re already on top of the pyramid and they’ll still spew out their wealthy drivel.
Did Russia ‘fix’ the elections? Maybe, maybe not. It certainly wouldn’t have taken much effort give the mess we’re in!
Seal, just received your new book,and it looks good. Ragster Bob will be looking at it, but with no promise of a review.
There ya go again, seal. I’m not gonna quarrel with your outrageous statements. You continuously want to reargue the 2016 election, you don’t understand what a united front is, corporate Hillary is still the bad guy, and you continue to equivocate over the Kremlin’s efforts – I’d hate to see you fall into that quagmire of “leftier-than-thou”.
I don’t have time to read your book, but if someone else does, we’ll get it to them. Still working on my own.
Glad my book is there and sorry you don’t have time to read it as I think you would like it if you did. Read it at a later date,yes? I haven’t had a single negative comment from those who have. Not one! Rather the opposite.
See what Ragster Bob will have to say as I hope he reads through it. Didn’t expect a review. At least you should show Geoff as I’m sure he’d appreciate the two Southside Reef at OB Pier pics on pages 28 & 31!
I have a meeting with an unknown guy (not local though he’s living at the moment at a local lake) who called a couple days ago to say he wants to buy me a beer and talk to me about what he’s read so far. He picked it up at the Pizza & Brew Pub place in Chewelah. Told me this morning that it ‘grabbed’ him but he’s busy and will be out of state for a couple weeks but has read through Chapter 3 so far and is taking it with him… That in itself is a pretty good review I guess. Not that I drink beer but I’m willing to chat with him about it. I’m thinking that it’s a positive when someone who has never met you likes what you’ve written and actually wants to ask more questions!
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As for your latest reply to my comment; what little of the ‘leftier’ is there in this country? Vets Against the War is but others? The largest anti-war protests ever on the planet in 2002 and Wbush invaded Iraq anyway?
I most certainly do know what a united front is and what it means, but when you look at the actual policies as opposed to mouthing politics that infest the conversations that do pretty much nothing but continue the status quo…there isn’t much united in that. At least not below the 10% population level. I was part of a community group that was protesting in Mt. Shasta, gave a speech to the city council asking that we join the other cities that had publicly come out against the coming War Crime…to no avail. Even the invasion of Afghanistan was a sick joke when most of al Queda was based in Pakistan and it was funded by the Saudis and 15 of 18 hijackers were Saudi! But the 2nd bush family invasion of Iraq was likely the death knell of the US anti-war movement since where did all those people go? Poof, gone! Back to their Faceblech accounts and watching Dancing with the Stars? And Hillary Clinton & Joe Biden heavily pushed that war…continuing the status quo. Again, where is the left? In the neoliberal DNC? Both parties are funded by who, Frank?
Big sigh. I’m just disgusted with all the lies and deceit from both. And Trump is raking in bucks and still doing interviews praising Jan 6th…
sealintheSelkirks
Hang in there, dude.