A Brief Thought: the Neoliberal Establishment’s Russian Shell Game

NinaIllingworth March 24, 2017November 17, 2022 2016 US Presidential Election, A Brief Thought, Adam Schiff, aluminum tubes, American fascism, blog, botnet, Colin Powell lied, conspiracy theory, corporate media, Democrats, Dems, Devin Nunes, election rigging, Fantastic Lies, fascism, for profit media, foreign policy, Giant Russia Theory, GOP, Hillary Clinton, House Intelligence Committee, innuendo, international relations, Iraq War, Iraq war lies, irresponsible, liberal media, liberals, lie, mainstream media, Media, Meme, Mike Flynn, misdirection, neoliberalism, News, Nina Illingworth, obfuscation, Observations from Outside the Death Star, OODS, Op-Ed, Paul Manafort, Propaganda, Putin, Rec Reads, reckless, Recommended Reading, RT, RT News, Russia, Russia Probe, Russia Today, Russia-Trump conspiracy theory, Russiagate, Russian Hacking, scandal, sensationalism, Six Things I Think, social media, social media bots, Sputnik magazine, The Democratic party, The Resistance, Trump Administration, war with Russia, warmongering, World War Three, WW3, yellowcake

Editor’s note: first and foremost let me state that I’m well aware that this is now my third post in less than a week about why the Trump-Russia conspiracy theory is bupkis; this isn’t entirely intentional and I would advise anyone worried that I’ve suddenly gone over to the dark side by embracing America’s swine emperor Trump to read this post with the understanding that nothing I said there has changed in the slightest.

Originally, I was going to break up this series of posts with a look at all the reasons to oppose Donald Trump’s nightmare administration that have nothing do with a Russian conspiracy theory and recent developments in the scandal have piqued my interest in examining malfeasance by Paul Manafort, Mike Flynn and boot-licking moron Devin Nunes. Unfortunately however, my lifelong war against good typing posture has managed to put a muscle kink in my shoulder that’s so painful, I’m simply incapable of adding another couple of hours worth of researching links to today’s workload – research that I’ve already done while planning out the Giant Russia Theory posts I’ve been working on recently.

As a result, today’s Brief Thoughts blog post focuses on untangling exactly what the mainstream media and Democratic party drones mean when they talk about “evidence of hacking” and attempts to “influence” the US election:

Sources:

Here’s the Public Evidence Russia Hacked the DNC — It’s Not Enough

Why I Still Don’t Buy the Russian Hacking Story

The GRU-Ukraine Artillery Hack That May Never Have Happened

Something About This Russia Story Stinks

Assange Says He’s 1,000% Sure Russia Didn’t Hack the DNC’s Emails

Breitbart & Infowars under investigation for ties to Russia: report

Russian info-war tactics in US election continue

Social Media Bots Offer Phony Friends and Real Profit

Just How Effective Is Russia’s RT?

If Russia Today is Moscow’s propaganda arm, it’s not very good at its job

Putin’s Propaganda TV Lies About Its Popularity

Lie by Lie: A Timeline of How We Got Into Iraq

White House Lied About Iraqi Yellowcake Buy

Lie After Lie After Lie: What Colin Powell Knew & What He Said

Note: if you’re having trouble reading the above info-graphic, just right click on it and select “view this image” to pop out a larger version. As always please feel free to share this image anywhere you like; after all the whole point of summarizing the main thrust of these posts in a meme is to make it easy to share the information with skeptical friends and observers who spend too much time watching corporate news.

Ultimately I don’t think a lot of everyday liberals understand that these allegations represent more than just attempts to topple a proto-fascist President by any means necessary. The actions US authorities take now have unpredictable, long lasting consequences in the future and while I could point out the staggering hypocrisy of a nation that regularly interferes in foreign elections freaking out at the mere idea that someone might return the favor; I won’t bother because there still isn’t enough evidence to prove the Russian government hacked the DNC or rigged the election for Trump. Are we seriously talking about accusing a foreign nuclear power of an action that would amount to an act of war at a very delicate time in the relationship between the United States and Russia – based on fucking social media bot networks that virtually any random idiot can use and have existed for years?

Frankly, I think the comparison to the disastrous Iraq war is appropriate and I am saddened that supposedly responsible people in the US government and national media would so soon risk dragging the country into another war based on lies, fear and thinly-veiled propaganda masquerading as evidence. This isn’t about who you voted for or how much you may (rationally) fear a Donald Trump presidency anymore. Nor is it about whether or not you think Vladimir Putin is a particularly good human being (for the record, I don’t.) This is about whether or not you’re prepared to see people’s kids die because Russia Today broadcast some stories that weren’t very flattering to Hillary Clinton and the Democratic party needs a good excuse for losing the last election to a reality TV-star fascist.

Some might think that’s an appropriate hill to die on if it means the end of the Trump presidency but those people certainly won’t be the ones doing the dying now will they? I guess it’s easy to sacrifice someone else’s children in a pointless war to protect your political party but what about everyday liberals whose kids will do the fighting? Have eight years of undeclared warfare so desensitized the American people that they’ve forgotten how horrible fighting a long war actually is? Do you really want to try and explain to your grandchildren that you were tricked into supporting two wars based on innuendo and trumped-up accusations instead of just one?

Don’t be a puppet on a string; use your head and find a way to oppose the Trump administration without starting world war three on behalf of establishment ghouls who’ve been spoiling for a fight with Russia for a very long time.