With the American mid- term elections due to kick off on November 6th simmering tensions between Democrats and Republicans as well as factions within the GOP point to testing times ahead just on the horizon.
Allegations by Democrats and their allies of Russian interference in the 2016 elections involving collusion between Russian oligarchs connected to Putin on the one hand and U.S. individuals linked to Trump on the other has been a major theme ever since the U.S. President took office.
Intelligence and Counter Intelligence
Trump’s former Campaign manager Paul Manafort is in custody awaiting trial on an indictment for conspiracy against the U.S. on twelve counts — conspiracy to launder money — unregistered agent of a foreign principal and 7 counts of failure to file requests of foreign financial deals among others.
From the Republican camp come accusations of Hilary Clinton’s Democratic National Committee bankrolling discredited claims against Trump in what is known as “The Golden Showers Dossier” with British Intelligence agent — Christopher Steel — hired by the FBI for the job right up until the time his cover was blown.
This dossier was said to be funded by an unknown Republican and anti-Trump donor with the Clinton Campaign footing the remainder of the costs.
WikiLeaks emails also referred to Trump as the ‘Pied Piper’ candidate supported by Hilary Clinton.
But here’s the clincher the DNC electronic files breach blamed on Russian hackers were proven in a forensic investigation by the VIPS to be leaked by someone inside the U.S. — more than likely because American Intelligence agencies were determined to maintain the Russian interference narrative.
And in a further twist to the tale Julian Assange hinted murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich was the source of the damaging email leaks.
The 27 year old data analyst was shot in the back while out walking alone so there were no witnesses to the attack.
A 2017 report by One America News Network links Paul Manafort to the Podesta group and its ties to Hilary Clinton claiming he was part of the mediation team in the Uranium One deal negotiated by Russia and the Obama Administration.
If true it means Manafort is an agent provocateur hired to infiltrate the ranks of the opposition to entice — discredit and destroy — in this case Trump — by those seeking his impeachment.
Even if the One America report’s false Trump’s opponents are banking on Manafort’s trial uncovering information incriminating Trump.
In any case Manafort does come across as a slimy wheeler dealer if his past is any indication.
Then there’s the Special Council Investigation headed by former FBI Director Robert Mueller into links between Trump and the Russian government supposed to have skewed the results of the 2016 elections — heading nowhere fast by the looks of it.
If it still needs to be said the judgement of US Intelligence Agencies cannot be trusted as they march to the beat of a drummer of shadowy vested interests.
# Breaking news; The Manafort trial’s first witness Rick Gates has testified that he aided his former boss in committing crimes such as fraud and money laundering
Why the Russian Narrative
After months of Donald Trump dismissing the idea of Russian interference his administration has now climbed aboard this train with officials promising to monitor the situation closely in future.
Top National security officials have said Russia’s attempting to influence the midterm elections according to the New York Times.
Apparently the government has “seen the willingness and capability” of Russia to hack into U.S. election infrastructure including voter’s rolls and voting machines.
This is over and above their social media disinformation campaign which has begun in earnest.
Officials say they preparing alternate voting arrangements in the event of a cyber- attack by Russia.
This about turn could only have happened because Trump was leaned on and told to get with the programme.
This Russian narrative could influence elections all right but not necessarily in the way people think.
Americans are being conditioned to accept this threat which could be used as an excuse for a massive security clampdown by government in partnership with the military — indeed this could be a step toward military takeover.
There’s an unsettling feel of déjà vu in all this when we realize the cold war has come full circle.
Over sixty odd years ago the left side of the political spectrum was aligned with communist Russia — now they’re vehemently anti- Russian while those to the right no longer see Russia as a threat.
If the cold war has been revived as some say can we trust it was ever ended?
Forget Perestroika maybe the plot was the only thing restructured while everything else was a con.
It’s certainly something to think about.
Russia is like a lot of other countries sold out to shady foreign interest groups and if they’re the west’s controlled opposition as suspected they don’t initiate anything they take orders.
Something wicked this way comes
Russian interference or not- there’re definitely powerful shadow forces at work sowing dissent and confusion with the intent to destabilize the country.
Consider the DNC leak- its purpose besides pushing the Russian narrative was to expose the ugly underbelly of the democratic party by stealing a trove of 20 000 emails from its server.
These emails contained details of the collusion between Clinton and the DNC to undermine Bernie Saunders as well as revealing the cozy relationship between the DNC and media organizations such as CNN — Politico –The Wall Street Journal and Washington Post.
Seth Rich’s assassination allowed those responsible for ordering the release of those emails to conceal their identity forever.
The current situation in the U.S. can be compared to fires being lit and stoked all over the place.
Now four big tech- social media companies such as Facebook, YouTube, Apple and Spotify have all banned the popular news site Infowars — branded right wing and full of conspiracy theories by those on the left — from their platforms within some 12 hours of each other.
But wait for it — in a US Congressional hearing last year Senators justified censorship of opposing viewpoints with Democrat Dianne Feinstein saying Russia exploited hot button topics ….to target both conservative and progressive audiences.
Although it was the statement of former army officer and FBI agent and member of the Alliance for Securing Democracy- Clint Watts- that was the real eye-opener.
He said civil words don’t start with gunshots but with words and “we” must act now on social media battlefields to quell information rebellions.
Without a doubt these tech companies are under pressure from U.S. legislators and their backers to do the quelling for them.
Its unlikely things will let up anytime soon- in fact they can only get worse as personal neurosis and mass hysteria overtake the nation.
Be ready for the next chapter folks and remember to keep your wits about you when it seems as if everyone around you is losing theirs.