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WaPo: Obamas secret struggle to punish Russia for Putins election assault
- Thread starter Tovarisc
- Start date
Frustrated_me
Member
Putin needs to pay for this, hard.
darkinstinct
...lacks reading comprehension.
Putin won.
Jinx.
HOW search failed to find that........
ffs
Not mad at you, pissed at my shitty searchfu on GAF and how it keeps having me post dupes even when I try search before posting.
witchedwiz
Member
Before concerning yourself with the source, correct the result.
Given the staggering amount of evidence, the current election result should be considered void, a transition government should be put in place, and new elections should be scheduled for early (Jan//feb 2018)..
That's what a sensible approach is, but 'murica you're more concerned about punishment and retaliation than fixing the problem at hand...
Kill Your Masters
Member
Putin will only win if sanctions get lifted.
The EU is extending economic sanctions. They hacked Macron and failed miserably, they will try the same with Germany but there is no party that could get so many votes to help them lift sanctions.
His strategy is known now so everyone will react accordingly.
The US won't lift them especially not with all the Russia fuckery going on, for now.
While he won the sprint last year, he'll lose the marathon. Meddling this much in other countries reeks of desperation.
benicillin
Banned
They should have done more.
HOW search failed to find that........
ffs
Not mad at you, pissed at my shitty searchfu on GAF and how it keeps having me post dupes even when I try search before posting.
lol... I know what you mean - I've started specially refreshing the first page of OT to make sure I'm not just posting a dupe.
SolarPowered
Member
While Germany immediately put together a plan for a 10,000+ cyber security unit the USA will have to wait until 2020 at minimum (2024 if Trump wins again) just to begin making a plan. You just know that is the sign of a democracy on the emergency table. It wouldn't surprise me if China decides to throw their hat into the cyberwarfare ring come 2020 seeing as the USA just lies on it's belly for Russia.
acheron_xl
Member
Trump has done more damage to NATO and western alliances in 6 months than Russia has been able to accomplish in decades. Sanctions lifted or not, Putin has reaped a mighty reward already.
jellies_two
Member
Why reveal (to trump) there are cyber malware ready for use, that does not need his approval?
Is this a sort of obvious trap like he will read the story and immediately demand the IC withdraw all such malware from Russian infrastructure ?
And Mitch McConnell comes off like a dick. Again. If he had been told it was Germany trying to tilt things to Clinton he would have asked for a tactical nuke.
Is this a sort of obvious trap like he will read the story and immediately demand the IC withdraw all such malware from Russian infrastructure ?
And Mitch McConnell comes off like a dick. Again. If he had been told it was Germany trying to tilt things to Clinton he would have asked for a tactical nuke.
I said this a little over a month ago, in PoliGAF:
There is absolutely no way that China doesn't already have a plan for pushing itself as a cyberwarfare ally of the West. In terms of world affairs, Russia is too dangerous a country to ally with, and whilst they're focusing on the US now, there's no guarantee they won't look to doing something in/against China in the next 5 years. Probably make noises about an independent Tibet, I would think, as it would be a good way to destabilise Chinese efforts in the region, whilst looking like a Good Guy to the dumber people in the West (Jill Stein and Susan Sarandon, say).
jellies_two
Member
They don't have a hope with China
Russia is a minnow with nukes and only knows how to screw with democracies.
China is laughing at all this it accelerates her plan to be pre-eminent. China can get on with pouring money and know-how into the developing world while the fractured west struggles with its little demon, Putin.
(Off topic - china just killed its live streaming economy. All those social media stars earning a fortune, cut off at the knees).
Russia is a minnow with nukes and only knows how to screw with democracies.
China is laughing at all this it accelerates her plan to be pre-eminent. China can get on with pouring money and know-how into the developing world while the fractured west struggles with its little demon, Putin.
(Off topic - china just killed its live streaming economy. All those social media stars earning a fortune, cut off at the knees).
Nikodemos
Member
How did that happen?
OG Shaka Zulu
Member
Putin got nearly half of US voters going to bat for him. That's one helluva L the U.S. took.
No, Putin's agenda was multi pronged. Sanctions were the main course, but weakening the USA and turning it's population against itself and government definitely worked.
jellies_two
Member
The article says they got sick of censoring them so they ordered the platforms like weibo to ban it. And they will.
China would not put up with any inbound Russian internet trickery. Not that they have an electoral process that can be screwed with. But putin wouldn't dare meddle with Chinese language fake news the control is too tight.
jellies_two
Member
Did you read the article?
He tried but the GOP pulled the same shit that got the Supreme Court seat held open for a year waiting for the black man to be evicted.
Considering I paraphrased directly from the article, take a guess?
He was too scared of appearing to play politics in what should have been a priority 1 national security incident. And then conceded to the GOP leadership RE: the response (in his usual fashion) because he didn't want to rock the boat.
benicillin
Banned
"I'm really worried about the GOP saying mean things about me, better say nothing about this monumental attack on American democracy by outside forces."
Honestly we failed Obama but Obama failed us, too. He took a risk on keeping it quiet for fear of implied consequences and now because of that we have to deal with real ones.
OG Shaka Zulu
Member
Obama will always be the caver in chief for me. His presidency got off to a bad start when he let Glenn Beck influence his hiring process.
The current administration doesn't give a fuck. Their stance on this is the Russia stuff doesn't exist, and they have a good relationship with Russia. They'll lift them because they have the power to do so and there is little to no recourse for them.
Brerlappin
Member
Exactly. People voted Trump because the either despised Hilary, or despised Mexicans, Gays, etc etc. They believe everything that comes out of Trumps mouth, all he'd have to do is say "Fake news" and Trump/Russia means nothing to his voters. Theres an insane cult of personality around Trump that seemed to start off as a joke, possibly on 4chan (as there really does seem to be a massive crossover audience for Trump with 4chan posters, T_D is basically 4chan but solely dedicated to Trump), and it just snowballed and now the snowball is bigger than the fucking planet.
Skellig Gra
Member
Thanks Obummer. Chickened out at the wrong time.
Great article. This is definitely gonna have to be a three-season HBO series once this drama is all over.
I hate that the Obama administration didn't have precogs tell them that Trump would win the election if they didn't act like politics and the integrity of the democratic process didn't matter. That, plus partisanship reared its ugly head from republicans in congressional leadership roles, as well as shitty state representatives (the SoS in Georgia).
The interesting part of the article is that we currently have a bomb waiting to go off in Russia, as soon as they determine when it would be best to activate it (maybe around the next Russian presidential election, or once Trump is impeached/resigns).
I hate that the Obama administration didn't have precogs tell them that Trump would win the election if they didn't act like politics and the integrity of the democratic process didn't matter. That, plus partisanship reared its ugly head from republicans in congressional leadership roles, as well as shitty state representatives (the SoS in Georgia).
The interesting part of the article is that we currently have a bomb waiting to go off in Russia, as soon as they determine when it would be best to activate it (maybe around the next Russian presidential election, or once Trump is impeached/resigns).
A response isn't about getting voters to reject one candidate and favor another. Come on.
America's response is about not fucking standing for a historical enemy committing covert acts of war against us.
That's why Obama's response was weak and why the current administration is so terrifying in allowing this to pass.
America's response is about not fucking standing for a historical enemy committing covert acts of war against us.
That's why Obama's response was weak and why the current administration is so terrifying in allowing this to pass.
I wouldn't call him "chicken" for this, because really no one in his administration (nor the Intelligence community, even) thought that the GOP would play politics with this revelation of Russian meddling. McTurtle was, most likely, the main one blowing this stuff off. Maybe because he has a clear conflict of interest?
And yet a significant of American's think this was all not real.
Twenty years from now those idiots will look back and realise how stupidly blinded they were in the name of Emperor Trump.
Obama's hands were tied too. If he came out with the Russia attacks he would have fed the Trump narrative of a rigged system to his acolytes.
This whole thing is rather insane.
Twenty years from now those idiots will look back and realise how stupidly blinded they were in the name of Emperor Trump.
Obama's hands were tied too. If he came out with the Russia attacks he would have fed the Trump narrative of a rigged system to his acolytes.
This whole thing is rather insane.
Skellig Gra
Member
I get why he did it. I just completely disagree. His duty is first and foremost to the American people and he failed us by not bringing this to light.
benicillin
Banned
OléGunner;241614393 said:
Who cares? What were they going to do, revolt?
I just mean it could've looked like him interfering in the political process to nearly half the country, so his position was understandably tough.
Clearly that's what Barack thought too because he didn't bring it up until the end of the year iirc.
But yeah sure I agree, he should've just come out with all the info earlier on, consequences be damned.
This whole, "let's not do rational things because 40% of the country is fucking stupid" praxis is a cancer.
lol...
He would have looked like he was interfering in the election. Especially with the Loretta Lynch stuff.
I sympathize with those who view Obama as a disappointment. His great flaw was his need for bipartisanship and it took him far too long to see the modern Republican Party's opposition to him as the existential threat it was.
But I do think that speaking openly about this was a no-win situation for him. It would have been perceived as election meddling because we now have a propaganda system dedicated solely to advancing right-wing causes and about half of our voting population believes whatever that propaganda system pushes out. I think he was trying to preserve democratic norms and hoping that the country could institutionally and covertly resist the attempts of foreign influence.
I think he probably thinks that getting openly involved would have caused even greater damage, possibly even undermining the entire election process and faith in a peaceful transition of power. As always, Obama had too much faith in the better angels of American citizens. He was wrong, and he failed.
What a terrible decision to have to make and live with.
But I do think that speaking openly about this was a no-win situation for him. It would have been perceived as election meddling because we now have a propaganda system dedicated solely to advancing right-wing causes and about half of our voting population believes whatever that propaganda system pushes out. I think he was trying to preserve democratic norms and hoping that the country could institutionally and covertly resist the attempts of foreign influence.
I think he probably thinks that getting openly involved would have caused even greater damage, possibly even undermining the entire election process and faith in a peaceful transition of power. As always, Obama had too much faith in the better angels of American citizens. He was wrong, and he failed.
What a terrible decision to have to make and live with.
so? And? The fuck.