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Daily News Analysis

Washington gripped by conspiracy theories over alleged Russia hacking of 2016 election

Crescent International

Washington DC, crescent-online
Tuesday December 13, 2016

Some bizarre theories are doing the rounds in Washington that have even been joined by the White House. Senior government officials, members of Congress and of course the media led by the Washington Post have alleged that Russian hacking of the November 8 presidential election benefitted Donald Trump giving him victory.

Initially mentioned informally, the conspiracy theory was given credence when the CIA alleged in a report on December 9 that Russia had ‘interfered’ with the November 8 election to help Trump defeat his rival, Hillary Clinton.

The Washington Post that has close connections with the spy agency was the first to break the story on Friday December 9. Others media outlets then jumped on the bandwagon both in the US as well as in Britain including the BBC and the Guardian.

The Post story claimed intelligence agencies had identified individuals with connection to the Russian government that were part of a wider Russian operation to boost Trump and reduce Clinton’s chances of winning.

Even President Barack Obama got in on the act saying he had asked the CIA for a full report. Good. It is a circular argument: the CIA floats the story that is highlighted by the Washington Post. It then becomes authentic and the president gets in on the act.

If this sounds familiar, it is. Remember the October 1989 story about Iraqi soldiers throwing Kuwaiti babies out of incubators in Kuwait’s hospitals? It was the PR firm, Hill and Knowlton that had spun this fantastic story and even got one teary-eyed young Kuwaiti girl, Nayyira, to testify before Congress.

Amnesty International immediately ran with the story about the wicked Iraqis. No doubt Saddam’s soldiers were monsters but they had not snatched Kuwaiti babies out of incubators much less left them to die on the hospital floor.

Then US President George H Bush (Senior) also picked up the story and using it he branded Saddam Husain, the Iraqi tyrant as Hitler. The Austrian corporal was becoming a handy tool in the hands of ruthless warmongers.

The innocent-looking Nayyira was none other than the daughter of Kuwait’s ambassador to Washington and although she had not set foot in Kuwait since the Iraqi invasion, Hill and Knowlton coached her to make those fantastic claims to advance Washington’s war agenda.

Can the Russian hacking allegations be taken any more seriously? Not surprisingly, Trump described the hacking report as “ridiculous,” saying, “Every week it’s another excuse.”

The establishment, however, is not giving up so easily. White House spokesman Josh Earnest dismissed Trump’s remarks on December 12, saying, “You didn’t need a security clearance to figure out who benefited from malicious Russian cyber activity.”

Earnest had already decided that the allegation about Russia’s hacking was true and that Trump had benefitted from it. No proof was needed despite Russian President Vladimir Putin directly denying the allegation. Russia “on a state level has never done this,” said Putin in Moscow.

The Washington Post alleged in its report that individuals connected to Moscow provided thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and others, including the chairman of Clinton’s presidential campaign, to WikiLeaks.

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, and Craig Murray, a former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, have both rubbished claims of Russian involvement. They were the ones that leaked the documents and Murray has said that it was an inside job in the US.

Murray was forced to resign as British ambassador when he revealed that then Uzbek strongman, the late Islam Karimov had boiled an opponent in oil and tortured him to death. The British Foreign Office would not allow an ambassador to tell the truth since it went against British interests!

Aware that Trump’s victory is about to upset the establishment’s apple cart, senior Republicans in Congress have voiced support for the probe, saying their respective intelligence committees would investigate the allegations.

"Any foreign breach of our cyber-security measures is disturbing and I strongly condemn any such efforts,” Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell told reporters on December 12.

"As we work to protect our democracy from foreign influence, we should not cast doubt on the clear and decisive outcome of this election,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement posted on Twitter. America is of course free to not only influence but buy foreign elections. This is American exceptionalism at work!

Trump spokesman Jason Miller ridiculed the idea of a congressional probe, saying, “Really clearly, what this is, is an attempt to delegitimize President-elect Trump’s win.”

America has entered uncharted territory and it cannot be dismissed out of hand that it may be heading for a civil war if Trump is disqualified as president.

As Muhammad Roshan of 5pillarsuk website said, with tongue in cheek, “Let’s find the moderates among Republicans so that we can arm them.”

Welcome to the Banana Republic of Amrika!

END


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