49 thoughts on “Trump-Putin Dossier’s Long-Term Impact – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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      1. I would be very skeptical over the reliability of any former inteligence officer.
        Of course, I would be at least as skeptical about anything Trump says…
        And as for Cohen the lawier- I assume you do know how you can tell if a lawier is luying-
        His lips are moving…
        So, we will just have to wait and see what evidence will show up. Interesting days for both the USA and Israel (with the Mozes-Netanyahu affair).

  1. @Richard
    You said, “Trump side was coordinated by his long-time lawyer, Michael Cohen. Cohen even attended a secret meeting in Prague with a Duma legislator closely allied with Putin ”
    “Cohen even attended a secret meeting in Prague with a Duma legislator closely allied with Putin.”

    But Cohen denies ever being in Prague!
    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/10/us/politics/donald-trump-russia-intelligence.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

    1. @ Ben: Oh my goodness. A crooked lawyer in cahoots with the Russkies trying desperately to save his hide protests too much that he never went to Prague. Good golly, why then it must be true. Further, the dossier made clear that there was a meeting which was supposed to happen in Moscow but was moved. It did not express 100% certainty the meeting happened in Prague. It said it was likely it happened there. It could have happened elsewhere. Of one thing you may be certain, we will learn pretty quickly if they didn’t meet in Prague, where they did meet.

      By the way, did Cohen deny meeting the Duma legislator? Did he deny ever meeting any close operatives to Putin? Nah, coz if he did it would be lying. He’ll be before Congressional committees pretty soon & under oath. That’s when I’ll judge his credibility & denials for what they’re worth.

        1. @Ben: No, according to Trump there are 2 Michael Cohen’s. CNN is just reporting Trump’s bit of obfuscation. And I hate you making me repeat myself, but the dossier never claimed w absolute certainty the mtg occurred in Prague. In fact, he notes that this is his best understanding, but that the meeting took place for sure. He believes the location was Prague. But it could have been elsewhere.

          Do not comment in this thread again.

  2. I’m not remotely a fan of Donald Trump (I am a Bernie supporter), but this is starting to smell like an old-fashioned witch hunt. The democrats can’t figure out how to win elections anymore so they resort to this sort of bullshit to try to smear Trump. They still don’t get it that Trump is immune to most of their smears, and that his support base only gets emboldened by these attacks. They are actually helping Trump by attacking him.

    And Paul Krugman? He is a discredited Hillary-or-bust asshole who has his head so far up his own ass that he literally can’t tell reality from fiction anymore. He had no problem with dissemination of fake news when it helped Hillary out. He and Obama are the perfect examples of how easy it is for anyone to get a Nobel prize (provided you know the right people, of course).

    1. @ Danny: You claim not to be a fan of Donald yet you use the same exact terms as him (“Witch-hunt”) to describe this entirely legitimate process of investigating whether Putin & Trump bought & cyber hacked a U.S. election. If you talk like a Donald Duck, then perhaps you are one. That’s not a witch hunt. Or if it is then Watergate was a witch hunt.

      As for the Democrats winning elections: they’ve won far more than the Republicans over the past 2 decades, so they know how to win them. But it’s hard to win when the other guy fights dirty. Clinton lost because she was a bad candidate. But her candidacy was fatally damaged by the Chinese water torure inflicted by Trump, Assange & Putin. The problem with her election results was that all the damaging static introduced by the hacks suppressed her vote. Without it, she clearly would’ve won as her voters would’ve been far more motivated to vote for her.

      As for Krugman, you aren’t an economist yet you claim to have the expertise to judge whether the Nobel he won was justified? Puh-leeze. I read Krugman regularly. He’s right far more often than he’s wrong. Yes, he was wrong on Clinton. But he was right on so many other matters that your nasty judgment is petulant and unfounded.

      1. Barely a year ago nobody took Trump’s candidacy seriously. I remember the Huffington Post saying that it would only comment on it in its comical column. But those dastard “Roossians” were so farsighted that they already started cultivating Trump over five years ago, at any case according to this document.

        And not only that. They have already provided him for years with information about possible opponents such as Clinton. How is that for clairvoyance.

        And what more was on offer in Trump’s “cultivation”? The Russian operators allegedly offered him very lucrative real estate deals. But wait, the author(s) of this clumsy document can’t provide any concrete information on that because Trump didn’t take up any of those offers – for “reasons unknown ” they say.

        Oh yes. And they have damaging information about Trump’s sexual escapades in Moscow. To enhance the authentic flavour the author uses the Russian term (if it is one) “Kompromat”. Apparently Trump induced prostitutes to defile the bed the Obama’s had once stayed in while in Moscow with “golden showers” – because he hates the Obama’s so much. Well if that is his modus operandi he has presently got his work cut out for him, in the White House.

        And he was bugged of course. And Trump apparently didn’t suspect any of that. And he also had the illusion that he could keep this hidden from the hotel staff (who presumably had to deal with the soiled linen afterwards). And for a streetwise man like that, what a lapse.

        And what was the damaging information the Russians allegedly helped Trump to spread via Wikileaks? As far as I remember it mainly had to do with the anti-Sanders machinations of Debbie Wasserman – Schultz and the DNC

        Big deal.

        As the former CIA-agent Philip Giraldi wrote after studying the report:

        “So the latest attempt to nail perfidious Moscow is, to my mind, yet another mish-mash of soft facts combined with plenty of opinion and maybe even a bit of good old Cold War-style politics.”

        And why finds this stuff such ready acceptance in the camp of the Democrats? See Dave Lindorff in Counterpunch on the anti-Russian hysteria currently prevailing in that quarter and of which the Clintons were the great instigators:

        http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/01/11/democratic-hysteria-on-russia/

        I have not much time for Trump. In fact I resent the American political system presenting two such defective candidates to the world. I have also the suspicion that his policy towards Israel will be even more scandalously partisan than it has been thus far. But if he manages to tone down that dangerous anti-Russian hysteria, good luck to him.

      2. No, I don’t like Trump. He’s a demagogue and buffoon, and should have been easy to beat. Hillary Clinton lost because she never set foot in the state of Wisconsin during her campaign, and was very absent from the state of Michigan as well. Trump went repeatedly to both these states. Gee, who knew you actually had to go to a certain state if you wanted to win it. Politics 101.

        Hillary Clinton was perhaps the worst American presidential candidate of the last few generations. She lost to Donald Trump. Bernie Sanders was up on Trump on every major poll by at least 10 points. Clinton could have probably gotten over the hump had she simply made Sanders her running mate instead of that human mannequin Tim Kaine. But that would have required her to not be an arrogant, out-of-touch airhead.

        Oh well, she can still go off to enjoy her ill-gotten gains with her rapist husband.

        1. @Danny:

          with her rapist…

          You’ve gone too far. My comment rules make very clear that unsupported opinion on contentious issues & unfounded claims are not suitable for the comment threads.

          You will respect these rules if you wish to participate here. Do not publish such offensive claims here again. Ever.

          Not to mention that this entire sideshow issue is off-topic, another comment rule violation.

          1. [Comment deleted: I told you this was an off-topic comment. That wasn’t meant as an invitation to wander even farther into the weeds. Do this again & you will be moderated.]

  3. Barely a year ago nobody took Trump’s candidacy seriously. I remember the Huffington Post saying that it would only comment on it in its comical column. But those dastard “Roossians” were so farsighted that they already started cultivating Trump over five years ago, at any case according to this document.

    And not only that. They have already provided him for years with information about possible opponents such as Clinton. How is that for clairvoyance.

    And what more was on offer in Trump’s “cultivation”? The Russian operators allegedly offered him very lucrative real estate deals. But wait, the author(s) of this clumsy document can’t provide any concrete information on that because Trump didn’t take up any of those offers – for “reasons unknown ” they say.

    Oh yes. And they have damaging information about Trump’s sexual escapades in Moscow. To enhance the authentic flavour the author uses the Russian term (if it is one) “Kompromat”. Apparently Trump induced prostitutes to defile the bed the Obama’s had once stayed in while in Moscow with “golden showers” – because he hates the Obama’s so much. Well if that is his modus operandi he has presently got his work cut out for him, in the White House.

    And he was bugged of course. And Trump apparently didn’t suspect any of that. And he also had the illusion that he could keep this hidden from the hotel staff (who presumably had to deal with the soiled linen afterwards). And for a streetwise man like that, what a lapse.

    And what was the damaging information the Russians allegedly helped Trump to spread via Wikileaks? As far as I remember it mainly had to do with the anti-Sanders machinations of Debbie Wasserman – Schultz and the DNC. Big deal.

    As the former CIA-agent Philip Giraldi wrote after studying the report:

    “So the latest attempt to nail perfidious Moscow is, to my mind, yet another mish-mash of soft facts combined with plenty of opinion and maybe even a bit of good old Cold War-style politics.”

    And why finds this stuff such ready acceptance in the camp of the Democrats? See Dave Lindorff in Counterpunch on the anti-Russian hysteria currently prevailing in that quarter and of which the Clintons were the great instigators:

    http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/01/11/democratic-hysteria-on-russia/

    I have not much time for Trump. In fact I resent the American political system presenting two such defective candidates to the world. I have also the suspicion that his policy towards Israel will be even more scandalously partisan than it has been thus far. But if he manages to tone down that dangerous anti-Russian hysteria, good luck to him.

  4. I love your blog Richard, but you’ve just shot yourself through the foot. you need to update this post, or you’re reputation is going to nosedive among those who read you regularly.

    take the warning seriously, don’t be a stubborn doofus.

    1. @ anonymous: Ah the Russophiles are out in full force. If I don’t pledge fealty to Comrade Putin then I’ve betrayed the righteous principles of the far-left?! Really. The only doofus here is you my friend. Frankly, I’m more concerned about a vicious, fascist dictator taking over my country. That trumps (pun intended) all else.

      1. To bad you didn’t listen to good advise. If u can’t accept a different angle on the putin bs propaganda in the us en eu, you are missing a lot. As a regular reader i am really disappointed in this narrow-mindedness,

        1. @ Ben Sanders: No, when it comes to Putin & the evil he represents (not to mention Trump and the evil he represents) I don’t have much flexibility. As for missing a lot. Nothing you or anyone else here has said has proved to me I’m missing anything.

          As for being disappointed in narrow-mindedness, the feeling is mutual I’m sure.

      2. Well if somebody is willing to believe so uncritically in memos made by former spy who is mixing wild stories told by anonymous sources with some real names and persons, what can we say? USA used halve of billion to make and spread fake jihad videos, why would a clever former English spy not earn a couple of easy millions from the US “geniuses” by selling them fiction they need and want?

        Trump did have a constant unseen negative publicity in the US and international main media during and after the campain. Clinton got wast support from the same media. The effect of the DNC mails etc was hardly the reason to the election result. Halve of US voters are not so stupid that it would be possible to be manipulated by “Putin”, neither “Putin” is so clever that he would have five years ago decided to make from Trump the US president. Nobody in their wildest dreams thought that wold happen, well maybe only Trump himself.

        Using of Russians communist slogans and laughable cold war rethoric does not lift the quality of your claims. Russia has for the last two and halve decades been a more or less right leaning (conservative), nationalistic and in many ways a religious state. Not a communist state. Before blaming me a Russophile lets be clear, that I come from a nation which has had numerous wars against Russia, been part of Russian empire, I have on personal level lost several relatives in the last wars against Russia, I live 150 kilometres from the Russian border etc. I am no admirer of Russia’s “system”, but neither do I admire USA’s system and imperialist actions. By the way 23 percent of Finns support joining Nato despite massive media’s propaganda bombing also here. We are not USophiles nor are we Russophiles.

        1. “Russia has for the last two and halve decades been a more or less right leaning (conservative), nationalistic and in many ways a religious state. Not a communist state”.

          Perhaps. But it is certainly also leaning towards been a totalitarian state just as it was under the communist regime. Its no secret the soviet union was more totalitarian than socialistic. It is those totalitarian tendencies that are scary about Putin, not that his country is more or less religious.
          With all its sins, the USA is far less dangerous to the free world than Russia under Putin.

        2. @ SimoHurtta: If you believe that the material in the dossier consists of “wild stories” you clearly know little or nothing about Soviet & Russian intelligence activities. As for his sources being anonymous, they’re only anonymous to you or me. Clearly Steele knows who the sources are & I’m virtually certain that both British & U.S. intelligence knows who they are as well. After all, he went directly the MI6 with his report and gave it to them. I’d say they are in a better position than you to say whether they’re “wild” or not. The CIA is not in the habit of including material in briefings for presidents which it considers “wild stories.” If they included Steele’s report then I believe it is credible.

          As for “selling fiction,” a spy who tries that shit doesn’t stay in business long. Do you think his clients, when they discovered they’d been sold a bill of goods wouldn’t let everyone know they’d been had? How long do you think such a charlatan has any clients. In fact, Steele has an excellent reputation. So far you’ve called his dossier “wild stories” and “fiction” without offering a shred of evidence to support your claim.

          Trump did have a constant unseen negative publicity in the US

          Reporting that Trump liked to grab attractive womens’ genitals is quite different, and far more grave than Trump directly buying his own election in cahoots with foreign masters.

          Clinton got wast support from the same media.

          “vast support?” Hardly, Trump got billions of dollars in free election PR every time he tweeted. He owned the media without paying a single cent for it.

          I find you totally lacking in credibility explaining to me, an American, what happened in my own election. I lived through it and spent far more time & energy understanding it than you ever will. You may have your opinion, but telling me what happened in that election is not something I will accept.

          Halve of US voters are not so stupid that it would be possible to be manipulated by “Putin”,

          First, “half” of U.S. voters didn’t vote for Trump. 3-million less than half to be specific. Nor did Putin have to persuade “half” of the U.S. electorate to vote Trump. He only had to persuade a few million normally Democratic voters to stay home. And they did in droves. Hillary, though winning the popular vote by 3-million, still got far less votes than Obama did in 2008. So all Putin had to do was suppress the Democratic vote. And he & Trump did it brilliantly & criminally.

          If you want to persuade someone Trump was elected fair & square without the interference/sabotage of malevolent foreign forces, that’s gonna be somewhere else. Trump and his Russian pals stole this election and polluted my country. Period.

          Russia has for the last two and halve decades been a more or less right leaning (conservative), nationalistic and in many ways a religious state.

          Russia is a quasi-dictatorial state ruled by the secret police and oligarchs.

          I don’t care what you call yourself, nor what you say about Finland. The fact that Finland has been in Russia’s shadow (at times a vassal state, though not now) for centuries surely shapes your views on these matters.

          I do not want to get bogged down in this mudslinging contest. Nor do I wish to continue this zero sum game. If you want to debate who or what Putin is you’ll have to do it elsewhere. If you’re looking for a site that views Putin favorably, it’s not this one.

      3. [comment deleted: you are moderated. Any further comment violations will result in your losing your privileges entirely. You have also used 2 different “handles” in posting comments here. That is also a comment rule violation.]

        1. Wow. You turned up here to get something off your chest to “a fellow Yid” that has been weighing on you or a long, long time, it seems. Do you feel better now?

  5. Reliable, Credible, I Can Vouch for Steele …

    Former UK ambassador Sir Andrew Wood says he rates judgment of report author Christopher Steele, who ‘would not make things up …

    ‘Sir’ Andrew Wood as spy chief in Moscow

    PM Theresa May at press conference during her visit to 5-Eyes fellow member New Zealand:
    “It’s a long-standing position that we don’t comment on such matters, but I think from everything that you will have seen it is absolutely clear that the individual who produced this dossier has not worked for the UK Government for years.”

    Silly ambassador Sir Wood, didn’t mention him overseeing an espionage nest in his embassy in Moscow … probably never heard or met Steele’s Orbis partner Pablo Miller (BOE) either, great MI6 spy and decorated by the Queen.

    1. @ Oui: I view getting into a pissing contest about Christopher Steele’s credibility (especially by smearing the reputation of someone who isn’t even him) & what his one-time boss did or didn’t do as WAY off-topic. Please stay on topic. I’d be happy to rebut the points you raise, but I have better things to do. There is clearly a Russophile, Putin cheerleading section among a few readers (despite protestations to the contrary). You won’t find me sympathetic to it nor to offering space here to it.

      1. No need to … I’ve great respect for you and the work you do.

        I’ve been more focused on the greater Middle-East and the proxy wars bringing death and destruction. Too much fake news, propaganda and lack of trust in media and politicians. Not my world.

  6. “Russophile, Putin cheerleading section”. Really?

    And I thought that I was only using my common sense.

    But Richard you have grown so intolerant about any dissent from your editorial opinion that I no longer feel at home here.

    I would, however, like to thank you for the space you have given me over the years.

    Take care.

    Arie

    1. @ Arie Brand:

      Richard you have grown so intolerant about any dissent

      Though I hate to lose long-term readers, it’s more important to me to stand for principles I consider important. So yup, I can’t stand & don’t trust Putin as far as I can throw him. And Trump even less. And therefore can’t tolerate those who seek to rehabilitate or defend either one. In historical terms, they will have a lot more to answer for than I.

  7. @Arie: Pls reconsider … after the debacle of 8th November, minds are clouded all-around. I was surprised RS took time to cover this item on his blog. DT bashing is what helped him get elected IMO, see Geert Wilders in Dutch politics over the years. More respect for Bernie Sanders who stayed on topic, his very own policy statements.

  8. I thank Elisabeth and Oui for their friendly encouragement for me to reconsider my decision to quit this blog.

    If anything could induce me to do so it is having such redoubtable fellow activists in the struggle for Palestinian rights.

    However I will stick to my decision.

    More important than the Palestinian cause is at present the struggle to prevent a conflagration between the nuclear powers. The Trump presidency is almost universally bad news but the one ray of hope seemed to be that he didn’t appear to be as eager as his democratic rival to confront the Russians and to contribute to that nefarious hate campaign against their leader.

    Latest developments seem to have undermined the basis for this hope. The enemies of détente appear to have much reduced his freedom of action in this regard.

    I don’t know whether the latest allegations against Trump are true. The document in which they were presented appeared to me to be shoddy and I have said so. The possibility that they are true seems to be balanced by that other possibility, that they have been “ordered” by his enemies to hamstring him, particularly as far as interaction with the Russians is concerned.

    This week I will turn 81. I cannot recall any other period where there seems to have been on the Western side more irresponsibility and insouciance regarding the possibility of a nuclear conflict. Encouraging Russophobia and personal hatred of Putin seems to me part of this.

    I appear to be thoroughly out of sympathy with the editor of this blog on this point and therefore it is better for me to go.

    1. @ Arie Brand: There are many commenters here who are “out of sympathy” with me. Yet they don’t stop commenting (though some of them may have other reasons for remaining here, i.e. hasbara). Nor do I ban them unless they violate the comment rules. You have not done so and, from my point of view, I would like you to stay.

      What I do want to do is limit the wild attacks against these new revelations that have washed like a tsunami over the threads lately. These stories either will be validated & turn into a major scandal; or they will be disproven and become so much static in the history of the Trump presidency. I just don’t think going on the warpath and trying to discredit the information offered so far with relatively weak arguments is very useful. At least not to me. If the reports are thoroughly discredited you will find me acknowledging that at the point when I think that happens. But if, as I suspect, they will be validated, I will be writing more about them as I’ve done tonight.

    2. @Arie Brand

      You have first-hand knowledge/recollection of WWII – an asset if you choose so. Others seem to be rekindling fears and fighting historic conflicts not only decades, but centuries old. The great divide across the European continent. Borders divide people, not their culture, history or even religion. I consider myslf a globetrotter and would prefer a single EU passport to illustrate my feelings.

      Politicians for self-interest exploit and augment fears to create an enemy image. After 9/11 that is what has spread across the Western world through fabricated Islamophobia by Fear Inc.. Creating chaos in the Middle East by Israel – George Bush and team Clinton/Obama in its aftermath, caused the proxy war in Syria and immense suffering with displacement of millions as a result.

      Refugees and migrants add to the fears during an economic recession, EU’s austeriy measures adds fuel and you get the backlash of xenophobia, populism, nationalism and in the end return to fascism. A perfect 100 year cycle in my impression of peace and war.

      One gains wisdom from life’s experience and lessons, I’m just slightly younger than you are. I’ve learned the lessons from the cold war, JFK and Johnson presidencies of the 1960s and the hope after the Cuba missile crisis and nuclear disarmament. One asset of mine is a bs or propaganda detector build in. Quite useful in the new era of false/fake news by doing just some minor research and compare notes so to speak.

      You, I and many others just can’t be missed yet. On many accounts I keep telling myself, it’s time for the younger generation, that includes doing voluntary work. What matters for oneself, do you find it rewarding, are you getting feedback and do you enjoy what you are doing.

      Best wishes, hoping it’s not a goodbye.

      PS Gefeliciteerd – knap!

  9. Not surprised to read elsewhere, the order to Fusion GPS to dig dirt came from a ‘wealthy Republican donor’ and singled out the patron saint of Marco Rubio. A person well known by you here from your writings.

    The dossier is about DT, assembled with an anti-Putin bias by choice and conviction: anti-communism, anti-Castro, anti-Russia/Putin.

      1. Adelson from Casino fame?
        Placed his bet on the winner early on, knowing he could always get a foot in the door through the WJC Foundation.

        Israel Backer, Billionaire Adelson Is In – May 8th, 2016

        No, Paul Singer got his money out of Argentina and is a happy man. I’m afraid the Palestinians are the ones to suffer.

        Rubio’s national security advisory council, announced on March 7, is chockablock with neoconservatives and former Bush administration defense officials, many of them Jewish, including Elliott Abrams, Eliot Cohen, Michael Mukasey and Dan Senor …

        1. I’m happy to entertain names. But so far no one has offered any credible evidence about who the donor was. Certainly could’ve been either Adelson or Singer. But guessing isn’t very satisfying. I’d rather have something even faintly credible to go on.

  10. Does anyone believe this? NSA and Unit 8200 not talking to one another, not sharing vacuumed raw data across the spectrum? Would be a blessing in disguise.

    You must realize the intelligence community (IC) is totally independent from politicians or state policies, they have their own set of rules and a different dynamic. Just review the lead-up to the Iraq War, Ukraine Maidan coup d’état, etc. Historically with Bay of Pigs and the Gulf of Tonkin incident. The IC is leading! Putin and Netanyahu are on excellent speaking terms!

    US intel sources warn Israel against sharing secrets with Trump administration | Ynet News |

      1. Richard I was especially alarmed by the tone of your comments on the letter of our Finnish friend – a letter that in my view contained nothing especially provocative. Your comments also contained a dark hint of possible censorship unrelated to your rules on comments e.g.

        “If you want to debate who or what Putin is you’ll have to do it elsewhere. If you’re looking for a site that views Putin favorably, it’s not this one.”

        It was in another letter that you wrote:

        ‘There is clearly a Russophile, Putin cheerleading section among a few readers (despite protestations to the contrary). You won’t find me sympathetic to it nor to offering space here to it.”

        I could fairly regard myself as included in that comment.

        Not wanting to participate in the present demonization of that man makes one a cheerleader of him?

        Oui might be right that people are still so shell shocked by the victory of Trump that comments tend to get exacerbated, or over the top altogether as for instance here the effusions of Keith Olbermann:

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAFxPXGDH4E

        To a foreign observer this sounds especially deranged given the long history of CIA meddling in the affairs of other states.
        :

        1. @ Arie Brand: I don’t think calling my views “deranged” is going to further the debate here. We are not deranged. We are outraged. And we blame Putin and Trump.

          As for our own behavior, yes of course we’ve meddled in the elections and affairs of other countries. You should know I’ve consistently denounced the overreach of U.S. intelligence in toppling foreign governments and murdering our enemies, sometimes our own citizens. I will never defend such behavior. Which is why I feel entitled to denounce Putin for his actions.

          Whatever harm we’ve done to other nations does not justify Putin stealing a presidential election. You simply do not understand how deeply offended most Americans are at the notion of a foreign government perverting our democracy. You jaded Europeans may find this attitude naïve or whatever. But it stirs outrage here. And there will be repercussions for yrs, if not decades to come.

          No one wants to return to the Cold War. But that is where we are headed inexorably based on Putin’s choices.

          As for being alarmed at the tone of my comments: I don’t treat anyone on the far left or far right differently when they strongly disagree with my views or are dismissive of them. You might consider as author of this blog and its thousands of posts, that I am constantly buffeted from both sides, and feel the need to defend my position when it comes under assault, no matter which side politically it comes from.

          There is a constant pull by some commenters to vent on whatever subject might be near & dear to them. My view is that the comment threads can devolve into anarchy or obsessive-compulsion syndrome if I don’t try to retain some sense of direction. There are those who dislike this. But I’ve found it necessary.

          1. Richard,
            Isn’t it clear that Arie calls Oberman ‘deranged’, and not you?
            Please take the time to listen to this guy’s rant in the linked video: He is clearly hysterical if not, yes…. ‘deranged’!

            And, we Europeans do not consider ourselves ‘jaded’, as far as our democracies go. In fact, in our small countries we usually count ourselves lucky with our little parliamentary systems, when we observe the US (who do not observe us).
            To us it often seems as if ALL your elections are stolen (not just this one), routinely, by lobby groups and companies, who are allowed to donate money to political parties. The fact that in the American system the influence of money on policy is so great, makes me shake my head when you talk about us Europeans being ‘jaded’.

            Well, that’s all. You know I admire what you are doing.

  11. Richard, I have been reading your blog for years and love your work. I am a big fan. God bless you.

    We need to be especially weary of information emanating through a fog of war… Ukraine, Syria, and the NATO buildup in the Baltics are potential clash points, and can be considered part of an ongoing conflict involving Russia. We need to be more skeptical of all leaks, intelligence, etc. in such an environment, since it may be our own warhawks lying/leaking to us. I think we are perpetuating our own hysteria, and are our own worst enemy. We tried to stick it to Putin so many times since 2011, and we failed a few times… I feel like a boy is yelling “wolf” in the distance. I just don’t buy any of it. I pray we come to our senses.

    That is my two cents.

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