Saturday, September 24, 2016

US DEFENSE AND DEMOCRACY UNDER DIRECT ATTACK FROM PUTIN AND TRUMP



Earlier this month, I warned about the possibility of non-transparent influence of Russian oligarchs and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on Donald Trump under Citizens United. I argued that Trump could easily benefit from money flowing from Russia into his pockets and allow Russian militarism to run amok. This post focuses on that concern as well as our failure to secure our elections from computer hacking as I proposed in this law review article. The fear is that Trump will further the geopolitical ambitions of Vladimir Putin to the great detriment of long term US interests. A former CIA Director views Trump in precisely the same light, as do many mainstream conservative Republicans, as manifest here, and in the above image, from here. A Trump victory poses the unprecedented threat that a dictator could seize control of American foreign policy and politically defeat our armed forces that otherwise cannot be defeated.

Recent news spotlights the heightening of that concern.

First, media outlets reported yesterday that the US intelligence community is probing whether Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page (a former Moscow-based investment banker with investments in Gazprom) already opened discussions about lifting US-led sanctions with high level Russian agents and officials. This sort of tampering with US foreign policy on behalf of a dictator by a presidential campaign stands without precedent in US political history. Worse, the Trump effort appears to seek the patronage of Putin's vast arsenal of dirty political tricks, including his hacking capabilities (discussed further below). Of course, Trump has long called on the US to ally itself with Russian efforts to maintain its client state in Syria.

Second, earlier this week, ABC News reported its investigative findings into Trump's Russian business ties. They uncovered "hundreds of millions of dollars" flowing from Russian business interests into the coffers of Trump, Inc. Trump benefits directly from these Russian business ties through sales concessions paid to him as a result of Russian purchases of Trump-sponsored properties. ABC News also found that many Russian oligarchs frequently furnish investment capital for Trump business. Russian business leaders openly admit to these connections:
"The level of business amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars -- what he received as a result of interaction with Russian businessmen. They were happy to invest with him, and they were happy to work with Donald Trump."
Donald Trump, Jr., also openly admitted to these same links in 2008: "Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia." At this point, it is beyond dispute that Trump has major business ties with Russian business interests. These findings directly support conservative columnist George Will's position that Trump refuses to produce his tax returns because they would reveal unflattering ties with Russia.

Third, high level US Congressional leaders, from both parties, with access to classified material, recently warned that Russia appears poised to hack American democracy itself to get Trump into office. Vice-Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Dianne Feinstein, and the Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, released the following joint statement:
"Based on briefings we have received, we have concluded that the Russian intelligence agencies are making a serious and concerted effort to influence the U.S. election. At the least, this effort is intended to sow doubt about the security of our election and may well be intended to influence the outcomes of the election. We can see no other rationale for the behavior of the Russians."
In short, the axis of interests between Trump and Putin now poses an unprecedented external threat to the security of the US and its citizens. Even in the Election of 1940, which I previously identified as the last concerted effort by a dictator, Adolph Hitler, to interfere with American politics, Hitler had neither the capabilities nor brazenness to pull off what Putin and Trump appear to be doing: the subversion of US democracy and defense capabilities in the service of a dictator.

ADDENDUM: TRUMP LIES ABOUT RUSSIAN LINKS, HERE AND HERE.

1 comment:

  1. While the investigations seem to support this viewpoint, the strike on Syria does not. I feel that the strike was not only a message to Syria, but to Russia as well that we are independent of them and do not support tyranny. What are your thoughts?

    Haley Hunter

    ReplyDelete