Russia Stuff And Our Corrupt Rulers
This is all very depressing to see--the utter mendaciousness of our ruling class: elected representatives of the American people, appointees, the military establishment, the intelligence community, and last but far from least, the media. The corruption is so sweeping that you're left almost breathless. And they're utterly feckless, to boot.
Let's start with Gilbert Doctorow--Bombast From Washington: Joe Biden’s Russia Sanctions . Doctorow first explains that nobody who understands the current shape of the world is taking those sanctions seriously. Putin himself is obviously unfazed. The DC armchair imperialists have crossed a red line, and Putin has responded--as Doctorow explains in a Postscript to his original article:
The Russian counter measures have now been announced and they appear to be even more severe than what Biden imposed on them. While they have not ordered the US Embassy to close, they have done far more than expel a matching number of American diplomats. They have revoked a 1992 agreement with the United States on free movement of their diplomats around the Russian Federation; they will now be limited to 25 miles, as in the days of the Soviet Union. They are now prohibiting the US diplomatic missions to hire Russians or third country nationals to work for them; this will immediately hobble the activities of the diplomatic missions in every dimension.
At the same time, the Russians are ordering the closing of US Government sponsored NGOs and foundations, which they say are conducting subversive activities on Russian soil, read “meddling.” And they have issued a list of former and present US government officials who will be barred entry to the RF. These include the US Attorney General, the heads of US intelligence agencies and notorious Russia-bashers Susan Rice and John Bolton. Moreover, they have publicly recommended that the US ambassador to Russia go home for extended consultations, effectively decapitating the embassy and winding down its work.
The very severity of the Russian response suggests to me that they have cleared the decks for a possible summit on equal footing. Furthermore,to avoid any confusion in Washington about negotiations proceeding from a “position of strength” the Russian Ministry of Defense has announced today the transfer of Army units from the Northern Caucasus to Crimea for very extensive military training exercises, further expanding the Russian military pressure on Ukraine and its backers in Washington.
Meanwhile, the US Senate approved a prime author of our failed Russia policy--dating back to the US overthrow of the Ukrainian government--to a key policy post at the State Department:
Victoria Nuland skates through Senate confirmation hearing without being asked about her role in the Steele dossier saga.
Republicans didn't even ask her about it. https://t.co/JqeK8E8q71
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) April 16, 2021
Unfortunately, this is for real--even though it would seem to defy even parody. However, Tucker Carlson gets the whole situation tone perfect in the following monologue, capturing perfectly our rulers' total indifference to truth, justice, and the America Way--as well as to a rational foreign policy that serves American interests. What does the American public think of our rulers overthrowing Ukraine's elected government, and then repeatedly provoking Russia? Few Americans are aware of these realities, and it's not as if the NYT or any other MSM outlet is keeping Americans informed on this or related topics. However, the Deep State cares--deeply. And that's why President Trump had to go, replaced by a demented Swamp creature.
Tucker also demonstrates exactly what President Trump was up against, in excruciating detail--including from Republicans. Macgregor, for his part, is scathing:
After you watch that indictment of our rulers, consider this article from last summer that emailer Jim sent me as a reminder several days ago:
SENIOR U.S. INTELLIGENCE OFFICIAL DIED BY SUICIDE IN JUNE
Anthony Schinella, the national intelligence officer for military issues and a longtime CIA official, killed himself at his home.
Matthew Cole, James Risen
August 26 2020, 7:47 p.m.
ONE OF THE nation’s highest-ranking intelligence officials died by suicide at his home in the Washington, D.C., area in June, but the U.S. intelligence community has remained publicly silent about the incident even as the CIA has conducted a secret investigation of his death.
Anthony Schinella, 52, the national intelligence officer for military issues, shot himself on June 14 in the front yard of his Arlington home. A Virginia medical examiner’s report lists Schinella’s cause of death as suicide from a gunshot wound to the head. His wife, who had just married him weeks earlier, told The Intercept that she was in her car in the driveway, trying to get away from Schinella when she witnessed his suicide. At the time of his suicide, Schinella was weeks away from retirement.
Soon after his death, an FBI liaison to the CIA entered Schinella’s house and removed his passports, his secure phone, and searched through his belongings, according to his wife, Sara Corcoran, a Washington journalist. A CIA spokesperson declined to comment for this story.
As NIO for military issues, Schinella was the highest-ranking military affairs analyst in the U.S. intelligence community, and was also a member of the powerful National Intelligence Council, which is responsible for producing the intelligence community’s most important analytical reports that go to the president and other top policymakers.
The National Intelligence Council is now under the control of the Director of National Intelligence, and has recently gained greater public prominence as its analytical work has been caught up in political controversies surrounding the Trump administration, including this summer’s public firestorm over intelligence reports about Russian bounties to kill American troops.
On June 26, the New York Times reported that Russia paid bounties to the Taliban to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan, and President Donald Trump quickly faced criticism for having failed to do anything in response to protect American troops. Within days, the National Intelligence Council produced a memo that claimed that the intelligence about the bounties wasn’t conclusive. While the memo was not made public, it was quickly picked up in the press and seemed designed to placate Trump by raising doubts about the original news story about the Russian bounties. The NIC memo appears to have been generated at the urging of John Ratcliffe, the former Republican Texas congressman and Trump supporter who became director of national intelligence in May.
But at the time that the memo became public through press reports, there was no mention of the fact that the national intelligence officer for military issues — the one member of the NIC who should have had the most input into the analysis concerning military operations in Afghanistan — had killed himself just days earlier. ...
...
After his death, Schinella’s wife discovered a large collection of bondage and S&M gear that had been hidden in his house, along with 24 guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition. His wife said that one of Schinella’s CIA colleagues contacted her recently and said the CIA has completed an investigation into Schinella’s death, but didn’t provide her with any details.
...
I have no idea how or whether any of this connects. It does offer, however, an interesting insight into our Deep State.