The funny thing is they don’t pay us cash. The obligation/expectation/goal is for each country to spend at least 2% of their GDP on their own defense.
The evidence of Russian involvement is based on the assessment of multiple computer security firms. That’s why this story has legs. Not because of the Clinton teams discussion of the security firms’ evidence.
That’s why comparing this news to an uninformed attempt by Trump to shift the blame is specious. Russia’s involvement is confirmed by numerous, neutral, computer security experts.
Here’s an article by Ars Technica, discussing the hacking attempts and the ties to Russia -
Here’s an article from Defense One about Russia’s use of Wikilinks to disseminate info that they hope will disrupt the US ecelction -
Here’s a more recent article from Ars Tech - it reports that one of the DNC’s staff members who was doing opposition research on Paul Manafort was alerted by Yahoo (she was using a Yahoo email for the research) that her account was under attack by state-sponsered hackers.
And here’s the previous link to the article at TPM that explains Paul Manafort’s connection to pro-Russian Ukrainian leader, Viktor Y
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-putin-yes-it-s-really-a-thing
I know you hope that Putin will succeed in taking over the election and installing his “buddy” Donald Trump as a Russian-friendly president, but I assure you, Will Farnaby, that most voting Americans would be horrified at the suggest.
Donald Trump just tweeted,
For the record, I have ZERO investments in Russia.
Of course, the actual question is, Does Russia have an investment in Donald Trump?
Oh, WillFarnaby, sorry for getting your name wrong, earlier.
There’s an article at the Daily Beast that outlines some of the current thinking about Donald Trump. It has a headline that might interest you:
FBI Suspects Russia Hacked DNC; U.S. Officials Say It Was to Elect Donald Trump
Did the Russian government hack the DNC to bring down Hillary Clinton?
This is nothing like Trump’s casual attempts at ass-covering.
Daily Beast also has a followup article today about the group behind the hacking:
Horrorshow. Real horrorshow, droogies.
Remember when it all collapsed over there? And we sent a bunch of bright young M.B.A.'s to help move state controlled assets into private hands? Get a lazy fair free market thing going on?
Well, baby is all grown up now. So, I guess that worked out pretty good, huh?
Pretty good for someone, anyway.
A hawkish Hillary vs. an isolationist Trump who doesn’t even really know how NATO’s treaty works - it should be pretty obvious whom Russia would prefer.
This doesn’t meant that Trump endorses Russia, but it does suggest that Russia wants Trump.
These frightening allegations should disqualify Trump, but Trump’s voters don’t have any news source except FauxNews and other moronic echo chambers. In a saner world, GOP leaders and FauxNews pundits would be spreading the truth about Trump but, instead, the right-wing is happy to elect a cockroach or banana slug as long as the name isn’t Hillary.
The Putin-Trump connection would be a major fear, even if the specific allegations were unfounded! Trump’s ego will lead him to build a personal relationship with Putin, which Putin will happily exploit. It’s no good hoping Trump will overact the other way and oppose Putin — ignorant of geopolitics and the delicate security balance, but with an inflated ego, Trump will mishandle every crisis.
If Trump is elected, the nation’s best hope is for quick incapacitation. Pence will be the foullest right-wing President ever, by a long mile, but still less of a danger than Trump.
I don’t think Putin would make a move on Latvia and Estonia. Anyway, U.S. escalation may not be the best course of action if he did. Was it a good idea when Russia backed Serbia and Germany backed Austria-Hungary?
I’ve said repeatedly that I favor a Clinton victory over the three choices and support Johnson’s campaign.
Ok I haven’t been following the story too closely, mostly because the emails shouldn’t have been as damaging as they are being made to appear. Very mild stuff in my opinion. I was basing my opinion on the origin of the hack on Julian Assange’s recent comments.
Let me state first that I have no first hand knowledge of the forensics and evidence gathered in this security breach of the DNC. I work in the cybersecurity industry, but my company is not one of the three that have been involved and/or commented on this specific case. At least two of the firms hat have been mentioned are competitors of ours.
What I can add to the discussion is a little perspective. Everything I have read, from multiple sources, shows the methods they used to track down and identify the threat actors seems to be 100% valid. While not easy, the fingerprints and trail left by hackers can be followed with a fairly high degree of accuracy. If Cloudstrike and Fireeye, and it seems now the feds as well, are saying that this attack came from Russia, then it almost certainly came from Russia.
Now, the next step of proving that it came directly from Russian government is a little more challenging, but not impossible. You look for patterns, styles, methodology, and also consider Cui Bono (who benefits).
This whole thing is disturbing. It has the potential to blow up into a huge deal over the next few weeks. This actually IS BIGGER than Watergate, if true. WG was party versus party. This is a foreign nation interfering with our election process.
These are independent countries who want self-determination. Even if they aren’t technically allies, we have an interest in seeing these countries decide through free and fair elections whether they want to remain part of the Russian sphere or if they want more open relationships with Western economic partners.
Well, in all fairness, it’s not like the United States hasn’t tried to meddle in the election process of other nations. What we reap…
There’s an argument made by some that NATO should be disbanded and that it has exacerbated tensions with Russia. I don’t know what to believe: the argument seems credible on one hand, but are Russian police actions in South Ossetia and Ukraine intended to be ‘defense’ in the face of increased Western encroachment in the Russian sphere, or is it proof that Russia has imperial ambitions and that it can’t be trusted by NATO to act responsibly on its own? I suppose this is the same question we’ve been asking since Potsdam.
“Interfering”? Well, perhaps “enhancing”, “participating”? Perhaps they didn’t forget the happy patter of footsteps when the American right danced on the grave of perestroika? This is just their way of giving back!
Turns out there wasn’t all that much going on? A couple of suggestions about some good ol’ Rovian ratfuck that weren’t actually acted upon? Shows the Dems lack of commitment, doesn’t it? If they truly believe they are acting in the best interests of the country, they should have followed through! Not even the arch-fiend Wasserman-Schultz had the gumption to do what had to be done in the fast-paced, exciting world of American politics! No guts, no gory!
Nm.
Well, that’s a relief then - We don’t need mutual defense treaties at all, since Russia has shown themselves to be not interested at all in regaining territory from the former USSR. And after all, it will be fine to let Russia annex the Sudetenland errr, I mean the Crimea. I’m sure that they’ll stop there. Don’t escalate. Just give them what they want.
Actually, I’d rather listen to experts on the issue, rather than some dude’s opinion. Thanks anyway.
Well, Trump is giving a news conference and openly asking Russia for help in obtaining Clinton’s 30k emails.
So there’s that.
Trump: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.”
Good God.
He is openly conspiring with another country to influence the election. He’s asking for the help of Russian hackers who committed illegal acts.
This is akin to Richard Nixon taking out an ad in the Washington post, asking for burglers to break into the Democratic headquarters.
At long last, Republicans, is there no shame at all left in your party? Are you now the party of the Russian takeover of the election?
Am I wrong in thinking this is an actual “Holy shit” moment?