Everything We Know About Russia and President Trump

originally posted by: DBCowboy
Can someone name me a US election when Russia/Soviet Union didn't interfere?

McCarthyism was pretty bad.

originally posted by: skunkape23
Can someone tell me why having good relations with Russia is a bad thing?

I'm going to avoid all the tit-for-tat arguing of 'hurr durr, collusion isn't a crime' and 'overwhelming evidence points towards the president!' to respond to this.

Just off the top of my head, we'll start from the beginning: In 1999 Russia was gripped by chaos, a horrible economy and fear.

Chaos: the rise of the oligarch's was in full-swing, Russian mobs ruled the cities instead of police forces. The government was both unwilling and unable to protect the citizenry from the mobs despite their efforts.

Horrible economy: The Russian Federation was still in turmoil from the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Progress had been made but inflation, low-wages and corruption continued to plague the economy and took a toll on the average Russian worker and the pensioners.

Fear: Most Americans either don't remember or just don't take into consideration the fear gripping western Russia before Putin was elected. Entire apartment buildings (those giant soviet-era buildings that were 12 stories tall) were being blown up and destroyed/collapsed in terrorist attacks across the nation. The Russian government, under direction of Prime Minister Putin, blamed Chechen rebels and separatists for the attacks.

That last point is the important part. It's come to light since then that the fear was manufactured, likely by Vladimir Putin. The attacks were calculated and carried out by the Russian government, legitimate false-flag attacks. His strong actions taken after the bombings(name locking up leaders who would oppose Putin and his party) and leading up to the second Chechen war popularized him across Russia and pushed him into the presidency in 2000.

In the first eight years of the Putin presidency is almost entirely focused on concentrating and cementing Putin's power within Russia. First through negotiations with the oligarch's to keep them in power (thereby keeping Putin in power) and keeping them rich (and everyone with close enough ties to Putin). During this time, opposition leadership and members of the press who exposed what was happening were systematically assassinated. Putin utilized the existing corruption, legalized it (to an extent) and kept the rich and powerful happy to set himself up for everything that came afterward.

In 2008, Russia invaded Georgia in some of the first actions to 'reclaim' land lost after the breakup of the Soviet Union. The invasion of a sovereign nation with the intent of taking over the various strategic ports of the Black Sea. At the end, with a lack of initiative from the global community, Russia would seize the ports and a portion of Ossetia from Georgia. Due to term limits, Putin is made Prime Minister again with Medvedev as president.

In 2012, Putin returns to the presidency with the help of rampant and widespread vote manipulation.

I have to head to work now but, in short; Russia, under Putin, is a threat to America and our allies as a dictatorial power who flaunts both domestic and international law and human rights. We can have an international relationship with them but it should be done with a significant level of caution.

a reply to: Gryphon66

Questions to keep in mind as you seek indicators of bias:

What is the author's political point of view?
What does the author stand to gain?
Who is paying for the website?
Does the author present alternate points of view?
If so, are those views presented objectively, or with scorn

How to Evaluate Information Sources: Identify Bias

“I’m actually proud because I beat the Clinton dynasty. I beat Bush dynasty, and now I guess hopefully I’m in the process of beating very dishonest intelligence,” Trump said.

link

Looks at the names and positions held of all the people in seeker's list...

Um, yeah, ok...

a reply to: links234

#truthbomb

#motherofalltruthbombs

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

A timely notation indeed!

Are you saying that the presence of bias changes the facts of a given matter?

So that means we can't trust Devin Nunes when he says that there's no evidence of collusion?

Or, we couldn't trust Bill Clinton when he said he didn't have relations with that woman?

I digress.

Bias is always present; that's why science and the courts have strong rules and guidelines for determining fact.

All Hail the Russians
All Hail the Russians
All Hail the Russians

They helped the US citizens defeat the single most dangerous enemy the US has ever had
National heroes they are.

Russia is cool. Su-57. T-14. Love it.

a reply to: Kharron

Many of you will get the point in this little history lesson.

You know back in 87, a plan was put in place to topple Saddam. The US used the state department and an ambassador to ship Saddam a billion in weapons. To try a remove a chance of somebody catching on, they moved the weapons to France and used a joint french/Israeli company to ship the weapons to South Africa where they would be remarked and repackaged and have g5 cannons added, to make it look like that was the original sales and shipping point. The US did this with the full approval of the US government, hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of people died after 1990 either directly or through the effects of depleted uranium weapons.

The plan was launched during Reagan's term and executed under bush Sr, it was continued by slick willy, carried forward as a vendetta by shrub and continued again by Obama at the behest of oil companies and the MIC.

I can write this as I saw the waybills and the company I worked for handled the shipments. The deal was signed at Oliphants game farm in Kruger park and I know/knew, personally, most of of the players. I quite working for the military shortly after, as even I had a line in the sand that I wouldn't cross.

So, was this just "business", the US government killing millions and/or consigning them to a living hell, or is what trump did business? You can't have it both ways. If your going to try to denegrate someone's actions it might be a good idea to use the same ruler to measure them. I haven't heard anyone bitch and moan about the atrocities committed by every president from Reagan forward, at least not as zealous or with the same veracity. Trump did business, your presidents before him were monsters.

I don't know for sure if Trump is right or wrong in doing the things he did before he became president, but he seems to be making a very positive impression now. I really wish people would just let him do his job, let him out ALL the corruption in the government. If that includes him, so be it.

Cheers - Dave

Russia, China, Iran are three countries the US cannot control. You know what happens to countries the US cannot control.

Nice find...

Factual Reporting: HIGH

Notes: Founded in 2017, Investigate Russia or The Committee to Investigate Russia describe themselves on their about page as “a non-profit, non-partisan resource provided to help Americans recognize and understand the gravity of Russia’s continuing attacks on our democracy.

All relevant information is aggregated in one place to provide context and allow users to see the full picture of what Russia has done and will continue to do unless we start paying closer attention.

” The Director of the website is Rob Reiner. The advisory board consists of people from both the left and right such as Atlantic senior editor David Frum, who is also a former special assistant to President George W. Bush. Others on the advisory board consist of former CIA and FBI state dept officials such as conservative commentator; Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations; and Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

According to Variety Magazine, in an interview with Rob Reiner, he stated the goal is to understand “what cyberwarfare is all about.”

From Media Bias:

mediabiasfactcheck.com...

a reply to: Kharron

Much To Do About Nothing............

originally posted by: Kharron

originally posted by: loam
a reply to: Kharron

Laughable.

Just a list of a thousand facts, all with links for deeper digging if one wants to.

As to what is laughable -- well, that is subjective.

Here is a list of a thousand facts for you...

Promises so far kept by our current president.

Promises Kept

I sent the link to my liberal family members and got dis-invited from our 4th of July family get together.

The irony was lost on them...

a reply to: Lumenari

Much to Do About SOMETHING .............)

originally posted by: Lumenari

originally posted by: Kharron

originally posted by: loam
a reply to: Kharron

Laughable.

Just a list of a thousand facts, all with links for deeper digging if one wants to.

As to what is laughable -- well, that is subjective.

Here is a list of a thousand facts for you...

Promises so far kept by our current president.

Promises Kept

I sent the link to my liberal family members and got dis-invited from our 4th of July family get together.

The irony was lost on them...

And this has to do with the subject.... how?

originally posted by: bobs_uruncle
So, was this just "business", the US government killing millions and/or consigning them to a living hell, or is what trump did business? You can't have it both ways. If your going to try to denegrate someone's actions it might be a good idea to use the same ruler to measure them. I haven't heard anyone bitch and moan about the atrocities committed by every president from Reagan forward, at least not as zealous or with the same veracity. Trump did business, your presidents before him were monsters.

Sounds like you've been dodging my work then.

a reply to: FyreByrd

" And this has to do with the subject.... how? "



De Nile is Just Not a River in Egypt .........

originally posted by: Gryphon66

C'mon.

Even DJT has acknowledged that Russian agents interfered in the Election 2016.

But if everything Trump says is a lie, then that would make the claim untrue...
Spinning my head right round...

originally posted by: FyreByrd

originally posted by: Lumenari

originally posted by: Kharron

originally posted by: loam
a reply to: Kharron

Laughable.

Just a list of a thousand facts, all with links for deeper digging if one wants to.

As to what is laughable -- well, that is subjective.

Here is a list of a thousand facts for you...

Promises so far kept by our current president.

Promises Kept

I sent the link to my liberal family members and got dis-invited from our 4th of July family get together.

The irony was lost on them...

And this has to do with the subject.... how?

A thousand facts about the current President... was the relevancy somewhat lost on you?

Who am I kidding... of course it was.

You keep cleaning that echo chamber you live in... at least a bubble doesn't have corners!

originally posted by: angeldoll
Eleven people in Trump's campaign have now been identified with communicating with Russian Oligarchs during the campaign, and have lied about it to investigators.

We know Russia interfered with our election, the biggest crime against our country in my lifetime (with the exception of 9-11).

Yeah. let's be friends. Right.

If nothing else, Trump should be impeached for not giving a rat's ass.

Absolutely criminal.

Are you ok with our government doing the same thing? Or is it ok because our government thinks its the boss of the world?

originally posted by: CB328

I'm sure that she is just as dirty as Trump is

HM, but you all swear she is evil, but Trump is great?? How does that work?

Because we actually know what crimes she has committed and was not prosecuted for, versus the crimes Trump hasn't committed but is getting persecuted for.

Don't worry, I'm sure the blue wave of 2018 will fix everything!

In fact, CNN still has Hillary for the win by 7 points!