WOW. Russia Confirms Contact With Trump Campaign

originally posted by: Kettu

And yet for some reason the conservatives in this country apparently have already been programmed, as they believe Russia's agenda is good for them. If conservatives fawning over Russia isn't a sure sign of Russian social engineering and successful propaganda, I don't know what else is.

It's very strange. Four years ago, Mitt Romney disagreed with Obama and said that Russia was the US's primary geopolitical foe. Most people didn't believe him, but he turned out to be correct (and I'm a moderate liberal who didn't vote for him).

But now, WTF? Many conservatives see conspiracies everywhere, except where there actually is a conspiracy from the #ing KGB.

If buffed Stalin posed shirtless on a horse in 1947, would the right in the US had suddenly been mesmerized by his brilliant leadership?

It seems as though the Kremlin has fixed "Pravda", the propaganda machine is now oiled and functioning the way it never used to.

a reply to: mbkennel

Indeed, and this has roots that go back before this election.

Remember the memes of Putin riding horses and Obama portrayed as a weak Muslim-in-disguise? This was not by accident. By playing up to pre-existing sentiments within the USA, Russian propaganda operatives exploited and took advantage of a ready-made movement...co opting it to suit their agenda.

If we're going to go full-tilt with this nationalism movement, then why should Russia (out of everyone else) seem to mysteriously get a free pass?

There are a number of sources covering Ryabkov's comments including WSJ but from what I saw, Reuters has the most complete quotes:

But in comments that could prove politically awkward for the president-elect, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said there had indeed been some communications.

"There were contacts," Interfax cited Ryabkov as saying. "We are doing this and have been doing this during the election campaign."

Such contacts would continue, he added, saying the Russian government knew and had been in touch with many of Trump's closest allies. He did not name names.

"Obviously, we know most of the people from his (Trump's)entourage. Those people have always been in the limelight in the United States and have occupied high-ranking positions," he said.

"I cannot say that all of them, but quite a few have been staying in touch with Russian representatives."

Moscow was just beginning to consider how to go about setting up more formal channels to communicate with the future Trump administration, said Ryabkov.

A spokeswoman for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The "contacts would continue" bit would be this I believe (from WSJ link above):

“There was communication,” Sergei Ryabkov told Interfax. “Naturally, we are continuing this work even after the elections.” Mr. Ryabkov provided no specifics about which Russian officials may have had contact with the Trump team, and in what capacity.

I don't see anything published on the Interfax site but they do seem to release in multiple languages including English. It could be published in Russian only though. There's also the website of The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation but the last thing about Ryabkov published in English there is from Nov 1.

This is the most interesting part of his comments to me:

"Obviously, we know most of the people from his (Trump's)entourage. Those people have always been in the limelight in the United States and have occupied high-ranking positions," he said.

"I cannot say that all of them, but quite a few have been staying in touch with Russian representatives."

That's a very interesting description because it seems to rule out the actual campaign management. That would be the three that are Mercer-connected:

- Kellyanne Conway, who ran Mercer's PAC that switched from Cruz to Trump when it was obvious Cruz wasn't getting he nomination. She joined campaign as advisor to Manafort.

- Bannon, CEO of Breitbart of which Robert Mercer is the principal investor. Hired after Manafort left.

- David Bossie, Citizen's United President who ran Mercer's PAC when Conway joined Trump campaign. Hired as deputy campaign manager a couple weeks after Bannon was hired.

None of those three fit the bill: "Those people have always been in the limelight in the United States and have occupied high-ranking positions"

Then there's this: "I cannot say that all of them, but quite a few have been staying in touch with Russian representatives."

I wonder about the translation from Russian to English but if the over all picture created is accurate (and I assume, it was done by Interfax), then it sounds to me like he's talking about somebody like Lt. Gen Michael Flynn, who has held very high positions (DIA Director) and is very visible. He's got friends in Russia. He's appears on RT as an analyst. He's given paid speeches in Moscow, etc etc. None of this is necessarily damning. He appears on a lot of networks. Lots of people give paid speeches all over the place, including Moscow. He does fit the description though. I'm mulling over who else might. Manafort springs to mind. Here's an interesting photo of Flynn at an RT gala in Moscow, in 2015. He's seated next to Putin. When asked, I believe he stated that he had nothing to do with the seating arrangement, they'd just sat him there. That's possible, it could have been done for propaganda purposes. Also seated at the table is Jill Stein. Dun dun dunnnnn.

a reply to: BrokedownChevy

The FSB (Putin's former KGB) has real-world ties to organized Russian crime syndicates.

Russia and its intelligence agencies are using mafia bosses to carry out criminal operations such as arms trafficking, according to allegations contained in the US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks.

Link

a reply to: Kettu

it's good that CIA doesnt. Clean as a whistle...

originally posted by: MarioOnTheFly
a reply to: Kettu

it's good that CIA doesnt. Clean as a whistle...

False equivalency and red herring.

The discussion isn't about the USA and its intelligence apparatuses.

originally posted by: MarioOnTheFly
a reply to: Kettu

it's good that CIA doesnt. Clean as a whistle...

They're called "contractors". Completely different, cuz lawyers make the contracts.

a reply to: Kettu

The discussion isn't about the USA and its intelligence apparatuses.

OP has been debunked a few pages before. Maybe you should read up on it.

originally posted by: MarioOnTheFly
a reply to: Kettu

The discussion isn't about the USA and its intelligence apparatuses.

OP has been debunked a few pages before. Maybe you should read up on it.

The entire thing, or your has your opinion and perception of what the OP states been debunked?

a reply to: Kettu

Let me break it down for you....OP title "WOW.Russia Confirms Contact With Trump Campaign"...as in...look...they influenced our election...

while the reality of it is..."Nothing wow about it. Russia Confirms Contact With Trump, Clinton Campaigns"...as is the common practice.

If this is influencing your elections...then what we might call Obama's threats to British people during Brexit referendum ?

Hypocrisy abound from anti-russian propagandists.

originally posted by: theantediluvian
I don't know enough to have a well-formed opinion

Your words...

a reply to: Ohanka

Maybe it had something to do with all the "Trump is a Russian agent" stuff flying around at the time? Didn't want to fuel the media fire?

That's a definite possibility. As you know, many different things can be true at the same time — it's not all or nothing. For instance, there could have been some routine communication going on that was perfectly innocuous and at the same time, there could have been individuals within the campaign such as campaign advisor Carter Page, who were also coordinating with Russian officials on their own for some other purpose.

The campaign leadership could have been completely unaware of these individual connections and simply trying to avoid giving the appearance of something that as far as they were concerned, wasn't happening (something of a white lie).

Maybe someone should do a little more digging on this, but I doubt it's anything nefarious.

I can tell you that it's no theory that some of the people who were involved with the campaign are nefarious people — Paul Manafort for example — but it could turn out to be that nothing untoward was occurring within the campaign. My opinion is that it's likely already being very discretely investigated by multiple agencies.

Didn't you know the right wing now love Russia.
I mean they have to seeing it has been obvious Putin has been involved from day one.
Who would have thought the right would cuddle up with putin to stop Clinton.
They must have liked them all along.

a reply to: MarioOnTheFly

Let me break it down for you....OP title "WOW.Russia Confirms Contact With Trump Campaign"...as in...look...they influenced our election...

That's not correct. The "Wow" was that the Russian deputy foreign minister was confirming contact with the Trump campaign. Which the campaign has denied.

They clearly exerted influence on our election, the questions stemming from thie are did they also exert some sort of influence over the campaign, have they had "influence agents" attempting to exert influence over our President-elect, etc.

I've made my arguments, I'm not going to continue to restate them for each supercilious claim of "debunked" not actually addressing the arguments put forth.

while the reality of it is..."Nothing wow about it. Russia Confirms Contact With Trump, Clinton Campaigns"...as is the common practice

That's what Maria Zakharova implied thought it doesn't seem to precisely match up with what Ryabkov was saying.

If this is influencing your elections...then what we might call Obama's threats to British people during Brexit referendum ?

Hypocrisy abound from anti-russian propagandists.

That's such false equivalence that it hardly merits a response. Again, if you want to attack the arguments, attack them. Waving your arms around and screaming "debunked" and "hypocrite" isn't advancing your own argument with anyone who is approaching the topic objectively and thinking critically.

a reply to: raymundoko

My words about Mensch you mean? Disingenuous much?

"Liar. Liar. You're lying! You're lying! blah blah blah"

a reply to: theantediluvian

You do push an agenda, whether formal or purposeful.

Dont be mad when it is not well recieved.

Its tabloid level intent to inform. This Wow russia ties to Trump thread made yesterday even said in YOUR source that it was sporatic contact, exactly the same type as that had with the Clinton campaign. It just said that Trumps team was more diplomatic and the olive branch was more fruitful.

I guess you didnt read the whole article you linked or just cherry picked with bias...

Or you are simply not truthful....simply.

a reply to: theantediluvian

Not disingenuous at all. You don't make well formed opinions.

a reply to: TheKnightofDoom

Didn't you know the right wing now love Russia. I mean they have to seeing it has been obvious Putin has been involved from day one. Who would have thought the right would cuddle up with putin to stop Clinton. They must have liked them all along.

i guess that puts the right on par with the left who see him as the savior of the world wouldn't it.

a reply to: tadaman

Its tabloid level intent to inform. This Wow russia ties to Trump thread made yesterday even said in YOUR source that it was sporatic contact, exactly the same type as that had with the Clinton campaign. It just said that Trumps team was more diplomatic and the olive branch was more fruitful.

You're actually in the thread that you're referencing there slick. The second part of that is your opinion based on taking what you liked from two different statements:

Zakharova said the only communication with the Clinton campaign was Russia trying to reach out to them for the sort of routine communication they claim existed with the Trump campaign.

Ryabkov stated that there was continuous communication with individuals within the Trump "entourage" who "obviously, we know most" who "have been staying in touch with Russian representatives" and that there was also sporadic communication with members of the Clinton campaign that wasn't fruitful.

You stitched them together to come up with:

exactly the same type as that had with the Clinton campaign. It just said that Trumps team was more diplomatic and the olive branch was more fruitful.

I disagree.

I guess you didnt read the whole article you linked or just cherry picked with bias... Or you are simply not truthful....simply.

Repeating "tabloid" like a broken robot is absolutely meaningless. Calling me "not truthful" is another weak ad hominem that fails to prop up another weak argument.

Do you you want to know why your arguments are also so weak? Because your only real concern is trying to attack me and the arguments are always ill-conceived, sloppily thrown together after thoughts.

originally posted by: raymundoko
a reply to: theantediluvian

Not disingenuous at all. You don't make well formed opinions.

See my response to the other triggered hater whose only concern is me.