Analysis

The collective hysteria over fake news, Russia’s alleged role in the DNC hack, and the unsubstantiated kompramat that supposedly links Donald Trump to Vladimir Putin has reached a fever pitch.

By ratcheting up tensions with Russia, U.S. national security is raising risks of accidental nuclear war with missiles still on hair-trigger alert — despite President Obama’s promises, writes Jonathan Marshall.

Nation Contributing Editor Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor continue their weekly discussions of the new US-Russian Cold War. (Previous installments are at TheNation.com). This installment comes in the immediate aftermath of allegations that the Kremlin possesses compromising materials, from sexual to financial, that would enable it to “blackmail” President-elect Trump.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is reshuffling his cabinet today, and the CBC reports that he will appoint Chrystia Freeland as Foreign Minister.

In 2017, the triangle of the US, China and Russia, the world’s three major powers, is going to see substantial changes. Until this past fall, it appeared that the trends that had been established in the last three years would continue.

Condemning interference in foreign elections is eminently reasonable. The disingenuous howls of anti-Russian rage now echoing through Washington, however, ignore much history.

Just as the first casualty of war is said to be the truth, the first casualty of the new Cold War is irony.

While pundits debate whether or not we are really in a new Cold War, most fail to see that we are already in the middle of a new Red Scare—the third in the past century.

At this naked moment in the American experiment, when many people perceive civilization on the verge of blowing up in some metaphorical sense, there is an elderly man in California hoping to seize your attention about another possibility.

Given the recent near-hysteria over Russia’s alleged hacking of U.S. political email traffic, it is difficult to imagine a U.S.-Russia relationship established upon a peaceful footing—or, to put it another way, a relationship so stable and constructive that it no longer would depend on the vagaries of changing political personalities.

Experts on the malicious computer codes commonly used by Russian hackers are far from united behind the Obama administration’s accusations against Moscow, with a few echoing President-elect Donald Trump’s mistrust and asking for more information.

The last week of 2016 saw the passage of three seemingly unrelated events. These were: 1) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s historic visit to Pearl Harbor, 2) the U.S. expulsion of Russian diplomats in response to allegations of Russian interference in the recent U.S. Presidential election, and 3) the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning’s debut into blue water territory

The immensely confident report, based on the combined findings of the NSA, CIA, and FBI, includes virtually no new details about why the nation’s intelligence agencies attributed the attacks to the Russian government (and in some cases, directly to Vladimir Putin)…

 

ACEWA Board Member and Duke University Professor Ellen Mickewicz casts a critical eye on the new ODNI report on Russia’s alleged “influence” on the US presidential election… [Read more…] about Duke University Professor Says: Think Twice About New ODNI Report

The Post, you might suppose, would have the self-confidence to sit for an extensive interview about its occasional failings. Apparently not.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) addresses the history of U.S. interference in foreign elections at Thursday’s hearing on possible Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

One must assume that those issuing the report hoped that it would influence public opinion. Given the lack of solid evidence offered, it is unlikely to change anyone’s mind.

On Saturday, January 7, 2017, at 10:00 a.m., the Schiller Institute NYC Chorus will be singing the Star Spangled banner and the Russian National Anthem at a Wreath Laying Ceremony at the Tear Drop 9-11 Memorial at 51 Port Terminal Blvd in Bayonne. The chorus will be joined by the NYPD Ceremonial Unit Color Guard, as well as FDNY representatives, and the Honor Guard from the Bayonne Fire Department.

Defining Putin as America’s main enemy is threat inflation at its worst.

It would seem then that a healthy amount of skepticism toward a government report that relied, in part, on the findings of private-sector cyber security companies like Crowdstrike might be in order. And yet skeptics have found themselves in the unenviable position of being accused of being Kremlin apologists, or worse.