American Committee for US-Russia Accord

Western governments and mass media are putting out reports that Russia’s first air sorties in Homs and Hama in Syria “are not targeting ISIS” and that this demonstrates that Putin has no intention of fighting jihadists but has intervened in Syria to prop up the Basar Assad regime.

They deliberately are not telling you several things.

Dov Levin of Carnegie Mellon University looked at U.S. and Russian interference in other countries’ elections since World War II and found that the U.S. was far in the lead, interfering over 80 times – and in far more impactful ways than alleged hacking and fake news.

The danger of extreme nationalists in Ukraine has gradually been getting more serious attention in the western press, with words like “extreme right,” “neo-Nazi” and “skinhead” belatedly replacing euphemistic labels for the most radical political and paramilitary organizations. But it took the brutal killing of three unquestionably patriotic Ukrainian National Guardsmen during protests outside of the Verkhovna Rada to create some kind of consensus about the scale of their threat.

The powerful Russophobe lobby in Washington will undoubtedly see this move to cut US covert aid to “friendly jihadis” as another sign that Putin controls Trump. But then who controls the neocons?

What happens when an under-staffed, under-experienced, and under-managed presidency, under siege by domestic opponents, is faced with an escalating crisis with a nuclear superpower? We could well find out soon, because powerful forces in both Russia and the United States appear to be itching for a fight.

In his Orwellian September 28, 2015 speech to the United Nations, President Obama said that if democracy had existed in Syria, there never would have been a revolt against Assad. By that, he meant ISIL. Where there is democracy, he said, there is no violence or revolution.

In a memo to President Trump, a group of former U.S. intelligence officers, including NSA specialists, cite new forensic studies to challenge the claim of the key Jan. 6 “assessment” that Russia “hacked” Democratic emails last year.

Here is a question that I have probably posed before, but I think it’s a fairly obvious one and I can’t understand why it isn’t getting asked more often? Stories like this appear to give away the farm to Russian intelligence. It must be feeling like Christmas every day to the folks in the Lubyanka. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong. [Read more…] about Regarding Leaks From The US Intelligence Community (Fred Weir)

Despite or because of USAID’s closing in Russia, the US doubled-down on efforts to promote civil society in Russia. This is both disappointing and illogical. Disappointing because it exudes undiplomatic arrogance….

From NATO’s Gen. Philip Breedlove to the State Department’s Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy Richard Stengel, the manipulation of information is viewed as a potent “soft power” weapon. It’s a way to isolate and damage an “enemy,” especially Russia and Putin.

This demonization of Putin makes cooperation between him and Obama difficult, such as Russia’s recent military buildup in Syria as part of a commitment to prevent a victory by the Islamic State and Al Qaeda.

Asked whether the two presidents had other conversations or met in the corridors of the G-20 meeting, Lavrov used the analogy of children mingling at a kindergarten. Full interview here.

The domineering of the far right in Ukraine, facilitated by the oligarchic mechanisms of power, has become a fact. It is not just a myth spread by Russian propaganda, although it is often exploited and aggrandised.

There is a myriad of reasons why the worst qualified man in history is now one of the most powerful men in the world. One reason that definitely should not be on that list is that the election was hacked.

A new bill proposes that the United States would no longer be bound by the INF Treaty if Russia remains in violation.