We've Been Played Like a Fiddle

Army intelligence, the CIA, and several other intelligence organizations say it did happen. I think since it's their job, I will take their word for it.

 

Not as far as I'm concerned.

 

Can you recall if any of those said it worked? Do you recall them saying clearly that the Russians caused Hillary to lose?

Next item. Obama learned of this well ahead of the election. I mean no later than May of 2016. Why did he not lift a finger? He ordered some report since he released it by January 2017. He was still president when he released it.

Why have only 3 agencies alleged this? Why stretch the story to like close to 20? Do you even stop to consider if that many knew it, failed to stop it, Obama failed to alert authorities prior to the election, that we need to blame Obama?

 

The intelligence agencies didn't declare if the Russians caused Trump to win and Hillary to lose. Creating that kind of statistical nightmare is not a great idea for them. They knew (correctly) that would start a national pissing contest. There is no doubt Russians meddled in our election using a multi pronged strategy of attack. No doubt at all. BTW, Obama had an inkling what was going on and warned both parties. It appears they both ignored the warning. Obama maintained a hands off position in the election to avoid any appearance of favoritism.

There is clear evidence the Russians are working to influence the mid-term elections, however, the Trump administration has decided to ignore it or implement any actions against the Russians.

 

Not only have they ignored it, they have refused to allow intelligence officials to do anything.

The head of the NSA said that he has asked Trump directly to give them additional authority to go after Russian agents working in the US, but Trump refuses to do so. There is only so much that the NSA is allowed to do when it comes to foreign nations. Additional efforts require a Presidential order. Trump refuses to give those orders.

 

Respectfully, I disagree and I think you've got this totally wrong. Obama made a judgment call about Russian interference because he was worried about how the American people might perceive his administration's efforts to sway an election with regard to the propaganda existence and influence.

The Stuxnet virus could not be more different than Russian propaganda. That you are conflating the Stuxnet virus with Russian propaganda shows that you fundamentally do not understand one or the other. It also destroys your underlying argument that you are better off not knowing about the con. The Stuxnet code was most effective when no one knew it existed... as soon as the target countries knew of it, they immediately began to address the attack: The opposite of your premise. The Russian propaganda is more like a 409 scam. I can't believe you'd make the argument that the scam is more effective once you know about it, but you continue to push this. That position makes zero sense. The simplest way to undercut Russian influence in social media is to make people skeptical by telling them you suspect there is a game afoot. You are arguing that you'd rather have people totally ignorant to the idea that foreign actors may have infiltrated social media. Honestly, that makes ZERO sense. Zero.

 

Because you refuse to understand it. Or, okay let me put it this way: It would be one thing if you listed which accounts were created by foreigners and said "These accounts are not American". If there were an easy verification system, that would allow people to know without the hyperbole of "The Ruskies are here!" And thus our public is well-informed.

But that's not what's happening. Instead, they say something as intentionally vague as "The Russians are interfering in our elections!" Thus let me ask you: Do you know if I'm a Russian? You don't know this. I know I'm not, I'm saying I'm not but you don't know this. You don't know this, because the government has not yet been able to weed interference out of the system.

I'm making the very simple statement, that standard protocols would suggest that until they are able to weed out interference they would not say ANYTHING. Not only to not alarm the people, but also to give a false sense of security to the Russian Operatives, making it easier to catch them.

Russian Interference is NOT a commercialized product. The government is NOT the FTC. Many such operations occur where the government shuts down those damn kiddie porn sites without prior notification(for obvious reasons, the same reasons as the ones I state here.)

So let me repeat: Nothing was gained from incomplete information being released to the Press. That's the same reasoning that Comey gave for not telling Congress earlier that the POTUS wasn't(at the time) under investigation. Incomplete information raises the specter of speculation, it drove divisional ranks within the country and enabled Russians to be aware that we knew what they were doing.

Let me make it clear: We are at WAR with Russia. The stolen identities and propaganda against the US is a belligerent act. Thus there are things we should never know, that we do. It is an intelligence failure. And it will always be a failure of intelligence.