Russia, Russia, Russia paid the Taliban...Arabic for
students...
to kill GIs as an attempt to pre-empt the findings into Russiagate’s origins.
I barely paused over this story. It just felt like it came out of left field.
On Friday The New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
featured a report based on anonymous intelligence officials that the Russians were paying bounties to have U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan with President Donald Trump
...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons......
refusing to do anything about it. The flurry of Establishment media reporting that ensued provides further proof, if such were needed, that the erstwhile "paper of record" has earned a new moniker ‐ Gray Lady of easy virtue.
Either they've gone downhill or they've been dowhill and we never noticed because of the propaganda diet we were consuming.
Over the weekend, the Times' dubious allegations grabbed headlines across all media that are likely to remain indelible in the minds of credulous Americans ‐ which seems to have been the main objective. To keep the pot boiling this morning, The New York Times' David Leonhardt's daily web piece, "The Morning" calls prominent attention to a banal article by a Heather Cox Richardson, described as a historian at Boston College, adding specific charges to the general indictment of Trump by showing "how the Trump administration has continued to treat Russia favorably." The following is from Richardson's newsletter on Friday:
‐ "On April 1 a Russian plane brought ventilators and other medical supplies to the United States ... a propaganda coup for Russia;
A combination propaganda coup and nice gesture.
‐ "On April 25 Trump raised eyebrows by issuing a joint statement with Russian President Vladimir Putin
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
commemorating the 75th anniversary of the historic meeting between American and Soviet troops on the bridge of the Elbe River in Germany that signaled the final defeat of the Nazis;
The Russians spend more time and sincerity commemorating the "Great Patriotic War" than we do. That meeting on the Elbe 75 years ago confirmed the Nazi goose was cooked.
‐ "On May 3, Trump called Putin and talked for an hour and a half, a discussion Trump called ’very positive';
That's the sort of thing we'd want him to do, isn't it? We used to have people manning a hotline (which was actually a teletype at first) to ensure there weren't any misunderstandings. Now they can call head of state to head of state. A lot less likelihood of Minsk or Dayton going kaboom without warning.
‐ "On May 21, the U.S. sent a humanitarian aid
package worth $5.6 million to Moscow to help fight coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...there. The shipment included 50 ventilators, with another 150 promised for the next week; ...
That was repaying the Russian gesture when their own outbreak hit.
‐ "On June 15, news broke that Trump has ordered the removal of 9,500 troops from Germany, where they support NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and structure....
against Russian aggression. ..."
That's connected with Germany's laggardliness about paying for the defense we've been providing. Rather than going to Fort Riley, I believe the troops will be going to Poland, where they'll be more appreciated. As an honest Bavarian told me once, for every American driving a tank that was one less German who had to.
Historian Richardson added:
"All of these friendly overtures to Russia were alarming enough when all we knew was that Russia attacked the 2016 U.S. election and is doing so again in 2020. But it is far worse that those overtures took place when the administration knew that Russia had actively targeted American soldiers. ... this bad news apparently prompted worried intelligence officials to give up their hope that the administration would respond to the crisis, and instead to leak the story to two major newspapers."
Except the story sounded like bullspit.
Hear the siren? Children, get under your desks!
THE TALL TALE ABOUT RUSSIA PAYING FOR DEAD U.S. TROOPS
Times print edition readers had to wait until this morning to learn of Trump's statement last night that he was not briefed on the cockamamie tale about bounties for killing, since it was, well, cockamamie.
Late last night the president tweeted: "Intel just reported to me that they did not find this info credible, and therefore did not report it to me or the VP. ..."....
Well, ever since the Flynn case crashed and burned....