First the Pandemic Response, Now This

First the Pandemic Response, Now This?

“I think the White House needs to say something aggressive about what happened. This is almost as if you had a Russian bomber flying undetected over the country, including over the nation's capital, and not to respond in a setting like that is really stunning" 

Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT

In World War II, the Soviet Union was our most reluctant ally. They absolutely needed the arms our hydroelectric overcapacity was capable of manufacturing to repel the same Nazi invaders with whom they had earlier befriended in a peace agreement that Hitler easily breached. After that war, the USSR quickly carved up Eastern Europe, sent spies to the United States to steal nuclear secrets (a successful effort), and began a Cold War with us, one of seemingly endless confrontation that only settled down upon the realization of “mutually assured destruction” inherent in an all-out nuclear war. The US and the USSR fought surrogate wars all over the planet.

It’s been three decades since the Soviet Union collapsed, and while there was a brief moment in those earliest of days where democracy and perhaps entente with successor “Russia” seemed possible, that changed in 1999. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin then began his uninterrupted leadership of Russia, now eligible to be President for life under a carefully orchestrated constitutional amendment, as “acting president.” He breached Russian treaties with Ukraine in his annexation of Crimea, and his not-so-clandestine efforts to destabilize the eastern part of the remaining Ukraine, typifies his desire to reassemble the fractured Soviet Union his personal aegis. Core to that effort was/is the resurrection of animus and competition with the USSR’s arch enemy, the United States.

Make no mistake, Putin is not just immoral and brutal, he is exceptionally well-educated and trained in the dark arts.  Putin gained experience working for the KGB, a repressive combination of secret police and an FBI/CIA equivalent. He was a foreign intelligence officer there for 16 years, rising to the rank of Lt Colonel (the above picture was taken in 1990). He left in 1991 to enter politics.

With total control of his government, his society and everything in it, despite a crumbled economy (low oil and gas prices coupled with the impact of Western sanctions and the drag of the pandemic), Putin crushed his internal foes, stooping to ordering assassinations of opponents living in other countries. Actively opposing policies embraced by the West, with particular focus on the United States, became the cornerstone of his leadership. With some of the best hackers in the world, enabled by amazingly sophisticated technology and the ability to disguise their effort (but only so far), Putin was able to fund and structure the most massive patterns of disinformation and direct interference in Western elections the world has ever seen, a reality that every US federal intelligence agency and every relevant congressional committee and subcommittee have uniformly endorsed based on extensive investigations. Both our 2016 and 2020 national elections had Russian fingerprints everywhere.

Trump has consistently denied that such Russian interference ever took place and has insisted taking Putin (the practiced lying spymaster) at his word that “we didn’t do it.” Indeed, almost in sycophantic and jealous admiration for a despot who was able twist the rules in his favor, Trump developed what the press has labeled as a “bromance” with Putin. By his own admission, Trump seems to be able to get along better with anti-democratic international leaders. Said Trump: “the tougher and meaner they are, the better I get along with them.”

When it comes to the particularly nasty Putin, one that can really hurt the United States, you have to ask “why?” Could it be that Trump still covets building that Trump tower on the exceptional Moscow site shown above? A project that was put on hold for obviously domestic political reasons. Or perhaps that since Russia has no extradition treaty with the United States, Moscow is a safety net for Trump should he face massive civil fines or even a criminal conviction under federal or state law.

But all the Russian interference, all of Putin’s global actions in support of our enemies in the Middle East and his development of super-weapons in direct competition with American military technology pale in comparison with what many see as an act of war against the United States’ most important federal agencies. A massive cyberattack and data leak that was announced in mid-December that was almost certainly the work of Russian intelligence operatives. “The extensive cyberattack hit the U.S. Treasury, Commerce Department, State Department and the National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains the American stockpile of nuclear weapons. The nation’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said the sophisticated attack raises grave concerns about U.S. safety. And officials said it could take months before the full extent of the attack was known…

“Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said Thursday [12/17] it was extraordinary that President Donald Trump hasn’t said a single word about the cyberattack on U.S. agencies believed to be orchestrated by the Kremlin. Nor has Trump apparently complained to Russian President Vladimir Putin… When White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany was asked Tuesday [12/15] about the massive hack, she said the White House was ‘taking a hard look into this,’ CNBC reported.” Huffington Post, December 18th.

“Federal authorities expressed increased alarm Thursday [12/17] about an intrusion into U.S. and other computer systems around the globe that officials suspect was carried out by Russian hackers. The nation's cybersecurity agency warned of a ‘grave’ risk to government and private networks… The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency [CISA] said in its most detailed comments yet that the intrusion had compromised federal agencies as well as ‘critical infrastructure’ in a sophisticated attack that was hard to detect and will be difficult to undo…

“‘This threat actor has demonstrated sophistication and complex tradecraft in these intrusions,’ the agency said in its unusual alert. ‘CISA expects that removing the threat actor from compromised environments will be highly complex and challenging.’” Associated Press, December 17th.  

Russia is almost definitely the “threat actor.” Government agencies have been able to trace the intrusion and have uniformly reached that conclusion. In an interview on December 18th on the Mark Levin Show, US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo said the cyberattack was "pretty clearly" tied to Russia: "I can't say much more as we're still unpacking precisely what it is, and I'm sure some of it will remain classified… This was a very significant effort, and I think it's the case that now we can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians that engaged in this activity." Many in government believe that this is single greatest and most dangerous hack against our government of the United States in history.

But Donald Trump’s fierce loyalty to Bro-Vladimir Putin remains as strong as ever. Despite significant evidence that Russian involvement is behind the cyber breach, as noted by Trump’s own Secretary of State, and no real evidence that China had anything to do with it, on December 19th, Trump tweeted “The Cyber Hack is far greater in the Fake News Media than in actuality. I have been fully briefed and everything is well under control. Russia, Russia, Russia is the priority chant when anything happens because Lamestream is, for mostly financial reasons, petrified of discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!).” There is no excuse. The situation is not in control, and the briefing told Trump, “the Russians did it.” The buck stops with Donald John Trump. I wonder if Putin might throw in a luxurious dacha into the mix for a US President willing to betray his own country to tout and defend Russia… again!

I’m Peter Dekom, and that Trump won over 70 million votes, continues to have a huge constituency of believers that he was robbed of a second term, suggests that to so many, American values and military security pale against having a self-centered autocrat run the nation any way he sees fit.