‘US media ignores Clinton stealing Democratic nomination, engages in Russia-bashing i
‘US media ignores Clinton stealing Democratic nomination, engages in Russia-bashing instead’
17 Oct, 2016 11:09
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U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders © Brian Snyder / Reuters
The story has nothing to do with the content of Clinton’s hacked emails, which show she stole the nomination from Bernie Sanders. The main story was submerged in this outcry against Russia, former CIA officer Ray McGovern told RT.
During a news conference at the 2016 BRICS summit for five major emerging economies, Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed Washington’s latest threat to launch a cyber-attack against Russia based on unsubstantiated claims that Russia had somehow interfered in the 2016 presidential election, which is already being called the most scandal-filled contest in American political history.
Putin added that US intelligence could be keeping tabs on all journalists.
RT spoke with former CIA officer Ray McGovern for his views on the situation.
RT: Will there be any justification on a CIA cyber-attack on Russia given there’s no concrete evidence against Moscow interfering with the US elections?
Ray McGovern: Vice President Biden, let me put it this way, ‘on neseryozniy chelovek’; he’s not a serious person. He’s run by ventriloquists. The reality is that someone told him to say that, told him to say that on Friday. Why is the timing important? Because the foreign ministers of the United States, Russia and others were convening in Switzerland on Saturday. And so the CIA leaked these reports from unnamed officials about Russians hacking, trying to interfere with our election and Biden went on Meet the Press on Friday and told them: “That this is terrible. We’re going to retaliate.” Retaliate for what? As you’ve already mentioned, there’s no proof, there’s no proof at all.
Could there be proof? Of course. There’s a trace mechanism that can trace the emails back to the original source, and if they had that they would produce it. What is it? It’s not hacking, it’s leaking. My friends, who used to work for NSA, tell me that this is most likely a leak, a leak by someone like Ed Snowden, who saw what Hillary Clinton and what the Democratic National Committee was doing and wanted to expose it to the rest of the world. And they successfully did that.
What did Clinton and the Democrats do? A huge diversion; it no longer had to do with the content of these emails, which of course, showed that she stole, again, she stole, the nomination from Bernie Sanders. The content was submerged in this outcry against Russian: “Julian Assange – he must be working for the Russians. Why the Russians? The Russians want Trump to win.” I’ve never heard anything so outlandish to suggest that President Vladimir Putin would want Trump to win.
RTRT ✔ @RT_com
'Obama cyber saber-rattling against Russia possible ploy to boost Clinton camp' (Op-Edge) http://on.rt.com/7rzp
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It is almost as if US intelligence officials are daring themselves to do something
that may turn out to be quite destructive for everybody
4:55 AM - 15 Oct 2016
✔ @RT_com
RT: What do you think are the reasons behind such an aggressive attitude?
RM: I think a part of it, as President Vladimir Putin has said, has to do with the election. But you know, fine tuning it, it all has to do with what started it – from Hillary Clinton trying to divert attention from the fact that she stole the election from Bernie Sanders. That’s the content that was in those emails; that content has completely disappeared from the press. Now [the question is] “Who did it?” And as President Putin himself said, and he’s quite right, “who cares who did it?
It’s factual, these are emails that happened!” And it shows she stole the nomination. So this is a magnificent diversion, and everyone in the mainstream press in this country has fallen in for it.
RT: What would the US stand to achieve by launching a cyber-attack against Russia though if it’s actually serious?
RM: Well, I don’t believe it’s serious. You know the initial reports from NBC and others said that it’s going to be secret. If it’s secret, why do you leak it to NBC and the major media? So I think it’s an idle threat, and if it’s a real threat, that’s very serious because Russians and others are just as adept at cyber as the United States, and once you get into that realm, you’re in a much more even playing field, because it doesn’t matter how many satellites you have, or how many aircraft carriers [you have], if they don’t work because of cyber-warfare the playing field is much more even. So I don’t think this is a serious threat, this is all rhetoric and Joe Biden cannot be relied upon to be a serious source here. In Russian, you would say “U niego yazik bez kostey”; he blabbers on at the mouth except when he’s told to say things, as he was told on Friday. And the timing is important, the timing is important because the CIA and Biden seem to be determined to scuttle the resumption of ceasefire talks in Switzerland. That is serious, the question is was Obama aware of this, or did the CIA and Biden go off on their own? I don’t know the answer to that.
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/363009-us...attack-threat/
'Obama cyber saber-rattling against Russia possible ploy to boost Clinton camp'
'Obama cyber saber-rattling against Russia possible ploy to boost Clinton camp'
Published time: 15 Oct, 2016 10:52
Edited time: 15 Oct, 2016 14:25
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© Dado Ruvic / Reuters
It is almost as if US intelligence officials are daring themselves to do something that may turn out to be quite destructive for everybody, Jim Jatras, former GOP Senate foreign policy adviser, told RT.
Wikileaks has been publicly releasing daily batches of leaked emails from Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, yet Russia continues to grab US headlines as being somehow behind the scandal.
US officials have reportedly told NBC News that the CIA is preparing for a possible cyber-attack against Russia. The move, apparently, would be intended as retaliation for Russia's alleged interference in the US presidential election, which is already being called the most scandal-filled contest in American political history.
Russia vehemently rejects the claims and says the US has produced absolutely no evidence to support the very serious charges. It is said the attack would also seek to "harass and embarrass" the Russian authorities.
RT spoke with Jim Jatras for his views on this latest ratcheting up of tensions between the two global nuclear powers.
RT: Would there be any justification for the CIA launching a cyber-attack on Russia in the absence of any good evidence Russia tried to interfere in the US presidential election?
Jim Jatras: This was given, it appears, as an exclusive to NBC; almost like a press-release that the government is giving out as a warning shot or really a threat against the Russians. And even though they are saying that this is connected to the election, there is no real evidence regarding the DNC and other things on WikiLeaks. What the statement says is that it is geared towards interference with the elections itself, with the voting. Anybody who is familiar with our system knows that that is next to impossible; we don’t have a single nation-wide voting system. We have 50 states and thousands of local, state and county systems, most of which are paper, most of which, even the electronic ones, not connected to the Internet. So the idea that Russia or anybody else could hack into those is just absurd. So, I don’t think that is what this is really about.
Quote:
“I think these threats coming out of America are very much in response to the leaking of many emails which have desperately embarrassed Hillary Clinton, the Democratic and also the American-establishment favorite. So, this is the American establishment retaliating and saying ‘If this continues, then we will do something back.’ However, they are basing that on the assumption that it is Russia that has been hacking all her staff. Let’s face it, [Hillary Clinton] broke the law by hosting thousands of very sensitive emails on her private server for which she has yet to be prosecuted. And it is very likely that most of the leaks come from the fact that her server was vulnerable because it was not protected. I’m willing to bet that the Russian leadership’s private communications are rather better protected.”- Annie Machon, former MI5 agent, told RT
RT: Some have condemned the preparations for an attack by branding it "direct aggression" against Russia. Could we be close to a cyber-war?
JJ: I think we could be. And let’s keep in mind that there are two things here that I think are really behind this - not interference with our election. As we know this whole “Russia, Russia, Russia theme” has been a constant of Hillary Clinton’s campaign. And maybe the Obama administration is trying to help her out a bit by turning up the heat and pointing the finger. Also remember, as of tonight, according to the news reports, President Obama was supposed to think up some kind of response to what is going on in Syria. Maybe this is part of what is related to that.
RT: What would the US be trying to achieve by launching a cyber-attack against Russia? Is it a maneuver to redirect attention of the American public from the elections by playing this blame game with Russia?
JJ: It could be, and it really depends at this point whether they actually do something or they just threaten. I noticed one of the things they are talking about doing is hacking into the Russian financial system. And that is somewhat worrisome because for about two years now Russia has been complying with an American law called FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) which essentially mandates turning over a trove of financial information to the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) from Russian banks, which includes a lot of metadata and the opportunity to insert spy ware and so forth. So, the Russians may have made this very easy for us.
RT: One former US intelligence official has stressed the importance of launching the cyber-attack in order "not to weaken the credible threat of the US response capability". What are your thoughts on that statement?
JJ: I think it is kind of cyber-saber rattling. They are almost daring themselves to do something just to show that they can and then it becomes a matter of prestige. It is almost like they are daring themselves to do something that may turn out to be quite destructive for everybody (…) As the article said, there is some concern on the American side that if, for example, there was some attack on the Russian financial system many Russians would respond with an attack on our financial system, which would be much more disruptive globally given how central the American financial system is worldwide.
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/362869-cyber-war-us-russia/
