Foreign Affairs
Related: About this forumRussia Is Buying Politicians in Europe. Is It Happening Here Too?
Theyre saying aloud what they once whispered behind closed doors. Back in 2016, when he was a Republican congressman but not yet House speaker, Kevin McCarthy said in a private meeting with GOP leaders, Theres two people, I think, Putin pays: [Representative Dana] Rohrabacher and Trump swear to God. (Rohrabacher, once dubbed Putins favorite congressman, lost his seat in 2018.)
McCarthy, confronted with the leaked audio in 2017, claimed it was a joke. But anyone paying attention to how Russian intelligence services run influence operationswhich I do, as a former CIA officerknows it is anything but. It raises a legitimate, and deadly serious, question: Have Russian operatives paid any Republican officials?
https://newrepublic.com/article/180630/russia-corruption-network-europe-buying-politicians-america
Irish_Dem
(57,474 posts)Good god.
A day late and a dollar short.
marble falls
(62,060 posts)Here is the best, most open source of information about the planet.
https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/world/
Surf this, you'll find a lot of information in the Russia section about Russian operations in Europe.
Irish_Dem
(57,474 posts)Putin has his puppets installed across Europe.
Same here in the US.
Reading this will probably curl my hair.
erronis
(16,828 posts)Of course the russians (and chinese, israelis, etc.) buy access, buy propaganda outlets, buy power (legislatures and presidents).
Part of the problem as others have said is that the intelligence agencies (CIA, DIA, NSA, etc.) work apart from each other and from the enforcement organizations in the US (FBI, local/state). And we all know that some of these groups are also infiltrated. One good example is Gen. Michael Flynn at the DIA who is now known to be a russian operative. Or the head of the US Executive branch, Donald Trump who openly courts putin.
We all hope there is some behind-the-scenes magical organization working for only the benefit of Democracy who is keeping an eye on all of this and will swoop in at the last moment to save the day. (Un)fortunately, we do try to hew to the rule of law which, like democracy, can be compared to making sausage.
CanonRay
(14,860 posts)niyad
(119,917 posts)niyad
(119,917 posts)surprise to many here on DU, who post absolutely remarkable information that the wholly-subsumed reichwing media seem to overlook.