CNN: Obama administration prepares sanctions, retaliation for Russian election meddling
(CNN)The Obama administration is preparing to announce, as soon as Thursday, a series of retaliation measures against Russia for meddling in the US election, according to American officials briefed on the plans.
The actions are expected to include expanded sanctions and diplomatic measures, the officials said, in what the administration deems a proportional response to a Russian operation that went beyond cyber hacking activities common among nations.
Russia will respond to any "hostile steps" that the US may take in response to allegations of hacking during the 2016 election, according to the official representative for the ministry.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: So much for waiting for the final report from the FBI and the intelligence community on claims that Russia hacked the DNC server and Clinton aide Podesta's email account. As for Russian reaction .... they are promising to respond .... Russia "Tired Of Obama Lies About Hackers", Vows Response To Any New Sanctions (Zero Hedge).
Previous Post: White House To Announce Measures To Punish Russia For Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election (December 27, 2016).
More News On The White House Set To Announce Sanctions For Russian Election Meddling
White House to Announce Punishment for Russian Election Interference -- US News and World Report
Obama team to respond to Russian hacking -- USA Today
Retaliation for Russian Election Hack Could Be Announced Tomorrow -- ABC News
Obama set to hit Russia with further sanctions before leaving office -- The Guardian
Obama poised to punish Putin for U.S election meddling as Republican senator warns sanctions will hit Russian president personally -- Daily Mail
McCain and Graham: U.S. needs to hit Russia hard for election hacking -- Politico
Election hacking: US senators call for sanctions on Russia -- BBC
White House nears announcement on how it will punish Russia for election cyberattacks -- Business Insider
Obama administration set to retaliate against Russian 'interference' in US election -- International Business Times
The 3 ways Obama can retaliate against Russia -- The Hill
US May Announce Retaliation Measures for Alleged Russian Hacking on Thursday -- Sputnik
Fortunately the Administration is concentrating it's efforts on the really important things.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who reads my posts knows I'm normally not one to prone to optimism. With that said perhaps I'm being overly optimistic here. How much long range damage can BHO and his team actually do here?
ReplyDeleteAny sanctions against Russia imposed by the current POTUS will simply be undone by the next POTUS. Any measures taken against Israel whether or not the current UN resolutions on settlements was orchestrated by the US or not will be ignored by DJT. Israel is not going to pay any attention to ridiculous one sided dictates from a worthless organization either.
While any sanctions imposed on Russia by Congress may not be able to undone by POTUS, we would expect a DJT led State Department along with diplomats appointed by DJT to do all they can to undermine such sanctions. Furthermore with Western European nations having little appetite to continue them anyway these are a futile endeavor. Since DJT is coming into office on 1/20/17, based upon his team members and campaign rhetoric it would be expected that he would take a lead role in undermining the sanctions effort against Russia and the UN efforts to undermine Israel.
We can't see the "evidence" of Russian interference either because it is entirely manufactured or it is of the "he said, she said" variety that no police investigator would dare to a prosecuting attorney as this sort of thing is not anything approaching what would warrant further investigation let alone could lead to a conviction. If the investigator did bring such before the DA, this person would likely be furious at having their time wasted and the police chief would likely receive word of this and the officer would likely get reprimanded or even fired. For these reasons we can never see the "evidence." DJT will simply release the "evidence" revealing these people for the fools they really are.
Lindsay Graham's statement was utterly priceless in it's ridiculousness. Russia does this sort of thing "all over the world" he says. As an example, he cites "Estonia." Estonia is a former Soviet Republic is it not? Now it is a part of NATO. Russia thought we had an agreement that NATO would not be expanded. Whether or not the agreement existed informally, formally, or not at all is irrelevant at this point.
Three basic points. 1.)Russia thinks there was an agreement and is not going to alter their position on this. 2.)The entire purpose of NATO is collective defense. Estonia is not going to come to our aid if we are invaded. If we were to ask them to, they'd laugh in our faces. 3.)Based upon this Estonia is a liability and is NOT worth the risk of American interests. As such, Estonia leaves NATO or the US does. Mr. Graham and others need to be reminded just who it is they were elected to represent.
DJT would be expected to renegotiate these "alliances" that don't work for American interests or advancement. Again, perhaps I'm being overly optimistic.
Finally, I'm skeptical that Vladimir Putin or Russia would interfere in a US presidential election. Mr. Putin and Russia have a country to run and certain interests to represent. The United States is simply not important enough in the grand scheme for them to have any need to interfere. With little upside to such an endeavor it would seem unlikely. Certain people flatter themselves by thinking they are more important than they really are.