Trump: 'Thank Congress' for 'all-time' low in US-Russia ties

The cold war mindset is dangerous and very outdated. Trump is correct on this issue.

US is meddling with about 100 other countries' democracy or whatever.
The victim card or the acting rage looks very fake, childish and laughable.

 

Russia invaded a sovereign nation and is actively working to undermine our allies. But it's all cool

 

To add to what justtxyank posted, not only did Russia invade and annex the territory of a sovereign European nation, the first time that has occurred since World War II, and not only does it continue in its attempt to destabilize Ukraine by supplying weapons as well as advisors to help the so-called separatists in the eastern part of that nation, a salient point remains. Russia interfered with our national election in 2016. Republican Senator John McCain, a man I have great respect for, has said he considers Russian interference in that election an "act of war." Apparently, Senator McCain doesn't consider that interference "fake news."

"Cold War mindset?" Really? Russia under Putin is an adversary. Russia is actively doing everything it can to undermine the United States inside our country, and around the world. The rules based international system that has largely allowed the world to prosper in peace for over 70 years, led by the United States, her allies and her friends, is under assault by Russia. If you aren't aware of that fact, perhaps you should get out more. Broaden your news sources. In my opinion, with all due respect.

 

USA has invaded 10s of nations and is actively trying to destabilize or topple other 10s of nations. The world, including Russia, are not scared to do business with USA.

You want to use Russia for your own good. I believe Russia is very useful. Trump knows it.

The cold war thing is very unhealthy, irrational and unnecessary. Look around, it is only embraced by USA nowadays. Europe, Russia, China, even middle east Muslims are all opening their minds.

 

Well I'm going to blow your mind here with some breaking news; nations operate in their own interests and don't hold themselves to the same standards they hold others. Kind of like they are made up of humans.

If we invaded Ireland and claimed it as a us territory would you be criticizing European nations for having issue with us?

Edit: no one here wants war with Russia though. The use of the Cold War tag in your posts and others who use it is pure ridiculousness. Most of us are eyes wide open about Russia

 

But I do agree @WNBA that trump has lots of ways to get use out of a productive relationship with Russia

 

Have you been to Europe lately? I suspect not (I apologize if you have). I spent some time last summer in Hungary, Slovakia, Germany, Austria, the UK, and the Netherlands. Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, and a big chunk of Germany were all occupied by the Soviet Union, which was the communist empire of Russia. The people in those countries that I was able to talk politics with were all extremely worried about the recent actions of Russia under Putin. They view Putin, the former KGB colonel, as wanting to reconstitute the former Soviet Union. Putin has said as much himself in the past. So forgive me if I disagree with your take on how Europeans view Russia. In my humble opinion, you couldn't be more wrong.

The leaders and peoples of Europe are bewildered by the actions of Mr. trump. They are busy increasing defense spending and building up their militaries because of their fear of Russia, not because of tweets by trump. Don't believe me? Look it up. Google "defense increases by European nations." And these are significant increases in defense spending. Meanwhile, neutral nations Finland, Sweden, and even Switzerland are increasing defense spending, with Sweden and Finland actively growing closer to NATO. Not because they just feel like it, but because they fear Russia under Putin, Mr. trump's friend.

 

Cold war just can do that: selling fear. NATO is the cold war machine and they are professional at it.

I bet, with all that fear, Europeans won't declare a cold war on Russia. They will not join the game.

To me this Russia-Trump collusion is more about Russia calling for help, rather than targeting something on USA.

I am with Trump on this.

 

Have you not been paying attention? We know for a fact that Russia attacked us. We know that they attempted to hack the voter rolls of almost every single state in the nation. We know that they planted and publicized fake news stories, we know and it was testified to under oath. But of course, you ignore that. It is believed but not proven that Russia did hack the DNC, it certainly isn't disproven.

The intel agencies didn't rely on anyone with ties the DNC or anybody else when they determined there were attempts from Russia to hack the voting machines and registration rolls.

You need to stop ignoring evidence that doesn't back your preconceived notions and your attempts to rationalize to yourself what you desire to believe about Russian attacks.

 

No, the U.S. isn't.

 

As did Sen Corker of Tenn and Lindsey Graham of SC

 

We know that Obama's DHS attempted to hack into the election systems of multiple states including WV & KY.

As far as Russia planting fake news stories, I am not aware of this. Can you provide details? If you want to talk fake news stories, let's look at some of these:

http://dailycaller.com/2017/06/28/its-not-just-cnn-five-fake-trump-russia-stories-pushed-by-msm/

It’s Not Just CNN: Five Fake Trump-Russia Stories Pushed By Establishment Media

Posted By Justin Caruso On 9:56 PM 06/28/2017

CNN recently caught flak for publishing a story on Trump-Russia collusion that was later retracted.

The retraction led to the resignation of three CNN journalists, and in the eyes of many on the right, the incident was just more proof that the media is desperate to go after President Trump on Russia allegations — with or without facts.

This comes as recently released video from Project Veritas shows a CNN producer on hidden camera saying that he thinks the Russia story is “mostly bullshit right now,” and that CNN CEO Jeff Zucker is encouraging his staff to forgo other topics to focus on Russia allegations. (RELATED: Hidden Camera Catches CNN Producer Saying Trump ‘Probably Right’ About Russia ‘Witch Hunt’ [VIDEO])

But CNN is not the first, or the only, media outlet to get a story about Russia and Trump wrong.

On Twitter Tuesday morning, President Trump publicly wondered about other sources of false reporting.

Here are five fake stories pushed by the media about Donald Trump and Russia:

1. Slate Conspiracy Mongers On Trump-Russia Bank Server

Liberal website Slate published an article on October 31, 2016 titled, “Was a Trump Server Communicating With Russia?”

The long, detailed article offers a report of the Trump Organization’s “secret server” that it uses to communicate with a Russian bank called “Alfa Bank.”

The story even earned a mention from Donald Trump’s presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton.

The implication here was that Trump and/or his campaign was secretly communicating with Russia over this server, presumably to influence the 2016 election .

However, the story was quickly debunked. As it turns out, there was a much simpler explanation for the online communications: spam email.

The Intercept wrote that the Slate post, “never actually takes seriously the simplest plausible explanation for all of this: The Trump Organization owns a bunch of expensive, obnoxious spam servers that churn out marketing emails for its expensive, obnoxious hotels.”

The debunking can be read in full here.

As NYMag wrote, “Unfortunately for proponents of the Trump-is-a-Russian-asset theory, the report was scoffed at by cybersecurity experts, who took a look at the data and determined that the server was almost definitely sending out marketing material for Trump’s hotel operation, and the responses from the bank were likely just its mail servers attempting to ascertain the origin of the junk mail.”

2. Washington Post Reports PropOrNot’s Absurd Russian “Disinformation Campaign” List

The Washington Post published an article in November 2016 titled, “Russian propaganda effort helped spread ‘fake news’ during election, experts say.”

The article, a bizarre effort to smear a number of American news sites as “Russian propaganda,” focuses largely on a report from a group called PropOrNot.

“PropOrNot’s monitoring report, which was provided to The Washington Post in advance of its public release, identifies more than 200 websites as routine peddlers of Russian propaganda during the election season, with combined audiences of at least 15 million Americans,” the article says.

“On Facebook, PropOrNot estimates that stories planted or promoted by the disinformation campaign were viewed more than 213 million times.”

PropOrNot’s nonsensical list of more than 200 websites “that reliably echo Russian propaganda,” included conservative sites like the Drudge Report and Rebel Media, alternative/libertarian sites like Antiwar, Zero Hedge and Infowars, alt-right sites like VDare and American Renaissance, and left-wing sites like Truthdig, Truthout, and finance blog Naked Capitalism.

In other words, there is nothing linking these sites together — besides presumably not being sufficiently hawkish on Russia, which, according to PropOrNot standards, made them agents of the Kremlin.

PropOrNot charitably does write that not every publication named is deliberately doing Russia’s work for them, but that, “Some people involved seem genuinely unaware that their outlets are being used by Russia as conduits for propaganda.”

Meanwhile, the group, PropOrNot, was anonymous. Their “researchers” were not named so they won’t be “targeted by Russia’s legions of skilled hackers.”

This write-up earned a front page spot on the Washington Post.

The article drew a barrage of criticism. Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stonewrote a story titled, “The ‘Washington Post’ ‘Blacklist’ Story Is Shameful and Disgusting.”

The New Yorker criticized the write-up, as did The Intercept, calling the list “McCarthyite.”

Later, an editor’s note was added to the story, reading, “The Washington Post on Nov. 24 published a story on the work of four sets of researchers who have examined what they say are Russian propaganda efforts to undermine American democracy and interests. One of them was PropOrNot, a group that insists on public anonymity, which issued a report identifying more than 200 websites that, in its view, wittingly or unwittingly published or echoed Russian propaganda.”

“A number of those sites have objected to being included on PropOrNot’s list, and some of the sites, as well as others not on the list, have publicly challenged the group’s methodology and conclusions. The Post, which did not name any of the sites, does not itself vouch for the validity of PropOrNot’s findings regarding any individual media outlet, nor did the article purport to do so. Since publication of The Post’s story, PropOrNot has removed some sites from its list,” the note ended.

 

3. Washington Post Falsely Reports Russia Hacked Electric Grid In Vermont

In one of the most egregious examples of false reporting, The Washington Post published an article in late December 2016 alleging that “Russian hackers” hacked into the “U.S. electricity grid through a utility in Vermont.”

The story caused a lot of grief, and Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy was quoted as saying, “This is beyond hackers having electronic joy rides — this is now about trying to access utilities to potentially manipulate the grid and shut it down in the middle of winter.”

However, story was debunked immediately, with nearly all of it being found to be totally incorrect.

Burlington Electric General Manager Neale F. Lunderville said, “There is no indication that either our electric grid or customer information has been compromised,” adding, “Media reports stating that Burlington Electric was hacked or that the electric grid was breached are false.”

The Post later updated the article with an editor’s note reading, “Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that Russian hackers had penetrated the U.S. electric grid. Authorities say there is no indication of that so far. The computer at Burlington Electric that was hacked was not attached to the grid.”

Finally, another article was published in the following days titled, “Russian government hackers do not appear to have targeted Vermont utility, say people close to investigation,” which walks back the claims made previously by the Post. (RELATED: Washington Post Publishes False News Story About Russians Hacking Electrical Grid)

“As federal officials investigate suspicious Internet activity found last week on a Vermont utility computer, they are finding evidence that the incident is not linked to any Russian government effort to target or hack the utility, according to experts and officials close to the investigation,” the opening sentence states.

4. The Guardian Falsely Says Julian Assange Had Relationship With Putin Regime

In an example of false reporting surrounding Putin and Russia, Ben Jacobs of The Guardian published an article in December 2016 titled, “Julian Assange gives guarded praise of Trump and blasts Clinton in interview” that was riddled with errors.

Most notably, Jacobs wrote that Wikileaks leader Julian Assange, “has long had a close relationship with the Putin regime.”

The article was based off an interview by another journalist in the Italian newspaper la Repubblica.

The article paraphrased quotes from Assange, but did so in a dishonest way that made him seem much warmer towards Putin and Russia than he intended.

Later, a note was added to the article, reading, “This article was amended on 29 December 2016 to remove a sentence in which it was asserted that Assange ‘has long had a close relationship with the Putin regime’.”

“A sentence was also amended which paraphrased the interview, suggesting Assange said ‘there was no need for Wikileaks to undertake a whistleblowing role in Russia because of the open and competitive debate he claimed exists there’. It has been amended to more directly describe the question Assange was responding to when he spoke of Russia’s ‘many vibrant publications’.”

5. Media Outlets Report Erroneous CrowdStrike Info

CrowdStrike, the private security firm responsible for the claim that the DNC servers were hacked by Russia, was given an uncritical report in December 2016 from the Washington Post over claims that Russia used malware to “track an Android phone app used by the Ukrainian army in its battle against pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine from late 2014 through 2016.”

The allegations centered on the idea that “Russians hacked into a Ukrainian artillery app, contributing to heavy losses of howitzers in Ukraine’s war with pro-Russian separatists,” VOA News reported.

The CrowdStrike report claimed that through this hacking, about 80 percent of the Ukrainian military’s Howitzer D-30s were destroyed.

Important claims in CrowdStrike’s report, however, we’re incorrect.

A British think tank called the International Institute for Strategic Studies said that data of theirs was incorrectly used in CrowdStrike’s reporting.

And the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense claimed the reports were incorrect, adding, “Ministry of Defense of Ukraine asks journalists to publish only verified information received from competent official sources. Spreading false information leads to increased social tension in society and undermines public confidence in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.” (via Google Translate)

Nonetheless, Reuters, Newsweek, and Engadget all reported CrowdStrike’s claims.

CrowdStrike later walked back many parts of the report in March. (RELATED: CrowdStrike: Five Things Everyone Is Ignoring About The Russia-DNC Story)

The most important revised claim was that there was a “15 to 20 percent losses in combat operations” instead of the 80 percent figure originally used.

 

@DeucesHigh, you should really post the links you rip your stories off of.

 

Aces high is not in denial. He's actively spreading misinformation on behalf of Trump and Putin. He knows what he's doing and what the facts are. The last thing you want to do is actively debate or engage him.

And yes... China, and other countries hack us too, but it's almost always related to IP and information gathering on their behalf. China and Russia have never went to such lengths to pursue manipulating our elections. Mostly because there has never been a candidate susceptible to it before Trump.

Anyone can go read the declassified report on Russian hacking in the 2016 election. I've seen very few intelligence reports that have had that high of confidence ever. It's a fact.

Simply stated... the aforementioned poster is a hack and I would recommend that people avoid clicking on any links he posts on CF quite honestly.

 

Trump had Faux news push the Seth Rich conspiracy to detract from the Russia investigation...

Fox hit with new charges to its credibility

Lawsuit claims White House worked with Fox News on false story


NEW YORK (AP) — Things had started settling down following a tumultuous year at Fox News Channel before it was hit with a cover headline in the New York Daily News, "Fake News Channel," and questions about the independence of its journalists on Wednesday.

A defamation lawsuit filed this week accuses the network of making up quotes and pushing a false story that benefits President Donald Trump, even inviting the chief executive into the editorial process.

In essence, Fox is accused of creating fake news to debunk a story Trump has complained is fake news.

"The charge is a very serious one, if substantiated," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, communications professor and director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. "It speaks to the credibility of Fox as a news organization."

In a year, Fox has been hit by the forced departures of its late chairman, Roger Ailes, and most popular personality, Bill O'Reilly, following harassment charges. Ailes' successor, Bill Shine, resigned, prime-time hosts Megyn Kelly and Greta Van Susteren left and there have been several sexual harassment and race discrimination lawsuits.

Yet the network's conservative audience has remained mostly loyal. While not as dominant as it was before MSNBC's resurgence in the past few months, Fox ranked as the most popular prime-time network on cable television in July for the fifth time in the past seven months, the Nielsen company said.

Fox hosts like Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and the team on Trump's favorite morning show "Fox & Friends" make no secret of their opinions, and those shows have strongly backed Trump in his first six months. Fox, though, is different from some politically oriented news organizations in maintaining a staff of respected journalists who try to play it straight — people like Shepard Smith, Chris Wallace, Bret Baier and John Roberts.

That's the side of Fox that would be most damaged if the allegations are proven true, since they involved the reporting of an investigative news story on the network's web site, not material from its opinion programs.

"Any news organization that has any aspirations of being bona fide expects the public to take what they are saying seriously, not that they are being fed something that is being made up," said Paul Levinson, chairman of Fordham University's communications department.

"I'm no fan of Fox, but I'm hoping this turns out not to be the case."

The private detective who filed the lawsuit, Rod Wheeler, said he was paid to investigate the death of DNC staffer Seth Rich by a wealthy GOP donor anxious to establish a link between Rich and the leak of emails damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign. The idea was if that could be done, it would end stories about Trump's possible collusion with Russians.

The donor, Ed Butowsky, is depicted as being intimately involved in a story on the Rich case being prepared by Fox reporter Malia Zimmerman. Butowsky met with outgoing White House press secretary Sean Spicer to talk about the investigation's findings. The lawsuit also claimed Trump read Zimmerman's story two days before publication and was anxious to see it run — even backing the inclusion of two quotes from Wheeler that the investigator claims he never said.

Wheeler said that he complained to Zimmerman that he did not make the remarks that his investigation showed email contact between Rich and WikiLeaks, and that it appeared someone in power was blocking an investigation into Rich's July 2016 death. He said Zimmerman told him by phone that she tried to remove his quotes, but was blocked by her bosses. He said that Butowsky told him that "one day you're going to win an award for having said those things you didn't say."

Fox News president Jay Wallace said the network had no evidence Wheeler was misquoted but that it was still investigating. Since the story is more than two months old, Wheeler's lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, questioned if the investigation was serious.

Fox said the accusation that Zimmerman's story was published to help detract from coverage of the Russian collusion issue is "completely erroneous." The White House has denied involvement in the story and Butowsky has said he has never met Trump. He has said that Wheeler is out for money. Zimmerman, a Los Angeles-based reporter, posted several pictures of her past journalism awards on her Facebook page Wednesday.

Fox said it has retained outside counsel and wouldn't comment further on the case.

Fox, however, hasn't specifically addressed the issue of any Trump administration involvement in the story. Reporters frequently get tips from people working out of their own self-interest, but don't involve them in the editorial process. Generally, reporters don't show news sources what they've written unless to specifically check a fact.

Wigdor said he would seek to depose both Trump and Spicer.

Wheeler is also likely to face his own credibility questions.

In an interview with Fox's Hannity on the day the story was released, Wheeler said he had "very little communication at all" with Butowsky, but the lawsuit outlines several conversations and said they attended a meeting with Spicer together. In the interview, Wheeler also described an unnamed source who backed the Rich-WikiLeaks connection in Zimmerman's article as "very credible," although the lawsuit questions whether the source even exists.

He said on Hannity that he didn't know the DNC staffer's involvement for a fact, "but it sure appears that way."

Wigdor said that Wheeler was careful in his choice of words and that he didn't convey as fact things that he didn't know.

If Wheeler needs a character witness for his case, however, he may want to rewind to the beginning of his interview with Hannity.

"I've known you for a long time, Rod," Hannity said. "You're a man of honor and integrity."

 

Yes... a Cold War would not be good. NATO just cares about keeping Russia out of the Baltic States which they seem prepped to try and take back one way or another. Fear machine... naw. They don't pump half the fear that FoxNews pumps on its followers about a number of things.

But also ... I'm not cool with a dictator who bombs hospitals, shoots down commercial jets, invades sovereign countries, and is brazenly trying to destroy our elections.

We don't have to be Lindsay Graham Russia Hawks but we have to have the balls to stand up to a 3rd rate countries dictator and say No... bad Putin.. instead of rewarding him like Trump wants to.

Sanctions are necessary and the next steps should be calling them out on the world stage. Love or hate Macron, his handling of Putin to his face is how you handle Putin. Putin is smart as hell, but his weakness is his ego.

I am NOT with Trump on this one. He just looks guilty of colluding, and succeptable to blackmail because he just acts like Putins little b$&@. How anyone sees it any other way is beyond me.

 

No, they invaded two sovereign nations: Georgia and Ukraine.

Lest we forget: the 1980's are calling.

 

Where?

 

What does this mean?