Joe Lauria on the Alleged Russian Hack

The editor-in-chief was interviewed on the radio program By Any Means Necessary about the alleged Russian hacking of U.S. government computers. Listen to it here. (16 minutes)

Typical Russiagate articles in the corporate press follow this pattern:

  • Russia is specifically blamed for something, like a hack or “undermining American democracy,” according to unnamed U.S. officials, or “people familiar with the matter.”
  • The article then drops all attribution and refers to a “Russian campaign” as established fact.
  • Towards the end of the piece a caveat is slipped in, such as “if it is confirmed it was Russia,” which undermines the credibility of the entire article.

The reporting of the latest Russia hack story follows this pattern, as explained in detail by Consortium News Editor-in-Chief Joe Lauria:

Listen to “Corporate Media Parrots US Intelligence Consensus On Latest Supposed Russian Hack” on Spreaker.

Rebroadcast with permission.

A Consortium News piece on Saturday by Ray McGovern and Lauria set out the holes in this latest Russia story, and was quoted by the president of American University in Moscow in a Washington Times op-ed.

 

 

12 comments for “Joe Lauria on the Alleged Russian Hack

  1. Richard
    December 24, 2020 at 15:04

    Recently my Library spent taxpayer money to celebrate The colorful Ukrainian culture I have seen many displays of lethal sentiment on vehicles in Chicago area one was a Ukrainian flag decal and the black outline of an assault rifle, Posters on property proclaiming That Us supports Ukraine as well as genocidal remarks from polish citizens regarding Russia and more All this because Government policy and statements give boldness to geopolitical insanity

  2. vinnieoh
    December 24, 2020 at 10:52

    Great interview Joe; you say it all so plainly. No wonder you never get invited to join in all the reindeer games.

    To some of the commenters here, I think you may miss the point. It has become apparent that the majority of the elected political class could give a good damn about ordinary citizens since ordinary citizens have absolutely no influence on governance. All the boogey man propaganda narratives are to provide cover for the aforementioned elected political class so that they can wash their hands of their own malfeasance and blithely say “Who knew?”

    Whatever, just my 2 cents. Stay safe and have as happy a Christmas as possible Joe Lauria and all the staff, contributors at Consortium News. I donated to your fund drive yesterday, and I sincerely hope you make your funding target. Again, thanks for all you do.

  3. Zalamander
    December 24, 2020 at 09:30

    Anonymous sources=CIA.

  4. John Puma
    December 24, 2020 at 03:27

    1) Let’s hope that Lozansky is as secure as seems to think he is, in Russia, from US extradition demands based on his seditious implications that the cosmos does not revolve around the exceptional ‘Murca.

    2) IF (note> if, if a thousand times if) intelligence community’s claims were true about a massive and comprehensive Russian cyber-hack against the gamut of US security infrastructure … how, exactly, is any ‘Murcan to believe that this very infrastructure can defend itself in the future, much less, successfully wage a counter-hack?

    3) Clearly the basis of this umpteenth wave of the RTP©***-virus is the exceptional insecurity of the USA in its own claims of superiority. But, rest assured, it WILL be used to bolster JB’s inevitable demand for “austerity for the masses” to counteract, in this case, a massive $$$$$ infusion to remedy(?) this most recent^^^ self-admitted decrepitude/abject incompetence of “the intelligence community” … that the last few decades of “austerity” bought for us.
    ———
    *** Rootin’ Tootin’ Putin
    ^^^ but see, for example: NYC 11September 2001

  5. D'Esterre
    December 23, 2020 at 22:41

    W. R. Knight: “I’m not saying the Russians didn’t do it…”

    Do what, exactly? In virtue of what would anyone suppose that anything at all has happened? Surely the whole point of any Russiagate furphy is to make groundless and evidence-free accusations? That’s been the previous pattern.

    I note that the Navalny nonsense has been resurrected. What was it? VX in his undies? Oh good grief: surely nobody actually believes that twaddle. Yet here we have our dumb news media uncritically reporting it, as if such a thing were even possible.

    Aside from the sheer implausibility of that story, Navalny is little-known in Russia, with minuscule support. Which Western reporters would know, were it the case that they were able to read Russian-language news and commentary.

    He’s important in his own mind only, and only the West sees him as “the opposition leader”. Nobody would go to the trouble of poisoning him. What would be the point?

  6. dhinds
    December 23, 2020 at 19:30

    RussiaGate was invented by Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Manager Robby Mook half an hour after they knew she lost, as a lame attempt to distract the public from the real reasons for their embarrassing failure.

    Only unaware fools believed it.

  7. Anonymot
    December 23, 2020 at 15:53

    Well, Biden’s back. He’s Hillary with real balls instead of wishful thinking. Intellectually they are clones of their handlers, the MIC/CIA/WALLST.
    Mindset. They are late model 1930s pro-Hitler fear-hate Communism without the intelligenqQQ
    ce to know Communism from socialism.

    So we got 4 years of insanity and insolence instead of war. Now the war-hungry are back. Unfortunately, the military are hiding under Biden’s skirt.

  8. robert e williamson jr
    December 23, 2020 at 15:16

    I have a thought or two thing to add here.

    Joe you graciously and tactically mentioned Israel in your list of possible culprits. Given your station I can understand.

    My station allows me to make my own addendum to what you have said here. I would say, ” Israel in conjunction with the U.S. intelligence community”, as they do seem to want to double team the U.S. public.

    If we go back to the Bill Hamilton / Inslaw scandal we find more than simply anecdotal evidence that NSA and DOJ allowed Israel, very early on in the pre-operational PROMIS history, access to this software, give them a copy of it apparently.

    CIA and NSA have let us know they are actively pursued eavesdropping on all things cyber space the world over.

    As per usual there are many at CIA and NSA are the ones who benefit professionally from the CHAOS they create. CYBER SECURITY BE DAMNED. As you so aptly point out here when yo reference individual careers.

    Your piece here is very timely, 100% on target and it is crucial if Americans are ever expected to understand this stuff and regain control of our government.

    Thanks Joe and CN

  9. December 23, 2020 at 12:27

    #FreeAssange #OUTRAGE: @realDonaldTrump pardons #Blackwater #war #Criminals who killed #Iraq children in 2007 but ignores #JulianAssange who exposed #US war #crimes
    see: salon.com/2020/12/23/trump-pardons-blackwater-war-criminals–but-ignores-julian-assange-who-exposed-us-war-crimes_partner/
    #pathetic #Trump #elite #NWO #murder #crime with no #justice #Assange #DontExtraditeAssange

  10. Jonny Jamesovich, "Russian Agent"
    December 23, 2020 at 12:00

    As Joe outlines as typical of Russia narratives: this op ed piece from today’s Guardian starts out with the foregone conclusion:
    “the Russian cyber-attack against the United States”. (The Russkies did it, as usual) Wow a Russian attack against the USA? Why not escalate sanctions and other (illegal) acts of war against Russia? Oh, that’s right, Biden and his handlers are already considering it. How convenient.

    Later on in the article, the author backpedals and provides some context and attempts to establish a bit of credibility, but the purpose of the article appears to be more fear-mongering and foregone conclusions.

    hXXps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/23/cyber-attack-us-security-protocols

  11. evelync
    December 23, 2020 at 11:52

    It just shows how knee jerk this all is – they apparently think the public is primed like a guard dog to “respond” to a predator/threat – it just shows how damn stupid and lazy and transparent the propaganda arm of the “national security” state is.
    And how stupid they think we are. And how easy it is to awaken our reptilian brain to mindlessly respond to the “alarm” because we’re primed to accept whatever policy is adopted to “solve” the “problem”.

    Just like pointing the finger at a “witch” a la Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”.

    I think they’ve called wolf once too often….

    They apparently have no respect for the general public and the responsibility the government SHOULD have to craft “Responsible Statecraft” as The Quincy Institute is focusing on.

    Yeah, at the end, it’s all about the money. The windfall for the benefactors of the unsustainable destabilizing policies that they adopt to feed the #MICIMATT monster

  12. December 23, 2020 at 10:03

    It wouldn’t surprise me if the administration started blaming the Russians for the current problems of the Postal Service It seems like anytime something bad happens, the knee-jerk reaction is “the Russians did it”

    One problem I have with these knee-jerk reactions is that they are all too damned convenient. It seems like they are used every time someone wants to distract the public from some major screw-up. These conclusions are arrived at altogether too easily and too quickly.

    The other problem I have with them is they don’t fit with the old “means, motive and opportunity” paradigm for investigating “whodunit”. Yes, the Russians clearly have the means and the opportunity, but the motive is weak. What value are they going to get out of the government servers outside of some of the Top Secret stuff (most of which is bullshit intended to avoid embarrassment for major screw-ups). On the other hand, there are plenty of people in our own country with the means and opportunity to hack into anything and have strong motives for doing so. Starting with our own president who is bent on sabotaging our democracy, three are plenty of others who would willingly and eagerly hack into government computers (and others) to create false flag threats, to disrupt operations, identify political opponents and gain information on their plans and several other motives.

    Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying the Russians didn’t do it, I have no idea. But the eagerness with which government officials and all the media players line up in “head mentality” fashion to point fingers at the Russians make me suspect there’s something else afoot. It’s just too damned pat.

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