With new U.S. action today against Moscow, Russiagate remains like a vampire, with no one able to drive a wooden stake into its heart and keep it there.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in August during a video meeting with government members. (President of Russia)
By Ray McGovern
Special to Consortium News
As the drums beat louder and louder about alleged threats from Russia, the Biden administration today blew perilous new life into the debunked and disgraced Russiagate disinformation operation.
Russiagate seems too good of a weapon for the Democrats to give up. Its initial appearance, beginning in 2016, dangerously raised tensions with nuclear-armed Russia. But in the midst of today’s escalating crisis in Ukraine, a Russiagate repeat recklessly raises risk to insane heights.
Here’s how The New York Times reported it today:
“The United States on Wednesday announced a broad effort to push back on Russian influence campaigns in the 2024 election, as it tries to curb the Kremlin’s use of state-run media and fake news sites to sway American voters.
The actions include sanctions, indictments and seizing of web domains that U.S. officials say the Kremlin uses to spread propaganda and disinformation about Ukraine, which Russia invaded more than two years ago.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland detailed the actions taken by the Justice Department. They include the indictment of two Russian employees of RT, the state-owned broadcaster, who used a company in Tennessee to spread content, and the takedown of a Russian malign influence campaign known as Doppelgänger.
‘The American people are entitled to know when a foreign power engages in political activities or seeks to influence public discourse,’ Mr. Garland said. …
The State Department has offered a $10 million reward for information pertaining to foreign interference in an American election.”
Garland testified: “The effort in this case is to affect the preferred outcome of the presidential election. … the Director of National Intelligence has testified that Russia’s preferences have not changed from the preceding election.”
CNN’s Breaking News alert dredged up thoroughly disproven myths of “Russia’s 2016 activity, which included hacking the Democratic National Committee and leaking documents aimed at undercutting Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.”
The Lie That Won’t Die
Most Americans (not attentive readers of Consortium News) will believe this recycled drivel from top Justice Department and F.B.I. officials, whose predecessors promoted the same gambit.
As we pointed out four weeks ago in “Decay, Decrepitude, Deceit in Journalism,” thanks to Establishment media, Russiagate continues to survive “like a science fiction monster resilient to bullets.” This, even though the $32 million Robert Mueller investigation found no conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign — a main plank in the Russiagate tale.
The other main plank, that Russia hacked Democratic National Committee computers, was also debunked, as we shall get to shortly.
The government’s actions today were preceded by more Russiagate drivel last Saturday from a repeat offender, Michael Isikoff (via Spy Talk). This time around, Russiagate is consequential drivel as it helps grease the skids for war.
In 2017 Isikoff wrote (with David Corn) Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump — “how American democracy was hacked by Moscow to help Trump” (Amazon); a “most thorough and riveting account” (The New York Times).
It was all, as the British say, bollocks! In fact, a year after the “riveting” book came out, Isikoff had to admit publicly that the “Steele Dossier” and infamous “pee-tape” were “likely false.” He confessed during an interview on Dec. 15, 2018, (with an unsuspecting — and somewhat shocked) admirer.
[See: Michael Isikoff Cuts His Losses at ‘Russian Roulette’]
The Timing of Isikoff’s Confession
Isikoff during the Collision tech conference in Toronto in June 2023. (Vaughn Ridley/Collision via Sportsfile, Flickr, CC BY 2.0)
I wondered why Isikoff volunteered his confession at the time (I had thought prematurely). Perhaps there is a clue in what follows:
On Dec. 5, 2017, the House Intelligence Committee took closed-door sworn testimony from Shawn Henry, a top official of the cyber security firm CrowdStrike hired by the F.B.I. to do the forensics on the Democratic National Committee computers.
Henry testified, we only found out years later, that there was no technical evidence that those DNC emails, which were so embarrassing to Mrs. Clinton when published by WikiLeaks, had been hacked, by Russia or by anyone else.
Did someone privy to that testimony tip Isikoff off, so that he could do a pre-emptive “modified, limited hangout” just 10 days later?
Wait! You did not know about Henry’s sworn testimony? Here’s why. Adam Schiff, then chair of the House Intelligence Committee, and the Establishment media have been able to keep that testimony hidden from nearly everyone for almost seven years.
The indignities do not cease. The C.I.A. analyst who wrote the first draft of the meretricious “Intelligence Community Assessment” of Jan. 6, 2017, which was used far and wide to “prove” Russian hacking of the DNC and other offensives, is bragging about the role he played.
Now retired, Michael van Landingham has told his story to Rolling Stone. We dissected it in our last piece.
The unrepentant Isikoff, just a few months ago, in Jeff Stein’s SpyTalk pushed the (now thoroughly discredited) claim that Russia hacked the DNC emails.
To remind one: those emails showed that, because of DNC and Clinton campaign machinations, Bernie Sanders had as much chance of becoming the 2016 Democratic Party nominee as the proverbial snowball in hell.
The Vampire
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with U.S. President Joe Biden in Kiev, Feb. 20, 2023. (White House/Adam Schultz)
“Russian hacking the DNC” is like a vampire, with no one able to drive a wooden stake into its heart and keep it there. President Barack Obama himself knew it was phony, yet he expelled 35 Russian diplomats for hacking and other alleged meddling in the 2016 election.
Is Isikoff’s latest redux in SpyTalk a harbinger of more Russophobic brainwashing as National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepare a response to Russia prevailing in Ukraine?
In the piece, Isikoff peddles the dangerous fantasy that Russia is threatening Europe beyond Ukraine, while at the same time saying Russia can’t even win in the Ukrainian “stalemate.” Isikoff does this in an interview with John Sullivan, a former U.S. envoy to Moscow, who’s just published a new book about his time in the Russian capital.
He says:
“’This is all about Russian aggression,’ Sullivan continued. ‘It happens to be directed at Ukraine, which is why the point of the spear is sticking into Ukraine, but it won’t end there. And I draw the analogies, many analogies in the book, to the Second World War and the start of the war in the 1930s and the late 30s.’”
Former President Donald Trump’s spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway coined the expression “alternative facts.” With folks like Isikoff and van Landingham back in the saddle — and outlets like Spy Talk and Rolling Stone willing to promote them — expect as many “alternative facts” from Donkeys as from Elephants.
What is important to bear in mind is that the “alternative facts” about Russia are more dangerous by far, given the extremely high tension between Washington and Moscow.
— Joe Lauria contributed to this story.
Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, a publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. His 27 years as a CIA analyst included leading the Soviet Foreign Policy Branch and conducting the morning briefings of the President’s Daily Brief. In retirement he co-founded Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
Defensive war is the only war I recognize as being even remotely viable.
If however, one must “return fire” it ought to be done with sufficient effect so as to stop the aggression.
Turning the other cheek after blood has been shed is an invitation to escalation.
Thus says a man who has seen war and prefers peace whenever possible.
Thank you for reading.
Indeed. But “defensive” wars have often morphed into war crimes when the avenging party allows itself to commit mass murder of civilians (like through bombing or shelling residential areas) a la the allies in WW2’s closing years. So the defensive warrior must be careful:
“When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you” Nietzsche
Caliman,
Freddie was wrong — when we stare into the abyss, the abyss draws us in and devours our souls!
IF it merely stared back — we could start diplomacy.
The abysses of nazism & genocide only suck us into their nihilism …
Protest Loudly!
>> ‘The American people are entitled to know when a foreign power engages in political activities or seeks to influence public discourse,’ Mr. Garland said. …<<
This above must apply to israel and ukrainia, LRS & Garland!
Protest Loudly!
I certainly share the dismay and disgust toward the usual suspects with others here . Instead of beating the dead horse. I fervently wish these smart, knowledgeable people would deploy their good minds toward how we can sideline these usual culprits. Were we to pour our energies into forays into creating the change we want- acknowledging the b.s. founts – And suggesting what we can do—-just perhaps we can begin to turn the ship into directions últimately serving peace, life and justice. For example: how can the dominating control of the Corporatized Democratic Establishment be neutralized? Disempowered? And people’s assertion in selecting the presidential candidate be established?
When the undemocratic reality of the Democratic Party was revealed in the 2016 campaign, I truly thought it would be a moment of truth. How could the Democratic Party base continue to support such a corrupt leadership after that?
For myself, I vowed at that time not a dime nor vote more until actual, transparent democracy returned to, or arrived at, the DP. I have stuck to that. Instead, the Democratic Party base shrugged its shoulders and placed a “Kick Me Again” sign on their backs while the DP elite, now the party of neocon HRC, circled the wagons and rode out the storm.
As long as the base uncritically supports the DP and demands nothing better, refusing to hold the leadership to account, the self-serving critters who run the DNC take that as license to do even worse. And they have. They seem to have specialized in war and genocide.
So here we are today. Try “tough love”: Completely abandon the DP until it changes. If it don’t, don’t look back. Rather, look forward to a brighter future without that anchor tied to your feet.
Nothing else will work. There is simply no integrity left in the current DP to deal with. And if the base is not opposed to what it is doing in their name, then it is complicit. Whatever happens, this is a shame and regret that will not go away over time.
Who says they are smart and knowledgeable?
We can’t live without constant warfare, can we? Russiagate is like the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, the Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction – a phony excuse for a war.
Probably war with China, complete with fake Taiwant invasion, is coming too.
Thanks, Ray (and Joe) for this counter to the emerging Russiagate Part ll.
Certainly, Shawn Henry’s sworn testimony, as well as some subsequent revelations, is important in debunking Russiagate Part l, but it is only 1/2 of the story. I am surprised that you did not include the the other half, namely the VIPS(Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity) investigation (led by the former NSA Technical Director, William Binney) and VIPS memos showing, in forensic detail, how the supposed hack of the DNC computers could not have happened. The VIP memo (maybe more than one?) was written a year before the Henry testimony, even before Trump took office.
I think it would be helpful if the link (or links) to the VIP memo(s) could be posted in a reply to this comment.
What continually saddens, disappoints and frightens me is how many relatively progressive people and websites repeat these Russia-phobic distortions/lies unskeptically, when the 2003 Iraq War should provide an indisputable example of the US government fabricating a war out of entirely fictitious reasons. Yet here we go with another ‘group think’ war that could well end civilization. Disgusting.
The drumbeats of war are getting louder, and those leading the world towards oblivion still as deaf as ever. In the build up to war ‘facts’ always abound, mainly in the form of propaganda. To avoid another world war (and that does not seem likely) we need to step back, focus our minds on a simple piece of logic. It comes down to a simple syllogism, a theme I explore in my pamphlet The Doomsday Syllogism candlinandmynard.com/doomsday
In it I argue, that everyone empire in history has eventually faced the war they were trying to avoid; today, everyone wants to avoid WWIII; therefore, that is the fate that awaits humanity.
I do not believe anyone wants this conflagration. But there is a pattern to history that is being ignored. Rulers will convince themselves of anything to avoid the truth – thinking the war will be averted, limited in scale or –most dangerous of all – can be won. History warns against such delusional thinking. Paradoxically, the only chance of avoiding the fate of nuclear Armageddon might be to accept it.
Adam Schiff, democracy at work… All the Democratic, in particular, operators involved with this farce are simply self-serving tools. The losers of course are the American people and the world at large. Since the Democrats have no intention of upsetting their donors, they offer nothing to the public. All that is left is this dangerous subterfuge.
It sounds to me like the ironically named Democratic Party is preparing to contest the election outcome if, or more likely when, Harris loses. If Trump should win, I truly hope all these miscreants will be held to account. None of this is benign trickery. It could end up killing us all.
Schiff is a very dangerous tool of the powers that be … and to think: he’ll be one of my senators soon. There’s no stopping it.
Isikoff and Corn are slick liars. The professions — journalism, law, public relations — are filled with people exactly like this. They’re very adept at giving you half the story with their high verbal IQs and skill at manipulation which make the unlikely seem quite plausible.
In a just world hucksters like this, so proficient in drumming up extremely dangerous Russophobia, would be publicly shunned and ridiculed by the masses for the rest of their lives.
Excellent piece Ray.
Al Gore threw away the 2000 presidential election because he received a great deal of bad advice and acted upon it. But at least he did not make excuses and try to blame others. He actually admitted later that he would have done things differently.
I would say that a big factor in the decision of Biden to stand down is likely to have been concern from down ballot Democrats that he would damage their chances. That was reportedly the reason why Barack Obama was pressed into seeking the nomination back in 2008 so soon after entering the Senate.
And so, we have a longstanding recognition by some Democrats that Hillary Clinton was not necessarily the best candidate that they could field in a presidential election.
As for David Corn, in 2013 he wrote an article for “Mother Jones” about the assassination of President Kennedy in which he made this ridiculous statement:
“Oswald was the lone shooter”.
Problem 1:
The Zapruder footage shows that the fatal headshot came from the front right. His head moved backwards.
Problem 2:
There is no evidence at all that Oswald shot JFK. All the evidence is that he was eating his lunch on the second floor of the Texas School Book Depository when the shooting took place.
The Warren Commission found no motive which means there is unlikely to have been one.
Haven’t we been on this bucking bronc rodeo long enough!?
In desperation those yahoos promoting this garbage campaign need to get lives and stop spreading these LIES which are persisting like ticks on a dog!!
The Mega-Machine will keep the lies alive until people WAKE THE HELL UP!
Israel is interfering in the election. Can I claim my $10 million?
Right you are, Tom T! Specifically AIPAC. If spending over $100 million dollars to defeat two candidates in Democratic congressional primaries isn’t interfering, I don’t know what is.
They will never pay because they, the ZioFascist Israelis, are running the election.
The state-owned and operated BBC is foreign, and constantly seeks to influence public discourse by interfering in American elections.
Will the State Department also payout it’s $10 million reward, pertaining to this inflammatory information?
This unnecessary war in the pipeline will consume all and sundry!
My profound thanks to Ray McGovern and Consortium News for keeping the truth alive.
I just watched the PBS “Newshour” coverage of this story, and offer my deepest disgust for Amna Nawaz and the PBS “Newshour” for keeping the lies alive. And the evidence is now overwhelming in my view that Merrick Garland is an actual enemy of the American people, working for the war profiteers, and sabotaging the truth and democracy.
The financial oligarchy is using their corporate media and their government agencies to terrorize Americans into submission.
PBS died a long time ago. Anyone who still thinks they are not “mainstream” U.S.-government-controlled media have been sleeping in a cave for 40 years.
The DNC Exchange email server was fully patched with no known vulnerabilities at the time the emails disappeared, which means it would have been almost impossible to hack into. The emails had to have come from an insider who had access to the email store, which limits it to a subset of the IT staff. Party stalwarts will declare that no one could possibly have had any motive to leak the emails, but you don’t foist the most loathed woman in US politics on the electorate without pissing a lot of people off.
That’s right.
I have been thinking of Zelensky as a Pinochet analogue. Wasn’t the 2014 coup a path to his installation?
Yats and Poroshenko followed the coup before Zelenksy.
Poroshenko has his eye on the Presidency, and he’s one of about a dozen people in Ukraine who are crazier than Zelinsky. Poroshenko was all in to killing the Russian speaking citizens of the Donbass and wiping out all Russian culture in Eastern Ukraine. He is a 100% nut case.
‘elensky’s main campaign plank was peaceful resolution of the issue with DPR and LPR, namely implementing the Minsk II agreement. Once in office, he found out where power really resides in current UKR politics; with xenophobic ultranationalists (who even went so far as to threaten his life if he engaged in negotiations).
And here we are.
To Zelensky’s credit that was exactly what he was doing until Boris “cringe- worthy idiot” Johnson was dispatched to derail the early and reportedly successful peace negotiations Zelensky had been engaged in.
I remember waking up one morning to the news that the end of hostilities was likely to happen and then the next morning that the war would continue after said idiot whispered the USA’s promises or threats in Zelensky’s ear.
That’s right, but Zelly is all in now with the neocons and neo-nazis. I suspect bribes and threats have a lot to do with it.
Bingo!
It takes a special kind of cowardice to send half a million Ukrainians to their deaths to save one’s own neck.
Hello? Of course it was! It was the deliberate overthrow of the Ukrainian government by the Obama administration that started it all.