EADaily |
Наперекор Москве Минниханов приехал «укреплять сотрудничество» с Латвией
EADaily «Бизнес должен помочь политикам осознать, что Латвии и России выгодно поддерживать дружеские отношения», — так Рустам Минниханов ответил на вопрос радио Baltkom о том, можно ли считать его визит в Латвию сигналом, свидетельствующим о том, что отношения между двумя странами могут улучшиться ... and more » |
BBC News |
Hacking: A thorny issue between Russia and the West
BBC News Russian hackers have been accused by the United States of carrying out a series of attacks against political organisations in order "to interfere with the US election". State involvement remains of a matter of debate. Russian officials have strenuously ... The open US accusation of hacking by Russia signals a war of nerves not seen since the Cold WarQuartz all 230 news articles » |
1966: Russia Expels Chineseby By INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE
From the archives of The International Herald Tribune: The Soviet government expels all students from Communist China from Russia in October 1966.
The government said the disclosure of the emails was “intended to interfere with the U.S. election process.”
The Russian president celebrated turning 64 with a bouquet of flowers, one from each member of the State Duma, or lower house of Parliament.
NBCNews.com |
US Publicly Blames Russian Government for Hacking
NBCNews.com The Obama administration on Friday for the first time squarely blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin's government for a wave of hacking attacks and email leaks, saying the goal was "to interfere with the U.S. election process." "The U.S. Intelligence ... and more » |
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Charles Krauthammer: Obama's stillborn legacy is on the November ballot
Savannah Morning News Major health insurers like Aetna and UnitedHealthcare, having lost millions of dollars, are withdrawing from the exchanges. In one-third of the U.S., exchanges will have only one ... He blatantly violated his own cease-fire with an air campaign of such ... and more » |
Daily Beast |
If Donald Trump Wins, the GOP Will Rein Him In, Right? Uh, Yeah
Daily Beast Which of the lot should we trust to stop a President Trump—Secretary of State John Bolton or Defense Secretary Michael Flynn—from pursuing his more excessive desires: whether weakening our bond with NATO or recognizing Putin's annexation of Crimea ... and more » |
Al-Monitor |
Is Russia pulling Turkey away from the West?
Al-Monitor A key element in this new Turko-Russian rapprochement is the common contempt for the followers of cleric Fethullah Gulen, leader of the Islamic cult widely held responsible for the coup attempt. Erdogan and his supporters think that Western ... Erdogan ... and more » |
New York Daily News |
Cops hunt Putin fans who hung 40-foot banner on Manhattan Bridge
New York Daily News Two men were responsible for lugging the 20-foot wide banner of the Kremlin strongman that was unfurled over the side of the Manhattan Bridge Thursday, sparking an internet firestorm over Donald Trump's BFF, police sources said Friday. Surveillance ... Putin shows up on big, billowing banner on NYC bridgeSFGate Banner with image of Putin hung from New York City bridgeFox News Putin the 'Peacemaker': banner hung from Manhattan Bridge puzzles policeThe Guardian New York Post -Gothamist -YouTube -The Atlantic all 94 news articles » |
The Russian deputy defense minister said that the Kremlin was working to re-establish the former bases, which closed in 2002.
John Kerry Calls for War Crimes Investigation of Russia and Assad Governmentby MICHAEL R. GORDON and SOMINI SENGUPTA
The remarks came one day before the Security Council is expected to vote on a call for a cease-fire in Aleppo, and the grounding of Russian and Syrian warplanes.
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В своем выступлении замглавы военного ведомства отметил, что одностороннее соблюдение режима прекращения боевых действий правительственными войсками является невозможным и бессмысленным.
Anna Politkovskaya. Source: Amnesty Finland, Flickr.
Ten years ago today, Anna Politkovskaya, one of Russia's leading investigative journalists, was shot to death in the elevator of her apartment building in Moscow. Her murder and the state's inability—or reluctance—to prosecute those responsible have become symbolic of the the danger of working as a journalist in Russia. Despite the conviction of five men on murder charges in 2014, it remains unclear to this day who ordered Politkovskaya's killing.
Politkovskaya is remembered for her fearless investigations of human rights violations—most famously in the North Caucasus, where she covered the Second Chechen War. On Friday, Novaya Gazeta, Politkovskaya's newspaper, invited people to gather at the entrance to its office building, where a plaque commemorates her life and work. Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe captured the scene earlier today.
Novaya Gazeta also published a video titled “The Ringleader is Still Missing,” a powerful indictment of the authorities’ failure to find—or, perhaps, to disclose—who ordered Politkovskaya's murder. RuNet Echo translated the placards that the members of Novaya Gazeta's staff are holding up in the video below.
Anna Politkovskaya, killed on October 7, 2006, in the entryway of her apartment. In the elevator. Five shots. A contract killing, for $150,000. By whom? The ringleader is still missing. August, 2007: the suspected organizers and killers in Politkovskaya’s murder are apprehended, 11 people in all. The ringleader is still missing. August 29, 2007, General Prosecutor Yury Chaika announces that Politkovskaya’s murder has been solved. The ringleader is still missing.September 21, 2009: the the former head of a district in Chechnya, Shamil Buraev is accused. He doesn't show up in court. The ringleader is still missing. November 25, 2009: the first murder trial begins. The ringleader is still missing. February 19, 2009: the jury acquits all of the suspects. The ringleader is still missing. June 26, 2009: The Supreme Court overturns the verdict. The case is returned for a retrial.May 31, 2011: Rustam Maxmudov is arrested. The ringleader is still missing. August 22, 2011: a witness in the case, Police Lieutenant Colonel Pavliuchenkov is arrested as the organizer of the murder. He confesses. But he doesn’t say who ordered the killing. According to the terms of his plea bargain, Pavliuchenkov is supposed to say who did. He doesn’t. Anna’s children demand that the plea bargain be voided and he be judged without leniency. The court does refuses their demands. The ringleader is still missing.December 14, 2012: Dmitry Pavliuchenkov is sentenced to 11 years in a penal colony for killing Anna Politkovskaya. The ringleader is still missing.June 3, 2013: a second trial begins. The ringleader is still missing.May 20, 2014: the jury finds all the accused guilty in the killing of Anna Politkovskaya. The ringleader is still missing. The organizer, accomplices, and the killer get prison sentences. The ringleader is still missing. The ringleader's case is made into a separate proceeding, but no investigation is opened. Garabyan, the investigator, retires. The new investigator, Stepanov, does nothing. The ringleader is still missing. The investigation has practically been suspended. The ringleader still missing. Politkovskaya’s children appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, citing the investigators’ inaction. The Investigative Committee announces that Politkovskaya’s case has been solved. But the ringleader is still missing.About ten years have passed since the day of Politkovskaya’s murder. The case hasn't been solved. The ringleader is still missing. [Politkovskaya’s Son]: I demand that the ringleader in my mother’s murder be found.
Arkady Babchenko, a war correspondent and ex-soldier who served in the First Chechen War, tweeted a picture of Politkovskaya in Grozny, Chechnya, in 2005.
Анна Политковская, Станислав Маркелов, Наталья Эстемирова.
Грозный, 2005 год, здание суда.
Убили всех.
Фото Алесандра Черкасова
Anna Politkovskaya, Stanislav Larkelov, Natalya Estemirova, Grozny, 2005, courthouse. All killed. Photo by Aleksander Cherkasov.
Many shared their favorite memories of Politkovskaya, often interviews highlighting her dogged pursuit of the truth—here calling attention to the special services’ role in the 2002 terrorist attack on Dubrovka theater, which resulted in a hostage crisis.
советуем всем посмотреть:
Анна Политковская рассказывает.@VRSoloviev о причастности спецслужб к теракту на Дубровкеhttps://youtu.be/8AX-Dd683t0
I advise everyone to watch this. Anna Politkovskaya tells @VRSoloviev about the implication of special services in the terrorist attack on Dubrovka.
News website and TV station Novoe Vremya (a joint project of RFE/RL and Voice of America) remembered Politkovskaya's last interview.
В своем последнем интервью Анна Политковская говорила о Кадырове: через 2 дня ее застрелили в подъезде дома в Москве
In her last interview, Anna Politkovskaya spoke about Kadyrov: two days later she was shot at her home in Moscow.
Others called attention to the fact that Politkovskaya was killed on Putin's birthday—a coincidence that resonates because of allegations of official involvement in her murder and coverup.
10 лет назад, 7 октября была убита Анна Политковская. Заказчик до сих пор не назван. Путин в этот день празднует свой день рождения
Ten years ago, on October 7, Anna Politkovskaya was killed. The ringleader is still missing. Putin celebrates his birthday on this date.
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October 8, 2016, 2:15 PM (IDT)
The US president’s mind is fixed exclusively on the preparations for the Oct. 19 offensive for the liberation of the Iraqi city of Mosul from ISIS occupation and brooks no distractions from his main objective, such as a plan for US military action to relieve the plight of Aleppo. Obama hopes to complete the Mosul offensive before the end of December and incorporate this victory in his legacy.
Wikileaks releases personal emails from Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman 2:10
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The Russian government's cyber-espionage campaign against the American political system began more than a year ago and has been far more extensive than publicly disclosed, targeting hundreds of key people -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- whose work is considered strategically important to the Putin regime, official sources told NBC News.
The targets over the past two years have included a Who's Who of Hillary Clinton associates from her State Department tenure, the Clinton Foundation and her presidential campaign, as well as top Republicans and staffers for Republican candidates for president.
Starting in earnest in 2015, Russian hackers used sophisticated "spearphishing" techniques to steal emails and other data from Capitol Hill staffers, operatives of political campaigns and party organizations, and other people involved in the election and foreign policy. That's according to NBC News interviews with more than two dozen current and former U.S. officials, private sector cybersecurity experts and others familiar with the FBI-led investigation into the hacks.
"For the past two years, there has been a massive increase in hacking by the Russians," said Dmitri Alperovitch, a cybersecurity expert whose CrowdStrike firm was retained to investigate the hack of the Democratic National Committee.
"Not all of it is politics. It is across the board," added Alperovitch, who is involved in the investigation. "But it got more intense this year with the election."
The Obama administration finally blamed Russia publicly for the hacks on Friday, prompting another round of denials by Russia. But behind the scenes, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security have provided numerous classified briefings in recent months to Capitol Hill staffs about the hacks. The briefings described targeting of both parties, primarily by accessing the private email accounts of operatives, one senior Capitol Hill staffer who attended the briefings told NBC News on Thursday.
The staffer said that many victims were notified by investigators that they had been hacked, and told to conduct damage assessments, but said the victims were not put under obligation to make the hacks public.
U.S. Gov't Officially Blames Russian Gov't for Election Hacks 1:29
autoplay autoplayOrders From the Kremlin
U.S. authorities believe the hacking campaign originated with direct orders from the Kremlin and is an attempt to influence the presidential election and advance the broader strategic objectives of the Putin regime.
The hack has especially targeted individuals around Democratic nominee Clinton, according to sources with knowledge of the investigation. Friday's release of campaign chair John Podesta's hacked emails and apparent excerpts of Clinton's Goldman Sachs speeches was the latest in the series of email dumps, including the release of data stolen from DNC and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee staffers. Democrats are bracing for the potential release of still more emails hacked from Democratic sources. Sources said emails from individuals associated with the Clinton Foundation were hacked, and may be part of upcoming data dumps from WikiLeaks or <a href="http://DCLeaks.com" rel="nofollow">DCLeaks.com</a>.
But the hackers -- some of whom are believed to be Russian government employees working regular hours just like other bureaucrats -- have also quietly targeted a broad array of Republicans too as part of the same cyberespionage campaign, say sources.
One cybersecurity expert involved in the investigations said "hundreds of people" have been targeted. "High-profile former officials, political figures, current officials."
"I can't tell you who the Russians are going to leak information about next," he told NBC News. "The only thing I can tell you is that there are going to be more leaks."
Some Republicans contacted by NBC News were aware of attempted hacks, but none reported recent breaches. In June, <a href="http://DCLeaks.com" rel="nofollow">DCLeaks.com</a>, believed by U.S intelligence to be linked to the Russian government, released hacked emails dating from 2015 of some Republican targets, including staffers for the campaigns of John McCain and Lindsey Graham -- both Putin critics -- and staffers from state parties.
Russia has long used hacking and other high-tech tools to gather intelligence, just like the United States, China and other nations eager to gain strategic advantage over rivals and even allies.
But U.S. officials have gone on red alert out of fear that the current hacking effort is part of a broader "active measures" campaign to influence the upcoming U.S. election, and hurt Clinton while boosting the chances of her Republican rival, Donald Trump.
Why Republicans Too?
U.S. officials and cybersecurity experts say Russian government hacking of Republicans serves several purposes in this election cycle.
One is that it provides Moscow with a deep understanding of the internal workings of the campaigns, their plans and objectives and the key players who wield power and influence in Washington even if the GOP doesn't take the White House.
A more ominous concern is that the information hacked from Republican operatives could be "weaponized" through the strategic leaking of information, either before or after the election.
In an interview with NBC News, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he could not discuss any specific victims identified by U.S. investigators, Republican or Democratic.
But, Schiff told NBC News, "The Russians are interested in both political parties."
"They would certainly target Republicans if there is a chance of a Republican becoming president, which obviously there is," Schiff said. "They would also target Republicans that would influence the next president, and they would also target people with the interest in disrupting [the election] or sowing discord."
One prominent Republican, former Bush administration Secretary of State Colin Powell, had his personal emails hacked and released last month via <a href="http://DCLeaks.com" rel="nofollow">DCLeaks.com</a>. Those emails contained biting comments by Powell about both Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and Trump.
Schiff said the leaks of Powell's emails already "have sown additional discord into our political process. So there's obviously a reason for foreign hackers to hack members of both parties."
Schiff said he believes the Russians have an interest in Trump winning the presidency. "Whether they will go so far as to interfere in a way that makes it more likely, I think they are limited in their ability to affect the outcome. But they can certainly cause a lot of discord and confusion."
Richard Andres, a cybersecurity and national security strategy expert with the U.S. military's National War College, said Russia has been perfecting its ability to use digital means to manipulate the internal politics -- and elections -- of other countries for more than a decade, especially in Eastern Europe.
"These guys have made hacking political parties and their supporters a science," Andres told NBC News. "I'm not sure the U.S. has built up any defenses against this type of thing."
"What we've been seeing here in the U.S. so far is mild by comparison to what they do in their own backyard," Andres said. "If they continue to escalate, we should expect to increasingly see false flag operations designed implicate various political actors, falsified leaks, blackmail, false calls to their opponents' political supporters and more."
Top Republican: Not Aware of Any Hacks
Sean Spicer, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said he was not aware of any Republican operatives who had been hacked, and that the RNC cybersecurity staff was in close contact with the FBI and probably would have heard about it.
A representative of Sen. McCain said his senate reelection campaign was not aware of any staffers being hacked.
Kevin Bishop, spokesman for Sen. Graham, said, "We have not disputed that Senator Graham's campaign was hacked, that some campaign related email accounts were hacked." He described the victims as low-level staffers. "We haven't said anything about it and don't expect to." Graham was a contender for the GOP presidential nomination.
Interviews with Republican campaign and party officials indicated they have been on guard for hacking.
Trump himself has previously said he has no idea who is hacking of Democrats. But an advisor to the Trump campaign said the campaign's cybersecurity specialists have been warning since last spring that hackers, likely from Russia, "are being very aggressive and trying to find out whatever they can about both campaigns."
"They are aware that the Russians and others are very eager to see our communications, that there are people out there from other countries that would like to hack into our systems," the advisor told NBC News. "So we are paying close attention to it."
Trump campaign hires are given a briefing in which they are warned about such breaches, and told not to use campaign email for personal communications, the advisor said.
In 2015, at least one Trump campaign staff member's email account was infected with malware and then sent malicious emails to colleagues, according to the advisor, who said that and other concerns prompted the campaign to upgrade its security.
Another senior Republican official confirmed that they were aware of widespread targeting of GOP operatives in the current campaign, both at the campaigns and on Capitol Hill.
Officials noted that both the McCain and Romney campaigns were hacked in 2008 and 2012 respectively, as was Obama's -- though authorities attributed at least some of those to the Chinese.
"It's entirely possible that they did it and we just never knew," said one GOP veteran who worked on a Republican presidential primary campaign. "And I remember many times where the campaign server was running slowly and we'd just switch to Gmail or G-chat. Maybe it was naïve on my part but I never attributed it to hacking."
Last month, House Homeland Committee Chairman Mike McCaul (R.-Texas) told CNN that the Republican National Committee had been hacked. Spicer, the RNC spokesman, was quick to tweet that there had been no known breach "of @gop networks" and McCaul issued a quick retraction.
McCaul, however, didn't retract his broader assertion that he had been told in classified briefings that the Russian hacking campaign targeted Republicans as well as Democrats.
"They are not discriminating one party against the other," McCaul said, adding that the Russians "have hacked into both parties at the national level" and targeted "Republican political operatives."
"What they intend to do with that information," he said, "I don't know."
In Through the Front Door
The two Russian hacking groups blamed for the current cyberespionage campaign, dubbed Fancy Bear and Cozy Bear, also have been blamed for breaching other U.S. targets over the past year or two, including the unclassified systems at the White House, State Department and the military's offices of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In the current hacking of the political system, they have focused on an indirect approach, according to numerous officials and cybersecurity experts familiar with the hacks.
Those sources said Fancy Bear and Cozy Bear -- each tied to a different Russian intelligence agency -- have been specifically targeting the personal emails of individuals through very sophisticated "spearphishing" campaigns where they get someone to click on an email, link or photo purportedly from a trusted source.
That introduces malware onto whatever computer, cellphone or other device they're using, and in many cases, it allows the hackers to breach work email accounts and even work files and databases that contain sensitive information, officials and experts say.
After vacuuming up everything from that victim, the hackers "move laterally" through their network of friends and business associates and steal all their information too.
"Essentially people are opening their front door and letting them in," said Toni Gidwani, a former Defense Intelligence Agency official whose ThreatConnect cybersecurity firm has investigated many of the hacks. She said these particular spearphishing techniques are a hallmark of the two Russian hacker groups. "It's something they keep coming back to because it works."
Like others, Gidwani said the size and scope of the hacking campaign isn't known publicly because investigators mostly know about the cases in which information has been leaked.
"It's perfectly possible that … people and organizations are being targeted and breached but that if the adversary doesn't see the value in leaking it, and holding on to it, we wouldn't know," Gidwani said. "They could just be waiting for the right time to release it."
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The Hill |
Obama administration discussing military options against Syria ...
The Hill Obama administration officials are planning to meet this week to consider new options to end the five-year civil war in Syria, according to a report by The ... Obama administration considering strikes on Assad, againWashington Post all 2,551 news articles » |
The Sun |
Vladimir Putin ships nuclear-capable ballistic missiles into central Europe as Russia's tensions with theWest escalate
The Sun The powerful missile system is far beyond anything possessed by the West. It is capable of striking targets 310 miles away and is designed to carry nuclear weapons, meaning Putin's reach across the NATO-aligned eastern European states will be vastly ... Vladimir Putin sends nuke-firing missiles into Europe amid WW3 fearsDaily Star In words – and now actions – a new Cold War dawnsThe Globe and Mail all 17 news articles » |
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Ukraine Today |
Sanctions Will Not Cause 'Regime Change' in Russia
IDN InDepthNews | Analysis That Matters NEW YORK (IDN) - In the aftermath of the Ukrainian crisis in March 2014, the United States and the European Union imposed sanctions on Russia that have led to unintended consequences. Crimea re-joined Russia following a referendum in which more ... How painful are maritime sanctions on Russia-occupied Crimea?Ukraine Today all 150 news articles » |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The disintegration of diplomatic talks with Russia has left the Obama administration with an array of bad options for what to do next in Syria.
Despite harrowing scenes of violence in Aleppo and beyond, President Barack Obama is unlikely to approve any dramatic shift in strategy before handing the civil war over to his successor early next year.
The options under discussion at the White House — limited military strikes, sanctions, more weapons for rebels, multi-party talks — have one thing in common: None appears likely to halt the bloodshed in the short-term. The more aggressive proposals come with the added risk of pulling the U.S. into direct military confrontation with Russia, a threat illuminated by a string of recent taunts from Moscow.
Obama has wrestled for years with the Syria crisis and is deeply reluctant to entangle the U.S. in another Mideast war. After insisting the only viable path forward was U.S.-Russia-brokered talks that have since fallen apart, Obama faces the prospect of leaving office as a bystander to a carnage that has killed an estimated 500,000 people and created 11 million refugees — half of Syria’s pre-war population.
“Obama’s practically lame-duck status only reinforces the argument for maintaining the current policy,” said Jonathan Stevenson, a former senior Mideast adviser to the president. “It’s true, of course, that presidents on their way out are not always risk-averse, but maybe they should be.”
Proponents of a more muscular U.S. approach, including Secretary of State John Kerry, are clamoring for a stronger response after the Syrian and Russian assaults on Aleppo punctured the veneer of a productive diplomatic track, and the U.S. withdrew from talks with Russia last week.
Evidence of the collapse of relations abounded Friday. The U.S. formally accused Russia of trying to meddle in the U.S. election by hacking U.S. political groups, and Kerry accused the Kremlin of war crimes in Syria. Russia, meanwhile, has suspended deals with the U.S. on nuclear research cooperation and disposal of weapons-grade plutonium.
The turn of events has led the White House to cautiously reconsider proposals that had been largely ruled out, including economic sanctions on Russia that the U.S. would have to orchestrate with Russia’s larger trading partners. Senior U.S. officials said the administration was discussing options with European countries while U.S. intelligence agencies map out companies and individuals that could be targeted.
Under another proposal, the U.S. would take narrow, short-term military action against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s military, such as its air force assets, officials said. The goal wouldn’t be to eliminate Assad’s ability to attack opposition groups, but rather to scare Syria and Russia into returning to the negotiating table, said the officials, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly about internal deliberations and requested anonymity.
Yet officials from multiple U.S. agencies said chances appeared slim that Obama would approve the strikes. Such a move would likely trigger at least a short-term uptick in violence, they noted, with long-term prospects for starting a peace process unclear.
Moreover, there is no U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing strikes against Syria, leaving the U.S. without a clear legal basis to act. Russia, meanwhile, has beefed up its capabilities in Syria with state-of-the-art S-300 missile defense systems, while warning it could fire back if Assad’s assets come under U.S. attack.
Russia launched its military campaign in Syria last year to help Assad’s forces fight the opposition. The U.S. military and its partners are only targeting the Islamic State group and other extremists in the country.
Even with diplomatic talks ended, Russia and the U.S. are maintaining military-to-military “de-confliction” contacts to prevent an accidental confrontation in Syria’s crowded skies. But Russia’s military warned ominously this week that it wouldn’t have enough time to use the “hotline” before shooting back.
“Both parties will try to avoid any sort of escalation that may entail unpredictable consequences, but various things may happen,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, the head of Council for Foreign and Defense Policies, an association of top Russian political experts. “The risks are high, especially now when mutual aversion is strong.”
In sanctions, too, the U.S. sees potential drawbacks.
The U.S. had blamed Moscow of being either unable or unwilling to persuade Assad to abide by the most recent cease-fire. But it is holding out hope that Moscow has a change of heart — perhaps in response to sanctions.
The White House and State Department had argued to Congress that new sanctions legislation could undermine efforts with Russians to forge a cease-fire between Assad and rebel groups. Lawmakers responded last month by canceling a vote on a bipartisan bill requiring Obama to impose sanctions on anyone who does business with Syria’s government or central bank, its aviation industry or energy sector.
While the Russia talks have collapsed, the administration maintains concerns about the sanctions might also hurt Iran, another Assad supporter, giving Tehran an excuse to renege on the U.S.-brokered nuclear deal. The administration also demanded that lawmakers strip out mandatory requirements so that Obama can waive sanctions at his discretion, congressional aides said.
The U.S. already has legal authority to target Russian entities over support for Syria, but there have been no Russia sanctions to date for its actions in Syria. The White House has argued that because the U.S. does little trade with Russia, U.S. sanctions would be ineffective unless European countries join.
The administration also has long considered allowing Saudi Arabia and other Assad opponents to arm the Syrian opposition with more sophisticated weaponry. But there’s widespread concern about weapons reaching extremists, given intermingling across Syria’s battlefields by various groups fighting Assad.
That leaves renewed diplomacy, through the U.N. or the 20-nation International Syria Support Group, as the most probable focus. Both formats include Russia.
___
AP National Security Writer Robert Burns in Washington and Associated Press writer Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.
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It took seven and a half years, but the Obama Administration is finally awakening to the nature ofVladimir Putin’s Russia. On Friday John Kerry said the Syrian and Russian governments should face a war-crimes probe for bombing civilians in Syria, while the U.S. intelligence community announced its belief that the Russian government is behind the cyberattacks on the Democratic Party.
Many readers will recall how President Obama mocked Mitt Romney in 2012 for saying in a presidential debate that Russia is America’s main adversary. And don’t forget Mr. Obama’s private whispers to then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, caught unaware on a microphone, that he’d be ready to wheel and deal with Russia again after his 2012 re-election.
The wheeling has all been done by Mr. Putin, who returned as Russian President and proceeded to roll over Mr. Obama as if he were the president of Azerbaijan. The Russian’s affronts include his conquest of Crimea and invasion of Ukraine, his military intervention in the Middle East, and now his attempts to influence the U.S. presidential election.
Secretary of State Kerry’s moral dudgeon about Syria reflects his frustration at being gulled by the Kremlin’s fake diplomacy one more time. But it won’t amount to much because Mr. Obama’s abdication in Syria has left the U.S. with little leverage on the ground. If Mr. Kerry took the war-crime issue to the United Nations, Russia and probably China would veto in the Security Council.
The meddling in U.S. elections is another matter. In an unusual joint statement Friday, the Department of Homeland Security and Director of National Intelligence said that “the U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations.”
The U.S. spooks added that “the Russians have used similar tactics and techniques across Europe and Eurasia,” and that given the “scope and sensitivity” of these efforts “only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities.” Senior-most is a euphemism for Mr. Putin.
One question is why the Obama Administration has gone public with this hacking news now. One reason might be to warn Russia against dumping more of the U.S. documents it almost certainly has before Election Day. But then Russia’s hacking habits are hardly new, and Mr. Putin is still harboring the national-security thief Edward Snowden. The timing suggests the White House may also be trying to help Hillary Clinton given her campaign’s portrayal of Donald Trump as a Putin apologist. Sure enough, her campaign issued a statement linking Mr. Trump to the news almost on cue Friday.
A public declaration alone won’t stop the Russians. Mr. Putin has little incentive to cease because he and Russia have never paid a price for their cyber thievery. Now that he’s had an epiphany about the Kremlin, will Mr. Obama continue to let Mr. Putin get away with it?
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· ·
In the early morning hours of June 12, an armed terrorist named Omar Mateen opened fire in a nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The next morning, Americans awoke to the news that 49 people had been murdered—the largest such massacre in American history.
This heinous act left Americans, as well as the Orlando community, grieving and searching for answers. But for several days after the shooting, the Justice Department knowingly curtailed the release of information about the shooter's motives.
Even when it relates to terrorism, the government must be careful not to hide the truth from the American public. This is especially so when the government's intent is not to protect citizens' national security interests, but rather to further the political preferences of those in power.
That is why my organization, Cause of Action Institute, has begun an investigation into the Obama administration's decision to censor the facts of the Orlando shooting.
It was not until more than a week later, on June 20, that the FBI released a partial transcript of a 911 call made by gunman Mateen during his rampage. The problem: The transcript was heavily redacted and omitted crucial phrases linking Mateen to ISIS.
For example, when the 911 dispatcher asked Mateen for his name, the FBI originally reported that Mateen stated: "My name is I pledge of allegiance to [omitted]" and "I pledge allegiance to [omitted] may God protect him [in Arabic], on behalf of [omitted]."
In reality, Mateen explicitly declared his allegiance to ISIS. He stated:
My name is I pledge of allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of the Islamic State" and "I pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi may God protect him [in Arabic], on behalf of the Islamic State.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch attempted to justify this censorship, saying it was done "to avoid re-victimizing those people that went through this horror." But that explanation seems highly unlikely in light of other, similar actions by the Obama administration.
For example, since 2011, the administration has led a controversial effort to remove any and all mentions of Islamic ideology from training manuals for law enforcement.
Just days before the Orlando attack, on June 6, the Department of Homeland Security released areport advising law enforcement to use "the right lexicon" when dealing with "issues of violent extremism." The report recommended eliminating "religiously charged terminology" and cautioned against the use of words such as "jihad" and "sharia."
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Taken together, the evidence indicates that the Obama administration is not giving the American public an accurate picture of terrorist-related activities because those events may contradict the administration's political preferences and worldview.
But the government's stated goal of word-policing does not outweigh the public's right to know what is happening in their communities.
In the case of Orlando, the government doesn't have the right to hide the attacker's self-proclaimed affiliation. The statements made by Mateen on June 12 are facts. He spoke those words the morning of his attack on the Pulse nightclub.
The American public is entitled to know the facts as they occurred—not as retold, manipulated or erased by Washington bureaucrats.
That is why Cause of Action Institute has filed requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain details from the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Justice Department regarding the decision to redact the transcript as well as the administration's policies on censoring law enforcement.
The FBI responded to our request, asserting broad law enforcement privileges, ostensibly to protect an ongoing criminal investigation. Our requests, however, relate only to the FBI's censorship policies, not the investigation.
Even after the Justice Department endured intense criticism from many corners, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and First Amendment advocates, the FBI to date has released only the transcript of one of several calls Mateen placed the morning of the attack. There remain more than 28 minutes of recorded calls that have not been heard by the public.
As Thomas Jefferson commented: "A properly functioning democracy depends on an informed electorate."
Unelected officials in Washington should not be in the business of censoring the facts of a terrorist attack. The American public can handle the truth, even when it doesn't fit the Obama administration's interpretation of what is politically correct.
Alfred J. Lechner Jr., a former U.S. District Court judge for the District of New Jersey, is president and CEO of Cause of Action Institute, a nonprofit law firm based in Washington, D.C.
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Published on Oct 7, 2016
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