FINIAN CUNNINGHAM | 15.10.2016 | OPINION
Russian Card Played for Clinton to Ace Trump
American news channel CNN told
viewers this week that «US officials» have found «new evidence» to back claims
that Russia state agents are working to «influence the presidential election».
With subliminal Cold War scare tactics, the report opens with footage of a
military parade in Moscow’s Red Square.
Strangely, though, no evidence is presented by the
anonymous US official sources for their latest claims against Russia, as with
previous charges of Russian computer hackers made by the Obama administration,
secret services and the Clinton campaign.
In the latest twist of this long-running unverified
narrative, US officials are asserting that Russian hackers are using the
Wikileaks whistleblower site as a conduit for releasing damaging emails against
the Clinton campaign.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told CNN’s
Christiane Amanpour, in an interview this week, that the claims of Russian
state agents hacking into US systems to influence the presidential elections
next month are «ridiculous».
Lavrov said that Moscow would not dignify allegations
by even offering an official «denial». The top diplomat added that it is almost
one year since Russia requested the US Department of Justice to provide some
basis for an investigation, but still no evidence has been presented to
substantiate Washington’s claims of Russian hacking.
This strongly suggests that the whole point is for
Washington to give itself a license to keep pounding on the anti-Russia
narrative regardless of facts. If facts were somehow allowed to intrude into
the discourse, then the US anti-Russian narrative would come unstuck for lack
of substance.
It is a sign of how dysfunctional US media are when
they merely serve as an echo chamber for official claims, rather than digging
for the truth, as Christiane Amanpour trumpets doing in self-promotional ads
for her program.
Wikileaks, run by Australian journalist Julian
Assange, has released thousands of emails hacked from the Democrat National
Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign, which have been truly damaging and
of having enormous implications for the American public interest. Wikileaks has
rejected allegations of colluding with Russian hackers, and Assange has even
suggested that his source was from within the DNC.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has a
valid point when he questions why the US media have not delved into the Clinton
scandals flagged up by the Wikileaks emails. Issues like Clinton
allegedly taking corporate or foreign donations to influence government policy
when she was Secretary of State during the first Obama administration – the
so-called «pay-to-play» scam. Or, Clinton backing jihadist extremists in Libya
and Syria with money and arms laundered through the Gulf Arab oil kingdoms.
Potentially, these are hugely disqualifying scandals
if the US media were to give them proper attention, or as much focus as they
are applying to allegations against Trump of sexual harassment of women.
One significant theme to come out of the recent batch
of hacked emails from Clinton’s campaign is that her campaign managers are
concerned by her «trust deficit» with voters. For all the massive attack ads
run by Clinton against Trump and despite all the negative media coverage on her
Republican rival, polls show that Clinton has disapproval ratings that
stubbornly hang around 50 per cent among uncommitted voters. The whiff of
scandals that hover around Clinton, even though the media have largely ignored
them, is still enough to alienate a large section of the electorate from voting
for her on November 8.
The Wikileaks emails also show that
Clinton’s campaign managers are perplexed by her failure to connect with
voters. Her Wall Street lobbying on behalf of banks at the heart of the ongoing
US economic malaise is a barrier between her and many blue collar workers and
families. The popular anger against what many see as a corrupt American
establishment plays into Trump’s support, while Clinton is seen as part of the
problem, despite her recent rhetoric about championing ordinary Americans.
With neither presidential candidate enthusing a
majority of Americans, the concern is that this election will record an even
lower turnout than previous presidential elections where as many as half the
eligible voters don’t bother to cast a ballot. Media pundits reckon that a
lower turnout would favor Trump’s chances of winning.
This is the context in which the claims of Russian
hackers and Russian interference in the US election are best understood.
As in the old Cold War days, the US establishment is
playing the «Russian Card» to discredit anyone deemed to be not amenable to
their class and geopolitical interests. Clinton has long ago been selected as
the preferred candidate to best serve the interests of the American ruling
class, whether that be in the realm of domestic economic policy or projecting
American hegemonic power around the world.
With regard to Russia, Clinton has stridently advertised
her belligerence towards Moscow, from her fervent support for expanding NATO
forces in Europe, to her more militarist approach to countering Russia in Syria
and Ukraine. By contrast, Trump is ambivalent about NATO and Russia; indeed has
called for more cooperative relations between Washington and Moscow.
Thus, Clinton is the candidate-of-choice for the US
power elite. This pre-determination of the US presidential election outcome –
so much for American democracy! – is evidenced by the ringing corporate and
Pentagon endorsements, as well as the massive media campaign to ignore her
scandals while relentlessly trying to trash Trump in the eyes of the
electorate.
On top of the sex scandals dogging Trump, which he
refutes as lies and fabrications, another obviously contrived narrative is
«Comrade Trump». The billionaire business magnate has been widely accused in
the US media of being a «Putin stooge» or «Kremlin patsy». Again, there is
scant evidence presented to substantiate the claims. They are based, it seems,
on some casual comments made by Trump complementing Vladimir Putin, his
apparent nonchalance towards NATO, or due to one of his aides allegedly having
past financial dealings with the pro-Russian Yanukovych government in Ukraine
(before the CIA-backed coup in that country in February 2014).
The claims of Trump as a Russian «Fifth Columnist» are
inherently lacking any credibility – if not patently absurd. That is why the US
establishment is trying to beef up the Russian hacker theme. If the Obama
administration is weighing-in to add its voice to claims that Russian state
hackers have breached American institutions and are trying to interfere in the
presidential election, then that tends to give the allegations more clout,
which, in turn, rebound more negatively on Trump.
CIA director John Brennan is also adding his voice
this week to the chorus claiming that Putin’s Russia is attempting to sway the
forthcoming election.
The Russian Card is being played with a vengeance by
the White House, the media and the state security apparatus in a desperate bid
to ensure that voters ditch Trump and rally behind Clinton out of some kind of
patriotic duty. Recall that a general voter apathy towards Clinton is a deep
concern among her backers, which they fear might jeopardize her election.
So, as the days count down to the presidential race it
is significant that in addition to the sex scandals being whipped up around
Trump in the media, we are also seeing an escalation of claims that Russia is
hacking into the American political process.
A giveaway of the manipulation underway comes from
news reports that 20 American states have experienced some kind of electronic
disturbance in their balloting systems. Then, as if on cue, we had the CIA’s
John Brennan promptly assuring voters that all American electoral systems were
«safe» from outside interference. Again, the inference here is that those
dastardly Russians are attacking good old American democracy. This atmosphere
of patriotic duty is aimed at getting the voters out in force – and to stick it
to the Russians and their «stooge».
That’s why Brennan was obliged to emphasize that the
voter systems are «safe». If the Russian-hacker scare story was played too
strongly then voters might stay away from polling booths altogether because
they might think it all futile anyway. A low turnout is not what the Clinton
backers want. They want to boost turnout with a patriotic, jingoistic mentality
to favor Clinton. That explains Brennan’s contradiction of blaming Russian
hackers for tampering with the US political process, but at the same time
assuring folks that it’s safe to vote.
Ironic isn’t it? The CIA, which has interfered in and
subverted so many countries around the world, is now bringing all its sinister
skills to bear on the American electorate.
The Russian Card is being played alright as in the
bygone days of Reds under the Bed and Cold War hysteria.
The fact that American power needs so much to
recklessly revive the Cold War and reconstruct a «Russian enemy» in order for
it to control its own population is a monumental testimony of how little
democracy actually exists in the US today.
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