Shard

No I didn't forget the "M"...this is about Hilary Rodham Clinton (not HMRC). Just watched her on Colbert, and although I am completely anti-Trump, I couldn't believe how paranoid she sounded about Putin? She really seems to take it personally and exaggerate the "threat" that Putin poses to the US.

Actually, I have very few issues with Putin. He seems a intelligent balanced leader. Ironically, the thing that does make me suspicious of Putin is how close Trump seems to be with him.

Anyone going to read Hillary's new book? She didn't reveal "what happened" on the Stephen Colbert show, but I think its safe to say that the Comey episodes tipped the balance. Should have voted for Bernie, folks.

robin1234

I didn't see this, but I heard two interviews - Pod Save America, and Terry Gross (Fresh Air.) Having heard two, which were quite similar, I assume she's basically doing the same dog & pony show all over. I certainly wouldn't read the book. I'd hate to take time away from my rigorous novel reading program.

Having said that, I'm sure what she says is basically accurate and trustworthy. I just feel it's time to hand it over to Mueller etc. If there's some kind of coup d'etat from the administration, firing Mueller, arresting journalists, another Charlottesville etc., then maybe time to resist. But right now I'll leave it to the professionals...

Anian

I couldn't care less about Clinton. She threw away the election in the last couple of weeks. She would have been a competent president, but her loss has really exposed the Republican theatre and energised the social causes, rather than the more stalling and apathy if she had won.

Putin is a cold, calculating, killer. He knows who his enemies are and gets rid of them. He knows who his allies are and rewards them. If he had a philosophy that went beyond his own power then we'd all be in big trouble rather than just the former soviet countries. He knows exactly what he is doing and how to manipulate people. If anyone in congress took Trump seriously then it might have caused problems, but no one is going to follow Trumps lead on anything they don't already want.

Shard

We don't know he is a killer. That's Western propaganda. He's authoritarian, but in what was frontier Russia, he needed to be.

Anian

He was in the KGB and so many of his political opponents have met untimely deaths. Even if he hasn't directly killed anyone himself (unlikely for anyone in his previous roles) or even ordered it (even less likely), he has stood by happily while others have done so for him.

Shard

So we've been told.

Nutmegger

There was an interesting conversation between authors John Le Carre and Ben Macintyre in the NYT Book Review recently (both very clued in to the espionage world) in which they touched on Trump/Putin:

NYT. Do you think the Russians really have something on Trump?
B.M. I can tell you what the veterans of the S.I.S. [the British Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6] think, which is yes, kompromat was done on him. Of course, kompromat is done on everyone. So they end up, the theory goes, with this compromising bit of material and then they begin to release parts of it. They set up an ex-MI6 guy, Chris Steele, who is a patsy, effectively, and they feed him some stuff that’s true, and some stuff that isn’t true, and some stuff that is demonstrably wrong. Which means that Trump can then stand up and deny it, while knowing that the essence of it is true. And then he has a stone in his shoe for the rest of his administration.
It’s important to remember that Putin is a K.G.B.-trained officer, and he thinks in the traditional K.G.B. way.
J.L.C. The mentality that is operating in Russia now is absolutely, as far as Putin is concerned, no different to the mentality that drove the most exotic conspiracies during the Cold War. It worked then, it works now. As far as Trump, I would suspect they have it, because they’ve denied it. If they have it and they’ve set Trump up, they’d say, “Oh no, we haven’t got anything.” But to Trump they’re saying, “Aren’t we being kind to you?”
B.M. And today you get this wonderful Russian lawyer woman [Natalia Veselnitskaya, who was in the pre-election meeting at Trump Tower with Donald Trump Jr.] who is straight out of one of our books, a character that is possibly connected to the Russian state. Who knows? They exist somewhere in that foggy, deniable hinterland. It’s called maskirovka — little masquerade — where you create so much confusion and uncertainty and mystery that no one knows what the truth is.
J.L.C. For Putin, it’s a kind of little piece of background music to keep things going. The smoking gun might or might not be the documents exchanged about the Trump Tower in Moscow [which Trump is said to have been planning to build]. Then there’s the really seedy stuff in the Caucasus. There are bits of scandal which, if added up, might suggest he went to Russia for money. And that would then fit in with the fact that he isn’t half as, a tenth as rich as he pretends to be.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/25/b...l?mcubz=1&_r=0

Octang Frye

I like Putin, but don't doubt he's a stone cold killer.
There are numerous journos and political opponents he has had killed.
Alex Litvinenko, anyone?

Anyway, for your enjoyment, here's KGB agent Putin posing as a tourist with his "family" as he meets some American fellow in Red Square.

Shard

Great photo. Litvinenko, yes seems to be a KGB hit.

civilservant

I am about half way through 'what happened' and I can confirm that it, is fact, very little about what happened and more about her thoughts on the future. Of the half of the book I have read, she has taken aim at Putin, Trump, Sanders, Comey, The Media... just about anyone but herself.

Honestly though, it is hard to argue with some of her points. I don't know if I would have voted for her or stayed at home, I am on the fence about that, but I really believe that she would have made a better President than 45.

As for Putin - he has clearly killed political rivals, staged elections, and generally had his way for far too long. As soon as his term is up, him and Medvedev will most likely do another switch-a-roo in order to avoid their term limits.

robin1234

I see.

Shard

I even wonder if Sarah Palin would have made a better president than Trump. At least she would be willing to listen to advisors.

AdobePinon

She would have quit by now. In that sense she would have been better.

civilservant

I think this is a very fair and balanced piece on 'What Happened' - far more than some of the other reviews that I have read.

The Strange Authenticity of Hillary Clinton - POLITICO Magazine

Shard

Yes, a good piece. If, somehow, she had ran against one of the other Republicans (Bush, Rubio, Cruz) do you think she might have won? The article suggests not (too disconnected) but the election result was quite close.