It’s not easy to stand up to Vladimir Putin, just ask Alexei @Navalny – a look at life in Russia’s opposition pic.twitter.com/FhUNDB963u — The Guardian (@guardian) October 10, 2017 It’s no surprise, truly, that white nationalists who returned to Charlottesville chanted three main slogans: ‘You will not replace us,’ ‘Russia is our friend,’ and ‘the South will…
Russia
America, Law, Liberty, Putin, Resistance, Russia, Trump, Trump-Russia
The Erosion of Political Norms (Concluding Part 4 in a Series)
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
More than one small town has struggled for years under the debilitating influence of political & economic conflicts of interest, misguided priorities, and dodgy or grandiose claims. These conditions where those that That Which Paved the Way for Trumpism. Those locally who carried on this way made Trumpism more likely, the way a moderate illness might weaken…
America, Elections, Putin, Russia
Committee to Investigate Russia: ‘This is No Movie Script’
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
In the video above, Morgan Freeman reminds Americans that Russian interference in our electoral process is ‘no movie script’; Vladimir Putin is a dictator, murderer, and inveterate enemy of America and our democratic traditions. The newly-formed Committee to Investigate Russia (https://investigaterussia.org) made its début yesterday. The CIR is a nonpartisan group – with both conservative, liberal,…
Film, Mendacity, Putin, Russia, Sports
Film: Icarus
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
When Bryan Fogel sets out to uncover the truth about doping in sports, a chance meeting with a Russian scientist transforms his story from a personal experiment into a geopolitical thriller involving dirty urine, unexplained death and Olympic Gold-exposing the biggest scandal in sports history. Readers who have Netflix can catch Icarus, a documentary that…
Russia
Russia’s Creeping Occupation
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Crime, Russia
MH17, Three Years On
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Fellow Traveler, Fifth Columnist, Politics, Putin, Russia, Trump, Trump-Russia
The Fellow Travelers
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Jeremy Peters nicely describes the descent of far too many into mere fellow travelers for Putin, a dictator, imperialist, and murderer (Peters is far too mild about Putin, but he’s ably identified the self-hating Americans who support Russian’s dictator, and some of whom are perhaps even fifth columnists for Russia): WASHINGTON — Years before the…
Russia, Trump-Russia
Sarah Kendzior: The Kremlin Spokesman’s Odd Referral
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) noticed this odd remark from the Kremlin’s spokesman in 2016, at the time he made it. It was a prescient catch, indeed. (Can’t recommend her work enough – a powerful, clear-sighted assessment of authoritarianism, well-suited to #TrumpRussia, and international relations beyond.) I tweeted this on July 26, 2016. Found it odd that…
Politics, Russia, Trump
Gabriel Schoenfeld on ‘Trump and his whole circus – They have no good choices’
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Gabriel Schoenfeld, the author of Necessary Secrets: National Security, the Media, and the Rule of Law, was a senior adviser to the 2012 Romney for President campaign. He observes the damage that Trump has done to the GOP: Figures like Reince Priebus and Sean Spicer, cogs in the White House machinery who today seamlessly defend Trump and his…
Russia, Trump
They Took the Meeting
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Juliette Kayyem (@juliettekayyem) sees the key point of the June 9th 2016 meeting between Trump’s relatives & operatives and a Russian apparatchik: Everyone who plays poker has a tell. In this case, the tell by Donald Trump Jr. was taking the meeting. @OutFrontCNN #TrumpRussia pic.twitter.com/GTw5OOD4fQ — Juliette Kayyem (@juliettekayyem) July 11, 2017
Putin, Russia, Trump
Trump Uses the Same Old Russia Excuses
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
For more on how Trump sows fear, uncertainty, or doubt to evade simple, direct questions, see David Graham’s The Trump Uncertainty Principle @ The Atlantic (“When Trump wants to rebut a charge, he seldom flatly denies it. Instead, he generally prefers to sow doubt, skillfully stressing uncertainties to obfuscate and muddy the issue.”) One hears…
Alt-Right, America, City, Liberty, Putin, Russia, Trump
‘What Putin’s team is probably telling him about Trump’
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Michael Morell, former deputy director of the CIA from 2010 to 2013 and twice acting director, and Samantha Vinograd of the National Security Council staff from 2009 to 2013, speculate from experience on What Putin’s team is probably telling him about Trump: This is a speculative account of a memo that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s national…
Russia, Trump
Jeh Johnson Testimony, U.S. House, 6.21.17
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Russia, Trump
James Comey Testimony, U.S. Senate, 6.8.17
by JOHN ADAMS • • 5 Comments
Below is a video of James Comey’s June 8th open-session testimony before the U.S. Senate, a link to a transcript of these remarks, and his printed statement for the record (released before the hearing but not delivered in Comey’s oral testimony given today). James Comey testimony transcript on Trump and Russia @ POLITICO. Statement for…