Edward R. Murrow Would Be Ashamed of the People at CBS.

Edward R.  Murrow used his position as a journalist to expose the anti-communist witch hunt in the 50's.

I remember seeing some of the television coverage of the Army-McCarthy hearings.   I was too young to fully understand what was going on, but I recognized that Murrow thought something was wrong.

If he were alive today, I'm sure he would recognize that the current anti-Russian crusade makes less sense than Sen. Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist crusade in the 50's.

There was a Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union in the 50's.  There is no good reason for the United States and Russia to be enemies today. 

The question Joe McCarthy asked in the 50's was:  "Are you now or have you ever been a member of the communist party?"  The question today is: "have you ever talked to a  Russian?"

 Supporters of the Russian meddling witch hunt claim that Russian hackers were spying on the Democratic Party's emails.  The fact is that the Russian government has arrested four of those hackers [ including  the deputy head of the FSB security agency’s Centre for Information Security, Col. Sergei Mikhailov and his deputy Maj.  Dmitry Dokuchayev].  and charged them with working for the CIA. 

Thus any inquisition on this issue should begin with Obama administration officials and seek answers to the following questions:  "What did President Obama know? When did he know it?  and What did he do about it?"

The witch hunters also charge the Russians with "planting fake news".   The traditional term  is "propaganda" and governments have been doing it for generations.   Great Britain started doing it to us during WWI.   After the 9/11 attack the British convinced our government that Iraq's WMD program was more extensive  than it was. 

Prior to the 2004 election, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam [DRV] released a story that insured that Gov. Bob Kerrey would not run against Sen John Kerry [whom the DRV was supporting] for the Democratic presidential nomination.   The DRV had previously provided "fake news"  to try to influence voters in the 1968 and 1972 elections.

It's increasingly obvious that it's the British, rather than the Russians, who are meddling in American politics.    The British are once again using "fake intelligence" to influence American politics.

After the 9/11  attack the British used fake intelligence about WMD in Iraq to get President George W. Bush to help them invade Iraq.   The British treated rumors about WMD as if they were proven facts.

Now they are using fake intelligence to undermine President Donald Trump.     Patrick Cockburn in the "London Independent"   says the charges about Trump's alleged association with the Russians are based on information that is at least as unreliable as the claims about Iraq's WMD.

Was "Russian Hacking" a CIA Sting?

Until I found stories about FSB's [Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation] arrest of Col.Sergei Mikhailov, I thought the claims about Russian hacking during last year's presidential
election  were probably false.   I know  the FSB is unlikely to be as effective as the legendary KGB, but  I wouldn't expect it to engage in the amateurish activities attributed to Russian hackers.  The CIA's connection with Col. Mikhailov raises the possibility the CIA was operating a sting to discredit Donald Trump.
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For example,  the KGB wouldn't have been satisfied with using hacking to get some emails from the Democratic Party headquarters.  The old KGB would have planted an agent in Hillary Clinton's campaign headquarters.  This agent  would have occasionally downloaded documents, including summaries of meetings,   onto a zip drive.   Russians have been planting people in American organizations for 70 years. Why would the FSB switch to  a less productive means of acquiring  information?  A human agent can overhear conversations that contain information that doesn't get into the computer.

The CIA could have used Col. Mikhailov for more than just a  source of information about Russian activities.  The association potentially allowed the CIA to use Russian hackers to spy on Americans or on "friendly" governments like Britain or Germany.  Those detecting  the hacking would blame the Russians rather than the Americans.  European governments would complain if they caught the CIA spying on them.  Using Russian hackers potentially allowed the  CIA to gain information risk free.

 CIA could also have had Mikhailov send Russian agents to try to compromise American politicians.   Spy agencies sometimes have trouble resisting an urge to become power brokers.  The CIA has a history of involvement in other countries, particularly in the Middle East.  An agent of the World War II OSS [predecessor to the CIA]  admitted before he died that he was responsible for killing American World War II General George Patton.  Many Americans believe the CIA was involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. 

The following statement is not intended to accuse the CIA of attempting to interfere in the process of determining who is the President of the United States.  I merely want to point out its actions are consistent with that possibility.  The CIA could have used the Russian hackers to keep Hillary Clinton from winning the election and then used other Russian agents to discredit her opponent Donald Trump and make him appear to be responsible for the Russian hackers.