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Moscow calls U.S. vote meddling claims 'blabber', 'fantasies'

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MAGA talking points are shifting. They're now saying Russia has always meddled in elections, and this is nothing new. But the indictments have nothing to do with Trump.

They are like lobsters in the pot, staying oblivious and in denial till the end.

McMaster says evidence of Russian meddling is ‘now really incontrovertible’

We agree and You are right sir .. the Russians put your incompetent boss in power by tipping the election in trumps favor. We also all agree that you and Tillerson referring to Donald Trump as a moron was a great patriotic act on your part .

5 ( +7 / -2 )

So 13 guys and a few rubles is all it takes to decide the President of the United States.

13 people, a few hundred million rubles, 62.9 million extremely ignorant, utterly intellectually dishonest Trump voters.

We went over this just yesterday. Perhaps my list didn't show up in Russia.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Photo from the future !

US President Donald Trump and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met at the White House in May 2018 

Get a sense of deja Vu though..

3 ( +3 / -0 )

So why do US politicians spend millions upon millions of dollars on their campaigns employ hundreds and staff and thousands of volunteer if all you need is 13 Russian guys to win an election?

Because the US has labor laws that are stronger than in Russia. You know that, comrade.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Trump will take his usual knee on Russia. I doubt he will even criticize them.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

@rBush So 13 guys and a few rubles is all it takes to decide the President of the United States.

By only giving credit to the 13 big Russian bosses you’re showing you’re a humble man. I think you should give yourself and the other farmers who post on this site credit for the hard work you do, especially when you’re paid so little.  

You in turn should tip your ushanka to the many JT Trump supporters who backed your messages. 

Collectivists preach it’s not about the individual; as you say ‘It takes a village’, governed of course by a ’strong man’.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

@bush Russia proved it can be done.

If you read comments on this site during the election, you'd know most Trump supporters are also Putin supporters. They admire Putin because he's a 'strong man'.

Trump's not at Putin's level yet in controlling the US, but he's getting close. Plus Trump has golf games to play and a global business to run; he can't give that much attention to Russia.

Plus he owes Russian 'financiers' who might call in some of the chits if he doesn't support Putin.

Don't expect Trump and the GOP to get involved in Russian elections.

The intelligence agencies, either. They know Putin's such a 'strong leader' that no opposition will be allowed to gain any traction.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Why not return the favor, hire 13 guys to post messages on websites and have Putin defeated.

Do you really think the US hasn't already had far more than 13 people working to influence the election?

Anyone with the ability to read and type has the intelligence to know the US has been hard at work influencing elections worldwide. Wait, I'm making assumptions. Just because one can read and type doesn't mean they can do anything beyond that.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

You in turn should tip your ushanka to the many JT Trump supporters who backed your messages. 

Correction: Trump supporters who unquestioningly ate up your messages and fervently regurgitated them as gospel.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

The US does have a track record of first determining guilt/innocence by decree, then presenting 'evidence' of said guilt/innocence (And not just as a foreign relations tactic, but in domestic policy, and even in its 'justice' system) that is compelling (unless, that is, you dig a little).

Now, unlike with, say, Saddam's WMD program, there probably is a smidgen of truth buried under all the lies and deceptions. It is almost certain that someone running one of the hundreds of campaigns to get Trump/Republicans elected decided to use the same tactics that they, or a colleague, had used to get a right wing, 1% friendly, unpopular candidate elected as Mexico's President (after two loses to left wing, citizen friendly, popular candidates) and, due to issues of availability and/or costs, hired a Russian social media manipulation firm for part of the effort.

But this investigation and charges are, in way too many ways to count, rather like the investigation and charges against the only bank the US prosecuted over the Great Meltdown, political theatre.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

There's a presidential election in Russia in March.

Why not return the favor, hire 13 guys to post messages on websites and have Putin defeated.

Russia proved it can be done.

Excellent point, but that would be an act of war. The Russians would never tolerate it.

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

@bush Do you really think the US hasn't already had far more than 13 people working to influence the election?

In solidarity with comrade Bush I think the US has and long has had many more than 13 people working to influence elections in Russia and probably most countries throughout the world.

I have a question for Mr. Bush or any other farm team (keyboard brigade?) member. Does Russia have groups similar to the NRA, or the many US white nationalist organizations, or any other anti-American groups like them that the various US spook agencies can easily cooperate with in trying to undermine your Putin?

Also do you have areas of Russia that are similar to Texas (and most blue states for that matter) where US or other foreign nations can attempt to easily manipulate your peoples?

2 ( +4 / -2 )

No, Russians are united.

Cold weather aside, Russia must sound edenic to those who berate democratic systems and the constant conflicts inherent in them.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

have Putin defeated.

Ha ha! BB, your innocence is charming. Remember the "lock her up" chants? - I was seriously alarmed that they would follow through, and the US would take a further step towards authoritarianism. In Russia, opponents of Putin are simply killed. You could ask Boris Nemtsov about this if he were not conveniently deceased.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

So basically the Russians did on Facebook and Twitter what Hillary, the DNC, and their lackey's at MSNBC, CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, NY Times, and LA Times did. But with the Russians it was meddling, and for the DNC and media it's free speech. And they're STILL doing it trying to undermine the election.  

What about the DNC's rigging of their primary to exclude Bernie?

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

bass4funkToday  09:28 am JST

There's a presidential election in Russia in March.

Why not return the favor, hire 13 guys to post messages on websites and have Putin defeated.

Russia proved it can be done.

Excellent point, but that would be an act of war. The Russians would never tolerate it.

Why do you believe it wasn't an act of war when the Russian government did it to us?

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Lots of protection for Russia from Trump fans here.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

So basically the Russians did on Facebook and Twitter what Hillary, the DNC, and their lackey's at MSNBC, CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, NY Times, and LA Times did. But with the Russians it was meddling, and for the DNC and media it's free speech. And they're STILL doing it trying to undermine the election.  

What about the DNC's rigging of their primary to exclude Bernie?

I'm really believing the answers for all of this Russian collusion is being looked at the wrong place definitely wrong people and wrong parties.

Lots of protection for Russia from Trump fans here.

As well as from the Trump haters

-10 ( +1 / -11 )

Burning BushToday  10:59 am JST

Why do you believe it wasn't an act of war when the Russian government did it to us?

The Commander in Chief will make that judgement.

You being Russian, you may not understand how the US government works, but that's not actually a power delegated to the POTUS. He's not even constitutionally-permitted to declare war, though these days Congress is a bit too cowardly to enforce the rule.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

This reply:

As well as from the Trump haters

to this post:

Lots of protection for Russia from Trump fans here.

means the Trump haters are protecting Russia. A cursory reading of the posts shows the fallacy of this.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

bass4funkToday  09:28 am JST

There's a presidential election in Russia in March.

Why not return the favor, hire 13 guys to post messages on websites and have Putin defeated.

Russia proved it can be done.

Excellent point, but that would be an act of war. The Russians would never tolerate it.

So Bass, you admit that Russia was able to have Clinton defeated. Read your 9:28 post again.

You also believe doing so would be considered an act of war if done to Russia. Do you, Bass, think Russia doing it to the US was an act of war?

I'm fairly certain Bass will claim he didn't admit that Russia was able to defeat Clinton despite him clearly stating that in his 9:28 post.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

@bas4 'm really believing the answers for all of this Russian collusion is being looked at the wrong place definitely wrong people and wrong parties.

As a Texan and given what's come out about Texans being part of the collusion, you probably have more direct access to info about the issue than those of us living in Japan. How are your comrades spinning this? What are you being told to say? Obama did it? Soros? The Clinton Foundation? As a journalist (32 years now?), I don't expect you to reveal sources; you can just used 'anonymous, e.g. one of your relatives in the FBI, told me' or something similar.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

"U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller"

Oh my...

A Reaction to Robert Muellers 13 Russian Indictments (AKA Underwhelming Farce)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LP0d9DoxEY

-7 ( +0 / -7 )

Tommy - Can you tell me what Styx said that is not correct? No?

Oh my! -

JUST IN: MARK LEVIN Goes After Obama: Where is he? Has he gone into the witness protection?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ944x9xugI

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

So I was promised trump himself acted treasonously in direct coordinated with Putin to win the election.

Yet after almost 2 years you give me Facebook, Instagram and Twitter posts and rallies both for and against Trump as the “crimes”? Things that any American citizen can and did do legally?

All those liberals posting anti-trump stuff weren’t trying to influence the election? Some of them went to the rallies Russians illegally set up. Aren’t those liberals co conspirators now?

Facebook VP says most of the ads were even after the election and they were determined as not having intent to “sway” the election.

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

BlacklabelToday  11:59 am JST

Yet after almost 2 years

Erm, do people count differently in your Russia, or are you just not familiar with this investigation's timeline? The election was held in November of 2016. Mueller's special counsel investigation began in May, 2017. It is now February, 2018, meaning the investigation hasn't even gone on for one year yet.

It took 25 months from the moment of the Watergate break-in until Nixon was brought down. We all hope Mueller works fast, but we have to be realistic in how long this will take.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Liberals and the MSM have moved the goalposts and lowered the expectations on this so much that they are taking indicting foreign nationals for posting on the internet as a “victory”.

Foreign nationals who will never even show up for trial much less be convicted of anything.

-11 ( +0 / -11 )

@blackL So I was promised trump himself acted treasonously in direct coordinated with Putin to

I understand alt rightists use words differently, but 'promised'?

Yet after almost 2 years

Maybe truth means something different to y'all? 2 years?

@blackL Liberals and the MSM

Is this what you mean?

Since the mainstream media (also abbreviated to MSM) isn't filled with fellow neo-Nazis spouting the alt-right's conspiracy theories and talking points, they are clearly an enemy of the west and must be brought down! Funnily enough, Fox News isn't typically lumped in with the mainstream media, in spite of them being one of the largest news companies in the world. This shows that it is politics, not actually size, that indicates whether or not you are a part of the mainstream media. The mainstream media is also the subject of conspiracy theories such as the Jews controlling.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Not sure who promised you that but it's pretty far off the mark.

The FBI is investigating Russian meddling in the election. They just gave an outline of Russia's activities and indicted 13 people. Seems pretty on point to me.

And no, none of your strawmen pointed to Trump coordinating with Twitter trolls. We weren't hoping to uncover his mastermind involvement in technology warfare.

And, besides, Trump will probably walk anyway. But it's going to be fun to see his sons hanging by a thread.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

the investigation time doesn’t simply reset because mueller shows up. Trump was being spied on through Carter Page at least back to Sep 2016.

so we are out of Russians, out of people to testify (except Hillary side) and Flynn charges will likely be dropped. Where to go next?

-7 ( +0 / -7 )

BlacklabelToday  12:08 pm JST

Liberals and the MSM have moved the goalposts and lowered the expectations on this so much that they are taking indicting foreign nationals for posting on the internet as a “victory”.

I can see how a right-winger, someone who spent 8 years filled with vicious hatred for America's first black president, might mistakenly project their own feelings of vindictiveness on everyone else. But believe it or not, this isn't just about Trump for most of us. We don't only want to see Trump brought down, we want to see the whole propaganda apparatus that put him into power and energized the white supremacists who voted for him dismantled. That's a big job, and we have to take it step-by-step.

But don't worry, we'll get to Trump soon enough.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

So I was promised trump himself acted treasonously in direct coordinated with Putin to win the election.

Cites please.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

You guys need to go back and read what you and the MSM been pushing the last 18 months.

trump is a traitor and will be impeached and jailed for his direct involvement in stealing the election from the rightful winner Hillary. There was NEVER any idea to indict Russians for posting on Facebook.

no one cared about any of this if it couldnt be linked to Trump or his family to hurt him.

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

So I was promised trump himself acted treasonously in direct coordinated with Putin to win the election.

We were all promised that Mexico would pay for the wall and that Obamacare would be replaced by something far better.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Cites? Nearly Every MSM article from Nov 2016 until collusion narrative died.

every liberal post here calling trump a traitor or saying he colluded with Russia to win the election. Literally thousands of them.

-8 ( +0 / -8 )

Lame rebuttal. Not even close to liberals accusing the duly elected president of treason and working with a foreign country to steal an election.

-8 ( +0 / -8 )

well good luck on that. If this was only about the Russians interfering in the election then Trump would have been a victim of that not the person getting investigated.

There was no apparatus that put him into power other than the electoral college and legitimate voters. And you don’t get 60 million plus votes from white supremacists when there are probably 3000 of them total.

-7 ( +0 / -7 )

What about the DNC's rigging of their primary to exclude Bernie?

A disgrace. An utter disgrace.

So what do you think about Trump’s evasive blabber and shoulder-shrugging about Russian interference in the US election?

Given Trump’s history of birtherism, non-existent sex tapes and Kennedy assassination lunacy, he doesn’t strike us as a methodical and thoughtful man who carefully weighs up the facts before making accusations.

Doesn’t it make you at least suspicious?

4 ( +5 / -1 )

BlackLabel - no one promised you anything. We've all been saying 'wait on the conclusion' since the start. Still no conclusion.

Do you even read the posts here? Or do you just manufacture outrage about what you think the other side is probably posting, projecting your own motivations on us?

5 ( +5 / -0 )

so we are out of Russians, out of people to testify (except Hillary side) and Flynn charges will likely be dropped.

Amazing omniscience.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

@blackL nd you don’t get 60 million plus votes from white supremacists when there are probably 3000 of them total.

Source on the number, please. You're not trying to downplay the ugly stuff done by white supremacist groups, are you?

The FBI says: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/fbi-white-supremacists-in-law-enforcement

Oh, I forgot. The FBI are bad in the eyes of Trump backers because some members of the organization are looking out for American citizens, not just Trump, his family, the GOP and the .01%. And I'll say it for you: some within the FBI messed up on the last white man with a gun's massacre.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

You guys need to go back and read what you and the MSM been pushing the last 18 months.

trump is a traitor and will be impeached and jailed for his direct involvement in stealing the election from the rightful winner Hillary.

I think you need to go back and read what the MSM has been pushing - it certainly isn't what you just claimed.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Hillary’s Moscow buddies still have her back. Lov’in that Hillary financed dossier.

-9 ( +0 / -9 )

every liberal post here calling trump a traitor or saying he colluded with Russia to win the election. Literally thousands of them.

Um, not even close. Again, do you actually read the posts here, or just pretend they say what you think they should?

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Its over. You wasted 18 months of the American people’s time and were actually helping the Russians by continuing this nonsense.

I was told the conclusion 18 months ago (trump did it) and you guys been struggling to get any evidence to support it ever since.

Pump some recycled blood into Biden and hope Oprah will accept running mate and good luck in 2020.

-9 ( +0 / -9 )

You are proving my point. Moved the goalposts and lowered expectations so much that you think Russians coordinating posting on Facebook was what you were claiming happened to make Trump win.

Which unfortunately Rosenstein just said didn’t happen, was no impact on actual election.

But ok have a good weekend and wait for mueller to pop up again around the next holiday weekend recess of Congress. If this wasn’t ever about getting Trump then why is it the “Trump investigation”

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

Pete Townsend - Yeah, he said the Mueller investigation bites the big one. If you refuse to check out the videos, you deny yourself some pretty brilliant analysis. He has over 3,000 likes on the video he posted just yesterday.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

I was told the conclusion 18 months ago (trump did it)

Be patient. It looks like there is far more to come.

Trump spent years thoroughly investigating birtherism before reaching the conclusion it was a nothing burger.

Extend Mr Mueller the same courtesy and patience. Moscow wasn’t built in a day.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Yep Mueller just got another 10 million in the new budget. Those lawyers aren’t going anywhere until that money is in their pockets to donate to Dems in 2018.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40915356

less than 10,000 KKK and Nazis at the very high end of the Numbers. So neither they nor Russians who can’t vote elected Trump.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

No I have a thing called an actual life. If people deny what this investigation was even all about, not much else I can do.

This was never about finding Russians who posted pro Trump or anti Hillary things on social media. It was about finding Trump guilty of treason, removing him and jailing him. And his whole family, cause you hate him that much. But you failed in that cause no proof he did anything like that.

So enjoy indicting some Russians. Doesn’t connect any of it to trump so it means nothing really. But congrats I guess.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

Be patient. It looks like there is far more to come. 

Could be.

Trump spent years thoroughly investigating birtherism before reaching the conclusion it was a nothing burger.

Uranium one, Lisa Page, McCabe, Bruce Ohr, Strzok, there is a lot for the FBI to look into, so as you said, this is probably just the tip of the iceberg.

Extend Mr Mueller the same courtesy and patience. Moscow wasn’t built in a day.

I do and please do the same for Nunes.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

@blackL Doesn’t connect any of it to trump so it means nothing really

Trump supporters don't seem to care that Russians are involved in attempts to interfere with US democracy. All they seem to care about is protecting Trump. But then they've said they want to see the US systems brought down and have a 'strong leader' take charge. Trump and leader, however, should never be used on the same page.

And yes, I'm fully aware the US is involved in and long has been involved in meddling in (and worse, including overthrowing elected leaders) other nation's politics. I believe strongly that all sovereign nations should be left to determine their own agendas without outside interference.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Pete - No, Trump supporters are concerned about any attempts to interfere with US democracy, especially Hillary Clinton's, Obama"s and the DNC's attempts.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

@serran  No, Trump supporters are concerned about any attempts to interfere with US democracy, especially Hillary Clinton's, Obama"s and the DNC's attempts.

I agree, anyone anywhere attempting to interfere with US democracy in any way should be of concern.

So I'm sure you fully support the ongoing investigations and will wait patiently until the truths are brought out. No doubt you'll join me in saying keep up the good work Mr. Mueller and staff!

2 ( +3 / -1 )

No, Trump supporters are concerned about any attempts to interfere with US democracy, especially Hillary Clinton's, Obama"s and the DNC's attempts.

If this were remotely true, Trumpophiles wouldn't constantly be screaming at the tops of their lungs about the investigations being witch hunts or disparaging the DOJ or FBI simply because those institutions are investigating Russian meddling.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

No, Trump supporters are concerned about any attempts to interfere with US democracy

A pity Trump himself isn’t.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

The Russia hoax continues, now it's ads on Facebook. What about the totally biased and dishonest Media coverage in favor of Crooked Hillary?

How could Comey exonerate her before ending an investigation??

Feb 16 Trump Tweet

The Democrats had to come up with a story as to why they lost the election, and so badly (306), so they made up a story - RUSSIA. Fake news!

Oh, you think so?

Oct 10 2016 second presidential debate

"But I notice, anytime anything wrong happens, they like to say the Russians are — she doesn't know if it's the Russians doing the hacking,"

Funny, the Dems never cared anything about Russian involvement going all the way back to 2014 and Romney was right during the Debate that Russia was our most formidable geopolitical foe and Obama mocked him, looks like Mitt was right.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Funny, the Dems never cared anything about Russian involvement going all the way back to 2014 

You seriously don’t see the logic failure in that comment? Seriously?

5 ( +6 / -1 )

I do, but apparently the left doesn’t.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

Funny, the Dems never cared anything about Russian involvement going all the way back to 2014 

My response:

You seriously don’t see the logic failure in that comment? Seriously?

To which he replies:

I do, but apparently the left doesn’t.

Wow. I’ll just leave that there for everyone to read. I don’t even need to make my comment - it’s self evident.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

How could Comey exonerate her before ending an investigation??

The same way you are exonerating Trump and his campaign team before the investigations are concluded?

4 ( +5 / -1 )

bass4funkToday  09:28 am JST

There's a presidential election in Russia in March.

Why not return the favor, hire 13 guys to post messages on websites and have Putin defeated.

Russia proved it can be done.

Excellent point, but that would be an act of war. The Russians would never tolerate it.

So Bass, you admit that Russia was able to have Clinton defeated. Read your 9:28 post again.

You also believe doing so would be considered an act of war if done to Russia. Do you, Bass, think Russia doing it to the US was an act of war?

I'm fairly certain Bass will claim he didn't admit that Russia was able to defeat Clinton despite him clearly stating that in his 9:28 post.

(I was incorrect. Bass simply didn't respond to this post.)

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Did the Russians feed Hillary questions that would come up in debates? Did the Russians tell Hillary not to go to Wisconsin, Michigan? Did the Russians influence the unpopular message of carrying on Obama's failed policies? Did the Russians marginalize Bernie Sanders?

No, Clinton defeated herself.

-8 ( +1 / -9 )

Northern - You forget Trump knows how to play 4D chess, Mueller doesn't.

And a witch hunt is exactly what it is.

Oh my...

Tucker: Here's what seems true about Russia indictments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMZC8ZP19Xg

-8 ( +0 / -8 )

Did the Russians feed Hillary questions that would come up in debates? Did the Russians tell Hillary not to go to Wisconsin, Michigan? Did the Russians influence the unpopular message of carrying on Obama's failed policies? Did the Russians marginalize Bernie Sanders?

No, Clinton defeated herself.

So what do you actually think about Russian interference in the US election? Why is Trump so evasive or noncommittal on this point?

Answering these questions is on point.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

The indictment contains no evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, but it does show a systematic effort to discredit the result of the 2016 election. On the evidence so far, Trump has been the biggest victim of that effort.

So it's a question of objectivity and credibility.

Where were James Clapper and John Brennan when the Kremlin was meddling?

Answer: Colluding with Lynch and Comey to try to get Hillary elected.

Since there are now actual accusations against Russians there must also be actual connections to Americans and it will be interesting whether Mueller did go the extra mile and included the collusion by the Clinton campaign. That will be the defining moment for Mueller's objectivity.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

Blacklabel: liberals accusing the duly elected president of treason and working with a foreign country to steal an election.

I've posted the scope of the investigation probably a half dozen times for you. I can do it again if you'd like.

Call me crazy, but Mueller reported on exactly what he is investigating. Option 2 seems to be that there is some kind of behind the scenes war going on with openly biased agents try to pin anything on Trump....but golly, Trump just keeps outsmarting them. Nothing will stick on the known scammer and proven liar; poor us and our wasted plan involving dozens of crooked agents to manufacture fake evidence.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Kabuki, I missed you! I've been worried that the shutdown of many troll farms would have meant your permanent absence; it's nice to have you back.

Where were James Clapper and John Brennan when the Kremlin was meddling?

Answer: Colluding with Lynch and Comey to try to get Hillary elected.

Both Clapper and Brennan are Republicans, as is Comey, so these three colluding with the sole Democrat in the group you mentioned would be extremely unlikely. And you have provided zero evidence. If there were even a scintilla of evidence to support your asinine allegation, Nunes would be all over it like a fly on poop. But there's not a peep.

Perhaps many, like Trump, are too accustomed to fast food to appreciate the order of fine dining. Mueller has now just provided us with our appetizers and our soup. The meal has yet to even begin.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

it does show a systematic effort to discredit the result of the 2016 election.

Oh, and that's cute. "Discredit" is a value judgement. Perhaps even without Russian entities impersonating Republicans both online and by organizing rallies and selectively releasing material from hacked databases, Trump might have won. There is really no way to know. But that is not the point of the investigation.

The point of the investigation is simply to determine who did what, how, and, perhaps, why. It is not to discredit the election result. That will simply depend on how logical people deal with facts Mueller's investigation brings to light. (And let's not forget this is not limited to the past; identical or similar methods will certainly be used in future).

4 ( +4 / -0 )

SerranoToday  06:24 pm JST

Northern - You forget Trump knows how to play 4D chess, Mueller doesn't.

As you apparently can't or won't explain this... 4D chess metaphor you seem to have become fond of parroting, you won't mind if it's dismissed as asinine, toadying garbage.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Even team Trump is admitting the Russian meddling is now undeniable.

It kinda makes the Russian bots look pretty exposed after all the months they spent on JT pretending to be Americans and asking for proof.....

I guess the troll farm in St Petersburg is in overload. I see my man multiple panic posting up above. Heh.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Simon As you apparently can't or won't explain this... 4D chess metaphor you seem to have become fond of parroting, you won't mind if it's dismissed as asinine, toadying garbage.

It had a similar man-crush on George W. Now Denying all knowledge. Pretty hilarious if you ask me.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

"As you apparently can't or won't explain this... 4D chess metaphor you seem to have become fond of parroting, you won't mind if it's dismissed as asinine, toadying garbage."

It's not surprising you would dismiss it as asinine, toadying garbage, Simon. It means Trump is several steps ahead of Mueller.

Oh my...

Jarrett: Mueller is still focused squarely on Donald Trump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooCPpqeLjfY

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

Wow. I’ll just leave that there for everyone to read. I don’t even need to make my comment - it’s self evident.

No, you don't, the left and their constant grab for shovels. The left, lol.

The same way you are exonerating Trump and his campaign team before the investigations are concluded?

But how, that's not his job, that's the job of the DOJ. Why is Comey all over....oh, he got fired, forgot about that.

So Bass, you admit that Russia was able to have Clinton defeated. Read your 9:28 post again.

Yes, as well as Bernie and for Trump and then against Trump. Like liberals, the Russians were all over the place.

You also believe doing so would be considered an act of war if done to Russia. Do you, Bass, think Russia doing it to the US was an act of war?

I believe this, we wouldn't be in this mess if Hillary hadn't interfered in the Russian 2011 elections. Putin has a very deep and personal hatred for the woman (not only him) so while I am not thrilled with what Russia has done, it's kinda expected, but this has been going on forever, you can go back to the days of Stalin when he said that Americans are the perfect Communist idiots. Well, he was right about something. It might be seen as an act or war, so we should do something, maybe cyber hacking them, we already killed a few last week in Syria, so I'm good.

I'm fairly certain Bass will claim he didn't admit that Russia was able to defeat Clinton despite him clearly stating that in his 9:28 post.

(I was incorrect. Bass simply didn't respond to this post.)

You were wrong...again, but, I am sorry, I have to work too sometimes love making money.

-10 ( +0 / -10 )

Serrano,

It means Trump is several steps ahead of Mueller.

You (and several others) don't seem to understand what is happening here. "Multi-dimensional chess" may be an apt metaphor for negotiation. This is not negotiation. There is no room for bullying or compromise. All that exist are the facts, and they will be uncovered and elucidated as Mueller sees fit.

You might have a point, though: Trump and his supporters do seem to view this as a game different from what is actually occurring - as if any temporary goal in some ephemeral opinion poll carries weight. It does not. The facts do, and they are coming out, little by little. And there is no way to get ahead of what has already happened.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

You (and several others) don't seem to understand what is happening here. "Multi-dimensional chess" may be an apt metaphor for negotiation. This is not negotiation. There is no room for bullying or compromise. All that exist are the facts, and they will be uncovered and elucidated as Mueller sees fit.

Well, going by what Strzok and Page and Ohr were eluding to, facts can be anything they want it to be.

You might have a point, though: Trump and his supporters do seem to view this as a game different from what is actually occurring

No, they see through the deception and the BS, even if libs think otherwise.

- as if any temporary goal in some ephemeral opinion poll carries weight. It does not. The facts do, and they are coming out, little by little. And there is no way to get ahead of what has already happened.

What happens if they turn out totally different from what you are hoping for? How will you go on with life, sleep at night, what will your anger be like? Careful what you wish for. Libs have a very bad history when it comes to predictions.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

This is not your garden-variety trolls making up fake personas in the basement to try to illicit reactions on the Web

This is a sophisticated operation where they spent a lot of money and resources to actually buy real people's identities without their knowledge, set up VPN servers in the US, etc. and yes even criminal - stealing real people's SSNs, opening financial accounts under their names, etc.

"Russia’s troll identities were more sophisticated than anyone thought"

https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/16/17021684/facebook-twitter-mueller-russia-troll-factory

One of the most surprising lessons of the indictment is just how seriously the Russians took their fake identities. We might associate troll accounts with spam or weird visuals, but at least some of the accounts described by Mueller were backed up by full-scale identity theft. According to the indictment, defendants used stolen Social Security numbers to build entire false personas, complete with fraudulent photo IDs and PayPal accounts. Crucially, the stolen Social Security numbers meant all of it was happening in a real US citizen’s name. If anyone looked into the person behind the account, they’d see a long paper trail and plenty of government-issued verification to settle their suspicions.

Even the troll’s internet activity would have looked normal from the outside. According to the indictment, one of the first things the Internet Research Agency did was establish a VPN (or virtual private network) within US borders, allowing them to route all activity through a Stateside intermediary. To anyone in the US, it would have looked like an American citizen visiting a real-name account from an American IP address.

That’s a big shift from how we’ve thought of Russian interference for the past year, and it makes things much harder for Facebook, Twitter, and the rest of the internet. When tech companies were called before Congress in November, the focus was on the most obvious troll activity. There were political ads bought in rubles and accounts maintained from Russian IP addresses. Facebook and Twitter were clearly unprepared for an influence campaign of this scale, but the threat seemed equally haphazard. How hard is it to flag Russian IP addresses?

Stopping this kind of fake account is much harder, and it cuts at the heart of how identity works on networks like Facebook. We know how to look for malware or scams, but these accounts weren’t doing anything out of bounds for a regular user. We know how to look for bots, but these accounts were directed by real humans. We know how to verify identities, but with a photo ID and a valid Social Security number, these trolls would have passed every verification test in the industry. It takes effort to establish this kind of identity, which means you can’t run millions at once — but with the viral lift from a social network, you don’t have to.

So to anyone outside, the trolls just look like other Americans posting in America

Trump has just changed his tune from "there's no Russian involvement and thus no collusion" to "just no collusion" (accepting that Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014)

These indictments mean Mueller's investigations won't be going away soon since it's now becoming large criminal activities such as real identity thefts

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Lostrune2,

This is not your garden-variety trolls making up fake personas in the basement to try to illicit reactions on the Web

I wrote about this last night. Not every troll is simply a troll - some are breaking the law with identity theft. And some provide the means for this. And, perhaps, some were aware it was happening but said nothing. The main course is imminent.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Well I'm guessing there might also be some embarrassment on behalf of Trump fans for promoting Russian propaganda. Didn't someone here claim Hillary had billions of dollars stashed away in secret bank accounts?

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Let Robert Muller to finish the Russian gate investigation and the Russian Government and American Government should start mend the relationship between two countries.

FBI can't tell definitely it was the Russian Government has ordered to interfere last US Election. Democrat must stop playing politic with Russian. Former FBI Comey had failed his duty to prevent foreigner interfering in the US Election. You shouldn't blame to anyone except itself if you have failed to do your duty. The FBI was to blame but no one else.

The deteriorating of two countries relationship is benefiting to anyone. It's a dangerous and heading to another cold war era. Former President Obama had made mistake by hostile toward Russia and his personal repugnance to Russian President Putin.

The Russian and the United State were very good relation between two Governments and improved two countries co-operation when Mr. George W. Bush was President.

The US and its allies need the Russian Government and the Iran Government help and co-operation for to defeat Taliban in Afghanistan. Otherwise, the world will be end but the Afghanistan war won't be ended.

Democrat must let President Trump to mend two countries' relationship which was damaged by the arrogant of former President Obama.

.The United State can not afford to fight and wasting billions of dollars for the war, which never end in Afghanistan and Middle East. United State involvement in war in Muslim countries has increasing hatred toward American in Muslim countries. The Muslims do not like the Muslims killed by non-Muslim soldiers and there's no problem for one Muslim killed by another Muslim. The war in Muslim countries is religion, war regardless of involving terrorism or not. Islam religion has two main rival Sunni and Shia followers and also 72 sects in the Islam religion.

If you assist to Sunni Muslim and then you're automatically an enemy of Shia Muslims. If you do not involve in the Muslim problems and then you will not have a problem in your homeland.

I'm sceptical about US Government policy for sending young men to the Middle East and Afghanistan to fight Islamist terrorists or hard-line Islamic militant group for preventing terrorism attack at home. That policy is wasting young peoples' lives and wasting billions of dollars of US tax payers' money for nothing.

I believe both sides of politicians must let the end Robert Muller investigation into Russian involvement in last Election and move on. The United State will be benefited from better relationship with the Russian Government. Also, let Russian and incumbent Syrian President Assad to take care of Syrian problem.

The United State needs to fix a relationship with Russian ASAP and accusing the Russian Government without solid evidence is not a diplomatic way to sort out the problem.

The FBI has failed and former FBI boss Comey must take responsible for Russian able to meddling last US Election. As soon as possible, Robert Muller has to make recommendations for to prevent future foreign country interfering in US politics. Robert Muller has found no evidence of a smoking gun to impeach President Trump in his finding.

Well, United State CIA has had interfered in other countries' politic and even CIA tried to overthrow the Elected Government. CIA can't do itself unless the UN Government has given ordered to CIA. You are better than other and move on.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Pretty good read from The Atlantic: https://www.google.com/search?q=the+pantry+la&client=safari&hl=en-us&prmd=minv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiL_OWro7DZAhVH9mMKHXc3AqAQ_AUIEigC&biw=768&bih=905

Trump is trying out a few different narratives to see which one sticks, And he's criticizing everyone but the Russians, which appears to be official policy.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

widely reported in the u.s. press

President Trump's national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, said Saturday that Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections is beyond dispute.

unsurprisingly, trump went on twitter and attacked mcmaster

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. The US not only interferes big time in elections around the world (think Operation Gladio for openers), it rampages around the globe with it's cronies launching wars and interventions for 'Regime Change'.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Moscow calls U.S. vote meddling claims 'blabber', 'fantasies'

Of course they would make that claim. It would be part of their SOP (standard operating procedure).

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

18 months ago was October 2016, before the election had even happened. And some people here are whining about being told things about what the investigation would find, before the election had even happened or the investigation even begun.

An excellent display of omnicience by the people who not only knew that there would be an investigation, but what the conclusion would be! And that Trump would even win the election for that matter!

Absolutely amazing omniscience.

Or posters who can't count. I suppose it could just be a lack of ability to use a calendar properly. I mean, third grade was a looooooong time ago for most of us.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

SerranoFeb. 18  09:53 pm JST

Well, you shouldn't be too surprised to read that I find this "explanation" to be neither informative nor persuasive:

It means Trump is several steps ahead of Mueller.

That's just paraphrasing what you were parroting. Perhaps it would actually be better if you just stuck to copy/pasting links to YouTube videos and let other people speak for you. Or how about finding a conservative poster who can actually make well-written and convincing arguments (good luck with that here), and just upvoting them?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Simon How about you actually watch the YT videos I posted the links for and learn something?

Here's another one you should watch - it has 143 likes and 7 dislikes - you can add the 8th dislike, lol

Media find way to connect Trump to Mueller's indictments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STxO-yAairw

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Folks, I've watched that YouTube video, so you don't have to.

Fox propagandist anti-Obama nonsense full of deep state this, deep state that.

Whatever else it is, it ain't journalism.

The meddling and division continues.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Is anyone surprised the Russians are crying fake news?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

"Fox propagandist anti-Obama nonsense full of deep state this, deep state that.

Whatever else it is, it ain't journalism."

What was inaccurate in that report, Toasted Heretic? Can't wait...

Oh my...

Rick Gates to Testify Against Manafort as Media Again Goes Insane Thinking Trump is Involved

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbwYBzftCew

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Simon Foston - Well, you shouldn't be too surprised to read that I find this "explanation" to be neither informative nor persuasive:

What an interesting coincidence. You shouldn't be too surprised that others feel the same way about some of your posts. Meanwhile, the investigation(s) into Russian meddling continues and the actual results will be published eventually.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

deadbeatles - The Russians meddled in Amerika's elections if, and ONLY if; they hacked machines and altered vote count. Otherwise, only weak uninformed citizens which made vote choice based on what their favorite talking heads from newscast to celebrities spewed... without being able to think on their own, were mentally hacked. Give yourselves a round of applause! This distraction and it's 'deep' analysis are indeed comical.

The Russians did meddled in "Amerika's" elections. The news media outlets are supposed to actually verify the information they're passing along to the public. Cut-and-paste is not journalism. It's only a way to avoid taking responsibility for an articles contents. We didn't write the story. We only reported that those other guys are reporting it. It's now obvious that the lame stream news media has not been doing a very good job of informing the public. Maybe the LSM outlets could refer to "un-named sources" as "Russian operatives" in the future?

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

What like how the USA meddles in other countries politics .. Examples, Cuba, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Ukraine ... to name a few.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Judging by most of the mindless drone type comments here some would do well to read a decent article link this: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-02-19/russian-meddling-gagging-irony

and THINK (God can anyone in the West even do that anymore) beyond what is being fed to you by the paid for media and stop having such a furious Mass debate.

Apologies @Nick in Japan, Burning Bush & others

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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