Russia Is the New Russia

“Radical Islamic Terror!!!” might not have the kind of legs the Cold War did to keep the trillion-dollar-a-year war machine going: (Re-)Enter Russia.

Several different propaganda memes are being used to demonize Russia from “annexing Crimea” to “hacking the election.” (Note well, however, I’m no Putinphile–he’s an eager participant in all this in my opinion-it makes him look strong and justifies his actions.) The demon this propaganda is creating will be used to justify various Constitution-busting measures here in the US from more of the endless undeclared war to neutralizing the Bill of Rights amendment-by-amendment.

This is the big picture of the puzzle, but the pieces are interesting too, and we’ll examine them as they unfold during the Trump administration. For example, when Obama came out with “sanctions” against Russia (not particularly toothy ones, FYI) in his final days, it seemed to me he was setting Trump up for a crisis that dare not go to waste. I speculated that Trump would acknowledge hacking but instead of doubling down on sanctions, he would pursue a broader cybersecurity approach so that he would appear to be soberly avoiding antagonizing Russia while protecting us, not only from Russia but from all potential cyberattackers, especially those other devils, China, Iran and North Korea. (This might be a good time to coin a term or two. How ’bout CRINK–China Russia Iran North Korea? Or, simply The New Axis of Evil, or maybe The Evil Asian Crescent?)

Globalism Is Good, Nationalism Is a Russian Plot

Another important element of the Russia-As-Global-Threat was revealed in the recent goldengate fake news leak which stated

A senior Russian official said the TRUMP operation should be seen in terms of PUTIN’s desire to return to Nineteenth Century “Great Power” politics anchored upon countries’ interests rather than the ideals-based international order established after World War II. S/he overheard PUTIN talking in this way to close associates on several occasions.

In other words, globalism is good and nationalism is a Russian plot. Whether labeled as fake or not, this very telling meme was released into the world and will be an important part of the historical narrative.

Cybersecurity Omnibus Bill

I see the Cybersecurity Omnibus Bill psyop rolling out already as I read this article in today’s WSJ:

Donald Trump Said Russia Likely Behind Cyberattacks in First Post-Election News Conference
President-elect denies contents of alleged compromising material held by Russia

“I think it was Russia, but we also get hacked by other countries,” Mr. Trump said in New York. Mr. Putin “won’t be doing it” in the future, he said.

Sounds to me like Trump is setting up a “compromise” with Congress that sanctions should take a back seat to a broader approach that will protect us not only against Russia but against other countries as well, or worse, take a “hard-line approach” that both sanctions and cybersecurity should be thrown at the problem, the more the better.
Unfortunately, “cybersecurity” is code for censoring information, preventing Americans from having total privacy in electronic records or communications and keeping us from securing our own data, devices and websites by denying us our right to total encryption. There is also likely to be elements of “criminal profiling” in which social media or other outlets of expression will be monitored for “radicalism” (that is religious or political views that are a threat to the status quo) or even strong emotions (cyberbullying must be stopped!) Tripping a flag with your language, associations, viewpoints or religious beliefs without committing any crimes or even discussing any actual action will result in depriving some individuals of their rights without due process of law (a la watchlists, no fly/no buy lists, etc.) and in this way both the 5th and 1st Amendments will be attacked and encroached upon.

Fighting Nazis with the Stasi?

I have also speculated that the Russian Hacking Psyop will be used to tighten up the intelligence agencies. In classic totalitarian style which reached its height with East Germany’s Stasi, the executive or at least the small cabal that surrounds him would want total control over all intelligence operations. This would mean putting in place a tight knit group or even just one individual in charge of intelligence with the apparatus itself having no transparency and a high degree of compartmentalization with only those at the top knowing the full picture of what’s going on and why.

Mr. Trump’s harshest remarks of the day were aimed at U.S. intelligence officials. While he called their work “vital” to American interests, he accused them of leaking the fact that his classified briefing last week on Russian activities during the U.S. election included information on unsubstantiated allegations that the Kremlin might have compromising material on him…
“That’s something that Nazi Germany would have done and did do,” he said, accusing intelligence officials of leaks. “I think it’s a disgrace that information that was false and fake and never happened got released to the public….
U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper spoke Wednesday evening with Mr. Trump, saying in a statement that he expressed his “profound dismay” over leaks about the intelligence provided to Mr. Trump last week….
He added that he and Mr. Trump agreed that leaks “are extremely corrosive and damaging to our national security.”

This promises to be an interesting couple of years! ?