Putin Russia in its place
Whether Donald Trump wants to believe it or not, the Russian government’s spies interfered with the presidential election by hacking and releasing emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, with the intention to harm Clinton.
And whether or not the next President thinks it matters — it does. A whole lot. The current President, Barack Obama, was absolutely right to expose the meddling of Vladimir Putin’s civilian and military intelligence agencies and take action for such a serious breach of American sovereignty.
Should Obama have sounded the trumpet louder on Oct. 7, when his administration first fingered Moscow? Hell yes.
Our elections, from President to school board (see below), are the foundation of a free democratic republic and must be protected so the choice of the voting public can be made without outside interference or manipulation.
Maybe Obama didn’t want to interfere himself with the already white hot Trump-Clinton contest, considering that he was her No. 1 surrogate. A tough spot for Obama, but his first obligation was defending the United States against attack, including cyber attacks. Political considerations are secondary.
Obama’s retribution includes the expulsion of 35 spies from the Russian Embassy in Washington and their San Francisco consulate. The spies and their kin have 72 hours to get on a plane. Expect 35 American agents in Russia to get booted.
Obama also declared off limits two Russianowned compounds, one on Long Island and one in Maryland. Moscow will shutter something similar used by our diplomats.
Symbolically, there is also a U.S. travel ban on the upper echelon of the GRU, Putin’s military intelligence agency, even though GRU chieftains aren’t vacationing here.
Substantively, Obama leaves his successor, who benefited from Putin’s hacking, a new tool to fight cyber threats, by modifying an existing executive order to authorize sanctions for “interfering with or undermining election processes or institutions.”
Trump, happy to have won, doesn’t care and wants people to “Get on with our lives.”
Free elections are our lives, sir. A full congressional probe is a must when the new Congress convenes next week.