Remember that at least part of the hacking could not be done via an outside channel, and was most probably done by Pakistani consultants hired by the DNC, who just happened to have links to Pakistani intelligence.
Strangely enough, I haven't heard of either of them being indicted...
He definitely could sustain them if they turned themselves in. There was real hacking of the DNC server. Crimes did take place. The scope has been greatly exaggerated, but a crime is still a crime.
Those indictments are a PR stunt for Mueller. Everyone knows nothing will happen. Although it would be interesting to see what would happen if one of those indicted came to America and turned themselves in.
Could Mueller even sustain the indictments?
Obama was partially right in 2012 when he said 'the 1980s are calling. They want their foreign policy back.'
His complete dismissal of Russia as a threat was idiotic, to say the least, but Russia under Putin is not the USSR and the nature of the challenge it presents is therefore different.
The conflict with the USSR was ideological. The USSR sought to impose a specific worldview and tyrannical form of government on the rest of the world. Putin does not seek to do any such thing. He has no interest in bringing down capitalism, destroying religion, ending the American way of life, ect. He is motivated by nationalism, and maybe by personal pride.
Does he need to be checked? Definitely. But there is no civilizational conflict with Russia now.
The issues.
The Russian assassinations and assassination attempts on British soil. The West and the US need to act strongly to force Russia to stop this.
Crimea. Putin violated Ukraine's sovereignty and turned international law into a joke by annexing Crimea, but it's a feint accompli unless you want to go to war, plus the population prefers to be part of Russia. So there's nothing to do other than keeping sanctions in place.
The rest of Ukraine: The US and the West should hold Russia accountable for this conflict and increase their support for the government of Ukraine.
Syria: Russia is entrenched, and it is too late to get it out of Syria. Had Obama not failed to act to enforce his own red line, there might have been a chance to prevent Russia from ensuring Assad's victory. Now the only option is to negotiate with Putin to prevent a worst-case scenario where Iran and Hezbollah can do what they want in Syria with impunity. This seems to be where Trump is most successful in his dealings with Putin, though that might be attributed to Netanyahu pushing for the same things as Trump.
Election interference. While it happened, it was incredibly minor and there is no evidence a single vote was changed because of it. Trump shouldn't blast the intelligence community on this specific issue, but as long as the justice department works to indict the perpetrators there's not much else to do.
North Korea and Iran. Trump and Putin disagree on these issues. Trump will pursue his own policy and try to get Putin to either shift his positions to be more in line with the US or to not interfere.
Energy. Trump is allowing the US to become the energy superpower it could have been for years and is encouraging Europe to buy US oil instead of Russian. If countries like Germany decide to buy Russian oil despite their own issues with Russia there's nothing to be done.
I'd certainly like Trump to be less deferential to Putin. But in terms of actual US policy there's not that much more to be done, at least publicly. Sanctions can only go so far. Diplomats have already been expelled. And war is not an option.
He got Putin to agree not to help Iran in the event they stay in Syria to face American or Israeli forces.
He also got Putin to declare support for the denuclearization of North Korea.
FAR more than anything Obama ever got, and he didn't give the Crimea, either. If the democrats are looking for a traitor, they'd do better looking at 44.
There is no indication that Kim Jong-un has started de-nuclearization.
What concessions have Trump gotten from Putin?
Trump got actual concessions from Putin on Syria and North Korea, which is far better than Obama ever did. He didn't give the USSR any uranium, either.
That's the real story, not this manufactured outrage we're seeing. When democrats start pretending to be patriotic, that's when you better watch out.
You're actually defending this? Are you kidding me? This is the former USSR.
https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/07/18/caroline-glick-trump-was-the-big-winner-at-helsinki-summit/
While the libs are pretending to be patriotic, this is the story the press should be covering, if they were actual journalists.
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