Couldn't make it up? You just did! Your headline is a lie. Putin never said that is who was responsible. He said it was possible.

I honestly don't know if that's sarcasm or not. Good job!

I am really curious.

The US has a long history of interventionalism and active regime change

Do you in principle object to a interventionalist foreign policy?

Below is a bit from a Politico article just out. I've been hoping that we would take the Russian propagandizing more seriously, and I hope things are about to turn in that direction. Honestly, even the Kushner story from last week was doubted by many on both sides of the aisle. I've posted here a number of times how lightly Obama treated Russia and Iran, to the point that even most of his own congress critters would vote against him.
-
-
For years, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle pressed a hesitant Obama White House to crack down on some of the Kremlin’s more brazen stateside maneuvers.
“There was a general feeling that this was not getting the attention it deserved,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee who has supported the panel’s efforts in pressing the White House to tow a harder line with the Kremlin.
Around last summer, that tension reached a fever pitch.

Lawmakers, frustrated by Russian diplomats’ repeated violation of travel rules, inserted a provision in last year’s intelligence authorization bill that would have required Russian diplomats to provide ample notice to the State Department if they planned to travel more than 50 miles from where they were based, and further, would have required the FBI to validate that travel. According to several sources involved in the discussions at that time, the administration fought desperately — and failed — to get those provisions taken out of the bill.
Around that same time, two key Democratic lawmakers informed the White House of plans to publicly finger Russia as the foreign power behind a widespread effort to manipulate the ongoing U.S. election — something no official U.S. government entity had yet done. Fearful of escalation, the administration tried to get Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Adam Schiff, then the two leading Democrats on the Senate and House intelligence committees, respectively, to back off. The California lawmakers didn’t, and they released the statement. Backed into a corner by Congress, the administration released a statement saying the same a week later.
The Obama administration’s tentativeness in the weeks leading up to Nov. 8 — especially in the high-stakes context of a presidential election — is something that still bewilders corners of the intelligence world. Some speculate that Secretary of State John Kerry, desperate for a peace deal in Syria, urged the White House to lie low. Some blame it on fear of igniting a cyberwar, and still others say it stemmed from a generalized underestimation of the Russian threat.
Blaming one factor, one of the officials said, is “oversimplified.” But the frustration — and regret — is tangible.
-
http://www.politico.com/...pionage-trump-239003

C'mon man. We, all US citizens, object to that along with slavery, colonialism, invasion of sovereign nations, women's rights oppression, fossil fuels, the designated hitter, and long, slow, deep, soft wet kisses that last 3 days.

I think you forgot protectionism

Patriotic Russians? But yeah...of course. Just like volunteers in Crimea and Ukraine.

Among others.

We're not really allowed, by international law, to restrict travel of diplomats, except into zones that are excluded for national security reasons. Requiring notification is generally ok, but the host nation isn't supposed to be able to say no to travel, unless that travel is to a specifically designated national security exempt zone or area.

---

Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

Love your response. When we surreptitiously overthrow Govts. it's cool. Same for invasions. Bow to your new Russian masters American dogs.

---

"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."

Sounds about right.

I find it amazing how many private Russian citizens own state of the art weapons, such as tanks and air defence systems, and have decided to volunteer and fight in Ukraine. Truly patriotic.

---

Swim. Overbike. Walk.

The rules only apply to others not themselves.

I can not believe that russia had the temerity to hack our election. Lets go sell arms to SA and bomb bashar........

"pressing the White House to tow a harder line with the Kremlin. "


Best malapropism of the day!


I don't think they know:
(a) the expression is "toe the line";
(b) what the expression means.

I'm not sure on what basis you would hope that. Two things the Obama administration definitely did were 1) Seize two diplomatic compounds and expel 35 "diplomatic" operatives, and 2) impose pretty stiff sanction on Russia because of the election hacking and the Ukraine situation.

The White House is now moving to return the two compounds. In return for....maybe nothing.

And he almost immediately relaxed the Obama sanctions from the hacking. In return for...apparently nothing.

And that's just the publicly verifiable stuff that doesn't delve into leaked information or conspiracy theory.

If you're genuinely concerned about being soft on Russia, I think you may need to set aside tribal affiliations and face the present with eyes wide open rather than only seeking comfort in op-eds about Obama.

fair enough. but if you're going to add "harder" you pretty much have to change 'toe' to 'tow.'

and i'll admit - i'd biked on the tow path (philly/manayunk) a few times before i realized it wasn't a toe path.

If you're genuinely concerned about being soft on Russia, I think you may need to set aside tribal affiliations


You mean put aside tribal affiliations over issues like Russia involvement in the election, healthcare and how to deal with North Korea or ISIS?


You must be new around here.

When did Obama do those things...last months of his 8 years. I'm pretty attached to reality here.

When did Obama do those things...last months of his 8 years. I'm pretty attached to reality here. //

I guess he should have done them before the transgressions occurred, how dare he not know in his first term that there would be later Russian attacks and penalize them for those through crimes...

-
From the time Obama went in office, actually before (look into back channel communication with Iran months before he was in office), Obama needed Russia to be able to get an Iran deal. Much of what he did (and did not do) was driven by that, an example is his "Russian reset" effort, and his abandonment of the previously agreed to missile defense system in Poland; something targeted at pleasing Russia. Obama had to play very deferential to Russia through most of his time in office, Russia OWNED Obama, and Putin knew it.
-
http://www.nytimes.com/...-russia-opposed.html
-
Here is the reality of sanctions that Obama passed earlier in the admin (the kindest nytimes reportage):
"
The legislation had concerned the president, who has tried not to get too far out in front of European allies on sanctions and resisted sending lethal aid to Ukraine. But Congress passed the bipartisan measure without opposition, making a veto politically untenable, and administration officials said they were satisfied that enough discretion was incorporated into the bill to give the president room to maneuver.
“The president does intend to sign the piece of legislation that was passed by Congress,” said Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary. “But we do have some concerns about that legislation because while it preserves flexibility, it does send a confusing message to our allies because it includes some sanctions language that does not reflect the consultations that are ongoing.”
https://www.nytimes.com/...tions-bill.html?_r=0