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Urgent to [US] Progressives: Stop Fueling the Anti-Russia Frenzy

by Norman Solomon, via Antiwar.org

This week began with a mass email from the head of the Democratic National Committee, who declared: “By now, Americans know beyond any reasonable doubt that the Russian government orchestrated a series of cyberattacks on political campaigns and organizations over the past two years and used stolen information to influence the presidential campaign and congressional races.” DNC chair Donna Brazile went on: “The integrity of our elections is too important for Congress to refuse to take these attacks seriously.”
The importance of election integrity had eluded Brazile when she was a regular on CNN, posing as neutral in the Clinton-Sanders battle.  “Brazile is not apologizing for leaking CNN debate questions and topics to the Hillary Clinton campaign during the Democratic primary,” the Washington Post reported last month.  “Her only regret, it seems, is that she got caught.”
Many big factors affect any presidential race, and the Russian government may have tried to be one of them for the 2016 election – though it’s hardly the slam dunk that agencies like the CIA and U.S. mass media are now claiming. But in any event, this month it has become routine for a lot of progressive organizations and individuals to descend into a dangerous mode of partisan flackery.
Less than two weeks ago – as soon as unnamed CIA sources told journalists that the Kremlin was behind hacks of DNC and Clinton campaign emails – a wide range of progressive online groups, activists and commentators reflexively embraced the dominant media spin. High profile among them was MoveOn, which used its big digital footprint to spur the frenzy.
MoveOn matter-of-factly decried the “chilling news” of “Russia’s election tampering.” And, without a hint of media literacy, the group also informed its readers that “news broke that the Russian president himself was involved in the efforts to influence our November election – in favor of Donald Trump.”
Such eagerness to share undocumented spin as absolute fact has led many progressive groups to go with knee-jerk reactions. Bent on gaining a propaganda advantage over Trump, those reactions are helping to stampede this country toward a modern form of McCarthyism – as well as brinkmanship with Russia that could lead to a cataclysmic military conflict.
Zeal to blame Russia for a bad election outcome has spread like contagion among countless self-described progressives, understandably appalled by the imminent Trump presidency. But those who think they’re riding a helpful tiger could find themselves devoured later on.
If civil liberties instead of repression and diplomacy instead of war are progressive values, then all too many progressives – eager to tar Trump as a Kremlin product – have been undermining those values.
Already, from witch-hunt legislation in Congress to pernicious media blacklisting, the anti-Russia hysteria – being fueled by the high octane election-intervention storyline – has gained enormous momentum.
Days ago, assessing the momentum of that hysteria, Russian studies scholar Stephen F. Cohen cited some of the key motives propelling it (the first of which touted extremely farfetched hopes):

  • “One is to reverse the Electoral College vote.”
  • “Another is to exonerate the Clinton campaign from its electoral defeat by blaming that instead on Putin and thereby maintaining the Clinton wing’s grip on the Democratic Party.”

Thus, countless Bernie supporters have been unwittingly strengthening the Clinton wing of the party while beating on the anti-Putin drum.

  • “Yet another is to delegitimate Trump even before he is inaugurated. And certainly no less important, to prevent the détente with Russia that Trump seems to seek.”

Of all the good reasons to “delegitimate” Trump, alleged Kremlin intervention in the election should rank quite low. Trump’s evils are huge, with a very incomplete list including vast greed, pathological lying, contempt for facts, enthusiasm for oligarchy, bigotry, environmental destruction, racism, misogyny, economic injustice, voter suppression and rampant conflicts of interest.
While echoing the anti-Russia themes belted out by Democratic Party officials and loyalists, the chorus on the left may think it’s merely grabbing the low-hanging political fruit of this historical moment. But the fruit is already turning rancid, and apt to become poisonous. It won’t be the first time in recent decades when liberals and others thought they were being clever and politically adroit as they aided and abetted the suppression of principles found in the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments, while helping to gear up the machinery of war.
This month, by following the line of the Democratic Party leadership, groups like MoveOn actually have helped to set the stage for pressurizing Trump to deter him from pursuing policies that may be (along with opposition to trade deals such as the TPP) the only ways in which he might be appreciably better than Hillary Clinton would have been as president.
Let’s face it: Some of the fierceness of media attacks on Trump, such as from de facto neoconservative liberal-tinged entities like the Washington Post, is propelled by rage that his stance toward Russia lacks the neocon qualities that a Hillary Clinton presidency offered.
To be crystal clear: The election of Donald Trump as president is a horrific disaster, and his regime must be resisted on a vast array of issues with eternal vigilance.  And, meanwhile, Vladimir Putin is a repressive ruler.  [Ed.: Apologies for the author’s obligatory “Trump is evil, and Putin is even more so” line of the right-thinking US progressive pundit.]
At the same time, it’s a rather glaring omission in the current outraged discourse that the US government, from Egypt and Saudi Arabia to Central Asian nations and beyond, continues to avidly support regimes far worse than Russia’s. As for intervening in foreign elections, the CIA has excelled at that anti-democratic game for many decades – and mainline US media outlets have been inclined to nod or even cheer when the American government and allied US operatives succeed in working their will on electorates overseas.
Oh, and must we forget that US efforts to determine the government leaders of other countries have sometimes gone far beyond techniques like hacking and disseminating emails? As Janine Jackson of the media watchdog group FAIR wrote, “in back of it all, what makes the umbrage of elite media so hard to stomach is the hypocrisy. This is, after all, the same elite media that supports outsider-induced ‘regime change’ anywhere and everywhere they see an official enemy, from Iraq to Honduras to Libya to Syria… You can make ‘one law for me, another for thee’ your credo, but you can’t be too surprised when others are unimpressed.”
And Jackson added: “Whatever story there is to be told about Russia and the 2016 election, corporate media have squandered the credibility it would take to tell it.”
Now, a crucial choice is right in front of the progressive groups and commentators who’ve been echoing the anti-Russia barrage from US mass media. Staying on course will help to undermine civil liberties at home and will help to escalate conflicts with Russia that could end with nuclear war. Doesn’t sound “progressive” to me.

Norman Solomon is co-founder of RootsAction.org and founding director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His books include War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.

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putinbotmk2
putinbotmk2
Dec 31, 2016 7:40 PM

The hypocracy on display here truly is breathtaking. There’s a youtube video out there with one of those morons at the state department saying that the US had a “long standing policy of not interfering in foreign
elections”. Luckily she was pulled up on the spot by AP’s Matt Lee. These people are shameless cowards who get our kids killed for their sick ideology. But hey, as long as your guy has a peace prize he can do no wrong. Gotta somehow keep the war machine rolling.

elenits
elenits
Dec 22, 2016 1:04 PM

Hmm. This sounds exactly like the Clintons:
“vast greed, pathological lying, contempt for facts, enthusiasm for oligarchy, bigotry, environmental destruction, racism, misogyny, economic injustice, voter suppression and rampant conflicts of interest.”

Greg Bacon
Greg Bacon
Dec 22, 2016 11:39 AM

DNC chair Donna Brazile went on: “The integrity of our elections is too important for Congress to refuse to take these attacks seriously.”

What would Brazile know about integrity in elections when she helped the DNC and Clinton Mob steal the primary from Sanders and then gave the Harpy the CNN debate questions BEFORE the debate?
I agree that elections should be kept protected from outside interference, including that from the DNC.

Eurasia News Online
Eurasia News Online
Dec 22, 2016 5:39 AM

Latest – from known source – Eastern Orthodox Slavic people and the rest of the world that does not qualify as “international community” know by now beyond any reasonable doubt that Anglo-Saxon gang of five (left, right, center and those lost in their exceptional indispensable arrogance) has one goal only – to rule this planet. Russia and China must not ignore this fact and must be ready to ELIMINATE enemies of free world. We have tools and, make no mistakes, we have will to do it. As far as “anti-war” and similar slogans are concerned – we do not trust one bit of that any more – you produced nothing, stopped no war and stop wasting our time unless you can prove beyond reasonable doubt that you are real instead of being a “good cop” covering (and excusing) crimes. No more talking – show us some real action and results

elenits
elenits
Dec 22, 2016 1:05 PM

hear hear!

Arrby
Arrby
Dec 21, 2016 9:37 PM

I won’t read anything from Antiwar. (note: Antiwar.org is formerly Antiwar.com) Genuine progressives should leave it alone. Sibel Edmonds, who I trust, takes a close look at it and I find her alarm to be quite justified. Listen to her and Spiro Skouras enumerate all the mainstream news sources Antiwar now taps and channels here: http://bit.ly/2hoHDCZ

pretzelattack
pretzelattack
Dec 22, 2016 11:08 PM
Reply to  Arrby

what does this have to do with the subject of the article. other than the obligatory putin bashing, what is there to disagree with here?

John G
John G
Dec 23, 2016 12:34 PM
Reply to  Arrby

Antiwar is as suspect as Sibel Edmonds I’m afraid.

Admin
Admin
Dec 23, 2016 4:16 PM
Reply to  John G

Why do you consider Sibel Edmonds suspect?

Arrby
Arrby
Dec 23, 2016 9:34 PM
Reply to  Admin

I would like to know also.

MM Smith
MM Smith
Dec 21, 2016 9:14 PM

This article is totally off base imho. You use the word “Progressive”. I have rarely met any “Progressive” (usually from the Bernie Camp) that is in any major way anti-Putin or is stoking that. It is not that there are some who not Putin fans but the actions you are talking about are from Liberals. LIBERALS. NEO LIBERALS. This is a different group usually and from the HRC camp which appears to want to justify her frequent insinuations and comments about attacking or taking action against “Russia/Putin”. By glomming all groups together and slapping a “Progressive” label on it you offend not only me but many others who differentiate themselves from her intentions and actions.