The Mole

Vladamir Putin cut his teeth in the KGB, the sinister and very effective Russian spy agency. And so Putin is very effective in the black arts of intelligence operations — espionage, moles, election meddling, counter spying, sewing division in a hostile government, fulminating insurrections, even killing dissidents, etc.

Russia has been very persistent in these spook activities. It runs circles around most Western governments who seem to spend most of their intelligence efforts on domestic political intrigue. The United States in particular has allowed Russian interests to supersede many of its own self interests ... particularly when it comes to weapons systems. For years, under Democrat administrations, the US under-funded anti-missile defense systems, deferred upgrading our nuclear arsenal, ignored Russian and Chinese territorial expansion and stopped safeguarding our uranium supplies.

How come? The answer is simple: sellouts for personal benefit. The Clintons, Bidens and even likely the Obamas have gotten enormously wealthy by trading off US national security for dirty Russian and Chinese money. And who is pushing back against this corruption? Answer: our current president, Donald J. Trump.

So why in God’s name would the Russians help the Orangeman get elected and then re-elected? It is clearly against its national interests. And one can rationally assume that, if the Russians had a mole in the US, that it would activate it to help defeat this foe. They might even, in a classic case of double switch, accuse Trump of colluding with the Russians! He would then be defeated at the polls ... and this would neuter this enemy and return the US to a more accommodating posture.

Therefore, my candidate for this perfect Russian mole (other than the above-ground Clintons, Bidens and even Obamas), would be a deep-cover Adam Schiff. It could be ... he certainly is shifty enough.

Afterward: I realize that some of you, kind readers, may think this post a bridge too far. But, this is no more radical than Hillary Clinton saying that Tulsi Gabbard is a Russian asset ... or a three year witch-hunt claiming that Trump colluded with Putin to get elected  ... which, if you remember, came up empty.

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites:

[Trump] outperforms McCain and Romney with Hispanics

Update: Austria presidential election annulled over voter fraud

Miami named 'worst city' to live in

Cops find $25M cash during Miami drug raid

Japan top court approves blanket surveillance of country Muslims

[Facebook] employees subjected to KGB-like scrutiny

Majority of Dems want a third term for Obama

Bust: 'Diamond of Century' fails to sell in London

Sound of Silence: Paul Simon to quit music

Skittles goes all white to celebrate LGBT pride

Tesla driver killed on 'autopilot' mode

'Clock Boy' Ahmed Mohamed returns to Texas

The Russian Connection

This blog has considerable readership in Russia … which has always puzzled me since my politics are mostly antithetical to the brand currently being practiced there.  Perhaps the KGB (its secret police whose famous graduate, Vladimir Putin, is currently attempting to restore the Bear to a much larger den) believes that my opinions are somehow representative of America.  Shh, don’t tell them how askew my political thinking is.

Nevertheless, Russia is in the process of taking back the Crimean peninsula and the warm-water Black Sea port of Sevastopol, … which Nikita Khrushchev so thoughtlessly gave to the Ukraine way back in 1954. This might cost Russia more on the world stage than it expects. Even our fearless leader, Obama, might throw a snit on his 19^th hole. This aggression is occurring despite the fact that both the United States and Russia had guaranteed the integrity of the Ukrainian borders (including the Crimea) back in both 1994 and 2009.  Oops!

So far the United State’s response has been subdued and rather wandering. As a result, talking heads and Op-Ed pundits are climbing over each other offering our “leadership” much and varied advice. Here are a few ossified opinions on this whole brouhaha (not that my opinions aren’t.)

Henry Kissinger believes that the Ukraine is not worth any hostilities and must become a “bridge” between Russia and the West  (I think kind of like Switzerland’s status during WW II) … for his specific recommendations see: Washington Post Op Ed.

Zbigniew Brzezinski (President Carter’s chief appeaser … err, adviser) thinks Russia may be trying to duplicate Hitler’s seizure of the Sudetenland before WW II.  He, surprisingly suggests that the West should risk hostilities and bolster the Ukrainian military with armaments ... but also simultaneously seek rapprochement with Russia over the Ukraine's future … see his suggestions here: Another Washington Post Op Ed

But the opinions that I respect the most swirl around that Diplomad blogster, W. Lewis Amselem, and those that comment on his writings … see: The Diplomad Blog

A few comments in this link that I particularly like are:

Putin of course knows what realpolitik is and uses it to advantage, act first, allow limited diplomatic discussion after. He has also perceived that a country that will not secure its own borders is unlikely to assist others to secure theirs (think UK, Germany, USA, the entire EU) -- "Cascadian" commenter 

"Despite his upbringing as a Communist, he is now devoutly religious and wants to see religion restored to Russian life. As the jihadis have discovered, they have in Putin a rival as ruthless and religiously committed as they, and not bound by the conventions of political correctness." I believe you [the Diplomad] have put your finger on Putin's next international gambit once the dust from the Crimea mess has settled. I've been wondering lately who, if any, is going to stand up for the persecuted Christians of the Middle East and Africa. It certainly won't be the pro-Islam Obama or the post-Christian leaders of Europe. I believe it will be Vladimir Putin. He will speak out on behalf of the persecuted Copts and Nigerians. He may even begin sending them aid and weapons. And Christians around the world will flock to his banner, bringing the idea of Moscow as the "Third Rome" to fruition. -- “Anonymous” commenter

My own simple suggestion would be for the United States to immediately reverse itself and place its anti-ballistic missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic ... to which we had previously committed (and Obama had reneged on).  This way Putin will quickly see a real cost to his colonial expansionism.