Perhaps Vladimir Putin was using his experience meddling in U.S. elections to meddle in his own. Putin “won” re-election last Sunday with about 76 percent of the vote, not as much as the 99 percent Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein “won” and maybe not as impressive as the nearly unanimous vote by the People’s Congress to […]
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Posted inNation / World, sj-web
British official says Putin ordered poison attack on ex-Russian spy as division widens
MOSCOW (AP) — The gulf between Russia and Britain widened on Friday as they cranked up pressure over a nerve agent attack and a suspected murder in Britain that have deepened Western worries about alleged Russian meddling abroad. Britain’s foreign secretary accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of personally ordering the poisoning of ex-Russian spy Sergei […]
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Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Putin boasts of new Russian nuclear weapons that make missile defense 'useless'
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has tested an array of new strategic nuclear weapons that can’t be intercepted, President Vladimir Putin declared Thursday, claiming a technological breakthrough that could dramatically increase Russia’s military capability, boost the Kremlin’s global position and also raise Western concerns about a potential renewed arms race in the 21st century. Speaking in […]
Posted inLetters, sj-web
U.S. and Russia — friendly adversaries
For the past few years, the issue of Russian interference in U.S. presidential elections — hacking into computers, stealing military secrets, etc. has been in the headlines, and (not surprisingly) the media, for the most part, have found various and sundry ways to blame it all on President Trump. News bulletin — the Russians (and […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Trump refuses to lead in the information war with Russia
“Darkest Hour” follows Winston Churchill’s struggle to rouse Britain to confront the Nazi menace. Winning the war was step two. Step one, the movie’s theme, was to get the country to agree to wage war. And he did no buttering. “I have nothing to offer,” Churchill famously told his nation, “but blood, toil, tears and […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Kremlin operations target more than U.S. elections
During the 2012 presidential campaign, Mitt Romney argued that Vladimir Putin’s Russia is America’s chief geopolitical foe. In a now-embarrassing display of sanctimony and arrogance, President Barack Obama dismissed Romney as a benighted Cold War revivalist. “The 1980s are now calling and want their foreign policy back,” Obama sneered. Subsequent history has proved Romney to […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Donald Trump stays quiet on shooting victims, fumes over Russia
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump spent the holiday weekend hunkered down at his Florida estate, watching cable television news, grousing to club members and advisers and fuming over the investigation of Russian election meddling. In a marathon series of furious tweets from Mar-a-Lago, Trump vented about Russia, raging at the FBI […]
Posted inNation / World, News
Trump criticizes FBI for failure to probe tip on Florida shooter, says ‘too much time’ spent on Russia
President Donald Trump late Saturday night criticized the FBI for failing to act on a tip that might have prevented the recent massacre at a high school in Parkland, Florida, and said the bureau was devoting too much time to its investigation of his presidential campaign. “Very sad that the FBI missed all of the […]
Posted inNation / World
Director of National Intelligence says Russia will attempt to undermine the 2018 midterm elections
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government’s top intelligence official said on Tuesday he expects Russia to continue using propaganda, false personas and other tactics to undermine the upcoming elections. “There should be no doubt that Russia perceives its past efforts” to disrupt the 2016 presidential campaign “as a success,” and it “views the 2018 midterm elections” […]
Posted inNation / World
Russian fighters killed in attack on U.S. and Kurdish forces in Syria
[media-credit name=”Associated Press map” align=”alignleft” width=”300″][/media-credit] U.S. forces killed scores of Russian mercenaries in Syria last week in what may be the deadliest clash between citizens of the former foes since the Cold War, according to one U.S. official and three Russians familiar with the matter. More than 200 contract soldiers, mostly Russians fighting on […]