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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNoam Chomsky on Russiagate
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/4/18/chomsky_by_focusing_on_russia_democratsThe Velveteen Ocelot
(116,032 posts)Bob Mueller, after extensive investigation, would beg to differ.
PSPS
(13,647 posts)Last edited Mon Apr 22, 2019, 02:53 PM - Edit history (1)
Trump solicited and received huge sums of dark money from foreign nationals, including russians. Some funneled through secret groups, some funneled through other avenues like the NRA. All of this is illegal. Trump's bizarre but consistent deference to putin indicates russia is his biggest benefactor here.
Chomsky also dismisses the effect of social media and that could be due his age. He only needs to look at the effect social media plays in the "yellow vest protests" in France to see how that works.
samplegirl
(11,530 posts)Russia is preparing now for 2020 and there is
no shortage of the stupid populous!
jalan48
(13,921 posts)"And, in fact, theres no interference in elections that begins to compare with campaign funding. Remember that campaign funding alone gives you a very high prediction of electoral outcome. Its, again, Tom Fergusons major work which has shown this very persuasively. Thats massive interference in elections.
The Democrats invested everything in this issue.(Russia) Well, turned out there was nothing much there. They gave Trump a huge gift. In fact, they may have handed him the next election. Thats just athats a matter of being so unwilling to deal with fundamental issues, that theyre looking for something on the side that will somehow give political success. The real issues are different things. Theyre things like climate change, like global warming, like the Nuclear Posture Review, deregulation. These are real issues. But the Democrats arent going after those. Theyre looking for something else.."
The Velveteen Ocelot
(116,032 posts)and continues to be. The reason the Dems keep talking about it isn't just because the Russians helped Trump (whether or not there was sufficient evidence of the federal crime of conspiracy) but because Trump's government continues to refuse to address the problem at all. It's possible to consider climate change, health care, etc., while at the same time tackling the very real problem of cyber attacks on our election system, which remains completely vulnerable. Chomsky is just another apologist for the Russians (and sometimes Trump) like Glenn Greenwald, who for reasons best known to them don't want to acknowledge that this is going on.
jalan48
(13,921 posts)laundering, not Russian interference in out elections. As Chomsky points out,
And, I should say, the Democrats are helping him. They are. Take the focus on Russiagate. Whats that all about? I mean, it was pretty obvious at the beginning that youre not going to find anything very serious about Russian interference in elections. I mean, for one thing, its undetectable. I mean, in the 2016 election, the Senate and the House went the same way as the executive, but nobody claims there was Russian interference there. In fact, you know, Russian interference in the election, if it existed, was very slight, much less, say, than interference by, say, Israel. Israel, the prime minister, Netanyahu, goes to Congress and talks to a joint session of Congress, without even informing the White House, to attack Obamas policies. I mean, thats dramatic interference with elections.
anarch
(6,535 posts)But I do think Chomsky underestimates the extent of the corruption and misdeeds involved.
lapucelle
(18,419 posts)It's terrible to see him exploited like this.
mahina
(17,778 posts)Hawk anti-abortion, xenophobia and guns to the people
to get elected but work for the 1% with tax cuts and deregulation.
Its not news but he summarized it well.
He may be one of the only people who could say that focusing on the Russian aspect could have cost to us politically, whom I wouldnt suspect of shilling for the right.
triron
(22,031 posts)mahina
(17,778 posts)Charmed.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)And what the hell happened to Democracy Now?
maxsolomon
(33,475 posts)They're both opposed to the "Deep State" and understand how it actually works (not how Trump or Bannon think).
Noam is 90.
Neither he nor Greenwald have anything but Analysis to offer. No synthesis, no realpolitik suggestions for how to move forward.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Pierre Omdiyar gave him TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS to build his own media empire. Even a brain-dead coward like Greenwald could have started his own cable news network with that kind of jack...
triron
(22,031 posts)He is a very smart man but his statements about Russian interference are assinine.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)intelligent man knowingly spouts something he knows to not be true?