Authoritative Putin Think Tank Could Not Choose Between Clinton and Trump

A Reuter’s exclusive cites seven anonymous “informed sources” with access to the “confidential” reports of the Moscow-based Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (RISS). Reuters claims that these reports “provided the framework and rationale” for the Kremlin’s “intensive effort …. to swing the 2016 U.S. presidential election to Donald Trump and undermine voters’ faith in the American electoral system.” My own reading of RISS published reports (in Russian) finds that RISS’s experts were ambiguous on which candidate to favor, despite the US intelligence community’s conclusion” that “Putin, his advisers, and the Russian Government developed a clear preference [my italics] for President-elect Trump over Secretary Clinton,”

Putin’s spokesman denied the Reuters claims during a regular press briefing and cautioned that “seven anonymous sources are not worth one real one.”

RISS is indeed an authoritative Russian think tank, headed by top security veterans and staffed by qualified senior researchers. RISS maintains an active working paper and publication series and has its own TV interview network. RISS’s evaluation of candidates Clinton and Trump could therefore provide a glimpse into Putin’s own thinking.    

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Truckers' Strike Pits The People Against The Kremlin

The platon strike is a significant battle of wills between the Kremlin and Russia’s working class. The long-haul trucker strike offers a model of how to fight the “monster” of the Putin political system, which teaches ordinary Russians that it is useless to struggle. If the Kremlin backs down and withdraws the tax, the Russian people may see that resistance can work.


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Putin Applies MH17 False-Flag Template To Syria's Gas Attack To Convince Russian Public

If Putin can convince his people that Russian missiles did not shoot down MH17, he can even more easily convince his domestic audience that client Bashar Assad  is being framed by a sinister false-flag operation mounted by the CIA, NATO, ISIS and hostile Sunnis -- all in cahoots against the innocent Syrian dictator. Putin may even be joined the the vast community of Trump haters, who are ready to believe that Trump (and Putin) are somehow behind the gassing of Syrian innocents.

Get ready for another round of crazy conspiracy theories, which serve Putin's goal of blaming powers other than Russian and Syria for the barbarism at Idlibe.


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The Kremlin Claims Trump Has Joined The Terrorists With An Invented WMD Excuse To Strike Syria

President Trump's decision to launch missiles against a Syrian air base suspected of launching a chemical weapons attack on civilians has placed the Putin regime in a tenuous position. Few would object to punishing a sarin attack on innocent children, just as reasonable people would want those who shot down MH17 brought to justice. With Assad as a key client, Putin does not have a good comeback. He can only create smokescreens that he knows the world will reject but he hopes his own people will swallow.

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Our Politics Has Given Putin The Weapon To Create A Constitutional Crisis

Knowing Putin, he will wait for the right moment to say without offering any proof: “Of course, it was decided that I'd help Mr. Trump win. He is a good man, and I knew that he would do a far better job than Hillary. I did this to help both our countries." Russian journalists are already speculating what words he will use. 

Putin has the leverage, thanks to our politics, to throw the US into a constitutional crisis. Thank you, political class. Remember my words when Putin pulls this rabbit out of his hat.

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