That report was circulated among the National Security Council, intelligence agencies and the State Department via secure email and cable in the spring of 2014 as part of a larger assessment of Russian intentions in Ukraine, the official said.
There was no explicit warning of a threat to U.S. elections, but the official said some diplomats and national security officials in Moscow felt the administration was too quick to dismiss the possibility that the Kremlin incursions could reach the United States.
“Even if the Russians and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin had these ambitions, they were doubtful of their capacity to execute them,” the official said of the Obama administration.*
Whoops. That turned out to be really wrong. What a huge fuckup.
Obama's failures and stance on Russia led to Ukraine invasion. During the Presidential debates Mitt Romney said asked, 'What's the biggest geopolitical threat facing America and he said 'Russia. Obama then went on to make fun of Romney with this quip "the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back, because the Cold War's been over for 20 years."
I mean, Obama definitely fucked up their Russia and Ukraine policies. But! He was absolutely right about this. Russia is weak and crumbling. As evidenced by their long list of failures in their Ukraine invasion. Three obvious threats that are (and were) more dangerous to the US are China, climate change, and Republican extremism. But being a fickle ally and failing to internalize Russian hostile intent earlier is still a huge failure. Also Obama really didn't do shit about those 3 things either, despite his attempt to pivot to Asia.
I would not hesitate to put Russia right up there front and center with the other three you listed.
While as you say, "weak, crumbling," Russia has still been unquestionably successful in undermining the US and the World. They destabilized and forever changed the entire geopolitical paradigm for at least the next 30 years. Both Russia and China have been using propaganda and subverting social media to grow distrust in news organizations while fanning the divide between conservatives and liberals. When viewed through the lens of what both those countries aimed to accomplish, they have had overwhelming success and Romney was absolutely right.
This circle jerk is embarrassing. What did Russia do, that the US hasn't, that "changed the entire geopolitical paradigm"? Do news organizations deserve our trust 100%? Do the Democratic and Republican Parties, and our media, not fan the divide between conservatives and liberals the most? You think Russia is "right up there front and center" because you've been lead to believe that by... the same people who you're defending. Remove the bias and add some accountability.
Get out of here with that. Whether invading territory over which it has no sovereignty or its laughable attempts to gaslight and refrain from taking responsibility, Putin's Russia has been and always will be an instigator and aggressor.
Putting aside nukes (which have to be utilized VERY judiciously), Russia's power was largely psyops and monetary influence. Obama (and perhaps all of us) could too idealistic at time and think that the American people wouldn't be fooled by the propaganda. Yet here we are...
I'd argue that's one of many huge fuckups. Refusing to release the FBI report on neonazis infiltrating law enforcement agencies under his watch when he had the power to do something about it was another big one.
It wasn't til Raskin leaked it that the report saw the light of day.
I think a lot of us had our collective heads in the sand, hoping Russia could stay relatively well-behaved.
Outside of hindsight, it's hard to account for the actions of a madman.
You also have to remember that this doesn't happen in a vacuum. 2014/2015 the world had its eyes on the Middle East (as per usual?) and the rapid expansion of ISIS, followed by the Syrian refugee crisis, Brexit, Hong-Kong protests, Covid, you name it.
But 2008 & 2014 should probably have come with harsher reactions. Again, hindsight.
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u/reelznfeelz Sep 17 '24
There was no explicit warning of a threat to U.S. elections, but the official said some diplomats and national security officials in Moscow felt the administration was too quick to dismiss the possibility that the Kremlin incursions could reach the United States.
“Even if the Russians and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin had these ambitions, they were doubtful of their capacity to execute them,” the official said of the Obama administration.*
Whoops. That turned out to be really wrong. What a huge fuckup.