By JC
Thus spoke President Obama in his outgoing way. Actually and literally going out, as in leaving office in less than a month. So let’s all remember that the politics of fear is being ingrained into the populace by our dearly departing Democrat administration and all of its neocon/liberal interventionists as a way to poison future relations with Russia and other countries.
It is tantamount to throwing a temper tantrum in the West Wing — burning the furniture, scattering files, and scrambling contact info in an attempt to muddy the waters the incoming foreign policy and national security teams will have to wallow in. And that is dangerous for all of us who have to live through the next 4 years with a foreign policy that has yet to take any form, other than a few twittered one-liners.
George W. Bush applied these fear-based tactics right after he entered office, and used them to lie his way into starting a needless war, and to coast through 8 years of horrendous foreign policy: you’re either with us or you’re with the enemy.
Hillary Clinton would have continued to use similar tactics (can you say “no fly zone in Syria”) to ice another 8 years of Clintonism. This would have brought the total to potentially 32 years of interventionist foreign policy, as Bush’s foreign policy (Doctrine of Preemption) was but a continuation of the path that Bill Clinton set forth (building on Reagan and G.H.W. Bush’s return to publicly acceptable warfare after the Vietnam debacle), and that Barack Obama was afraid to derail as he tiptoed into office.
Of course people will say, but there is evidence! Well, to quote the DHS, there is a hefty “as is” disclaimer on the accompanying report:
This report is provided “as is” for informational purposes only. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not provide any warranties of any kind regarding any information contained within. DHS does not endorse any commercial product or service referenced in this advisory or otherwise.
In other words, buyer beware. Evidence not included. Propaganda alert! Here is a link to the full DHS report. Have at it. Couple of caveats, this report will undoubtedly be used by Russia as reason to illuminate our cyber espionage on other countries and elections in retaliation.
It used to be that when you heard words like “for informational purposes only” it was associated with a game not intended to be taken seriously (i.e. “for entertainment purposes only”). So we are led to believe that our sanctions and actions are publicly legitimized by a nebulous “for informational purposes only” document, yet behind the scenes are real actions of state, or declarations of cyber war that are based on what evidential fact?
The chasm between evidence and material provided “for informational purposes only” is vast. I am reminded of Colin Powell selling Bush’s lies to the U.N. in preparation for going to war on Iraq. And the hypocrisy here is breathtaking — surely the exceptional country is the only one allowed to engage in cyber electoral warfare or regime change!
But undoubtedly Obama’s actions are intended to hamstring Trump, and give the official “conspiracy theory” about how and why Hillary Clinton lost the election the White House’s seal of approval. The “facts” have been created or mangled, stories have been planted in the mainstream media, and the Ministry of Truth’s paid op-ed writers are getting to work churning out the pablum dictated by the new “Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act” that snuck through Obama’s office on Christmas Eve (now there’s a lump of coal for you!).
And as to there still being almost 4 weeks till Trump’s inauguration, many more land mines will be laid in the fields of opportunity that we call “foreign policy.” The trip wires are being installed, invisible red lines drawn, threats uttered behind closed doors, and covert actions taken. Unfortunately, many of these will only be discovered when they are leaked by whistleblowers, extracted by hackers, or have been actualized and set irreversible and public actions in motion.
Obama has turned his sham interventionist foreign policy into a nuclear hot potato for an incompetent Commander in Chief CEO and board of execs and generals to handle. The tools of fascism handed to Obama by Bush, Cheney & Co, and Bill Clinton have been carefully nurtured and expanded. Now we get to see what the real crazies get to do with them.