McCain, Graham call for greater sanctions against Russia

MSN ^ | January 8, 2017 | Erin Kelly

[Trump20162020]

WASHINGTON — Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham pushed Sunday for greater sanctions against Russia for trying to influence the U.S. election and said President-elect Donald Trump is in danger of being in conflict with congressional Republicans if he doesn't get tougher on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The two senators, in a joint interview on Meet the Press, also said the U.S. intelligence community's evidence of Russian interference during the American presidential campaign is overwhelming, and that Trump should accept those findings.

"You can't go on with your life as a democracy when a foreign entity is trying to compromise the election process," said Graham of South Carolina. "So Mr. President-elect, it is very important that you show leadership here. Let me say this: if after having been briefed by intelligence leaders, Donald Trump is still unsure as to what the Russians did, that would be incredibly unnerving to me because the evidence is overwhelming. All I'm asking him is to acknowledge that Russia interfered, and push back."

[ETL]

Senator Jeff Sessions on Putin...

March 26, 2015

Interview with Jeff Sessions: U.S. and Europe "Have to Unify" Against Russia

excerpt...

What do you expect next from Russia?

Sessions: Well, there's a danger that they may continue this overreach. They just solidified power in Georgia, in South Ossetia. That was I think in the last week. Pressure is still on Ukraine. We don't know whether the Minsk Agreement will hold, I don't think it's holding very well now.

We have the Estonians, the Lithuanians, the Romanians, they're very worried. This is reality, I wish it weren't, but I'm afraid it is. It needs to be clear that Russia knows that there will be a high price to pay if this behavior continues.

If Minsk breaks down, at what point does the president have to act and supply Ukraine with lethal weaponry? What is the breaking point? We know from what Victoria Nuland said that the administration hasn't decided yet.

Sessions: From what I understand from this conference, I think it's clear that Germany has said publicly that they will support harsher sanctions and more military support if the Minsk Agreement fails. And that will be key.

Merkel has worked very very hard to establish a relationship with Putin and Russia. It's been a good-faith effort. If it fails, I would hope that Europe and the United States would have to unify and push back more firmly against Russian overreach. ..."

http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2015/03/interview_with_jeff_sessions_us_and_europe_have_to_unify_against_russia_111076.html

or,

https://web.archive.org/web/20150709024356/http://www.realclearworld.com/blog/2015/03/interview_with_jeff_sessions_us_and_europe_have_to_unify_against_russia_111076.html

--------------------------------------------------------------

"In a Montgomery speech in March 2014...he [Sen Jeff Sessions] called for international scorn toward Russia for its aggressive actions in Ukraine and, before then, Georgia.

"I believe a systematic effort should be undertaken so that Russia feels pain for this," Sessions said then. "Because if you don't act now to make some sanctions against Russia then why will they believe in the future that we're going to impose sanctions or do anything aggressive if they move forward to take all of Ukraine, all of Georgia?""

Sessions, not that long ago, was calling for more sanctions against an expansionist Russia that was rattling U.S. allies in Europe. And he regularly blamed the Obama administration for what he argued was an overly optimistic and weak foreign policy, including a decision to scale back planned missile defense sites in the Czech Republic and Poland.

“There’s no good solution now. The bottle of milk has shattered on the floor and you can’t put it back together,” the Alabama senator said about relations with Russia in the aftermath of the annexation of Crimea.

Sessions has also pointed to Russia’s record as justification for a robust missile defense system, which has deep roots in north Alabama.

“Russia’s recent actions in Georgia remind us that country, which we once hoped was on a path to greater integration into the global world community, might again be seeking to restore old Soviet ideas of dominance throughout their neighbors and in Eastern Europe, all of which should serve as a motivation to move ahead with the necessary capabilities to defend ourselves and our allies from missile attack, in particular,” Sessions said on the Senate floor in 2008.

Two years later, Sessions voted against the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia, in part because he thought Obama conceded too much ground to the Russians.

“Just signing an agreement on a piece of paper does not create security,” Sessions said. “A consistent, principled, just approach to our legitimate national defense, advocated clearly and forthrightly without misunderstanding, is the best way to have security in this dangerous world.”

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/08/15/sen-jeff-sessions-backs-donald-trump-russia-policy/88796584/

or,

https://web.archive.org/web/20161115103421/http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/08/15/sen-jeff-sessions-backs-donald-trump-russia-policy/88796584/

[aquila48]

These two morons are going to be more of a pain in the rump for Trump than the Rats.

[Defiant]

I wonder if McLame and Linda will insist we give full credence to Trump’s intelligence reports, even if they have one that says obama’s was full of crap.

[JimSEA]

If the Russians attempted to influence the election, it was by holding up a mirror of her words up for all to see. It was a look before you buy moment.

[ETL]

The media's favorite useful idiot Republicans in the U.S. Senate are at it again.

Mr Putin, what do you think of your "useful idiot"
supporters on Free Republic?

____________________________

Useful idiots

Thomas Sowell
May 20, 2003

"The term 'useful idiots' has been attributed to Lenin, as a description of those mindless people in the Western democracies who would always find ways to excuse whatever the Soviet Union did. Columnist Mona Charen's new book Useful Idiots shows that such people are still with us.

Long after the Soviet Union's horrors had become too widely known around the world for their sympathizers in the West to be able to get away with whitewashing the USSR, new Communist dictatorships arose to become the new objects of the affections of the Western intelligentsia and of like-minded people in the media and in politics. ..."

http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2003/05/20/useful_idiots

[Dogbert41]

Its way past time for those to to go through a backgrounds check for TS clearance. Somebody owns those two.

[Cobra64]

Since Pence is President elect of the Senate, he should have a conversation with McCain and Graham.

I don't know if Pence is a coward, lazy, or just another empty suit parroting whatever Trump says.

[Cobra64]

You should have had a clue three election cycles ago.

[wardamneagle]

They would of gotten schooled by Trump.
Right Graham?

[Glad2bnuts]

The PTB of this Global world Odor sure want the US to go toe to toe with the Russkies. I ain’t buying any of this.

Let’s have a Presidential term without a red line drawn as a trigger to combat. Shut off the flow of immigrants, refugees and illegals. Take care of Americas societal and structural needs, and let the world do as it will.

We don’t need to be isolationists, just leave us alone, or we will bring the wrath of hellfire on you. We will then leave you alone world. This business model of Empire mixed with organized crime/govt, is expensive and hard on our young mens lives.

[DPMD]

Give McCain back his A-4 and point him toward Russia.

[EweFunny]

Where is a couple of lightning bolts when you really need them?

[ETL]

2014

Sen. Dan Coats banned from entering Russia as retaliation for sanctions

Maureen Groppe and Aamer Madhani, Star Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON – Sen. Dan Coats’ efforts to punish Russia because of Moscow’s move to annex the Crimea region of Ukraine has gotten him banned from the country.

“While I’m disappointed that I won’t be able to go on vacation with my family in Siberia this summer, I am honored to be on this list,” the Indiana Republican said after Russia’s announcement Thursday. ...”

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2014/03/20/sen-coats-banned-entering-russia-retaliation-sanctions/6661473/
__________________________________

"President-elect Donald Trump intends to nominate former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats to serve as National Intelligence Director"

"Dan Coats of Indiana has served on the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services Committees."

[ETL]

Documents Show How Russia's Troll Army Hit America:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/maxseddon/documents-show-how-russias-troll-army-hit-america
____________________________

Kremlin pays internet trolls to flatter Putin
Ben Hoyle - Moscow
October 11 2013

Russian investigative journalists and bloggers have uncovered an army of internet trolls paid to pour invective on the Kremlin's opponents and heap praise on President Putin.

Posing as job applicants, the reporters discovered the government hacks working at a small company called the St Petersburg Internet Research Agency. ..."

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/asia/article3891720.ece
____________________________

Russian Propaganda Is Taking Over Online Comment Boards

Pamela Engel
May 4, 2014

British newspaper The Guardian notes that recently, readers have been complaining of pro-Russia propaganda being posted in the comments section of articles about Russia and Ukraine.

One reader wrote to The Guardian:

"One need only pick a Ukraine article at random, pick any point in the comments at random, and they will find themselves in a sea of incredibly aggressive and hostile users (the most obvious have accounts created since February 2014 ... but there also exist those who registered with the Guardian before the high point of the crisis) who post the most biased, inciteful [sic] pro-Kremlin, anti-western propaganda that seems as if it's taken from a template, so repetitive are the statements. Furthermore, these comments are consistently capturing inordinate numbers of 'recommends', sometimes on the order of 10 to 12 times what pro-Ukrainian comments receive."

Guardian comment moderators believe this is an orchestrated campaign.

Russia has worked hard to make people believe that the country is supporting the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine and defending those people against some type of threat. These "comment mills" play into that strategy.

Last year, The Atlantic wrote about how the Russian government apparently pays people to "sit in a room, surf the Internet, and leave sometimes hundreds of postings a day that criticize the country's opposition and promote Kremlin-backed policymakers."

This practice isn't new, according to The Atlantic. But it can stifle open discussion about political issues in Russia, giving a louder voice to those who support the Kremlin.

http://www.businessinsider.com/putin-paying-people-to-post-pro-russia-propaganda-in-comments-2014-5

[painter]

2.What’s it going to take to shut these two bums up?

Secrete intelligence report showing McCain along with Hillary Clinton behind the arming of ISIS!

[ETL]

Oct 2016

WikiLeaks Show How Clinton Campaign Chair John Podesta Became ‘Business Partners with Vladimir Putin’

“...WikiLeaks emails provide proof that the “Clintons have a long and lucrative history of financial deals with the Russians, particularly with the Russian government.”

Schweizer explained the “deep ties” the Clintons have to Russia, specifically how in 2010 then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton approved the sale and transfer of 20% of U.S. uranium output to the Russian government ...”

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/10/22/schweizer-wikileaks-show-clinton-campaign-chair-john-podesta-became-business-partners-vladimir-putin/

[ETL]

Who’s in Putin’s Pocket — Clinton or Trump? (Clinton Uranium RussiaGate scandal)

The New American ^ | August 3, 2016 | William F. Jasper

"according to some calculations, the Uranium One deal, involving top Clinton donors Frank Guistra and Ian Telfer, has transferred as much as 50 percent of projected American uranium production to Kremlin control."

***********************************************

RUSSIAGATE

Who paid Bill Clinton's $2.5 million commission & $500,000 speaking fee (US uranium to Russia)

qura.com ^ | July 27, 2016 | Sierra Spaulding

Who paid Bill Clinton's $2.5 million commission and $500k speaking fee for brokering the sale of 20% of America's uranium deposits to Russia?

You are speaking about a really interesting deal that ended up giving Vladimir Putin and the Russians control of one-fifth of all uranium production capacity in the United States.

Since uranium is considered a strategic asset, with implications for national security, the deal had to be approved by a committee composed of representatives from a number of United States government agencies. ..."

[ETL]

John Podesta’s Payoff for Helping Hillary Give American Military Technology to Russia’s Putin

Written by Bob Adelmann
Monday, 17 October, 2016

As part of just-inaugurated President Obama’s new foreign policy to improve relations between the United States and Russia, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in March 2009. Meeting in her hotel’s Salon Panorama in Geneva, she presented him with a small gift box containing a bright red button symbolizing the Obama administration’s desire to “reset” the relationship between the two governments.

Thus began an effort to transfer American technology to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s own “Silicon Valley,” called Skolkovo. In a report released in late July by the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) entitled From Russia With Money, authors Stephen Bannon and Peter Schweitzer reviewed the long sordid history of the technology transfer from companies such as Google, Intel, and Cisco of hi-tech technology with useful military applications.

The report quoted warnings from the FBI and the U.S. Army Foreign Military Studies Program at Fort Leavenworth that the transfer would work against American interests. Warned the U.S. Army:

[The “reset” would serve as] a vehicle for world-wide technology transfers to Russia in the areas of information technology, biomedicine, energy, satellite and space technology, and nuclear technology.

It was clearly a “quid pro quo” arrangement: 17 of the 28 companies involved in the technology transfer gave millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation or to Bill Clinton for giving some speeches.

When those authors, both of whom are affiliated with Breitbart News, summed up their conclusions, one question remained: “The GAI investigative report says it’s unclear how much, if any, money [John] Podesta made.” Podesta, having served the Clintons for years, first as chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and then as counselor to President Obama and finally as Hillary’s campaign chairman, deserved a payoff.

But it wasn’t clear until the latest batch of e-mails provided by WikiLeaks went public last week that Americans now know. For his efforts Podesta received thousands of shares of common and preferred stock in one of the companies involved in the transfer. The fact came to light when WikiLeaks published e-mails Podesta sent to the company ordering it to transfer his shares to a shell corporation he had created a month earlier.

The e-mails included a letter Podesta wrote to the corporate secretary of that company instructing him to retitle 33,693 shares of preferred stock to Leonidio Holdings, LLC, a corporation that Podesta (or one of his staff) created using a Corporation Service Company to hide the shares from public view.

The company that gave Podesta the stock shares, Joule Unlimited, claims to be a producer of “alternative” energy technology that will eventually be able to produce energy that will be competitive with oil priced at $50 a barrel. It was a recipient of millions of Putin’s rubles as one of the gang of companies working to transfer American technology to Russia, one of America’s enemies.

As Schweizer told the New York Post in an interview in July:

The Clintons, they get their donations and speaking fees in the millions of dollars. The Russians get access to advanced US technology. The tech companies get special access to the Russian market and workforce….

All I ask is that people look at the money. Who made the deals, who benefited from the deals?

Thanks to WikiLeaks the “people” now know the name of at least one of those who participated in the deals and how he benefited from them: John Podesta, Hillary’s campaign manager.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/item/24301-john-podesta-s-payoff-for-helping-hillary-give-american-military-technology-to-russia-s-putin

[AU72]

They have 2 votes, only need 49 more.