Vanity Fair: The Story Behind the Infamous Steele Dossier on the Trump-Putin Connection

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1. GregB says:

   April 3, 2017 at 1:16 pm

   Ooo, that last line of your post was cringingly vicious. Appropriate, funny, disgusting, and juvenilely profound all at the same time!

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2. Laura H. Chapman says:

   April 3, 2017 at 1:29 pm

   Also thought of spilling the beans, one bean at a time.

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3. Michael Fiorillo says:

   April 3, 2017 at 3:12 pm

   Whatever is dripping, it ain’t facts: this article is a rehash of previously made claims, none of which have been substantiated. Despite the fact that it’s treason we’re talking about, not a single solitary soul has been willing to provide one iota of proof about any of these claims.

   Strange, no? Or is the neoliberal wing of the Democratic Party also experimenting with “alternative facts?”

   In fact, this deluded attempt to maintain the power of a clueless/hopeless, corrupt Democratic Party mis-leadership, by distracting everyone with a re-heated Cold War, is already leaking air: notice how we’ve gone from hacking and spying “approved by Putin,” to oligarchs “close to Putin” trying to “cultivate” Trump.

   Well, of course Russian oligarchs would try to cultivate Trump: they probably see him as an easy mark, or at the very least someone who was useful to them. And do these “Putin Oligarchs” have occult powers, that they were able to see into the future and know that Trump would be President, or were they doing what oligarchs are busy doing in recent years, which is laundering their ill-gotten gains via luxury real estate in cities like NY?

   Denial is a powerful force, but reality eventually asserts itself. Apparently, for the Democratic party, that reality will not be fully asserted until the Repugs control all three branches of government and all fifty state governments.

   Keep it up, Dims: there’s some County Supervisor seats the Republicans don’t have yet.

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   • Duane E Swacker says:

     April 3, 2017 at 3:59 pm

     YEP! See also: http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/03/31/the-russia-hacking-fiasco-no-evidence-required/

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   • Dienne says:

     April 3, 2017 at 4:18 pm

     And see also: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/taibbi-putin-derangement-syndrome-arrives-w474771?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=daily&utm_campaign=040317_15

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     • dianeravitch says:

       April 3, 2017 at 5:39 pm

       Are you referring to Adam Schiff?

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     • Dienne says:

       April 3, 2017 at 7:21 pm

       I’m not referring to anyone. You’ll have to talk to Matt Taibbi (whom, incidentally, you yourself have in the past promoted on the Trump-Russia issue).

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     • Michael Fiorillo says:

       April 4, 2017 at 6:14 am

       Not only that, but Taibbi worked as a reporter in Russia for years, and had to leave because of intimidation from the Putin government. It’s thus a little harder to accuse him of being a Russian dupe.

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     • dianeravitch says:

       April 4, 2017 at 1:04 pm

       Michael, your skepticism should run both ways.

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     • Michael Fiorillo says:

       April 4, 2017 at 2:15 pm

       I don’t follow your point, Diane. Please explain.

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   • GregB says:

     April 3, 2017 at 5:25 pm

     Nope, not yet:

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     • dienne77 says:

       April 3, 2017 at 7:48 pm

       Is this supposed to be convincing: “It is absolutely clear that the Russians did interfere in our election. This is not a debatable issue. This is not fake news. This is not a witch hunt. This happened.”?

       Because, really, saying something firmly, even adamantly, doesn’t make it any more believable. If that were the case, your average 5-year-old would be the most believable person on the planet.

       What we’ve been asking for all along – and have not yet gotten – is evidence. If you have any – besides “17 intelligence agencies say so”, I’m all ears.

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     • GregB says:

       April 3, 2017 at 10:55 pm

       So you’re saying that Adam Schiff, John McCain and Mark Warner–who have seen more information of which we are privy– are all lying?

       Have you applied for Russian citizenship yet?

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     • GregB says:

       April 3, 2017 at 10:58 pm

       I forgot to add Richard Burr. Not sure when the application deadline is for Russian citizenship is, however.

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     • Michael Fiorillo says:

       April 4, 2017 at 7:22 am

       To repeat: if true, then we’re talking about treason here, so where are the facts?

       Please excuse my pre-emptive skepticism in expectation of being told that would “compromise sources:” if US democracy was undermined by a conspiracy with a foreign power, then you’d think the intelligence agencies would be quick to supply the facts in such a way that classified/vulnerable sources would be shielded. Where are they? So far, we’ve received nothing but wild, and shifting, accusations. Those asking for facts are reflexively accused of being Russian agents or dupes. It would make Tailgunner Joe McCarthy and his shitheel assistant (and, ironically, Trump’s lawyer and mentor), Roy Cohn, proud.

       The real drip, drip, drip is the increasingly negative utility (in other word, bad politics, based on magical thinking) of relying on this story to get rid of Trump, since the lack of proof does nothing but help Trump’s attempts to demonize the media. There’s only so many times you can cry wolf before people just turn off.

       Consider the pathetic and embarrassing spectacle of Rachel Maddow hyping her “expose” of Trump’s taxes a few weeks ago: after all the hyper-ventilating, the takeaway was… that Trump “paid” his taxes. As a result, if/when there is some real dirt exposed about Trump’s tax returns, much of it will be discounted in people’s minds because of her (and using her as a proxy for the mis-leadership of the Democratic party), stupid over-selling of her report.

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4. R.S. McAlary says:

   April 3, 2017 at 4:42 pm

   The following is a quote that was taped to the lectern in the building at Fort Devens, MA, where we Russian linguists would go to play Scrabble (in Russian), along with other language-building games. I was stationed at Devens in the winter of 1990. Please share far and wide if you are so inclined.
   The quote below is a summation of Manuilsky’s views as cited by Joseph Z. Kornfeder, a former communist and a student of the Lenin School of Political Warfare in 1930 (American Mercury, July 1963.) Go ahead – let your guard down because you care more about party than country. It may not be a communist/capitalist battle at this point, but it is a battle nonetheless.

   “War to the hilt between communism and capitalism is inevitable. Today, of course, we are not strong enough to attack. Our time will come in 20 to 30 years. To win, we shall need the element of surprise. The bourgeoisie will have to be put to sleep. So we shall begin by launching the most spectacular peace movement on record. There will be electrifying overtures and unheard-of concessions. The capitalist countries, stupid and decadent, will rejoice to cooperate in their own destruction. They will leap at another chance to be friends. As soon as their guard is down, we shall smash them with our clenched fist.”

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   • Duane E Swacker says:

     April 4, 2017 at 11:16 am

     And that comment by Kornfeder relate to today’s reality in what fashion?

     A fancy source does not a good argument make.

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5. Cheryl says:

   April 3, 2017 at 9:28 pm

   Connect the dots… The Chicago Suntimes just posted a story:

   “The officials said Prince presented himself as an unofficial envoy for the president-elect to high-ranking Emiratis involved in setting up his meeting with the Putin confidant, the Post reported.”

   http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/trump-campaign-adviser-met-with-russian-intel-operative/

   As more evidence is ‘leaked’ follow the money and the meetings. DT is in trouble and he is trying to get people to look elsewhere for wrong doing. Anything to get the story away from him.

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   • Michael Fiorillo says:

     April 4, 2017 at 2:33 pm

     If you’re hoping for a miracle, which is that this Russia story will be some kind of deus ex machina that disposes of Trump for us (Hello, President Pence!), you’ll have to do better than this, because according to the article, Prince was trying to get the Russians to do something (betray Iran) that is not in their interest and that they will not do.

     The article quotes a former Obama official who says these things – having private citizens conduct meetings for reason of deniability – happen all the time. His beef with the meeting was that its purpose was preposterously unfeasible, being so clearly against Russian policy and geo-political realities.

     The Russians may well have had valid reasons, from their perspective, to support Trump for President, especially given the two candidates public statements about Russia, but this article does nothing whatever to substantiate those allegations, even indirectly. It simply reports that the Trump administration used a private citizen, however despicable he may be, as a back channel to try to get the Russians to do something they won’t do.

     Still waiting for that smoking gun…

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