The release of the Mueller Report has put television journalists in a tight spot, trying to explain why getting ‘dirt’ on an opponent is not ok when it comes from a country’s ‘adversary’. Meet the Press’s Chuck Todd tried over and over to get Donald Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to admit that it was somehow morally wrong for the 2016 campaign to have accepted — even requested! — ‘dirt’ on Hillary Clinton from Russia. Todd kept repeating “You’re saying it’s ok for a candidate to get dirt on his opponent from an adversary power”, but he couldn’t state clearly why it was not.
Giuliani, who is in his seventies, ended up making Todd look like a fool. The scene was repeated several times with various shills trying to silence Trump defenders. None of them could explain why information coming from a country’s ‘adversary’ had to be suspect. They grew red in the face trying to get their interlocutors to share their indignation, but were unable to create a link between the Russia’s presumed evil and the information on it might provide on Hillary Clinton.
That’s because they could not admit that Hillary Clinton was — and still is — determined to eliminate Russia as a possible threat to American hegemony — as dictated by the never-superseded National Security Doctrine drafted by Paul Wolfowitz when her husband was president. In order to explain why ‘dirt’ from Russia would be tainted, the press would have to reveal the scenario, when America’s foreign policy establishment is not yet ready to reveal their long-term goal to voters.
We’re back to the famous ‘witch-hunt’ mentality that began with the Pilgrims, made Joseph McCarthy famous, and is now being carried out against Russia. Accusations of sexual misconduct have been replaced with threats of retaliation against elementary acts of self-defense, such as making sure Russia’s one warm water naval base cannot be used by enemies, and coming to the aid of Russians living in Eastern Ukraine who are reviled by the fascists the United States installed in Kiev.
P.S. Thank goodness,whatever his shortcomings may be, the newly elected President of Ukraine declared he supports the Minsk process.
Deena Stryker is an international expert, author and journalist that has been at the forefront of international politics for over thirty years. She can be reached at Otherjones. Especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
