Often the official press releases are too revealing, not regarding what they want you to think, but the true message – the real intention, acting as a smokescreen for what is to come, and if you think you saw rampant vote rigging and elections irregularities the last time around during the 2020 US president election, just sit back, get some popcorn, as the ultimate vote rigging is just around the corner.
In late August, notice the timing, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released the following statement joint statement on Iranian Election Influence Efforts:
“Iran seeks to stoke discord and undermine confidence in US democratic institutions. Iran has furthermore demonstrated a longstanding interest in exploiting societal tensions through various means, including through the use of cyber operations to attempt to gain access to sensitive information related to U.S. elections”
Are Iranians clever enough to do this? Here we go again, last time it was the Russians being scapegoated! From what I remember reading, the Russians want Trump and the Iranians don’t so maybe they’ll cancel out each other.
Furthermore, the statement, which is real, claims that those organizations have observed increasingly aggressive Iranian activity during this election cycle, specifically involving influence operations targeting the American public, and cyber operations targeting Presidential campaigns. And even mention is made that this “includes the recently reported activities to compromise former President Trump’s campaign” which the Intelligence Community attributes to Iran
Made in the USA?
It would be better advice to look at domestic interference, and efforts to defect what is really going on, or can happen, starting from domestic influences which were alleged during the last presidential election. That election, because of questionable polling and media manipulation, was too close to call and went the opposite direction from what exit polls indicated, as to who should have remained in the White House with a level playing field.
The press release claims that government agencies are tracking these activities, working to stop them, and urging everyone involved in elections to take extra precautions to protect themselves from cyber threats. The main purpose of the statement is to inform the public about these threats and emphasize the importance of protecting the integrity of U.S. elections from foreign interference.
Whenever the IC says it is confident of something is when I start squirming: “The [intelligence community] is confident that the Iranians have, through social engineering and other efforts, sought access to individuals with direct access to the presidential campaigns of both political parties.”
Donald Trump also admits, or wants to associate, some of the problems with documents being leaked from his campaign to Iran or other foreign intelligence assets. In a statement to CNN, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung is reported to have said, “These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States, intended to interfere with the 2024 election.”
This all reminds me of Julian Assange and the possibility that much of what was leaked was only too convenient, and sanctioned by the highest level in the US government, and he ended up tossed aside by the same players that he benefited the most.
Nonetheless, timing is everything, no matter what the ledger of guilt and innocence reads, and for mass consumption, to support, fight against, or to distract the voting population from the real issues. It must not be forgotten, as memories are too short, how Hillary Clinton, ended up running for President and then losing, which was shocking to the pundits, and how in 2016, just days before the Democratic National Convention, WikiLeaks published almost 20,000 emails from the Democratic National Committee server.
Always a Scapegoat of Convenience
Those emails included comments from DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, as reported by CNN, which suggested the committee was improperly favoring Hillary Clinton over Sen. Bernie Sanders in the primary. Wasserman Schultz resigned in the aftermath of the leak. Officials later said they thought the cyberattack was linked to Russia.
You would think that Freedom House or other like-minded organizations would really want to weigh in on such leaks of convenience, the subsequent “name-calling”, recriminations and mud-slinging in the wake thereof, however, they are too preoccupied with conferences that are focused upon bringing together international democracy experts and civil society leaders to discuss global democratic trends, the impact of technology and media, and grassroots efforts in supporting democratic practices—mostly in retrospect.
One would hope, if not outside of their charter or mandate, or counter to their sources of funding, that they would focus more on “free and fair elections” or the last thereof in the so-called “developed democratic countries” that go around the world preaching to, and criticizing, governments and election authorities for there being less than free and fair elections—as if European and American elections are a Gold Standard.
Did you notice Harris’s VP candidate suggesting that free speech should be restricted? Walz was completely wrong and extreme in saying, ‘There’s no guarantee to free speech’ when it comes to ‘hate speech.’ The First Amendment generally protects all views, including those the government might label ‘hateful,’ just as much as it protects other views.
The Supreme Court has clearly stated that there is no ‘hate speech’ exception to the First Amendment. If Walz truly believes what he’s claiming, then he is essentially attacking think tanks, much of the mainstream media, MSM, by labeling certain opinions as misinformation, as well as the American public in general.
Free Speech vs. Inability to Speak
Free speech is one thing and the inability to speak, or openly debate in a democratic society is another, as reflected by Harris, for her refusal to give interviews and openly debate the topics of pressing concern to the American people, as her handlers know that this would not present her in the best light. Harris has not been voted for, has not debated, and has not even taken an interview. The Democratic process has been usurped.
Nothing represents this better than Kamala’s refusal to have any form of press conference over the last 33 days since her anointment (we can’t say election, after all) as the Democrat candidate. It has gotten so ridiculous, that even the US media, basically now a functioning arm of the Democrat party, can no longer ignore it. This has led to the situation where Kamala’s campaign manager has been ignoring direct questions about when the presidential candidate will make a press conference.
There seems to be a growing crowd of those who are willing to shut down or threaten those who exercise free speech, especially those who have a mass following. For instance, Alexander Vindman who recently said, based on the title of the article, that Elon Musk should be ‘nervous’ after Telegram’s CEO was arrested: ‘Free speech absolutists weirdos’
Vindman, who is best known for having immigrated to the US based on claimed Jewish roots and having been a key witness in the impeachment trial against former President Donald Trump, issued a warning to Elon Musk on Sunday after Telegram messaging app CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France for his unwillingness to cave into those who want to restrict free speech, government, and the various agencies as already mentioned in this article.
He is also noted as one of the 4-hire warmongers for getting America deeply involved in the proxy war in Ukraine against the Russian Federation
The worst of it is that Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of Telegram, only had an arrest warrant issued for his detention by France a few minutes before his private plane touched down, there is evidence that he attempted to divert his flight on learning of the warrant, but a change in direction was reversed, and he is now in custody.
The affair has exposed the efforts by western, particularly US, intelligence agencies to insert “back doors” in Telegram, as one would assume has already been done in other online messaging apps, and his arrest seems to be in revenge for his resistance. It is also interesting to note that Durov left Russia in 2018, and was applauded for doing so, precisely because he refused to allow the FSB to do the same.
Another case of western hypocrisy
As is the French President’s failure to appoint a new government, or recognize the results of the French election.
What seems obvious now, is that western intelligence services are the ones manipulating the media and indulging in the dissemination of “fake news” (The Steele dossier) and suppression of the truth (Hillary’s illegal email server, Hunter Biden’s laptop, etc.) in order to influence and cheat the election process, sincere voters, and ensure their puppets are elected—at least in appearance.
One can only hope that the American public is not buying their snake oil.
Henry Kamens, columnist, expert on Central Asia and Caucasus, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”