I was amused by the absurd by the faux shock expressed in headlines last week, which trumpeted the U.S. Intelligence Community backflip on its previous claim that Russia was paying the Taliban bounties to whack U.S. military personnel. Sure, it reminded me of Gilda Radner’s quirky Saturday night live character, Emily Litella, whose trademark was to do a rant about a particular issues, such as “banning violins” on TV only to be told by Chevy Chase that the word was “violence.” Dear Emily would then close with this memorable phrase, “Never Mind.”
And so it is with our pathetic, feckless intelligence community. It is a sick clown show devoid of accountability. But the Sic Semper Tyrannis and the Gateway Pundit were calling bullshit on the so-called intelligence from the outset last summer. Here are the links to two of those articles:
Larry:
Didn’t you used to be one of those VERY important people who risked their lives daily for America – per the PR image that the “intelligence” agencies and their media lackeys have pushed on the public?
Nope. I was an analyst safely hidden away in a cubicle.
Ah, middle name Dilbert!
TV
As LJ says he was always an analyst.
My point was that the IC and their media shills are always setting up EVERY person in every “intelligence” agency (from the janitor to the Congressional liaison) is out there playing James Bond.
Russian and Bielorrussian outlets are claiming a foiled attempted coup/assesination against Lukashenko – https://www.google.com/amp/s/tass.com/world/1279447/amp
Some sources putting the U.S behind this. With all the current diplomatic expulsiones and the situation in Ukraine – there is increasing talk of war in many of the online communities I visit for information. I wonder what is the committees view on the overall situation.
Biden, or Kamala, or whoever among the borg is drafting Executive orders, used the Afghanistan “bounties” to impose sanctions on Russia on the 15th:
“The Administration is responding to the reports that Russia encouraged Taliban attacks against U.S. and coalition personnel in Afghanistan based on the best assessments from the Intelligence Community (IC). ”
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/15/fact-sheet-imposing-costs-for-harmful-foreign-activities-by-the-russian-government/
I believe that immediate blew up in their faces when Putin responded.
1.They have revoked a 1992 agreement with the United States on free movement of their diplomats around the Russian Federation; they will now be limited to 25 miles, as in the days of the Soviet Union.
2. They are now prohibiting the US diplomatic missions to hire Russians or third country nationals to work for them.
3. The Russians are ordering the closing of US Government sponsored NGOs and foundations, which they say are conducting subversive activities on Russian soil.
https://original.antiwar.com/gilbert_doctorow/2021/04/16/bombast-from-washington-joe-bidens-russia-sanctions/
Congradulations to the Republicans though, for not even bothering to ask Victoria Nuland, confirmed with only 20 opposition votes, what her role was in pushing the Steele Dossier.
Warning: put on your tinfoil hats.
1. Administration says this about bounties, same day Int walks the story back
2. “Biden”refers to Pres Clutin, official transcript includes that and other hesitations.
Are they polishing up Art 25?
BTW — we’re all going to get tired of this PDQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdWtGwWeyrs
So “Legacy of Ashes” was non-fiction after all.
There are really two relevant actors here: the media and the IC.
As to the fake “Russian bounties” story,
Fox News has two excellent analyses of how the media hyped that single-sourced allegation:
from Tucker Carlson:
https://youtu.be/0HCFv6CX2H8
from Fox’s news team, featuring former WH press secretary Kayleigh McEnany:
https://youtu.be/RNc9h8aFU2o
On the IC, there are real and grave concerns about how it is becoming politicized into spying on, and damaging, Americans who resist the PC party line.
See the many posts from Sundance on this subject linked to here:
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2021/04/18/sunday-talks-devin-nunes-outlines-how-leftist-democrats-are-helping-china-and-intelligence-community-now-openly-spying-on-american-citizens/
To me the most depressing aspect of this sordid episode wasn’t the idea that the US Intelligence Community knowingly peddled a false story.
Par for the course.
What depressed me was the inability of a single mainstream reporter to show even the slightest skepticism towards a story that so obviously failed the sniff-test.
Stenographers all, apparently.
And a nagging thought keeps bugging me; if the Russians weren’t paying a bounty to the Afghans then who, exactly, really was supplying the wads of money that were sloshing around in Taliban pockets?
The prime suspect has to be the people who were so insistent on pointing the finger at the Russians.
You know, the CIA.
Opium money I’d bet.
Roberto
Oh, bullshit. Get lost!
Yeah Right, or our best buddies, the Saudi’s…
If the US IC was carrying water for the Saudi’s then wouldn’t there be a little more…. uniformity from them?
The CIA alone expressed high confidence in the claim, all the other three-letter-agencies were cold on this, and always were.
So either the story was spun to cover up wrongdoing by the CIA, or by the CIA to cover up wrongdoing by the Saudis. Either way, it amounts to the CIA knowingly risking a war with Russia to cover up the purpose of that money.
But, again, I find it astonishing that nobody in the MSM is asking what seems to me to be obvious questions: if this isn’t Russian dirty money then where did it come from? And how dirty is it?
Incompetent unaccountable dullard agencies while being much closer to the truth
Doesn’t sound as important.
I start at the point of view that anything the MSM media releases from secret police agencies is completely false and like to be the exact opposite of “the truth”.
World make a lot more sense that way.
Oh
How is that Barr Durham investigation going?
I suppose that, to believe the “Russian bounties ZOMG” fairy tale, one must believe that Afghans will attack invaders only if paid to do so.
Not only that, but judging from reported NATO casualty levels in recent years, the Afghans aren’t very good at attacking those invaders, even when they get paid to do so by the piece. How Russia would determine who is entitled to a bounty for a killing is also left unsaid.
If that were not enough, one must also believe that “Russia” is incredibly reckless and short-sighted, paying Afghans to do the one thing that would make it politically impossible for the United States to leave Afghanistan. Not to mention guarantied to result in all sorts of bad consequences for Russia, all for very little gain.
Smacks of Syria ZOMG nerve gas ZOMG, in which one must believe that, just as he is on the cusp of winning, Assad would do the one thing that would guarantee an American attack and that American troops would never leave. And that he did this twice.
The first time we discussed this Fakebot found an enlightening article on thegreyzone.com and quoted the following:
The Times reported first on June 28, then again on June 30, that a large amount of cash found at a “Taliban outpost” or a “Taliban site” had led U.S. intelligence to suspect the Russian plot. But the Times had to walk that claim back, revealing on July 1 that the raid that turned up $500,000 in cash had in fact targeted the Kabul home of Rahmatullah Azizi, an Afghan businessmen said to have been involved in both drug trafficking and contracting for part of the billions of dollars the United States spent on construction projects.
…
The information provided by “captured militants and criminals” under “interrogation” had been the main source of suspicion of a Russian bounty scheme in Afghanistan. But those “militants and criminals” turned out to be thirteen relatives and business associates of the businessman whose house was raided.
…
those raids had actually been carried out exclusively by the Afghan intelligence service known as the National Directorate of Security (NDS).
The article claimed this was an NDS scam.
“the core elements of the story appear to have been fabricated by Afghan government intelligence to derail a potential US troop withdrawal from the country. And they were leaked to the Times and other outlets by US national security state officials who shared an agenda with their Afghan allies.”
Sounds like a reasonable theory to me. The CIA getting played by the NDS is certainly believable as is the CIA’s still insisting that they have low to moderate confidence in the bounty story.