kanesrealm

Here's one to piss everybody off. Enjoy! Last night Barack Obama delivered his farewell address in Trump style with a big venue in Chicago with 20,000 people in attendance. I was moved only by my need to adjust my chair. I have struggled for years to figure out what it is about Barack Obama I find so uninspiring and now I know. He is like the promise of a great song. The first few bars are catchy and the last note tricks you into believing it was good but everything in between is shit. Last night it was breaking news that a two page unsubstantiated addendum was added to the classified hacking briefing given to the President and President Elect that Russia had compromising information on Donald Trump. By this morning holes the size of the moon had been shot in this story and many news organizations had refused to run with it because it was questionable. What does this so called document show? That Trump fucked a goat? Even if he did, who cares, it gets cold in Russia. Trump is ...

Donald Trump received his briefing on Russia's hacking activity from the big four intel officials of the United States. Trump said it was "constructive" and "he likes these guys", but, yes there's a but, "it didn't effect the outcome of the election". Further, Trump continues to basically not believe any of it and continues to be an advocate of Vladimir Putin. First let's state the obvious, the anger that all Americans should feel is over a foreign power deliberately attempting to interfere in our elections and the failure of the man about to become President not condemning it and calling out the actors responsible. Donald Trump is such an insecure person that the only thing he can focus on is the suggestion his Presidency is illegitimate even though that suggestion hasn't been made by anyone in government. You could certainly state as fact that Donald Trump spent eight years trying to delegitimize the Presidency of Barack Obama, you ...

Donald Trump knows things that nobody else knows about the Russian hacking of the D.N.C. and meddling in our Presidential election. Trump understands hacking and the Russians are not guilty. Trump knows more than the President of the United States, all of his intelligence agencies and federal entities combined. Thank goodness for Donald Trump and he's going to tell us everything he knows about this matter on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. Oh wait, this is Wednesday and it's almost over and no disclosures have been made by Trump. Trump is praising Julian Assange and Wikileaks, a man Trump once described as disgraceful. But hey, Julian's okay right now because he was helpful to Trump and he is saying uncategorically that the Russians did not provide Wikileaks with any hacked information, alright Julian, settle down. If you're a fan of Assange that's your prerogative but remember that all of his original partners, the ones that actually built the Wikileaks platfo...

Conflation is a favorite tactic in politics, blending together things that have no relationship and pretending that they do. Trump's sexual misconduct charges are a perfect example of this as he attempts to use Bill Clinton's past as an issue when it is Hillary Clinton he is running against. Then to illogically say that people should not consider allegations against him from ten years ago, then immediately ranting about Bill Clinton over events from forty years ago. But there are other uses of conflation that are more disturbing. Throughout social media there are attempts to join together Julian Assange, Edward Snowden and whistleblowers in general. None of these belong in the same topic. I have written about my view of Edward Snowden, he released confidential information that he legally had access to and came to believe it's proof of wrongdoing should be released to the public. A gifted lawyer could certainly assert that Snowden's actions were those of a whistleblower...

I suppose Edward Snowden has never really left the news but with the recent release of the Oliver Stone film Snowden the topic is once again abuzz. The question which gets put to the crucible always comes back to is he a traitor or a hero? In my opinion he is neither. I do not believe that he was motivated by the calculus of a traitor, which is to either enrich themselves or deliberately betray their country. He is also not a hero because a hero acts in defense of others without concern for the consequences to themselves. His release of secret information confirmed what many had long been warning about. Before he ever took his action many in Congress were criticizing the Bush Administrations data collection practices. To Bush's credit he said point blank if you don't like it, do something about it, pass laws strictly outlining what can and cannot be done. Congress did not act and the Executive Branch continued it's programs. What has happened since as a result of Snowde...

According to the masters of statistics at Google, this blog has had a surprisingly large number of views in Russia. To say I'm surprised by this is a bit of an understatement. I've written a few pieces about Russia here and some more in the past in other places. Vladimir Putin has just been ranked as the most powerful person in the world according to Forbes Magazine. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany is number 2 and President Barack Obama is number 3. I'm not quite certain how they arrive at their decision but it can't be denied that Putin is a powerful leader and one that will not be fading from the international stage anytime soon and no matter what Trump and his fellow Republicans think dealing with him is not a simple matter. You can't wag your finger in his face and say do what we tell you to do. Putin is flexing Russian military power in Syria and frankly it was an opening we handed him. This action has removed attention from the Ukraine where the reality ...

Pay close attention as I take you from nothing to something. I despise the ticker stream of blurbs that runs at the bottom of all news and alleged news programs. They often contain incorrect information, misspellings and misrepresentations. They're just plain annoying and I wish they'd go away. One of the current blurbs says Bashar Assad says the west is to blame for the refugee crisis facing Europe today. You of course know that Assad is the President of Syria and those refugees are mostly from Syria. His dad ran Syria for decades and then Bashar took over the family business. Do you know what Bashar was before? That's right, an optometrist. Know who else is an optometrist? That's right, Rand Paul. Coincidence? Absolutely. But don't let that stop you my little conspiracy theorists, fly with it, fly high. Assad actually has a point. We put up with the Assad family for many decades, turning the other way and ignoring any wrongdoing. They have always had strong ties...

Those were certainly some heavy pieces on Russia, now let's be positive. There are many wonderful things about our Kremlin friends. They have snazzy fur hats. Their military officers caps are simply stunning, one definitely detects a designer with flare is responsible but that's strictly don't ask, don't tell! They have wonderful lapel pins for their space program. Speaking of space, high above the earth the International Space Station is in orbit. Russians and Americans work side by side everyday and they don't kill each other. Of course they're our ride. Here's another outstanding Russian thing, mechanical watches. Seriously, I have many interests, hobbies and or obsessions depending on your own interpretation. I love timepieces of all kinds. In particular mechanical. The problem is aside from a traditional Timex they're generally too expensive for me. In the late 90's and early 2000 I stumbled upon Russian mechanical watches and they were unbel...

Well readers, you've just had a blast from the past with two commentaries on Russia from eight and seven years ago respectively. Do you think we and that includes our allies, have done a good job analyzing Vladimir Putin and Russia? Have we learned our lessons? Have we siezed even the slightest of initiatives to bridge the gap? My conclusion is nyet. If a blogger, such as myself, was writing about Russia's intentions for the Ukraine seven years ago, surely our experts in high places were thinking about it. After all, they are paid to think about it and form a strategy. The famous reset button in 2009 was a cheesy but good idea. The only problem is, other than the stupid plastic red button with the wrong word on it, there was absolutely nothing to follow. No long-term strategy, no joint government and civilian objectives to achieve, just lumbering from one crisis and misstep to another. So here we are. The Crimea is back in Russian hands, this will not be reversed no matter ...

In keeping with the Russian theme, here is another commentary from the past. I originally published "Beware the Bear" on August 15, 2008 and here it is: Watching the conflict this week between Russia and Georgia I am reminded of a Ronald Reagan ad from his 1984 campaign. The ad showed quick glances of a bear moving through the forest while the narrator said "some people believe the bear is tame, others can't even see the bear..." The bear is alive and well and mauling in plain sight. Today in the presence of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice the President of Georgia signed a cease fire agreement, with a reciprocal signing to take place in Russia by Dimitri Medvedev. There was a cease fire agreement earlier in the week as well, will this new one fair better? Russian troops will apparently leave South Ossetia, except for Russian peacekeeping forces. Since Russia substantially contributed to the disruption of the peace exactly what is their function? Last...

I've recently been rereading some of my old commentaries and have found some to be of relevance today. As this is a new forum and some of you are just discovering or rediscovering the joy of me I've decided to republish a select few from time to time. The Summer of Russian Discontent was originally published on July 14, 2007 and here it is: The Russian Federation has announced it is suspending it's participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty. Theoretically clearing the way for a massive build up of tanks and other conventional armaments aimed at Europe. Will it happen? Probably not. Russia is unhappy with it's diminished role on the international stage since the fall of the Soviet Union. It seeks to be relevant and is flirting with the mechanisms that gave it's predecessor teeth in the international community. When the Soviet Union and it's communist ideology were defeated a rare opportunity was missed by the west. Perhaps it was due to the fati...