kanesrealm

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

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

Bobby Jindal dropped out of the Republican sweepstakes, so yeah, not much more to say there. So long Bob. After the terrorist attacks and the intensive press coverage I had to shut the news off last Saturday and that is why you, my dear readers, received no thoughts on the Democratic debate that night. Without seeing it I can tell you it was irrelevant. I opted to binge watch episodes of Stargate and Xena, my time was well spent. Sometimes you've just got to pull the plug and disconnect. I want to take this opportunity to tell all of the news channels to stop playing the combo sad and ominous soundtracks while reporting on Paris. Just stop it, this is not a movie or T.V. show, just stop. Everything seems bleak but I tell you it is not. Something quite uncommon may be about to happen. ISIS/ISIL may very well have just signed their death warrant and accomplished the unimaginable. All 28 members of the European Union are unified and have invoked full cooperative security measures,

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

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