Connect the dots
As the inauguration of Donald Trump approaches, something is going on that is so unusual it is hard to recognize it for what it is. Try this for a way to connect the dots:
1. The Russian intrusion into and theft of the confidential electronic files of the Democratic National Committee was an act of cyber warfare. This, mind you, has nothing to do with party. An attack on any of our institutions should be understood as an attack upon the United States. Would it be too much to say that our sovereign cyberspace has been invaded?
2. This could not have happened without the approval and connivance of the head of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin. Russian foreign policy, and the will and ambitions of Putin, are the same. You probably know this, that Putin came to his position out of the KGB (now the FSB), the spy agency of the old Soviet state. He is highly trained and experienced in the tools of spy craft, including cyber-espionage. He controls the FSB and the GRU, the two agencies that conducted the assault.
3. Donald Trump has not confronted this as an act of war. Instead, when the issue comes up, he changes the subject. Oh well, he will say, there’s no proof that the election result were affected by this hacking and by the release of the stolen documents; we need to put it behind us and seek good relations with Russia (read Putin).
That sounds like saying, yeah, the Japanese did attack Pearl Harbor but they didn’t sink any battleships, just a few old destroyers; we need to put this behind us and seek good relations with Japan (read Tojo).
Why doesn’t he confront the basic issue? Why does he seek to appease Putin?
If this reasoning seems far-fetched to you, at least keep it in mind and think about these questions as the Trump administration policy toward Russia unfolds.
William Hairston
Sulligent, Alabama
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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