there was a Russian influence on an election(which is probably true if not likely in all of our elections for the past 50 years) I think anyone advancing the h

there was a Russian influence on an election(which is probably true if not likely in all of our elections for the past 50 years) I think anyone advancing the hard line that Russia has influenced US elections for the last 50 years still has not emerged from the rabbit hole dug for protection from nuclear attacks 50 years ago. Russia may revel and delight in anything that weakens the pre-eminent superpower, they surely have cyberwarfare teams reacting to constant US attacks. But the idea that US election results were swayed is far-fetched. The "division" that was supposedly sowed by clever Russian propaganda was manufactured by the economic engine running out of control in the USA and the resulting impoverishment of many. Like many conspiracy theories the Russiagate hysteria seeks to replace complexity with simplicity. From my cultural and economic background it is less obviously crazy than QAnon, but if I seek to find solid grounds for either of them I end up dropping both of them into the same asylum. Reality, as Curtis has reminded us, is not something we have direct access to, we are working off imperfect models. When those models stop working we should change them. Clinging on to them is irrational. It looks like our current models are very poor at describing the complexity of the world.