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It’s notable because he was indicted by Muller for election interference, so it’s confirming the accusation that Russia attempted to influence the 2016 election

by awb 4y ago

It’s notable because he was indicted by Muller for election interference, so it’s confirming the accusation that Russia attempted to influence the 2016 election. It’s also newsworthy because many people didn’t (or still don’t) believe any election interference happened, and that it’s the first time (that I’m aware of) where a foreign nation was accused of so directly and materially attempting to influence a US election. But you’re right, I’m sure lots of countries do this all the time, including the US.

cwkoss 4y ago
The reason russian influence entered the zeitgeist was a PR push from people who worked in the HRC campaign and DNC insiders who needed to blame Trumps win on external factors to distract from their "pied piper" strategy of deliberately elevating trump during the primaries because they thought he would be easy to beat. (https://www.salon.com/2016/11/09/the-hillary-clinton-campaign-intentionally-created-donald-trump-with-its-pied-piper-strategy/ https://www.salon.com/2016/11/09/the-hillary-clinton-campaig...) There is no evidence (afaik) that russian influence materially swayed the results of the 2016 election. Not-so-fun-fact: the DCCC is still using this strategy to funnel funds from democratic donors into right-extremist candidates races in the 2022 cycle: https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-spent-43-million-helping-election-deniers-win-their-primaries-1731068 https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-spent-43-million-helping-... https://theweek.com/speed-reads/1015258/the-pied-piper-strategy https://theweek.com/speed-reads/1015258/the-pied-piper-strat...
- awb 4y ago
  Election interference need not be measured by its impact to be illegal. Maybe it swayed the election maybe it didn’t, but the individual in the article just admitted to the crime he was indicted for as a result of the Muller report.
  - cwkoss 4y ago
    Does legality even matter? I doubt Putin will be willing to extradite his 'chef' because he harmed america's interests for russian benefit.
    - awb 4y ago
      To foreign entities, it probably only matters in terms of international relations. To domestic entities, the laws of the land certainly matter. If an adversarial foreign entity is breaking domestic laws without penalty, then domestic entities can focus more on the preventative aspect of enforcement of the law. But yeah, if you have no enforcement and no deterrence then the law might as well not exist.

by awb 4y ago

cwkoss 4y ago

The reason russian influence entered the zeitgeist was a PR push from people who worked in the HRC campaign and DNC insiders who needed to blame Trumps win on external factors to distract from their "pied piper" strategy of deliberately elevating trump during the primaries because they thought he would be easy to beat. (https://www.salon.com/2016/11/09/the-hillary-clinton-campaign-intentionally-created-donald-trump-with-its-pied-piper-strategy/ https://www.salon.com/2016/11/09/the-hillary-clinton-campaig...) There is no evidence (afaik) that russian influence materially swayed the results of the 2016 election. Not-so-fun-fact: the DCCC is still using this strategy to funnel funds from democratic donors into right-extremist candidates races in the 2022 cycle: https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-spent-43-million-helping-election-deniers-win-their-primaries-1731068 https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-spent-43-million-helping-... https://theweek.com/speed-reads/1015258/the-pied-piper-strategy https://theweek.com/speed-reads/1015258/the-pied-piper-strat...

awb 4y ago
Election interference need not be measured by its impact to be illegal. Maybe it swayed the election maybe it didn’t, but the individual in the article just admitted to the crime he was indicted for as a result of the Muller report.
- cwkoss 4y ago
  Does legality even matter? I doubt Putin will be willing to extradite his 'chef' because he harmed america's interests for russian benefit.
  - awb 4y ago
    To foreign entities, it probably only matters in terms of international relations. To domestic entities, the laws of the land certainly matter. If an adversarial foreign entity is breaking domestic laws without penalty, then domestic entities can focus more on the preventative aspect of enforcement of the law. But yeah, if you have no enforcement and no deterrence then the law might as well not exist.