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Vladimir’s Apprentice
We Know the What of the 2016 Election but Why?
When it became obvious to everyone not working for the Republican Party that Russian President Vladimir Putin had to have authorized significant exertions to steal the 2016 election for Donald Trump, there was not a lot of discussion about why. It was obvious.
Putin had for years been engaged in a bitter personal feud with Hillary Clinton with roots from Putin’s obsession with the Orange Revolution that shook Ukraine in 2004–2005. From Putin’s perspective, the CIA had been behind democracy rearing its ugly head so close to Russia and Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State involved one provocation after another later attempting to bring down pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine.
I express no opinion about the CIA and the Orange Revolution, but it would be no great surprise. Clinton’s — to coin a phrase — -meddling in Ukrainian politics to the detriment of both Russia and Paul Manifort is a fact, but some of us would applaud U.S. support for anti-Russian parties, particularly after the government that employed Manafort was found to have been stealing Ukraine blind.
For a decade of work as a political consultant in Ukraine, Manafort had raked in some $60 million from President Viktor Yanukovych’s pro-Russian kleptocracy. There’s no denying that a substantial part of the Ukrainian…
