Russia Isnt the Only One Meddling in Elections. We Do It, Too.

[Judi Lynn]

By SCOTT SHANE
FEB. 17, 2018



Bags of cash delivered to a Rome hotel for favored Italian candidates. Scandalous stories leaked to foreign newspapers to swing an election in Nicaragua. Millions of pamphlets, posters and stickers printed to defeat an incumbent in Serbia.

The long arm of Vladimir Putin? No, just a small sample of the United States’ history of intervention in foreign elections.

On Tuesday, American intelligence chiefs warned the Senate Intelligence Committee that Russia appears to be preparing to repeat in the 2018 midterm elections the same full-on chicanery it unleashed in 2016: hacking, leaking, social media manipulation and possibly more. Then on Friday, Robert Mueller, the special counsel, announced the indictments of 13 Russians and three companies, run by a businessman with close Kremlin ties, laying out in astonishing detail a three-year scheme to use social media to attack Hillary Clinton, boost Donald Trump and sow discord.

Most Americans are understandably shocked by what they view as an unprecedented attack on our political system. But intelligence veterans, and scholars who have studied covert operations, have a different, and quite revealing, view.

“If you ask an intelligence officer, did the Russians break the rules or do something bizarre, the answer is no, not at all,” said Steven L. Hall, who retired in 2015 after 30 years at the C.I.A., where he was the chief of Russian operations. The United States “absolutely” has carried out such election influence operations historically, he said, “and I hope we keep doing it.”

More:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/17/sunday-review/russia-isnt-the-only-one-meddling-in-elections-we-do-it-too.html

[BigmanPigman]

1. We've been doing it since before I was born

and often it backfires on us with terrible outcomes (like supporting murderous dictators and sales of arms).

That is a great graphic/illustration.

[BlueDog22]

2. Getting Caught

Don't you know there's nothing wrong when we do it, but when the other guy does it then they are wrong.

[Nitram]

3. Yes, we have long been interfering in elections.

And it is the reason so many democracies died because a socialist was elected (or was going to be elected), and a dictator put in power instead. This is also why our government is hated by so much of the world.

But that's no reason to ignore Russian interference in our election. If anybody thinks Trump''s election was good for the world...