What is the Russian Bounty Story, Really?
Governments all have an Intelligence function which goes beyond Information gathering and analysis. Sigint (signal intelligence) involves intercepting communications in one fashion or another. Then there is Humint, (human intelligence) which requires information gathering from people on the ground. Humint relies on several types of people. Analysts, who have sources in the field. CI's, Confidential informants, people who deliver information as part of a transactional arrangement. There are NOC Agents, which is Non Official Cover, Agents of that government who are deeply undercover, names and identities undisclosed, whose operations are covert, and often high risk. These are often the ones who recruit CI's, or other people on the inside of foreign governments who work with NOC Agents. Then, there are Operators, Agents who are embedded undercover in hostile foreign groups or governments, do special ops, and are fully conscious of their mission, whether it is espionage, sabotage or something else. Then, there are Assets. People inside and outside of foreign governments who rent themselves out, have no particular loyalty to any government, whose relationship is defined by business. Arms traffickers are an example of these, people who allow themselves to be used to provide a service, who are consciously aware of their role. Also Hackers are Assets, many of whom were caught and forced to work for their captors to avoid prison.
Then, there is the unconscious Agent. This is someone who is highly placed, yet thoroughly unaware they are an Agent of a foreign government, yet does everything in the interest of said government because he or she is manipulated, steered, and played based on their psychological profile, such that their thinking and actions are preprogrammed for specific results. The unconscious Agent is under the control of another Intelligence Agency simply based on their predictability, and can be made to do things like a mechanical windup toy.
The last example is descriptive of Donald Trump. He is an Agent of Russia, yet does not believe himself to be one, because his Ego will not allow him to realize he is completely controlled. Yes, he admires Putin, envies him in fact. Yes, he propitiates and flatters him, and frequently covers for Putin's and Russia's crimes. He may even be financially indebted to Russia through loans by Deutschebank, still unconfirmed until Court decisions and investigations run their course, all possible sources of leverage over him. But, because he is emotionally damaged, temperamentally unfit for leadership and predictable beyond belief, the Russians play him like a player piano. They don't even need to sit at the Piano with him to guide him. They just turn the crank, and off he goes, playing their song.
So, to conclude, Trump IS an Agent of Russia, thoroughly under control, deployed in their service. But, because of his moral insanity, outsized Ego, and titanic rage, he is blind to the fact that he is an Agent, and therefore not conscious.
He is capable of doing conscious evil. Anyone who puts 470 000 children in cages is consciously evil. But the US National Security apparatus is aware that he is functioning as a Russian Agent, not merely an Asset, and every day it matters less to them whether he is a conscious Agent or not. So, they are taking steps to remove him.
That's what the Russian Bounty story is about.
