In Regard To The Progressive Caucus Letter Released To President Biden On Ukraine:

In Regard To The Progressive Caucus Letter Released To President Biden On Ukraine: 

Most people who have read about the letter, calling for the US to in effect, make huge and unacceptable concessions to Putin in order to end the war and reduce US spending there, found it very confusing and divisive. This was not only unexpected, but highly destructive, both in terms of serving Putin's aim of fueling US domestic conflict to undermine Biden, and also harming Democratic unity only two weeks in advance of the possibly most important election in US history. Clearly this was a political stunt which provided much "hot air" time on the various MAGA media outlets pushing the narrative that the Democrats are in disarray. 

Two important aspects of this are noteworthy. First is that the letter was withdrawn hastily after its release, with a terse and non-explanatory statement by Chairwoman of the Caucus, Congresswoman Pramila Jaypal, who said it was written months before and was released unvetted by staff. This would indicate that the letter itself was the product of a few of its members going rogue, possibly to achieve some limelight due to re-election maneuvering or some other factor, and that the pressure to pull the letter came directly from the President, Secretary Blinken, and the House Democratic leadership. 

Secondly is that this may have been something other than a blunder, rather an intelligence operation which was run for precisely the objective of division, originating from Moscow. 

Let's get right down to it. Putin has assets in the US "Left," progressive movement, and the far Left anarchist formations which he has used repeatedly. There have been multiple instances where so-called Left online news agencies have been caught pushing disinformation whose source was the notorious IRA "troll farm" run by Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU based in St. Petersburg. I've written about this in my blog, linked verified sources to back up what I've posted on the matter, and featured this in my 45 page special report on Putin's operation to create Left vs right violent chaos to disrupt the US election. I'll provide source links for this in the comments. 

There are two areas of investigation which in my view provide a window into this. Both of which center on attempts made to use Bernie Sanders' Presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020. 

In 2015-2016, Moscow heavily deployed to court and support those who opposed Hillary within the US Left and Green constituencies. She was branded by these groups as a corporate controlled war-monger. During this time, Russian asset and Christian right-wing cultist, fake Democrat Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (who had been working to further Russian geopolitical goals in the Middle East in support of Assad earlier) tried to hijack a faction of the Sanders campaign by attending his campaign events, networking and proceeding to build up her anti-war credentials among said progressives. Her intent was to build an independent third party candidacy meant to split the Democratic vote, undermine Clinton and help elect the pro-Putin isolationist Trump. Her "piggy-backing" on Bernie's campaign is pictured in the photo below (provided by a friend of mine) of her attending an event on the West Coast in 2016. Consider that Tulsi is now thoroughly "out" as a MAGA pundit, featured as a semi-regular "anti-war" voice from the US on Russian state TV along with Tucker Carlson, campaigning for QAnon-Nazi candidate Kari Lake in Arizona, and a regular on Fox TV. Then ask, "WTAF was she doing with her attempt to insert herself among progressive liberals and Bernie in 2016?" Campaigning to be his VP nominee possibly? Or something worse. 

Because Gabbard had little backing outside of Hawaii, ultimately she was not Putin's preferred choice for a third party bid to split the Democrats, and instead he chose Green Party leader Jill Stein to run the wrecking operation. The background of her trip to Russia, meetings with Putin, and influence by Russian intelligence has been documented thoroughly. Stein was successful in pulling enough votes from Hillary in the closely contested swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin that it can be said that her operation worked, and that she helped install Trump as President. 

Gabbard herself had also planned a third party run after her puny campaign for the 2020 Democratic nomination, but her plan was upended when Hillary outed her as a Russian asset who was attempting to divide the Democratic vote and re-elect Trump. Gabbard sued Clinton for libel for 45 million dollars, then dropped the case on the advice of her attorneys who told her she would lose. 

Then came 2020. Russia was determined to undermine Biden's campaign at all costs, because he was the leading voice within the Obama administration for confronting Putin's Imperial drive to restore the Russian Empire. Biden had been Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair, Obama's lead foreign policy advisor along with Hillary, and in a personal meeting told Putin to his face "you have no soul." So, the Russians heavily wormed their way into Bernie's campaign and played the "progressives card" to split the Democrats and sandbag Biden.

Then in February of 2020, the FBI gave an extraordinary closed door briefing to a bipartisan group of Congressmen, including Bernie, that documented the deployments by Putin to use Sander's campaign to divide the Democrats and influence the election to re-elect Trump. This briefing was a lead story in the New York Times (and elsewhere) back then, and is linked here. 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-idUSKBN20F01B

Bernie, to his credit immediately issued a powerful statement denouncing attempts by Russia to infiltrate his campaign, to influence US elections and corrupt our democracy. (Included in above article) 

Within days of this briefing and his statement, he folded his campaign, threw his full weight behind Joe Biden, and has been a critical but total stalwart in advancing Biden's agenda ever since. He made clear that he personally would never allow himself to be used by Russia, separating himself from other "never Biden" progressives who were pushing third party candidates, to the benefit of Trump. 

So, Bernie's independent but passionate committment to democracy notwithstanding, there remained a grouping within the progressives which continued as a "stay-behind" network of the "never Biden" Left which continues to this day to function as Russian assets. Whether consciously, or as a kind of cranked up "player piano," whose ideological stridency and posturing oppositionism to everything branded as "establishment" renders them "useful fools" in undercutting the President, and serving Russia's interference operations. 

In my judgment, the continued existence of the operation and its dupes, whether self-aware or not, is the source of this ill-conceived and destructive letter coming from the Progressive Caucus. Obviously, they have every right to have independent views, and speak publicly to them, which is unquestioned.  However, the proof that it was not just a blunder but intended to be destructive and divisive is the timing of it. This letter could have waited until after the election results were in. Also it comes only days after House GOP leader McCarthy's obscene statement that after his party takes power, Ukraine will not have a "blank check." Instead, at the worst time, most critical phase of the war, and for no credible good reason, it serves to confuse and divide Democrats and gives credibility to Fox News Russian assets like Carlson. 

Some desperate idiot, or group of them, straining for re-election and trying to go with some populist anti-war and pro-taxpayers message before the election, people ideologically predisposed to opposing Biden, let themselves be used by Vladimir Putin in a nasty intelligence operation. This is what happened, in my view. And I have an idea who, but will not say until it is confirmed. Suffice it to say that the relevant person(s) have a track record of such thoughtless and idiotic self-serving statements which has undermined the Democrats in the past. 

To sum up, this is a perfect example of how we, the American public can be played by those pushing "positions" on issues, or focusing excessively on the personality quirks of candidates. These are all too often baited hooks which are designed to reel us in to something unexpected and nasty, to use us in a type of misdirection operation. It is a lesson well worth learning, for Democrats, progressives, Greens, socialists, all of us in fact who stand for democracy in these times.


https://abovethelaw.com/2022/02/russia-plays-western-anti-war-left-for-fools/

https://journalistsresource.org/politics-and-government/russians-twitter-tactic-research/

https://www.npr.org/2022/10/25/1131347005/progressive-democrats-ukraine-letter-withdraw-biden

https://therosenreport.blogspot.com/2021/04/who-or-what-is-running-anti-biden.html

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/09/14/is-russian-meddling-as-dangerous-as-we-think

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/10/us/politics/russian-interference-race.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article


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