Leave Russia the Out of U.S. Scandals By David Swanson
In Moscow earlier this week I mentioned to a Russian friend that racists in my town in Virginia were chanting fascist
and confederate slogans plus “Russia is our friend!” He replied: “But we never had slavery; we had serfdom.” He didn’t
grasp why Russia was being grouped together with slavery.
Also in Moscow I met an elementary school student who said to me, “I saw a movie, and I want to ask you, in the United
States are there black people and do they always kill the white people?” When I assured him that they did not, he
breathed a deep sigh of relief.
A high school student asked me, “Is it hard to live in the United States with the CIA and FBI after you all the time?” I
assured her it was not.
Back in the United States people asked me if it was dangerous in Moscow. Are you permitted to just talk and say anything
you want? Can you walk around without state controllers? Is it safe for women? Don’t they hate Americans?
These delusions, matching any from the Russian side, might be funny if they weren’t so tragic.
Let me make a few obvious points in the case for leaving Russia the hell alone.
1. The Russian people are not the Russian government.
2. Any flaws in the Russian government are very poorly understood in the U.S., can be only worsened by lies,
hostility, sanctions, and threats, and are quite well matched by flaws in the U.S. government.
3. We have seen zero evidence that Russia informed us of how the Democratic Party was corrupting its primaries, and
it almost certainly did not do so, but would have been doing us a favor had it done so.
4. Most Russians understand the hostility toward Trump as driven by hostility toward Russia and have no idea that
hostility toward Russia can be driven by hostility toward Trump or that there are any legitimate reasons for hostility
toward Trump.
5. There are tons of legitimate reasons for hostility toward Trump.
6. Russia tried to disarm and make peace and join the EU and join NATO and become friends, and was repeatedly told
to go to hell, its economy corrupted, its people looted.
7. Russians are only mildly better than Americans at handling such disrespect well.
8. Russia and the United States are loaded with nuclear missiles ready to destroy the earth at a moment’s notice.
Trump’s financial corruption is U.S.-wide and world-wide. Why focus on any bits of it that involve Russians? Why are
those bits worse (or better) than any others?
Trump owns stock in the weapons companies he is enriching with illegal and immoral wars. What better way could be found
to improve U.S. relations to the world than to impeach Trump for that? Want to halt Russian weapons sales? Lead by
example.
Trump has unconstitutionally discriminated against refugees, been stopped by the judiciary, and immediately done it
again. Want Russia to take more refugees? Lead by example. Apart from that theoretical connection, there’s no Russian
involvement in this scandal.
Trump has pushed policies that will aggravate climate change, a crime against humanity that can be prosecuted by the
International Criminal Court even against a non-member. While it’s true that Russia is located on earth and has fossil
fuels to exploit, there are no other Russian ties to Trump’s assault on the EPA.
Trump openly sought to intimidate voters prior to his election, and fought the counting of ballots where they existed,
was elected with a minority of votes, was elected with numerous votes uncounted and numerous voters blocked from voting
by the partisan stripping of the rolls and by ID laws, following a nomination principally decided by dramatically biased
media coverage. If you believe Vladimir Putin had a role in any of that, you need therapy, and your therapy should be
private, not a public spectacle inflicted on the rest of us.
Trump told the Russian ambassador how to go after ISIS? Isn’t that what both he and they publicly say they’re doing
together? I’m against their approach as counterproductive, but I’m virtually alone in that. Didn’t Bush Sr. tell
Gorbachev a coup was coming and the source of the information? Didn’t Roosevelt blurt out secrets to Stalin? Don’t
governments form alliances and talk to each other all the time?
You want to go after Trump for obstruction of justice? Great. Please do. But don’t imagine there’s some underlying basis
that involves the Russian government in deciding the U.S. election until someone offers proof of it.
My god! The United States openly claims credit for inflicting Boris Yeltsin on Russia. Where are the apologies that
should be replacing the accusations?
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David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is director of WorldBeyondWar.org and campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org. Swanson's books include War Is A Lie. He blogs at DavidSwanson.org and WarIsACrime.org. He hosts Talk Nation Radio.He is a 2015, 2016, 2017 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee.
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