Democrats, Republicans call for new sanctions against Russia

 

Right-wing campaign on hacking allegations continues

Democrats, Republicans call for new sanctions against Russia

By
Tom Hall

3 January 2017

Prominent congressional Democrats and Republicans are calling for new sanctions against Russia as part of the ongoing campaign for an intensification of Washington’s economic and military confrontation with Moscow.

No evidence has been presented to the public substantiating the drumbeat of charges that the Russian government, under the direct supervision of President Vladimir Putin, organized the hacking of Democratic Party email accounts and release of information damaging to the presidential campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. This has not prevented the Democratic Party, a section of the Republican Party and most of the corporate-controlled media, spearheaded by the New York Times and the Washington Post, from treating the allegations as fact and agitating for more severe reprisals against Moscow than those announced last week by President Barack Obama.

The anti-Russian campaign has echoes of the lies fabricated by the Bush administration and US intelligence agencies and promoted by the media about supposed weapons of mass destruction that preceded the 2003 invasion of Iraq. This time, however, the target is the second largest nuclear power in the world.

The hysterical and McCarthyite character of the propaganda offensive is a reflection of a bitter conflict within the state and the foreign policy and military/intelligence establishment over policy issues. President-elect Donald Trump and a section of the Republican Party are questioning the supposed intelligence linking the Kremlin to the election campaign hacks and pledging to seek improved relations with Moscow after Trump is inaugurated on January 20….

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