American intelligence officials have concluded that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan — including targeting American troops — amid the peace talks to end the long-running war there, according to officials briefed on the matter.
The United States concluded months ago that the Russian unit, which has been linked to assassination attempts and other covert operations in Europe intended to destabilize the West or take revenge on turncoats, had covertly offered rewards for successful attacks last year.
Recall that the Russians gave Saddam intelligence on our invasion plans.
"A-holes" doesn't begin to cover the scope of them, does it? Even if the story about the bounties is false, we know the basic fact: As long as Putin runs Russia, we really need to help Ukraine send body bags back to Russia.
I'd take Democratic outrage seriously over this story if their sudden anger with Russia hadn't been triggered by actions that suddenly targeted rather than supported Democrats.
Russia should be seeking Western help to resist China when Peking finally decides Russia's Far East should be returned to China. But no, Russia continues to be run by moronic a-holes who'd rather alienate a source of support.
All for the fleeting self esteem boost of making other countries pay attention to them. Chimps with nukes, I say.
UPDATE: It looks like this story is false.
Democrats are amazing in their ability to get outraged at Trump for Russian actions. I look forward to a Democrat in Congress to introduce a declaration of war against Russia for this.
Yet Democrats couldn't care less that Iran killed hundreds of American troops in Iraq. Since they sent pallets of cash to Iran for the farcical Iran nuclear deal, were those piles of cash bounties on Americans killed?
The bigger picture is that Russia has long been our foe. I welcome Democrats belatedly to the party. Perhaps they can focus on resisting Russia and not on continuing the divisions that Putin's 2016 Project stoked.
UPDATE: It is possible the story is true. But it seems like it is raw intelligence without verification; and that the president was not bothered with RUMORINT.
But again, it's wonderful that the Democrats are so militantly anti-Russian.
Let's see if the Democrats are really anti-Russia or if they are just in ecstasy to beat Trump with this weak stick. The suspense is killing me.
UPDATE: From the Pentagon:
"The Department of Defense continues to evaluate intelligence that Russian GRU operatives were engaged in malign activity against United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan. To date, DOD has no corroborating evidence to validate the recent allegations found in open-source reports. Regardless, we always take the safety and security of our forces in Afghanistan — and around the world — most seriously and therefore continuously adopt measures to prevent harm from potential threats."
This really does look like a partisan shot at Trump rather than any genuine effort to raise a warning about the Russians.
