Malcolm Nance and other security experts have taught us a new word from the world of spying, “asset.”
As I understand it, spies or agents of one country try to connect professionally or socially with a person from another country to get them to do things in the interest of the spying country. When they succeed, the object person is called an “asset.” They are an asset, whether they act knowingly or unknowingly.
It appears that Senate Majority Leader McConnell’s acts willingly as a Russian asset, and the reason for doing so seems to be apparent, at least in some instances.
In 2016, McConnell refused to accept intelligence reports on Russia’s activities in the election and resisted a push by the Obama administration to issue a bipartisan statement condemning the Kremlin.
Our intelligence community is continually warning about current and future efforts of Russia to affect our elections. Despite those warnings, McConnell is blocking a bill that would require all ballots for federal elections to be backed up electronically. It would give states $600 million to improve their election infrastructure and require that electronic voting machines be manufactured in the United States, among other things.
Earlier this year Trump proposed lifting sanctions on Oleg Deripaska, a key Russian oligarch (any wealthy individual with ties to the Russian government.). All Democrats in the Senate plus 11 Republicans supported a bill to prevent the President from removing these sanctions, but McConnell blocked the bill. As soon as the bill was blocked, Deripaska’s company announced it was investing $200 million to build a manufacturing plant in Kentucky, McConnell’s home state.
Trump is an asset to Russia. He does things to benefit the Putin government. Importantly, he is reversing actions the U.S. and the international community established to punish Russia for its aggression in Crimea and Ukraine.
First, there were sanctions against Russia and its top oligarchs. The Obama Administration added additional penalties because of Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Russia was expelled from the G8, making it the current G7, and the U.S. began providing military aid to Ukraine to help them ward off Russia. Also, the Obama Administration established something called the European Deterrence Initiative, saying, “The United States stands by its allies as they have stood by us.”
Trump is reversing all of that in favor of Russia. First, Trump weakened the sanctions. He has tried to lift some sanctions, and he has slow-walked others that have been pushed by the Congress.
Trump has argued very publicly that Russia should be invited back into the G7 meetings. He has halted the military aid to Ukraine, thus weakening them against Russia’s provocations.
Trump is cutting military spending overseas to build his wall on our Southern border. Rachel Maddow has pointed out how Trump is eliminating the European Deterrence Initiative:
“At least 25 of the overseas military projects that Trump is summarily defunding by executive action are projects that were designed by the Obama administration and have been implemented since to form a bulwark against Russia, to specifically help our NATO allies be reassured that we’ve got their back and that we will help them develop their capacity to stand up against Russia.”
Trump’s continuing assaults on NATO are indeed weakening this critical organization, which was established to be a collaborative defense against the Soviet Union, and now Russia. Thus, Trump is doing what Putin wants, whether or not Putin is directing Trump’s actions.
Intentionally or not, Trump and McConnell are doing things that benefit the objectives of Russia, and in the process, they are endangering the world.
