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As the US globalist media, led by the New York Times, continues to push stories alleging another unproven and in all likelihood unprovable conspiracy theory about Russian attacks against the US, this time paying Taliban bounty hunters in Afghanistan to kill US and NATO occupying military forces – as if they needed additional motivation after almost 20 years of savage warfare against the invaders – the truth, if it exists, is likely to become more irrelevant with every new sensational media story and posturing Military-Industrial Complex-backed politician.
The latest Russia-Gate scandal appears to be rapidly running out of traction as more former and current senior US intelligence officials corroborate US President Donald Trump’s assertions that he was not informed of allegations that Russian military intelligence has been paying the Taliban a bounty to kill NATO forces in Afghanistan – preferably, from the US. Moreover, that he was not informed of the allegations because they were considered unverified and unlikely.
The likelihood of ever getting to the bottom of the allegations becomes less and less probable as they become lost in the swarm of media leaks by anonymous sources, grand posturing by politicians and media pundits seeking to score political points in an election year or simply damage or bolster Trump’s election prospects irrespective of the veracity or otherwise of the allegations, and ongoing domestic social, political and economic firestorms.
On Wednesday, National security adviser Robert O’Brien said in an interview with FOX media outlet that it’s “another false story.”
“The president was not briefed because at the time of these allegations they were uncorroborated. As a result, the president’s career CIA briefer decided not to brief him because it was unverified intelligence, and by the way, she’s an outstanding officer, and knowing all the facts I know, I certainly support her decision.”
He was cited in another media story, making the point that the media and political hype only serves to muddy the waters and make the facts even difficult to verify or refute.
O’Brien said leaks to the media about the episode have hampered U.S. intelligence officials from determining what actually happened.
“Sadly because of the leak, it may now become impossible ever to get to the bottom of this, to get to the truth of the matter, and that’s one of the very sad things,” he said. “We were working very hard on this matter. It might be impossible to get to the bottom of it because someone decided to leak to hurt the president rather than uphold their obligations to the American people.” LINK
The website Military.com reviews the respective claims and the evidence thus far disclosed. It notes the acceptance of the allegations at face value by many Establishment politicians, the denials of the Trump administration, and also the denials of senior Russian and Taliban officials:
Spokespeople for both the Kremlin and the Taliban have categorically denied the report. Responding to a question from NBC News correspondent Keir Simmons about the existence of the program, according to a report in The Guardian, Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson replied, “you know, maybe I can say it’s a little bit rude but this is 100% bull—-.”
It further notes that:
On Monday evening, the Pentagon issued a statement, declaring, “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.”
Before proceeding to examine the claims, the nature of the relevant information and the substantive evidence, the article comments:
What are we to make of this report? It’s entirely possible that the report is accurate; that the GRU paid a bounty to Taliban jihadists for every American service member they killed. Whether the White House was aware of this report is an entirely different matter. It’s a serious issue, so it’s likely that it would at least have gotten as far as staffers on the National Security Council. Whether the President was ever specifically briefed on the matter is a question that only the White House can answer definitively. So far, they have denied it.
A scrutiny of the evidence, what little there is, however, raises some serious doubts.”
Among the many points made are that Afghan warlords, armed groups, criminals, freedom fighters, terrorists and politicians have been awash with US dollars ever since the US invasion, and that finding caches of US dollars hardly proves that they have been paid off by Russian military intelligence to kill US military personnel. Also, the language used by the anonymous sources is not the sort of language that is usually employed by military and intelligence experts, and many aspects of the overall nature of the allegations are not credible.
It then states:
“Make no mistake, Russia is actively supporting the Taliban with cash, arms, supplies and intelligence. They have been doing so for several years. These facts are well known to the U.S. intelligence community and the Pentagon and have been extensively documented. For that matter, there is also evidence that Iran has provided assistance to the Taliban, even though they are religiously and ideologically opposed to them and were bitter enemies in the past.
In this sense, Russia is doing to the U.S. exactly what we did to the Soviets when they were bogged down in Afghanistan. Starting with the Carter administration and continuing through the Reagan and Bush administrations, the U.S. supplied financial assistance, arms, supplies, and in some cases, even training, to Afghan militants, including jihadists, fighting the Soviets. U.S. President Ronald Reagan even invited the leaders of the Afghan resistance to a meeting in the Oval Office. In those days, we called them freedom fighters.
The payment of bounties to soldiers or irregular militias for killing enemy combatants is nothing new. It has a long, despicable, history in the annals of warfare. The distinction between paying bounties for killing American military personnel and supporting the Taliban, knowing that support would be used to carry out attacks on American and allied forces, may seem like a subtle difference, but it is an important one…”
The report also notes that 17 US military personnel were killed in Afghanistan in 2019, and four were killed up to February, when a provisional ceasefire was concluded between the US and the Taliban. None have been killed since then. What happened? Did the Russians run out of US dollars? Or is the Taliban proving itself to be a trustworthy partner with which serious negotiations and commitments can be undertaken? Unlike some other State and non-State actors in the international arena.
“The larger question we should pose, however, is who benefits from the release of this information? The obvious answer is Russia. The Kremlin doesn’t want the U.S. to disengage from Afghanistan. They’re perfectly happy to see the U.S.-Taliban agreement fall apart and for the U.S. to continue to be bogged down there. In the short term, Moscow is content to cause problems for the U.S. even if that means supporting an organization that, long-term, is inimical to Russian interests in the region.
In fact, this whole incident feels like a classic example of a Soviet style misinformation campaign. It has just enough truth in it to be credible but packaged, i.e., spun, in such a way as to cause maximum disruption in the U.S.” LINK
Maybe the US should finally stop falling for the endless traps set by the dastardly, unscrupulous Russian, or go one better and beat them at their own game, by taking their troops out of Afghanistan and bringing them home where they belong.
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This story does not deserve any comment
It deserves ridicule ffs, the Yanks are paying bounties for dead Russians in Syria. The Yanks supply ISIS with weapons, satellite data and Steven Spielberg for filming beheadings.
Like I said many times… Always blame the other side with your own crimes. CIA protocol 101…
These are certified coward motherfuckers the Yankee zios.
Although rambo 3 is one of my favourite movies as many and every time I watch I get the same excitement because of legendary acting of silvester but its reel life of course in real its the exact opposite then what’s shows of this real Yankee military in the msm and hollywood.
So Russia gave a Bounty. So fokking what? Is that the only life NYT and WP have? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1ce30580a10791f8909f07b25d05d047680d876b1aed1516d7c0ebcb77e6ae9a.jpg
The Yanks forget Tommy, that the Taliban get 40 virgins for killing US troops, no need for a few rubles when the girls are free. lol
The Red ones are better.
If Russia wanted to help the Taliban kill US troops, they would supply them with MANPADS, in the same way the US did supply the Taliban with MANPADS to kill Russian troops.
The evil b’stards even made a film about it, Charleys War starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. Yanks glorying in the deaths of Russians, but start crying like the bitches they are, when it is suggested, wrongly, that the shoe is on the other foot now.
Russia should tell the US Government, that if they don’t stop accusing them of doing American tricks, then the Russian government will issue a MANPAD to every Taliban member with a free pack of cornflakes, and then they will give them to the Mexicans.
What are the Yanks going to do anyway, apply more sanctions ffs. That will really scare the Russians, and pigs will fly after that.
I don’t believe the Russians are doing this,but they should,after all the US arms and pays terrorists to kill Russians.
Russians are everywhere! Run for your life! ROFL!
Another day and another story that MI6 tries to topple the American presidency with via their puppet political party within America, Democrat Party opposition forces.
amerikans happily pay the CIA, national endowment for autocracy to spread ugliness ….amerikan hybrid war “world domination manifests itself as an intellectual or if u prefer a cultural diktat. this is why the amerikans so zealously have tried to bring down the intellectual and cultural common denominator of the whole world down to their own level. try to convince an amerikan their values will destroy Russia–u will not be able to”. Alexandr Zinoviev obvious –when I was in Montenegro 5 months after the amerikans illegaly bombed Serbia, my girl friend claimed there were amerikans on the beach—Budva…I was suspicious–she didn’t speak English, so I walked with her 3-400 meters…5 amerikans…what are u doing here?–u just bombed Serbia…one replied: we’re in ana meridian rock group–the US state dept pays us to spread amerikan”culture”
I dont know about Debbie , but those Afghans peasants did those USSR boys quite fine.