Heard it on the car radio....hmmmm.
Somehow, I have a hard time believing this.
Whether you like or dislike Putin, we all must agree, he is a very shrewd operator. It seems to me, this would work against how he is respected by other countries, if he really gave an order to do this. I have a hard time believing he would do this.
When I came home, I checked the internet to find out more details. Who reported this?
Oh, it wasn't one of the international news stations...no, it was none other than our own NYT.... a newspaper known for its accurate and unbiased reporting (sarcasm intended).
Whoever knew about this, selected the NYT to publish the news.....hmmm...and all the other MSM sources are passing it on
and an extra twist was added...Trump was informed about this earlier this year, "and didn't do anything about it". Nice touch...this will make Trump look horrible.
So, how come, the news is coming out now, and not a few months ago?
Reading the NYT article, I found out it was our intel agencies who discovered the plot... well, that's important... the same agencies who discovered Saddam Hussein's WMDs?
It this story is true, it would indeed be bombshell news, the tipping point...
I am sitting back, waiting for more details to be revealed, before I get all excited.
I would like to get more on this Gunter.
Trump is claiming no knowledge. Doesn't seem like a very smart move on Putin's part, and while I don't like him, he seems pretty smart.
I had recently said that the anarchy/rioting/anti-police/safety issue might give Trump a chance despite being way behind in the polls because I feel the libs are so bad on this issue. But IF the bounties are confirmed the way they were reported and Trump is found to either be inept/uninformed on the bounties or worse yet not caring and still supporting Putin, I think he’d be toast for re-election. The GOP couldn’t do better than this?
Cons should be speaking up on at least having a concern about this. Not doing so is symptomatic of being a hack.
I do give credit to Gunter at least posting a new thread on this even though he’s said he doubts the accuracy of this report.
https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/504770-russian-intelligence-unit-offered-bounties-for-killing-coalitionStill want to see more on this.
So far, we just have the NYT siting un named US Intellence based on leaked information.
This could all be true but in the last 3 years, when people leak (classified) information like this to the press, often illegally, they have a political agenda.
It's getting tons of news coverage from all the MSN on both sides, not one of them getting an independent confirmation and in fact, just the opposite after contacting everybody in the US and Russia that should know and the Taliban also flatly denies this.
Trump is getting close to bringing half of the 8,000 troops that we have in Afghanistan home.
I would not be surprised at all if Russia did this, however, that's exactly why a story like this becomes so easy for everybody else to just assume that it happened with ZERO confirmation.............regardless of whether it did happen.
In this day of manufactured and distorted news, we just can't trust blatantly biased sources on the topics of Russia and President Trump.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/27/politics/russia-us-troops-afghanistan/index.html
The most challenging part of all in trying to discern the right meaning/perspective on this is that much of the information that we have received about the Middle East over the last 6 decades has been propaganda based on political agenda, including recent years.
That's bad enough but then, the last 3 years have featured constant leaks of classified information that is often bogus and always because of a political agenda.
Then, on top of that, we have most of our top news organizations ready to run on any scuttlebutt news items they can sensationalize for ratings/circulation and their own political agenda before getting solid independent confirmation from sources themselves.
Their source is the other MSM that ran the story. So if 1 big story from one news organization is completely wrong, dozens of other news organizations that reported it as fact all end up wrong too.
Then, after they get busted, there are very few mentions or retractions....just go on to the next story to sensationalize.
Journalism in today's world at some entities (CNN) has standards meant for sewer dwelling entities.
Again, this could be exactly right and I would appreciate any information that confirums it from legit sources.
Both Russia and the Taliban have now denied any participation in the above news item.
Of course, you may not give the Taliban a lot of credibility, since they are trying to negotiate a deal with the US.
In the end, you have to ask yourself, who has less credibility, the Taliban or the NYT?
LOL.
As far as I am concerned, this is fake news, until I hear more convincing evidence.
Since this is the time of the election campaigns, we have to expect a few more "bombshells"
I keep looking for substance on this. So far, I hear unnamed sources with unsubstantiated claims with steadfast denial from all parties supposedly participating. I would expect denials from Putin. Not so sure about the Taliban. They generally seem eager to take credit for such. Trump? Who knows. His credibility is not in the top 10, but what possible motive would he have for supporting, or even ignoring this? Seems to fly in the face of a man who has demonstrably shown respect and support for the troops.
So, the burden of proof still remains on the accusers, even when the accused is Trump. And I've yet to see any that would even stand up to a dem house inquiry.
Of course, many in the press appear to have convicted Trump already. But we've come to expect that.
"but what possible motive would he have for supporting, or even ignoring this?"
The obvious... just like everything else ignored or denied... the bromance.
Exactly pj!
That's what makes it so easy to sell a story like this. Half the people, even intelligent people still think that Trump and Putin have a secret relationship that only they know about.
This is why they believed all the hogwash about Trumps fake colluding with Russia during the 2.5 year investigation that found ZERO evidence of that......and even after that, they still don't believe it.
Interestingly, this report, that wants to be interpreted as Trump overlooking Putin double crossing him(if they have this secret pact) if true, would could be interpreted as evidence that Putin and Trump are not secret buddies..............but the interpretation is left to ones own speculation based ones opinion of Trump.
It seems odd that this would happen with Trump clearly signaling for some time that the US is withdrawing troops, which, if anything would suggest that attacks on US soldiers would actually be counterproductive and just make no sense.
What would be Russia's motive to do this if the US is pulling troops out?
I have been unable to find a legit source to confirm this story and would appreciate it if somebody finds one.
Today, I found this:
USA TODAY
and this:
"The White House tried to defend itself over the weekend on both counts, arguing that senior intelligence officials aren't convinced about the reliability of the reports and that they never reached President Trump or Vice President Pence personally.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who usually receives some of the most sensitive intelligence briefings as a member of the so-called Gang of Eight leaders in Congress, said she too hadn't been informed and sent a letter Monday requesting a briefing for all members of the House soon."
metmike: I love it when journalists tell their view when reporting the news. "The White House TRIED TO DEFEND ITSELF" is an opinionated statement not stating an objective fact.
So we are to believe this is a huge cover up and everybody is lying. Trump really knows and is keeping it from everybody else and making everybody else that knows lie about it..........except for the un named sources that tipped off the NYT, with apparently no confirmation and in fact, complete denial from every source questioned and zero evidence, just speculation.
It would not surprise me that this happened and that stuff like this happens all the time in the Middle East but we are totally dependent here on news sources that are not giving objective minds anything that can be authentically verified....or that makes sense at this point.
"Half the people, even intelligent people still think that Trump and Putin have a secret relationship that only they know about."
The reason they they do is that Trump has acted so many times like there is a strange (secret?) relationship.
Is there a realm or person anywhere that shares a "conventional" relationship with Donald Trump?
He is the only recent president to not own a pet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_pets
Even Putin owns pets/dogs!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pets_of_Vladimir_Putin
Vladimir Putin, current president of Russia, owns four dogs, who live at his residence in Moscow. He is actively involved in the conservation of many endangered Russian dog breeds.
The president also said the idea of adopting a dog seems a bit 'phony' to him
"But these dog-related insults don’t reflect the president’s attitudes towards man’s best friend. He has an apparent admiration for the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. According to the Washington Post, from 2010 to 2015, Mr Trump would traditionally invite the dog show winners to meet with him at Trump Tower in Manhattan."
How does anybody get concerned or upset or angry about Hillary Clinton and Benghazi but not about this?
Suppose Trump new about this intelligence but because it was unconfirmed did nothing?
Suppose he knew about the intelligence but for whatever reason has decided not to act on it even while the Russians were offering Financial incentives to the Taliban to kill US soldiers?
Isn't that the very essence of treason?