THIS BOOK IS VERY IMPORTANT AND IS VERY GERMANE TO THE CURRENT SITUATION; ERGO I AGREE WITH THIS NICE LADY https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/1277995678833291269

WOW. 100 YEARS IS A LONG TIME.

ABOUT THE LENGTH OF THE TIME MODERN RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE HAS BEEN AROUND TOO. KIND OF A COINCIDENCE, DON'T YOU THINK?

SO. I GUESS RUSSIA HAS BEEN AT THIS A WHILE. #HINT

SHIT. I GUESS IN 2016 IT WAS TIME FOR SOME GAME THEORY.

ALSO, CLINTON AND OBAMA HADN'T GIVEN UP. SOUND FAMILIAR?

"WITH A PLAYER LIKE PUTIN." Yes, what does one do in response to Russia going for the throat of our democracy SO OBVIOUSLY, GUYS LIKE ME WITHOUT CLEARANCE KNOW IT? The answer isn't obvious.

If you don't remember what I wrote December 11, 2016 in my Game Theory Thread - for which I and others were immediately attacked - here's the whole thing. https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2016/12/12/24742100/epic-eric-garland-twitter-threadnovellaopus

Russia COULD HAVE ALTERED TALLIES. They COULD HAVE KEPT PEOPLE IN SWING STATES FROM VOTING.

Holy shit: Obama hesitated on attacking Putin because Russia could have attacked the *voting process itself.*

This, after Bernie and Trump called everything "rigged" and ROGER STONE SAID AMERICA WOULD BECOME A BLOODBATH.

Almost four years after Obama started closing off Putin's access to Global Mob money through sanctioned banks, Russia was absolutely full-court-press on U.S. democracy.

The Obama administration was forced to choose: protect America's actual voting or the Russian influence operations on voters' minds.

They chose the ballot box. (THE MEDIA SHOULD HAVE BEEN DEFENDING THE OTHER PART, BUT INSTEAD PLAYED ALONG WITH RUSSIA. )

And so, in delaying a vigorous response against Russia, Obama ended up with voting in tact, but a democracy on the edge of catastrophe.

(Hence why many of us got an hour of sleep per night after the election.)

The masters of twisting minds from Havana to Vladivostok finally scored their greatest possible victory in a century-long propaganda war: they turned many Americans against democracy itself, and got a puppet of theirs elected.

Vladimir Putin nearly achieved the "proton torpedo-exhaust port-Death Star" attack on U.S. democracy - make an election illegitimate and install someone beholden to a foreign power.

If he got both the election AND the candidate compromised, he may have succeeded entirely.

And as to deterring this crisis, I return to the dilemma I described on December 11, 2016 - the same one apparently faced in the White House - how do you protect America from people using our freedoms as targets for attack with compromising everything?

My mentor, Joe Coates, a futurist for the U.S. Congress, always taught me to have respect for the difficulty decision makers faced in the real world. They always had different advisors, all smart, all opinionated.

When the world is on the line, nobody job is easy.

These paragraphs reflect what I was trying to convey in 2016: This election was in no way Russia's first rodeo - but it was their greatest intelligence success.

Thus, a new level of the battle had been joined.

To understand November 2016, today, and the future, we need to go all the way back through the Cold War, through its fictitious "end," and understand the roots of Russian intelligence tradecraft as they attack democracies.

A *CENTURY* OF COVERT ELECTION INTERFERENCE.

Well. We all have some reading for this summer, then, don't we?

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