It seems strange to me that Russia also wants to help Sanders win the democratic party. But apparently, there is a plan to this. According to experts who have spent these last 3 years analyzing Vladamir Putin’s tactics, they say that he is eager for a compliant counterpart in the White House, one less likely to challenge his territorial and nuclear ambitions. Although Sanders and Trump have completely different views, they both do not have the ambition to pursue policies that will negatively affect Putin’s plan to restore Moscow’s influence in the world.
Victoria Nuland, served both Republican and Democratic administrations, says, “Any figures that radicalize politics and do harm to center views and unity in the United States are good for Putin’s Russia.” Putin’s primary goal is to get the United States’ support to lift the sanctions that were imposed after he annexed Crimea and accelerated a war against Ukraine. The intelligence analyses suggest that supporting Sanders in the primary and Trump in the general election, Putin will be able to increase his chances to achieve his goal. Sanders wants Russia to stay out of the election. I believe that Putin is learning from his mistakes from the 2016 election and attempting to evade government agencies and technology companies from learning into their secrets to accomplish his goal.
It seems like Russian hackers are pretending to be Americans and post to increase the uncertainty of validity of American elections. This means that the bandwagon effect will be successful if people hear and follow other peoples’ opinions. As a result, Russia is not only supporting the leading candidates of both parties, but influencing the peoples’ opinions about the candidates through social media.
- Why do you think Putin is supporting both Sanders and Trump? Why not Trump only?
- How are Russia’s efforts different from 2016?
- What do you think will happen as more information is uncovered about Russia’s efforts?
2 comments:
I can see why Russia might want a Trump v. Sanders race for 2020. Can you imagine the animosity between their respective constituents? Surely such an election between two polarizing candidates would further divide our country in a way that might make Putin cackle in armchair. In my opinion, the 2020 presidential election is going to be pretty cutthroat, regardless of who the Democratic nominee turns out to be, so I harbor doubts about whether Putin is actually conniving such a plan. I do hope the leader of Russia has better ways to spend his time. An alternate speculation could be that Putin wants Bernie to win the nomination because he sees Bernie, the most left of the candidates, as the least likely to appeal to America at large and lose the general election. We could surmise all day about what's going on in Putin's head, but I think what's important right now is continue viewing with suspicion everything we read on the internet about the campaigns and elections, especially the suspicious-sounding things.
I think we need to vigorously fight against Russian's meddling in our electoral process. While the President may not be a friend of Russia, he has done little to stop them in hot spots such as Crimea, Ukraine, and Syria. Therefore it is obvious that Russia will devote money and hacking to support Trump. As for the Russian support for Bernie Sanders, could it be that Russia thinks he is the candidate that Trump has the best chance at re-election against? Could they not want to support a candidate that Trump can beat as opposed to letting someone else win the nomination and thus defeat Trump in the November election thus putting a President in power that will stand up to Russia's aggressive antics?
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