Who Wrote the Book on Election Meddling?

by | May 17, 2017

Who Wrote the Book on Election Meddling?

by | May 17, 2017

The United States, of course — including Russian elections. Writes Markar Melkonian:

Does the USA meddle in the presidential elections of other countries?

Our friends in South America might have insights here—hundreds of cases of economic and military blackmail, election fraud, assassination, and the violent overthrow of democratically elected leaders.  So too in Europe (Greece, Italy, Portugal, Georgia, Ukraine, etc.), east Asia (Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Korea, the Philippines, etc.), north Africa (Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco), and dozens of other countries on five of the six inhabited continents. (Joshua Keating, “Election Meddling Is Surprisingly Common,” Slate.com, 4 Jan., 2017; Tim Weiner, CIA:  Legacy of Ashes, 2008; Noam Chomsky, Deterring Democracy, 1992, 2006.)…

In the welter of red-faced indignation, the torrents of denunciations from Senate hearings and press conferences, talk shows and podcasts, one might have expected someone to pose the rather obvious question whether American agencies have ever meddled in Russian presidential elections.  And yet (surprise surprise!) America’s corporate-owned press of record, an institution that constantly flaunts its “objectivity,” has failed to raise that straightforward question.

So, let us raise it here: Has the USA engaged in this sort of meddling?  And if so, what effect has it had on Russia?

The answer to the first question, of course, is a resounding Yes. [Emphasis in original.]

This all brings to mind Tom Lehrer’s musical analysis from the 1960s, “Send the Marines”:

For might makes right,
And till they’ve seen the light,
They’ve got to be protected,
All their rights respected,
‘Till somebody we like can be elected.

 

Americans will live in a perpetual war state as long as they remain historically illiterate about the state they labor under.

Sheldon Richman

Sheldon Richman

Sheldon Richman is the former executive editor of The Libertarian Institute and a contributing editor at Antiwar.com. He is the former senior editor at the Cato Institute and Institute for Humane Studies; former editor of The Freeman, published by the Foundation for Economic Education; and former vice president at the Future of Freedom Foundation. His latest books are Coming to Palestine and What Social Animals Owe to Each Other.

View all posts

Recent Articles

Recent

The Dollar Was Always the Leash

The Dollar Was Always the Leash

On the eleventh and twelfth of August, a Boeing business jet registered A6-RJA left Abu Dhabi, crossed the Gulf, and set down briefly in Iran. Flight trackers logged it at Tehran's Mehrabad and at Payam airfield near Karaj. It stayed roughly an hour each time, then...

read more
An Unpopular War Is Breaking the People Fighting It

An Unpopular War Is Breaking the People Fighting It

A sailor aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln sent a message home that his family passed to Stars and Stripes anonymously, fearing retaliation. "Our mental health and physical health is in danger. We need help." By the time that message surfaced, the Lincoln had been gone...

read more

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This