OBAMA'S RUSSIAN SANCTIONS, SIMPY REACTIONARY?

ICHEOKU says why did the security agencies not proactively nab "The Russians" in the act as they were hacking those emails, rather than now claiming or rather asserting that "The Russians" hacked the emails to influence the election in favor of Donald John Trump. As far as Icheoku is concerned, this is yet another face saving grandstanding and piling up for the devastating loss of an election which they arrogantly thought was bagged already. All their attempts to explain away their abysmal failure and very poor showing in the election, from all manners of laughable explanations and schemes including a recount and attempted influence of the electors at the Electoral College, having failed; they are now staging their last final act - lets punish The Russians for influencing our election. Icheoku says really; and assuming The Russians influenced the election, will that be the first time a country ever influenced an election in another country? The Venezuelans would gladly attest to this regarding their late President Hugo Chavez and current President Nicholas Maduro elections; ditto Nigerians with their President Muhammadu Buhari election; Israelis and the attempt to defeat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; as well as with the last successful Brexit vote which President Barack Obama weighed in against while visiting the United Kingdom few weeks to the election. 

Which country interferes more in other countries governance more than the United States of America; usually under the ruse of spreading democracy and ensuring that the peoples votes counted and that their wishes were respected? What kind of democracy is it that America practises when Hillary Clinton becomes an anointed candidate of a party, only waiting to be coronated Queen; while her opponent Bernie Sanders is actively walled off from ever standing any chance by the Democratic Party honchos who deployed all manners of favoritisms to ensure a preordained outcome including leaking debate questions to Hillary Clinton? How else could American people have known the real Hillary Clinton if not for those leaked emails? What if The Russians, assuming they did, were only ensuring that Americans truly know who they were voting for before voting; and in that way, help ensure that they truly voted for the best non conniving candidate to occupy their White House? There are simply so many what ifs involved in the last election and the campaign leading to it. Why is it okay for America to help other countries "spread" democracy but it is not okay for The Russians, assuming they did, to help America sustain its own democracy? Why is it that nobody is mad about what those emails revealed concerning the character of Hillary Clinton; but are raising hell over who possibly disclosed the contents of her character? 

ICHEOKU bemoans the righteous indignation as at best biased and heavily skewed; and solely driven just to suit certain bruised ego and hurt feeling over an election which was clearly lost and convincingly won by another. What an inexplicable narrative, especially coming from a president who was once caught on hot mic telling Dimitri Medvedev to tell Putin that he will deal over nuclear weapons after his elections. This is a president too who emphatically told the world that nobody can hack American elections and chided then candidate Donald Trump to man up and stop whining and to go campaign for votes. This is a president who repeatedly told American people and the world at large that Donald Trump can never be elected president and not under his watch; and now that he has been forced to swallow his vomit is turning tricks before our eyes with pretended indignation at the Russians for allegedly rigging the same elections he said is rigging-proof. The current narrative is a mission in foolery which must not be allowed to stand by the incoming president Trump. What else is indeed the ultimate goal here if not to try and restart the engines of a Cold War which the world breathed a relief that it was finally over, sputtered to death. Icheoku says please not in our name and PE Donald John Trump must add it to the list of things to reverse upon his inauguration.

The problem in Syria started when attempted influence of Syrian election to get President Assad out of office failed. That the United States of America had their hands in all the above elections is without doubt; begging the question what then is the difference between these and what the Russians allegedly did with regard to the last American election? It is the name of the game that countries always try to influence outcomes overseas that will be favorable to their own overall beneficial interest. So assuming the Russians did influence the election, are they not allowed to have a preference over the candidates running for the presidency and try as they allegedly did to achieve their desired objective; or is it a case of only the Americans reserve the right to so do but not other countries? Edward Snowden the whistle blowing former NSA contractor is on the run today and holding away in Russia because of his leaked information about extensive spying activities by the United States government including eavesdropping on telephone calls of its allies such as Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel. So what exactly is the beef here other than a lost election which did not go down with the Washington entrenched interest and they are heaving to take their pound of flesh, albeit as a consolatory prize. At least if they lost the election and disgracefully so, let them blame the Russians and convincingly so, by now punishing the Russians. 

That the Russians are competitors in the international arena is a fact and that they would like to be respected as co-equal player is also an undeniable objective of theirs. But whether the Russians actually want to see America destroyed, Icheoku does not think so and says that there is a need to seek rapprochement with the Russians instead of the current attempt to re-litigate a Cold War several decades after the Berlin Wall came down. The world at large would benefit more from a world in which the two great powers are on the same page trying to solve numerous problems afflicting the world rather than going back to the trenches of the old East and West divide. To this effect therefore, Icheoku condemns the latest sanctions and expulsions placed against the Russians as a needless wielding of the proverbial big stick. If true that they hacked the emails, it was just an added impetus to the wind underneath the sail of President Elect Donald John Trump election victory, but definitely not the sole reason he won. The country was tired of the trajectory of the last eight years and wanted a change and they voted for change. Furthermore the 33,000 deleted emails were not deleted by the Russians and this went a long way in adding to the doubtful character of Hillary Clinton which further isolated some discerning voters. 

Traditionally political parties do not usually win three straight terms in American presidential elections and this time was not going to be any different and it was not. Then add an unapologetic assault on American cultural landscape with policies that tended to dilute and water down White people's hold on the country and you have a perfect storm of operation change the direction and Americans trooped out to say enough. But instead of analyzing these situations, vested powers are just looking for a scapegoat to hold responsible for the election outcome and they found it in the usual suspect, the Russians. There is no need for this and there is no need to start tensions all over again as the world has enough on its plate already. As the Russians are being chastised and made the bogey man, America has lost its influence in the Middle East  and were not even invited to a ceasefire peace agreement reached by the same The Russians and Turkey over Syria; needless to add that Turkey is a (former) ally and a member of the NATO. American relationship with Israel is also under serious threat with the long simmering cold face-off between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Obama culminating in the latest non veto of an anti-Israeli settlement vote in the United Nations. Meanwhile Iran with an active anti-America hardline policies is being cuddled with payments and a free range over the Middle East but The Russians are the enemy, right? 

Icheoku is prayerful that this latest anti Russian actions would be part of the things to go under the incoming Donald Trump's first 100 days in office. America does not need all these hiccups in our relationship with Russia because the two countries cannot remain in perpetual and constant war mode for the rest of this life. Time to move on has since come and both countries can together achieve more with a respectful cooperation between each other. Enough of all these war mongering antics influenced by the military industrial complex to keep the arms industry humming and their bank accounts black. Funny enough nobody is questioning the contents of those emails and their relevance to the health of American democracy; but instead people are more interested and paying more attention in who leaked them and now this punishment. It is also interesting that the security agencies who are supposed to protect against such external intrusions are not being held accountable for failing to nip The Russians' hacking in the bud. Anyway, January 20, 2017 cannot come any sooner as the current haywire actions and policy mania need to halt immediately and be stopped cold. Time to turn the page has come and America can do more with more friends than enemies, including the Russians.