Russia

Authored by Paul Craig Roberts,

The English language Russian news agency, Sputnik, reports that former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is advising US president-elect Donald Trump how to “bring the United States and Russia closer together to offset China’s military buildup.” 

If we take this report at face value, it tells us that Kissinger, an old cold warrior, is working to use Trump’s commitment to better relations with Russia in order to separate Russia from its strategic alliance with China.

Clearly unbothered by the lack of any evidence, and/or proof that Russia was indeed behind the "hacking" of the US elections as the government has alleged, outgoing president Obama who clears out of the White House in just over three weeks, issued the following statement in response to "Russian Malicious Cyber Activity and Harassment"

THE WHITE HOUSEOffice Of The Press Secretary

December 29, 2016

Statement by the President on Actions in Response to Russian Malicious Cyber Activity and  Harassment

As promised (or threatened), the Obama administration has unveiled - via the US Treasury - new sanctions against Russia over election hacking allegations (that as yet have not been supported by any actual evidence). Despite president-elect Trump's comments that "we ought to get on with our lives," the sanctions apply to five entities and six individuals, and also including the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats and closing two Russian compounds in New York and Maryland in response to a campaign of harassment against American diplomats in Moscow, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.

Authorities in Russia believe that Hillary Clinton was directly involved in orchestrating the assassination of Russian ambassador Andrey Karlov.  According to Russia, the former Secretary of State had a very compelling motive to order the murder in order to exact personal revenge on Vladimir Putin. Fort-russ.com reports: But let’s start with the other question: did Hillary Clinton have the capability of organize the murder of the Russian ambassador? Yes.

As noted previously, at some point today the White House is set to unveil new sanction, and other retaliatory "measures" against Russia and specifically the Kremlin, in retaliation for what according to a constantly repetitive narrative has been Russian hacking of the US election. Obama will do so by using a 2015 executive order that would allow the president to freeze the US assets of Russians overseas who have engaged in cyber acts, even though such order only applies to actions that have threatened U.S.