Former ambassador to Russia: Putin wanted 'revenge' against Clinton

[mfcorey1]

Russia interfered in the U.S. elections to get revenge against Hillary Clinton, a former U.S. ambassador to the Kremlin said Sunday.

Michael McFaul, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014, said he thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to help Donald Trump win the presidency to hurt Clinton.

"Let's remember that Vladimir Putin thinks [Clinton] interfered in his election - the parliamentary election in December 2011 - and has said as much publicly, and I've heard him talk about it privately," McFaul said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

The New York Times reported last week that American intelligence agencies concluded that Russia acted covertly to harm Clinton's campaign and promote Trump.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/former-ambassador-to-russia-putin-wanted-revenge-against-clinton/ar-AAlqzaw?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout

[Lucinda]

1. So it's Hillary's fault that Russia screwed with our election?

Got it.

[boston bean]

3. And that Donald Trump is making US Foreign Policy Russian friendly, going against

every policy now in place.

Or that Trump had a Kremlin insider as campaign manager.

Or that he asked Russia to hack hillary's emails.

Or that Trump has millions in business dealing with the oligarchy of Russia.

God... whatever... BLAME THE WITCH seems to work like a charm on many!

[Lucinda]

4. Exactly. And wasn't there something about a server with a direct link to Russia?

[NastyRiffraff]

8. Don't forget this guy as Sec of State:

ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson:

The 64-year-old Texas oilman spent much of his career working on Russian deals, including a 2011 agreement giving Exxon Mobil access to the huge resources under the Russian Arctic in return for giving the giant state-owned Russian oil company, OAO Rosneft, the opportunity to invest in Exxon Mobil’s operations overseas.
(snip)
The 2011 Exxon-Rosneft agreement was frozen when sanctions were imposed on Russia in 2014, following the annexation of Crimea and covert military intervention in eastern Ukraine. Exxon Mobil estimated the sanctions cost it $1bn and Tillerson has argued strenuously for the measures to be lifted.
(snip)
If the sanctions were lifted, the Arctic project would probably go ahead and Tillerson’s retirement fund of Exxon Mobil stock would increase in value. He would most likely have to divest himself of stock by the time he entered the office on the seventh floor of the state department. It might be harder to divorce his judgments entirely from the oil company where he spent his career.
via The Guardian

And who would have more power than the Secretary of State to work to lift those sanctions? For his own benefit, of course.

[Orsino]

2. That's the icing, maybe.

The cake is a weaker America, and that will pay off for Putin for decades to come.

[BainsBane]

5. What's the icing?

[Orsino]

6. Revenge against Clinton. n/t

[hamsterjill]

7. It makes perfect sense to me. That's why we must push for a thorough investigation.

Sounds like something Putin would do to me. There was definitely SOMETHING going on and he saw Hillary as someone who could stand up to him. He saw Trump as a puppet that he could control.

[andym]

9. Putin does seem the vengeful type

Remember what Russian agents did to Alexander Litvinenko with polonium.

[bettyellen]

10. I think it's a bonus, but not the end game.