U.S. Presidential Election, November 5
U.S. Intelligence Agencies Intervene in U.S. Election to Back Harris
U.S. intelligence agencies are once again intervening in the presidential elections. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) issued its report on "Election Security," October 22, addressing what ODNI calls "foreign malign influence" and "foreign influence actors." It targeted Russia, but also included China, Iran, and Cuba.
According to an ODNI official, "Foreign actors, particularly Russia, Iran and China, remain intent on fanning divisive narratives to divide Americans and undermine Americans' confidence in the U.S. democratic system." The officials also said foreign actors could consider physical threats and violence and are highly likely to conduct disinformation operations to create uncertainty and undermine the election process. A memorandum by the National Intelligence Council (NIC), which reports to the ODNI, warned that foreign operatives almost certainly will amplify false post-vote claims of election irregularities.
It is notable that the statements are qualified, "could," "almost certainly" "highly likely." Evidence that any of these "actors" have done so or are confirmed to be working for the governments named was not presented.
The U.S. electoral system does enough to discredit itself. Nonetheless such statements made about "undermining" and "uncertainty" about the election process are often followed by those saying that despite all this influence, the process for counting votes is safe. One expert from the U.S./NATO's Atlantic Council, Graham Brookie, put it this way:
"The electoral infrastructure is safe and secure, very trustworthy." He confirmed there is no indication Russia, China or Iran are planning to target it. "The influence operations are more designed to influence public opinion or interference operations would be more designed to influence people to do an action," he added, which is more significant in terms of the aim of raising the specter of foreign interference. "The specter of foreign influence is sometimes a lot greater than the impact of foreign influence," he said.[1]
Numerous news reports and headlines since then emphasize this claim about "foreign adversaries determined to undermine election trust." Echoing ODNI, Russia is a main target and used to promote fear about Trump and favor Harris. As the ODNI official emphasized, "Russia would prefer the former president to win and they would seek to more aggressively undermine the presidency of the then-president-elect (Harris)." "Some foreign actors also have the capacity to stoke protests and take violent actions during this (post-election) period," the official added.
Officials gave only one example of a video they claimed was generated by "Russian influence actors," against the Harris campaign.
Several issues stand out. One, which intelligence officials admit, is that they cannot verify where various materials, such as video or social media posts, come from. They simply say it "looks like" something the Russians would do, or "may be" from them. For the one example given in the report, the ODNI official said a review by the agencies showed "several indicators of manipulation" consistent with the actions of Russian actors. There are "indicators" that are "consistent" with what the U.S. says "Russian actors" do, but no specific evidence to verify it. Given all the ways to mask and make a given post appear to be from a certain place when it is not, there is not a way to fully verify, something well-known by the ODNI.
One aim of all the promotion of foreign interference, this specter, a ghost of a possible danger, is to instill fear about "adversaries" determined to undermine the U.S. to provide the basis for actions against them, be it Russia, China or Iran. These foreign powers are the ones responsible for "protests" not the peoples of the U.S. angered with conditions, with U.S./Zionist genocide and the whole election process that goes against the interests of the people. These adversaries are promoted as the ones responsible for violence, not the U.S. ruling class and its intelligence agencies, operating at home and abroad. It is not the brutal conditions of anarchy, violence and civil war stemming from existing relations, with intense factional fighting for the power of the presidency, but foreign actors.
Connected with claims about foreign actors, especially Russia, being able to "stoke protests " is the effort to discredit the protests themselves. This has been said against actions supporting Palestine, claiming they are organized by Hamas, and those opposing the U.S. proxy war in Ukraine, designed to crush Russia, are said to be organized by Russia. Certainly not by U.S. citizens and residents.
The U.S. and their intelligence agencies have a long history of claiming communists, anti-war organizers, militant trade unionists, and now Muslims, are all agents of a foreign power. As with the ODNI reports, this serves to discredit these homegrown organizers and protests while also providing the basis for police repression against them. This repression is already evident in the case of the Uhuru 3, activists charged as agents of Russia.
San Diego, California, July 2024
Secondly the emphasis on Russia favoring Trump is designed to promote Harris as the one not influenced by these "foreign actors." It is Trump who is tied to Russia, who will do what they say, favor them, etc. The same was done by these agencies in 2016, in favor of Hillary Clinton against Trump. She put forward during the debates that the "intelligence community" thought he was unfit, something Harris is now repeating. Then there were all the reports and Congressional investigations about Russian hacking in support of Trump, right before the 2016 election, and more after he was elected. It was designed to discredit Trump and link him to Russia, which served to support Clinton, just as the reports today serve Harris. There are no reports, however, that ODNI is the one interfering in the elections.
In looking more closely, one can surmise that the intelligence agencies, along with military forces, favor Harris in part because they expect she can provide a more stable and predictable situation in the country and possibly forestall civil war. Functional institutions and reliable information for which standards are necessary, are required to make predictions. The dysfunction of the existing institutions and state-sanctioned disinformation to undermine public opinion creates a real problem for the rulers. Coupled with the plethora of intelligence agencies running amuck serving narrow private interests, even polling agencies have been unable to accurately predict election results in previous years. This is true not only for elections but also when it comes to setting U.S. foreign policy, a main arena for the intelligence agencies. Their record, like that of Biden and his administration, is one of failure to accurately predict, just as these agencies failed to accurately predict the results of the Clinton/Trump election.
Using this promotion of foreign interference, the intelligence agencies are hoping to get a better read on how the public as well as Russia, Iran and China will respond to U.S. actions.
Thirdly,
all this emphasis on foreign interference diverts from the fact that
the existing institutions do not provide "free and fair" elections. The
candidates are not chosen by the people and do not represent them, as
the pro-war, pro-genocide stands of both indicate. U.S. elections are
notoriously filled with corruption and massive amounts of money from
private interests and are not democratic. They are designed to keep the
people, the majority, out of power and the rich in. That is the source
of the anger and dissatisfaction among the people. Rather than
providing information and
analysis on these problems and discussing the solutions the peoples are
putting forward, this specter of foreign interference is widely
promoted.
The peoples are having none of it and are instead strengthening their unity and stands against U.S./Zionist genocide. A meeting of Jewish Voice for Peace in New York City titled Beyond Elections had 1,200 participants discussing and planning more actions, including securing an arms embargo and more. Demonstrations based on No Votes for Genocide are taking place November 2 and seminars and zooms with similar content and discussion on advancing the movements of the peoples for rights are occurring immediately after the election. The stand is that it is the people who can bring the change they want, and they are stepping up to do so.
Note
1. "Intelligence officials warn foreign adversaries determined to undermine election trust," PBS News Hour, October 23, 2024.
This article was published in
Saturday, November 2, 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/ITN2024/Articles/TI54451.HTM
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