Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts

Monday, August 24, 2026

Thursday, August 24, 1911. The beginning of a world shaking event.

Chinese citizens living in Chengdu, lead the Tung Chi Huei, went on strike over the Qing Dynasty's agreement with foreign nations to build a railroad through the Sichuan Province, after businesses there had raised $20,000,000 to build it themselves.

It was the beginning of a revolutionary era in China that would not end until 1949. . . or maybe it hasn't ended yet.  Suffice it to say, it was the beginning of events so massive that even now we do not know how they will work out, over a century later.

It's proof that what often seems regional, and even minor, can end up global, and epic.

As if Mexico didn't have enough on its hands, the United States officially rejected the award of the Chamizal Arbitration.

From the New York Times on this day?


Why? Well, they were Jewish, that's it.  Russia was h eavily anti semitic.

What a world, and the good old days.  Massive disturbance in China, revolution in Mexico, pogroms in Russian, and petty border disputes.

The first ever sculpture of a butter cow was displayed at the Iowa State Fair.


Last edition:

Wednesday, August 23, 1911. British secretly plan for war.


Tuesday, August 18, 2026

Wars and Rumors of War, 2026. Part 8. Donald Trump, China's (and Russia's) greatest ally edition.

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom

Matthew, Chapter 24.

Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

July 26, 2026

China v. Taiwan

The Houthis hit oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia yesterday.

News reports hold that the administration has put on hold an escalation of the war due to a shortage of air defense munitions.  Savvy analysts, including yours truly, have been warning about that occurring for months, and not it's here.

So, in keeping with that, a prediction.

This is also likely a moment that Putin and Xi have been waiting for as well.  Our weapons stockpile has been built up over years, and now we've wasted it on a war fought for Israel and Trump's vanity.  Both Putin and Xi know that the next President, assuming at Trump 2028 coup to be unsuccessful, and assuming that we don't have another President before 2028, is much less likely to be a complete patsy and geopolitical dimwit.  

For Russia, that means Russia needs to fight on in hopes it can win before the next administration comes on.  For Xi, that means the time to invade Taiwan is. . . now.

July 29, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

The U.S. Senate advanced Russian energy sanctions legislation Tuesday as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the Capitol. The vote was seen as a tribute to the bill’s author, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, on the day of his funeral, which was widely attended by politicos. 

Trump fell asleep during it as J. D. Vance seemed oblivious to the dozing octogenarian and Bessent looked nervous about it, but then he always looks nervous.

July 31, 2026

Israeli Hamas War

The Bored of Peas has supposedly worked out a peace plan in Gaza.  Sober analysts a 4th Grade level have severe doubts about it.

August 1, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Now Trump is backtracking and saying the US won't license Patriot missile production to Ukraine.

August 2, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukraine has run out of ballistic missile interceptors.  This comes at the same time that the US supply is seriously depleted due to Donald Trump's illegal moronic war against Iran.

King Donny should free up what remains of the US supply and give them to Ukraine, and start emergency production for the US.  As for Iran, we can solve that problem simply by pulling out.  Better yet, pulling out, putting every senior commander who agreed to fight in a clearly illegal war on trial, and impeaching Donald Trump.

Crisis in Ceuta

Not a war but requiring Spanish military deployment, a mass flood of immigrants crashed into the Spanish North African city of Ceuta.

About 50,000 North African immigrants stormed the city, leading to dramatic news footage and MAGA "see, it could happen here" claims.  Missed in the story is that 48,000 of them returned to Morocco within 48 hours.

A bigger question may be why Spain retains a city that you would figure should be part of Morocco, but it does.

Italy defensively suspended the EU's border-free Schengen arrangements with Spain.

August 10, 2026

Israel v. Hamas.

Israel had rejected the "Board of Peace" peace plan, refusing to enter into a peace deal with Hamas until it is definitely disarmed.

Another blow to King Donny.

August 17, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Both sides exchanged heavy missile and drone attacks yesterday.  A NATO jet on patrol shot down a drone that had strayed into Romania.  

August 18, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Robert Shaheiev, 49, formerly of the Ukrainian Navy who defected to Russia early in the war died in an explosion in Sevastopol.

Whether he was targeted or not, Ukrainian operatives have proven effective at hunting down figures in the Russian military that they find particularly responsible for various matters.  Shaheiev defected with a submarine.

Korean War

Donald Trump has signaled that the US is going to scale back it's participation in joint exercises with the South Korean Army.

What's going on here is terribly unclear.  The US has maintained troops in the ROK since the 1945 and the threat of North Korean invasion is very real.  

I should note that this isn't entirely unprecedented.  Jimmy Carter actually campaigned on the idea in 1976 and tried to implement a phased withdrawal, which was abandoned over conservative and military objections.  Since the 1980s, military support of South Korea has been very strong.

Trumps move comes at a time when the US is losing an illegal war with Iran and is having to pull naval assets out of the Pacific.  It also comes at a point at which the longtime Red Chinese goal of forcibly reunited Taiwan with the mainland is at its highest point. Combined with that, Trump's administration is packed with National Conservatives who have a sort of Neo Nineteenth Century view of where the U.S.'s foreign policy should be focused.

Given that, Trump's decision could be the result of his listening to National Conservatives, or it could be because or logistical situation is much worse than admitted.

It could also be because South Korea refused to participate in the illegal war, like every other nation on earth did.  Trump has not taken that well.  Nobody seems to be pointing out that South Korea did participate in the Vietnam War, which Trump did not.  Trump himself, at any rate, referenced South Korea's lack of willingness to get into the losing war with Iran.

Because of Trump's other actions, however, there's widespread commentary about whether Trump is a Russian asset and this is influencing him on the world stage.  As radical as that sounds, there are reason to raise this question.  Certainly no other President has hurt US interest, and just the US in general, more than Trump, and he's a fanboy of Putin.

We've noted it elsewhere, but we've been worried about a Chinese strike on Taiwan in the near future.  The combination of the failed Iran War and Trump's other actions make that inevitable . The question is whether that will come this Fall, or next Spring.

Related threads:

King Donald's War, Part 10. "If any question why we died, Tell them, because our fathers lied." Donald Trump, the killer edition.

Last edition:

King Donald's War, Part 10. "If any question why we died, Tell them, because our fathers lied." Donald Trump, the killer edition.Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, August 17, 2026

CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist 151st Edition. Дональд Трамп. Нелегалы? Donald Trump, Moscow's man in the White House or just really stupid (probably really stupid)?



Is Donald Trump a Russian agent?

I don't think so, but it's no longer an irrational thing to ask.  Indeed, it has to be at least slightly pondered.

Yesterday Trump announced that the U.S. Army is scaling back on joint exercises with the South Korean Military.  More specifically:


I just think that this shows Trump to be really dumb, something I've been maintaining for awhile. 

But still, consider that North Korea is supplying troops and arms to Russia in Ukraine.  At least at one point, he apparently promised to stop the CIA from monitoring Kim Jong Un (my guess is that the CIA would continue to do it even if ordered to stop).  He's praised the North Korean despot repeatedly.

But then, he's done the same with Putin.  

And the fact of the matter is that he couldn't have done more to harm the US in the globe than he has, even if he was a paid agent.  He's wrecking the US economy, he's destroying our relationship with our allies (our real allies), he's threatened to seize territory belonging to our allies.  He's refused to give Ukraine the full amount of weapons it needs to defend itself, which aids Russia, and he's gotten us into a war which is depleting our supply of air defense munitions at an alarming rate and taxing the abilities of our Navy.

China will take advantage of this.

In order to successfully invade Taiwan, China needs relatively calm weather conditions, which only occur in that region in the spring and fall. Spring is gone, but fall is coming right up.  The war with Iraq that Trump illegally launched will still be going on in October and our supply of anti missile missiles will not have increased a bit by then.  It will likely have have grown worse.  The morale problem in the Navy (assuming its limited to the Navy, which is not a safe assumption) will be worse by October.  

Consider this.

Right now, the US can't be reliably counted on to contest a Chinese invasion of Taiwan at all.  Donald Trump could easily just say "oh, well, we're busy, and things and stuff" and let it happen. Frankly, I'd give less than 50% odds the US would actually attempt to counter a Chinese resumption of active hostilities against Taiwan, and unlike 1949, when the Republicans rallied to "Who lost China?"  the current GOP would just roll over like a wet dog if that occured.

But let's assume that the US attempts to do something.  We are still probably able to counter a Chinese seaborne effort, but we aren't going to be in very good shape to counter a missile offensive.  

Crossing the Taiwan Strait is a massive military undertaking.  Even right now China can probably not pull it off.  But it can try it, and if it does, the US can't endure a protracted aerial campaign.  Its not even showing the ability to do it with Iran, and that war will still be going on.

But let's take it one more step.  Can the US fight a sea and air war against China, an air war against Iran, and a ground invasion by North Korea of South Korea?

It's questionable.  And all those countries know that.

And Putin knows that if that occurs, U.S. aid to Ukraine is over.

The Second World War saw Nazi Germany allied to Imperial Japan and democratic Finland.  Wars make strange bedfellows.  All of these countries have relations with each other, and you can bet they're talking.

So, do I think the American President is some sort of odd agent in Russian employment?  Дональд Трамп.  Нелегалы?  No, I don't, but I do think he's stupid, and that stupidity is having disastrous consequences that are about to get much, much worse.  Much worse by October of this year, or perhaps the spring of next year.  Indeed, waiting it out would make strategic sense for China, while hitting in October would make political sense.

Creepy

Trump's relationship with Natalie Harp is approaching being creepy.

We can assume that Harp is an adoring sycophant, as to be employed by Trump, you have to be.  But still.  She apparently wrote him, stating:" You are all that matters to me." and "I don’t ever want to let you down."

Trump calls her “sweetie".

Okay, that doesn't mean that he's obtaining favors from her, but given Trump's track record, it's going to raise questions.  Trump is rumored to have had an affair with Playboy tart Karen McDougal some 20 years ago, when he was 60.  60 isn't young (trust me, I'm 63) but it isn't old either.  That's the same age he was when he reportedly had a one night stand with Stormy Daniels.  He'd been married in the American context to Melanija Knavs for two years at the time.  So if he quit cheating, we have to assume that at age 60 he was fornicating with women prostituting their image for pay (which he denies) twice and then suddenly reformed.  

Maybe.

Well, being a lech at age 60 isn't the same thing as being one at 80.  Harp is 35 and the 45 year age gap would be super creepy and just flat out too creepy for any woman of that age to engage in who wasn't um, a professional.  Besides, at this point it's fairly well established that Trump has an incomitance problem and stinks a lot of the time.

No, Harp is just another creepy fan of Trump's, seeing something in him that isn't there.

And, speaking of creepy.


Nancy Mace has been weird for a while, but she's rocketing to the bottom.

And even creepier.

A Trump speech from two days ago in front of policemen:
Every day I come to the White House, people are thanking me: ‘Thank you, sir. Thank you, thank you, sir,'

You know these young, beautiful girls. These young, beautiful girls. These young, beautiful girls in the White House. You know they come in. Now I'm not supposed to say beautiful, but what the hell?

These young, these gorgeous, beautiful girls — they want to be safe, and they come, 'Mr. President, may I speak to you? Thank you, sir. Thank you’ — I said, ‘Why are you thanking me?’

’Because a year and a half ago, I was afraid to leave. I was afraid to open the door of my apartment, and now I walk to the White House every morning, and I have absolutely no fear.’
Donald Trump.

That never happened, and it's really creepy.  Young beautiful adoring women are coming to Donald Trump and thanking him for making things safe. . . no, they are not.

Some predictions

Well, with all that cheery news, what can we say?

Just this. Things are about to get a lot worse.  As we progress into the fall the oncoming electoral disaster for the GOP is going to become more and more of a crisis for Trump, and he's going to start doing anything he can to steal the election if not outright suspend it.  A war we are losing will still be going on.  The economy is going to start tanking.  Trump's mental state will continue to visibly decline.  Republicans in Congress will continue to do nothing, if not outright support the subversion of democracy.

Related threads:

Donald Trump is a Russian Asset. Дональд Трамп — агент России.




Last edition:

CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist 150th Edition. Why Karoline is departing. Donald Trump's Weird Obsession with monuments to himself. The Invincibly Ignorant.

Thursday, July 23, 2026

Wars and Rumors of War, 2026. Part 7. La unión es la fuerza*

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom

Matthew, Chapter 24.

June 4, 2026

Bolivia 

Oh oh.

June 19, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War


June 25, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukraine  has retaken the Kinburn Spit which has been occupied by Russia for the entire war.

June 26, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

A Russian Army officers has released a public broadcast warning Putin that troops are on the edge of rebellion.

The Russian situation in Crimea is now dire.  On the narrow land bridge to the mainland only military traffic is now moving and its severely impeded.  Fuel has become so scarce that is no longer sold to civilians.  About half of Crimea is without power.   If Ukraine takes out the bridge to the mainland it will be disastrously isolated.

All this when Russian dead are about to reach the 1.5 million mark.

Ukraine, for its part, just launched an offensive.

July 5, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

In something that's fairly laughable, Donald Trump spoke to Vlad Putin and offered to help find a way to end the war.

Donny can't end the war he started and Russia is flat out losing the war against Ukraine.  This war is more and more likely to see Ukraine regain all of its lost territory and Putin has to be increasingly worried about a revolution at home.

July 9, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Trump appeared to agree to allow the Ukrainians to produce Patriot missiles in Ukraine.

His mind is such a pile of goo that it's difficult to know if this will occur or not.

July 12, 2026

Russia v. Poland

July 17, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired reformist defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov in a out right wierd move, given that Fedorov is the architect of the highly successful Ukrainian drone campaign against Russia.  Understandably, mass protests have broken out.

Ukraine is forming a new government right now as Fedorov's firing was part of that.  It was a bad move.

July 23, 2026

United States v. Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin

The US is considering military action against Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, an Al Qaeda .

The situation in Mali is desperate, and complicated, as the country has turned to Russian mercenary groups to prop up its military government.  Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin has been waging a somewhat successful terrorist campaign in the country.

Footnotes:

"Unity is strength", the motto of Bolivia.

Last edition:

Wars and Rumors of War, 2026. Part 6. Two things greater than all things are edition.

Thursday, June 18, 2026

Friday, June 18, 1926. Egyptian troops at Mecca.

Egyptian soldiers fired into a crowed of Muslims Najadis, killing 25 of them, following a protest that began when the Egyptians were playing music while carrying the Mahmal through the holy city of Mecca during the Hajj pilgrimage, to which the Najadis took offense.

It's often forgotten in the West that Islam is far more internally divided than Christianity, a fact that's aided by the fact that there is no central head of Islam.

The Fédération Internationale de Philatélie was formed for stamp collecting and other branches of philately in at Castagnola in Switzerland.

It's the oldest such organization in the world.

Princess Olga Constantinovna of Russia, 74, former Queen Consort of Greece from 1867 to 1913 as the wife of King Geórgios I, and briefly regent for one month in 1920, died in exile in Rome.

Congress was getting ready to go home.



Congress of that era, and all the way up into at least the 90s, really did work harder than it currently does.  I've heard an interview of a member of Congress who was out of office for a decade or more and who was shocked when he went back about how much real work had decreased.  It's not hard to see that the current Congress is a model of being ineffective.

I wonder, in part, if modern transportation contributes to that.  And the net definitely does.

You could get really fresh butter in Casper.


I knew that you could get locally produced butter in the 20s (and 30s, and 40s, and at least the early 50s), but I didn't really give that all that much thought.

Weirdest coffee ad ever.


And Out Our Way explored a misunderstanding.



Last edition:

Monday, June 14, 1926. The Calles Law.

Saturday, May 30, 2026

Tuesday, May 30, 1876. Coup in Constantinople, Ems Ukaz in the Russian Empire.

A bloodless military coup d'état deposed Ottoman Sultan Abdulaziz, and resulted in the the appointment of Murad V as the Sultan. Midhat Pasha would preside over a constitutional committee for the next two years, a period known as the First Constitutional Era.

Czar Alexander IIsigned the Ems Ukaz to eliminate the Ukrainian language from the cultural sphere and limited it with domestic use.

Last edition:

Monday, May 29, 1876. Start of the Yellowstone Expedition.

Saturday, May 16, 2026

The Manchurian Candidate. It's like Donald Trump and MAGA really are the Reds.

The hammer and cycle in red. . . it might as well be the symbol of the Trump presidency.

We've remarked before on how the GOP has adopted the color red, the color of the far left, as it's own.  That's beginning to seem more appropriate than ever.

Our dim illegitimate chief executive has gone to China and returned.  In the process, it seems clear that he's getting ready to abandon Taiwan.

Trump's entire trip to China was a complete and utter humiliation for the United States.  An embarrassment of the highest order.  But it fits a pattern.

Trump loves Russia's Putin.  He's super impressed with Xi.  He's kind of a bit of a fan boy to Kim Jong Un.  He loved Orban who was a Putin ally.

If our adversaries from former Communist states had conspired to place into office a man to act as a sleeper agent, they could not have succeeded more wildly than Donald Trump has done without being one. . . presumably.  He's brought a US that was already in trouble down from a world power to a second rate collapsing nation.  It's utterly incredible.

Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Sunday, March 31, 1946. Arresting Nazis, Russia pays up, you have to wonder about Дональд, Field Marshall Gort passes.

7,000 Allied soldiers served warrants on Nazi officials.  Ausgezeichnet!

The first Greek elections since 1936 took place, with the Communist Party of Greece refusing to participate.  

Russia, as a political subdivision of the USSR, paid its U.N. dues of $1,725,000, under the thesis that the USSR had multiple representation in the UN.

Trump would probably support an effort of Russia not to pay, which was feared at the time, sending the leader of the nation a Я люблю тебя, Дональд note, like he does in an implied way to the current leader of Russia constantly.

What's up with that?

Field Marshal John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort became yet another World War Two senior officer to die following the war, albeit his death was due to liver cancer.


He was a recipient of the Victoria Cross in World War One.

Last edition:

Monday, January 14, 1946. Wartime and Post War foodstuffs.

Friday, February 27, 2026

Wednesday, February 27, 1946. What is Russia up to now?

Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal lifted restrictions on assignments for Black sailors.

Republican Senator Arthur Vandenberg delivered his "What is Russia up to now" speech in which he criticized the Truman Administration's policy of cozying up to the Soviet Union.

Who would guess that 80 years later the GOP President would have the biggest crush possible on the leader of Russia?  But then who would guess that the GOP would evolve into a party of sycophantic stooges?

Truman asked Herbert Hoover to help convince Americans to aid in worldwide famine relief.

Last edition:

Friday, February 22, 1946. The Long Telegram.

Tuesday, February 3, 2026

Was it a honeytrap?

Never get into an elevator with a Polish blonde”

David M. Evans, Consular/Economic Officer, Warsaw, 1964-1967

Cold War era Greek poster warning Greek officers not to yield to oddly friendly women.

The British newspaper The Guardian seems to think so, but The Guardian tends towards the salacious.

It would explain, however, a lot.

We speak, of course, of Epstein Island and the ongoing cover-up of what occurred there.

Yes, cover-up.  The U.S. government is covering it up.

A honey trap is an age old espionage technique.  A country sends somebody, make or female, to have compromising sex with the target.  Once he's compromised, he, and it's almost always a he, is really compromised.  Sexual sins can be amongst the very worse, even in this libertine age.

The Soviet Union was a master at the honey trap. Max Hastings, in his book on World War Two espionage, details this quite a bit and well known examples abound.  While not often put this way, Soviet recruiting in pre World War Two and early Cold War Britain was based on honey traps, with the added element that they wer\e homosexual honey traps.  Homosexuality was illegal in the UK at the time as well as devastating to a person's reputation, but surprisingly common in the "public school" system.  The Soviets learned who would be well placed at some point to be a spy, and provided the sexual target to bring the person in.

The more common female honey trap is of course well known, and was also well deployed by the Soviets, as well as other nations.

Maria Butina is a recently example who buddied up to the Trump administration and the National Rifle Association to gather intelligence from Conservative power brokers, although there's no accusation that she employed sex in her efforts.

Fang Fang, as Christine Fang had sex with two US mayors and targeted Democratic politicians in what US officials believe was a political intelligence operation run by China.

Why wouldn't the Russians use it?

What we know about Epstein Island at least gives us every reason to question whether or not it was a honey trap.  The number of very wealthy and connected men that went through it, from all over the globe, made it somewhat unique, although the wealthy and powerful travel in certain circles and there are likely other places that meet this criteria.  What those other places probably didn't have, however, was mid to late teenage girls who were on the dinner menu.

There's utterly no way that the Russians did not know this.

We are told that just because men traveled to the island doesn't mean that they had sex with underage teenage girls.  Quite a few men whose names have been exposed denied every doing that, or denied every knowing that this was going on.  No doubt, that's true min many instances.  Mere wealth is enough to cause some of the wealthy to go to a place. The appearance of wealth attracts the wealthy like shit attracts flies, and I use that analogy intentionally.  But that doesn't mean ever single man who went there ended up in bed with a 15 year old.

Having said that, however, it's clear that girls about that age were there for the offering, and that's the next point.  A honeytrap isn't a rape of the target, it's an offering that tempts the target.  Some men might very well go through a place, particularly perhaps like Bill Clinton did with his wife, and never be tempted, maybe, or even know what's going on.  But to not have some clue strains credibility.  One thing that's showing up, and thank to the Guardian you can see them, is photos of the young girls.  Their faces are blacked out, and in some cases their boobs, but what's interesting is they are of a type.  They're thin girls and look like teens, not the heavy chested women of the Playboy magazine type.  They look, even in the redacted photographs, just like what they were, thing flat chested girls who should have been in high school.

They look like the girl that Donald Trump drew on Epstein's birth card.

And all the more appropriate for a honeytrap.

World War Two Navy era poster.  If the Honeytrap thesis is correct, it's not the girls who were actually the spies. They were only used to compromise the targets, if that happened.

If you are attracting the flies in this fashion, you have to have something to attract them to, and something that compromises them.  Back in the 1970s illicit sex alone would have done that, but in the 2000s?  Maybe not.  And on top of it the guests on Epstein Island were flying in and out, although some did that quite a bit.  Offer a super model up on the plate might not work for a variety of reasons, one being that the supermodel would probably say no.  You aren't going to get any Kate Uptons on Epstein Island.

But  you might very well get the desperate and confused.  Pretty girls on the economic and domestic edge, whose parents are desperate as well.  They'd make ideal entries on the sexual menu.  They are like the prostitute who is murdered to set up the Senator in The Godfather, Part II.  Girls with nothing who "never existed".

You only have to offer them up to the willing, have a camera around, and voila, the target is compromised.

Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre, need we say more.  Posted under fair use exception.

What we know for an absolute certainty is that there were a lot of rich and powerful men who went to Epstein Island.

We also know for sure that a selection of them screwed teenage girls there.

We know for certain that the first time that Epstein was arrested, he got a mysteriously sweetheart deal from a Federal Prosecutor.1  He was being protected.

He was being protected, because his clientele was being protected on some level.

We also know that people who claimed to be horrified about what was going on and to have cut off their connection with him, didn't when they claimed to.  Even while he was in prison he was receiving contacts from the rich and powerful.

We know that right now only a little over 50% of the materials the government has on him has been released and we are informed that the rest will not be.  We've learned of more of the names, but we haven't learned the names of the girls. Their anonymity isn't protection, it makes them a hostage.

We now that there's been a diehard effort to keep material from being revealed and that the names of the victimizers have not been fully revealed, or even really slightly revealed.

What we just don't know, is why.

What we also know is that early on Trump claimed to be for releasing the files.  He radically changed his view when he was in office, but we don't know why.  It could be that his name shows up more than he thought it would, even if so far nobody has come out and said this material shows he screwed teenage girls.2   Or it could be that there's something so compromising in these files that its hugely damaging to somebody he's protecting.

Without a full release of the files, we don't know what that is.  But it'd have to be pretty bad.  

Sex with underage males will still bring a figure down, we know this.  The story of Kevin Spacey proves that.  But what about teenage girls?  A lot of the men that are in Trump's circle already, including Trump himself, have lived a life of sexual license, would teenagers be the line they couldn't cross?

Well, maybe.  Coerced sex proved the downfall of Harvey Weinstein.  Drugged sex brought down Bill Cosby.  Maybe teenage sex is still a bridge too far. We can all hope so.  And frankly somebody who would stoop so low as to engage in this activity in this situation may have well brought additional perverted elements into this.

But what would espionage do?

First, is there any evidence of it at all.

It does turn out that there were girls from what had been the USSR who showed up on the island.  Model  Ruslana Korshunova went there at age 18, and then went out a balcony window three years later in what was ruled a suicide.  Model Anna Malova is known to have flown with Prince Andrew to the island, but at the time the now 52 year old woman would have been 25.  And there are other accusations, but they are pretty murky.

There's enough, however, that Poland is launching an investigation into connections between Epstein and Russian intelligence.

Would this mean that Trump was compromised?  No, not at all.  But it might very well mean that somebody in his orbit was, and he's protecting him, or them.  There's precedent for that.

It's pretty clear that Truman attempted to bury information that the Roosevelt Administration had been compromised by Soviet spies, and frankly, the Democratic Party of the late 1940s and 1950s pretty much succeeded at that effort. The Roosevelt Administration was definitely compromised, but the effort to squash the efforts to reveal that were so successful that they destroyed the reputation of Sen. Joseph McCarthy and have caused there to be a common belief that all of his acquisitions were baloney.  They weren't.  They were pretty much dead on.

And this would somewhat explain Trump being extraordinarily careful with Putin.  He's not always in Putin's camp, but he often is.  It's been hard to grasp, although there are other explanations for it.  Keeping a lid on whatever is in the Epstein files might be good for Trump. . . and Putin, and really bad for both of them if it turns out that the US, and perhaps other Western, governments were, and maybe are, heavily penetrated by Russian intelligence.


And, as a final wild note, for years now people have claimed that Jeffrey Epstein was murdered.  The accusations frankly are not credible, but if you are going to entertain them, why isn't a Russian connection a possibility?  MAGAs have claimed that the Clinton's had him murdered, which is absolutely absurd. Frankly, it's make more sense for the Republicans to have him murdered, which would also be absurd, but make a little more sense.

If anyone was going to murder him, the Russians make the most sense.

Now, I don't think that occurred.

But I don't think Harry Dexter White was murdered either.  Just compromised.

A Russian honeytrap?

We really don't know, but it is an interesting possibility.

Footnotes.

1.  Chris Christie spoke about this on the last This Week, noting he was a U.S. prosecutor at the time and that all the U.S. Attorneys wondered what on earth was going on.  His comment was "now we know".  He didn't say, exactly, what we know, but what he meant was that we know that something was going on inside the Administration at that time that secured Epstein a deal where he was allowed to go home every day and just slept in the prison.

2.  It's not true that he hasn't been accused of that.  He has been, but so far law enforcement has not found those accusations credible, and they're never going to find them to be credible during the current administration, no matter what the situation regarding them may be.