-- Where was a the media's outrage when Ted Kennedy attempted to undermine President Reagan by allying with Russia?
In 1983, Kennedy sent John Tunney, a close confidant to Russia, to meet with Russian counterparts and layout Kennedy’s quid pro quo plan to take down President Reagan in the coming election.
A memorandum explaining this plan was discovered in 1991, when Boris Yeltsin, the Russian President at the time, opened up the Soviet archives.
Here is the history of the incident:
“Ted Kennedy's Soviet Gambit” http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/27/ted-kennedy-soviet-union-ronald-reagan-opinions-columnists-peter-robinson.html
The translated memorandum begins:
From: V. Chebrikov, Chairman of the Committee [for State Security, KGB] To: Comrade Yu. V. Andropov, General Secretary of the Communist Party Subject: Regarding Senator Kennedy’s request to the General Secretary of the Communist Party Yu. V. Andropov
Contents of Russian memorandum in link directly below:
http://acmeofskill.com/2009/08/text-of-kgb-chairmans-memo-to-andropov-about-us-senator/
This was actual treasonous behavior. Kennedy was attempting to undermine the Reagan administration’s Russian policy. Although Tim Sebastian, a reporter for the London Times, discovered the information in 1991, there was hardly a peep out of the American press and Kennedy remained a Senator till his death in 2009.
Now we come to the Flynn incident.
Lt. Gen. Flynn was President’s Trump’s choice to be National Security Advisor. This appointment does not need the Senate’s approval.
On Dec 29th Obama decided to announce sanctions against Russia and also expel 35 officials in the last remaining days of his administration. Supposedly these sanctions were put in place because the U.S. Intelligence community said Russia interfered in our elections. The media claimed this interference cost Hillary the election. This point is the talking point for much of the American mainstream media, but the media leaves out many important reasons why Hillary lost the election, including her health concerns, her name calling of the American electorate, her lack of charisma, Hillary’s security breaches for top secret classified information, Clinton Foundation finances and whether the Foundation offered quid pro quo arrangements with donors and foreign governments, and the contents of the DNC and Podesta emails. Regardless of how the emails came into the public domain, the information in the DNC emails was enough to remove the DNC chairwoman
What about Obama’s motives? With less than a month left to go in the Presidency, was he trying to hamstring the Trump administration with these sanctions? Why didn’t he leave the choice whether to enact sanctions to the new administration? The media never questioned Obama on his motives.
Let’s look at one of the articles on the Flynn story. On Jan 23rd, the Washington post wrote an article entitled:
”FBI reviewed Flynn’s calls with Russian ambassador but found nothing illicit” https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/fbi-reviewed-flynns-calls-with-russian-ambassador-but-found-nothing-illicit/2017/01/23/aa83879a-e1ae-11e6-a547-5fb9411d332c_story.html?utm_term=.fccc2b25e43d
The above article indicated their sources agreed that the call was proper and that Gen Flynn & the Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak talked about a range of issues.
On Feb 9th of this year, the Washington Post put out a new article on this story:
“National security adviser Flynn discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador, despite denials, officials say” https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/national-security-adviser-flynn-discussed-sanctions-with-russian-ambassador-despite-denials-officials-say/2017/02/09/f85b29d6-ee11-11e6-b4ff-ac2cf509efe5_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_usrussia-%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.b9925ac9bb38
In Flynn’s reply to questions, he backed away somewhat from what he originally stated and said he doesn’t remember talking about sanctions, but it was possible. Trump administration spokesperson said they did not see any evidence that Flynn had an intent to make a promise on sanctions after the inauguration. The Post said their sources claimed Flynn told the Ambassador the sanctions would be reviewed. The Washington Post based this article on leaked betrayals of the administration by former and current anonymous agents to the newspaper.
The article conceded that it is normal for high officials in the oncoming administration to contact officials in other countries. Michael McFaul, who was U.S. Ambassador under Obama even travelled to Moscow before Obama’s election win. In hindsight, perhaps Gen. Flynn would have been better off going personally to Moscow.
Whoever is leaking information between Gen. Flynn and Ambassador Kislyak may be committing a crime. Were the conversations taped between Gen. Flynn and Kislyak classified? A whistleblower may report a crime, but not private diplomatic conversations. If they aren’t classified, then the public should be able to see the transcript and judge for ourselves what the real story is here.
On Feb 10th, Washington Post wrote a follow up article,
“Six stunning aspects of the Flynn scandal” https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/02/10/six-stunning-aspects-of-the-flynn-scandal/?utm_term=.3c496149865b
The above article is filled with vitriol towards Gen. Flynn and the Trump administration and isn’t even worth this author’s comments.
