A reminder to everyone that there is an RV exercise about Putin on the Remote Viewing section - in case anyone wants to have a go.
Maria Butina pleads guilty today to being involved in an organized effort, backed by Russian officials, to open up unofficial lines of communication with influential Americans in the N.R.A. and in the Republican Party,
The NY Times reported she had made a deal with federal officials to provide information in return for a reduced sentence.
What's anyone's take on this?
Mine: She wouldn't be pleading guilty this if it were not okay with her Russian handlers. Otherwise she'd be in trouble when she returns to Russia. So why are they letting her do this?
From Maria D White: With the latest revelations about Maria Butina, it looks like what people were seeing about her was probably spot on. -- Maria
[Note, I tried to move this comment to this thread from the RV Putin thread, but it ended up in the wrong place and wouldn't move. So am copying Maria's words here with apologies to Maria.]
Maria, I went through some of the things people from this community were saying, which was mainly that we all felt she was indeed working for the Kremlin to influence conservative politicians, and funneling money through the NRA, as charged. Is that what you meant when you said people here were spot on?
My thought She was funneling money from the Kremlin via the NRA to Trump as part of a broader influence campaign from Russia to U.S. politicians.
Any interesting analysis by Rachel Maddow. It was noted, on her show, that it wasn't the Mueller team that worked out the plea agreement with Ms Butina and that this investigation started before the elections. This suggests that Ms. Butina's role isn't directly related to Russian collusion in the 2016 election.
If I translate this properly, it might be part of a broader influencing campaign going on (mainly with the GOP, but we'd be foolish to think that members of the Democrats aren't caught up in this too) with American politics. I'm guessing Russian collusion with Trump was a parallel effort. This means that this whole Russia influencing elections just got a lot bigger, it isn't JUST Trump 2016.
Thanks, Codyroo. Going back through Butina's history and the emails and texts the authorities published between her and Erickson, she was interested in influencing American politicians and felt the NRA was the most powerful influencer in the U.S. on conservatives. The Russians weren't so interested in approaching democrats because the democrats' politics don't match up well with Russia. So they knew they were less likely to have influence over the dems. The ultra right GOP politics do match up with Russian politics, e.g., the anti-gay rights, the more authoritarian. And the NRA is a good match for Russian influencers.