Are you paying any attention to the election?

No – not that one. That one is simple: the writ drops, 42 days later people vote, and the next day there is a ‘new’ government. Maybe not totally new, but different in some way(s) – major, minor, or many. And life goes on.

The other one. The election that happens every four years at the same time each time. The one that has a minimum two-year campaign period. The one that always takes place in November.

And the other one. In Europe. The EU Parliamentary elections.

Does it matter to you more, as much, or not at all what happens south of the border or in Europe? Are you more or less affected by the election results in Canada than those in the USA and in Europe?

Putin is arguably the richest man in the world except that he cannot access his own money. He secured his cash by spreading it around to his friends to hold and hide for him. Russian oligarchs. Russian mafia. The US applied sanctions on these oligarchs and froze their offshore accounts. They separated Putin from his cash.

During the lame-duck period following the 2016 election, Obama sent two dozen Russian operatives home. Putin did not respond. Why not? Because the incoming Trump presidency said, don’t worry we’ll take care of this.

You do remember that Russian legislators celebrated with champagne on the floor of their parliament when Donald Trump won the US presidential election in 2016.

What does Putin want? He wants his money, he wants the re-birth of the Soviet Union, he wants an end to NATO, he wants a divided EU, and he wants the US out of Europe, out of the Middle East, and out of Asia in general. Because Russia holds the UN Security Council seat formerly held by the Soviet Union, they hold a veto. The UN is not a barrier to any of Putin’s plans.

How does he achieve this outcome? Kompromat – essentially, blackmail. And election manipulation.

Once your puppet becomes the US President you have him withdraw from Syria, Afghanistan, and Europe. Have him withdraw from NATO. Have him rip up treaties that restrict your deployment of nuclear weapons that threaten Europe. Turn your puppet’s international focus to North Korea because you know that the de-nuclearization of North Korea will never happen. At the same time, have your puppet negotiate trade with China because you know that China will win that bout. And at the same time, have your puppet re-negotiate NAFTA and build a wall – that will work to turn the attention of the US, Canada, and Mexico inward.

And, at the same time, act to break up the EU. Facilitate and encourage the departure of the UK. Act to ensure that the European countries move – politically – to the right, and create or simply augment conditions that force the individual European countries to turn inward to deal with domestic issues – like overwhelming numbers of refugees.

Once everyone has retreated home, move to re-build the Soviet Union.

Should you be paying attention?

Stuart Syme