In an op-ed in the Washington Post Max Boot demands that something be done about Russian psy-ops directed against us. He opens with a hypothetical:
Imagine if, after 9/11, the president had said that the World Trade Center and Pentagon could have been attacked by “China†or “lots of other people.†Imagine if he had dismissed claims of al-Qaeda’s responsibility as a “hoax†and said that he “really†believed Osama bin Laden’s denials. Imagine if he saw the attack primarily as a political embarrassment to be minimized rather than as a national security threat to be combated. Imagine if he threatened to fire the investigators trying to find out what happened.
What if Franklin Roosevelt had ignored the attack on Pearl Harbor and taken no action afterwards? Would criticism be better directed at Truman or Roosevelt? It seems to me that the Russians are not the only ones engaging in psychological operations.
I agree that the Russians should pay some price for their psy ops actions directed against us. Beyond enforcing sanctions what should happen? Here’s my additional suggestion: reverse the move towards electronic voting.
Max Boot is a dangerous man.
re: electronic voting Heh. Three guesses; who would squeal most about that, Dems or Repubs?
I was thinking about voting machines today. Trump could direct NIST to develop a standard that would provide for redundancy with some kind of hard copy. Machine software should be open-source. Congress could then appropriate funds to give states and localities incentives to switch to voting systems that meet this standard.
As far as Russia goes, you do what you can, there are always options for quid-pro-quo and deterrence.
Using the Pearl Harbor precedent, the US should declare war against Russia, reinstate the draft, and convert all manufacturing to armaments and munitions.
Using the 9/11 precedent, the US should invade two countries without declaring war, reinstating the draft, or changing to a wartime economy.
Using a three-year old’s temper tantrum as a precedent, there should be perpetual protests, pouting, and breath holding. Of course the sophisticated crowd says “wears a diaper on his head” rather than the more appropriate ‘poopie-head’.
Electronic voting? There is no real evidence they actually altered votes of which I am aware. What little action we did take was reversed by the current POTUS, who also refuses to carry out the Senate bill.
Steve