Who Wrote the Book on Election Meddling?

by | May 17, 2017

The United States, of course — including Russian elections. Writes Markar Melkonian:

Does the USA meddle in the presidential elections of other countries?

Our friends in South America might have insights here—hundreds of cases of economic and military blackmail, election fraud, assassination, and the violent overthrow of democratically elected leaders.  So too in Europe (Greece, Italy, Portugal, Georgia, Ukraine, etc.), east Asia (Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Korea, the Philippines, etc.), north Africa (Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco), and dozens of other countries on five of the six inhabited continents. (Joshua Keating, “Election Meddling Is Surprisingly Common,” Slate.com, 4 Jan., 2017; Tim Weiner, CIA:  Legacy of Ashes, 2008; Noam Chomsky, Deterring Democracy, 1992, 2006.)…

In the welter of red-faced indignation, the torrents of denunciations from Senate hearings and press conferences, talk shows and podcasts, one might have expected someone to pose the rather obvious question whether American agencies have ever meddled in Russian presidential elections.  And yet (surprise surprise!) America’s corporate-owned press of record, an institution that constantly flaunts its “objectivity,” has failed to raise that straightforward question.

So, let us raise it here: Has the USA engaged in this sort of meddling?  And if so, what effect has it had on Russia?

The answer to the first question, of course, is a resounding Yes. [Emphasis in original.]

This all brings to mind Tom Lehrer’s musical analysis from the 1960s, “Send the Marines”:

For might makes right,
And till they’ve seen the light,
They’ve got to be protected,
All their rights respected,
‘Till somebody we like can be elected.

 

Americans will live in a perpetual war state as long as they remain historically illiterate about the state they labor under.

About Sheldon Richman

Sheldon Richman is the executive editor of The Libertarian Institute and a contributing editor at Antiwar.com. He is the former senior editor at the Cato Institute and Institute for Humane Studies; former editor of The Freeman, published by the Foundation for Economic Education; and former vice president at the Future of Freedom Foundation. His latest books are Coming to Palestine and What Social Animals Owe to Each Other.

Our Books

latest book lineup.

Related Articles

Related

April 20, 2024: Final Nail in America’s Coffin?

April 20, 2024: Final Nail in America’s Coffin?

When future historians go searching for the final nail in the U.S. coffin, they may well settle on the date April 20, 2024. On that day Congress passed legislation to fund two and a half wars, hand what’s left of our privacy over to the CIA and NSA, and give the U.S....

read more
I Met a Man

I Met a Man

Located nearly three hours drive from Adelaide, the property rested in the South-East. The nearest township a good thirty minutes if you pushed your vehicle over dirty unselaed road. It was a job that a mate threw my way, help out some old timers that he knew through...

read more