Thursday, April 13, 2017

Space arms race as Russia, China emerge as 'rapidly growing threats' to US Thursday April 13th, 2017 at 9:25 AM

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Space arms race as Russia, China emerge as 'rapidly growing threats' to US

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U.S. satellites may be vulnerable to attacks that could make our whole way of fighting war riskier, according to experts.
"Every major space-faring nation that can track a satellite and launch into outer space has the means to mess up a satellite," said Michael Krepon, a space security expert and co-founder of the Stimson Center think tank in Washington, D.C.
A space arms race of sorts is underway with weapons under development or in the arsenals of China, Russia and the U.S. Space weapons include satellite jammers, lasers and high-power microwave gun systems.
"My guess is that our capabilities to carry out a war in space are a lot better than the Chinese and Russians," said Krepon.
According to analysts, space weapons could be used to compromise navigation, surveillance, communications and other functions in a wartime scenario or national emergency.
"Our military space systems are critical to the way we fight war today," said Todd Harrison, director of the aerospace security project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think tank.
The U.S. uses satellite technology in advanced weapons systems aboard aircraft and warships to carry out precision-strike capabilities. At the same time, infrared satellites provide key intelligence systems used as part of the early warning system to track and detect nuclear warheads and other threats to the homeland.
"Not surprisingly, nations are now actively testing methods to deny us continued use of space services during conflict," said retired Air Force Gen. William Shelton, the former commander of the U.S. Air Force Space Command, in testimony Wednesday to the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces. The subcommittee heard about the role space-based capabilities play in emergencies and the threats to U.S. space systems.
Experts say the biggest threats seen today are non-kinetic threats such as jamming of satellite-based capabilities such as GPS and communications. And the threat isn't limited to space-faring countries since the satellite jamming technology is relatively inexpensive.
North Korea has previously used ground jammers, impacting both military and civilian aircraft and ships. Harrison said there's evidence that insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq also have used jamming.
As for lasers, they can blind imagery satellites and high-power microwave guns could knock out circuitry on targeted satellites.
Some have speculated the U.S. Air Force might be using the Boeing-built X-37B unmanned military space plane to test space weapons. The military has always denied the small robotic craft is a kind of space weapon.
Boeing declined comment for this story and referred questions to the Air Force.
"The primary objectives of the X-37B are twofold: reusable spacecraft technologies for America's future in space, and operating experiments, which can be returned to, and examined on Earth," said an Air Force spokesperson.
Last week, Navy Vice Admiral Charles Richard, deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command, warned in a speech at a CSIS space security conference about offensive space capabilities and weapons being developed by China and Russia.
"While we're not at war in space, I don't think we can say we are exactly at peace either," the admiral said. "With rapidly growing threats to our space systems, as well as the threat of a degraded space environment, we must prepare for a conflict that extends into space."
Analysts say after the Soviet Union crumbled and a weakened Russia emerged there was a view that the U.S. didn't have to worry about an adversary knocking out satellites.
"We took it for granted and kind of ignored the vulnerabilities," said Harrison. Through the 2000s, we started to realize that this might be an issue."
Russia has sent micro-satellites into space and covertly maneuvered a small spacecraft close to commercial satellites. Experts believe the small satellites could be used for a kamikaze-type mission to ram another satellite or to snoop on it for data collection or jamming to interfere with its capabilities.
As for China, a decade ago the communist nation tested an anti-satellite missile and destroyed one of their weather satellites, a move criticized because of the debris field created in space. China also is moving ahead into manned-spacecraft technologies as well as lunar and Mars exploration missions.
"China has shown the whole world that they can do something about our space capabilities," said Harrison. "The Russians have pretty advanced space capabilities as well."
Some of the U.S. military's newer satellites are designed to overcome enemy jamming and withstand other potential offensive actions.
Even so, some of the technology that allows micro-satellites to attach to other satellites is still believed to be capable of rendering targets useless.
"Threats to our use of military, civil and commercial space systems will increase in the next few years as Russia and China progress in developing counterspace weapon systems to deny, degrade, or disrupt U.S. space systems," according the Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community report released last February by then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
Clapper said in the 2016 report that "Russian defense officials acknowledge they have deployed radar-imagery jammers and are developing laser weapons designed to blind U.S. intelligence and ballistic missile defense satellites. Russia and China continue to pursue weapons systems capable of destroying satellites on orbit, placing U.S. satellites at greater risk in the next few years."
One way Harrison suggests the U.S. can reduce vulnerability of some sensitive satellite systems is to build more of them "to make the system more resilient and less vulnerable to attack." For example, he said the military could put up six large satellites to sit in geosynchronous orbit as a missile warning system or go to a system with "dozens of smaller satellites that in aggregate provide the same level of capability [and] would be much harder for someone to attack."
He believes there's been "institutional resistance" within the military to go to smaller satellites and stick with the larger satellite technology. The small number of big, expensive and complex satellites — that's what they like to build."
Countering the argument, Krepon said the U.S. government is diversifying through information sharing by reaching out to utilize "this tremendous surge of commercial capability." So instead of having a handful of satellites he said there's now the potential for many more by teaming up with commercial observation satellite companies.
Actually, the admiral spoke about the information-sharing strategy last week indicating that the U.S. Strategic Command — the unified command that deters military attacks on the U.S. and allies — now has agreements with 58 international companies as well as a dozen nations.
" We share a number of common interests with out partners and allies ," said Richard, the deputy commander of the U.S. Strategic Command. "We are not the only people who have assets. And I think there is great opportunity for us to collaborate for mutual benefit in this area."
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Page 8

Trump's Tilt to China Spells Trouble for Putin

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The Democrats in their unremitting (and increasingly self-destructive) zeal to prove Trump has been colluding with Russia completely missed the red dragon in the room.  It's Beijing our president has been  conspiring with, not Moscow. And he's seemingly doing a decent job of it too.  Consider this from Wednesday's Global Times, the English-language version of the People's Daily's (i. e. Chinese government house organ), :
The US aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson is headed toward the Korean Peninsula after abruptly turning back from sailing to Australia, and Trump sent a warning via his tweet. These are probably related to reports that satellite surveillance shows North Korea is likely to conduct new nuclear tests.
Washington's latest threat to Pyongyang is more credible given its just launched missile attack at an air base in Syria. The Korean Peninsula has never been so close to a military clash since the North conducted its first nuclear test in 2006.
If Pyongyang conducts its sixth nuclear test in the near future, the possibility of US military action against it will be higher than ever. Not only Washington brimming with confidence and arrogance following the missile attacks on Syria, but Trump is also willing to be regarded as a man who honors his promises.
Now the Trump team seems to have decided to solve the North Korean nuclear crisis. As the discussion runs deeper, a situation of no-solution will not be accepted.
Aside from the traditional communist carping about Western "arrogance," this passage is far more pro-Trump than anything to appear in our mainstream media other than Fox NewsIt could even have been on Breitbart. And lest you worry about that tiny sliver of "arrogance," the folks at Global Times make their message explicit in the last line of the article: "Pyongyang should avoid making mistakes at this time."
Another GT article begins this way:
At the invitation of US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday talked over phone with Trump on bilateral relations as well as issues of the Korean Peninsula and Syria. The phone conversation came shortly after the Mar-a-Lago meeting, which indicates the communication mechanism between the two leaders is working efficiently.
When the world is worried that the simmering situation both on the Korean Peninsula and in Syria may deteriorate and spiral out of control, the phone call between the top leaders of China and the US will have an impact on how the international community perceives the bilateral relationship, and will help boost optimism about the international situation.
Meanwhile, the message to the North Koreans was reiterated and stamped in stone at the United Nations when the Chinese, for the first time in recent memory, abstained from the Security Council vote condemning Assad's use of chemical weapons instead of joining in with their Russian allies.
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Trump warms to Xi Jinping as relationship with Putin chills - Yahoo News

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Yahoo News



Trump warms to Xi Jinping as relationship with Putin chills
Yahoo News
Trump spoke glowingly on Wednesday of a personal connection with Xi that he said had developed during the two days that the Chinese leader visited over the weekend. “We had a very good bonding. I think we had a very good chemistry together,” Trump ...
Trump's Tilt to China Spells Trouble for PutinPJ Media

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Donald Trump says it's unlikely Russia was unaware of Syria gas attack - Livemint

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Livemint



Donald Trump says it's unlikely Russia was unaware of Syria gas attack
Livemint
Washington: US President Donald Trump said he thinks it's “unlikely” Russia had no advance knowledge of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons attack on civilians last week. “I think it's certainly possible. I think it's probably unlikely ...

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Morgan: Trump Showed Press He Isn't Russia's 'Poodle' - Fox News Insider

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Fox News Insider



Morgan: Trump Showed Press He Isn't Russia's 'Poodle'
Fox News Insider
Daily Mail editor Piers Morgan said President Trump's response to the gas attack in Syria and Secretary Rex Tillerson's meeting in Moscow prove he is not colluding with the Kremlin. Morgan also said comparisons of Trump to Adolf Hitler were offensive ...

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Comey OK's new TV series to boost FBI's image - New York Post

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Comey OK's new TV series to boost FBI's image
New York Post
FBI director James Comey said he let cameras into the New York FBI offices to film a new television series in hopes that he might build trust with the American people. “I worry sometimes that people don't know us,” Comey said explaining why he green ...

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How to Fight Back Against Russian Hacking - MIT Technology Review

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MIT Technology Review



How to Fight Back Against Russian Hacking
MIT Technology Review
It briefly brought Ukraine's war into focus in a way that Russia's misdirection over the annexation of Crimea, or their murky fight in the farthest corner of Europe, had failed to do. However, a deeper and wider war remained .... These auxiliaries ...

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Page 9

'Great chemistry': Trump abandons China criticism as Russia ties suffer - The Guardian

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The Guardian



'Great chemistry': Trump abandons China criticism as Russia ties suffer
The Guardian
“We're not getting along with Russia at all,” Trump said on Wednesday as last week's airstrikes on Syria, Moscow's key Middle Eastern ally, dominated a peppery encounter between Russianpresident Vladimir Putin and secretary of state Rex Tillerson.
China's Split With Russia on Syria Signals Warmer Xi-Trump TiesBloomberg

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Who are the new jihadis? - The Guardian

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The Guardian



Who are the new jihadis?
The Guardian
From the other side, I have been accused of disregarding the link between terrorist violence and the religious radicalisation of Islam through Salafism, the ultra-conservative interpretation of the faith. ... Khaled Kelkal, France's first homegrown ...

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How Donald Trump came to love NATO - CNN

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CNN



How Donald Trump came to love NATO
CNN
Trump's newfound enthusiasm for NATO brings him into alignment with a long-standing bipartisan consensus in Washington, exemplified by House Speaker Paul Ryan's announcement earlier Wednesday that he would lead a delegation of both Republicans ...
President Trump Has Reversed Himself on a Lot of Campaign PromisesTIME
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Donald Trump changes NATO position: 'It's no longer obsolete'PolitiFact
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Bill Straub: Trump's tent didn't expand the GOP electorate; it's white voters who are the difference - KyForward.com

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KyForward.com



Bill Straub: Trump's tent didn't expand the GOP electorate; it's white voters who are the difference
KyForward.com
The list is long but any fair analysis has to conclude that a rather high percentage of the better that 1.2 million Kentuckians who supported President Donald J. Trump last November voted against their own self-interests. And, while it may be purely ...

Trump administration shifts rhetoric on Russia - KTVU San Francisco

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KTVU San Francisco



Trump administration shifts rhetoric on Russia
KTVU San Francisco
WASHINGTON (KTVU/BCN) - President Donald Trump switched his rhetoric about Russia Wednesday, in stark contrast to his campaign trail praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin. At a news conference with the NATO Secretary General, President Trump ...

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Spicer, Bannon Critics Okay with Anti-Semitic Sharpton and Ellison - American Thinker

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American Thinker



Spicer, Bannon Critics Okay with Anti-Semitic Sharpton and Ellison
American Thinker
Spicer's remarks have met with calls from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and the usual liberal suspects for Spicer's resignation. Yet Pelosi and et al see no .... Abedin also has some interesting family connections. Her father is said to be close ...

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Page 10

China's Split With Russia on Syria Signals Warmer Xi-Trump Ties - Bloomberg

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Bloomberg



China's Split With Russia on Syria Signals Warmer Xi-Trump Ties
Bloomberg
China's abstention from a United Nations resolution condemning the chemical attack in Syria is the most significant sign yet of warmer ties between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump after they met last week. China, which has since 2011 joined Russia to veto ...

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Alleged Plot, Coming Trial In Montenegro Reads Like a Thriller - NPR

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NPR



Alleged Plot, Coming Trial In Montenegro Reads Like a Thriller
NPR
The tiny Balkan country of Montenegro may be best known for its stunning coastline on the Adriatic sea — and as a setting for the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale. But in February, news broke that sounded like a twist right out of a 007 thriller.

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Trump and China: Master diplomat or paper tiger? - CNN

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CNN



Trump and China: Master diplomat or paper tiger?
CNN
Trump's statement came days after he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. The two then spoke Tuesday in what the White House called a "very productive" phone call. "The vast amount of coal that comes out of North Korea ...

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Trump declares US-Russia relations may be at 'all-time low' - SFGate

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SFGate



Trump declares US-Russia relations may be at 'all-time low'
SFGate
WASHINGTON (AP) — Laying bare deep and dangerous divisions on Syria and other issues, President Donald Trump declared that U.S. relations with Russia "may be at an all-time low." His top diplomat offered a similarly grim assessment from the other side ...
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Trump's Tilt to China Spells Trouble for Putin - PJ Media

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Trump's Tilt to China Spells Trouble for Putin
PJ Media
The Democrats in their unremitting (and increasingly self-destructive) zeal to prove Trump has been colluding with Russia completely missed the red dragon in the room. It's Beijing our president has been conspiring with, not Moscow. And he's seemingly ...

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Trump's Syria Strike Was Constitutional - National Review

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National Review



Trump's Syria Strike Was Constitutional
National Review
The Framers gave presidents broad powers to take the lead in matters of national security, and they gave Congress the power to cut off funding. In ordering Friday's strike ... For its troubles, however, the Trump administration has come under fire from ...
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Page 11

Putin risks Trump wrath with cluster bombs attack in Syria - Daily Mail

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Daily Mail



Putin risks Trump wrath with cluster bombs attack in Syria
Daily Mail
This is the shocking moment Vladimir Putin risked the wrath of Donald Trump after dropping cluster bombs in Syria – just four days on from a gas attack that killed 89 civilians. Enormous fire balls lit up the skies over Latamneh and Saraqeb, rebel held ...

Reaching Out to the Voters the Left Left Behind - New York Times

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New York Times



Reaching Out to the Voters the Left Left Behind
New York Times
As the last election demonstrated, the compact geographical distribution of Democratic voters with liberal or progressive ideologies in states that were already blue allowed Trump to win in theElectoral College despite a sizable Democratic victory in ...

Ex MI6 chief suggests Trump may have borrowed Russia money - Daily Mail

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Daily Mail



Ex MI6 chief suggests Trump may have borrowed Russia money
Daily Mail
A former MI6 chief has accused President Donald Trump of borrowing Russian money at the height of the financial crash to keep his businesses afloat when other Western powers would not lend to him. The accusation was made by Sir Richard Dearlove, ...
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All the President's Flip-Flops - The Atlantic

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The Atlantic



All the President's Flip-Flops
The Atlantic
Subscribe to The Atlantic's Politics & Policy Daily, a roundup of ideas and events in American politics. In February ... This designation will trigger a series of actions that will start the process of imposing countervailing duties on cheap Chinese ...

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Police warn organized crime, including the Hells Angels, has infiltrated the medical marijuana market - CBC.ca

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CBC.ca



Police warn organized crime, including the Hells Angels, has infiltrated the medical marijuana market
CBC.ca
An RCMP report obtained by CBC-Radio Canada through Access to Information suggests alarm bells began ringing about organized crime participation in the medical marijuana market back in 2013, as Health Canada started taking applications for licences ...

Ex-MI6 chief says Donald Trump may have borrowed money from Russia to keep his empire afloat - Mirror.co.uk

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Mirror.co.uk



Ex-MI6 chief says Donald Trump may have borrowed money from Russia to keep his empire afloat
Mirror.co.uk
The President came to power pledging to build bridges with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Trumptweeted days before his inauguration: "Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA - NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO ...
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Page 12

FBI's Comey: People 'confused' by bureau's actions last year - ABC News

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FBI's Comey: People 'confused' by bureau's actions last year
ABC News
FILE - In this March 20, 2017, file photo, FBI Director James Comey, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. The FBI has been reviewing the handling of thousands of terror-related tips and leads ... Comey's comments at the Newseum premiere of new ...

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Mark Warner's Russia roadshow - Politico

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Politico



Mark Warner's Russia roadshow
Politico
And while Warner insists he has not yet drawn any conclusions from the Intelligence Committee investigation, he isn't shy about pointing out the web of connections between Trump aides andRussia. At a talk with students from the College of William ...

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How Russia Hacked Obama's Legacy - BuzzFeed News

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BuzzFeed News



How Russia Hacked Obama's Legacy
BuzzFeed News
Now, as two congressional committees and the FBI investigate Russia's role in the election, former Obama officials find themselves grappling with a new legacy, one that formed at the 11th hour of their time in power. As they ... And they let it happen ...

Ex-British spy chief Sir Richard Dearlove suggests Donald Trump may have borrowed money from Russia - Telegraph.co.uk

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Telegraph.co.uk



Ex-British spy chief Sir Richard Dearlove suggests Donald Trump may have borrowed money from Russia
Telegraph.co.uk
Donald Trump may have borrowed money from Russia in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, a former head of MI6 has suggested. Former British spy chief Sir Richard Dearlove said in an interview with Prospect magazine that potential deals to keep Mr ...
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Can FBI Director James Comey Untangle the Trump-Russia Allegations? - Newsweek

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Newsweek



Can FBI Director James Comey Untangle the Trump-Russia Allegations?
Newsweek
FBI Director James Comey's allies believe he's the country's best hope for exposing the truth about Russia's election tampering and possible collusion with Trump's people. Joshua Roberts/Reuters; Win ... Those who have worked with Comey say his ...

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Can FBI Director James Comey Escape the Clinton Email Debacle? - Newsweek

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Newsweek



Can FBI Director James Comey Escape the Clinton Email Debacle?
Newsweek
Both the right and the left screeched in outrage, calling for either Clinton or Comey to be strung up. In The Washington Post, two former U.S. deputy attorney generals, Jamie Gorelick and Larry Thompson, wrote, “We now have real-time, raw-take ...

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Page 13

Can FBI Director James Comey Untangle the Trump-Russia Allegations?

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But those close to Comey say that is an egregious misreading of the man. In interviews with Newsweek, nearly a dozen of Comey’s friends and former colleagues—including some who have known him for decades and people who held top positions at the bureau—characterize him as a man of faith and integrity. They also believe he’s the best person get to the truth about President Donald Trump’s ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On March 20, Comey told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that since July, the FBI has been “investigating the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, and that includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia’s efforts.” The Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence had released a statement in October about Russian tampering, and the ODNI published a declassified report on the subject in January, but this was the first confirmation that the FBI is on the case. “If the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it aided or abetted the Russians,” House Intelligence Committee ranking member Adam Schiff said at the hearing, “it would not only be a serious crime. It would also represent one of the most shocking betrayals of democracy in history.”
The man who many believe ended Clinton’s shot at the White House could now topple Trump. His friends see this as a cruel twist for someone they say doesn’t want to play in that arena. “He is not interested in politics,” says Johnson, the former CCRSB official. “It’s not him as a person. It’s not the position that he is in. He’s absolutely trying to be as apolitical as possible.” Montoya, the former national counterintelligence executive, says, “He is not tone-deaf or tin-eared when it comes to politics, but he doesn’t let politics drive his determination to uphold the rule of law.” Comey’s longtime friend David Kelley, who was his deputy U.S. attorney at the Southern District of New York, agrees: “I think the stories out there about him being at all political are, frankly, silly.”
But there’s no escaping how extraordinarily political his job is these days. After all, Comey might once again determine the fate of the American presidency. With the threat so profound (a foreign power working to undermine American democracy, possibly with the help of a U.S. presidential candidate’s team) and the conflicts of interest so troubling (U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes—both Republicans—have been forced to recuse themselves from the Russia investigations), Comey’s supporters believe he can be the country’s savior. “Somebody who is focused on the good of the country, and somebody who has got a sense of values, like him, I think is extremely important,” says Steinbach, the former executive assistant director, who oversaw the Clinton emails investigation and the Russia probe.
“He is one of those sane voices against the tide of nonsense that’s out there, and we can ill afford to lose him,” Montoya says. “I don’t think there’s a better man in government right now than Jim Comey.”

A Rarity in Washington

Comey grew up in an Irish-Catholic family in the New Jersey suburbs. His father was a real estate executive, and his mother did volunteer work. His grandfather had been a police officer and led a department, and Comey keeps a photo hanging in his office of “Pop Comey” escorting a suspect. He met his future wife while at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, where he double-majored in chemistry and religion. He later graduated from the University of Chicago Law School and went to work first in New York City and then, in the early 1990s, in Richmond, Virginia. In 2002, he became U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Less than two years later, President George W. Bush made him deputy U.S. attorney general, under John Ashcroft.
Soon after, Comey had what until recently was his highest-profile incident. He was serving as acting U.S. attorney general while Ashcroft was in the hospital for gallbladder surgery. Comey had opposed reauthorizing the Bush administration’s domestic eavesdropping program, and he learned that Bush’s aides planned to visit Ashcroft at the hospital to get him to sign off on the order. Comey rushed to head off the efforts of the Bush aides. The next day, he and other federal officials threatened to resign. They ended up convincing Bush to do the program in a more legal way.
Carter Page was a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump during his election campaign and is now central to the investigation into Russia’s involvement in the U.S. election. Grigoriy Sisoev/Sputnik/AP
Perhaps the hospital ordeal left Comey wanting a break from federal government. Starting in 2005, he held positions at Lockheed Martin, the security and aerospace giant, and Bridgewater Associates, the hedge fund. Then, in 2013, President Barack Obama nominated him as the seventh director of the FBI—perhaps a surprising move, since Comey had been a Bush administration official and had donated to Obama’s Republican presidential opponents. Obama had a simple reason for overlooking their political differences: “He’s that rarity in Washington,” the president said at the nomination ceremony. “He doesn’t care about politics; he only cares about getting the job done.”
That’s also how many of the people close to Comey describe him, whether referring to his time as a lawyer in private practice, as an adjunct professor at the University of Richmond School of Law or as a federal prosecutor. “You could just tell that he was always trying to do what was right,” says Gilbert “Bud” Schill Jr., who in the 1990s worked with Comey at the law firm McGuireWoods. Comey’s friend John Douglass recalls saying in 2008, when he presented an award to Comey at the University of Richmond School of Law, that he has “a willingness not just to speak the truth, but to seek the truth, even when the chips may not fall where you’d like them to.” Even those who have criticized Comey publicly speak highly of him. Larry Thompson, who preceded Comey as deputy U.S. attorney general and raked him in The Washington Post over his Clinton investigation disclosures and letter to Congress, now says, “I obviously disagreed with his decision, but I really think it’s important to not let that one thing define my opinion and view of Jim.”

A Storm’s Going to Follow

Comey is a vocal advocate of transparency. (Witness those regular emails explaining decisions to his rank and file.) As part of his commitment to seeking feedback and keeping his agents and the American people informed, Comey last summer proposed writing an op-ed about Russia’s tampering in the ongoing U.S. election. (This was at least weeks before the Obama administration first publicly said that Putin was putting his fingers—and his hackers—where they didn’t belong.) “If we felt that there were attempts to influence the election, we felt that it would be important for the American public to know that,” says Steinbach, who was involved in discussions about the op-ed. “That was a conversation that we had, and one course of action as a way for the director to get that message out was to do an op-ed.” Comey pitched the idea at a meeting in the White House Situation Room with Secretary of State John Kerry, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and National Security Adviser Susan Rice, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to the press on the subject. His proposal was shot down in favor of what the group believed should be a more coordinated approach, one of the sources says.
Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is also under scrutiny for undisclosed meetings he had at Trump Tower with the Russian ambassador. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Dominique A. Pineiro/DoD/Reuters
During his testimony in March before the House Intelligence Committee, Comey declined to speculate on how long the Russia probe could take. Steinbach and Montoya, who have overseen counterintelligence cases, estimate it could take several years, and national security experts have pointed out that a counterintelligence case doesn’t always lead to criminal charges. But if the FBI finds that Trump associates conspired with Russia, the discovery would be the most significant blow to a sitting president since Watergate.
Comey’s supporters say he remains confident that the decisions he’s made have been the correct ones, even those so controversial they have earned him enemies and a review by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General. Kelley, the longtime friend who is in regular contact with Comey, says, “He’s somebody who does what he thinks is the right thing to do and isn’t one who is going to yield on that based on what criticism he might get.” Comey said something similar onstage at an intelligence industry event recently: “I know that when I make a hard decision, a storm’s going to follow, but honestly, I don’t care.”
If the inspector general finds that Comey mishandled the Clinton email investigation, Trump could have an excuse to remove Comey, possibly before the FBI’s Russia investigation is finished. On April 12, Trump told Fox Business Network that “it’s not too late” to ask Comey to step down, adding, “But, you know, I have confidence in him. We’ll see what happens. It’s going to be interesting.” Steinbach says Comey isn’t concerned about job security: “He’s very comfortable. He’s grounded in his family. He’s got a strong sense of beliefs. He’s going to do what he believes is the right thing to do for the country, for the FBI.”
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Interview: Richard Dearlove—I spy nationalism

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Richard Dearlove: “The deterioration of European politics… is a far more serious problem for the UK” than terrorism ©Cate Gillon/Getty Images
Richard Dearlove frowned at the coffee pot on the table before him, as he pondered the phenomenon of Donald Trump. “I think he’s very strongly nationalist,” he said, pouring himself a small cup. The room, at a discreet location in central London, was large and empty of other people, its walls lined with 19th-century portraits. Is Trump the start of something worrying, I asked. “I think it depends on how fundamental this shift in politics in the US and other countries is,” he replied, speaking slowly. “I think the jury’s out on how far it is going to go.”
Between 1999 and 2004, Dearlove was head of the Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6, a tenure that included the bruising experience of the Iraq war, the drama of 9/11 and the invasion of Afghanistan. He joined the service in 1966 and in his time he ran MI6’s Washington station, the most significant posting in British intelligence and was also overall Director of Operations.
So he’s seen it all before. But the allegations that members of Trump’s staff had illegal contact with the Russian government during the election campaign are “unprecedented,” said Dearlove. As for the president’s personal position, he said, “What lingers for Trump may be what deals—on what terms—he did after the financial crisis of 2008 to borrow Russian money when others in the west apparently would not lend to him.” I also asked Dearlove about Trump’s suggestion that the US National Security Agency (NSA) or British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) had bugged Trump Tower on the instructions of Barack Obama. This allegation was flatly rejected by both organisations and also by James Comey, Director of the FBI, who told Congress in a March hearing that “we have no information to support” Trump’s claim. “This is simply deeply embarrassing,” said Dearlove, “for Trump and the administration, that is. The only possible explanation is that Trump started tweeting without understanding how the NSA-GCHQ relationship actually works.”
But more than this display of ignorance by the White House, Dearlove is troubled by the changing face of European politics. The anxiety is striking coming from him, because last year—in the pages of Prospect—Dearlove set out his view that Brexit would not in itself harm the UK’s security or its intelligence work. Wider developments on the continent, however, are another matter. “For me, the intriguing question is what’s going to happen in the French and the German elections,” he said. “I don’t think at the moment [Marine] Le Pen will win the French presidency. But let’s say she comes close to winning—whoever beats her is going to have to probably move to the right,” including “a more activist nationalist foreign policy.”
That word again—nationalist. It is striking to hear anxieties about the world taking a sudden nationalist turn being aired by a man who is, by profession, supposed to be measured, detached and discreet. But there is no longer much doubt that the political mood has changed. It’s being felt in the US, Britain, France, and also in Germany, where the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative für Deutschland party (AfD) has been gaining ground. “[If] the AfD begins to get up to around 30 per cent in the German elections that will indicate a pretty firm shift in German politics,” said Dearlove. It will, he said, also begin to affect Britain’s Brexit negotiations with the European Union.
“The politics of the Brexit negotiations are going to be really fundamentally affected by this shift in thinking in the countries with whom we are negotiating,” he said. “So on the one hand you’ve got Brussels-type mandarins saying one thing—but it doesn’t reflect the political reality of changes in Europe. And I think, on the freedom of movement issue, for example, a lot of European countries are going to be moving towards the position that the UK would like to adopt.”
Dearlove is a very still man. He speaks fluently but slowly, which is suggestive of his childhood, which was spent in a small isolated fishing village on the southern Cornish coast. His accent is not of the south west, and was long ago hewn into the familiar brogue of the British foreign service. His measured manner gives his often forthright judgments all the more punch. A traditional servant of the nation state, he is critical of the open turn the world has taken during the years when the globalisers were in charge.
“Complete freedom of movement and uncontrolled migration into Europe is catastrophic,” he said. “Obviously one recognises the benefits of some migration, but when you get 1.3m people coming into Europe—that was the figure in 2015. And the total net migration into the UK was 270,000. The total entry, counting EU and outside the EU, was around 600,000. These are massive numbers.
“The CIA published these predictive papers around 2001,” he said. “I think it was published before 9/11. And at that point they were indicating that mass migration, particularly from the south to the north—particularly out of Africa—was going to be a huge problem for the European continent.
“If you look at the figures for population growth and unemployed youth and that sort of phenomenon, leaving aside the instability in the Middle East, we shouldn’t really be particularly surprised by what’s happened. We just didn’t prepare for it.”
The idea that the recent increase in immigration could have been foreseen 16 years ago is certainly open to challenge. And yet Britain’s failure to anticipate and prepare for the ensuing social and political pressures brought about by large-scale immigration is beyond question.
“The Islamist terrorist threat is obviously serious but containable and ultimately manageable”
That pressure is causing a rightward drift in British politics and when I asked Dearlove whether he thinks that drift will continue he says, “I think for the time being, yes,” but that in the longer term, prospects for the populist tendency are limited. “It’s not really in the character of British politics to have extremists. Let’s face it, Ukip has done its bit, hasn’t it? I don’t see Ukip being a one-issue party really surviving as it is. I see something coming in, which may suck up some of its support. There are potentially a lot of Lib Dem voters out there as well. Where did they go?”
Britain’s security challenges were made horrifyingly clear by the March attack in Westminster, when Khalid Masood, a man from Kent, drove a car through crowds on Westminster Bridge before stabbing a policeman in the grounds of the palace of Westminster. I reported from the immediate aftermath of the attack, in which four people died. The attacker was shot and killed.
“The Islamist terrorist threat is obviously serious but containable and ultimately manageable,” Dearlove told me in an email the day after the attack. “We have to keep a sense of proportion about it; successful terrorist attacks have been few in number. The situation would only change with several mass casualty incidents which would threaten that sense of proportion and drive society towards an extreme response. At the moment I judge that as unlikely to happen. Containment of the threat with occasional failures can continue almost indefinitely.”
Dearlove told me that despite the terrorist threat to Britain, it is not the most serious challenge the country faces. “The deterioration of European politics, with the rise of parties on the extreme right, is a far more serious problem for the UK. It is not in the UK’s national interest to see continental Europe being split apart by the revival of nationalist movements as a post-Brexit Britain returns to a mid-Atlantic rather than continental orientation to its foreign policy.
“Britain has played a vital role in Europe’s future when Europe has been in crisis,” said Dearlove, referring to the turmoil of the last century, adding that, “we are set to do that again as the EU goes through a period of profound change. That will in part be driven by the rise of extreme right parties, but it is important that, despite their influence, they do not control the political agenda.”
The election result in the Netherlands was cause for hope—the far-right party of Geert Wilders failed to make a breakthrough in the March general election. The question now is whether Le Pen in France and the AfD in Germany remain largely outside the government. “A cohesive Europe is still in the UK’s interest, though the nature of that cohesion may become something rather different from what we largely took for granted during what has been the high point of the EU’s existence,” said Dearlove. “Europe is now moving into a new historical phase. Post-war and post-Cold War Europe are both coming to an end and as they do we will have to endure a period of heightened political and social risk.”
And then there is Russia, the great political pot-stirrer, led by a man who seems determined to re-impose global Russian influence as a means of buoying up his domestic support. “I don’t see it as a return to the Cold War,” said Dearlove, who is more than qualified to make that judgment. “Russia has always set out to destabilise its immediate neighbours in order to exercise influence,” he said. “Putin’s on a crusade for Russia to be taken more seriously as a player in international affairs,” he said, adding that “if you analyse it historically, it’s in imperial decline.”
Dearlove then delivers another of his startlingly blunt assessments, this time of the country that was his chief adversary for most of his professional career: “It’s got a lousy economy, getting worse, it’s got terrible demographics, it’s got good strategic rocket forces and it’s got special forces and it’s able to focus its assets on issues and make its impact felt in a rather clever fashion. But that doesn’t disguise the fact that Russia’s in a mess and I don’t think we should be overawed.”

Moscow is flexing its muscles, but it’s better to talk to the Russians than freeze them out ©Krill Kudryatsev/Getty Images
Despite its weakness, the question of how to deal with Russia poses deep problems for governments. The Kremlin has achieved pariah status after its invasion of Ukraine, the annexation of Crimea and its activities in Syria. These adventures were capped by its apparent interference in the US presidential election, where Putin allowed Russian operatives to conduct the hacking and propaganda campaign in favour of Trump that is now the subject of an FBI investigation. But how can other nations deal with a country that is so consistently wayward?
“Eastern Ukraine was a bit of a disaster really for the Russians and backing separatists in Eastern Ukraine was a hook they were keen to get off,” said Dearlove, attributing his analysis to a “few well-placed Russians that I spoke to.” The war in Ukraine is “very expensive,” he said and “it’s not really worked,” from Russia’s perspective. “Ukraine has more or less held together. The Ukrainian military has been more effective than the Russians expected and you’ve got a separatist war which is going absolutely nowhere.
“I did an event with Henry Kissinger in the States last summer with an invited audience,” said Dearlove. “He and I agreed that the isolation of Russia, which was a consequence of the evolution of Obama’s policy, was not beneficial for anybody. OK—Russia behaved extremely badly and it was difficult to pick your way through that and not end up in a situation where there’s a trade embargo and virtually a breakdown in communication. But if we can strengthen Nato and have a dialogue with Russia, which makes issues like Ukraine more manageable…” And with that, he trails off. But his intended message is clear. Better to talk to the Russians than freeze them out.
His criticism of Obama is not confined to Ukraine—Dearlove is also critical of US policy in Syria. “If the US had intervened it probably would have tipped the balance,” he said. In this situation, “the Russians would have maintained their interest by taking Assad out.” The double meaning of the last three words is perhaps unintentional.
And what about Russia’s meddling in the US election? The US’s own intelligence and security agencies have stated that they have evidence of interference. “I am pretty sure they wouldn’t have made those statements if they weren’t clear in their own minds that Russia was the perpetrator,” he said. “Trump himself seemed to have accepted that.” As for the suggestion that the Russian government holds compromising material on Trump, an allegation made in a dossier put together by Christopher Steele, a former MI6 officer, Dearlove will not comment. “The Russians must be slightly surprised themselves because they disfavoured Hillary, but I don’t think they necessarily expected Trump to be elected. And had they been confident that Trump was going to be elected they might have not behaved in the way that they have done—do you see what I mean? They wouldn’t have needed to push.”
“If they had worked out that Hillary was going to lose—they were going to have a better relationship with Trump; clearly they wanted Trump to be elected—they might not have unleashed that activity.” Dearlove laughs. It’s a restrained chuckle and as he smiles his voice takes on more of a laconic drawl. “But once you’ve started down that route, you can imagine Putin signing off on the operations.”
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Ex MI6 chief suggests Trump may have borrowed Russia money

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  • Sir Richard Dearlove accused Donald Trump of borrowing Russia money in 2008
  • Helped keep his businesses afloat when others in the west wouldn't lend to him
  • As Trump's 'bromance' with Putin deteriorates Sir Richard warned any shady business deals done in 2008 could come back to haunt the billionaire 
  • The former spymaster also said the rise of the far-right in Europe was more of a concern than the Islamist terrorist threat 
Published: 04:40 EDT, 13 April 2017 Updated: 07:07 EDT, 13 April 2017
Sir Richard Dearlove has accused President Donald Trump of borrowing Russian money at the height of the financial crash
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Sir Richard Dearlove has accused President Donald Trump of borrowing Russian money at the height of the financial crash
A former MI6 chief has accused President Donald Trump of borrowing Russian money at the height of the financial crash to keep his businesses afloat when other Western powers would not lend to him.
The accusation was made by Sir Richard Dearlove, head of the Secret Intelligence Service between 1999 and 2004, as questions continue to swirl about Trump's previous business dealings with Russia.
It also comes at a time when relations between the two superpowers reached a new low because of their disagreement over Syria
Speaking yesterday, Trump said the US was 'not getting along with Russia at all.' 
That rhetoric was in stark contrast to his election campaign when he boasted how he would 'get along very well with Putin' and described him as being 'very talented.'
As Trump's 'bromance' with Putin deteriorates Sir Richard warned any shady business deals done in 2008 could come back to haunt the billionaire.
He said: 'What lingers for Trump may be what deals - on what terms - he did after the financial crisis of 2008 to borrow Russian money when others in the west apparently would not lend to him'.
In a wide-ranging interview with Prospect Magazine, Sir Richard described Trump's claims that either the US National Security Agency (NSA) or British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) had bugged Trump Tower on the orders of his predecessor Barack Obama as 'deeply embarrassing.'
GCHQ rejected allegations that it spied on Trump as a 'nonsense' and 'utterly ridiculous' in a rare public rebuttal.
Discussing that Sir Richard said: 'The only possible explanation [for the accusations] is that Trump started tweeting without understanding how the NSA-GCHQ relationship actually works.'
As Trump's 'bromance' with Putin deteriorates Sir Richard warned any shady business deals done in 2008 could come back to haunt the billionaire
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As Trump's 'bromance' with Putin deteriorates Sir Richard warned any shady business deals done in 2008 could come back to haunt the billionaire
Since his election Trump has been on a warpath with intelligence agencies, blaming it for the leaks about his associates' Russia ties and even comparing them to Nazi propaganda.  
The president has repeatedly denied having any business dealings with Russia.
Former MI6 officer Christopher Steele claimed the Russian government holds compromising material on Trump in a secret dossier that made outlandish claims about his sex life, including allegations of an orgy in a Russian hotel. 
The spymaster described Trump's claims that either the NSA or GCHQ had bugged Trump Tower on the orders of his predecessor Barack Obama as 'deeply embarrassing'
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The spymaster described Trump's claims that either the NSA or GCHQ had bugged Trump Tower on the orders of his predecessor Barack Obama as 'deeply embarrassing'
Elsewhere in the interview, Sir Richard criticised Europe's leaders for their failure to anticipate and prepare for mass migration [particularly from Africa] despite the CIA issuing a warning in 2001.
He said: 'We shouldn't really be particularly surprised by what's happened. We just didn't prepare for it.' 
He also said the rise of the far-right in Europe was more of a concern than the Islamist terrorist threat.
He told the magazine: 'The Islamist terrorist threat is obviously serious but containable and ultimately manageable.
'The deterioration of European politics, with the rise of parties on the extreme right, is a far more serious problem for the UK. It is not in the UK's national interest to see continental Europe being split apart by the revival of nationalist movements as a post-Brexit Britain returns to a mid-Atlantic rather than continental orientation to its foreign policy.'  

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News Reviews and Opinions: Ex-MI6 chief accuses Donald Trump of secretly borrowing from Russia to keep his property empire afloat during the financial crisis Wednesday April 12th, 2017 at 7:12 PM

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Ex-MI6 chief accuses Donald Trump of secretly borrowing from Russia to keep his property empire afloat during the financial crisis Wednesday April 12th, 2017 at 7:12 PM



Ex-MI6 chief accuses Donald Trump of secretly borrowing from Russia to keep his property empire afloat during the financial crisis

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Bombshell accusation from ex-spymaster Sir Richard Dearlove comes as rumours continue to swirl about the president’s past business dealings with Moscow
A FORMER MI6 chief has accused Donald Trump of secretly borrowing from Russia to keep his property empire afloat during the financial crisis.
The bombshell accusation from ex-spymaster Sir Richard Dearlove comes as rumours continue to swirl about the president’s past business dealings with Moscow.
Well connected Sir Richard also warned any shady deals could still come back to haunt the billionaire in the White House.
The MI6 chief between 1999 and 2004 told Prospect magazine: “What lingers for Trump may be what deals—on what terms—he did after the financial crisis of 2008 to borrow Russian money when others in the west apparently would not lend to him”.
His intervention deepens the already raging feud between Trump and the intelligence community on both sides of the Atlantic.
The ex-spy boss also branded the new president’s wild allegations last month that Cheltenham-based eavesdroppers GCHQ bugged his offices on predecessor Barack Obama’s orders as “deeply embarrassing”
He added: “For Trump and the administration, that is.
“The only possible explanation is that Trump started tweeting without understanding how the NSA-GCHQ relationship actually works”.
The president has repeatedly denied having any business dealings with Russia.
Ex-MI6 officer Christopher Steele claimed the Russian government holds compromising material on Trump in a secret dossier drawn up to discredit him.
President Putin angered with US attack in Syria labelling it a 'Trumped up pre-text'
RUSSIA REACTS
In the rare interview, Sir Richard also criticised Europe’s leaders for ignoring a CIA warning about an impending migration crisis made as far back as 16 years ago.
He described the effect of uncontrolled migration and free movement across the EU as “catastrophic”.
Sir Richard said: “The CIA published these predictive papers around 2001.
“At that point they were indicating that mass migration, particularly from the south to the north - particularly out of Africa - was going to be a huge problem for the European continent.
“If you look at the figures for population growth and unemployed youth and that sort of phenomenon, leaving aside the instability in the Middle East, we shouldn’t really be particularly surprised by what’s happened.
“We just didn’t prepare for it.”
The rise of the far right across Europe also poses more of a threat to the UK than Islamic terrorism, the spymaster claimed.
He added: “It is not in the UK’s national interest to see continental Europe being split apart by the revival of nationalist movements”.
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Ex-MI6 chief accuses Donald Trump of secretly borrowing from Russia to keep his property empire afloat during the ... - The Sun

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Ex-MI6 chief accuses Donald Trump of secretly borrowing from Russia to keep his property empire afloat during the ...
The Sun
A FORMER MI6 chief has accused Donald Trump of secretly borrowing from Russia to keep his property empire afloat during the financial crisis. The bombshell accusation from ex-spymaster Sir Richard Dearlove comes as rumours continue to swirl about the ...

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Tillerson's Moscow Meeting Is a Reminder of How Dangerous Russia Is - Fortune

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Ex-MI6 chief accuses Donald Trump of secretly borrowing from Russia to keep his property empire afloat during the financial crisis

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Bombshell accusation from ex-spymaster Sir Richard Dearlove comes as rumours continue to swirl about the president’s past business dealings with Moscow
A FORMER MI6 chief has accused Donald Trump of secretly borrowing from Russia to keep his property empire afloat during the financial crisis.
The bombshell accusation from ex-spymaster Sir Richard Dearlove comes as rumours continue to swirl about the president’s past business dealings with Moscow.
Well connected Sir Richard also warned any shady deals could still come back to haunt the billionaire in the White House.
The MI6 chief between 1999 and 2004 told Prospect magazine: “What lingers for Trump may be what deals—on what terms—he did after the financial crisis of 2008 to borrow Russian money when others in the west apparently would not lend to him”.
His intervention deepens the already raging feud between Trump and the intelligence community on both sides of the Atlantic.

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The ex-spy boss also branded the new president’s wild allegations last month that Cheltenham-based eavesdroppers GCHQ bugged his offices on predecessor Barack Obama’s orders as “deeply embarrassing”
He added: “For Trump and the administration, that is.
“The only possible explanation is that Trump started tweeting without understanding how the NSA-GCHQ relationship actually works”.

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The president has repeatedly denied having any business dealings with Russia.
Ex-MI6 officer Christopher Steele claimed the Russian government holds compromising material on Trump in a secret dossier drawn up to discredit him.
President Putin angered with US attack in Syria labelling it a 'Trumped up pre-text'
RUSSIA REACTS
h
In the rare interview, Sir Richard also criticised Europe’s leaders for ignoring a CIA warning about an impending migration crisis made as far back as 16 years ago.
He described the effect of uncontrolled migration and free movement across the EU as “catastrophic”.
Sir Richard said: “The CIA published these predictive papers around 2001.
“At that point they were indicating that mass migration, particularly from the south to the north - particularly out of Africa - was going to be a huge problem for the European continent.
“If you look at the figures for population growth and unemployed youth and that sort of phenomenon, leaving aside the instability in the Middle East, we shouldn’t really be particularly surprised by what’s happened.
“We just didn’t prepare for it.”
The rise of the far right across Europe also poses more of a threat to the UK than Islamic terrorism, the spymaster claimed.
He added: “It is not in the UK’s national interest to see continental Europe being split apart by the revival of nationalist movements”.
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Ex-MI6 chief accuses Donald Trump of secretly borrowing from Russia to keep his property empire afloat during the ... - The Sun

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Ex-MI6 chief accuses Donald Trump of secretly borrowing from Russia to keep his property empire afloat during the ...
The Sun
A FORMER MI6 chief has accused Donald Trump of secretly borrowing from Russia to keep his property empire afloat during the financial crisis. The bombshell accusation from ex-spymaster Sir Richard Dearlove comes as rumours continue to swirl about the ...

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