Putin Did It

For John, BLUF:  A coherent story is always a good thing, but not necessarily the last word.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Why Putin hates Hillary

Finally, someone who has a plausible idea about why the Russians, if they did, might have released the DNC EMails.  The Reporters are Mr Michael Crowley and Ms Julia Ioffe, and the source is Politico.

Here is the sub-headline:

Behind the allegations of a Russian hack of the DNC is the Kremlin leader's fury at Clinton for challenging the fairness of Russian elections.

And here is the concluding paragraph:

“I think they expect her to win,” said one diplomat with extensive Russia experience, who believes the Kremlin directed the email hack. “But they’re sending her a message that they are a power to be reckoned with and can mess with her at will, so she had better take them seriously.”

I guess if one is sending a signal to Ms Clinton, having one's fingerprints all over it is a good thing.  Otherwise it just looks like terrible tradecraft.  And with President Putin's background in the KGB and FSB that would seem worse than tacky.  It would seem "extremely careless".

Hat tip to the Memeorandum.

Regards  —  Cliff