Gunny
03-11-2018, 03:25 PM
Jewish groups and U.S. lawmakers condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s suggestion that the 2016 U.S. presidential election may have been manipulated by Russian Jews.
Putin’s remarks came during a long and occasionally surreal interview with NBC News on Saturday, in which he speculated that nearly anyone other than the Russian government could have been behind a program to disrupt the election. U.S. intelligence agencies believe (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/intelligence-chiefs-expected-in-new-york-to-brief-trump-on-russian-hacking/2017/01/06/5f591416-d41a-11e6-9cb0-54ab630851e8_story.html?utm_term=.a4d3df7f84d0) Putin ordered the effort to undermine faith in the U.S. election and help elect Donald Trump as president.
“Maybe they’re not even Russians,” Putin told Megyn Kelly (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1pPkAOZI50), referring to who might have been behind the election interference. “Maybe they’re Ukrainian, Tatars, Jews — just with Russian citizenship.”
He also speculated that France, Germany or “Asia” might have interfered in the election — or even Russians paid by the U.S. government.
But his remark about Jews, which seemed to suggest that a Russian Jew was not really a Russian, prompted particular outrage among those who remember Russia’s centuries-long history of anti-Semitism and Jewish purges. Some groups compared the statement to anti-Jewish myths that helped inspire the Holocaust.
“Repulsive Putin remark deserves to be denounced, soundly and promptly, by world leaders,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) wrote on Twitter (https://twitter.com/SenBlumenthal/status/972616789766131718). “Why is Trump silent?” Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) also demanded a response by Trump, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported (https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/after-putin-says-jews-may-be-behind-meddling-lawmakers-urge-sanctions-1.5889309).
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Trump has previously been reluctant to criticize Putin or accept the intelligence community's conclusion that Russia played a role in his election.
[I][The Putin generation: Young Russians are his biggest fans (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/world/wp/2018/03/09/feature/russias-young-people-are-putins-biggest-fans/)]
“President Putin bizarrely has resorted to the blame game by pointing the finger at Jews and other minorities in his country,” Anti-Defamation League chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement (https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/adl-to-president-putin-dont-blame-jews-for-us-election-meddling). “It is deeply disturbing to see the Russian president giving new life to classic anti-Semitic stereotypes that have plagued his country for hundreds of years, with a comment that sounds as if it was ripped from the pages of the ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion.’ ”
cont ... https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/03/11/putin-condemned-for-saying-jews-may-have-manipulated-u-s-election/?utm_term=.f38f4dc5ef5e
Pretty dumb thing to say even if it is Putin.
Putin’s remarks came during a long and occasionally surreal interview with NBC News on Saturday, in which he speculated that nearly anyone other than the Russian government could have been behind a program to disrupt the election. U.S. intelligence agencies believe (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/intelligence-chiefs-expected-in-new-york-to-brief-trump-on-russian-hacking/2017/01/06/5f591416-d41a-11e6-9cb0-54ab630851e8_story.html?utm_term=.a4d3df7f84d0) Putin ordered the effort to undermine faith in the U.S. election and help elect Donald Trump as president.
“Maybe they’re not even Russians,” Putin told Megyn Kelly (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1pPkAOZI50), referring to who might have been behind the election interference. “Maybe they’re Ukrainian, Tatars, Jews — just with Russian citizenship.”
He also speculated that France, Germany or “Asia” might have interfered in the election — or even Russians paid by the U.S. government.
But his remark about Jews, which seemed to suggest that a Russian Jew was not really a Russian, prompted particular outrage among those who remember Russia’s centuries-long history of anti-Semitism and Jewish purges. Some groups compared the statement to anti-Jewish myths that helped inspire the Holocaust.
“Repulsive Putin remark deserves to be denounced, soundly and promptly, by world leaders,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) wrote on Twitter (https://twitter.com/SenBlumenthal/status/972616789766131718). “Why is Trump silent?” Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) also demanded a response by Trump, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported (https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/after-putin-says-jews-may-be-behind-meddling-lawmakers-urge-sanctions-1.5889309).
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Trump has previously been reluctant to criticize Putin or accept the intelligence community's conclusion that Russia played a role in his election.
[I][The Putin generation: Young Russians are his biggest fans (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/world/wp/2018/03/09/feature/russias-young-people-are-putins-biggest-fans/)]
“President Putin bizarrely has resorted to the blame game by pointing the finger at Jews and other minorities in his country,” Anti-Defamation League chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement (https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/adl-to-president-putin-dont-blame-jews-for-us-election-meddling). “It is deeply disturbing to see the Russian president giving new life to classic anti-Semitic stereotypes that have plagued his country for hundreds of years, with a comment that sounds as if it was ripped from the pages of the ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion.’ ”
cont ... https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/03/11/putin-condemned-for-saying-jews-may-have-manipulated-u-s-election/?utm_term=.f38f4dc5ef5e
Pretty dumb thing to say even if it is Putin.