TheGaggle
Politics • Culture • News
Our community is made up of those who value the freedom of speech, the right to debate and the promise of open, honest conversations.

We don't agree on everything but we never silence our followers and value every opinion on our channel.
Interested? Want to learn more about the community?
The Steele Dossier Redux

Here we go again!

Under a three-reporter (including Luke Harding) byline, the "Guardian" today publishes a story, purportedly based on leaked Kremlin documents, claiming that Vladimir Putin himself authorized "a secret spy agency operation to support a 'mentally unstable' Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election."

During a Jan. 22, 2016, closed-session Russian national security council meeting, Putin ordered his "spy agencies" to "find practical ways to support Trump." A report allegedly prepared by "Putin’s expert department" recommended Moscow use “all possible force” to ensure a Trump victory.

This "report," which presumably is the basis of the "leaked" documents, appears to be "genuine," according to the "Guardian." That was the the finding of the "independent experts" to whom the paper showed the documents. No prizes for guessing the identity of these "independent experts."

The fraudulence of these documents is apparent from the beginning. Consider this: The Russians are said to have made a psychological assessment of Trump," and have determined him to be “impulsive, mentally unstable and unbalanced individual who suffers from an inferiority complex."

However, this is not the way Russian leaders or Russian media have ever seen Trump. Both Putin and Lavrov have addressed the subject of Trump many times. Trump, in their view, is a very talented, clever individual who wanted the United States to move away from Cold War dogmas and 1980s cliches when it came to relations with Russia and to the U.S.'s role in the world but who, ultimately, was done in by powerful domestic forces that he failed to bring under control. You can agree or disagree with that assessment. However, never once, have the Russians belittle him or hold him in contempt.

The description of Trump as "impulsive, mentally unstable and unbalanced individual who suffers from an inferiority complex" is one that is likely to come out of the mouths of the hosts and guests of CNN and MSNBC. It is a view of Trump that much of the U.K. foreign policymaking elite and security services would also share. Recall Kim Darroch, the former U.K. ambassador to Washington, who was forced to resign following publication of cables in which he described Trump as "inept," "insecure" and "incompetent."

Here we come to the likely origin of this supposed Kremlin "leak." The people behind it are almost certainly the same cast of characters that gave us the debunked Steele Dossier. Remember Christopher Steele had been a senior MI6 officer and, though retired when he compiled his infamous dossier, he was working in plain sight of MI6, which was very well aware of his dossier.

The "Guardian" story even hearkens back to the centerpiece of the Steele Dossier: the famous "kompromat." The Russians were supposed to have collected secret, damaging information on Trump that they could hold over him in order to get him to do their bidding. Here is today's "Guardian":

There is also apparent confirmation that the Kremlin possesses kompromat, or potentially compromising material, on the future president, collected... from Trump’s earlier “non-official visits to Russian Federation territory.”

Apparently “certain events” were said to have taken place during Trump’s trips to Moscow. The "Guardian" slyly wants to suggest that maybe there was some truth to the Steele Dossier after all, while carefully avoiding any explicit reference to the notorious "events" that had made the Steele Dossier such a sensation: the so-called pee tape. Germaphobe Trump, a man who had spend his life in the hotel business and who would thus know all about secret cameras in hotel room, had apparently paid for Russian prostitutes to pee him. The story was ludicrous from the start, and it was eventually revealed that it had all been made up out of whole cloth.

And why would Russia want Donald Trump to win? A Trump victory, according to the report, would "definitely lead to the destabilization of the U.S.’s sociopolitical system.” This statement alone suggests that this document had to have been written long after 2016. Back then, we were asked to believe that, because the Russians had something on Trump, he helping to facilitate Russian foreign policy goals. Remember the tedious, discredited story that Trump softened the GOP platform on Ukraine? Once Trump began to pursue a policy on Ukraine that was more overtly anti-Russian than that of his predecessor, the story had to change. The new story was that the Russians wanted Trump to win, not because they had any specific policy goals in mind but because they wanted to sow chaos. And indeed these new documents push that story line.

Revealingly, the "Guardian" also admits that the documents make no mention of Hillary Clinton. That is definitely very strange, on the face of it. You would have thought that in 2016 the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency would be exercising the minds of the leaders of the Kremlin. But no! Apparently, their focus was exclusively on Trump. This again is clear evidence that this material was compiled long after 2016.

Who's behind it? Without a doubt the same characters who masterminded the RussiaGate hoax: the CIA, the NSA, GCHQ, MI6, the FBI. They are under no illusion that Trump won't run in 2024. So they are getting their "RussiaGate: The Sequel" story ready as early as possible.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/15/kremlin-papers-appear-to-show-putins-plot-to-put-trump-in-white-house

Interested? Want to learn more about the community?
What else you may like…
Videos
Posts
Articles
Live Chat
Monday Night At The Movies: "Night Train" (1959)

Join Gagglers for "Night Train"!
The screening starts at 3 p.m. ET sharp.
Share all of your thoughts, comments and criticisms on the Live Chat.

See you at 3 p.m. ET

01:37:10
TG 2134: Zelensky Pens Open Letter To Putin; Lavrov Sounds Different Note From Kremlin's

George Szamuely and Peter Lavelle discuss Ukraine President Zelensky's open letter to Russian President Putin, Putin's response to it and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's increasingly harsh tone toward the Trump administration--a striking contrast to that of the complaisant Kremlin.

01:09:45
TG 2133: World Renders Judgment On Today's Germany In U.N. Vote

George Szamuely and Peter Lavelle discuss Germany's failure to win a seat on the U.N. Security Council, and explain its global significance.

00:37:23
June 08, 2026

Ukraine, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany have agreed on five conditions for a sustainable peace

Following a meeting in London, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, and Friedrich Merz endorsed the following principles:

A complete ceasefire as a prerequisite for launching a peace process;

The current front line should serve as the starting point for further negotiations;

Once a ceasefire takes effect, Ukraine must receive reliable and legally binding security guarantees, including the possible deployment of multinational forces;

Russian assets will remain frozen until Russia ends its war and compensates Ukraine for the damage caused;

Any decisions involving the EU or NATO must be approved by the member states of those organizations.

The leaders stressed that any future settlement must ensure long-term security for Ukraine and Europe. https://x.com/nexta_tv/status/2063853646362677464?s=20 wow, is Merz really that tall? (Yep, 1.98 m)

Kazakhstan is gradually changing its alphabet from Cyrillic to Latin on all official documents, in a bid to distance itself from the Russosphere. I’ve noticed the very based Qazaq emblem was changed too, from Қазақстан in Cyrillic to its new official name: Qazaqstan. https://x.com/neolatyno/status/2063958065574035566?s=20

5 hours ago

15m ago

 (06:43 GMT)

Israel issues fresh evacuation notices for residents in Tyre

The Israeli army’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, has issued the latest forced evacuation notices to citizens in southern Lebanon ahead of an attack.

In a post on X, Adraee issued the warning to residents in the city of Tyre, including those in the Christian Quarter and to the residents of the Shabariha Hammadieh, Jal al-Bahr, Zaqqouk, al-Mfadi, Al-Bass, Al-Maashouq, Burj al-Shamali, Nabatieh, Al-Hawsh, Al-Rashidieh, and Ain Baal camps.

“As we warned in the past days, following Hezbollah elements’ actions inside the Christian Quarter in the city, the Israel Defense Forces will be compelled to act against their terrorist activities in the quarter
in the near term,” he added.

Israel does whatever it wants. I want to see an Iranian action now.

January 21, 2023
More Leftie Than Thou
"Jacobin" Magazine Celebrates A Strike Against Ol' Blue Eyes

Here at "The Gaggle" we have very little time for the "more Leftie than thou" school of thought--that's the approach to life according to which the only thing that matters is whether you take the right position on every issue under the sun from Abortion to Zelensky. No one in the world meets the exacting standards of this school of thought; any Leftie leader anywhere is always selling out to the bankers and the capitalists. The perfect exemplar of this is the unreadable Jacobin magazine. 

The other day I came across this article from 2021. It's a celebration of trade union power. And not simply trade union power, but the use of trade union power to secure political goals. Of course (and this is always the case with the "more Leftie than thou" crowd), this glorious, never-to-be-forgotten moment on the history of organized labor took place many years ago--in the summer of 1974 to be exact. Yes, almost half a century has gone by since that thrilling moment when the working-class movement of Australia mobilized and prepared to seize the means of production, distribution and exchange. 

Well, not quite. Organized labor went into action against...Ol' Blue Eyes, the Chairman of the Board, the Voice; yes, Frank Sinatra. Why? What had Sinatra done? Sinatra was certainly very rich, and he owned a variety of properties and businesses. But if the Australian trade union movement were, understandably, searching for the bright, incandescent spark that would finally awaken the working class from its slumber there were surely richer, greedier, more dishonest, more decadent, above all more Australian individuals it could have discovered. Australia was never short of them. Rupert Murdoch immediately springs to mind. Why Sinatra?

 

Only for Supporters
To read the rest of this article and access other paid content, you must be a supporter
Read full Article
See More
Available on mobile and TV devices
google store google store app store app store
google store google store app tv store app tv store amazon store amazon store roku store roku store
Powered by Locals