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