Attribution to Government of the Russian Federation
This is Yevgeny Prigozhin. He is a Russian Oligarch and a close friend of Putin. He controls a number of companies including the Wagner Group, a state-backed mercenary group, now heavilky involved in Ukraine. His restaurants and catering businesses have hosted a number of Puting dinners, resulting in him being called “Putin’s chef”. He is not a nice guy, having spent nine years as a convict in Russian prisons.
In an interview, a couple of days ago, he was asked about potential Russian meddling in the midterm elections, that is happening today. This is his response.
“I will answer you very subtly, and delicately and I apologize, I will allow a certain ambiguity. Gentlemen, we interfered, we interfere and we will interfere. Carefully, precisely, surgically and in our own way, as we know how. During our pinpoint operations, we will remove both kidneys and the liver at once,”
Was he joking? No. Was he bragging? Yep. Russia, since it was the Soviet Union, under Stalin, have tried various means to bring down American democracy. Under former KGB officer Putin it has been devoting itself to these efforts. Its interference earned a substantial result with the election of Trump in 2016. Its disinformation campaign, through a variety of social media bots and exploding through unwitting willing participants, throiugh the 2016 election process in disarray. January 6 was not the culmination of these efforts. Rather, it was just a catalyst.
There is a slate of at least 300 election deniers running for office today, including in key positions such as governor, secretary of state, senate and congress. If, a majority of these deniers gert in, if congress goes to the Republicans, composed of a number of election deniers, American democracy, if not destroyed, will be in total shambles. Loons, such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jim Jordan and Matt Gaetz, could have key Committee Chairman positions. They will make to Trump administration clown show look like a quaint tea party.
American democracy could fall without the Russians firing a single shot at the US. To paraphrase a Dick Cheney term “The bad guys will have won.”