This -Even if Moscow is not involved, the US has been weakened and its new leader compromised before
he even takes power
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/12/fictional-or-not-the-trump-dossier-affair-is-another-win-for-putin
<snip>
Russia insists it had nothing to do with what it has described as the “pulp fiction” scandal swirling around Donald Trump. But for Vladimir Putin, the dossier affair, following allegations of a compromised presidential election, has the effect, deliberately planned or not, of advancing Moscow’s long-held aim of weakening the US, paralysing its political decision-making process, and avenging Russia’s humiliation at the close of the cold war.
It may be that Putin is entirely innocent, as the Russian president’s spokesmen claim. Or the opposite may be the case. In a sense it does not matter. The damage has been done, and for the Kremlin, it’s a no-lose. The unprecedented confusion and disarray in the US is what old KGB agents like Putin could only dream of.
Putin famously decried the collapse of the Soviet Union, which the US played a leading role in bringing about, as “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the [20th] century”. A quarter of a century later, having exhibited the calculated patience of Karla, John le Carré’s fictional Russian spymaster, Putin can savour his revenge – at arm’s length.
Whoever is responsible, doubts have been sown about the independence, trustworthiness, and political legitimacy of the US president-elect. American commentators even suggest Trump may be a Russian “asset”. That carries echoes of another story, Richard Condon’s The Manchurian Candidate, about political brainwashing at the centre of power.
The barrage of claims and counter-claims has fed the suspicions of a large number of Americans that Trump did not win fairly last November. Unease is compounded by an own goal in the electoral process – Trump’s victory in the electoral college despite attracting 3m fewer votes than Hillary Clinton.
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To think this racist, incompetent scumbag of a fascist tried to 'de-legitimize' Barack Obama - life has a sense of humor
= new reply since forum marked as read
You mean giving him the phone to do it 
