Is Putin funding anti-fracking groups? Republicans think so -- and so did Hillary Clinton

[DonViejo]

SUNDAY, JUL 16, 2017 06:00 AM EDT

Is Putin funding anti-fracking groups? Republicans think so — and so did Hillary Clinton

It sounds outlandish — but there are hints that some anti-fracking activists have received Russian money

MATTHEW SHEFFIELD

Does Russian President Vladimir Putin want to stop hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” in Western nations the same way he allegedly wanted to harm the electoral chances of 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton? According to two Texas Republican congressmen, the answer is yes.

It’s entirely likely that the open letter on this subject sent by Reps. Lamar Smith and Randy Weber on June 29 to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was partly motivated by a desire to shift public attention from President Donald Trump’s burgeoning Russian-influence scandal. But the allegations have some support from non-Republicans.

One person who appears to believe that the Russians are interested in stopping oil and gas extraction via fracking, in fact, is Hillary Clinton herself. In a private, paid speech delivered in Canada on June 18, 2014, the former secretary of state denounced “phony environmental groups” she claimed had been created by Russia to oppose fracking.

“We were even up against phony environmental groups, and I’m a big environmentalist, but these were funded by the Russians to stand against any effort, oh that pipeline, that fracking, that whatever will be a problem for you, and a lot of the money supporting that message was coming from Russia,” Clinton said, according to an excerpt from the speech created by her presidential campaign staffers.

It is unclear what region of the world Clinton was discussing, since the full text of her speech has never been made available by Clinton or by tinePublic, the Canadian marketing firm that paid her to deliver it. Ironically, the excerpt that is publicly available was among the tens of thousands of emails released by WikiLeaks, allegedly thanks to the efforts of Russian hackers who copied them from the email account of John Podesta, Clinton’s former campaign manager.

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http://www.salon.com/2017/07/16/is-putin-funding-anti-fracking-groups-republicans-think-so-and-so-did-hillary-clinton/

[dalton99a]

1. Putin does whatever it takes to help his petrostate

and the mob that runs it

[Not Ruth]

2. Probably since fracking has cost Russia billions

Would not be surprised if Putin was against US pipelines and drilling in Alaska and Florida too.

[Igel]

3. Don't see any special reason to doubt the story.

It's a bit thin on overt evidence, but the main reason that (R) like it is because it makes environmentalists, disproportionately left of center, look bad.

And the main reason progressives dislike it is because it makes environmentalists, disproportionately left of center, took bad.

I'm more interested in the evidence and how the conclusion's reached, since nobody's going to just get up and just say the truth and conclusion from a position of agency. "Here's what I did and how I did it," in other words.

I think there's less evidence the Russians "hacked the elections" (depending, of course, on what you mean by that pretty much empty phrase) than most here, and agree with the intelligence reports that people allude to without citing that the initial goal wasn't to help Trump, and in the end a tertiary goal was to help Trump, mostly because it helped achieve their first two goals. Most people seem to act like Putin dislikes them and their party in particular, when we're just not that important. I personally think it helps them to work towards the same goal Putin would want, but not notice it.

It makes sense that a Russian goal would be to reduce the US economically, not just in ways that weaken US power and allow Russia more room to act internationally or garner it "dignity", but also in ways that improve the Russian economy, which is still largely resource-extraction based. Increase oil prices and you undo the Russian recession while weakening the US--it's a twofer. All that's needed is reasonable evidence that they're acting in ways to undermine fracking.

I will note that much of the "proof" of Russian hacking of the US elections is how Trump, Clinton, etc., are portrayed in Sputnik and RT. I've seen many a story posted here from those sources that elicited ooh-ing and aah-ing from anti-fracking folk. If it's proof that the Dark Lord is involved in one conspiracy and only traitors would side with him, it's proof for the other claim, as well. (It's not proof of either, BTW.)