"GC,

I wish you would bother learn how to post clickable links."

I'd like to retract that wish. Uncalled for ad-hom.

Clipe, your clickable link trumps my unclickable links any day! Assuming yours has better than Steele's 70% accuracy, that is damning stuff that I have read through once, taking in less than 50%.

The British Secret Squirrel links include this:

"Christopher Steele knew Sir Andrew Wood from his days at the UK Diplomatic Service since 1986. In 2013, Wood had a paid consulting gig with Orbis. Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6 who promoted the Dossier in UK, Australian, Canadian, and US government circles was Steele’s boss in MI6. Steele knew and worked with Paoblo Miller in MI6 since 1994 and Luke Harding from The Guardian since 1996; Harding and Miller were also Orbis and Hakluyt contractors since 2009."

"Steele and Chris Burrows worked with Stefan Halper as early as 2005. Steele knew Jonathan Clarke from his days in MI6 and communicated and met him in the US. Burrows knew and communicated with Joseph Mifsud since 2010. Edward Baumgartner had been contracting with Orbis and Hakluyt since 2011. Steel and Burrows knew and worked with Nigel Inkster from MI6 for over twenty years. They continued to work with him when he joined IISS and PS21. Inkster was also Sir Richard Dearlove’s deputy in SIS."

There ought to be some de-Knighting.

The whole Russian angle seems to be a reaction following the Democrats own goal:

"VC Funding and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion 
It is interesting that the dossier contains a significant amount of non-political and business-related activity. There is also a generous amount of emphasis on cyber warfare and cyber crime. Neither of these subjects has much to do with the stated objectives of the original research of gathering information about “links between Russia and [then-presidential candidate] Donald Trump”.

Russian involvement in cyber-related crime is also old news. Russian, Ukrainian, and other FSU based botnets that distribute malware have been operating at full capacity since the mid-2000s. With some of the more significant players having quasi-government affiliations.

Why then the sudden increase in Russian cyber warfare related chatter in the dossier? The reason could be that someone asked Steele to include this material in order to address the DNC internal email leak which was published in June-July 2016.

An illustration for this somewhat irrelevant cyber related material can be found in report 86 dated 26 July 2016. Under item 3 we find the following paragraph:

In terms of the FSB’s recruitment of capable cyber operatives to carry out its, ideally deniable, offensive cyber operations, a Russian IT specialist with direct knowledge reported in June 2016 that this was often done using coercion and blackmail. In terms of ‘foreign’ agents, the FSB was approaching US citizens of Russian (Jewish) origin on business trips to Russia. In one case a US citizen of Russian ethnicity had been visiting Moscow to attract investors in his new information technology program. The FSB clearly knew this and had offered to provide seed capital to this person in return for them being able to access and modify his IP, with a view to targeting priority foreign targets by planting a Trojan virus in the software. The US visitor was told this was common practice. The FSB also had implied significant operational success as a result of installing cheap Russian IT games containing their own malware unwittingly by targets on their PCs and other platforms."

Aug 15, 2018 at 7:50 PM | tomo

I don't know how significant this is.

Is it a result of a recent leak of info, or an attempt to knock out the enemies early waning radar in advance of a counter strike?

Does Trump know what Brennan has been abusing his Security Clearance to find out? If so, who had the access to that highest level of Security Clearance, to find out what Brennan was up to?

Brennan colluded with British spies in London.

London = CIA turf.

https://spectator.org/never-forget-the-brennan-brit-plot-to-nail-trump/

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/08/brennan_the_spooks_and_russian_collusion.html

Aug 16, 2018 at 12:38 AM | tomo

Spooks/Secret Squirrels do have their experience and knowledge valued by their successors, even after retirement. The role of FORMER Ambassador Sir Andrew Wood in Steele's Dodgy Dossier is a good example. Does he still have his Security Clearance?

"In addition to diplomatic service, Wood has served on the boards or executive councils of several institutions, including the PBN Company, the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce, the Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust, for which he was director, and the Britain Russia Centre, which he chaired. He has been Senior Advisor to or on the advisory boards of the PBN Company, Ernst & Young, Renaissance Capital, and the British Consultants’ Bureau. He also advised then British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Russian investment issues. He was made GCMG in 2000, having been made KCMG in 1995 and CMG in 1986.[2]

In January 2017, Wood was revealed by The Independent to be the British diplomat who had played a key role in unsubstantiated claims that Donald Trump was involved in a sex scandal being used as "Kompromat" by Russia to control Trump.[3] When questioned by the newspaper, Wood admitted his role but said "My view is that these are serious matters and that they should be investigated. I don’t think I have done anything wrong at all in what I have done."[3]"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Wood_(diplomat)

" He also advised then British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Russian investment issues."
He advised Tony Blair on investment issues? Whilst he was Prime Minister? Surely not in Russia? How close were the investments of the Blairs and Clintons?

Selfish interests seem to outweigh public service for those highly paid and pensioned by UK Taxpaers.

Co-Conspiring “Media Coalition” Sue For Names, Addresses of Manafort Trial Jurors/

Clarice ought to be good again tomorrow. Brennan has jumped the ark with his whining about free speech. And Clapper has now creditied Obama with starting the investigation of Trump, after Trump joked about the Russians finding 30,000 missing emails of Hillary's.

Judicial Watch wants that stuff re-opened after obtaining under FOIA more damning emails of hers. Supposedly a planeload of documents has been brought from the Clinton Library to DC. Thinks seem to be hotting up. Heh, it has seemed so for awhile.

My secret guess? Sessions will surprise us. Trump trashing him is a set-up.
================================

kim
" ... has now creditied Obama with starting the investigation of Trump, after Trump joked about the Russians finding 30,000 missing emails of Hillary's."

It is wonderful to know how helpful the Russians are. The number of times I have typed something, accidentally lost it and phoned an IT Helpdesk to be told there was no way I would ever find it. If only I had known to phone the Russians instead.

Can the Russians find the odd sock, to match the solitary one remaining in a washing machine that desperately needs a buddy?

Aug 18, 2018 at 2:09 AM | clipe

Are Jurors in the US entitled to anonymity, or any protection from Marshalls to shield them from corrupting influences?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_selection
"Jury selection is the selection of the people who will serve on a jury during a jury trial. The group of potential jurors (the "jury pool", also known as the venire) is first selected from among the community using a reasonably random method. Jury lists are compiled from voter registrations and driver license or ID renewals. From those lists, summons are mailed. A panel of jurors is then assigned to a courtroom. The prospective jurors are randomly selected to sit in the jury box. ★At this stage they will be questioned in court by the judge and/or attorneys in the United States. Depending on the jurisdiction, attorneys may have an opportunity to mount a challenge for cause argument or use one of a limited number of peremptory challenges★."

Why Courts Use Anonymous Juries, Like In Freddie Gray Case

kim,

My secret guess? Sessions will surprise us. Trump trashing him is a set-up.

You are not alone in your thinking.

ristvan says:

“Our Guy” – The *REAL* Russian Collusion…

So, Trump's ex campaign manager is a convicted tax and bank fraudster, and his personal lawyer a tax evader who agreed to illegal requests to stuff with gold the mouths of a pornstar and model.

A great judge of character, just great, everyone says so.

Heh, Cohen and Manafort, those Russians.
================================

Phil Clarke & kim,

we all have confidence that Team Clinton will win on convictions in the end. They did cheat a bit, by starting the competition so many years in advance.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Peaches anyone?