PRESS RELEASE
Counterpunch Reports on the Unraveling of Russian Hack Story
Sept. 15, 2017 (EIRNS)—Yesterday's Counterpunch ran "The Russian Hacking Story Continues to Unravel," a news item on the study published this week by Skip Folden, a collaborator with the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS). Folden has sent his memo to former FBI head and current special investigator Robert Mueller, the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, and other decision-makers. His report, "Non-Existent Foundation for Russian Hacking Charge," thoroughly covers the lack of evidence for the Russian hack, and the absolute failure to properly investigate what has been called "the crime of the century."
Folden’s lengthy and detailed report takes up the lack of any specific evidence to support the "Russia did it" line; the non-existence of any trace routes showing that data from the Democratic National Committee's server was hacked and transferred to Russian agencies; the false attribution of malware supposedly found at the DNC to Russian actors (given that the malware was readily available, and of Ukrainian, rather than Russian origin); a full refutation of Crowdstrike’s competence to attribute crimes to Russia (as evidenced by Alperovich’s disgracefully incorrect claims about Russian GRU hacking of Ukrainian artillery equipment); the addition of fake Russian fingerprints; and the suspicious timeline of events from the Wikileaks announcement of upcoming Hillary emails to the claims of Russian hacking and the emergence of Guccifer 2.0.
Additionally, the lack of consideration of any "analysis of alternatives" to the Russia-did-it story, shows the political motivations to arrive at a desired conclusion. Regarding the FBI’s failure to directly inspect DNC computers, Mike Whitney’s Counterpunch article draws a useful parallel:
"Have you ever read anything more ridiculous in your life? The FBI’s negligence in this case goes beyond anything I’ve ever seen before. Imagine if a murder was committed in the apartment next to you and the FBI was called in to investigate. But when they arrive at the scene of the crime, they’re blocked at the door by the victim’s roommate, who refuses to let them in. Speaking through the door, the roommate assures the agents that the victim was shot with a single bullet to the head, and that the smoking gun that was used in the murder is still on the floor. But ’don’t worry’ says the obstructing roommate,’I’ve already photographed the whole thing and I’ll send you the pictures as soon as I get the chance.’
"Do you really think the agents would put up with such nonsense? "Never! They’d kick down the door."
The American people are becoming increasingly sick and tired of hearing about the dastardly deeds of Russia, and after a year of headlines and ZERO evidence, feel that it is time to move on.
The Counterpunch article concludes:
"Bottom line: A dedicated group of independent researchers and former intel agents joined forces and produced the first hard evidence that ’the official narrative implicating Russia’ is wrong. This is a stunning development that will, in time, cut through the fog of government propaganda and reveal the truth. Skip Folden’s report is an important contribution to that same effort."
