Is Russian hacking "fake news"?

"Why in the world would Russia want to meddle in our elections? Like we never did it to Russian elections. Or Israeli elections." 

Oh boy. It was front page news this morning. And on some of the national talk shows. Our current (and almost former) President has ORDERED his intelligence services to find out who in the Kremlin was the culprit. Some think it was Putin himself. And some others say we should impose "personal sanctions" on the Russian leader. Pardon me while I giggle.

There are some things I agree with Donald Trump on. And, there are other issue on which I disagree with him. When Trump said he admired Putin as a leader, I agreed with him (sort of). Not that I condone Putin's expansionist ventures. Nor his continued human rights violations. But he did do one thing of merit. After the end of the Cold War in 1991, the Soviet Union dissolved and Russia was in shambles. Even though still bristling with nuclear missiles, it appeared that the glory days of Russia were over. On that issue, many of us were so wrong.

Vladimir Putin was the best thing which ever happened to Russia. He really is. He made the Russians believe in themselves again. And as Russia was ascending, we elected Barack Obama. Under Obama we started to descend. Then all of a sudden, Russia did not look as us as a superior super power. And many times not even an equal. Russia became the Bear again while our President just became a bystander. 

Flash forward to the 2016 election. Why in the world would Russia want to meddle in our elections? Like we never did it to Russian elections. Or Israeli elections. What I mean to say is this - I don't think they did, but if they did, they were just following our lead. 

Also, I think Putin believed Hillary to be "trigger happy". She could have led our nations into a war which nobody wanted. On the other hand, Trump is a deal maker. Putin could sit across the table with Trump and come away with a deal which would be good for Russian - and not aggravate America. 

Here is my opinion. And by the way, I am a retired Cold Warrior. Russia was my enemy for many years. Today I feel different. I don't care if Russia meddled or not. If they did, we need to beef up our cyber security for next time. If Trump can deal with Putin in a civilized way - we all benefit. And that is great. By the way - I am not talking about letting Russia get away with murder.

Bottom line is this. We tried it for eight years with a "President Bystander" and that did not work well at all. Now we will try it with a President who knows how to "negotiate the deal". As far as I am concerned, the jury is out until we see how that works for us.