The "Visible Hand," of Vladimir Putin is seen more clearly in Trump's post-presidential period. When the evolution of oil/gas exporting seemed to suggest that Saudi Arabia would be displaced by the US and Russia as co-dominant exporters, Vladimir Putin stepped up efforts to make sure his companies were positioned to lead the pack. This meant influencing movements on the far left and far-right in America to disrupt domestic tranquility and replace it with turmoil.
Gazprom was connected to money used to fund extreme left-wing elements of the environmental movement. RT (the Russian media giant) ran a long series of "news," pieces aimed at encouraging the "anti-fracking," and "anti-pipeline," sentiments in those groups. At the same time, operatives reached out to extreme right-wing as well as established conservative factions of marginalized cadres of the disaffected. Finding a leader for these potential cells of under-represented right-wing voters coincided with Donald Trump's desire to expand his empire into Russia. Putin played him like a virtuoso on a fine Stradivarius.
We saw this same divisive play in the 1960s when the KGB funded limited actions to lure the emerging Black Power movement and forge it into an insurrectionist front. The competing non-violent movement of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the less peaceful Black Muslims, along with the drafting of many potential radicals into the Army for the Vietnam War, made this foray into Black politics disappear.
Nobody likes to admit they have been played. The left protested then as loudly as the right is protesting today, denying links to Moscow. But, they are not hard to see. And, as always, "Follow the Money," is the best advice. Russia, particularly Russian Oil and Gas exports for decades, has the most to gain from the political turmoil Trump is fomenting in America. And, that is a fact, Jack.
