Did The Russians Really Rig Donald Trump's Election, and if So, What Was Their Motive

The US Intelligence community agrees that the Russians interfered in the 2016 US presidential election, in order to support Donald Trump and defeat Hillary Clinton. No one so far is calling for a "do over," or for the results of the election to be invalidated. But a bipartisan US Senate committee is calling for hearings. The bipartisan effort lead by McCain (R-AZ), Lindsay Gram (R-SC).

"It's clear the Russians interfered. Whether they interfered to the degree that they wanted to elect a certain candidate, that remains to be seen," said Senator John McCain on Sunday. "the Russians have interfered in a lot of other elections. They Russians have hacked into some of our most secret military information. The Russians have used this as a tool to regain Russian dominance and pre-eminence in the world."

"This cannot become a partisan issue," said the Senators in a statement. McCain also called Putin a thug a murderer and a killer, making it clear where the old cold warrior stands (McCain spent 7 years as a Vietnamese prisoner, after being shot down by a Russian air to ground missile).

Mr. Trump calls the claim of Russian Interference "ridiculous," and a Democratic ploy...after they suffered one of the worst defeats in the history of US politics.

Analyst Judith Miller says it's pretty clear "the Russians did hack us, and it's pretty clear according to 17 intelligence agencies is that they did it to help Donald Trump. And unlike hacking, it's very difficult to detect motive. So if I were DT I would also dismiss these reports as ridiculous. Pres. Obama has guaranteed this isn't going away. This Tar baby report will be delivered to DT when he's sworn in. And the Dems are going to hold their own hearings and find out why" she says.

"It's pretty clear" Miller concluded, that the Russians hacked the DNC and RNC, releasing only the DNC emails through Wikileaks to help Donald Trump. "But its less clear why, and we need to know why in order to prevent it in the future," she said. "We need to work with the Russians on Syria and ISIS, but we can't work with them unless we understand their motivations."

John Bolton, soon to be nominated as Trump's Under-secretary of State, said: "It's not at all clear to me that this was not a false flag operation." A false flag operation would mean somebody else did it and made it look like the Russians.

What is it that the Russians want? For one thing, they want relief from economic sanctions imposed over the 2014 Russian invasion of Crimea. Perhaps they thought Hillary Clinton is too closely tied to the Obama administration to consider an opening to Russia. Their probably right about that--the former Secretary of State is a clear supporter of NATO, an organization which Putin sees as his worst adversary.

The purpose of NATO is to keep the Americans in, the Russians out, and the Germans down. Hastings Ismay, Secretary General of NATO (1952-1957).

NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, has been called the most successful military alliance in the history of the world. No NATO member has ever been attacked by an outside power.

NATO membership guarantees the security of member states against outside countries, but not against other members of NATO. Greece and Turkey, both NATO members, nearly went to war in 1975 over the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, it was proposed that the NATO framework be expanded to include the Russians. But this is not universally seen as desirable. Poland and the Baltic States fear a resurgent Russian will do to them what it has done to Ukraine--invade in order to "defend" Russian speakers and ethnic Russian minorities in their countries. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are members of NATO, and 4000 NATO troops as well as missile installations help guarantee their security.

The Russians have long wondered why the Americans refuse to see the world the way they do; why the US doesn't dominate smaller countries near it, and allow Russia and China to do the same. Is that not, after all, the prerogative of a great power?

It will be interesting to see if Putin's connection to Trump makes him more or less likely to test NATO resolve. Exxon chairman Rex Tillerson rumored to be up for appointment as Secretary of State. "He has done deals, big deals with Russia and Putin," says Donald Trump in an interview with FoxNews airing Sunday.

Just what big deal does the incoming president see as forthcoming with Russia, no one knows for sure. Except perhaps President Putin and President Trump.