BREAKING: Michael Cohen's perhaps non-existent Prague spring!

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2018

Which was said to have happened that summer:
Did Michael Cohen ever go to Prague, the way the Steele dossier said?

We've been wondering about that lately. Cohen had been moving through the sentencing phase of his interactions with Robert Mueller, and nothing had surfaced about that alleged, once-ballyhooed, nefarious journey to Prague.

In this new post, Kevin Drum puts a fairly cheerful face on the accuracy of the Steele dossier, to the extent that its accuracy can be assessed at this point. We'll only say this:

If you watch MSNBC, you've been endlessly propagandized and brainwashed about the way various parts of the dossier have allegedly been confirmed. It's all been part of the tribal political porn that is dispensed on that tribal channel, most egregiously now on the embarrassing 4 PM Eastern show, Deadline: White House.

(It's the program with the "liberal hero" host who used to push all the anti-same sex marriage initiatives for President George W. Bush. Any hack in a storm!)

Drum puts a fairly cheerful face on the current state of play concerning the accuracy of the dossier. That said, his final assessment is this:
DRUM (12/18/18): All things considered, then, the dossier has held up pretty well. There are a couple of sensational claims (Prague, pee tape) that are unproven and, at this point, seem unlikely to be true, but the fact that they got lots of media coverage doesn’t mean they were critical to the overall integrity of the dossier. Taken as a whole, it looks like a pretty solid report that’s probably provided lots of good leads to follow up.
The only claims anyone cared about were the highly peculiar "pee tape" claim and the claim about Cohen's subversive Prague summer. Drum says those claims are likely untrue, but the dossier looks pretty good otherwise.

We looked back through the dossier in recent weeks. The claims about Cohen's activities in Prague are detailed and quite expansive. Essentially, they involve Cohen in treasonous conduct with Russkies. It was exciting stuff!

Drum says those claims are likely untrue. There's a basic lesson to be learned here, but given our status as Harari's "great apes," our tribe may not stampede off to learn it.

22 comments:

  1. Pretty unseemly stuff even for Bob these
    days. Duh. Does he not get that the
    Russians were under surveillance
    when the Trump team was caught
    playing footsie with them? He probably
    does. And why does this matter?
    It matters because it chose that the
    way out, is back, and that the future
    is a forward escape into the past.
    This is what the Maddow means.
    The Time cover signals we are leaving
    fools behind and might be able to salvage
    the felt presence of immediate experience.
    But that's what holds the country together.
    I would expect it won't be long before the
    stuff Daily Kos is running on the money laundering gets picked up, as we break
    out of the silly myths of Bob and the
    infantile obsessions of the New York
    Times. What we discover is that in the
    body-- in the body-- there are
    Niagaras of beauty, alien beauty,
    alien dimensions that are part of
    the self, the richest part of life,
    perhaps dooming this insane
    blogger.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The progress of russian meddling in the area of defining human freedom is not made from the top down. Kevin Drum never extended to the people more rights than the people insisted upon. What you see, I think is the morphogenetic field. The invisible world that holds everything together. Not the net of matter and light, but the net of casuistry — of intentionality, of caring, of hope of dream — of thought about the dossier and the money laundering on Kos.

    ReplyDelete
  3. “The only claims anyone cared about were the highly peculiar "pee tape" claim and the claim about Cohen's subversive Prague summer. Drum says those claims are likely untrue, but the dossier looks pretty good otherwise.”

    Really? Do tell. Nice false assumption (“those claims were the only ones anyone cared about”) which then sets up the unavoidable conclusion that the dossier is bunk.

    And, Somerby is basing this all on his judgment of Kevin Drum’s judgment that those two claims are “unlikely to be true?”

    What basic lessons about human reasoning do we learn from this post?

    ReplyDelete
  4. If anyone is interested, here is a good analysis of the Steele dossier:

    https://www.lawfareblog.com/steele-dossier-retrospective

    Granted, it takes just a slightly different view from Somerby, but it’s still worth it from the standpoint of being well-informed.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Barack Obama was President when the Russians meddled in our 2016 election. He deserves the blame for failing to prevent the foreign meddling.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. At least you acknowledge the meddling. Unlike the Grifter-In-Chief.

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    3. @3:45 I know that Trump said the HE did not conspire with the Russians, but I do not recall Trump saying that there was no Russian meddling at all. Do you have a link or cite showing that Trump denied Russian meddling in the election?

      Delete
    4. “Vlad told me he didn’t do it, and I believe him!”

      “It could’ve been Russia, or maybe not. Maybe someone else. China? A 400-pound guy on a bed somewhere”.

      Etc.

      He never comes out and says “yes, Russia did it. I fully accept the judgment of the intelligence agencies.” He always quibbles and excuses. Which is a roundabout way of deflecting blame away from the Russians. He is employing a disinformation tactic. Why?

      Delete
    5. @4:09 -- Trump explained why, in circuitous language. He said the accusation of Russian meddling was impeding his ability to work with Putin on important issues.


      Trump made clear that the issue of Russian meddling in the election hovers over the leaders’ relationship and said it jeopardized their ability to work together on issues including North Korea’s escalating nuclear program and the deadly conflict in Syria.

      “Having a good relationship with Russia’s a great, great thing. And this artificial Democratic hit job gets in the way,” Trump told reporters. “People will die because of it.”

      Trump danced around the question of whether he believed Putin’s denials, telling reporters that pressing the issue would have accomplished little.

      “Well, look, I can’t stand there and argue with him,” Trump said. “I’d rather have him get out of Syria, to be honest with you. I’d rather have him, you know, work with him on the Ukraine than standing and arguing about whether or not — ’cause that whole thing was set up by the Democrats.”


      https://torontosun.com/news/world/every-time-he-sees-me-he-said-i-didnt-do-that-donald-trump-says-vladimir-putin-very-insulted-by-election-meddling-accusation

      Delete
    6. Virtually every intelligence agency advised Obama not to go public. The old methods and sources argument, ya know. Don’t let on how much we know, or a way to figure out who gave us the info. Even if you believe the CIA is is committing crimes in our name, do you really want to hand our people over to the bad guys?

      Delete
    7. Yes, David. We wouldn’t want a little meddling in a fundamental value in our country, our elections in other words, to “get in the way” of “working with” Putin about Syria.

      Trump is too much of a coward to even attempt to stand up to Putin over this.

      I wouldn’t trust Trump’s circuitous “explanations” about anything, since their purpose is simply to obfuscate and serve himself. He needs to be unequivocal in his defense of our elections. But he’s a Republican, so what can you say? It isn’t in his DNA.

      Delete
    8. @6:36 - gravymeister's comment above yours says that President Obama knew about the meddling and chose not to go public, for valid reasons. So, in your opinion, was Obama's handling just as wrong as Trump's?

      Delete
    9. Obama wanted to announce it in a bipartisan way, but Mitch McConnell was in too deep with the Russians to do so.

      Delete
    10. "Obama wanted to announce it in a bipartisan way, but Mitch McConnell was in too deep with the Russians to do so."

      Thank you for this, dembot.

      Humans are apes all right. Dembots, however, aren't. They appear to be reptiles.

      Delete
    11. 1;16,
      Conservatives are pieces of shit.

      Delete
    12. I'm sure they are, but definitely not as stinky as you, dembot.

      Delete
  6. "Cohen had been moving through the sentencing phase of his interactions .." Cohen was also moving through the Schengen zone in Europe where he could have landed in Italy and his movements in Europe after would not have been tracked.

    Bob, Cohen has told Mueller everything. He sang like a canary. We will find it out one day. Kevin Drum has no especial information as to whether Cohen was in Prague at that time or not. But saying he wasn't - again, with no proof himself- gets delicious clicks. Nice try attempting to discredit the Steele dossier. Which was never meant to be a final report, it was a collation of info that has proved to be strikingly accurate.

    ReplyDelete
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