Incredibly, this anti-Russian smear is then parlayed into a smear against Clinton's Republican rival, Donald Trump.
Using stilted reasoning and scant regard for facts, the US media are charging that the Kremlin's "hack" is "an effort to elect Donald Trump."
The brash business mogul is now being portrayed as a Russian "fifth columnist" orchestrated by Vladimir Putin to undermine American world power.
This is a refrain of much-vaunted allegations that Putin is trying to wreck the European Union by financing anti-EU political parties; that Putin engineered Britain's Brexit vote to quit the EU last month; or that the Russian leader is working a dastardly policy of sowing division among NATO members.
Trump has derided the "Putin puppet" allegations as ludicrous. It is true that Trump has previously spoken favorably about Putin, and that he has promised to improve relations between the US and Russia if elected in November.
As for Moscow, the Russian government has been careful not to make any public comments on the US elections that could be construed as favoring one candidate over another. Moscow has scrupulously kept out of US election affairs. Putin did refer once to Trump as being a "bright" and "talented" person. So what?
Underneath the mountain of hype and disinformation, one suspects that Trump's comments last week dismissing NATO are the real bone of contention. Trump told the New York Times that he wouldn't order US forces automatically to defend Eastern European NATO members if they were attacked.
The Republican candidate "overturned a cornerstone of US foreign policy since the Second World War" noted various Western media outlets.
In a refreshing use of independent reasoning, Trump in fell swoop rejected the whole Washington-led narrative of NATO defending Europe from Russian aggression. This narrative has been recklessly contrived and pushed by Washington over the last two years, which has heightened the danger of an all-out nuclear war with Russia.
Donald Trump may turn out a huge disappointment if elected to the White House. But at this stage, one has to acknowledge that his views, at least in regard to Russia, are significantly more welcome than Hillary Clinton's, who is a Pentagon hawk in liberal clothing.
Trump's refusal to sing from the same Pentagon hymn sheet of panning Russia as a global threat and calling for increased NATO militarism on Russia's border is sheer anathema to the Washington establishment.
That is why the US powers-that-be are moving to discredit Trump as "a Russian puppet."
And recall, the source of the Russian email hacker claims is a security firm linked with the Atlantic Council/NATO nexus.
Trump's indifferent views on NATO and alleged Russian aggression in Europe are in total discord with the geopolitical interests of Washington and its drive for hegemony.
Since the Republican candidate gave his tepid views on NATO last week, there has been a parade of Western security pundits lambasting him as a patsy for Putin.
It is a disturbing sign of how brainwashed Western public discourse is that when someone questions Washington's reckless war beat towards Moscow, then that person is summarily dismissed as a Kremlin tool.
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