Name:   copperline - Subject:   Towers of Freedom Date:   7/27/2016 7:29:38 AM

Probably unwitting IMO, although it's well known that Trump has been trying to get a Trump Tower built in Moscow for years now, and that Paul Manafort spent years in Kiev working for Ukraine's President Yanokovich (sp?) Before he was deposed and fled to Russia. I just think Trump's vanity and lack of geopolitical sophistication is making him an easy mark for Putin.  After all, Putin's background is in the KGB,. and the real tradecraft of the KGB and CIA is to manipulate the internal politics...read politicians....of opposing nations.  Trump is ripe for manipulation, he is over confident but inexperienced...and probably appears to Putin to be as soft a target as any banana republic dictator would be..

Clearly, it would be a boon to Russia's ambitions to see Trump elected.  He's already making our allies wonder if they can trust us, speculated that the US could default on debts,  And is as casual about strategic decision making as a freshman political science major.  

That's why Russian intelligence services have hacked and released DNC documents,. They are favoring Trump and trying to influence the election.  Trump doesn't care about these details, he's got stars in his eyes now that he is within reach of the White House.