Thread by @twoodiac

"Trump is described as an 'impulsive, mentally unstable and unbalanced individual who suffers from an inferiority complex.'”

There is also apparent confirmation that the Kremlin possesses kompromat. tinyurl.com/yh2g2jaq

This appeared only days after the news broke that the leading Russia- (and Putin-) supported ransomware outfit was taken offline.

A leak (very risky there) would show a serious rift w Putin, by moderates who feel strong enough to challenge Putin's aggression against the U.S.

Some have questioned why this story appeared in The Guardian and not WaPo, NYT etc. Easily explained. The Guardian claims that other Western intelligence agencies have seen the doc, but the *media* leak came from M16 via Steele (who still has contacts there) and then Harding.

This actually gives *credibility* to the media leak. Steele wouldn’t have burned down his credibility with M16 (his former employer) by making up a story like this and then claiming that it had been seen by Western intel agencies.

Sceptics like John Schindler have thrown shade on this story, claiming that it is likely deza (to create conflict in the U.S.). But Ds already believed all this, and how would providing more fuel for Ds (and against Rs and MAGAts) help Russia? The deza allegation makes no sense.

If the RIS wanted to create dissension in the U.S., it *could* do so by leaks that tend to *discredit* the Steele dossier--something it has been intent on doing for years, and with some success. How could a leak that on its face *confirms* the Steele dossier help Putin?

Let me see if I get this. The story is Russian deza designed to create dissension in the U.S. by (1) providing further confirmation of the Steele dossier (Ds love this) and (2) pissing all over Rs by telling them that Russia believes tfg is a mentally unbalanced stooge.

Got it.

I note that John Schindler @20committee is now dialing back the suggestion that the story is Russian deza. He is now quote-tweeting social media posts (that are not at all persuasive apparently) that the doc is a forgery. But the doc can’t be both a forgery *and* RIS deza.

Imagine that you are tfg. You *know* that the dossier’s kompromat claim is almost certainly true, since you *know* that you did compromise yourself. Then you read that RIS believes that you are an unhinged buffoon w/ an insecurity complex.

You are having a very bad day.

“Western intelligence agencies are understood to have been aware of the documents for some months and to have carefully examined them.”

This is key. 1/2

Sir Andrew Wood (UK ambassador to Moscow from 1995-2000) would not have endorsed the authenticity of the story leaked by The Guardian today if he did not believe it had been vetted by Western Five Eyes intel--and specifically M16. 2/2

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