Russian hacking: Strategic plot to kill liberal democratic world order?

By Rakesh Neelakandan

News sirens are blaring that US National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s communication with the Russian Ambassador does not smack of any wrong-doing. 

But how trust-worthy that is, one may ask, especially with the credibility of his boss’ position under question.

Trust, the five-letter word has protected the humanity so far into its evolutionary present. Very clichéd it is to observe that trust once lost is just that, lost forever. And what is true for individuals is more so when it comes to political institutions and associated beliefs. And no other time it rings true than in the era of post-truth, alternative facts politics.

The very idea of US Presidential credibility has been at stake, served on a platter , perhaps by none other than Russian President Putin, a life modelled and sharpened in the dark arts of intelligence, institutional and individual. Putin just had what he wanted! The whole hacking episode could have a serious strategic dimension and a plot that extends beyond the immediate horizon!

Let’s for the sake of argument accept that Russian hackers did not violate the sanctity of the most sacred of all acts in the world of democracy, namely the US Presidential election. But whatever, whether it has happened or not, the credibility of Trump’s presidency has been questioned. Now, we have Donald Trump as the POTUS, or do we; would it have been Hillary, otherwise? And how about the Kompromat?

Questions, and the White House trembles as if it is possessed and convulsed by an earthquake. The credibility of the highest office in the USA and arguably the most powerful man in the world is doubtless, under question; the mark of which is perhaps, doomed to hang above the well kempt golden hair of the incumbent for the next four years.

Of course, independent investigations could be called for.But that would seriously undermine the very credibility of the Office in no uncertain terms and such a move can never be in the interest of the incumbent at the Oval Office. It would tarnish the image of him as well as his position. Now, no politician, unless he or she a true Gandhian, would renounce his or her position. And The Donald could hardly be such a fellow.

The fight thus began and over what? The legitimacy of American President! If not for the ambiance of post-truth era, it would have appeared a bit surreal, hard to digest. I would have pinched myself just to ensure whether or not it is a nightmare. 

If Donald Trump is determined to fight media tooth and nail, he would go thermonuclear on anything that as much as challenge the legitimacy of his office, even if it is a tiny anthill in the backyard of White House. Thus a crisis has ensued, a crisis of confidence and legitimacy. Yes, Putin presumably got what he wanted! The whole hacking episode could have been plotted to meet this end. 

The President of the Unites States?

The Supreme Commander of the US Armed Forces?

The Chief of global police?

The face of Uncle Sam for the next four years?

Question marks, question marks, and a proliferation of them. Thank you Putin, thank you very much! If the Office of the so-called Messiah of liberal western democracy could be eroded of credibility, what else could not be? If the one thing that would stand even after everything else would have fallen, is made to fall in the first place, what else would stand?

(Abraham Lincoln must be turning in his grave, or reaching for his stakes, if he were a vampire hunter as portrayed in a Hollywood flick!)

This coupled with Trump administration’s servitude to alternative facts, his thorough unwillingness to make public his tax returns,  his alleged conflict of interests vis-à-vis his business, and reported aversion to climate pact and certain civil rights , not to speak of his uncomfortable relationship with the US intelligence agencies  —all do not bode well for his presidency, and sad to say, democracy, not only in the US but in all places where people care for their flag and their anthem, including India.

The idea is that the democracy, as followed by nations like India and the United States (?) whatever its shortcomings be, is the prime ray of hope in this age of so-called fascist uprisals all across the globe. When the so-called custodian or guardian of the ideal for which millions sweated, cried and died over scores of decades finds the finger of accusations pointed at him, should not it be obligatory on his part to order an independent investigation into it? 

With great power comes, not great irresponsibility!