I've been thinking about this a lot. Are we seeing what amounts to a slow-motion coup from the intelligence folks? I actually think it's far more likely that it's a case of them being pissed at Trump being a dick to them, and their being scared by his incompetence. Turning to Obama's actions, I think WaPo gets it right in terms of Obama's cautious nature. But what I keep coming back to, in terms of US response and all, is that what Russia did never should've made a difference. It's not clear that it did, granted, but I have a hard time losing a lot of sleep over it for that reason. Beyond that, the idea that voting systems are subject to remote hack is the real worry for me.I'm increasingly dependent on its use of WaPo as a mouthpiece for Trump-related intel.
Putin has watered the seeds of civil discord, but things were already going to sprout anyway. This whole rural populism vs. urban globalization has the potential to get even uglier with each election cycle, but I don't see it turning violent on a widespread scale; The geographic complexity of drawing boundaries (where does "urban" begin and "rural" end?) prevents the hillbillies from forming organized militias. I think it ends when the urbanites somehow find the right voice and message to finally convince the rural sticks-in-the-mud that it's not the 1950's anymore. Either that or enough of them finally die off because of their own decisions that they wise up and change their lifestyles. The latter takes too long, though, and I'd rather avoid it anyway. I'm not too intimidated by potential vote hacking, especially now that we know to expect it every major election. Like my last paragraph suggests, I'm more concerned that we're going to tear ourselves apart ideologically while the wealthy effectively loot the country's economy. Would anyone (of credibility) deny that this is exactly what's happening right now? By the time we unify again, there won't be any table scraps left to party with.
Yeah, your concerns largely mirror my own. Whether intentional or not (and I'm really wary of any conspiracy that implies some grand plan for all this), seems to be a good example of how effective "divide and conquer" can be.