'Trumped' up evidence?

If there was ever any doubt about the inexplicable link between the murky worlds of politics and espionage, then events over the last few days should have been sufficient to quell any uncertainty.

In a clear last-ditch attempt to dislodge President-Elect Trump from his podium prior to his inauguration next week, the guns are out and all barrels are firmly trained on him.

I, like most of the world, found it hard to believe the news last November, that Trump had been successful in his Presidential bid. Since then I have experienced a mixture of mild bemusement, disbelief, and at times, alarm, at what I have witnessed of his methodology when it comes to getting a nation the size of the United States to come to heel, as he prepares to take his place on the world stage. Conventional he is clearly not.

The dirt digging and mug slinging started in earnest several weeks ago, not from abroad, but from within his own secret service, although aided and abetted it would seem by agents in the UK. It looks all set to reach its peak any day now. No surprise there then.

Those involved in information gathering, for whatever dubious purposes, even if in the name of democracy, will not be keen to have their own tidy little apple cart of lies and mis-information upset by such an arrogant upstart; an outsider no less.

Surely no intelligent person would be surprised to learn that Russia was keen to play a part in influencing the outcome of the US Presidential election. I would have thought that this was a given. It seems to me that what has left the spooks so vexed is that it could be done under their very noses, now clearly put out of joint.

What really seems to rankle is that a large sector of the population cannot, and will not, accept that they lost the battle. Whether or not the battle was fairly fought is another matter.

I expect that much of what is revealed will turn out to be true, but perhaps the dirt diggers would benefit from some inward reflection as they ‘leak’ their findings to the world’s press.

What becomes clearer by the day though is the high level of hypocrisy being circulated in the name of democracy.

We, as mere members of the general public, may not, thank goodness, be exposed to the grubby workings of international intelligence services, but it would be naïve in the extreme for us to be taken in by any idea that we, or any other country that considers itself to be a key player in the international arena, would not try to influence the outcome of events to suit our own agendas.

History is littered with attempts to do so, and the failings affecting millions of lives as a result of this interference, are all too evident.

Let us also not forget that the same dubious behaviour exists, within families, in practically every large corporation, and at local government level.

The sentiment ‘All’s fair in love and war’ remains as a true a statement in the 21^st century as it did when first recorded over 400 years ago.