This is a revised version of a diary posted December 16, where a reader exposed a serious error in my assumptions.
In the afternoon of December 15 I heard news that President Obama was promising serious retaliation against Vladimir Putin after it was revealed Vlad had personally supervised the Wikileaks attacks on Hillary Clinton with the objective of helping to elect Donald Trump. When I first heard this I said “Oh no, what the hell can he really do ? This sounds so lame.”
In the evening of December 15, Rachel Maddow described an opportunity for massive retaliation that would impale Vlad where it hurts most…. the money ! First, she laid out evidence that Mr. Putin is a world class pilferer, with a fortune estimated by our intelligence services at $85 billion, the richest man in the world. Second, she said that our intelligence services are doing contingency planning for a financial attack on Putin, by locating all Putin’s foreign accounts, and freezing as many of them as possible.
This is absolutely wonderfully diabolical! A perfect retaliation!!
Moreover, a huge added plus, it would damage his reputation in Russia, and, possibly, help defeat him in the next election.
And another plus — it would be likely to disrupt the Donnie/Vladi bromance !