A libertarian U.S. think tank is investigating a former aide-turned-critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin for a blog post containing conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and last week’s assault on the U.S. Capitol, Politico reported Tuesday.
Cato Institute fellow Andrei Illarionov claimed in a Russian-language LiveJournal entry Friday that rioters who stormed the legislative building were “provoked” by Black Lives Matter activists but did not violate the U.S. Constitution. Illarionov, a senior fellow at Cato’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, also alleged that the U.S. Capitol attack was a “trap” set by Washington’s Democratic mayor and police.
Illarionov said it was still “unknown” who won the 2020 presidential election and accused the Democratic party of seeking “exclusive domination” to promote “radical socialism, black racism and green totalitarianism.”
Politico cited Cato spokesperson Corie Whalen as saying that Illarionov’s misleading post “is under discussion among senior management and with Mr. Illarionov.”
The think tank’s senior management “categorically rejects the claims” in Illarionov’s blog post, Whalen was quoted as saying.
The statement did not indicate whether the think tank would strip Illarionov of his fellowship.
Ilya Zaslavkiy, head of research at the U.S.-based Free Russia Foundation nonprofit, wrote Tuesday that Illarionov’s views are “widely popular among Russian-American Trump supporters, some of whom took part in the Capitol events.” Russian commentators have pointed to the U.S. Capitol attack as a sign of America’s decline, while President Vladimir Putin was among the few world leaders to remain silent on the events.
The Cato Institute itself condemned the Capitol attack as “mob rule” and criticized outgoing President Donald Trump and allied lawmakers for helping “stoke the flames of distrust and division.”
Illarionov served as Putin’s chief economic adviser from 2000 to 2005, when he quit amid repeated disagreements over what he has called a “lack of liberal or even mainstream policies.” Illarionov has since become an outspoken Kremlin critic.
(c) The Moscow Times
The entire Capitol event stinks. Why did police allow people inside??? Also when Trump called for a march to the Capitol a day earlier, police had enough time to seal the building off. They let it happen to finish Trump and the GOP off, period!
“As of 2020, the USCP has an annual budget of more than $545 million and employs more than 2000 police officers, making it one of the most well-funded and well-staffed police departments relative to the two square miles that it guards.”
Where the hell were these 2000 police officers? They only have a few buildings to protect, a total area of 2sq miles and members of the Congress. I doubt any information will ever come out, the Capitol Police, like Congress, are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
Both they and Trump have to share responsibility for the utterly senseless deaths of Mrs Babbit and Officer Sicknick.
As far as I know, Trump has never publicly expressed condolences to the Trump supporters who died last week, or the Police officer. Hardly responsible or sympathetic behaviour.
Hmmm. This guy is not right. First he quits his job in the Putin gang due to a ‘lack of liberal views’, then he accuses the Dems of socialism and green dictatorship. GOP is anything but liberal, nor is this former Putin-slave.
Just because a guy says he is anti Putin, means nothing, he is probably just another Russian spy working for the Kremlin. WTF is green totalitarianism, it’s a new one to me? The only totalitarianism is the shithole country he used to live in.
I think what he’s said deserves listening too but I see the establishment and socialist media already want to silence him. These Stalinist tactics have to stop if people want to maintain a democracy.