Russian Interference in US Elections

This article discusses the Russian interference in the 2016 US elections and its impact on the political landscape. It explores the goals of the interference, the vulnerabilities exposed by the attack, and the American responses to the interference. The article also examines the discussions of two critical thinkers, Corbett and Machiavelli, on the topic.

Running head: STRATEGIC STUDIES
Strategic Studies
Name
Institution

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Introduction
The United States of America held their presidential elections in the year 2016 according
to their constitution. It was not until the election process was over that Russia came in and
interfered with the whole election process thus creating differences between the two groups who
supported Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. According to research, the reason for the Russian
attack was interrupt the campaign for Hillary Clinton and continue with the candidacy for
Donald Trump. Their secrets for their planned attack was unveiled by the members of the united
states through their secret email that was revealed to the public.
It was found out that all the planned action was ordered by the Russian president
Vladimir Putin. There were researches and several investigations made on the interference later
on to find out the basic information of the all story. It was then realized that the Russian people
conducted the media persuading act whereby they persuaded the Americans to support Trump
and this further led to major differences between the two political parties.
There Russians hacked the computer systems of the Americans during the campaigns and
at the climax of the campaigns. Towards the elections there were several emails disclosed at the
public because they could easily get accessed to the political information of the American
people.. This brought a lot of tension for US nations and it resulted to the decline of the supports
of Hillary Clinton. The Russians on investigations declined never to have been involved in the
hacking of the system (Lipton & Shane, 2016).
Discussions of the two critical thinkers
In linking the discussions on the Russian interference according to some of the two
classical thinkers that is Corbett and Machiavelli, Julian Corbett in his article of Principles of

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Maritime Strategy says that; the direction to the maritime dominance depends on the effective
controls of the sea and the positions of communication plus the denial of the access of the
enemies. In his opinion he says that naval strategy is not and ends itself but rather a way to
termination of the war. He further says that the manner in which people prepare the equipment
for applied discussions; they should protect the means of arranging the issues in troublesome
form to reduce the speediness of the real-world course of action. Without such kinds of
arrangements, it possible for two people to have differences that make them part ways and
divorce it for quiet solution thus leading to the rise of conflict between the two different parties
(Mayer, 2018).
Machiavelli in his article of The Prince mainly aimed at explaining the direct handbooks
for rulers who aim at recollecting their power or change of a new control estate or to clutch and
control the current one. He provides explanations for the wickedest compulsions for those who
seek sovereignty and he gives out the results of such actions which include encouragements of
quarrels amidst the citizens, duplicity, homicide and the purchase of temporary monarchs.
Machiavelli says that the protection of the state permits such actions because the state is capable
of ensuring security, instruction and peace for the people. He sets the determinations and the
necessity for people to have order in each side since the two are corresponding (Masters, 2018).
Russian targets and goals
The Russians had a goal to achieve as they planned for the interference of the US
elections. Their goals and the objectives included contravention up any alliance that
counterattacks them and the two examples are NATO and the EU. If the two unions break into

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pieces and start operating on their own, Russia would then find it easy and simple to conquer
any of the either through fighting, ambassadorial or economic controls.
If the two unions are still together, it is problematic to challenge them particularly when
the united nations are involved. Another main goal was to push nationalism instead of globalism.
They liked the idea that if everyone puts themselves first in place of their subjects and alliances,
it would permit Russia to grow to the top of the world hence achieving their dream of
nationalism which is a big them in the interference than globalism. Another goal for the
interference was to disrupt the campaign for Hillary Clinton and support the candidacy of Donald
Trump. This was to result to the political dissonance in US which would be their joy (Robert,
2018).
American responses
Following the Russian interference of the US elections, the Americans were not pleased
at all since Russia participated in interfering with the democratic parties of the United States and
therefore they bitterly responded to the inhumane action. Their responses were as follows; in
response to the risky escalations in the Kerch Strait, the secretary of the state and the US
ambassador predestined the decisions of the Russian people to stop the three navy vessels of
Ukrainian from using the black sea.
In response the hacking of the political system, a fine was made on a Russian woman for
her participation to interfere with the US political system inclusive of the midterm elections that
were held. In response the hateful cyber associated events, seven Russian military intelligent
officers were also fined for their participation in the hacking of the systems of the Olympic
athletes and the chemical weapon displays. The United Nations offered a joint statement with

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Canada, Germany and France about the application of the chemical nerve agent and the complete
expression of assurance in the valuation of the British that the respondents were the officers of
the Russian military intelligent office.
Vulnerabilities exposed by the attack
The Russian hackers demoralized the US cyber exposure, some few months before the
presidential election, the Russian hackers got into the democratic committee network and their
email got disclosed which was trying to communicate to an employee to click a link and then
enter her password. That was their first access in getting into the democratic national committee
network. In order to get accessed to the wanted political information, the Russians had to
adventure some of the computers of the US against detecting their action. So through the use of
servers, they chartered in Arizona and Illinois.
The specifics were also included in the impeachment that was made to the public on a
Friday by a counsel who accused Russia’s military agency of participating in the collusion to
interfere in the presidential election, though the companies operating the servers were not
acknowledged in the court papers. The Russians are blamed of misusing their access to
reasonable prevailing servers worldwide and this can be used to oblige crimes with freedom
(Weisburd & Watts, 2016).
Research has it that the hackers connected updates in their software which conveyed
information from the infected computers to their systems. They also established the oversea
computers to act as a central server so as to vague the joining between the DCCC and the
hacker’s Arizona created server. They succeeded by getting the full information of both Trump

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and his rival Hillary and the political issues about them. This led to the great interference of the
presidential elections. The strategies laid down by the Americans to prevent future attacks are;
the government should educate the public about the cases of cybercrime and preservation of the
public internet services. They should also be comprehensive cyber caves that human cannot get
accessed to. When all these are put in place, there will be a reduction of the cybercrime in
America and all parts of the world.

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References
Lipton, E. Sanger, D. & Shane, S. (December 13, 2016). The perfect weapon: How
Russian cyber power invaded the US. The New York
Timeshttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/13/us/politics/russia-hack-election-
dnc.html
Mayer, J. (September 24, 2018). How Russia helped swing the election for Trump.
The New Yorker.https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/01/how-russian helped-to-
swing-the- election-for-trump
Masters, J. (February 26, 2018). Russia, Trump, and the 2016 US election. The Council on
Foreign Relations.
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/russia-trump-and-2016-us-election
CSE. (2019). 2019 Update: Cyber threats to Canada’s democratic Process.
https://cyber.gc.ca/sites/default/files/publications/tdp-2019-report_e.pdf
Mueller, Robert. (2018). Internet Research Agency Indictment.
https://www.justice.gov/file/1035477/download
Weisburd, A. Watts, C., & Berger, J. (November 6, 2016). Trolling for Trump: How Russia is
trying to destroy our democracy. War on the Rocks.

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https://warontherocks.com/2016/11/trolling-for-trump-how-russia-is-trying-to-destroy- our-
democracy/

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