‘Vast stupidity’: Oliver Stone slams ‘dumb’ US sanctions against Russia

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© Fred Thornhill / Reuters

US film director Oliver Stone has written a scathing Facebook post over Washington's passage of the Russia sanctions bill. He suggested that US intelligence agencies aren't doing their job and are misleading the public in the "false-flag war" against Moscow.

The post, which Stone titled 'Mid-Summer Anger,' begins by slamming Congress for passing the bill.

"I guess 'American Exceptionalism' includes the vast stupidity inherent in having two giant oceans to distance us from the rest of humanity," he wrote.

"With all the Apples and Microsofts and computer geniuses we have in our country, can we not even accept the possibility that perhaps our intelligence agencies are not doing their job, and maybe, just maybe, are deliberately misleading us to continue their false-flag war against Russia?

"Or for that matter, that Russia itself may not be that invested in screwing up our vaunted democracy with such sloppy malware as claimed?"

He pointed to a "strong statement" put out by the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), a group of former US intelligence officers are challenging the assessment that Russia hacked the Democrats during the 2016 presidential election. 

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Referring to a report issued by VIPS, Stone said that "with this report alone...much less the overt lying and leaking that’s been going on, both James Clapper (‘We don’t do surveillance on our own citizens’) and John Brennan (‘Drones and torture? None of our business) should be investigated as thoroughly as Michael Flynn, Jared Kushner, Trump’s son, etc." 

Stone also slammed the 'Brennan-Clapper Report' which was given to former President Barack Obama in January, during his final days in office.

The report claimed that US spies cited intercepted communications between Russian officials who called Trump’s victory a geopolitical success for Russia, as evidence of Russian interference. It also said that US intelligence identified the ‘go-betweens’ who allegedly handed over stolen Democratic Party emails to WikiLeaks. 

He went on to accuse those in Washington of not thinking independently, and instead blindly relying on mainstream media.

"Somebody out there in DC, please explain to me this omission of common sense. Are the Washington Post and the New York Times so powerful that no one bothers to read or think beyond them? It seems the TV stations in this country take their copy from them."

Stone said he hopes Europe can "independently judge and discard" the sanctions against Russia, which "are as dumb as giving out medals to Generals who keep losing wars."

The renowned film director went on to accuse Congress, the media, and the military-industrial complex of "literally dying"for a war.

"I now fully realize how World War I started. People in power never really thought it would happen, and when it did, thought it’d be over in weeks. You should know the rest of that history. It doesn’t end well," Stone concluded.