Maskirovka

During our power surge-enforced absence, Diogenes pondered the nature of today's news, particularly that dealing with the Great Pretender, and general events in Washington, particularly having to do with Congress.

Americans tend to ascribe more authority to the president than he actually has. The systems of checks and balances that keeps any branch of government from becoming too powerful works well. The president can offer bills for consideration by Congress, can nominate people for federal office including the Supreme Court, and can declare war. But all these actions must be approved by Congress. In the final analysis, there are only two unilateral actions a president may take: Issue executive orders (which are nonetheless subject to judicial review), and launch a nuclear strike. The latter theoretically requires consultation with military authorities, but none of them have veto power.

But the president can and does attract attention, and Donald Trump is far and away the most attention-grabbing chief executive this nation has seen for a very long time. His antics draw ire or applause; his parade of beautiful family members attracts the fashion and social press while he keeps the newsies busy with his endless tweets, gaffes, missteps and outrageous statements.

But what of Congress--the news from there has not been silent, but with the president hogging all the spotlights, the boys and girls of Congress have been free to pursue their nefarious agenda. Congress is the real power in this administration, because the Republican majority finally has a president who will rubber-stamp the laws they want to make.

Diogenes suspects a maskirovka.

And what is that? you may well ask. "Maskirovka" means "disguise," and it was and is still at the heart of Soviet and Russian military policy. Like a magician's tricks, a maskirovka depends on confusion and misdirection. Camouflage, false intelligence, denial, disinformation, media manipulation and many other tools are used to completely surprise and overwhelm an opponent before that opponent has any idea what's going on.

So Diogenes suspects that the Trump family circus has been thrown at the media to shift attention away from Congress, which, if true, suggests that there are operatives in the Trump administration who are a lot smarter than we've been giving them credit for; or that Trump himself has learned more from Vlad Putin than anyone thought.

--Richard Brown

P.S.: For an informative and even entertaining look at how a maskirovka might work in the real world, check out Tom Clancy's "Red Storm Rising." It's dated, but still good.