Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, may have wanted to steal something even more valuable: an American presidential election. It’s simply that Putin dislikes Clinton, while Trump’s combination of international ignorance and catastrophic policies would benefit Putin. But that scandal pales beside an effort apparently by a foreign dictatorship to disrupt an American presidential election. “It’s crystal clear to me” that Putin favors Trump, says Michael McFaul, a Stanford professor who was ambassador to Russia until 2014. As our election takes a turn that could be drawn from a Cold War spy novel (except it would be too implausible), Putin has an obvious favorite in the race: Donald Trump.

Source: New York Times July 28, 2016 07:18 UTC