I was surprised to read in your editorial of March 22, 2018 that you used Donald Trump’s characterization of Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election as a “witch hunt”.
Apart from Trump and his close supporters, Russian interference in the election is considered a solid fact by the various intelligence agencies in the United States. There is no dispute about that among them. Rather than a “witch hunt” the investigations are a defence of an open democracy.
Other countries, including the United Kingdom and France have supporting evidence of Russian interference in their own elections and it is widely agreed that Russian hackers are poised to continue their interference in coming elections. Some of these Russian hackers have actually been interviewed and revealed the workings of these Russian “troll factories”.
To dismiss these activities as part of the normal course of democratic election campaigning is deeply mistaken. It is also a dangerous acquiescence to covert and deceptive manipulation of voters in open democracies—the antithesis of Putin’s Russia. As the old saying goes, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty”.
Brian Hughes
Napanee