When Putin decides to "help" any Democrat during an election Putin wins.

[Tom Rinaldo]

Putin wins whether that candidate welcomes so called "help" or denounces it. And he wins no matter how that candidate subsequently fares in the election. The stronger the feelings associated with the candidate run, the more Putin wins. The more loyal that candidate's backers are, and the more determined that candidate's opponents are, the more Putin wins. The grounds for intense division are established.

It becomes a ploy that Russia can't lose no matter who emerges victorious from our primaries. Democrats are so high strung at this stage in an election cycle that we reflexively pass on charges and counter charges, including those that cross over into full blown conspiracy theories about possible "collaboration", without need of further Russian guidance. With the specter of "election interference" thrown into an already volatile primary mix, we have more reasons not to trust each other. let alone the motives of various Democratic candidates jockeying for some kind of electoral advantage. Let alone the election process itself.

The Russian Bear does indeed exist, but now it is glimpsed behind every tree. How can we trust any election outcome once the Bear, through means still cloaked in shadows, has "meddled"? And where does it leave us if we can't trust the legitimacy of our elections, after they become viewed as "tainted"? Exactly where Russia wants us.

[RockRaven]

1. The Russians will make easily-found-out token efforts, to "help" the Dem nominee

just to de-legitimize the result in the case that they win. That will sow discontent within the US, after all.

But that is a separate strategy from their parallel purpose of not having a US government which turns all of the tools at its disposal towards making Russian criminals pay a price for their criminality. Supporting Trump falls into this basket (and also the first one).

Which basket(s) does Russia boosting Bernie fall into from the Russians' perspective? That is something that people ought to make an effort to understand before they cast their vote.

[Tom Rinaldo]

2. It is hard to constructively speculate

when a goal of Russia's intervention is to make us second guess everything. If one basket could be to literally influence the actual outcome, the bigger one is to trash our faith in our democratic system and the results of any election, while overall sowing division..