There is no textbook on what to do. The US has a history of meddling in other countries’ politics during the cold war — and since. But Russia’s thinly-disguised intrusions into the 2016 election is the first time the US has clearly been the object of such attention. Moreover, the Russian bear is pushing at an open door. All Vladimir Putin needs to do to cause trouble is to sow doubt about the integrity of the US electoral process. Large numbers of Americans already suspect the November result will be rigged. So does Donald Trump, who is the first US presidential nominee to invite a foreign power to leak material that would damage his opponent. If ever US democracy was vulnerable to skulduggery that time would be now.
沒有教科書教該怎麼做。美國在冷戰期間以及之後都干預過其他國家的政治。但如今俄羅斯對2016年美國大選幾乎毫不掩飾地加以干預，這還是美國首次明顯成爲此類「關照」的對象。而且，俄羅斯熊正在推的是一扇敞開的大門。要製造麻煩，弗拉迪米爾•普丁(Vladimir Putin)只需讓人們對美國大選的公正性產生懷疑就可以了。許多美國人已經懷疑11月的大選結果將會受到操縱。唐納•川普(Donald Trump)也只需要這麼做，他是首位邀請外國勢力洩露會打擊對手的資料的美國總統候選人。如果說美國民主什麼時候容易受到矇騙，那就是現在。