Oliver Stone writes essay cautioning against Russian hacking hysteria

Oliver Stone is speaking out about the accusations that Russian hackers intervened in the U.S. presidential election to aid Donald Trump’s victory.

The director wrote a lengthy essay titled “The Russians Are Coming” on his Facebook page, warning against “group-think” in accepting the claims about Russian interference. Stone wrote that he disagreed with the multiple American intelligence agencies and officials who have concluded that Russian president Vladimir Putin intervened in the election, likening the response to Cold War-era hysteria.

“My God, the ghost of Izzy Stone is back from the 1950s!” Stone wrote. “For that matter, so is Tom Clancy from the ‘80s. False thrillers will now be written about the Russians hacking the American elections. Money and TV serials will be made. … When one group-think controls our national conversation, it becomes truly dangerous.”

Stone also cast doubt upon news organizations like The New York Times and its reporting upon the claims, condemning the paper’s “stagnant Cold War vision of a 1950s world where the Russians are to blame for most everything — Hillary’s loss, most of the aggression and disorder in the world, the desire to destabilize Europe, etc.” He also linked to several articles and essays questioning Russian interference.

“I remember well in the 1950s when the Russians were supposed to be in our schools, Congress, State Department — and according to many Eisenhower/Nixon supporters — about to take over our country without serious opposition (and they call me paranoid!),” Stone added.

Stone concluded by urging readers to “stay calm in your thinking,” adding, “I never thought I’d find myself praying for the level-headedness of a Donald Trump.”

“As much as I may disagree with Donald Trump (and I do),” Stone wrote, “he’s right now target number one of the MSM propaganda — until, that is, he jumps to the anti-Kremlin track because of some kind of false intelligence or misunderstanding cooked up by CIA. Then I fear, in his hot-headed way, he starts fighting with the Russians, and it wouldn’t be long then until a state of war against Russia is declared.”

Read Stone’s full essay on his Facebook page.