The TL;DR of this post is that you can't make sense of relations and power structures that you can't "see"...but that you can attempt to guess the motives of the players (see the last post in this series) from their actions.

I guess you could subtitle this post WTF are the Russians doing, and why?, because the main example I will be looking at is a speculated information war between the "American" Deep State and the Russian Deep State

Models of "Cooperation Among Thieves", Kakistocracy, and/or Deep State Corruption: How you view the world is how you pre-define who the players are

I give an overview of possible situations in which corruptocrarcies and kakistocracies may have control over the world in this post:
Understanding What We Can't See - Conspiracy, "Debunking", and Absence of Evidence - Part Two

• There is a worldwide kakistocracy that does control everything, a New World Order or an Illuminati.
• There is a worldwide kakistocracy that may not control everything but does have undue influence over world events, as in perhaps a Bohemian Grove where these folks trade favors.
• There are regional kakistocracies which are stronger or weaker individually which do control some countries, industries, or companies. These groups may cooperate. You could use the prevalence of pedophilia in Hollywood as an example at this level
• There are individual kakistocracies that may control an individual county, small city, or company. Think of the pedo ring covered up in Rotherdam. At this point, depending on how weak these groups control over their baronies, we might not even bother to refer to them as kakistocacies but simply corruptocracies (If you have read me for a while, you will see that my most often used word to describe various politicians and burrocrats is corruptocrat
• There are no kakistocracies or corruptocracies; there are just pyscho/socio -paths that manage to cooperate with each other and subvert their institutions.

Personally, my own belief is this:

There are regional kakistocracies which are stronger or weaker individually which do control some countries, industries, or companies.

The "American" Deep State and the Russian Deep State, the siloviki, would be individual players in this view; are they currently at war with each other?

The Deep State (supposedly American) versus the Siloviki

When Russia invaded Ukraine, American politicians yawned, declared a limpwristed "red line", and then yawned again as Russian tanks drove right over that "red line". This lack of response was a violation of America's guarantee to defend Ukraine's sovereignty under the Budapest Memorandum. America signed this agreement in exchange for Ukraine giving up it's nuclear arms.

Yet in Syria, not only a country with which the United States had no security agreement, but that had a known political alliance with Russia, American politicians consistently beat the drum for confrontation. Interestingly enough, now that Obama and his promise to the Russians of "more flexibility" are out of office, the same politicians that ignored Ukraine previously are criticizing Trump for not being more confrontational.

The short cyberwar in October 2016 initiated by Obama's public threat to Russia resulted in a massive DDoS attack against America.

There is the attempt by the Deep State to "blame" Russian Information War for Trump's victory, as opposing to recognize ANY of the problems the Democrats and their RINO buttbois have created and exacerbated in this country, especially in regards to their ignoring the popular will.

And the hostilities in Syria may lead to war in terms of armed conflict.

So it is clear that hostilities between America and Russia exist.

Let's look at the possible motives

• We can discard from the very start the idea that there is a legitimate security reason for America confronting the Russians in Syria - If the United States refused to honor it's security agreement with Ukraine, that discounts any such motive. However, due to Russia's alliance with Assad, they indeed had a reason to engage here.

• Russia's invasion of Crimea in Ukraine is characteristic of the historical Russian tendency for expansion, whether Imperial, Soviet, or siloviki.

• America was simultaneously arming ISIS in Syria while fighting them in Iraq. Again, this signals a lack of intent in working towards American security.
  Now the truth emerges: how the US fuelled the rise of Isis in Syria and Iraq
  Arming Syrian rebels: Where the US went wrong
  Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi Debacle: Arming Jihadists in Libya . . . and Syria
  ISIS: The 'Enemy' The US Created, Armed, & Funded

• If Russian proxies did indeed hack the DNC and/or Clinton emails, we have to recognize the risk that Clinton's bribery relationship the Chinese presented a security threat to Russia. Although Russia had also bought off Clinton (see the sale of American uranium, for a start), we know that the definition of an honest politician is one that stays bought off. Russia apparently didn't consider Clinton to be honest in that regard.
  Does that mean that Russia was indeed behind the hacking of those nongovernmental emails? No, but there is motive for them to have done so

• The cyberwar fought between Russia and America in October 2016 may have been a result of that email hacking, or the hacking as an attempt by the "American" Deep State to portray the Russians as Public Enemy Number One in their Information War against the American public and the President that we elected. The Deep State has propagandized Trump as a Russian puppet.

• Further reinforcing the idea that the Deep State isn't really concerned with American security is the comparison between the DNC hacks and the OPM hacks by the Chinese. The OPM hack led to an"inadequate and even self-defeating response";
  Why the OPM Hack Is Far Worse Than You Imagine.
  We have seen the hate and fury that the DNC hack has generated within the Deep State. We have also seen the failure to address the violation of security standards by the Clinton team with any kind of punishment.

• Have the Russians returned to A Communist worldview? Perhaps "The Long Conspiracy"? I don't know. We know that the Soviet Union used a great deal of propaganda via the Comintern and via active measures in individual countries. Current Russian propaganda seems to me to be simply defending and promoting their own Narrative in foreign expansion and dealing with internal political opposition.
  It could be the power brokers of the Russian Deep State understood that socialism was a long term sucker's bet, and jettisoned it before they got to the death camp stage (again); Russia lost a lot of people in the first leftist go-around.

Conclusion

I think that the example of this war between the Deep State parasite that has latched itself onto America, and the Siloviki Deep State is an argument FOR the existence of multiple "regional kakistocracies" which can compete or cooperate.

I would say that these are indeed the most powerful of the two corruptocracies in the world today. Even within this war, we can see individual corruptions working against the "parent" kakistocracy; I can easily see Clinton's sale of American uranium to the Russians as something that would piss off other "American" corruptocrats.

What about an American/Russian alliance?

It could be in our best interest ( and include Islam as a common enemy); but I think we have to realize that foreign powers aren't "friends" unless they hold similar political cultures, and even then spy on each other and compete economically.

I trust the silovoki more than communists or islamists, but that's about it! IF the current Information War is indeed between the Russian kakistocracy and the American one, then I'd have to admit that a Russian victory works towards the goal of American liberty, but not Euro liberty or the prospects towards worldwide liberty.

I want to thank @lifeworship for his comments yesterday, which formed the seed of this post!

This series index:

So you want to be an InformationWar Activist? (Part One)
How to be an InformationWar Activist - Part Two, Morality
How to be an InformationWar Activist, Part Three: Is the Information War Winnable?
How to be an InformationWar Activist - Part Four: What the heck IS Information War?
How to be an InformationWar Activist - Part Five: The American Deep State
How to be an InformationWar Activist - Part Six: The Personal Price
How to be an InformationWar Activist - Part Seven: Who Might The Players be?

Steemit writers contributing to understanding the Information War

@originalsimulant
@dragon40
@lifeworship
@shayne
@thedeplorable1
@phibetaiota - Information War, OSINT
@fortified
@dodecahydra
@krnel - Critical Thinking/Cognitive Bias
@richq11
@dwinblood - Critical Thinking
@rebelskum - http://pizzagate.wiki
@nachtigall
@kushfreeman
If you'd like to be added to this list, just ask. I will not be vettting or endorsing this list, if your work can provide additional information on this subject, by all means, suggest yourself!

Other resources

• Some Resources for Studying Propaganda
• Index of Critical Thinking and Fighting the Information War
• Journal of Information Warfare
• INFORMATION WARFARE AND INFORMATION OPERATIONS (IW/IO): A BIBLIOGRAPHY

Daily Link Compilations

2/26/17
2/27/17
3/2/17

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Home To Texas: Recollections of a Texas Badman

Reference Sources for Siloviki

Illarionov, A. (2009). The siloviki in charge. Journal of Democracy, 20(2).

Mehdi, A., & Yenikeyeff, S. (2013). Governors, Oligarchs, and Siloviki: Oil and Power in Russia. IRFI Russia/NIS Center.

ORLOVA, K. (2016, September 21). The siloviki coup in Russia: the KGB is back. The American Interest.

Petrov, N. (2010). The evolution of siloviki elites: federal “generals” in Russia’s regions (No. PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo No. 117).
Renz, B. (2007). The Siloviki in Russian Politics: Political Strategy or a Product of the System? Russian Analytical Digest, 17, 07.

Siloviki.pdf. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/siloviki.htm

Soldatov, A., & Rochlitz, M. (n.d.). The Siloviki in Russian Politics.

Staar, R. (2004). Siloviki Inside. PERSPECTIVE, 14(3).

Staun, J. (2007). Siloviki versus liberal-technocrats: the fight for Russia and its foreign policy (No. DIIS REPORT 2007:9). DANISH INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES.

Turnbull, B. (2011). The siloviki and autocracy in Russia: are they the source? Georgetown University.

Weir, F. (2015, February 2). Oligarchs out, “siloviki” in? Why Russia’s foreign policy is hardening. Christian Science Monitor.