Hot leaked emails signal return of the Cold War

WASHINGTON: One

email

is from an Indian-American activist disavowing reports in the desi media that she is a rightwing Hindu fundamentalist. Another is from a sitting Japanese-American Congressman from Silicon Valley protesting the tactics of an Indian-American challenger. A third one from an Obama administration official seeks advice on how to handle Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the Tesla facility in California, for which New Delhi has asked a cabinet level principal to accompany him.

They are among the trove of thousands of hacked emails showing the inner workings of the Hillary

Clinton

campaign, messages the Obama administration and Clinton aides believe have been leaked by

Russia

– in cahoots with Wikileaks - in an effort to derail the Democratic succession in Washington and help a businessman-oligarch Donald Trump get elected to the White House. I

It is a charge that regardless of proof and veracity is bound to profoundly affect Washington-Moscow ties if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency, the relationship having already gone south during the Obama White House.

"I’ve been involved in politics for nearly five decades. This definitely is the first campaign in which I’ve had to tangle with Russian intelligence agencies who seem to be doing everything that they can on behalf of our opponent," John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, whose email account is believed to have been hacked by Russia told reporters on Tuesday as the scandal roiled the already fraught Presidential campaign.

The allegation is backed by the Obama administration, which on Tuesday warned of a 'proportional response' against what it said was Russian interference in domestic US affairs.

Podesta, who is tipped for a cabinet-level position if Hillary is elected President, went so far as to allege that the latest leaks were timed to dilute the impact of the disclosure in the US of tapes implicating Donald

Trump

in lewd conduct towards women. Trump, he said, has "essentially adopted lock, stock and barrel" a foreign policy that would favor the interests of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, while suggesting Moscow is desperate to get him elected so it could have a handle on the US.

On Tuesday, US officials warned that President Obama is weighting a 'proportional response' to the Russian hacking without specifying what it would be and when it would occur, signaling the advent of new

Cold War

tactics that will involve cyber warfare more than nuclear weapons.

"The president has talked before about the significant capabilities that the US government has to both defend our systems but also carry out offensive operations in other countries," Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, told reporters, adding, "There are a range of responses that are available to the president, and he will consider a response that is proportional."

It is not clear on what basis Washington believes Moscow is behind the hacking, but US intelligence agencies have been fairly clear about a Russia hand. The Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said last week that "Only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities," giving Hillary Clinton a handle to attack Trump in the second Presidential debate where she bluntly stated the Russians were trying to get him elected.

Trump, who has made no secret of his desire to have better relations with Russia while revealing he has no animus against Putin, has expressed skepticism that Moscow is behind the hack.

"It could also be China," he mused during the first Presidential debate. "It could also be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds."