An even bigger threat to democracy is that the people in the mainstream media have all been taught the same as the politicians that Thomas Hobbes is a great guy and individuals are wicked creatures that need to be kept under the thumb of Hobbes' State.

Except politicians and news disseminators are both taught that Thomas Hobbes is a great guy and Hobbes' state is necessary to keep evil individuals, which is all of them, in line, so basically politicians and news organizations' interests are aligned.
In Indiana, I am asked for my health insurance and state ID every time I go to the doctor's, so there's another reason to have identification.

The people in the mainstream media have all been taught the same as the politicians that Thomas Hobbes is a great guy and individuals are wicked creatures that need to be kept under the thumb of Hobbes' State.

The elections in all nations are a laughingstock.

You seriously need to study magic. You are woefully naive about the fine art of vote-rigging. I suggest watching Penn and Teller's Fool Me and Googling the hints they drop after each magician's performance. On top of that, they have the ability to mess with things when all of the tallies are brought together and any number of places between where the votes are cast and the announcement of the final results.

What led you to believe that any of the world governments have any interest in trustworthy elections?

You seriously need to study magic. You are woefully naive about the fine art of vote-rigging. I suggest watching Penn and Teller's Fool Me and Googling the hints they drop after each magician's performance.

That's why five nines are a thing, but that's all assuming that anyone who cares about election veracity is allowed anywhere near the election processes.

What makes you think they don't already know?

Well, I'm not about people getting what they deserve. I'm about teaching people to become people who ask for and deserve better.

Of course this is assuming that anybody with any real interest in detecting election fraud is allowed anywhere near the ballots. Politicians generally like their elections undetectably rigged, makes it easier to keep anybody not interested in keeping the masses under the thumb of Thomas Hobbes' State away.

No that's just what the de facto world government wants people to believe to better hide their moves that keep people under their Thomas Hobbes' State loving thumbs.

What relationship with Europe? I think you are confusing the Ukraine's oscillation between Europe and Russia with the interrelationships between government factions of Europe, the US, Russia, and China.

Which is where "...while possibly managing to stay within the letter of the law." part of my post comes it. Having permission to act in bad faith is still acting in bad faith. From: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics... talking about his Blackberry:

"Be very careful. I got around it all by not saying much and not using systems that capture the data," Powell advised.

So, I'd say Powell was acting in bad faith, too.

Well the same systems get used to spread information and disinformation alike, so probably it should read enhance Russia's ability to construct narratives for an American audience.