Referring to: https://www.wired.com/2016/12/obama-russia-hacking-sanctions-diplomats/
The Russians Did It!
Boooohoooo!
That followed by "we must respond" lest the US appear weak in the eyes of its many enemies. This latest "retaliation" by the USA is extremely dangerous political bullshit! As the horribly defeated Democrats depart the halls of power, and their president, rendered entirely ineffective for much of his time in the White House, makes ready to vacate it, they have concocted the most elaborate "poison-pill" they could imagine, one that is meant to highly damage the relationship with Russia and cause the incoming President and the Republican machine, as much diplomatic headache as possible.
It is very much a game of King of the Hill for Americans, both internationally and domestically. Since World War I the US just happens to be on top .. but their roost is becoming less and less stable with each passing day. Domestically, those on top will change every 4 - 8 years, to varying degrees, depending on who controls the senate, congress, judiciary .. well, this time, those on top have not only been toppled, they, the Democrats, have been blasted into fucking orbit and they don't like it one damn bit.
Retaliation for What Exactly? For Killing the Queen!
On top of losing their perch, their Queen has been killed .. rooked, bishoped, pawned and pwned in every terrible way you can imagine - she is now done .. forever! Well that could not be allowed to pass, especially because the Russians did help get it done - some advanced members of the hacker community in Russia did a little something, that may have been, in whole or part, paid for by the FSB. BAH! .. so fucking what!? It was not like they were implanting a worm in a civilian nuclear plant to cause catastrophic systems failure .. right?
From the Russian perspective, the US had punished them for maintaining vital and necessary access to the Black Sea via the Ukraine's Crimea, and so from their perspective, the retaliation, helping to prevent the mastermind of this punishment, Secretary of State Clinton, to become the leader of the so-called "Free World", was entirely justified.
Americans should consider carefully the double-standard that they inflict upon other nations, where only the trespass of those nations is an issue, and the USA can tread dangerously close to anyone's borders, and over them covertly or via aerial vehicle, or satellite, any damn time they wish. They speak of the Chinese venturing into the South China Sea, to build bases, but the world should forget the Marshall Islands, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Mexico (Texas), Nicaragua, Guatamala, Panama .. holy shit, the list is endless.