Russian spy agencies linked to Georgian cyber-attacks More circumstantial evidence has emerged linking the Russian authorities to cyber-attacks on Georgia that coincided with a ground war between the two countries in July and August last year. Security researchers from Greylogic published a report on Friday which concluded Russia's Foreign Military Intelligence agency (the GRU) …
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7947824.stm
Look at the economics of the matter, oil revenue has dropped as world demand has dropped. Their budget is shot to pieces, they don't have income from trade because of the BP/Gazprom/Georgia things have destroyed their reputation as a stable place to do business. They've spent large chunks of their foreign reserves to prop up the ruble....
If I was a middle Asian state with oil or gas reserves, I would be worried at this point.
These *cyber* things are just a distraction from the real war. You talk about cyber war this and cyber attack that, and you're not talking about actual tanks shooting actual shells at actual people.
The threat from Russia is not the block vote in the Eurovision song contest, or the banning of Georgia from entering, it's the f**ing big army and willingness to use it against it's neighbours.
Meaning of name reverses you!
Like the meaning Vladimir Zirinovski's "liberal democratic" party, the "democratic" and "anti fascist" parts in the name really mean the reverse. In Russia fascist means bad foreigner, as in Estonians must be fascist since they aren't happy that they were invaded and subdued by the Soviet Union.
"Although Kremlin officials have tried to portray the groups as independent players, Nashi and the others owe their financing and political support to their status as creations of Mr. Putin’s administration. They are allowed to hold marches, while demonstrations by the opposition are prohibited or curtailed. Their activities are covered favorably on state television, while the opposition’s are disparaged or ignored."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/world/europe/08moscow.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2
More like Hitler Jugend than a pro-democracy organisation.
I may be obtuse and/or fear mongering but has anyone else thought that with so many attacks coming from China and the USSR (sorry old habit) I mean Russia, that the next phase of the Cold War is on? To have so many "criminal organisations" operating with carte blanche has me wondering. Why isn't there some national outrage or crackdown going on there. Oh well...
Apparently the digital war is going from theory to first stage posturing. I really am ashamed that the last 8 years has the world paying attention to us Evil Americans more than the countries that are surreptitiously and actively trying to fuck us all.
Russian Federation, what? They're good now, right?
Mine's the one with the portable EMP generator in the pocket and iridium lined hoodie.
Cyberwarfare - the word itself is so last century. News would be if today somebody wasn't doing it (hello Tonga, Tivalu, and Samoa). It's the media-infotainment complex in light action.
You don't get to see the heavy action - any more than you see the glass of the window - unless things get dirty.
As for old Cold War that's just as passe, a point emphasized by the alacrity with which the Greater Milliband and Cameroon rushed theatrically to the aid of the Georgians. But perhaps they thought the latter were related to St George of dragon fame, and there were myths worth the preserving.
The latest war in the hyperreal I note is USA v EU - dollar v euro. The USA seems to have so many hyperreal wars on it's difficult to track them all. But brawling with your friends, tut-tut. Such esprit de corps. It can only end badly. (Assuming it is played as a zero-sum game).
Hmmm, I wonder?
The Bear is a great nation and has born and experienced many inflictions, triumphed through those and had battle scarred territory that is probably too frightening to behold.
But travel to central Europe and see the new found beauty in those places with, in the main, healthy and joyful inhabitants with fantastic food (produce from garden > kitchen > table > diner counted in hours unlike UK's produce from deep freeze > microwave).
My interim conclusion is that poor decision and poor implementation (we don't harp on about Siberia online do we now? Nor what the connectivity is or the hurdles and creativity required to effect decent workable solution?) does not mean a distasteful nation.
Sure, I'll post "Bear mauls Minnow" and mean it because that is what seems to have happened.
Yet equally respect the peoples of those nations and what they have had to endure.
In this frame of reference big armies are easily understood. As are the tendencies in post-WW2 rebuilds to accommodate infantry and tanks and ...
I gues I further conclude that moving from our painful perceptions might help people in those countries move from their own painful perceptions?
It's so rare nowadays that we can have an article about anything Russian without quite explainable evil hiss from the author. This one has nothing of it, John Leyden. Though, as most of the information coming to Russia from behind the Hissing Curtain concerns its oil, its cyberattacks and its criminal with Mr Putin as an avatar of this Trinity (-:
And re> "Follow the bear prints..." - personally never been too fond of Kremlin's authoritarian activities, but this invective should be somehow corrected, I suppose. For these are cow's plops for the lone shepherd. A young eee'd "patriotic" plumber in the basement of the Aquarium does not necessarily means the involvement of the whole team GRU. And, what a cool lyrical digression: "ISP of GRU"! That's some traffic! Was it Gadi Evron again who knows how to make some funny stuff from thin air?
No way could GRU spend its human resources and routes on such rubbish like attacking Georgian "important" sites + yes, amanfromMars, the WS answers the purpose. But there are rumours in the tube, that the GRU is likely to be dismissed/reorganized soon. Who's gotta care for the Wall Street then...
re> AC 23 Mar 1458 - "Mine's the one with the portable EMP generator in the pocket": Comrade AC, you may surely call Russia the USSR as it's widely welcome in the country. But you have to take the EMP device away of your pocket, for God does not provide spare balls.
Story: a Russian GRU resident is having a setting-up meeting with an American. The yankee asks: "Oh, am I a spy now"? The rez replies, "No, I'm a spy, and you're a traitor".
...just for the possible case of flying cows.
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AC @ Tuesday 24 Mar 0002 -
AC, the only thing for Russians to reason the Kremlin's tendency of having and holding its autoritarian policy is that there are more than 50 % of Russian regions' economy is depressive, they produce less than it's necessary for social security, which is much more important than any military activities. With some transfers from Moscow, regions somehow manage to survive... and the local authorities even can continue stealing from the budget. As far as I know, the majority share this point of view.
And still less hope, less trust, day after day. Completely idiotic television and musical sets on radio. Third sex represent the nation on Eurovision. The list is to be continued. And everyone on top is saying oh, oil falls down, no salary this month. Just afraid to give more independence to regions, even in the format of a federation... don't know is it possible to have self-dependence or not. Nobody seem to know. Something scary like China will take Russian lands from the East, England - from the West, and the US will get Siberia. (Hey, no place for Japan and Korea??) Boo?
So can anybody forgive those of the Russians who feel dependent of this bureaucratic power... and, after long years of Stalinists experiments on the nation's genome, they do not crowd on the streets protesting... yet or never. A no-other-leader situation, perhaps.
Looks like things are just fine for the old-team pseudo-socialist/pseudo-capitalist bureaucracy and its stoogees, battling the efforts of the over-systemic team which might be called really national. They just naturally hate ALL people around, not only their fellow citizen. They are the best friends of every foreign intelligence' trainee. The #1 enemy within the house.
Well, one more subject is that most of the Russian tech production (like cars and such) look like that its designers were paid some extra roubles for making the design specifically ugly, and its performance also makes distinctive sucking sounds. I'm generally no wonder how Air&Space industry and science survived. In 90s those old boffins were developing new space trucks for the stake of a janitor.
@ TeeCee - nice humour, both Spaghetti Divinori and Porn Kings sometimes do useful things, agree... and sometimes don't. Depends on who pays. And, a young skilled change for bureaucrafts from Nashi's leaders?
Some little off-top turned out... I sometimes think that one-you-know-who there in Kremlin would really, really want to invite some foreign leader to work a president for a while. Seems like they all know what to do. I'm sure he/she will remember this experience as the most horrible time in life. Got any offer?
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