Media Blame Russia For Cyber Intrusions Without Providing Evidence
As soon as someone hacked something the media start to blame Russia. This even when there is no evidence that Russia hacked anything.
On Tuesday, December 8, the network security company FireEye reported of a recent attack on its network:
Based on my 25 years in cyber security and responding to incidents, I’ve concluded we are witnessing an attack by a nation with top-tier offensive capabilities. This attack is different from the tens of thousands of incidents we have responded to throughout the years. The attackers tailored their world-class capabilities specifically to target and attack FireEye. They are highly trained in operational security and executed with discipline and focus. They operated clandestinely, using methods that counter security tools and forensic examination. They used a novel combination of techniques not witnessed by us or our partners in the past.We are actively investigating in coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other key partners, including Microsoft. Their initial analysis supports our conclusion that this was the work of a highly sophisticated state-sponsored attacker utilizing novel techniques.
Intruding a cybersecurity company is a mistake as the chance of getting caught is significantly higher that during an intrusion into other environments. The intruders allegedly made off with some tools which likely can also be found in the wild.
On Sunday FireEye updated its analysis and provided technical details. This really was a sophisticated operation that must have cost significant resources:
We have identified a global campaign that introduces a compromise into the networks of public and private organizations through the software supply chain. This compromise is delivered through updates to a widely-used IT infrastructure management software—the Orion network monitoring product from SolarWinds. The campaign demonstrates top-tier operational tradecraft and resourcing consistent with state-sponsored threat actors.
Based on our analysis, the attacks that we believe have been conducted as part of this campaign share certain common elements:
- Use of malicious SolarWinds update: Inserting malicious code into legitimate software updates for the Orion software that allow an attacker remote access into the victim’s environment
- Light malware footprint: Using limited malware to accomplish the mission while avoiding detection
- Prioritization of stealth: Going to significant lengths to observe and blend into normal network activity
- High OPSEC: Patiently conducting reconnaissance, consistently covering their tracks, and using difficult-to-attribute tools
Based on our analysis, we have now identified multiple organizations where we see indications of compromise dating back to the Spring of 2020, and we are in the process of notifying those organizations. Our analysis indicates that these compromises are not self-propagating; each of the attacks require meticulous planning and manual interaction.
Neither FireEye nor Microsoft named any suspected actor behind the 'difficult-to-attribute' intrusion effort. Next to the NSA and Britain's GHCQ there are at least Israel, China and maybe Russia which do have such capabilities. But whoever had the chutzpah to intrude the cybersecurity company FireEye also blew up their own operation against many targets of much higher value. Years of work and millions of dollars went to waste because of that one mistake.
Despite the lack of evidence that points to a specific actor 'western' media immediately blamed Russia for the spying attempt.
As Reuters reported on Sunday:
Hackers believed to be working for Russia have been monitoring internal email traffic at the U.S. Treasury and Commerce departments, according to people familiar with the matter, adding they feared the hacks uncovered so far may be the tip of the iceberg.The hack is so serious it led to a National Security Council meeting at the White House on Saturday, said one of the people familiar with the matter.
...
The U.S. government has not publicly identified who might be behind the hacking, but three of the people familiar with the investigation said Russia is currently believed to be responsible for the attack. Two of the people said that the breaches are connected to a broad campaign that also involved the recently disclosed hack on FireEye, a major U.S. cybersecurity company with government and commercial contracts.In a statement posted here to Facebook, the Russian foreign ministry described the allegations as another unfounded attempt by the U.S. media to blame Russia for cyberattacks against U.S. agencies.
'People familiar with the issue' say 'Russia is believed to be responsible'. Well, some kids familiar with wobbly teeth believe in the tooth fairy. What is that 'believe' based on?
The Associated Press reported on the wider aspect of the intrusions and also blamed Russia:
Hackers broke into the networks of the Treasury and Commerce departments as part of a monthslong global cyberespionage campaign revealed Sunday, just days after the prominent cybersecurity firm FireEye said it had been breached in an attack that industry experts said bore the hallmarks of Russian tradecraft.
I have read FireEye's and Microsoft's detailed technical analysis of the intrusion and took a look at the code. As a (former) IT professional very familiar with network management, I have seen nothing in it that points to Russia. Who are those 'industry experts' who make such unfounded claims?
In response to what may be a large-scale penetration of U.S. government agencies, the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity arm issued an emergency directive calling on all federal civilian agencies to scour their networks for compromises.The threat apparently came from the same cyberespionage campaign that has afflicted FireEye, foreign governments and major corporations, and the FBI was investigating.
“This can turn into one of the most impactful espionage campaigns on record,” said cybersecurity expert Dmitri Alperovitch.
Ah - the AP talked to Alperovitch, the former chief technical officer of the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. The company which in 2016 claimed that Russia had stolen emails from the Democratic National Council but could not provide any evidence of that to the FBI. The company that admitted in Congress testimony that it did not see any exfiltration of emails from the DNC and had no evidence that Russia was involved. Alperovitch is also the 'industry expert' who falsely claimed that Russia hacked into an application used by the Ukrainian artillery. The same Alperovich who is a Senior Fellow of the anti-Russian lobbying organization Atlantic Council. Alperovitch apparently has never seen a software bug or malware that was not made by Russia.
Quoting an earlier version of the above AP story Max Abrams predicted:
Max Abrahms @MaxAbrahms - 3:20 UTC · Dec 14, 2020“The U.S. government did not publicly identify Russia as the culprit behind the hacks, first reported by Reuters, and said little about who might be responsible.”
You know this story will be retold as all 17 intel agencies 100% certain Putin is behind it.
That is indeed likely to happen.
Even while there is no hint in the intrusion software where it might have come from the media all started to blame Russia.
On Sunday, in its first report on the attack, the New York Times headlined:
Russian Hackers Broke Into Federal Agencies, U.S. Officials Suspect
Its chief propagandist David Sanger wrote:
The Trump administration acknowledged on Sunday that hackers acting on behalf of a foreign government — almost certainly a Russian intelligence agency, according to federal and private experts — broke into a range of key government networks, including in the Treasury and Commerce Departments, and had free access to their email systems.
...
News of the breach, reported earlier by Reuters, came less than a week after the National Security Agency, which is responsible for breaking into foreign computer networks and defending the most sensitive U.S. national security systems, issued a warning that “Russian state-sponsored actors” were exploiting flaws in a system broadly used in the federal government.
That warning by the NSA was about a known vulnerability in VMware, a software issue that is completely unrelated to the intrusions FireEye had detected and which targeted multiple government agencies.
Not bothering with facts the NYT continued its insinuations:
At the time, the N.S.A. refused to give further details of what had prompted the urgent warning. Shortly afterward, FireEye announced that hackers working for a state had stolen some of its prized tools for finding vulnerabilities in its clients’ systems — including the federal government’s. That investigation also pointed toward the S.V.R., one of Russia’s leading intelligence agencies. It is often called Cozy Bear or A.P.T. 29, and it is known as a traditional collector of intelligence.
No, the investigation by FireEye does not point in any direction. The company did not name a suspected actor and it did not mention Russia or the S.V.R. at all. The intrusion is also in no way similar to those phishing attempts that some have named Cozy Bear or APT 29.
The Times then further discredits itself by quoting the anti-Russian nutter Alperovich.
On Monday another NYT piece, co-written by Sanger, describes the wider attack and includes the word 'Russia' 23 times! But it does not provide any evidence for any Russian involvement in the case. This is the nearest it comes to:
The early assessments of the intrusions — believed to be the work of Russia’s S.V.R., a successor to the K.G.B. — suggest that the hackers were highly selective about which victims they exploited for further access and data theft.
'Believed to be' the tooth fairy?
The piece also falsely insinuates that FireEye has linked the attack to Russia:
FireEye said that despite their widespread access, Russian hackers exploited only what was considered the most valuable targets.
Nowhere did FireEye say anything about Russian hackers. It only stated that the intrusions were specifically targeted. The implication of Russia only happened in the NYT writers' heads.
Reuters reports today:
On Monday, SolarWinds confirmed that Orion - its flagship network management software - had served as the unwitting conduit for a sprawling international cyberespionage operation. The hackers inserted malicious code into Orion software updates pushed out to nearly 18,000 customers.And while the number of affected organizations is thought to be much more modest, the hackers have already parlayed their access into consequential breaches at the U.S. Treasury and Department of Commerce.
Three people familiar with the investigation have told Reuters that Russia is a top suspect, although others familiar with the inquiry have said it is still too early to tell.
As of now no one but the people behind the intrusion know where it has come from.
SolarWinds, the company behind the network management software that was abused to intrude agencies and companies, is known for a lack of security:
SolarWinds’ security, meanwhile, has come under new scrutiny.In one previously unreported issue, multiple criminals have offered to sell access to SolarWinds’ computers through underground forums, according to two researchers who separately had access to those forums.
One of those offering claimed access over the Exploit forum in 2017 was known as “fxmsp” and is wanted by the FBI “for involvement in several high-profile incidents,” said Mark Arena, chief executive of cybercrime intelligence firm Intel471. Arena informed his company’s clients, which include U.S. law enforcement agencies.
Security researcher Vinoth Kumar told Reuters that, last year, he alerted the company that anyone could access SolarWinds’ update server by using the password “solarwinds123”
“This could have been done by any attacker, easily,” Kumar said.
And that's it.
Any significant actor with the necessary resources could have used the publicly known SolarWinds' password to sneak some malware into the Orion software update process to thereby intrude SolarWinds' customers and spy on them. Without further definitive evidence there is no reason to attribute the intrusions to Russia.
If anyone is to blame it is surely SolarWinds which has learned nothing from the attack. Monday night, days after it was warned, its infected software was still available on its servers. It seems that the SolarWinds people were busy with more important issues than their customers' security:
Top investors in SolarWinds, the Texas-based company whose software was breached in a major Russian cyberattack, sold millions of dollars in stock in the days before the intrusion was revealed.The timing of the trades raises questions about whether the investors used inside information to avoid major losses related to the attack. SolarWinds’s share price has plunged roughly 22 percent since the company disclosed its role in the breach Sunday night.
Note the casual use of 'Russian cyberattack', for which there is no evidence, in the very first sentence.
Silver Lake, a Silicon Valley investor with a history of high-profile tech deals including Airbnb, Dell and Twitter, sold $158 million in shares of SolarWinds on Dec. 7 — six days before news of the breach became public. Thoma Bravo, a San Francisco-based private equity firm, also sold $128 million of its shares in SolarWinds on Dec. 7.Together, the two investment firms own 70 percent of SolarWinds and control six of the company’s board seats, giving the firms access to key information and making their stock trades subject to federal rules around financial disclosures.
Well, grifters are gonna grift.
And 'western' mainstream writers will blame Russia for anything completely independent of what really happened.
Posted by b on December 16, 2020 at 19:07 UTC | Permalink
next page »I believe that there are a few golden rules that can be applied to news stories:
1) If the first sentence contains a variation of the words "according to," then the story is at least partially bullsh*t
2) If a variation of "according to" is in the headline, then every word of the story is a lie
Posted by: TH | Dec 16 2020 19:24 utc | 2
@Hoyeru,
I have to agree with you, the deep state just cannot get over losing Russia to Putin and nationalism after the thought that they had turned it into their playground in the 1990s. They are hot to trot to take out Russia and make it bend the knee, whatever the risks are. Would not put it past them to pull the SWIFT option, although that would have huge implications for the Europeans who buy so much oil and gas from Russia.
It could end up as an own goal, as the Europeans join the Russian payments network and start paying in Euros convertible directly into Rubles (especially with Nordstream 2 in place). The Indians and Chinese are already setup for payments in local currencies. Right now China needs Russia as an ally, so they would also probably re-source oil imports to take more from Russia.
Russia has already made itself self sufficient in food etc., and has been working on payments in local currencies. They are not stupid, and see such a move coming.
Posted by: Roger | Dec 16 2020 19:39 utc | 3
Since Wikileaks first publicised its hacking of the infamous Vault 7 emails demonstrating that the CIA had the ability to attach certain metadata to its own hacking activities, to insinuate that Russian or Chinese hackers were responsible (and thus put future investigators on a wrong trail away from the actual culprits), I don't rule out that the CIA and possibly other intel agencies chummy with it may have penetrated FireEye. Especially as these hacking attempts appear to have specific targets and some investors in the companies affected by these hacking attempts seem to employ crystal ball gazers so they were able to divest themselves of huge numbers of shares and make tidy profits before news of the hacking came out which would have sent these hacked companies' share prices down into an abyss. Could some of the hackers themselves be shareholders in the hacked firms?
Posted by: Jen | Dec 16 2020 19:44 utc | 4
Meanwhile in East Flatrock Tennessee a group of teens is laughing.
"They said our hack was 'an attack by a nation with top-tier offensive capabilities'! You hear that? We're a nation now! With 'top-tier offensive capabilities' at that! How awesome is that?"
Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 16 2020 19:46 utc | 5
The CIA remains firmly in charge of US policy and the mainstream media.
Posted by: gottlieb | Dec 16 2020 19:46 utc | 6
Hoyeru @ 1:
I believe the Russian President's annual Q&A session is taking place on 17 December 2020. It will be televised and probably videos of it will be uploaded to Youtube and other platforms over the next few days. The President's own website will feature transcripts of the session in Russian and English, and probably sevetal other languages. The Q&A session is usually a marathon affair running several hours. If you watch it, you will find out how ill Putin appears to be.
Posted by: Jen | Dec 16 2020 19:51 utc | 7
b - master propaganda buster, lol... go get em b! i am surprised they aren't coming after you! maybe they figure you are a relatively obscure presence that will remain irrelevant for all intensive purposes... and they haven't figured out how to pull an assange or snowden on you - yet.... you better have some protection with the kgb and know how to speak a little russian!
Posted by: james | Dec 16 2020 19:54 utc | 8
Based on my 25 years in cyber security and responding to incidents, I’ve concluded we are witnessing an attack by a nation with top-tier offensive capabilities.
Translation: we fucked up and we're gonna blame either China or Russia, depending on the customer's preference (Republican or Democrat), in order to avoid blame and keep our stock prices from falling.
If you go to Fox News et al, I'm sure they'll be blaming China.
@Hoyeru
Russia is way ahead of you:
https://www.russia-briefing.com/news/russian-chinese-alternatives-swift-global-banking-network-coming-online.html/
"At present the combined SPFS and CIPS have about 10% of the global market share of financial institutions using their networks, but this can be expected to increase over the next few years to challenge US financial transfer dominance and ability to avoid sanctions via cutting off transfer access." This was in 2019....
Posted by: Peter M | Dec 16 2020 20:04 utc | 10
If you've followed Lavrov's trail for the month of December, he's been in top form in his denunciations of the United States of Voldemort and its neverending illegalities and immoral actions. For the curious, the most recent are on the week in review thread. IMO, what constitutes the Outlaw US Empire's mainstream media lacks credibility across the spectrum of potential topics just as does the federal government. The planet will be a happier place if those two entities are just cast away and allowed to drift upon the endless sea of filth they generate daily.
From what I have read there does not appear to be any malicious intent at any of the targeted organisations, but that might be wrong.
Maybe the attack on FireEye was an intentional way of exposing what they had done. It created some interesting press.
Posted by: JohninMK | Dec 16 2020 20:21 utc | 12
Dear All:
The Russian Federation can annihilate the United States and US has no defenses against that.
So they indulge in such self-propaganda exercise, puffing up themselves and their population, and then they go home, knowing that RF can destroy them.
On the other hand, US can annihilate Iran and Iran cannot do anything about that either.
So they indulge in such self-propaganda exercise, puffing up themselves and their population, and then they go home, knowing that US can destroy them.
The only difference between Iran and Russia is that Iran is not a nuclear-armed state, targeting US cities.
I wonder what percentage of Americans are willing to nuke the Russian Federation - in contradistinction to the 59% who are willing to nuke Iran - per this M.I.T. report
https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/ISEC_a_00284.
Posted by: fyi | Dec 16 2020 20:24 utc | 13
SL Ayatollah Khamenei by audience of General Soleimani family
"Ayatollah Khamenei said: The funeral of millions of martyrs of Soleimani was the first severe slap in the face to the Americans, but the more severe slap is "software overcoming the absurd hegemony of arrogance" and "expelling the United States from the region". It is definite whenever possible." Fars News Agency 16.12.20
Posted by: Framarz | Dec 16 2020 20:24 utc | 14
To be honest, this isn't even worth talking about. A non-story that doesn't deserve any oxygen at all.
Posted by: Clifton | Dec 16 2020 20:29 utc | 15
Mr. Framarz
The funerals of the late Abu Mehdi Mohandess, the late Brigadier General Solimani and their companions have been unprecedent in the history of Shia Islam - to my knowledge.
Americans carried out an act that betrayed the extent of their hatred for Iran (as a country) and Shia (as a religion).
It was not the act of a sane sovereign - but as I have maintained for a long time - those of a Mad King.
That action, in my opinion, ended the possibility of the United States staying in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Syria, or in Lebanon.
I wonder how the Shia would react, overtime, in the Azerbaijan Republic, in Kuwait, in Bahrain to the United States in the future.
Posted by: fyi | Dec 16 2020 20:31 utc | 16
"Neither FireEye nor Microsoft named any suspected actor behind the 'difficult-to-attribute' intrusion effort. Next to the NSA and Britain's GHCQ there are at least Israel, China and maybe Russia which do have such capabilities. But whoever had the chutzpah to intrude the cybersecurity company FireEye also blew up their own operation against many targets of much higher value. Years of work and millions of dollars went to waste because of that one mistake."
Well if software+SolarWind+elections = manipulation => proven[before date]
then a country, either from the list of those with 'capabilities', or another whose capablities were until now unknown, will have invalidated the US election.
BIG - IF true.
A big IF.
Posted by: powerandpeople | Dec 16 2020 20:34 utc | 17
Mr. Clifton
Perhaps it may be not worthwhile to discuss the main topic of this thread but I think it is worthwhile to note it as an indication of the unwillingness to face the World as it is by many in the United States at all levels.
Posted by: fyi | Dec 16 2020 20:34 utc | 18
Now der spiegel,le monde and le figaro have info from Bellingcat about a team of eight FSB spies and chemical specialist following Navalny for years to take him out,yet not succeeding.Even the most gullible "Russia,Russia,Russia" consumers start to find this ridiculous,judging by the comments.Some indeed start to have concerns about a new war on russia ,that will obviously obliterate all of western-europe.
They had four articles about this in two days.Mockingbird in full speed.It is very clear to me now that Spiegel ex-journo Udo Ulfkotte was "heartattacked" for outing CIA mastering der Spiegel in his book.
Posted by: willie | Dec 16 2020 20:56 utc | 19
"This attack is different from the tens of thousands of incidents we have responded to throughout the years.[...] ...this was the work of a highly sophisticated state-sponsored attacker utilizing novel techniques"
"Incidents we have responded to"? Meh. Also, this "attack" may or may not be different from the (likely) tens of thousands of incidents that they've never detected.
Posted by: Mao Cheng Ji | Dec 16 2020 21:04 utc | 20
Facebook discovered and neutralized a troll farm's accounts related to the french army in Central African Republic and Mali,working against russian st.petersburg related trollfarm accounts,that they neutralized as well.This is all about the french countering russians (and chinese) getting foothold amongst africans,you know the people they threw napalm on in the fifties,like they did in Vietnam way before the americans,to pacify those people.
Posted by: willie | Dec 16 2020 21:13 utc | 21
Their initial analysis supports our conclusion that this was the work of a highly sophisticated state-sponsored attacker utilizing novel techniques.
So just fake or the CIA.
This is getting boring.
Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 16 2020 21:14 utc | 22
And of course Navalny is such a hot item that bellingcats's video on youtube got 10 million viewers within 48 hours.War on Russia,who is marching on Moscou,any volunteers?The germans and the french were not very lucky with that in the past,let the united americans have a try,after all its only europe that is meant for destruction either way.The Rotschilds will be proud of you.
Posted by: willie | Dec 16 2020 21:20 utc | 23
@Norwegian 21
For me it was enough to read in the news that U.S. Treasury and Commerce department was among the targets to know who stand behind this operation. It must be very humiliating for US government, that’s why the synchronous chorus about the “Russian Cyberattack”, they know well that it was not Russia ...
U.S. Treasury and Commerce department is the driving force behind “maximum pressure” sanctions against Iran, terrorizing the Iranian population even blocking trade of medicine necessary for the treatment of kids with chronically illness.
Now Iranians sit with a complete list of U.S. Treasury and Commerce executives and their secrets, that would make it difficult for these economical terrorists to have a relaxing sleep at night. The extra bonus is what Iran got from all other US departments, useful for the future.
US need to restructure a whole lot of their IT network. protocols, hardware, even administrators at government and security level to repair at least part of the damage done.
Khameneie calls it a “sever slap” for the assassination of general Soleimani, one must agree a mind-blowing one indeed ...
Posted by: Framarz | Dec 16 2020 21:21 utc | 24
b reports FireEye saying
"We are actively investigating in coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other key partners, including Microsoft. Their initial analysis supports our conclusion that this was the work of a highly sophisticated state-sponsored attacker utilizing novel techniques."
Interpreted as "we screwed up, that Microsoft Defender software is a POS and to think FireEye AND FBI relied on their crap upgrades - we had better blame Russia and save our total embarrassment.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 16 2020 21:28 utc | 25
willie #18
They had four articles about this in two days.Mockingbird in full speed.It is very clear to me now that Spiegel ex-journo Udo Ulfkotte was "heartattacked" for outing CIA mastering der Spiegel in his book.
Thank you and I fully agree - 'heartbreaker herb' is native to a few eastern countries and known as an end of life choice of tea that is used by malign actors for centuries. Hard to find a reference to it these days as most search engines have hidden it. One used to be able to read of it.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 16 2020 21:36 utc | 26
willie @22--
The "united americans" had their try during Russia's Civil War but didn't get very far. Then they tried carpetbagging neoliberal parasites, and they failed too, although they did considerable damage. Currently within the Outlaw US Empire, about as many people are out of work as reside within all of Russia, and their government cares not a whit what happens to them. On the other hand, President Putin has made it clear on many occasions that every Russian life is treasured by him and the Russian government, with more support given Russians than at any previous time by the USSR.
Framarz @23--
The Outlaw US Empire is woeful when it comes to IT. Medicare today still runs on DOS, and it's likely many other departments do as well.
Just so that everyone knows that what this => Framarz @23 poster says is entirely possible, back in the olden days when I was helping with Linux kernel space stuff Iran was one of the top five countries where code was being submitted from. Iran has more than just a few very sharp codesmiths.
Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 16 2020 21:42 utc | 29
@28 William Gruff
Thanks for your contribution but it’s now crystal clear that Khamenei took the responsibility for this operation today, looking at the eyes of Soleimani’s daughter and saying what he said:
http://fna.ir/f1cm2o (english text)
Posted by: Framarz | Dec 16 2020 21:48 utc | 30
Regarding the David Sanger fantasy piece published in the NYT, I commented on the Times's website that Sanger made the claim of Russian culpability without providing a shred of actual evidence. Much to my surprise, my comment was accepted for publication. Shortly thereafter, it mysteriously vanished into the ether, no doubt having been read and removed by some editor or even by slimeball Sanger himself. Now that was not a surprise.
Posted by: Rob | Dec 16 2020 21:50 utc | 31
Thanks for your contribution but it’s crystal clear that Khamenei took the responsibility for this operation today, looking at the eyes of Soleimani’s daughter and saying what he said: (english text)
fna(dot)ir/f1cm2o
- looks like use of (ir) domain causing the text to be blocked, convert the dot
Posted by: Framarz | Dec 16 2020 21:53 utc | 32
Indeed - if there's anything to be learned, it is that cyber security even in government intel agencies (Snowden), the military (Manning), political parties (Clinton emails) and now FireEye plus numerous other Solarwinds customers - is marked more for what it isn't than for what it is.
This on top of the damage caused by NotPetya and WannaCry - both of which did so much damage because clearly even Fortune 50 companies don't bother to segment their networks even between countries.
Incompetence and CYA rules the day.
Posted by: c1ue | Dec 16 2020 22:21 utc | 33
framarz link might show up later.. i just posted it, but it is in the cue to be released later, or not..
Posted by: james | Dec 16 2020 22:58 utc | 34
Re: They had four articles about this in two days.Mockingbird in full speed.It is very clear to me now that Spiegel ex-journo Udo Ulfkotte was "heartattacked" for outing CIA mastering der Spiegel in his book.
-Posted by: willie | Dec 16 2020 20:56 utc | 18
Didn't know that until you shared just now. Really terrible if true, but not that surprising given recent events. Wikipedia sez he died 13 January 2017 (aged 56). That would have happened during the Obama/Brennan period.
Posted by: gm | Dec 16 2020 23:05 utc | 35
@ uncle tungsten | Dec 16 2020 21:36 utc | 25
If I understand correctly what you're hinting at, then I'll add that the alps and the nordic countries are also rife with it. It's principle active alkaloid is easily to determine port-mortem and if you're lucky, a good clinician will also diagnose it correctly before it's too late..
Less easy to pinpoint are the effects of targeted exposure with masers.
Posted by: Lurk | Dec 16 2020 23:11 utc | 36
"But whoever had the chutzpah to intrude the cybersecurity company FireEye also blew up their own operation against many targets of much higher value. Years of work and millions of dollars went to waste because of that one mistake."
yankistan propaganda always inserts a clause to show that hackers are bumblers. Reading the very short one sentence report in Reuters, the yanks got hit hard. pompus had to fly home and cut short his cold/hot war rabble rousing efforts.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 16 2020 23:37 utc | 37
Peter AU1 @ 35
I read that sentence as well and I assumed that b wrote that.
Posted by: arby | Dec 16 2020 23:56 utc | 38
Whatever is the definition of "intelligence", certainly it must be inclusive of this example, from Khamenai:
"Lifting sanctions is up to the enemy, but nullifying them is up to us'"
Also, Khamenai said "We must be strong in all areas, including economy, science, technology and defense, because as long as we do not grow strong, the enemies will not give up greed and aggression."
Now, compare that last to
JV Stalin's 1931 speech in the run-up to WW 2:
"One feature of the history of old Russia was the continual beatings she suffered because of her backwardness. ... All beat her — because of her backwardness, because of her military backwardness, cultural backwardness, political backwardness, industrial backwardness, agricultural backwardness. They beat her because it was profitable and could be done with impunity..."
Interesting, eh?
Posted by: chu teh | Dec 17 2020 0:06 utc | 39
@35 Peter
Thank you so much for "Yankistan". That sums it up nicely.
b's observation also gives a clue that it may very well be a white hat attack by the NSA. Lucky for us they could go the extra mile and give it some "positive" spin. Snark.
Posted by: Michael | Dec 17 2020 0:31 utc | 40
The Register has some info on the hack:
US Treasury, Dept of Commerce hacks linked to SolarWinds IT monitoring software supply-chain attack
Posted by: Bemildred | Dec 17 2020 0:34 utc | 41
[This post not appear, so here it is without links]
Whatever is the definition of "intelligence", certainly it must be inclusive of this example, from Khamenei:
"Lifting sanctions is up to the enemy, but nullifying them is up to us'"
Also, he said "We must be strong in all areas, including economy, science, technology and defense, because as long as we do not grow strong, the enemies will not give up greed and aggression."
Now, compare that last to JV Stalin's 1931 speech in the run-up to WW 2:
"One feature of the history of old Russia was the continual beatings she suffered because of her backwardness. ... All beat her — because of her backwardness, because of her military backwardness, cultural backwardness, political backwardness, industrial backwardness, agricultural backwardness. They beat her because it was profitable and could be done with impunity..."
Interesting, eh?
Hat-tip to Framarz | Dec 16 2020 21:53 utc | 30 for Khamenei link.
Stalin's speech link to follow...if it posts.
Posted by: chu teh | Dec 17 2020 0:44 utc | 42
Here is link to JV Stalin speech in #40, above.
https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1931/02/04.htm
Posted by: chu teh | Dec 17 2020 0:48 utc | 43
This cyber attack has NSA written all over it. Either that or the attackers had access to the tools that were leaked from the NSA trove. The tactics at least are very similar in some ways.
@willie - I posted a link to CNN's joint investigation with Bellingcat, Der Spiegel, and "The Insider" the other day in the open thread. Nobody seemed to have noticed. Looks like Russia has responded to them.
Quote:This report is funny to read.
I didn't have time to delve into all the different pages that comprise Bellingcat's allegations nor did I see anywhere in their stated methodology how they got access to these phone records that they're claiming correspond to the agents tailing Navalny. At least they didn't call him "opposition leader" this time - just "opposition activist" or something like that. LOL I'll be interested to see b's take on this affair once he's had time to digest it - and there is a lot to digest.
Posted by: _K_C_ | Dec 17 2020 0:53 utc | 44
What is so cynical is that during the last three years of fake "Russian Collusion" certain politicians were colluding with the Chinese CCP, ie in actuality doing what they were accusing Trump of doing. Inevitable now that there is big trouble brewing in the US, I don't see how all the fraud evidence on every level can be disregarded, let alone apparent foreign involvement in the voting machines.
Posted by: Clifton | Dec 17 2020 1:14 utc | 45
Russians get blamed for everything:
https://fair.org/home/a-cia-officer-has-a-headache-media-blame-russia/
and via the lobster,
https://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/free/lobster80/lob80-view-from-the-bridge.pdf?cache=228
the killing of Gareth Williams of MI6
<https://tinyurl.com/y4t3dmuj>
We are very close to the point at which the lies http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/56040.htm
become so ridiculous that they lose their power to confuse.
And there is bellingcat who now leads the front page of The Guardian with his fairy tales.
Luckily in addition to b we have http://johnhelmer.net/
Posted by: bevin | Dec 17 2020 1:30 utc | 46
Sorry KC@41 I missed your comment which puts the point much better
Posted by: bevin | Dec 17 2020 1:32 utc | 47
western' mainstream writers will blame Russia for anything completely independent of what really happened.
can we get a list of these writers.. and store their names and aliases somewhere. a db.. is needed.
b - master propaganda buster, lol... go get em b! i am surprised the oligarch wealth and its minions haven't
figured out how to pull an assange or snowden on you - yet.... you better have some protection with the kgb
and know how to speak a little russian! by: james @ 8
James I think the propaganda monsters have discovered how to take b down, they
probably plan to ask B to self inject himself with one of their Gene Modifying
Vaccines(GMVs) with expectation that a mental giant will vegetate to a wimp.
.....
The CIA remains firmly in charge of US policy and the mainstream media. by: gottlieb @ 6
Not really, the people who support and control the CIA have firm control over politics,
finance, CIA, and media, remember the nine layers of control consist of but two layers
that are public. The CIA is the leg breaker arm of that oligarch cartel. .. .. but mr gottlieb
please list who in the CIA is the leg breaker in charge over US Policy and explain
how US Policy, CIA leg breaking, mainstream media, wall street execution are financed
marketed and coordinated. I suggest to you these are not government people but private
party marketers.
Just saying a bunch of puppets dressed in CIA suits are in charge is useless.. I will
bet when you identify to us, who it is you are talking about, it will be discovered the
person you think is in charge is not, but instead that person is executing orders given
by a private party someone else. Its the private party some one else that needs media exposure.
who (by name) do the puppets work for,
how can the string pullers be identified, and
Ill bet because the string pullers are not government at all, but private exploitative
persons, that can be legally tracked?
To Norwegian @ 21 fascinating The private parties most likely responsible (PPMLR) for the
cyber attack have been asked to investigate the victim of the cyber attack. The PPMLR's
initial findings support the victim pre investigation conclusion made before the investigation
was complete that the cyber attack was the work of a highly sophisticated state
sponsored attacker utilizing novel techniques? Not all of us were born yesterday?
Posted by: snake | Dec 17 2020 1:40 utc | 48
What I haven't seen reported yet is that the voting machine company Dominion is a Solarwinds customer.....
....
....
think of the implications of that
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 17 2020 2:14 utc | 49
If the Russians did it, usual sore loser antics by the US.
If the Russians didn't, usual propaganda lies by the US.
Either way, Yankistan still sucks.
Posted by: J W | Dec 17 2020 2:41 utc | 50
Snake@45..
You're not wrong... points taken. The nexus between the moneyed elite and 'intelligence' has always been there. Cheers.
Posted by: gottlieb | Dec 17 2020 2:45 utc | 51
"This attack is different from the tens of thousands of incidents we have responded to throughout the years.[...] ...this was the work of a highly sophisticated state-sponsored attacker utilizing novel techniques"
and these techniques, because they were " outfit, and folks there could be helped by their friends in "cyber offence". Or some "commies" inside our deep state were resentful of excessive outsourcing (the two motives can overlap).so novel, had "hallmarks of Russian involvement".
It is amazing how much one can infer from the clue that something is different or novel. BTW, the hack (assuming that the story is real) carefully stayed in "public" part of the systems, snooping on e-mails and such without trying to penetrate databases. So it was quite possibly harmless. Who can gain from that?
One possibility is the apparently underfunded "cyber defense" had insiders who craved more funding and/or was resentful of outsourcing, and they could get help from the friends in "cyber offense" -- according to NYT these are separate outfits.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 17 2020 3:07 utc | 52
@ Posted by: Clifton | Dec 17 2020 1:14 utc | 42
8 years ago, there wasn't even a problem: Russia was nowhere to see and the Republicans sent a guy who openly had business in China (Mitt Romney - Bain Capital) against Obama.
Russia and China only became a problem after Syria (where Russia handed the Democrats a military loss) and after Xi Jinping showed the world his country was not going to slow down.
That's the root of the problem: relative decline.
--//--
@ Posted by: J W | Dec 17 2020 2:41 utc | 47
That's why we know for certain the cyber attacks didn't happen.
Mr. chu teh
The late Joseph Stalin was a very prescient man.
If I had even a little talent, I would write an alternate history in which some one else is the Secretary of the Communist Party of USSR. Some one not as tyrannical and brutal, who would employ a more gradualist set of policy choices for the purposes of fostering and funding industrialization in USSR.
Of course, in this alternative historical narrative, the Third Reich destroys USSR, and proceeds to slaughter the Rus - keeping some Ukrainians alive as slaves.
Later then, the Anglo-Americans and the Germans divide much of the world in between themselves until major population centers West of Urals and North of Rio Grande del Norte are annihilated in a sneak attack by one side or the other. That is when the colored people of the world are freed but not before European civilizations have become extinct.
So it is that one Yousef Jugashvili is informed of the future timeline and takes it upon himself to save the Humanity from such a catastrophe; maneuvering, plotting, planning, and enduring hardships for decades to make certain of the victory of Good over Evil.
Posted by: Fyi | Dec 17 2020 3:29 utc | 54
Posted by: bevin | Dec 17 2020 1:32 utc | 44
No worries, your post @43 added a lot more information than mine did. I absolutely love FAIR.org (and still donate to them from the EU). Great piece about blaming Russia for everything. Just the fact that they published that tells me they are clued into the bullshit that the DNC and corporate media collude to make up the trans-Atlantic narrative which gets shoved down all of our throats when "consuming" Western media. Very surprised they were so blatant about it and I've shared it with several friends after seeing your link.
Posted by: _K_C_ | Dec 17 2020 4:55 utc | 55
Posted by: vk | Dec 17 2020 3:26 utc | 50
Not saying I disagree with the crux of your comment, but it was more than 8 years ago when Sarah Palin made the following statement:
"As Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America, where – where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border." - Sarah Palin, explaining why Alaska's proximity to Russia gives her foreign policy experience, interview with CBS's Katie Couric, Sept. 24, 2008
Then again in 2016 she got into the mix again. Point being that Russia and China baiting are done by both of the political parties including Trump's version of the RNC. Just depends on when it's perceived as convenient (or inconvenient) and to whom.
Posted by: _K_C_ | Dec 17 2020 5:00 utc | 56
Tonight a Nova program has mentioned China's work on quantum computers in a program discussing Einstein's problem trying to reconcile his theories with the strange behavior of particles that allow pairs to seemingly react upon one another at a distance. The part of that program which pertains to this thread was a statement that quantum computing being developed in China could make it impossible for hacking of this kind to take place. The intrusion would not be able to proceed before announcing itself, much in the way a healthy immune system detects invaders.
I haven't had much use for Nova programs these last years, but this one didn't 'talk down' to me, or pose a question it then couldn't answer, as others have done. It raised the issues in a good scientific manner, and if this indeed can become possible it would certainly improve the state of technology as far as all levels of computer security is concerned.
Well done, Nova.
Posted by: juliania | Dec 17 2020 5:31 utc | 57
Russia should just admit that these companies that were hacked are malign terrorists threatening national security of Russia! ..
Posted by: virgile | Dec 17 2020 5:39 utc | 58
@ snake | Dec 17 2020 1:40 utc | 45...lol! that would be a terrible way for b to go!! the covid nuts would probably be okay with it though...
Posted by: james | Dec 17 2020 6:48 utc | 59
Fyi | Dec 17 2020 3:29 utc | 51
re...Yousef Jugashvili is informed of the future timeline and takes it upon himself to save the Humanity from such a catastrophe...
That was and remains my conclusion. To elaborate just a bit, about 1919 Trotsky forecast that there must be another great war involving Germany et al against USSR in 20 years , and Stalin et al knew of this analysis and likely concurred and perhaps participated in that analysis. Thus it was that Trotsky et al concluded that the gov must begin foreign, political infiltration now [ca 1919] in time to have sources in hi gov positions {particularly Britain and Germany] to give warning of any impending attack...thus 1920s recruitment of the Cambridge-5 [or 6], etc.
There was always friction between Stalin and Trotsky that I tried in vain to understand...until it mostly resolved on the political point-counterpoint
of Trotsky's Communism-must-be-simultaneously-spread [in Europe, etc] or USSR will be wiped-out and Stalin's Communism-only-in-1-country or else USSR will be wiped-out. I cannot judge who was right...both views seemed accurate! and both were well-read and experienced, front-line leaders.
May well be that any less coarse than Stalin's methods would have resulted in Russia/s demise. Still, I do not understand Trotsky's murder in Mexico in 1940, so there must still be vital data I am missing zbout their friction..
Posted by: chu teh | Dec 17 2020 7:37 utc | 60
Why did FireEye come out with this story only now? This SolarWinds Orion software update malware was active for months. https://www.solarwinds.com/securityadvisory
Because of Biden, Nordstream2, Xyz coming in action now?
Posted by: Antonym | Dec 17 2020 8:07 utc | 61
@39 chu teh
There is a huge difference between a “democrat revolutionary” like Khameneie (Khomeini) and a communist leader like Stalin (Lenin). Where the communist leader can not afford to ignore objective situation, a “democrat revolutionary” is not necessarily bound to the objective analysis and implementation of long-term solutions. However under hardship and crisis you see a genuine glimpse of strategic thinking and deep understanding by the revolutionary democrat.
This bring me to the subject of a discussion that “vk” had in another thread, short time ago, where he pointed at the split in the worldwide communist movement in regard to the post-colonial system construction in a developing country. The split was caused by the type of answer to the concrete question: should one start to construct socialism after revolution or the developing country need to pass a pre-socialist economical transition before getting ready for socialism?
If you ask me, it depends on what type of revolutionary democrats are in charge of the society, a revolutionary democrat like Fidel Castro could immediately start constructing a socialist development, where another revolutionary democrat like Khomeini lack the fundamental long-term understanding of the objective situation (religious influence) to start moving toward the socialism.
“In the history of states and countries, in the history of armies, there have been cases when there was every possibility for success and victory, but these possibilities were wasted because the leaders failed to notice them, did not know how to take advantage of them, and the armies suffered defeat.” Stalin - Speech Delivered at the First All-Union Conference of Leading Personnel of Socialist Industry -
February 4, 1931
Posted by: Framarz | Dec 17 2020 8:25 utc | 62
@61 Antonym
It was such a devastating “hit”, that they couldn’t dare make it public. It started sometime during spring 2020, as Iran was loudly promising to retaliate against Soleimani assassination.
Posted by: Framarz | Dec 17 2020 8:33 utc | 63
Russia yet again proves that its the best distraction ever. This time it looks like it will perform a similar (election-related) role: cover up he fraud.
Posted by: Idiocrates | Dec 17 2020 9:12 utc | 64
Most people are as clueless about Russia as they are about computers. This is not so much a US government disinformation campaign as just sloppy, irresponsible commercial journalism written for a mass audience full of juicy clickbait headlines.
Posted by: Malchik Ralf | Dec 17 2020 9:30 utc | 65
WOW! Not a single mention of Israel. But, really...
Microsoft? WTF are people still using MS shit? It has been and always will be nothing but one huge security hole.
Posted by: Seer | Dec 17 2020 10:03 utc | 66
@66 Seer
Zionist Apartheid regime was also target of cyber attacks recently. You may have noticed some of the news around it like this one:
tehrantimes.com/news/455527/Major-spike-in-cyber-attacks-on-Israeli-companies
However the latest victims among Zionist firms are companies working in the field of transportation and logistics. It seems like hackers got data on ID Cards and driver licences in the first attack against the Shirbit and now gathering the data from possible logistic “providers” by the second attack.
algemeiner.com/2020/12/14/indications-suggest-that-iranians-are-behind-a-string-of-cyberattacks-on-israeli-companies/
Posted by: Framarz | Dec 17 2020 10:20 utc | 67
Putin press conference right now. Shnurov, a well known musician and showman now working for a TV network, his question I think was quite appropriate for everybody's painful situation, ¿how can we talk about it without profanities? plus is Putin ready to provide political asylum to Trump?
Putin thanked Shnurov for his correct use of language and remarked that Trump does not need any asylum when almost half the USA supports him.
To have a better idea who this Shnurov guy is here is a link to a videoclip of his band named Leningrad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8qU0GdW88Q
Posted by: Paco | Dec 17 2020 10:39 utc | 68
Very important news today:
Biden shouldn’t reject all Trump’s foreign policies. Here are three he should keep. - by Nikki Haley
Those three policies she recommends Biden to continue are:
First: Biden should keep key aspects of Trump’s China policy.Second: Biden should not drop Trump’s pressure on Latin American dictatorships.
Third: Biden should encourage the remarkable progress of Arab-Israeli peace.
I highly recommend you all to read her rationale over the "first". In no moment she mentions the Chinese as a race, as an exotic culture, or as a different form of government. No, she names and attacks the Communist Party of China (Chinese Communist Party by the Western denomination; there's an ideological difference between the two denominations, but that's an issue for another time).
She also unashamedly traces a direct parallel between the struggle against the USSR and the PRC. It's a direct correlation: the PRC is the USSR's successor.
And, you know what? She's right on both of these accounts. It's amazing, isn't it? The rabid far-rightists have a much more lucid, realist analysis of the situation of the USA in the geopolitical arena than the alleged "sane" American leftists - who still call Russia the USA's "greatest threat", that Assad "a brutal dictator" and that Gadaffi deserved to die.
--//--
@ Posted by: Fyi | Dec 17 2020 3:29 utc | 54
Strange you talk like that, because Lenin-Stalin were the industrial guys par excellence. Both Lenin and Stalin after him loved machines (in the form of the most sophisticated one of the time: the airplane) and loved economic progress. The very first infrastructural project the USSR did was a giant hydroelectric dam and powerplant - which, if memory doesn't fail me, used imported American engineers for its design.
Stalin's import of Fordism was the most spectacular case of industrialization in History.
Indeed, we can't imagine the Bolshevik Revolution ever happening without the need for rapid and effective industrialization of Russia. After the Napoleonic Wars, the Russian Empire, in order to keep itself in the club of the monarchist imperialist nations, quickly reduced its economy to an agrarian one, where it exported most of the grains to feed the British and French empires.
When the Bolsheviks took power, Russia (now the USSR) only corresponded to 4-5% of the world's manufacturing output. After WWII, it corresponded to 18%.
More covering up:
I Was the Homeland Security Adviser to Trump. We’re Being Hacked.
The drama build up at the very beginning of the op-ed can only be matched by Hollywood:
At the worst possible time, when the United States is at its most vulnerable — during a presidential transition and a devastating public health crisis — the networks of the federal government and much of corporate America are compromised by a foreign nation. We need to understand the scale and significance of what is happening.
vk @71
Hysterical sheep can be such drama queens.
It would be funnier if those sheep didn't have nuclear weapons and a proven history of being possessed of the cowardice to use them.
Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 17 2020 13:20 utc | 72
@gruff, vk:
It's hard to come up with a good coverup when you don't yet know what you are covering up, exactly. Until that becomes clear (what was stolen and what is going to be done with it) there will be lots of fog and alarms.
Posted by: Bemildred | Dec 17 2020 13:27 utc | 73
Civil war becomes inevitable in the USA
by Thierry Meyssan:
https://www.voltairenet.org/article211845.html
Posted by: Ringo | Dec 17 2020 13:34 utc | 74
Framarz | Dec 17 2020 8:25 utc | 62
Thanks your thoughts and analysis. I realize gov policies are much influenced by local conditions, as geography, climate etc, but overall success can often be measured by ...do the citizens experience an improvement in their lives, year-to-year, or not.
The former strongly promotes national unity and agreement which makes for increased resilience towards adversity. The latter promotes confusion and chaos.
The general population instinctively responds accordingly. Your views re Cuba align well with this yardstick, IMO. The adversity they confront is clearly known to them as sponsored by foreign meddlers.
Posted by: chu teh | Dec 17 2020 14:06 utc | 75
Happy Christmas Gruffy
If you ask me this Hack was done by ——-
Mince spy’s
Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 17 2020 14:07 utc | 76
Someone else may have spotted this but I haven't seen it BTL. Another possibility is good ole' fashioned incompetence. "Security researcher Vinoth Kumar told Reuters that, last year, he alerted the company that anyone could access SolarWinds’ update server by using the password “solarwinds123”. Well, I suppose it's an improvement on "password".
Posted by: Loftwork | Dec 17 2020 14:15 utc | 77
Bemildred @73
True enough. It is not as if the empire doesn't have a closet endless warehouses filled with horrific skeletons that it wants to keep hidden. That said, straight out denial of objective reality, like the mass media did concerning the OPCW being exposed or the Hunter Biden dirt in the run-up to the election, seems to work OK for the establishment so I am not sure what they're worried about.
Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 17 2020 14:30 utc | 78
Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 17 2020 14:30 utc | 78
Yes, audacity has worked very well for them here. I used to wonder things along the lines you mention, but I've lost respect for them, our "elites", and now I just think they have come to rely completely on their control of the narrative, and their narrative managers, and are not at all impressive specimens themselves any more. Trump is not a fluke, as so many have pointed out.
Posted by: Bemildred | Dec 17 2020 14:40 utc | 79
The term "Post Truth World" comes to mind:
Post-truth is a philosophical and political concept for "the disappearance of shared objective standards for truth"[1] and the "circuitous slippage between facts or alt-facts, knowledge, opinion, belief, and truth".[2] Post-truth discourse is often contrasted with the forms taken by scientific methods and inquiry.[3] The term garnered widespread popularity, in the form of "post-truth politics", in the period around the 2016 United States presidential election and the Brexit referendum. It was named Word of the Year in 2016 by the Oxford Dictionary where it is defined as "Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief".[4][5]
... But I wonder, was there ever a "Truth Based" world order for there to be a "Post Truth" to begin with?
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Dec 17 2020 14:43 utc | 80
Posted by: Loftwork | Dec 17 2020 14:15 utc | 77
"Another possibility is good ole' fashioned incompetence."
That would be my first guess, real IT security requires meticulous attention to procedures and is a royal pain in the ass, plus it is very embarassing when you cannot get into your own systems, so it tends to get compromised in practice.
The internet was never intended to be a secure environment, and moving your bank accounts and everything else onto it for convenience sake and profit was always a bad idea.
Posted by: Bemildred | Dec 17 2020 14:49 utc | 81
Mr. Faramarz
The late Mr. Khomeini and many of the men around him were conservative revolutionaries steeped in Islamic Tradition.
The other revolutionaries of the 20th century were influenced by the intellectual products of the European Tradition.
It is true how you characterize them as "democratic revolutionaries".
Posted by: Fyi | Dec 17 2020 14:58 utc | 82
@ Posted by: Bemildred | Dec 17 2020 14:49 utc | 81
85% of the IT security systems breach occur due to human error.
Most likely scenario, some random contractor from FireEye/SolarWinds fucked up/sold out and they're trying to cover the whole thing up and, at the same time, get that fat and fast-tracked bail out from the Federal Government (due to "national security concerns").
Mr. Vk
The Syrian Arab Republic is a hard autocratic system of government.
It grew out of the post-independence political chaos of successive unstable Syrian governments with campaigns of assassinations that destroyed Democracy in that country.
The Syrian Arab Republic stood by Iran's side during Iran-Iraq War and that was the major reason for the Islamic Republic of Iran to help her after 2011.
Subsequent events, when chaotic Sunni Muslims from all over the Muslim world joined the call of Jihad against that government, demonstrated that the choice that Iranian leaders made between Bad and Worse was sound at multiple levels: religious, political, social, and civilizational.
Syria, Iraq, and Iran are core historical lands of Islam. The Western governments wish to destroy those societies in their current formats. It is a truly civilizational war, fought on the Muslim territories.
West is fighting with a small cadre of Euro-Americans and a larger contingent of feeble-minded Sunni Muslims.
The Muslims who are resisting the destruction of their civilization and culture by the West are the Shia Muslims, Orthodox and Catholic Christians, sane Sunni Muslims, and an assortment of other syncretic Muslim sects that are derivatives of Shia Islam.
Posted by: Fyi | Dec 17 2020 15:14 utc | 84
Psychohistorian @ 49
You need to broaden your news sources.That is being reported in many venues. I can’t decipher the time signatures on posts here, I have been seeing what you are missing for at least two days. Have been seeing Solar Winds reports for months, mostly too vague or too technical to decipher until recently.
Posted by: oldhippie | Dec 17 2020 16:11 utc | 85
... But I wonder, was there ever a "Truth Based" world order for there to be a "Post Truth" to begin with?
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Dec 17 2020 14:43 utc | 80
------
Please do not color our past to darkly. There were times where the basic truths were not denied, at least by those who mattered. For example
immaculate conception of Our Lord and Savior
immaculate conception of the Most Democratic Country in The Middle East
Actually, I can challenge you to find someone denying the latter who is not acclaimed as a disreputable person (by those who matter).
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 17 2020 16:24 utc | 86
I knew I made a mistake. TODCITME, the ONLY democratic country is the Middle East, was immaculately conceived. Sometimes my thoughts stray and I cannot see how Lebanon, Turkey and Iran are less democratic than TODCITME, and the simple answer is that as the ONLY (as a democratic CITME), one should not compare it.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 17 2020 16:33 utc | 87
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 17 2020 16:24 utc | 85
Someone once said to me: "The world has become an evil place, it's not like it was in the old days" ... That's when I realised it's always been this way, and there never were any "good old days". I've realised the same thing regarding "Truth".
immaculate conception of Our Lord and Savior
immaculate conception of the Most Democratic Country in The Middle East
I can see you're a devout Christian. Good on you. I am not. We all know how these discussions end ;-)
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Dec 17 2020 16:48 utc | 88
Germany was already the No. 1 on the Soviets target list in the 1920s. Lenin considered the country key to world revolution.
When in 1929 the Great Depression started the Soviet leaders concluded - in accordance with communist dogma - that world economic crisis must result in another world war and started a -massive- military build-up.
What they have been constantly ignoring is that this was four years before Hitlers rise to power (1933) and seven years before Germany started to prepare for war, too (4-years plan of 1936).
Let's hope the Iranian leadership is wiser. Being strong makes you safer but at the same time it makes you also less safe, since you are perceived as a growing threat by others. Any strategy that really aims at security must have it's main effort in diplomacy.
Posted by: m | Dec 17 2020 16:48 utc | 89
@ Posted by: m | Dec 17 2020 16:48 utc | 88
Germany wasn't on "the Soviets target list". It was decided in the Second International that, once getting into power, every socialist/communist party would topple their own dominant class and install socialism in their respective countries. The SPD was in power from the end of WWI until 1925 and was the Second International's largest and most influential member, so Lenin expected it would do what it had promised to do in an organization it dominated and dictated. At that time, the Bolsheviks were a small, very junior party in the constellation of socialist parties, it had little to no influence; indeed, one of Rosa Luxemburg's favorite pastimes was to make fun of the smallness and primitiveness of the Bolsheviks.
When the news that the SPD had voted in favor of the WWI, Lenin even thought it was a fake news/propaganda piece by the Kaiser's government. It was an unbelievable treason, and it marked the definitive schism between social-democracy and communism.
People today project the German Revolution of 1918 as essentially a Bolshevik regime change black operation because they mix three different events: the German Revolution itself (1918), the Spartacist Revolt of 1919 and the KPD actions from 1925-1932. In modern Germany, the German Revolution of 1918 and the Spartacist Revolt of 1919 are conveniently fused together as if they were synonyms (because, obviously, it pleases social-democrats, neonazis and liberals alike, at the cost of the communists).
@88 m
Being strong makes you safer but at the same time it makes you also less safe, since you are perceived as a growing threat by others. Any strategy that really aims at security must have it's main effort in diplomacy.
I’m not agree with you. A successful diplomatic solution need negotiations at the same eye level with “fair” conditions for both party. Iran still not in that position. That’s why they need to proof that even without nuclear weapon they are able to do substantial (system critical) damage. I would call this "equation of fear", when that understanding is reached, there is nothing blocking the way for diplomatic solutions. One on one and not 5+1 ...
@89 vk
I still enjoy a lot reading your comments.
Posted by: Framarz | Dec 17 2020 17:40 utc | 91
Mr. M
Iranian diplomats and their diplomatic skills and achievements have been exemplary.
But Diplomacy, the art and practice of the management and possible reduction of risk faced by a state, has not been and will not be sufficient for Iran.
Any diplomatic engagement must rest on hard physical power with the concomitant ability to influct misery, destruction, and death on other human beings.
Iran is not exempt from that logic. A cursory glance at the map of Iran over the last 300 years would reveal the wages of absent or weak hard power.
Myself and a number of others concluded, in 1999, after the nuclear weapons tests of India and Pakistan, that Iran must withdraw from NPT and build nuclear weapons for the reasons of state cohesion and stability, she is surrounded by 6 Nuclear Weapon states.
The events of the past 2 decades; the conquest of Iraq by the United States, UK, Spain, Georgia and a number of other Christian states, the 20-year long NATO occupation of Afghanistan, the War for Syria, the US-EU betrayal of Iran in JCPOA, the designation of IRGC as a terrorist organization by the United States (and potentially UK), the Economic Siege War of Iran (and the clear desire to see as many Iranians killed by COVID-19 by US and EU), the campaign of assassinations by US and Israel, and lastly Erdogan's and Azaris to dismember Iran, indicates to me at least that Iranians be fools if they do not arm themselves with WMD, say thermobaric weapons with near lethality of nuclear weapons.
Outside of protecting Iran, she will also now have to provide protection to the members of her informal alliance, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. Their interests could not be safeguarded via diplomacy alone and must be predicated on hard power.
Looking at the developments of the last 200 years alone, as Iranian power receded, the former Iranian lands either spiraled downhill (Afghanistan, Bahrain) or lost their independence outright (Armenia, Georgia) or became ethnic Turkic ghettos (Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan).
Had Iranian power not receded, we would not have had the wars of Afghanistan, the massacres of Armenians by Turks etc.
Posted by: Fyi | Dec 17 2020 18:01 utc | 92
@89 vk
Lenin couldn't beliefe his eyes, yes, I can imagine ...
Just that it isn't up to Lenin to decide how Germany is governed - exactly in the same manner as it is not up to Trump or Biden to determine the Iranian system of government.
Posted by: m | Dec 17 2020 19:58 utc | 93
Further news on hacking attacks:
‘They got into everything’: Scale, threat of cyberattack on U.S. increasingly alarming
Apparently one of the apps which spreads the trojan is "New York Times News".
We will have to see how this develops, but from the "early reports" I am starting to be impressed.
Posted by: Bemildred | Dec 17 2020 22:45 utc | 94
If the Israelis spent all that time and energy to make 9/11 look like an al qaeda plot, then it's a piece of cake to make this hack look like the work of Russians.
Posted by: windship | Dec 18 2020 8:11 utc | 95
I see no effort to make this hack look like a russian plot. It looks more organic. Once the general attitude of disreputability has been established the secret services can sit back and relax really, the antirussian mindset gets a momentum of its own and generates its own new antirussian storylines.
Posted by: Tuyzentfloot | Dec 18 2020 8:28 utc | 96
Oh, microsoft boss talks about reckless hacking. That actually suggests the country which cannot be named or punished instead.
Posted by: Tuyzentfloot | Dec 18 2020 15:36 utc | 97
Daniel Estulin has months warning about an internet blackout as part of the bulid up of the Great Reset...
Now we have this creep talking this way...
https://twitter.com/gregoorovitch/status/1337321198762516481
As the "predictive" skills of this guy are not to be neglected as he participated in the Event201 pandemic exericise, just months before the real pandemic broke out..., one wonders whether they are planning a false flag event on massive cyberattack which will take out with what of economy is still functioning or slightly recovering, plus, will wipe out banks accounts balances...
Of course, they will blame it on the Russians, as the current preparations effrots so tellingly illustrate, and may be, after we have lost all we had left in savings and pensions, we will agree to go for war against Russia?
I have the hunch that the Covid-19 pandemic is not but the first and least of our nightmares...
As the Pentagon just dissconnected itself from US President Elect, Biden, one also wonders whether the final military coup, recently promoted by Flynn, will take place during the black out...
Posted by: H.Schmatz | Dec 18 2020 18:29 utc | 98
Whoever hacked it all, doesn’t matter as much as the unpleasant reality that the U.S. networks are wide open to hostile intrusions. And, unfortunately, just about nothing can be done about it. Silicon Valley is powered by Chinese, Indian and Russian brainpower, and all of that knowledge inevitably finds its way back to mother countries. Add to it that a lot of “based” Americans are so disgusted with their own government that they’d also rather side with Russia, and the task of securing America’s digital infrastructure becomes all but untenable.
Posted by: Venom | Dec 18 2020 21:03 utc | 99
"an attack that industry experts said bore the hallmarks of Russian tradecraft."
So the Russians are smart enough to carry out this 'unprecedented' hack, but too incompetent to disguise themselves?
Literally incredible.
Posted by: Jams O'Donnell | Dec 19 2020 20:59 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
since when has USA needed evidence? They blamed Saddam for years that he had "weapons of mass distraction". And back in 1990, they created the famous "Iraq solders took babies out fo incubators " lies. Some of us have lived longer than 30 years and we remember all the lies USA has said.
all part of the plan to cut Russia from the SWIFT in 2021.
once Biden becomes a president, he will call on all "democracies" to stand up to Russia. He and other "Western democracies" will hold a joint meeting sometime in 2021 where they will "condemn Russia for all the malign things Russia has done" and will press Belgium to cut Russia fro the SWIFT.
Whats wore, instead of doing anything, Russia is just sitting and watching them instead of warming Europe that this will mean Europe will freeze their collective asses next winter when they won't be able to get Russia gas. Even Iran is warning Russia that they will be cut off from the SWIFT.
Putin is getting old and sick, Russia desperately needs a leader who will stand up to those assholes and warn them to stop. Oh well, it's NOT my problem. Russia better get its asshole oiled up, it will need it. Putin is a weak and inefficient leader, and the SAker IS full of shit.
Posted by: Hoyeru | Dec 16 2020 19:24 utc | 1