Is that all there is?!?
So the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI finally released a 13-page report on the Russian hacks.
My response to this Earth-shattering report is best summed up by Peggy Lee.
First of all, let's remember what the original claim was.
“We identified advanced methods consistent with nation-state level capabilities including deliberate targeting and ‘access management’ tradecraft,” Crowdstrike’s co-founder Dmitri Alperovitch wrote in his blog post.
"Advanced methods" and "nation-state level capabilities".
It sounds impressive. Something involving teams of hackers and server farms.
"This was a conscious effort by a nation-state to attempt to achieve a specific effect.”
Calling Bruce Willis.
So what exactly were these "advanced methods" with "nation-state level capabilities"?
I'm sure they involved something really complicated that only a James Bond villain could invent.
The initial hackers sent e-mails that appeared to come from legitimate websites and other Internet domains tied to U.S. organizations and educational institutions, according to the report. Those who were fooled into clicking on the “spearphishing” e-mails provided a foothold into the Democratic National Committee -- although the party organization wasn’t identified by name in the report -- and key e-mail accounts for material that would later be leaked to damage Hillary Clinton in her losing campaign against Trump....
Then, a second wave came in the spring of 2016. Hackers working for Russia’s military intelligence service, the GRU, and dubbed “Advanced Persistent Threat 28” or APT 28, infiltrated the DNC’s networks through more spearphishing e-mails, the report said.
Ah, yes. “Spearphishing”.
That's proof! Why absolutely no one has those kinds of "nation-state level capabilities"...except...maybe...
Bored Suburban Teenagers!
Are you fucking shitting me! Spearphishing!
Is this all you've got!
Maybe not even that! Consider the broad disclaimer at the beginning of the report.
"this report is provided “as is” for informational purposes only. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not provide any warranties of any kind regarding any information contained within. DHS does not endorse any commercial product or service referenced in this advisory or otherwise."
This doesn't inspire confidence.
So let's make it sound more impressive.
“These actors set up operational infrastructure to obfuscate their source infrastructure, host domains and malware for targeting organizations, establish command and control nodes, and harvest credentials and other valuable information from their targets," the report said.
Translated: they "spoofed" their IP addresses and set up a cheap LAMP server to infect clients, receive and process the data.
Both are things even I could do if I wanted to.
Intelligence experts noticed the weaknesses of this report too.
Cyber-security experts have also weighed in. The security editor at Ars Technica observed that “Instead of providing smoking guns that the Russian government was behind specific hacks,” the government report “largely restates previous private sector claims without providing any support for their validity.” Robert M. Lee of the cyber-security company Dragos noted that the report “reads like a poorly done vendor intelligence report stringing together various aspects of attribution without evidence.” Cybersecurity consultant Jeffrey Carr noted that the report “merely listed every threat group ever reported on by a commercial cybersecurity company that is suspected of being Russian-made and lumped them under the heading of Russian Intelligence Services (RIS) without providing any supporting evidence that such a connection exists.”
This is just pathetic.
Comments
Assange releases factual information
about the DNC and Hillary. Voters and the media can take it or leave it, as they choose, and we're led to believe that this constitutes "hacking the vote" and is the reason that Her Heinous lost.
In the meantime, Allred, HuffPo and GOS float false charges of child rape against Trump, which though they were quickly debunked, nevertheless got currency in some quarters. Framing someone for a felony is apparently not a problem for these hypocrites, yet revealing the truth about Hillary is somehow the crime of the century.
BTW, where are those other 13 women these days, with allegations against Trump? Once they were no longer useful to the DNC, they threw them aside like trash.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
In the long run, that hound won't hunt no mo'
This whole issue of Trump being under the influence of Putin was pushed heavily by Clinton during the debates, and by her surrogates. It had no influence at any level. As Glen Greenwald said, the American people didn't wake up every morning worrying about what Putin was up to. Not a priority. And it seems to me that Trump supporters are immune to the charges of Trump being Putin's lapdog.
During the election, I read where something like 75% of Clinton ads attacked Trump. Less than 10% on jobs/economy/trade. It didn't work. It seems like the democrats are making this issue number 1, and will continue to do so up to 2018.
I figure the Putin charges will not win over anybody in 2018 as the threat is all abstraction. There is no Twin Towers falling down--families with soldiers in Iraq, etc. It is about Lithuanians and Latvians whose countries could not be located on the map by the overwhelming majority of Americans. And as in this election, the democrats as with Hillary will not present any vision of a better life or way forward. In fact, I expect the 2018 crop of dem challenges to be neo-liberals through and through.
Wait!
There's countries named Lithuania and Latvia?
Orwell: Where's the omelette?
Let's not forget that Assange was smeared as pedophile,
Anyone heard lately from the bogus Todd & Clare online dating service?
And no one goes to jail for that
If the crimes are committed in the name of the empire, they aren't crimes, apparently.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
It's What Nixon Told David Frost
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
My review of the document
Here is my book report.
Last corporation I worked for had mandatory security training on how to avoid being compromised like teaching how phisting works and how to avoid it.
1. The first few pages of the report go into explaining how the hack worked. But does not present evidence it was Russian security groups. The explanation is what I would expect from a community college course for people learning about IT secruity to get for an Associates. The pages seems to fortify a syllogism used by various private security firms:
Podesta was a victim of phishing.
Russian intelligence uses phising.
Therefore, Russian intelligence used phishing on Podesta.
Explaining how phishing works is not proof.
2. The table called "Reported Russian Military and Civilian Intelligence Services (RIS)"
list a bunches of cover groups but never provides any evidence linking them back to who did the hack. The table is literally placed in the document with no context around it. It seems to be using some sort of guilt by association. Providing a list of known fronts, does not by itself prove anything.
3. Under section called "Technical Details" there is a reference to two files. But nothing more in terms of what a reader should gather from looking at the files. There is listing of IP addresses but again, no evidence any of them involved with the phishing or anything else.
4. Have no idea what the PHP script is supposed to be showing. It is looking for some file names? Again absolutely no context.
5. The remaining 7 pages (over half of the document) looks like a memo on how to prevent hackers from breaking into a network and is general in nature. Nothing from what I can tell, that proves Russians broke into anybody's systems. Looks like something from a one day seminar for people not overly familiar with details of IT security how they can mitigate or prevent hacking. Again giving a corporate presentation on hacking prevention in no way proves Russian involvement.
Is this really the proof Obama spoke about? He claimed also voter databases were hacked. No mention of that. Is that a later report? At this point, a nothing burger is an apt description.
So to use an analogy when I speak to people about the contents I use the following analogy which sums up at least for me, the logic of the paper.
I checked on the headlines on TOP. Nobody is touching this file for now. From what I can tell, they have enough front pagers and diarists with no intellectual integrity to pimp it as proof at some point.
I checked Glenn Greenwald's twitter, he also states no proof given from his read. Just assertions no proof.
It is apparent to me that the CIA has absolutely no proof that the Russians whether under the personal direction of Putin or not, did the break-in. It will all be Kabuki in Congress now around the lack of proof.
My speculation is that Obama is not finished taking actions against Russia and will take more actions to put the us and Russia on as much as possible on a war footing before he leaves.
The report is laughable--however, it will be used to justify some very bad actions on the part of Obama.
From what I can tell
The report:
1) we found Russian IP addresses in the hack
2) So it must have been the Kremlin, because no one else in Russia hacks
As I understand, can those IP addresses be spoofed?
From what I have seen of graphics showing cyber attacks, every kind of institution is being targeted by automated probes.
But then again, give the evil powers possessed by Russian hackers, wouldn't leaving an IP address back to you be considers, well stupid?
Yes.
A server will advertise itself as whatever IP address it's told to. The spoof IP may or may not succeed in connecting to the Internet but there's nothing that inherently prevents spoof IPs. Most hackers, though, use proxy servers to hide their activity.
Thanks for the info.
Technically, there is no hack of the DNC servers.
Even if you want to call the social engineering of Podesta et al — "hacks" — when they sent their passwords to a "stranger on the Internet" — there is no code on their computers to examine.
Their password(s) were used by "strangers" to enter the DNC servers. They entered alongside all other official users. "Strangers" came and went, for at least six months to a year. Even after the DNC was warned, they had made no change their security for at least four months.
So, what "hacks" are the investigators looking at?
The only pertinent record that might exist is the log of password usage; each entry marks the time, username, IP address, and success or failure. Generally, these logs roll over every so often, but they can be automatically stored on the server. Looking at these logs is not looking at code. Any clerk can check the IPs on the log manually. If the investigators did that, then they found IP addresses from all over Europe and Eastern Europe, as well as the US. The DNA exploit was shared on the Internet since at least May 2016 that I saw, and presumably the hacknotariat knew about it long before that. Guccifer 2 blogged about it at the beginning of last summer.
I think it is fair to ask the Federal Government to produce those IP addresses. I'd like to resolve them myself and see where they originated. That way we can all be on the same page. Then, we'll talk about proof."
The bullshit sanctions Obama handed down last night are a shame he will carry to his grave.
Putin's response: "Let's move on."
Trump's response: "Let's move on."
Obama just got schooled by Putin.
What a putz.
All this to deflect blame for Trump's election from Brand Clinton, when reality sets in sometime in 2017.
They must be hot and bothered at Dem Central.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
It also gives them a better excuse to protect us from RT news.
Too many people have been listening to evil international news sources. If the Russkies are evil hackers who are attacking the utilities in Vermont the PTB have a 'justification' for shutting down any information we get from Russia or Russian sympathizers.
That's exactly where this is going,
and why.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
Yes, seems stopping opposing views as well as dissent
from the left is popular with both Dumpsters and Trumpsters
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Phisting?
Was that a typo or did you get different training than I did?
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.
Whoops!!!!
Freudian Slip no doubt n/t
Trump does have small hands...
" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "
There's a write up over at ArsTechnica worth a read:
http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/12/did-russia-tamper-with-the-2016-...
Compensated Spokes Model for Big Poor.
USA Intelligent Agencies are Clowns.
LOL, I can change the server of my $5 a month VPN to show my IP as being from just about anywhere. Shall I post from Romania? Torrent from Iceland? Done! Dark web here I come.
And really, do I have to look and see if my free minimalist anti-virus has phising protection?
The USA Intelligence Services are the laughing stock of the world. (Guess I should make sure y drone jammer is working).
From the Light House.
Yup! Anybody coulda done it...
I posted a comment in Dark Knight's essay with a very good nonpartisan analysis. http://caucus99percent.com/content/russian-code
Here is a link to my comment: http://caucus99percent.com/comment/228510#comment-228510
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."
~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,
But Fake News!
But Berniebros! But Racists!
Smoke and mirrors....
This is a giant psy-op.
McCain and Lindsey Graham, two ultimate traitors, are in the lead. It's all part of the larger game.
This shit works, people believe it. It's a reality show and they believe it.
When do we get pissed at people believing the bullshit?
Heh
I'm sure someday we'll all look back and laugh.
Then quickly change the subject.
Right now, the cluelessness of Americans is an international sensation. Better they think Americans are uninformed, misinformed, and clueless... rather then think the US is nation of sociopaths.
Yeah those damn Americans never oppose anything
they are singularly sociopathic.
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
To me
it looks like a buildup to putting a massive control system in place on all who use any type of communication. I believe it's already in place waiting for the green light
The first step will be to get all providers to open their accounts to government oversight. Some already are and with a little tweaking, as in getting lawmakers on board with a fancy new security threat, that will be accomplished. They're basically opening a can of worms and finding themselves inside.
Next, they make it illegal to encrypt (with the exception of banks, the military, government entities and whoever the hell else they deem important) all devices capable of communication by way of the internet or phone systems.
Do you think I'm paranoid? Look at what's happened in just the last 15 years. Orwell would be shocked.
The real pisser is, that those on the outside of the government have already developed ways around anything they can do.
The box of Pandora can never be shut.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
You can see it all coming together, a coordinated effort,
both parties and the media. The "fake news", Russia hacking the election, McCain is now calling for a hearing on cyber attacks. It's obviously all for show, for political purposes, not to actually address a threat.
And an upcoming Internet Censorship scheme? n/t
Mr. Obama leaves behind new jobs opportunities !!!!!
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
So, in other words, it's just more domestic consumption BS...
Sure to be spread, manure-like, across the land by willing 'news entities' such as the NYT.
(Edited)
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
The question is,
Are Americans credulous enough to mistake this official-sounding balderdash for solid evidence? Given enough constant repetition by corporate media, they just might be. Seems like the only thing standing in the way of a generalized Russophobia campaign is the singular personage of Donald Trump. Will he be able to effectively counter it? And if so, how?
native
How is a good question.
The bs has been piled so high, I don't know how Trump could change it even if he wanted to. He might be getting a taste of how controlled his own environment is going to be.
Very true.
He does however, seem to be a man possessed of formidable persuasive skills, and a very stubborn streak.. I foresee a possible battle royal looming ahead.
native
Yeah, and how weird is that?
Seems like the only thing standing in the way of a generalized Russophobia campaign is the singular personage of Donald Trump.
Hard to believe we have to depend on TRUMP!
Everybody knows the Russian
connection is horse$h!t except 85% of the 99%. And if you're "the government" or "the media" 85% is all you need. Plenty, even.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
That is thee question. Our Powell at UN moment
Is the evidence there enough to justify aggressive, even war-like action against Russia. The answer should be clearly no. But then again, Powell got away with a cartoon presentation and alter American history.
Yes, They Are
Goebbels proved it in the 1930s. People have refused to get any more intelligent than those of that time.
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
Even Trump's minions of deplorables?
So far at least, they proven to be less persuadable than the Establishment would like.
native
Need credible institutions for facts to have traction
They don't seem to be concerned about credibility of institutions
This is serious but they don't realize the consequences of what they are doing
Not new -- look at what was done to "justify" invasion of Iraq
Can we even trust the institution of science which is necessary to track climate change?
The establishment lost in this election so it looks like they are trying to scare people into supporting them
Given the circumstances
I've started re-thinking quite a few things, including Climate Change. Or the politics of climate change and global warming.
The Elite like the throwaway people to believe in climate change — it makes it so much easier to crush them with austerity and flood their cities with migrants. The reduction in the quality of their lives can easily be blamed on climate change and China rather than their greedy quest for Empire through forced globalization.
I used to buy into the "scientific" reasons the historic temperatures were fudged a few years ago.
Now I look at the original numbers, and wonder if they make more sense.
Cui bono?
?
A thought experiment.
It's hard to maintain for long because the bunk science is so clear at the edges. Plus, that world is filled with crackpots. I simply wanted to know what it feels like when confronted with a reality that is the opposite of what I believe. So many have had that experience this year.
On the other hand, it's almost impossible to be too cynical, these days. Everything needs to be re-tested.
You post this at TOP?
I was just curious of their reaction to this "report" but saw nothing on rec list there or the front page.
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
Hell Steven,
he just got his privileges back this afternoon.
I'm sure someone is busy deleting more stuff before risking another go sit in the corner episode.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
I hope gjohnsit waits until I can buy stock in Prozac.
Total derangement has taken over. They want war.
I'm still on TO
This will probably have to wait for next week.
LOL That should seal the deal...
I am close to losing my "Trusted User" status at The Orange Stain...
Finally one "Hidden Comment" too many I guess...
My "Trusted User" badge disappeared last night but it is back today...
Here is the comment I made asking why voter suppression and voting fraud was important now if it was okay when it was used for a "Just Cause" getting $hillary her anointed one the nomination in the spring by numerous users at Dkos in the comments then...
So I got the notification that I have clicked so often lately for being the 1st Class Special Snowflake...
Why is it the IDGAF?
And why should I care that Tom Perez (if elected) will appoint a special director at the DNC to fight voter suppression.
It certainly wasn't important to the Hillbots at The Orange Stain in the spring when:
Yea... I care about voter suppression and election fraud...
I care about it all the time in primary or general elections...
Why should I care when someone who committed voter suppression and election fraud suddenly cares about it because their anointed candidate lost...
IDGAF about your cause, it's fake...
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."
~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,
That may not be possible
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it looks like you've been banned over at DK, so unless you know something I don't, you won't be able to post it under your old name.
This is getting ridiculous. Jay Farquharson got banned too, right after the election.
I can still log in on TOP
Can you be banned and still log in?
I don't know
I don't know either
It's rather peculiar. When I look up your account, your mojo indicator shows you as banned. *shrugs* It's a mystery.
Frightening
So many Democrats quickly want war, even those of the place with 30 different acronyms (kos). John Podesta fell for a scam, well better go to war with Russia....cause our leader lost.
Oh well, they say, not like I'M the one to go to war.... Pfft, that is for the poor people. Nope, sit in my penthouse well I turn on the news. Innocent civilians dying? Well, that's Putin's fault too.
I have tried, somewhat
I have tried, somewhat halfheartedly, to talk people at DK out of their seemingly irrational hatred of Russia and Putin. I haven't had any success. I am probably too soft and not a sharp enough orator to persuade people who are already convinced. I admit of the possibility that I may be wrong about Russia, though I maintain that I am pretty confident that Russia had little or nothing to do with this and that Putin is not even half the inhuman monster that many make him out to be.
I might take another whack at convincing people over there, starting with a diary asking them to explain to me their reasons for hating Putin. Then I will go through all of those reasons and poke holes in them. For instance, that Russian journalist who was critical of Putin and who so many Americans are convinced that Putin had killed? Her own editor (who still honors her memory) doesn't believe that Putin was responsible, and neither does her family.
There was an article the other day in my local paper (probably picked up from the New York Times or the Washington Post; they do that a lot) about Russian efforts to recruit hackers. One of their main sources was a private sector guy who was allegedly scouted by someone from Russian intelligence. He says he didn't take the job, and because he was paranoid of what might happen to him for refusing, he fled to Finland.
This calls to mind another of Putin's alleged assassination victims. This alleged victim fled Russia because he had pissed off a lot of people there and gotten fired from his job in one of the security services. He was later poisoned by someone -- we don't know who. At the time of his death, this guy was working for British intelligence, Spanish intelligence, and a number of Russian oligarchs living in England, so there were a lot of people who might have had a reason to want him dead. Some people say that Putin had him killed because he was talking to the press about KGB/FSB secrets, but there are lots of ex-KGB defectors living in the West who talk to the press all the time, and they're all still alive. In comparison to those guys, this guy was a nobody; he first applied to the US for asylum, but was rejected because our government concluded that he didn't have any information of value. The claim that Putin was responsible for his death was largely stirred up by an exiled Russian oligarch who was a patron of his, and who had a very loose relationship with the truth; in a court opinion, a British judge said of this oligarch that he was a chronic and incorrigible liar.
It just bothers me that so many people are so convinced that Russia is this evil, monstrous place, and that Putin is the Chief Evil Monster.
There is no convincing them
they are blind and deaf, and willfully so. Knock yourself out, but don't expect results, just do it for laughs, or your own sense of satisfaction.
Know that GOS isn't the real world though, and those Putin memes aren't getting half as much currency in meat-space as they are in GOS. That site is firmly in the pocket of the fat-cat donors, and if Haim or George says "jump", Markos will do it like the trained poodle he is. His site is becoming less relevant day by day.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
Incompetent
or fools. I don't buy the mistakes line, these people have been using email since its inception.
YOUR ACCOUNT HAS BEEN COMPROMISED
In the end...
Pathetic.
Progressive to the bone.
Moon of Alabama has a great post on Putin's response
Here's Obama's response:
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
Obama has a sad.....
"Eight years, and all I have is a "I'm with Her" t-shirt?"
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
Was it that easy to get into Hillary's private server?
Surely the Russians were more interested in that than the DNC server.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Almost certainly
The IT ineptitude of the Democratic Party leadership and their lackeys defies belief. These idiots have probably fallen for the Nigerian scam. The spearfishing attack that they fell for was so elementary that there elementary school kids would not have been fooled.
The Podesta "hack" was a spear phishing operation
The DNC was a true hack of passwords. The Clinton bathroom email server release was from a FOI request to the State Department.
But, no matter the source, everything showed Hillary and her Machine in an extremely very poor light. To be honest, I believe she would have lost w/o DNC and Podesta releases. Once Bernie was out of the running, it turned into a race of who had the less baggage and who stank the least. Hillary's podium wasn't high enough for her to be seen above her 2-3 decades of baggage. Trump's pussy grabbing is not necessarily a bad thing for his crowd. He probably gained more than he lost from it.
And the rest is history!
Emails from Hillary's private server were released from a FOI
request to the State Department and published by WikiLeaks
If you look at Hillary's favorability ratings, they tanked prior to and during the Spring of 2016. The reality is that she was already losing to Trump before the DNC or Podesta leaks were published. Those leaks only showed how and why she was headed for the sewer.
The reality is that Hillary (and DKos) are desperate to blame her shit on outside forces. The Russians or other 'outside' have always been useful tools to blame Americas many fuck-ups on.
The truth is that Hillary Clinton was a badly tainted product that had far exceeded its use-by date. The DNC and Democratic Party can do nothing but sink further into the sewer until this fact is recognized.
Except for the Deleted E-mails...
Which of course is a violation of law in itself...
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."
~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,
Does all this Russia crap boil down to the fact that
Snowden is still in Russia out of the reach of US officials? I've been wondering.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
Nope
Snowden is an annoyance to Obama and the intelligence agencies. The overall demonization of Russia has to do with the fact that the MIC needs a credible enemy to justify the purchase by the US military of weapons systems that are of no use against IS or El Qaeda.
It absolutely has everything to do with Snowden.
The timeline is precise. It was US actions that put Snowden in Russia. The State Department and DOJ revoked his passport just before he landed in Moscow, making it impossible for him to change planes for Cuba. After a month stranded in the airport, Snowden finally applied to Russia for asylum and Russia gave him a year. Putin did not extradite Snowden back to the US. The two countries do not have an extradition treaty.
That's when the US completely flipped out and yanked the Bolivian President out of the sky over Europe (with the help of the EU Vassal States) and searched his plane. President Morales was his way home from an oil and gas conference in Moscow. It's been one long tantrum ever since, continuing with NATOs push into Ukraine. That lead to sanctions against Russia….
The unintended consequences have been copious ever since.
Maybe part of it, but certainly not all of it
It is the opinion of Stephen Cohen, a Russian Studies expert of some note who is a professor emeritus at both Princeton and NYU, that the US government's relations with Russia since 1991 boil down to one of two possibilities: either the US government felt that they had won the Cold War, and could treat Russia as though they had conquered it, or the US government felt that the Cold War had never ended, and that it would not end until the Russian menace was crushed completely.
As far as practical effects go, starting in the Clinton administration the US government started treating Russia terribly. The US supported Yeltsin because he could usually be relied on to do what he was told. Yeltsin's approval ratings were down in the single digits when he ran for reelection in 1996. He was greatly assisted in his reelection campaign by American advisors, and it is entirely possible that Yeltsin, with the help of said advisors and possibly the US government itself, rigged the election so that he won. HBO made a movie about it in 2003 called "Spinning Boris."
Something some of the Russia haters love to bring up is how Putin is singlehandedly responsible for destroying Russian democracy. They think that things were so much better when Gorbachev and Yeltsin were in charge. Gorbachev was a good man, probably too good for politics, and it is he who deserves the credit for the brief spring of democracy in Russia. However, it is not Vladimir Putin who is responsible for destroying Russian democracy; credit for that must go to Yeltsin, who apart from rigging the 1996 election and letting the oligarchs creep into power and set up a kleptocracy, holds the unenviable distinction of having sent in tanks to shell his own parliament after parliament impeached him for trying to dissolve parliament (something Yeltsin did not have the authority to do). By the time he left office, Yeltsin had presided over a period in which Russia had been hammered into the ground; Stephen Cohen maintains that Yeltsin didn't resign so much as he was forced out.
Now, it must be said that Putin continued the trend of centralization of power in Russia back towards the Kremlin (the diffusion of power had been effected by Gorbachev at the end of the Soviet era). But Putin wasn't the one who started that trend; Yeltsin was the one who started it. Putin only continued it. Putin can certainly be criticized for continuing that trend, but we shouldn't act as though Russia was on the path towards democracy before Putin became president, because it wasn't. In fact, at the time, Russians everywhere were very concerned that Russia seemed to be on the verge of disintegration.
The thing that is necessary to understand Putin is that at the time he became president, the Russian state had collapsed twice in the twentieth century, first in 1917 and again in 1991. The Russians actually have a word for this; it is loosely translated as "time of troubles," but that drastically understates its connotations, which are poverty, deprivation, loss of sovereignty, and foreign invasion. Putin has publicly said many times that he sees his historical role as restoring Russian stability and prosperity, and to ensure that such a collapse, such a time of troubles, never comes again.
There are lots of legitimate grievances that Russia has against the United States, dating back years. The withdrawal from the ABM Treaty, the continued expansion of NATO, siding with Georgia in the Georgian War (which was started by Georgia, as best as anyone can figure out), and supporting the ultranationalists in Ukraine during the EuroMaidan and the Ukraine Crisis are the biggest ones.
Many takes on this none are good
First principles: The easy way is the best way. The easiest way to compromise a system is still to trick someone into giving you access. Bored teens to the NSA knows that. Before you beat a door down with a hammer check to see it it's unlocked. The DNC is a large organization with many higher up leaders of an age to be barely function in a computer literate age.
Trump is a perfect example. I suspect Tweets are about the top of Trumps abilities which is why its what he uses. Thumb out 140 characters and hit enter. The opportunities for exploiting incompetence at the DNC abound no matter who did it.
Redaction: The government very seldom releases everything it knows has been many times accused of withholding information even from congress. How many false convictions have happened because a persecutor didn't turn over all the evidence.
Scapegoating: It's a good thought. Gotta blame somebody otherwise you have to accept that you fucked up and fix things. However they began blaming the Russians before the election when everybody, even Trump it seems, still thought it was in the bag for HRC.
WTF happened with blaming Comey? It seems to me that he did a bigger hit than the Russians ever did?
Meanwhile openly blaming the Russians is a de facto admission that our election system is compromised and gives enormous street cred to the Russians in the rest of the world. I expected that if Obama did take action it would be some discreet hit like say have the NSA hack the Russian banking system and fuck with the numbers or some sort of hack on their military command and control. Some bolt of lighting thing like the malware that shut down the Iraqi nuclear centrifuges.
As I've said before, there are always a chain of causes behind every catastrophic meltdown. Which basically says there is more than enough shit to spread around. At best the whole Russian thing is a head fake and at worst it just complicates the whole Trump and Russian involvement.
It is however a reminder that the right wing is not the only offender in fake news department and we can't trust the D's just from confirmation bias.
This document is sooo odd
I think there is something subtle going on. I think FBI and HS agents were charged with coming up with proof and there was none. To satisfy their bosses they came up with this, which is more or less truthful, but upon closer inspection is completely lacking in proof. Its a way of saying "our bosses say we have to prove that the Russians were responsible so we are going to say they were, but we don't really have a damned bit of evidence."
Obama's going to end up looking like a complete jackass as soon
as it becomes common knowledge that this document is basically worthless, especially if Putin knows the hacked emails were NOT released by Russia as WikiLeaks says.
Obama will leave office with a "slam dunk" on HIS record. Serve him right. He's proved he is not much of a statesman.
What Obama Has Proven
That he's determined to prove to the Republicans that he could have been one of them if they had let him.
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
Here we go again. The WaPo up to its old tricks
Just in time to fester for the weekend.
Leahy aparently forgets that Congress is regularly lied to
by our own intelligence services. It's not just the commoners that are being duped on a regular basis.
Either that or he is aware of the disinformation but is going along with it for other reasons. Stupid he is not.
“ …and when we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine,and understand who God is, and what our own potential is and duties are as human beings.- RFK jr. 8/26/2024
Russian code (cough) found on VT utility laptop
Heard it twice on NPR this morning (I love Car Talk and Paula Pondstone on Wait, Wait!), and rolled my eyes both times. Here we go again.
A lot was written into a 1 paragraph release...
The Drums Of War are beating...
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."
~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,
Who put it there? False Flag?
The CIA loves to pull this crap.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Who Knows Who Put It There...
It could have been anybody coming in through a VPN or TOR...
A teenage Script Kiddie in Tulsa or Moscow...
A government entity in Washington or Moscow...
Some Hacker finding random computers looking for financial information...
It's not like the malware wasn't distributed everywhere for years...
It could be anybody!
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."
~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,
It could be anybody, indeed!
Yet our government insists it was so sophisticated that it had to be the Russians. Leftie blogs scream out the same thing.
No one is looking at the real lessons of the election and trying to reform the (D) party to actually serve the people once again. Maybe it's been so long that they have forgotten that they are supposed to serve the voters and not the other way around.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Stupid is as stupid does. Looks like another circle jerk between
the press, the elected gov'ment and the basement crazies that Obama kept in the back bedrooms of the WH.
Keep in mind that most of these politicians have no idea how to even buy groceries.
It's What Media Does
Their entire purpose is to push the latest government lies on us no matter what. They are Minitrue.
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
Didn't bother to read the many comments,
where I'm sure others have already said it...but, it sounds like someone doing exactly what happens online every single day ...by businesses and individuals right here in the USA... to quote Monte Python "spam, spam , spam spam". Look at what all your favorite websites do...donate, or sign a petition, and bam!! you have suddenly agreed to receive bullshit from eighty different associated groups...and then when you unsubscribe from them, your email is simply sold to another web of info/identity theft, some malicious, some not so much