Russian hackers are the greatest threat to our once great democracy. Or so we've been told. It's the primary reason behind the economic sanctions, our foreign policy, and Democratic konspiracy theories.
Since it is supposedly this important, and this hard to defend against, a collective, international effort is called for.
Europe, especially the Baltic states, are terrified of Russian aggression.
Or so we've been told.
Today Latvia had an election.
I don't know about you, but I think that threats of global nuclear annihilation are generally a bad idea.
This is crazy talk.
Remember Crowdstrike? It's the company that single-handedly thwarted Putin's hacker invasion, or something like that.
They've been on a winning streak.
Tuesday's Russian/Syrian/Israeli/French fracas drove home to me how absolutely powerless I am in the face of events. Of course I know that I have no control over what various militaries do half a world away. But, this event emphasized that I have absolutely no idea what just happened (and therefore I have no ability to protest).
Tensions are rising fast in the northern Black Sea and the U.S. has taken sides.
You had to know that this was coming.
All the way back in 2013, Wikileaks had been "Infiltrated by Russian Spies," donchaknow.
There were also other suspicious goin'ons.
On Wednesday at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in the Russian city of Vladivostok, during a panel event with Japan's Shinzo Abe and China's Xi Jinping the international audience was very surprised when President Vladimir Putin suddenly shared the latest developments in the Skripal poisoning case. "We know who they are, we have found them," Putin told the startled audience, referring to the two men named by UK authorities as suspects.
"They are civilians, of course," he added with a bemused look, explaining that they are not quite the notorious criminals the British politicians were hoping for. He then looked directly into the camera saying, "I want to address them [the suspects]... [I hope] they contact the media. I hope they appear and tell everything about themselves."
Back in 2017, the U.S. and our allies imposed "sanctions against entities supporting or investing in Russia's oil and gas pipeline networks."
The sanctions were intended to delay and hamper Russia's ability to develop various energy projects.
With that in mind, let's look at headlines from just this week.
