We will be very surprised if this editorial, from lawyer Irina Tsukerman, does not cause kerfuffles a-plenty. Not every whistleblower is a whistleblower, and not every action which inconveniences those in power is worthy of worship. Pull up a chair, put down your preconceptions, and give it a read. We’ll be even more surprised if it doesn’t give you something troubling and important to think about in the long term.
Originally posted December 18 on Facebook.
Eye Spy
I spent the past several years posting about spies. Mostly Soviet/Russian spies.
Now people have discovered that there are spies.
Spies that do all sorts of fun things. Which include creating chaos and trying to destabiize democratic processes in whatever ways they can.
And guess what, there aren’t just Russian spies, but Chinese spies, Pakistani spies, Turkish spies, and Iranian spies, and they are everywhere and you can only see them when they want to be seen, unless they occasionally screw up and get caught.
Wake up, and smell the coffee. When you redefine “whistleblowers” to include people who dump sensitive security information, including operations by close allies, your culture becomes a free-for-all, where foreign intelligence networks have a blast, while you walk into one trap after another.
This is the culture that we have been living in for the past 8 years, not that we haven’t had major security issues that were never properly addressed.
It’s that culture of complete ignorance and disregard for major security issues that have allowed someone like Hillary Clinton to become a nominee for presidency, and who allowed Huma Abedin by her side all these years.
It’s that culture that failed to properly vet Donald Trump’s business connections and close aides for conflicts of interests.
It’s that culture that has allowed all sides in this truly despicable election cycle to fall for Russian trolls, disinformation, and to become the pawns of the forces of chaos as they tore each other to pieces on the Interwebs instead of questioning everything they read and saw, and trying to bridge differences instead of alienating each other.
Don’t pretend that all of this is new. It’s not. This Game has been going on for quite a while, and if you wanted to know and see, you’ve had every opportunity to do so.
Categories: Anarchy, Attack, Conspiracy, Counterterrorism, Cyber, Leakers, Leaks, Opinion, Politics, Pwnd, Spies
The Cryptosphere 
Lorraine—thanks for the great up-to-date discussion about the real-world intelligence operations and their implications. Your host is quite astute to mention that all of these things happening like this mean that GRU, FSB, SVR are throwing a party and taking their kids to Baskin Robbins. It’s time that America, and the free world on the whole, cumulatively wake up to the looming red disaster in the distance and stand up to the Soviet Bear once more! Cold War 2 is rising, comrades, and this time we actually have the chance to make it to the moon before the damn commies!
LikeLike
Waitaminit, I’m a damn commie! And Putin is the farthest thing from an anti-capitalist! Let’s not waste our time fighting ghosts, but look clear-eyed at the opponents we do face.
I forget who it was, but someone very smart pointed out that everything they’ve done in the US they are now doing in Germany to sway the elections. It’s now a proven toolkit.
LikeLike
I would categorize Putin as a generally nationalist anti-Western kleptocrat. I don’t know that he has a specific economic planning aspect to his ideology more so than a general goal of international domination. That said, he used the same toolkit that Communist ideologues have used successfully for decades.
LikeLike
Uh . . who won the popular vote . . I think it was . . hacked?
The Electoral College did not ‘defect’, so . . Russians hacked the Constitution?
And holding a grudge against the other greatest nuclear power in the world is a good idea . . why?
LikeLike
Spies from Russia, China, Paskistan, Iran, Turkey, but of course not from US. There aren’t US spies creating chaos and trying to destabilize democratic processes in whatever ways they can. Overthrow of Chilean democracy, Allende’s murder and Pinochet’s cruel US-friendly dictatorship never happened. Chelsea Manning was a spy, not a whistleblower. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength (George Orwell – 1984).
LikeLike