German investigation reveals the so-called “Cyber Caliphate” can be a Russian invention

The Islamic State is not yet capable of launching complex computer attacks, and the so-called “Cyber Caliphate” could be a project of the Kremlin hackers. This is the opinion by German security experts.

According to the information obtained by Der Spiegel, German security authorities concluded that the Iraqi-Syrian terrorist group not yet in a position to perform complex espionage or sabotage attacks on the network. The suspicions that Russian cyber attackers may be behind arose back in spring 2015, when the alleged IS hackers French blocked TV5 Monde channel and used its website to issue threats.

Read also Russian FSB behind cyberattacks on MH17 investigators in 2015 – German Intelligence

In the light of new findings, experts say that the “Cyber Caliphate” attacks on the Central Command of the U.S. Armed Forces in early 2015, and on the Saudi security agencies in the beginning of 2016 could also have taken place on Moscow’s order.

According to Der Spiegel, German security agencies believe that Russia’s FSB, GRU and SVR secret services currently employ over 4,000 cyber agents.

Read also Kremlin behind cyber-attacks on German parliament – security firm

U.S. have approximately the same number of cybersecurity staff, and plans to raise their number up to 6,000 specialists by 2018.

Source: http://uatoday.tv/politics/russia-possibly-behind-isis-hacker-attacks-675272.html

Friday, July 15, 2016 11:27:34 AM

On Thursday, at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in Geneva, the U.S. Representative to the OSCE, Ambassador Daniel Baer, referred to the Russian actions that instigate the continued conflict in eastern Ukraine in recent days as obstructionism, incitement, and hypocrisy, Ukrinform reports.

“Over the past week, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have suffered the heaviest losses since the signing of the ceasefire agreement in September 2015,” the representative of the United States said.

He stressed that the number victims is so high because joint Russian-separatist forces frequently use heavy weapons, including mortars, artillery, and Grad multiple rocket launchers.

“Obstructionism and the intentional turmoil by Russia cast doubt on its commitment to a peaceful settlement of the conflict. During the previous meeting of the Permanent Council, where Ukraine, the EU, Canada, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United States stressed the need for mutual withdrawal of the military forces, Russia again repeated its inciting and hypocritical rhetoric,” Baer said.

He called on the Russian Federation to withdraw its troops and uphold its obligations to restore the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine. “Russia and the separatists, which it supports, must immediately take concrete steps to reduce the tension and withdraw troops along the line of contact,” the U.S. Representative to the OSCE said.

Previously it was reported that an OSCE Special Monitoring Mission drone in the occupied Donetsk recorded the presence of three 2S1 Gvozdika 122 mm self-propelled howitzers.

Observers also recorded the presence of a multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS BM-21 Grad, 122 mm) and 23 tanks (T-72).

Sourcde: http://uawire.org/news/us-representative-in-the-osce-accused-russia-of-hypocrisy

Devlin Barrett and Jay Greene
Updated July 15, 2016 8:00 p.m. ET

The Obama administration is working on a series of agreements with foreign governments that would allow them for the first time to serve U.S. technology companies with warrants for email searches and wiretaps—a move that is already stirring debates over privacy, security, crime and terrorism.

Brad Wiegmann, a senior official at the Justice Department, discussed the administration’s efforts during a public forum on Friday at a congressional office building in Washington, D.C. The first such agreement is being assembled with the U.K., he said.

Word of the plans came one day after a federal appeals court ruled that federal warrants couldn’t be used to search data held overseas by Microsoft Corp. MSFT -0.07 % , dealing the agency a major legal defeat.

The court’s decision in favor of Microsoft could prove to be a major barrier to the Obama administration’s proposed new rules to share data with other nations in criminal and terrorism probes, which would be sharply at odds with the ruling. It might lead some companies to reconfigure their networks to route customer data away from the U.S., putting it out of the reach of federal investigators if the administration’s plan fails.

The Justice Department has indicated it is considering appealing the Microsoft ruling to the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, Justice Department officials are pressing ahead with their own plan for cross-border data searches.

Under the proposed agreements described by Mr. Wiegmann, foreign investigators would be able to serve a warrant directly on a U.S. firm to see a suspect’s stored emails or intercept their messages in real time, as long as the surveillance didn’t involve U.S. citizens or residents.

Such deals would also give U.S. investigators reciprocal authority to search data in other countries.

“They wouldn’t be going to the U.S. government, they’d be going directly to the providers,’’ said Mr. Wiegmann. Any such arrangement would require that Congress pass new legislation, and lawmakers have been slow to update electronic privacy laws.

That U.K. agreement, which must be approved by the legislatures of both countries, could become a template for similar deals with other countries, U.S. officials said.

Mr. Wiegmann said the U.S. would strike such deals only with nations that have clear civil liberties protections to ensure that the search orders aren’t abused.

“These agreements will not be for everyone. There will be countries that don’t meet the standards,’’ he said.

Greg Nojeim, a privacy advocate at the Center for Democracy and Technology, criticized the plan. He said it would be “swapping out the U.S. law for foreign law’’ and argued that U.K. search warrants have less stringent judicial protections than U.S. law.

British diplomat Kevin Adams disputed that, saying the proposal calls for careful judicial scrutiny of such warrants. Privacy concerns over creating new legal authorities are overblown, he added.

“What is really unprecedented is that law enforcement is not able to access the data they need,’’ Mr. Adams said. The ability to monitor a suspect’s communications in real time “is really an absolutely vital tool to protect the public.’’

While Thursday’s court decision represented a victory for Microsoft, which strives to keep data physically near its customers, it may not be viewed as a positive development for all internet companies, said University of Kentucky law professor Andrew Woods. Yahoo Inc., YHOO -0.63 % Facebook Inc. FB -0.37 % and Alphabet Inc. GOOGL -0.02 % ’s Google operate more centralized systems. They didn’t file briefs in support of Microsoft’s position in the case, he noted.

Mr. Woods warned that increased localization of data could have the unintended consequence of encouraging governments to become more intrusive.

“If you erect barriers needlessly to states getting data in which they have a legitimate interest, you make this problem worse,’’ he said. “You increase the pressure that states feel to introduce backdoors into encryption.”

Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith said the company shares concerns about the “unintended consequences” of excessive data localization requirements.

“But rather than worry about the problem, we should simply solve it” through legislation, Mr. Smith said. Microsoft supports the proposed International Communications Privacy Act. That legislation would, among other provisions, create a framework for law enforcement to obtain data from U.S. citizens, regardless of where the person or data was located.

Companies and governments generally agree that the current legal framework for cross-border data searches is far too slow and cumbersome. Though major tech firms don’t always agree on the particular changes they would like to see, the industry has long sought to get clearer rules from the U.S. and other governments about what their legal obligations are.

A coalition of the country’s largest tech companies, including Microsoft, Facebook and Google, created a group called Reform Government Surveillance that is pushing for updating data-protection laws. The group has said it was “encouraged by discussions between the U.S. and the U.K.”

Thursday’s ruling could lead some Microsoft rivals that offer email, document storage, and other data storage services, but which haven’t designed systems to store data locally, to alter their networks, said Michael Overly, a technology lawyer at Foley & Lardner in Los Angeles.

Google, for example, stores user data across data centers around the world, with attention on efficiency and security rather than where the data is physically stored. A given email message, for instance, may be stored in several data centers far from the user’s location, and an attachment to the message could be stored in several other data centers. The locations of the message, the attachment and copies of the files may change from day to day.

“[Internet companies] themselves can’t tell where the data is minute from minute because it’s moving dynamically,” Mr. Overly said.

The ruling could encourage tech companies to redesign their systems so that the data, as it courses through networks, never hits America servers.

A person familiar with Google’s networks said that such a move wouldn’t be easy for the company.

—Jack Nicas contributed to this article.

Write to Devlin Barrett at devlin.barrett@wsj.com and Jay Greene atJay.Greene@wsj.com

Source: http://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-administration-negotiating-international-data-sharing-agreements-1468619305

This report was just released: Committee Releases Interim Report on FDIC Cybersecurity

This does not look good.

</end editorial> ht to vv

FDIC waited until after chairman was installed to reveal IT security horror, it is claimed

Shaun Nichols

13 Jul 2016 at 20:00

The US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation – a government agency tasked with safeguardingcitizens’ bank accounts – deliberately covered up a cyberattack by China to protect its incoming chairman.

This is according to a damning report from Republican members of the US House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, who slammed the bank insurer’s handling of its IT security breaches.

The scathing dossier claims that FDIC staffers were instructed by CIO Russ Pittman to not discuss network intrusions by “a foreign government, likely the Chinese” to avoid derailing Martin Gruenberg’s succession from vice-chairman to chairman of the agency. The corporation’s systems were attacked in 2010, 2011 and 2013.

Gruenberg had been vice-chairman of FDIC since 2005, and was upgraded to chairman in 2012. The security breaches were disclosed to US Congress in 2013. The congressional committee claimed this was just one example of the agency, under Pittman, deliberately hiding from Congress the fact that it had been hacked.

“There was a concern that if news got out about the foreign government hack, Mr Gruenberg’s confirmation to the position of chairman may be jeopardized,” the report reads.

“This is one earlier example of the current pattern by the committee of concealing information from Congress.”

Meanwhile, a former FDIC staffer was also described to Congress as “cooperative and non-adversarial” in handing over a storage device containing over 70,000 documents of personally identifiable information and bank records, when in fact the employee had hired an attorney to negotiate the return of the records with the FDIC.

Other claims made against the FDIC include accusations that the agency has not put adequate computer security defenses in place, and that the corporation has created a “toxic work environment” that discourages employees from report hacks.

“The Commission remains concerned about the FDIC’s weak cybersecurity posture and its ability to prevent further breaches,” the report reads.

“Further, the FDIC’s repeated unwillingness to be open and transparent with the Comittee’s investigation raises serious concerns about whether the agency is still attempting to shield information from production to Congress.”

The FDIC declined to comment on the report.

Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/07/13/congress_accuses_fdic_of_hiding_chinese_hack/

by USAREC Public Affairs. Posted in Featured, Gender Integration, Headliner, Soldier 2020

FORT KNOX, Ky. -The initial concept for the Female Engagement Team was to increase the number of women serving, but after the first FET engagement during the Steve Harvey Foundation Leadership Camp for boys in Atlanta, June 7-12, Brig. Gen. Donna Martin, U.S. Army Recruiting Command deputy commanding general, believes the FET may also prove helpful in recruiting young males.

While 100 boys and young men from fatherless homes were involved in educational enrichment and mentorship activities, their moms engaged with Martin and three FET members during a panel discussion.

The discussion opened up with a video showing civilian and military mothers with their children. “The whole point of that was to set the context for ‘we’re all alike,’” Martin said.

“You’re a mother and I’m a mother, so from that perspective, I wouldn’t make a recommendation for your child that I wouldn’t make for my own. Setting that context, I think, was very important.”

Much to Martin’s surprise, the women didn’t quiz FET members about their personal Army experiences as females, but rather had questions about military service in general, deployments, and sending their sons to war.

“These women were on their game, there wasn’t a question they couldn’t answer, so FET not only brings a look but an expertise in the recruiting role,” Martin said. “This first engagement proved the command has a myriad of talent on this team.”

FET member Sgt. 1st Class Margarita Ingles, Park Meadows, Colorado center leader, who talked about how she recruited one of her three sons and her husband, said most of the women had little or erroneous information about military service, the qualifications, enlistment process, and contractual obligations, but by the end of the panel discussion had become enlightened about the opportunities.

“They also indicated that they will support their sons, grandsons, brothers or any family members who considered enlistment into the Army, something they were not open to do before participating in this activity,” she said. “They were able to connect with the panel on a personal level and identify themselves with us as females, mothers and spouses, thus allowing them to feel comfortable.”

FET member and Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Medical Center Recruiter Capt. Candace Gordon has two daughters in the Army Reserve and a son who shipped to basic training last month, information she shared with the audience.

She said this first FET engagement embodied the full intent of Martin’s vision, giving her the chance to influence some of the most influential people in a young person’s life.

“Being able to answer their burning questions, concerns, and clear up misconceptions about military service, especially the Army and sharing our feelings, fears, and thoughts about our children and spouses helped to connect us to them as women in a unified bond,” Gordon said. “We were seen in the same, yet different light.”

Since this was a camp for boys, Martin wasn’t sure, initially, that she wanted to use this venue for a FET engagement, but after the positive response received from the mothers, said she has learned not to put limits on this team.

“It became apparent that establishing a good rapport and relationship with mothers was very important,” Martin said. “From what I see, I think the research would prove that females talking to mothers forms a lot more trust. I just think it’s a great tool we have … and I think it’s very effective.”

Martin encourages every brigade commander to employ their FET team at any engagement they see fit, including those targeting young men and influencers. She said a few of the women even expressed an interest in joining themselves and asked about acquiring additional information for themselves or significant others.

Photo credit: U.S. Army Pfc. Kristina Batty dons a headscarf to meet with female Afghan villagers in Afghanistan’s southern Ghazni province, May 5, 2012. Batty, a medic for a female engagement team, is assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team.

Source: http://tradocnews.org/army-female-engagement-team-proves-its-recruiting-power/

With absolutely no evidence other than one extremely vague sentence, RIA Novosti (RIA.ru) – State-operated domestic Russian-language news agency, printed a story titled “Analyst: attempt of military coup in Turkey was organized with the approval of the United States“.

This article, in turn, was highlighted by a senior Russian Foreign Ministry official, well known for promulgating absurd, bizarre, and ridiculous Russian propaganda on his Facebook page.

MOSCOW, July 16 -. RIA Novosti military coup in Turkey was organized with the consent and approval of the United States, forcing the Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s rapprochement with Russia and China, by taking measures against “Islamic state” (IG group banned in RF) in Syria, says the president of the Academy of geopolitical problems, Konstantin Sivkov.

This is supported by one weak and very vague sentence attributing US Secretary of State Kerry wanting to be informed, ensuring Turkey maintain continuity of government.  Yes, I’m left shaking my head, too.

Now I expect, in turn, Russia will want this story to be the basis for a myriad of spin-off articles, citing this story as their “proof”.  Yes, this is how Russian Active Measures work in the Open Source world.  That is, not well.

There are one or two good Active Measures efforts, this one is just a throwaway.

Not mine, I didn’t write this. This is written by a certified, anonymous expert.

I am humbled.

</end editorial>

Some excellent reading, and lots borrowed from Joel Harding’s website. [ed note: ’tis my pleasure]

How technology disrupted the truth | Katharine Viner | Media | The Guardian Social media has swallowed the news – threatening the funding of public-interest reporting and ushering in an era when everyone has their own facts. But the consequences go far beyond journalism

Kremlin Propaganda Exploiting Five American Vulnerabilities, Kirillova Says | July 13, 2016“Unfortunately,” Kirillova concludes, “Kremlin political technologists know these enumerated weaknesses of the West quite well and skillfully make use of them.” And at the same time, the US despite all its expressed concern about Russian “’active measures,’” hasn’t come up with a way of opposing such “attacks” without violating fundamental democratic principles.

Commission: Russian propaganda has deeply penetrated EU countries – To Inform is to Influence Excellent article. I disagree with the conclusion, however.  We seem to be winning the information warfare despite our best efforts not to. Based on the August 2015 Pew Report on global attitudes toward Russia, Russian only had three countries with a positive attitude towards Russia.  I, therefore, cannot jump to a conclusion without a proper…

New Generation of Digital Detectives Fight to Keep Russia Honest – To Inform is to Influence BY ELIOT HIGGINS JULY 13, 2016 Almost two years ago on July 17, 2014, a Buk missile downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in eastern Ukraine, killing 298 passengers and their crew. The Russian government pushed evidence implying that a Ukrainian plane had shot down MH17, while the Dutch Safety Board concluded that a Buk missile…

Russian Images of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 Were Altered, Report Finds – The New York Times Researchers determined that two images the Russian government released after the civilian jet crashed over eastern Ukraine in 2014 had been manipulated.

Bellingcat Says Russia Used ‘Fake Evidence’ To Point Finger At Kyiv In Downing Of MH17  The Russian Defense Ministry published doctored, misdated satellite imagery to support its suggestion that Ukraine was responsible for downing of a passenger jet over eastern Ukraine in 2014.

Can Europe Stop Washington’s Military Provocations on Russia’s Borders? | The Nation Nation contributing editor Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor continue their weekly discussion of the new US-Russian Cold War. (Previous installments are at TheNation.com.

Pokemon Go Away: Russians See CIA Plot, ‘Satanism’ In Viral App A location-based smartphone game taking the world by storm hasn’t even been released in Russia, but the hype has prompted a religiously inspired call for a ban and condemnation of Pokemon Go as a CIA plot.

‘I’m Not Afraid’: Online Revelations Of Sexual Violence Spark Debate In Russia All this month, women in Ukraine, Russia, and other countries have been posting stories of the sexual violence they have endured. In Russia, the harrowing accounts of what comes across as pervasive harassment and abuse have provoked a wide-ranging social self-examination that seems unwelcome to the ruling political and religious elites.

Religious Right Hero Vladimir Putin Cracks Down On Religious Liberty In Russia | Right Wing Watch For years, American Religious Right activists have lavished praise on Russian President Vladimir Putin, praising him as a culturally conservative bulwark against the values of the decadent West thanks to his crackdowns on LGBT rights, in particular laws curbing adoption and free speech.

Russia: The Other Christian Nation | Christianity Today A cozy relationship between church and state has lasting implications.

Russia to Build Statue of Ivan the Terrible | News | The Moscow Times  A monument to Tsar Ivan The Terrible is to be built in the Russian city of Orel, 350 kilometers south of Moscow, the TASS news agency reported Wednesday.

Russia Looks to Populate Its Far East. Wimps Need Not Apply. – The New York Times A determined Cossack’s quest reveals the gap between fantasy and harsh reality in Moscow’s effort to settle a sparsely populated region.

What does it mean to be black in Russia? | Public Radio International Being labeled black has nothing to do with you skin color in Russia, it has to do with being an “outsider.”

Russia secret service graduates punished for flashy celebration – 9news.com.au Russia’s FSB security service took action against a group of recent graduates after they celebrated the end of their training by parading through the streets of Moscow in a procession of black Mercedes-Benz jeeps.

Reporting Within the Lines in Putin’s Russia – The New York Times What do censorship and traffic have in common in Russia? The rules keep shifting.

Russia’s Hyperloop Dream Stalls – Bloomberg View A lawsuit claiming financial mismanagement pits Kremlin-connected investors against a Silicon Valley startup.

Vladimir Putin’s ‘extinct’ leopards reintroduced to Russia’s Black Sea mountains  Russian conservationists released three leopards into the North Caucasus mountains on Friday, in the first ever attempt to reintroduce a big cat species to an area where it has gone extinct.

I’ve been having a great discussion with a colleague in Bulgaria all day today, about Russian propagandists and pro-Russian propagandists, paid and unpaid. All day.

He has some very interesting points and he has caused me to think and rethink almost everything I have internalized about trolls and propagandists. Thank you, Sir!  I’m working on finishing a paper and he has caused me to take my attention off the paper all too frequently and contemplate Russian propaganda and information warfare in general.

He wrote this phrase:

If you happen to come across any Bulgarian citizens who were identified as pro-Russian propagandists on the international arena, please let me know (we are aware of the pro-Russian propagandists in the domestic media).

Excellent point.  However, I balked.  I responded (slightly edited):

Hang on a second, please.

1 – Bulgarian citizens on an international arena

– as opposed to –

2 – Pro-Russian propagandists – Bulgarian citizens in the domestic media

I believe there is no difference.  If I do a search for XXX, Google pops out anything with XXX, regardless of country.  In many cases it even pops out something written in Bulgarian.

I believe a Russian or pro-Russian propagandist in Bulgaria, like in Russia itself, is primarily targeting the domestic population of their country. If others outside their country read it, fine.  I believe that very seldom is Russian propaganda targeted at an external country but they are delighted when it is read and affects countries outside Russia.  RT and Sputnik have bureaus outside Russia but their primary consumer is Russian. It spills over into the EU, NATO, Bulgaria, and the US, but only because the internet causes it to become virtually ubiquitous.

Yes, the choice of stories highlighted by [redacted] are usually injurious to peace and harmony in the EU, or the US, for instance, but I firmly believe it is meant to reassure the Russian people that things are really messed up ‘out there’.

In Russia’s case, I believe this is absolutely true.  I believe Russia has “useful idiots” in action inside the US who do a great job getting sound bites into domestic publications. I believe Russia has US journalists in their pocket, working for them. I also know for a fact that at least two US Congressional aides are pro-Russian. I also believe there a ton of trolls inside the US who spew Russian propaganda like air.  Infowars.com is a great source of Russian propaganda inside the US, especially if it smells like doggie doo-doo. There are a ton of other Russian propaganda sites and pro-Russian sites that sling that stuff around.  Look at “Russian News And Russian Proxy News Sites” for a long list and tell me if you’ve seen them quoted in US domestic news.  I often have.

Nay, I can’t make a distinction between domestic and international propagandists.

Can you?  Do you?

by Ivana Kottasova   @ivanakottasova July 14, 2016

Taiwan is trying to figure out how hackers managed to trick a network of bank ATMs into spitting out millions.

Police said several people wearing masks attacked dozens of ATMs operated by Taiwan’s First Bank on Sunday. They spent a few minutes at each of the machines before making off with the equivalent of $2 million stashed in a backpack.

They didn’t use bank cards but rather appeared to gain control of the machines with a “connected device,” possibly a smartphone, the police said in a statement Thursday. Authorities are now hunting the thieves, who they say came from Russia and eastern Europe.

The ATMs were made by German manufacturer Wincor Nixdorf (WNXDY). The company confirmed that several of its machines in Taiwan were hacked in a “premeditated attack.”

Wincor Nixdorf said Thursday it had sent security experts to support local investigators in Taiwan.

Prosecutors said the machines were infected with three different malware files that instructed them to “spit out cash” and then deleted evidence of the crime. They described the case as the first of its kind in Taiwan.

Wincor Nixdorf said it has no evidence that the malware was introduced into the network via the ATMs themselves.

Related: Two hours and 1,600 fake credit cards later: $13 million is gone

First Bank and other Taiwanese banks have suspended some of their ATMs after the heist. The prosecutors’ office instructed them to check for malware in their systems.

Taiwan Cooperative Bank said it will suspend its bank system for four hours on Saturday morning.

— Vivian Kam contributed reporting.

CNNMoney (London)First published July 14, 2016: 12:06 PM ET

Source: http://money.cnn.com/2016/07/14/news/bank-atm-heist-taiwan/index.html

The Kremlin continues supplying separatist forces with weapons

Railway convoys with weapons, military equipment, ammunition and fuel have been delivered to the Donbas region from Russia. This was reported by the press service of the Chief Directorate of Intelligence of Ukrainian Defence Ministry.

“85 units of 120mm-calibre mortars, and 40 82mm-calibre mortars have arrived to Khartsyzk,” the statement says.

More than 150 tons of petroleum and oil materials were transported to the separatist-occupied city of Ilovaisk, and another train convoy with fuel arrived to the city of Sukhodilsk in Luhansk region.

Source: http://uatoday.tv/society/over-hundred-of-mortars-deployed-to-donbas-from-russia-intel-697575.html

An oldie but goodie.  I missed this before.

“Do “normal” countries normally invade their neighbors, lop off bits and pieces of foreign territory, support unconstitutionally elected, power-obsessed strongman leaders, distrust the world and continually whine about their lost glory, take the crudest Goebbelsian government propaganda at face value, export terrorism, call democrats fascists and fascists democrats, and approve of profoundly corrupt, deeply inefficient, hyper-chauvinist, and blatantly imperialist fascist states?”

</end editorial>

Alexander J. Motyl

16 July 2014

Everything, according to some. Many things, according to others. Nothing, according to many Russians.

Back in 2004, two US academics, Andrei Shleifer and Daniel Treisman, wrote a controversial piece for Foreign Affairs in which they argued that statistics proved that Russia was a “normal country.” Since they focused on mostly economic parameters, such as GDP, income distribution, and the like, they had a point.

What Shleifer and Treisman overlooked was the politics. Do “normal” countries normally invade their neighbors, lop off bits and pieces of foreign territory, support unconstitutionally elected, power-obsessed strongman leaders, distrust the world and continually whine about their lost glory, take the crudest Goebbelsian government propaganda at face value, export terrorism, call democrats fascists and fascists democrats, and approve of profoundly corrupt, deeply inefficient, hyper-chauvinist, and blatantly imperialist fascist states?

In a word, what’s rong with Wrussia is not that it’s backward, but that it’s got so many important things backwards.

The depth of one’s pessimism about Russia is largely a function of which part of that long-suffering country strikes you as irredeemably wrong.

If you think Vladimir Putin is the problem, you’re actually an optimist. After all, if all that’s rong with Wrussia is Putin, then his departure—which even his acolytes must agree is inevitable—will solve Wrussia’s problems. Naturally, if, like Patrick Buchanan, Stephen F. Cohen, Gerhard Schröder, Aleksandr Dugin, and Marine Le Pen, you think Vlad is the cat’s pajamas, then nothing’s wrong with the place and we can all sleep soundly.

If you believe the system Putin built—or, possibly, the system that spawned Putin—is the problem, then you’re well on the way to being a pessimist, though not yet of a hopeless kind. I call that system fascist, because, while possessing all the features of run-of-the-mill authoritarian regimes, it also has a charismatic, hyper-masculine strongman leader who employs chauvinism, supremacism, and imperialism as means of reaching out to the public and underpinning his own legitimacy. If the term, fascist, bothers you, fine: call it something else. Call Russia a Putinist authoritarian dictatorship. Call it democratic populist authoritarian. Call it a hyper-managed hybrid post-democratic democracy. Go to town with the modifiers that make you feel better. Just remember that, whatever you call it, it walks and talks like the systems built by Mussolini in Italy and Hitler in Germany.

If the system is what’s rong with Wrussia, then Putin’s inevitable departure, whether from life or from politics, may not change it—or, possibly, it may only transform it into a run-of-the-mill authoritarian regime. Would such a Russia be less inclined to act like a bully internally and externally? Probably not, at least in the short run. Will such a regime outlive Putin? Quite possibly yes.

It’s at this point of any analysis that the depth of one’s pessimism about Russia is tested. If you think that the real problem with Russia is neither Putin nor the house he built, but the Russian people—or, more precisely, their political culture, which, as many Russians and non-Russians argue, is authoritarian and, thus, can countenance only dictatorial rule—then your pessimism is pretty much hopeless. Can Russian political culture change? Sure. But it’s in the nature of culture to change slowly—which means that Russians have the fascist system and the fascist ruler they “deserve.” Even if the ruler goes and the system collapses, both will likely be succeeded by stable authoritarian variants.

Many Russians, along with Putin, Buchanan, Cohen, Schröder, Dugin, and Le Pen, disagree with this diagnosis. That is to say, they don’t disagree that the ruler, regime, and culture are, er, not quite democratic. They just happen to believe that’s a good thing. To them, all I can say is: If you want to destroy democracy, undermine liberalism, and adopt a paranoid foreign policy that has turned Russia into a rogue state, go right ahead. Just keep your proclivities to yourself and don’t export your ruler, regime, and culture to countries that reject fascism.

Which, obviously, brings me to Ukraine and its neighbors in the “near abroad” (a term that only a Russian imperialist pining for the good ol’ days of empire could love). Like everyone else, they don’t know how Russia will or will not change in the next few years. Unlike everyone else, they have to live next door to this hulking, sulking Cyclops of a country.

What do you do if the guy next door is a loud, rude, vulgar, aggressive, violent, thuggish, and heavy-drinking drug dealer and you can’t move out? You reinforce your wall, install several locks, put metal sheeting on your door, lift weights, practice karate, ignore him—and hang out with those neighbors who don’t have awful habits.

That’s why Ukraine’s signing the Association Agreement with the European Union on June 27th was arguably the most important thing to have happened to the country since independence. It means that Ukraine and Ukrainians may finally be able to live in peace—not immediately, as their neighbor turns up his boorishness in response, but eventually and permanently, once he collapses in a drunken stupor. (Unfortunately, many western Europeans are so hooked on Russian oil that they are willing to sell their ideals for a fix.)

When Wrussia becomes Russia—note the “when”: I believe that Putin and his regime will soon alight the ash heap of history—Ukraine and its neighbors should extend the long-suffering Russian people a helping hand. Until then, they have no choice but to avoid Wrussia and its rongs like the plague.

As former President Leonid Kravchuk put it: “We must learn to live with a country that will permanently engage in provocations…. We can’t change Russia, but we can learn to live together against Russia. There’s no alternative.”

Or as a Russian-speaking Donetsk native recently said about the Russians: “My relatives and I, along with millions of Russian-speaking and Russian people in Ukraine, will never again call you our brothers…. we want to protect ourselves from you with a three-meter-thick wall…”

Source: http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog/alexander-j-motyl/what%E2%80%99s-rong-wrussia

Two years after the MH 17 shootdown by Russian soldiers, Russia continues to deny their guilt, their involvement, their responsibility.  These despicable actions by a sovereign nation are an embarrassment for Russia because they are petulant and irresponsible, but so typical of Putin’s Russia. This is an insult to Ukraine, to Belgium, to Malaysia, to the whole world. Russia and Russians must wallow in this shame.  Russia has no pride and no hope of gaining any until they confess to these crimes against humanity.

</end editorial>

By Alya Shandra

The report of the Dutch Safety Board investigation on the causes of the MH17 crash was released on 13 October 2015. It concludes that the Malaysian Boeing that crashed into the fields of Donbas on 17 July 2014 was destroyed by a surface-to-air Russian-made Buk anti-aircraft missile. The Chairman of the Board admitted to journalists that it was fired from territory most probably controlled by Russian-backed militants, doing away with 15 months of propaganda/conspiracy theories spouted out by Russian media:

Why the theories?

The reason for the conspiracy theories is clear:

the most obvious culprit, tractor-drivers and miners that supposedly make up the armies of the so-called “Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics,” don’t have the equipment or knowledge to shoot down planes.

If only it they didn’t get it from the Russian army, the involvement of which in the conflict in Ukraine Russia still denies, despite the overwhelming evidence.

One of the strategies of maskirovka, or Russian military deception, is to manipulate “the facts” in order to affect the media and public/world opinion to achieve national goals. In the case of Russian propaganda related to the MH17 downing, a myriad of false claims, faked interviews, evidence, and dubious experts were creating (and are still creating) a smokescreen of chaotic versions the goal of which is to confuse and conceal. They target two audiences:

1. domestic Russian audiences. The goal is to build doubt around facts indicating that Russian weapons are being delivered to Ukrainian territories held by purported “separatists,” reinforce the narrative of a Western conspiracy and imminent attack against Russia and the need of a strong military leader (Putin) to defend the nation;
2. international audiences. The goal is to shift blame away from Russia and cast doubt, as well as reinforce anti-Western and anti-American sentiment among fringe groups. One notable result of this strategy is the journalistic “balance” achieved in Western outlets, when Russian disinformation is presented as “the other side” (read an assessment of “balance” on MH17 coverage in German media here) and as a “conflicting report,” as in the New York Times.

Here is a recap of the propaganda topics and methods that Russian media sources have been spinning for 15 months around the MH17 tragedy to further those goals:

Major, “respectable” Russian conspiracies

Conspiracy 1. The Ukrainian military downed MH17 with a Su-25 fighter jet.

Many claims and insinuations have been presented to support this conspiracy theory:Russia’s Ministry of Defense originally pitched the idea by holding a press-conference on 21 July 2014 where it released a statement purporting that Russian air controllers spotted a Su-25 near the Boeing and that the vehicle is capable of reaching an altitude of 10 km. It also released satellite imagery which was  subsequently proven fake by the Bellingcat site of investigative journalism.

Russia’s Investigative Committee, which through the words of an anonymous deserterfrom the Ukrainian army giving an interview to the Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda “revealed” that the plane was shot down by a Ukrainian pilot, captain Voloshyn (Ukraine’s SBU subsequently claimed that the interview was a fake and that UA aircraft were not deployed on that day);

Tweets by Carlos, a non-existent Spanish traffic controller at Kyiv’s Boryspil airport, eye-witnesses telling BBC Russia they saw fighter aircraft at the scene.

The Wikipedia page for the Su-25 was edited to raise its service altitude from 7 km to 10 km. These and other conspiracies are debunked on this page.

Modification of Su-25 conspiracy: it was downed by an Su-25 using an Israeli Python Missile. In mid-July 2015, RT gave the good old Su version a revamp by publishing a report from another unspecified “group of old-hand aviation security experts.”

Conspiracy 2. The Ukrainian military downed MH17 with a Ukrainian Buk.

This version had been pitched, once again, by Russia’s Defense ministry, which on 18 July 2014, one day after the crash, claimed that the Ukrainian Army had a Buk that was operational in the area. They once again attempted to prove this with faked satellite images which were once again debunked by Bellingcat. Nevertheless, the Russian MoDattempted to submit this version to the Dutch report. Russia’s Buk manufacturer,Almaz-Antey, was the next in line to take up the desperate mission of seriously attempting to prove that it was a Ukrainian Buk fired from Ukrainian-controlled territory.

On their first press conference on 2 June 2015, they first made this claim, and on theirsecond one, which was held “by coincidence” on the day of the Dutch report presentation, they revealed the results of an experiment which “proves” that MH17 was downed by Buk 9M38 missile that Russia has argued is not in use by the Russian army (a claim considered to be “not borne out of the evidence”) and contradicts the Dutch report, which found remains of the missile 9N314M, from a supposed village location that contradicts even the Russian official version presented to the Dutch report.

What is most harrowing, though, is this presentation suggests a connection between Almaz-Antey, Russia’s MoD, and the Russian-backed separatists that were found to tamper with the corpses of the MH17 victims, removing shrapnel of the  9N314M missile from the bodies of the pilots.

The missile that Almaz-Antey tried so hard to prove was not there in the first place.

Oh, Wikipedia was edited in this case too, on 13 October 2015 – to support the “not borne out by the evidence” claim that the 9M38 missiles are not in use by Russia.

Smaller, outlandish Russian conspiracies

Conspiracy 3. The Ukrainian government was responsible for downing MH17

Claims made by different Russian outlets purported that MH17 moved off the standard flight path that it had taken every time before (disproved here), and that Ukrainian dispatchers summoned the plane lower just before the crash (disproved here).

Conspiracy 4. The Ukrainian military downed the plane in a botched bid to assassinate Putin.

Russia’s Interfax reported about this, according to RT, based on confidential evidence of an anonymous expert. The Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda ran a outlandish story about the pilot that did it and his air-controller partner that now hide in Dubai (available in English here, debunked here).

Conspiracy 5. MH17 is actually the flight of MH370 which vanished over the Indian Ocean and it was full of corpses when it took off from Amsterdam.

This theory was pitched by Russian FSB colonel and terrorist leader Igor Girkin and published in the pro-terrorist website Russkaya Vesna. Read about it in English hereand here.

Conspiracy 6. MH17 was blown up from inside the cockpit in special operation.

The source of this conspiracy is an interview by LifeNews with an alleged “expert” who claimed to have purchased recordings from Ukraine’s Security Service with conversations of Ukrainian military pilots that observed a supposed explosion inside the plane.

Conspiracy 7. The CIA downed MH17

Once again, it was Komsomolskaya Pravda that contributed to spreading this conspiracy, publishing an “intercepted call” recording of two CIA spies that spoke in English so lousy it was dismissed as Russian propaganda by, for instance, the Daily Mail.

Non-Russian conspiracies

Conspiracy 8, 9, and 10. It was Israel, the Illuminati, and an attempt to conceal the truth about AIDS.

More about them here, sadly, no debunking offered. You’ll have to do it yourself.

Conspiracy 11, 12, 13. It was an attempt to assassinate the Indian Prime Minister Indira Nadi, it was the Chinese, it was occult forces guided by the IMF and its head, Christine Lagarde.

Read about these and other entertaining versions in this bellingcat summary. And if you want even more —

• 10 Outrageous Ways Russian Media Covered The Crash Of MH17
• What happened to flight MH17? Conspiracy theory debunked

Instead of a conclusion

The history of conspiracies relentlessly spouted by Russian state media outlets over 15 months points to a striking insensitivity to the tragedy of the relatives of the MH17 victims and a chilling relationship between Russia’s MoD, Almaz-Antey, and the Russian-backed militants that tampered with the corpses of the plane’s pilots to remove traces of a Russian-produced missile, but not only. It gives us valuable insights into Russian maskirovka strategies of confusing and concealing:

• The serious claims were pitched by Russia’s Ministry of Defense and further developed by Russian institutions and media outlets. They were extensively covered by its English-language state-run sites, foremost among them RT and Sputnik.
• The outlandish Russian conspiracies were either found in the depths of the internet or concocted based on “confidential” claims of anonymous or dubious “experts.”
• Classical conspiracy theories also found their way into the MH17 tragedy.
• Domestic Russian propaganda reaches its goals: only 3% of Russians believe Russian-backed separatists are responsible for MH17 downing, a poll revealed.
• Russian claims about MH17 are being reported as “the other side” for the sake of journalistic balance in Western media outlets, and are contributing to the reluctance to name the ones to blame for the tragedy.

Source: http://euromaidanpress.com/2015/10/14/confuse-and-obfuscate-the-most-comprehensive-guide-ever-to-mh17-conspiracies/#arvlbdata

Japan is seen as a leader in soft power, the ability to attract and persuade rather than coerce, but is this the result of government initiatives? In Japan’s Information War, public diplomacy and propaganda specialist Nancy Snow takes an inside look at brand Japan’s inner workings. The result of two years of intensive research as an Abe Fellow, Snow makes a critical analysis of Japan’s global diplomacy and gives insights on how Japan could improve its nation branding strategy.

Source: https://www.amazon.com/Japans-Information-War-Nancy-Snow/dp/1535097973/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468862135&sr=8-1&keywords=Japan%27s+information+war

This appears to be an open admission of guilt, to a State-sponsored sports doping program, but not in so many words. The totality of Russia’s official admission of guilt is to suspend officials and accept a third party report.

I will bet there will be an accusation by a Russian official within 24 hours of a great ‘Western conspiracy’ to smear Russia’s reputation.

Also: WADA urges banning Russian athletes from all international events, including Rio Olympics RT‎

This much truth from Russia is highly unusual.

</end editorial>

July 18, 19:51 UTC+3
Russian President Vladimir Putin has commented on the recent report by the WADA Independent Commission on doping abuse at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games

MOSCOW, July 18. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has commented on the recent report by the WADA Independent Commission on doping abuse at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games saying the accusations against Russian athletes were based on evidence provided by a person of wretched reputation.

The statement apparently refers to former head of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory Grigory Rodchenkov. “Accusations against Russian athletes are based on the testimony of one person, a man with a scandalous reputation,” the Russian leader emphasized, adding that criminal proceedings were initiated against this man in 2012 over anti-doping legislation violations. However, “the evidence collected at that time proved to be insufficient, and the case was closed.”

In June, the case against Rodchenkov was reopened on newly-discovered evidence, and one of his close relatives had already been convicted in Russia for illegal trafficking in anabolic steroids. “The question is whether the conclusions based solely on the testimony of people of this kind could be trustworthy and weighty,” Putin said.

Putin has also pointed out that the current doping scandal is a dangerous relapse of political interference in sport.

“Now we are witnessing a dangerous relapse of politics’ interference into sports. Yes, formats of such interference have changed but its essence is the same – to make sports an instrument of geopolitical pressure, of forming a negative image of countries and nations. The Olympic movement which is playing a colossal uniting role for the humankind may once again be driven to the brink of a split,” the statement says.

“Now, the so-called doping scandals have come into play, attempts are being made to extend the sanctions for the exposed doping abuse cases to all, including ‘clean’ athletes under the pretext of alleged protecting their interests,” the statement says.

According to the president, officials named in the WADA commission’s report as direct perpetrators will be temporarily suspended from their posts until the investigation is over. Nevertheless, Russia is asking WADA to provide a more detailed and objective information.

“The officials the Commission’s report names as direct perpetrators will be temporarily suspended from their posts until the investigation is over,” Putin said in his statement. “But prior to making the final decision on the officials’ in question, we are asking WADA to provide a more detailed and objective information based on facts so that Russian law enforcers and investigative bodies could use it in their work. There is no doubt they will do their job to the end with an aim to take exhaustive measures to prevent the violations of the Russian legislation and the international commitments, which our country has undertaken,” Putin said.

The head of state stressed that Russia understands the importance of the Olympic movement and shares Olympic values. According to Putin, Russia has always been stating its position on unequivocally: there is no room for doping in sports.

WADA Independent Commission delivered earlier in the day a report of its investigation into widespread doping abuse and sample swapping by Russian athletes, with the support of state, sports officials and FSB, during the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

The WADA Independent Commission launched its investigation following media reports earlier in the year which were based on a testimony from former head of Moscow anti-doping laboratory Grigory Rodchenkov.

Two months ago Rodchenkov told Western media that Russian athletes largely used performance enhancing drugs at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi with the approval from the national sports authorities.

In an interview with New York Times, published in mid-May, Rodchenkov claimed that an unnamed official from the Russian Sports Ministry used sending him lists of national athletes, whose doping samples he had to swap during the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Rodchenkov also said that he developed a special cocktail consisting of three banned doping substances intended for the national athletes at home Games two years ago.

On the whole, the ex-doping official claimed that the Russian sports authorities allegedly prepared a special doping program for national athletes in order to win most of the medals at home Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014. Rodchenkov added that some Russian Olympic gold medalists in Sochi took banned substances.

The Russian Olympic team finished the 2014 Olympics in Sochi in the first place of the medals standings with the overall result of 33 won medals (13 gold, 11 silver and 9 bronze medals) surpassing its previous Winter Olympics record of 11 gold medals, set at the 1994 Winter Games in Norway’s Lillehammer.

Source: http://tass.ru/en/sport/889120