Photo from Simon Ostrovksy’s Twitter.

BY BRIAN RIES

1 HOUR AGO

Vice journalist Simon Ostrovsky has been taken by militia in Eastern Ukraine, Mashable has learned.

The reporter for Vice News, who has been filing a series of compelling video dispatches from Ukraine since early March, was “taken” in Sloviansk, Russian media outlet gazeta.ru reports (translation by The Interpreter):

The “People’s mayor” of Slavyansk, Vyacheslav Ponomarev, said that the militia has taken the American journalist, Simon Ostrovsky, hostage, reports a correspondent for Gazeta.ru, Ponomarev announced this during a press conference at the House of Culture in Slavyansk.

Sloviansk’s self-appointed “People’s Mayor,” Vachislav Ponomaryov, reportedly held a press conference where he claimed to call Ostrovsky’s parents to assure them that their son was okay, the outlet reports. “Nobody abducted him, nobody is holding him hostage, he’s with us now in at the SBU, preparing material and working,” Ponomaryov said, raising the remote possibility that Ostrovsky is merely embedded with the militia.

But Roland Oliphant, Moscow correspondent for The Telegraph, says the mayor and his press secretary confirmed the reporter was “in custody” at the press conference. “But very little further information so far,” he adds.

via American Journalist With Vice News Captured in Eastern Ukraine.

US Vice President Joe Biden (L) speaks during a meeting with acting president, Oleksander Turchinov © EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO

“Stop talking and start acting”.  With this simple phrase, US Vice President Joe Biden rips into Russian President Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

All their bluster, all their words, all their accusations, all are for naught.  Russia’s war of words is being turned around.  Their web of lies is being used against them.  Their deceit and illegal actions all appear for what they are: a farce.

Furthermore, Mr. Biden issued a warning to Russia that more “provocative behaviour” would lead to “greater isolation”.  He further urged Moscow to cease support for pro-Russian militant extremists.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden pledged support for Ukraine, which he said “is in a struggle for its very future.” Biden said the road ahead is difficult, but that Ukrainians “will not walk this road alone.”

Bordyuzha (left), Mikhail Fedorov (standing right) and Igor Panarin at the signing ceremony of the Memorandum on the establishment of the University League CSTO. Photo by Aleksey Kunilova.

It looks like Russia is ramping up their information warfare efforts in a big way.  Translation from the original Russian from my Chrome Browser.

APRIL 23, 2014, 9:35

The Collective Security Treaty, signed 20 years ago by a group of countries – participants of the CIS, provides not only protect them from military threats, but also contributes to the maintenance of information, food, energy, transport, environmental and other types of security of our states. This was discussed in the past in Yekaterinburg within the founding conference of the University League and I CSTO Youth Forum of the CSTO meeting with journalists Nikolai Bordyuzha, Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty.

The meeting was also attended by the Head of Administration of Sverdlovsk Region Governor Sergei Perestoronin, coordinator of the Association of Analytical CSTO Igor Panarin, and the rector of the Ural State University of Economics Mikhail Fedorov.

Noted that the provision of, for example, information security is particularly important in a time when the U.S. and NATO countries announced Russia and its allies a real information war that the degree of impact and consequences can be compared with past military aggression.

The question of “regional newspaper” about what, in his view, the causes of the tragic events taking place today in Ukraine, and what conclusions are made in the CSTO Nikolay Bordyuzha said that what is happening in this country – the result of years of efforts by the United States with the aim to split the Commonwealth of Independent States. Western-backed government of Ukraine not only stubbornly refused to cooperate closely with Russia, CSTO Customs Union, but always sought to hold a special position in the discussion of any initiatives and in the CIS. At the same time for two decades abroad trained Ukrainian fighters and from abroad come to Ukraine and openly worked special operations instructors and special propaganda. So after the collapse of the USSR a whole generation of young Ukrainians, many of whom brought up on dense Russophobia.

Countries – CSTO members are closely watching what is happening in Ukraine and draw conclusions from the events there to prevent this at home. Battlefield information war Russia and its allies in the CSTO defense keep learned. “For example, we conduct a successful raid to identify our enemies created websites – said Nikolai Bordyuzha. – A huge number of these sites have already been closed. ” But to intervene in Ukrainian events in any way, including official statements and comments, CSTO countries do not intend to. “Although the United States and its NATO allies in the information space inflated real hysteria and try to provoke us to retaliate drastic actions, they do not succeed, – said the Secretary General of the CSTO. – For us it is much more important today are the problems associated with the designated 2014 the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. “

via On the information war – volunteers.  http://www.oblgazeta.ru/politics/17423/

By VICE News

April 24, 2014 | 12:40 pm

VICE News is delighted to confirm that our colleague and friend Simon Ostrovsky has been safely released and is in good health. We would like to thank everyone for their support during this difficult time. Out of respect for Simon and his family’s privacy, we have no further statement at this time.

via Simon Ostrovsky Has Been Released | VICE News.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, April 9, 2014. Hagel met with Xi to discuss mutual state and defense issues. (DoD photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo/Released)

Wednesday, April 23rd, 2014

Posted by Lee Jay

http://www.moderntokyotimes.com/

Cyber Transparency for Thee, But Not For Me

Publication: China Brief Volume: 14 Issue: 8

By: Joe McReynolds

The Jamestown Foundation

In Beijing, a reminder for Hagel that the U.S. and China face divergent incentives on cyber policy

U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel’s latest trip to Beijing represented a new milestone in Sino-U.S. military-to-military information-sharing. According to media reports, the U.S. side laid out in detail the makeup of America’s cyber forces, their command and control structures and U.S. policy regarding red lines and escalation in the network domain. Unfortunately, the Chinese haven’t responded in kind. In his speech at National Defense University closing out the trip, Hagel reiterated his desire for mutual transparency, but the tone was one of palpable disappointment. Chinese media largely ignored this section of Hagel’s remarks, with the only publications addressing it describing it as “hypocritical” in light of recent allegations regarding American cyber-spying and attacks on Huawei (Xinhua, April 9). Despite the Secretary’s wishes, China is unlikely to acquiesce to a regime of symmetric cyber transparency in the foreseeable future.

Why is China so hesitant to join the United States in sharing information regarding its network warfare capabilities? At the risk of oversimplifying, there are three primary reasons. The first is that China operates a massive peacetime industrial espionage apparatus, and the Chinese military (the object of Hagel’s desired transparency) plays a major role in providing the cyber-exploitation component of this capability. The second is that the leaks and accusations made by Edward Snowden have improved China’s diplomatic position in the context of any discussion of network warfare doctrine. The third is that Chinese military theoreticians’ views regarding the inherent battle-space characteristics of the network domain predispose the Chinese toward attempting to retain a degree of uncertainty and ambiguity around China’s offensive network warfare capabilities.

via US and China: Cyber Transparency for Thee, But Not For Me | Modern Tokyo Times.

Stella Khorosheva

Stella Khorosheva, spokeswoman for the self-declared mayor of Sloviansk, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, recently said that Simon Ostrovsky was working on an exclusive story. 

Yesterday, before he was released, she said

Today, CPJ spoke to Stella Khorosheva, spokeswoman for the self-declared mayor of Sloviansk, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, who had earlier confirmed holding Ostrovsky in a pre-trial facility. Khorosheva told CPJ that Ostrovsky was detained by military units on suspicion of carrying out subversive activities and of covering the situation in Sloviansk from only one side.

Khorosheva told CPJ that Ostrovsky “is safe, alive, well fed, and working on an exclusive story” in detention. Khorosheva said Ponomaryov had vowed to release Ostrovsky “when the time comes.” She said the journalist has not been charged with a crime.

Source: http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/249257/mediawireworld-detained-vice-journalist-working-on-an-exclusive-story-according-to-captors/ 

Yet, today, Simon Ostrovsky was interviewed by IBTimes, there was no mention of an “exclusive”.  C’mon, Stella Khorosheva, you couldn’t possibly have lied to us, could you?

Here is Ostrovsky’s last report before he was held captive, it is quite damning to the Russians.  RT published the “facts” before even the local police knew…

A team of monitors from the OSCE, an intergovernmental organisation in Ukraine to observe the crisis, have been missing for a day.

5:53pm UK, Friday 25 April 2014

OSCE members wear armbands while monitoring in eastern Ukraine

Seven members of an observer mission in Ukraine have been seized by separatists and are being held, says the Kiev government.

The representatives from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe – an independent group which advises countries on governance – were taken in the eastern flashpoint town of Slavyansk, the interior ministry said.

The group were held on Thursday and had not been heard from for a day when the ministry made its announcement.

A separatist leader in Slayansnk said on Friday afternoon he believes the observers have a “spy” in their group.

It came as Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier agreed that the OSCE mission should play an active role in efforts to defuse tension in Ukraine.

via Seven Observers ‘Seized By Ukraine Rebels’.

RT confirms the observers are being held.

“It is true that we have detained the bus, as there we immediately found forbidden bullet shells and other munitions. We are currently sorting out who are these people driving inside it,” Ponomaryov told Interfax by telephone. 

Apparently the numbers vary from 13 to 40 people detained.  http://lifenews.ru/news/132053

Funny, how difficult would it be to take a cell phone picture and post it?  Apparently too difficult for RT.  I have little doubt there is no proof.

Slowly, deliberately, Russia is moving towards war.

With the ease of a politician, skilled at lying for a living, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has changed his language from

Russia does not have — and cannot have — any plans to invade the southeastern regions of Ukraine.

to

If we are attacked, we would certainly respond. If our interests, our legitimate interests, the interests of Russians have been attacked directly, like they were in South Ossetia for example, I do not see any other way but to respond in accordance with international law. Russian citizens being attacked is an attack against the Russian Federation.

In the space of a little bit over one month, Russia has changed.  Russia is now almost challenging Ukraine, NATO, the EU and the US, for a reason, any reason, to invade Ukraine.

Never mind that just last night Russian planes flew into the sovereign air space of Ukraine seven times, a clear act of provocation.  Never mind that they are holding an OSCE observer team hostage.  Never mind proof has been made showing the militants in Sloviansk and nine other Ukraine cities are being directed by the Russian military.  Never mind that Russia has not made one step to de-escalating the situation in Ukraine, as they agreed to in the Geneva agreement, four party talks.  Never mind that Russia has now stopped all talks with the American White House.

In two days the G7 will meet and take the next step of more extreme sanctions against Russia.  These steps will be punitive and should cause greater pain in Russia.

The biggest problems are long term.  Regardless, if Russia attacks Ukraine or not, it will be year, decades, before anyone trusts the Russians again.  Russia is considering converting to a Rouble based market, it will probably not succeed and they would not be competitive, globally.  More Russian people, more Russian businesses and more Russian government entities will be directly affected by stronger sanctions.

This does not stop the EU from trying to trade with them, probably illegally, but there will always be an extra few steps, it will always be illegal.  Russia is trying to set up a barter economic agreement with other countries, that will be very difficult, at best and will give them none of the hard currency Russia desires.

I wonder if Level 3 sanctions include freezing Putin’s assets?

by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton on April 19, 2014 – 3:07 pm EST6 Comments

The Right Planet

Western press and media are having trouble distinguishing facts from Russian propaganda. This is understandable – the Russian propaganda machine is a mature and venerable institution that engages in an art that, for better or for worse, the West simply does not practice as often nor as effectively. The intent of this guide is to help those less accustomed to the ways of the Russian government to discern between reporting and propaganda. There are a few simple tell-tale signs.

Types of propaganda to look for – the signs, the impact, and the facts:

SIGN #1: Reporting that points to ethnic divisions and Kyiv’s Maidan as a source of unrest.

IMPACT: Western media call into question the stability of the interim Ukrainian government, and speculate that Ukraine is a hotbed of prejudice on the brink of civil war.

FACT: Modern Ukraine has no history of ethnic conflict. Furthermore, the Maidan was a gathering place for Ukrainians of all ethnic backgrounds:

A Facebook post by an Afghan-Ukrainian triggered the first mass protest at Kyiv’s Maidan last November;

An Armenian-Ukrainian and a Belarusian were the first to die at the hands of the government’s internal police.

Jewish-Ukrainians formed a self-defense unit to support Maidan in Kyiv and fight against the Yanukovych regime;

Numerous Jewish thought-leaders and organizations have spoken out against Kremlin propaganda portraying Maidan participants as anti-Semites or neo-Nazis;

Russian-Ukrainians are enlisting to protect their Ukrainian homeland against Russian armed forces;

Crimean Tatars have been staunch supporters of Maidan and are actively resisting Russia’s military aggressions in Crimea.

Just like the United States of America, Ukraine is multi-national and diverse. Are the diverse United States capable of being a unified democracy? Sure! So is Ukraine

via Trevor Loudon’s New Zeal Blog » A User’s Guide to Russian Propaganda.

Katya Soldak

Forbes Staff

BUSINESS 4/26/2014 @ 12:32PM 7,455 views

Putin may be strong, but the internet is proving stronger. The Russian leader is learning that cultivating a network of lies is almost impossible in the age of information.

Throughout Russian president Vladimir Putin’s land-grab in Ukraine, much of the watchful world has known all along that his country’s propaganda machine has been creating an alternate reality for its public.  Russian media has constructed malevolent caricatures of “nationalists and fascists,” insisting these boogiemen are taking over Ukraine. To cast main enemies they looked to tried and tested nemeses the United States and the CIA. Secondary ‘bad-guys’ include Georgians and gays. Though primarily a comedian, John Stewart of The Daily Show may have hit the nail on the head earlier this week when he artfully summed up the Russian leader’s strategy, complete with video evidence: “Putin lies all the time.”

His lies are not meant to fool the West – it’s not difficult to gather evidence of what’s really going on in Ukraine – rather, the Russian public and, possibly, Ukrainians, with the goal of creating an air of chaos. That chaos presents the pretext for Putin’s next big move: sending “peacekeepers” (armed forces) on a “humanitarian mission” (invasion and land grab) into Eastern and Southern Ukraine.

Winston Churchill once said “a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” This old adage is what Putin is banking on. But in his outdated strategy of blatant falsehoods, he may have miscalculated the power of his real enemy: the internet and communication technology that has made the world a more integrated place, and made it much more difficult to get away with bald-faced deception of the masses.

via Vladimir Putin And His Bodyguard Of Lies.

Saturday, April 26th 2014

Author: David S Jackson

Russian troops are threatening the sovereignty of a bordering country while its anxious neighbors look West for support… Chinese bellicosity is prompting similar concerns from its neighbors… Iran’s nuclear ambitions are raising fears of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East….

At a time when our government needs all the tools of national influence and diplomacy that we have to let people around the world know what’s at stake, and where the U.S. government stands in these crises, our best public diplomacy tool – U.S. international broadcasting and online media – is wrestling with its own challenges.

In recent weeks, there has been a growing debate about the proper roles of the Voice of America (VOA) and its fellow government-supported broadcasters Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Radio & TV Marti, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks of Radio Sawa and Alhurra TV. Columnist Anne Applebaum wrote in The Washington Post that it’s time to “rethink the funding and governance” of the broadcasters, while former Reagan Administration Soviet affairs advisor John Lenczowksi charged in The Wall Street Journal that the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees the broadcasters, “has greatly diminished America’s capacity to fight the Putin propaganda machine.” Lenczowski was even more critical at a Heritage Foundation panel discussion last week, where he called the BBG “dysfunctional” and in need of “an entire overhaul.”

While all this has been going on, BBGWatch.com, a public blog site which frequently airs grievances from current and former employees, has been launching daily broadsides against senior managers at VOA and the International Broadcasting Bureau, an internal supporting agency.

Some of the issues that have been raised are not new: Funding (there’s never been enough to do everything); shortwave radio, and what role it should play (some veteran employees still regard television as a new-fangled extravagance); and news coverage decisions.

via What is the Mission of U.S. International Broadcasting? | The Public Diplomacy Council.

How would it look if the Czech Republic invaded Russia?

Somebody in the Czech Republic has a good sense of humor.  Two tanks from the south…   2 or 3 paratroopers dropped over the Kremlin.  Top secret lighters burn a paper model of the Kremlin.  The next day Russia bombs Prague.  That sounds about right.  What were they thinking?

Well done, Pečený sněhulák (Baked snowman), well done!

Love the eyebrows!

ht to vv

As far as Moscow is concerned, using cyber as a warlike offensive tool is the normative first step in a general attack. After Estonia and Georgia, the Ukraine now experiences it first hand

Ram Levi and Lior Tabansky 27/4/2014

The prevailing view in the West is that Russia possesses cutting-edge information warfare and electronic warfare capabilities. Experience has shown that Russia does not hesitate to put these capabilities to use as required.

As far back as 2007, during the confrontation between Russia and Estonia whose trigger was the relocating of the Unknown Soldier Monument from the center of Tallinn, the Estonian capital, to the outskirts, Russian elements staged a substantial DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack against Estonia. The actual involvement of the Russian government in this conflict, named by some parties (who went just a little too far) “The First Cyber War”, remains unclear.

The attack against Estonia was a small but sufficient example of the axiom according to which in the era of information it is safe to assume that any military confrontation or political tension will include offensive cybernetic elements: damaging or disrupting of information systems or damaging of critical infrastructure/utility systems and processes through the computers controlling them. That was the case during the South Ossetia war in 2008, when Russian and Georgian forces clashed under controversial circumstances. During that conflict, too, pro-Russian cybernetic attacks staged by “unknown sources” disrupted on-line services and websites of the Georgian government as well as the media and banks. A DDoS attack was even staged against Internet services in Georgia generally. At the time, Georgian sources reported that the civilian cellular communication systems and the communication system of the Georgian Army were attacked as well. The use of cyberspace against Georgia had several objectives such as collection of intelligence and disruption of vital processes, but information warfare was also one of those objectives.

The Russians were not satisfied with the results they achieved in the cyber dimension against Georgia, and in recent years there has been much debating about cybernetic strength as an essential element of the Russian strategy. In late 2011, the Russian Ministry of Defense published a document outlining the fundamentals of Russia’s military cybernetic strategy, titled “Conceptual Views on the Activity of the Russian Armed Forces in Cyberspace”. In January 2013, a presidential decree assigned the responsibility for the development and implementation of Russia’s national cybernetic defense policy to the Federal Security Service (FSB).

via The Russian Snake.

And now, amidst a war of words and sanctions in real life, a LiveLeak fantasy.  The “Entrance to the Toilet” is especially daunting.

Original:  http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=753_1398782295

As a symmetrical answer to sanctions on Russia, russian organizations imposes harsh sanctions against Obama and US Congress. Few examples below.

Barak Obama is forbidden to use services of NGI IT Outsourcing

Entrance to the shop “Honey” is forbidden

is forbidden to be in the grill bar

In the list:
Barak Obama
John Kerry
Hilary Clinton
Adolf Hitler

Benito Mussolini etc

is forbidden to be in the “DivMult” studio territory

Sanctions! Deprived of the right to buy a chicken for 69-90

entrance to the toilet is forbidden

entrance to mounting “Lada Sport” is forbidden

Barak Obama and US Administration is forbidden to stroke my cat

Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=753_1398782295#ldfstADHycDodqgc.99

Women’s equality took a giant leap forward in Afghanistan, no longer are honor killings against one’s daughter fashionable.  Somehow I just can’t feel bad for any man who rapes a 14 year old girl, especially a cleric.

BY ZAKARIA NASIRI

BAGHLAN MARKAZI Afghanistan Tue Apr 29, 2014 5:23pm BST

(Reuters) – Afghan police have arrested the parents of a 14-year-old girl after they attacked a religious cleric and cut off his nose and ears in retaliation for what they say were a series of sexual attacks on their daughter.

Right activists say there has been a sharp rise in violent attacks against women in the deeply conservative Muslim country, where women have fought hard to gain rights after the collapse of Taliban government in 2001.

Restoring women’s rights after the Taliban was ousted by a U.S.-led coalition of troops was cited as one of the main objectives of the war.

The provincial head of women’s affairs, Khadija Yaqeen, told Reuters that the girl had told her parents four months ago she had been assaulted.

The father invited the mullah to his house on Monday for dinner, police said.

“I cut off his ears and nose,” her father Abdul Qahar, dressed in a traditional shalwar kameez and a turban, said from the police chief’s office in the northern Baghlan province.

“I don’t know if a cat ate his ears, but his nose went down the drain,” he told Reuters, speaking in the Dari language

Police arrested the girl’s parents on Tuesday. Ahmad Jawid Basharat, a police spokesman in Baghlan, said Qahar had tied the cleric’s hands and feet and cut off his nose and an ear as an act of revenge.

The 32-year-old cleric denied he had assaulted the girl. Police said they have opened a case against him.

Religious, or sharia, law often holds sway over constitutional law in some parts of rural Afghanistan.

“If there was a functioning rule of law, then he would be punished even more severely,” said the girl’s mother, Sultana, wearing a traditional all-covering burqa.

There is growing fear among many people in Afghanistan that the withdrawal of NATO-led forces and efforts to reach a political agreement with the Taliban to end the 12-year-old war could undermine hard-won freedoms for women.

The hardline Islamist government banned girls from attending school when it ruled the country from 1996 to 2001, and during the insurgency its militants have regularly bombed girls’ schools built with U.S. money.

(Aditional reporting by Mirwais Harooni in Kabul; Writing by Jeremy Laurence)

via Afghan couple hack off nose, ears in revenge attack | Reuters.

by Peter Himler

Nearly six years ago, I penned a post titled “Leaders Who Lie,” mostly about the blatant misinformation campaign propagated by one Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I followed it up several years later with a similarly themed post titled “PR Rogues Gallery,” which broadened the meme to include Yasser Arafat, Syria’s Assad, Libya’s Qaddafi and Russia, which could give the others “a run for their money” on the media manipulation front.

That follow-up post prompted a sharp protest from an American ex-pat friend living in Russia who, like most Russian nationals, is a stalwart supporter of Mr. Putin and believes the former KGB officer could do no wrong. He wrote:

“I really fail to see how the Russian government could in any way be associated let alone in the same league as governments such as Syria and Iran. Indeed, in terms of public communications the Russian government’s problem is a lack of PR. They take almost no steps to mold their external image and the communications battle is left to their opponents who create the deeply flawed perception of modern Russian. And of course too they are a convenient ‘filler’ for the big bad enemy–an enemy only in words and not in fact.”

Flash forward to today when any semblance of a free press in Russia has been discarded like the stray dogs in Sochi. In March, The New York Times reported how Russia is mounting a “media war” unlike any other since the end of the cold war. Celestine Bohlin wrote:

“The scale of Russia’s propaganda effort in the current crisis has been breathtaking, even by Soviet standards. Facts have been twisted, images doctored (Ukrainians shown as fleeing to Russia were actually crossing the border to Poland), and harsh epithets (neo-Nazis) hurled at the demonstrators in Kiev — who President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia belatedly acknowledged had legitimate gripes against a corrupt and failed government”

via Russia’s Media Trolls.

Oops, pardon me.

About five times in the past week I fired up my diesel-powered computer and started to write a blog piece.  Something always seemed to get in my way.

I seem to have the same problem as <fill in the blank of a Russian ‘news’ source>, I have so much good material but I don’t trust almost any of it.   The difference is I don’t publish it if I can’t verify it.

In the past week the Russian have claimed that 20 CIA employees were killed.  I saw that from a single source at least four times.

In the past week I saw Greystone has 120 – 150 employees on the ground, they somehow moved from Kyiv to Donbass.

A few days ago I chose to not write a blog based on an article in Forbes about the Crimea referendum.  It was good.  It was juicy.  It was mean.  It was nasty.  Like my kinda girl.

I looked, and I looked, and I looked.  I could not find any evidence that would corroborate the story.  No proof.  So like a good little reporter wanna be, I chose not to publish.   There’s the difference between RT and me.   I believe in integrity whereas I believe a lot of the Russian ‘news sites’ have none.   They get their information dump, probably from some anonymous email that says ‘here, publish this’, and like a good Salinist, they salute and publish it, rewriting slightly so it doesn’t look like the next guy on the list.

So I am left looking like I hiccupped.  An awkward pause in conversation.  To you, dear Reader, I apologize.

Oh, good news.  I received corroboration today for that juicy story.  I have to write another paper first and send it off (I actually have to earn a living), but then I’ll get that puppy out to you.

In the meantime, enjoy this video!

Dr. Leigh Armistead, President, Peregrine Technical Solutions along with the Information Assurance Directorate (IAD), National Security Agency (NSA) are pleased to announce a collaborative effort for the April 2014 edition of the Journal of Information Warfare (JIW), a double-blind, peer-reviewed academic journal.   In this special JIW issue, a number of highly technical subject matter experts from NSA have produced a unique unclassified publication that focuses on cyber security efforts in realizing “Confidence in Cyberspace.”  Here is the URL for the latest edition, as well as a list of papers.

https://www.jinfowar.com/volume-13-issue-2-editorial/

• Achieving Confidence in Cyberspace in an Ever-Changing Ecosystem
• Cyber-Mugging: Summary and Analysis of a Simulated ICS/SCADA Attack
• Active Cyber Defense: A Vision for Real-Time Cyber Defense
• How IAD Leverages Big Data for Anomaly and Malware Detection (v10.2)
• Information Assurance Standards: A Cornerstone for Cyber Defense
• Introducing the National Security Cyber Assistance Program (NSCAP)
• Outmaneuvering Cyber Adversaries Using Commercial Technologies
• Securing the Cloud
• Using Classified Intelligence to Defend Unclassified Networks
• Building Future Generations of Elite Cyber Professionals (CNODP)

A spectacularly objective report from RIA Novosti.

© RIA Novosti. Vladimir Astapkovich

17:36 14/05/2014

Tags: Russian Navy, United States, Israel, Ukraine

TEL AVIV, May 14 (RIA Novosti) – Israel has refused to allow a Russian missile ship to anchor at one of its ports to prevent straining relations with the United States in the midst of the Ukrainian crisis, Israel’s Haaretz daily reported Wednesday quoting a senior Israeli official.

“Israel strives to maintain neutrality in the big powers’ confrontation over Ukraine; pictures of a Russian warship at Israel’s main naval base would convey that Israel was siding with Moscow,” the paper’s website said.

Russian representatives in Israel refused to comment on the statement.

According to the report, Russia’s request for a ship to dock at Haifa was denied about a month ago following discussions among senior Israeli officials.

“All opinions were negative and the request was denied,” the Haaretz daily reported.

The country’s security service claimed that if Russia’s ship docked at Haifa it could facilitate Russia’s spying activities in Israel, adding that a similar case last year was also evidence of Russian espionage.

About a year ago, Russia’s large landing ship Azov entered the Israeli port of Haifa to congratulate World War II veterans living in the country.

This year the Russian destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov was expected to visit Haifa.

In recent months, the United States has been slamming Russia for its actions in Ukraine, which allegedly led to further escalation of the ongoing conflict. Many countries across the globe, siding with America, were quick to back its position on the issue. Israel, however, has preferred to stick to a more neutral stance on the Russia-Ukrainian crisis.

via Israel Blocks Russian Warship From Docking Over Ukraine – Report | World | RIA Novosti.

Russian National Socialists marching in St. Petersburg on 1 May 2014. Photo by Radio Svoboda

Paul Goble May 8, 2014

Staunton, May 8 – Fascism is one of the most negative terms in any language and it is often employed as the ultimate expression of one’s hatred or disapproval of something, but fascism has some real characteristics. Consequently, it is possible to list them and the evaluate whether this or that leader or this or that country can justifiably be labelled “fascist.”

One Russian blogger has identified seven such characteristics of fascism and then considered whether Germany under Hitler, the Soviet Union under Stalin and Brezhnev, the Russian Federation under Vladimir Putin, or Ukraine share them. The results will not be comforting to Russians: their country today has more fascist characteristics than does Ukraine.

In his post, Oleg Leusenko lists seven characteristics of fascism: a leader cult, a one-party system, militarism, the dominance of the security services, the official promotion of anti-semitism and xenophobia, state control of the media and a state propaganda system, and aggression abroad based on territorial claims on neighboring states.

via Putin’s Russia More Fascist than Ukraine, Comparison Shows | The Interpreter.