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I think the trigger will be a massive cyber attack that takes down and cripples Western nations financial markets simultaneously.
Ev
Flame Spyware Targets Iran
Quote:
May 28, 2012
THE CYBER SECURITY world is alight with reports about Flame, cyber espionage spyware that targets Iranian computers.
Flame, the Flamer or, the Flame, depending on where you read about it, is the subject of a report from the Iranian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) security group, where it is described as a new variant of malware with similarities to Stuxnet and Duqu.
Iran's CERT said that the malware is spread through local area networks (LANs) and removable media and is capable of network sniffing, detecting network resources and scooping up passwords.
"The name 'Flamer' comes from one of the attack modules, located at various places in the decrypted malware code," said the Iranian CERT advisory.
"In fact this malware is a platform which is capable of receiving and installing various modules for different goals."
It can screen grab passwords, transfer data to control servers and infect large scale local networks that run Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.
Security firm Kaspersky said that it first spotted the attack in 2010, adding that it represents a bigger threat than its competition and could be "the most sophisticated cyber weapon yet unleashed".
https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images...5___normal.jpg Eugene Kaspersky
- ✔
@e_kaspersky
The complexity of #TheFlame, geography & targets leave no doubt this #malware was state-sponsored. FAQ: bit.ly/LXz5ki #cyberwar
28 May 12
"Flame can easily be described as one of the most complex threats ever discovered. It's big and incredibly sophisticated. It pretty much redefines the notion of cyberwar and cyberespionage," wrote Kaspersky security researcher Alexander Gostev.
"Flame is a sophisticated attack toolkit, which is a lot more complex than Duqu. It is a backdoor, a Trojan, and it has worm-like features, allowing it to replicate in a local network and on removable media if it is commanded so by its master."
Flame is difficult to analyse because it is so complex, said Gostev. "Overall, we can say Flame is one of the most complex threats ever discovered," he explained.
Gostev confirms the Iranian's CERT report that the Trojan is targeting firms in that geography, adding that Flame's motive is to "systematically collect information on the operations of certain nation states in the Middle East, including Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Israel and so on".
"It looks like the creators of Flame are simply looking for any kind of intelligence - e-mails, documents, messages, discussions inside sensitive locations, pretty much everything," he added.
"We have not seen any specific signs indicating a particular target such as the energy industry - making us believe it's a complete attack toolkit designed for general cyber-espionage purposes."
Flame: World's Most Complex Computer Virus Exposed
Quote:
The world's most complex computer virus, possessing a range of complex espionage capabilities, including the ability to secretly record conversations, has been exposed.
May 28, 2012
Middle Eastern states were targeted and Iran ordered an emergency review of official computer installations after the discovery of a new virus, known as Flame.
Experts said the massive malicious software was 20 times more powerful than other known cyber warfare programmes including the Stuxnet virus and could only have been created by a state.
It is the third cyber attack weapon targeting systems in the Middle East to be exposed in recent years.
Iran has alleged that the West and Israel are orchestrating a secret war of sabotage using yber warfare and targeted assassinations of its scientists as part of the dispute over its nuclear programme.
Stuxnet attacked Iran's nuclear programme in 2010, while a related programme, Duqu, named after the Star Wars villain, stole data.
Flame can gather data files, remotely change settings on computers, turn on computer microphones to record conversations, take screen shots and copy instant messaging chats.
The virus was discovered by a Russian security firm that specialises in targeting malicious computer code.
It made the 20 gigabyte virus available to other researchers yesterday claiming it did not fully understand its scope and said its code was 100 times the size of the most malicious software.
Kaspersky Labs said the programme appeared to have been released five years ago and had infected machines in Iran, Israel, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
"If Flame went on undiscovered for five years, the only logical conclusion is that there are other operations ongoing that we don't know about," Roel Schouwenberg, a Kaspersky security senior researcher, said.
Professor Alan Woodward from the department of computing at the University of Surrey said the virus was extremely invasive. It could "vacuum up" information by copying keyboard strokes and the voices of people nearby.
"This wasn't written by some spotty teenager in his/her bedroom. It is large, complicated and dedicated to stealing data whilst remaining hidden for a long time," he said.
The virus contains about 20 times as much code as Stuxnet, which attacked an Iranian uranium enrichment facility, causing centrifuges to fail. Iran's output of uranium was suffered a severe blow as a result of the Stuxnet activities.
Mr Schouwenberg said there was evidence to suggest the code was commissioned by the same nation or nations that were behind Stuxnet and Duqu.
Iran's Computer Emergency Response Team said it was "a close relation" of Stuxnet, which has itself been linked to Duqu, another complicated information-stealing virus is believed to be the work of state intelligence.
It said organisations had been given software to detect and remove the newly-discovered virus at the beginning of May.
Crysys Lab, which analyses computer viruses at Budapest University. said the technical evidence for a link between Flame and Stuxnet or Duqu was inconclusive.
The newly-discovered virus does not spread itself automatically but only when hidden controllers allow it.
Unprecedented layers of software allow Flame to penetrate remote computer networks undetected.
The file, which infects Microsoft Windows computers, has five encryption algorithms, exotic data storage formats and the ability to steal documents, spy on computer users and more.
Components enable those behind it, who use a network of rapidly-shifting "command and control" servers to direct the virus, to turn microphone into listening devices, siphon off documents and log keystrokes.
Eugene Kaspersky, the founder of Kaspersky Lab, noted that "it took us 6 months to analyse Stuxnet. [This] is 20 times more complicated".
Once a machine is infected additional modules can be added to the system allowing the machine to undertake specific tracking projects.
Israel: Don't blame the Flame cyberattack on us http://asset1.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d...0331_virus.jpg
A spokesperson for the country tells the BBC in an interview that comments made by Israel's vice prime minister on the issue were taken out of context.
by Don Reisinger
The Flame worm has put the Middle East on high alert and caused several security experts to look for the source. And although some media reports have linked Israel to the attack, the country has denied all involvement.
The trouble for Israel started recently when the country's vice prime minister Moshe Ya'alon said on Israel's military radio station, Army Radio, that "there are quite a few governments in the west that have rich high-tech [capabilities] that view Iran, and particularly the Iranian nuclear threat, as a meaningful threat -- and can possibly be involved with this field."
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Ya'alon went on to say that every country that "sees the Iranian nuclear threat as a significant one" might "take every single measure available, including these, to harm the Iranian nuclear project."
Those comments sparked suggestions among some that Israel might have been behind the malware, which Kaspersky Lab researchers are calling, "the most sophisticated cyberweapon yet unleashed." However, in a statement to the BBC today, a spokesman for Ya'alon said that "there was no part of the interview where the minister has said anything to imply that Israel was responsible for the virus."
Flame was discovered earlier this week. The malware has been in operation since 2010, and according to Kaspersky, is "state-sponsored." The virus is specifically designed to steal information about targeted systems and stored files, as well as information on the computer display and audio conversations. Iran was the central target for the virus, but it also impacted machines in the West Bank, Sudan, Syria, and other Middle East countries.
"One of the most alarming facts is that the Flame cyber-attack campaign is currently in its active phase, and its operator is consistently surveilling infected systems, collecting information and targeting new systems to accomplish its unknown goals," Kaspersky said this week.
Although no countries have come forward to stake claim to the virus, the U.S. and Israel have been cited most often. Earlier this week, MSNBC reported that it had spoken with a U.S. official who claimed "it was U.S." behind the attack. However, the U.S. has so far not commented on the virus and the official speaking to MSNBC acknowledged that he or she had no "first-hand knowledge" of the virus.
Update 5:45 a.m. PT to include more details.
Stuxnet was work of U.S. and Israeli experts, officials say
By Ellen Nakashima and Joby Warrick, Friday, June 1, 9:03 AM
A damaging cyberattack against Iran’s nuclear program was the work of U.S. and Israeli experts and proceeded under the secret orders of President Obama, who was eager to slow Iran’s apparent progress toward building an atomic bomb without launching a traditional military attack, say current and former U.S. officials.
The origins of the cyberweapon, which outside analysts dubbed Stuxnet after it was discovered in 2010, have long been debated, with most experts concluding that the United States and Israel likely collaborated on the effort. The current and former U.S. officials confirmed that long-standing suspicion Friday, after a New York Times report on the program.
The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe the classified effort code-named Olympic Games, said that it was first developed during the administration of George W. Bush and was geared toward damaging Iran’s nuclear capability gradually while sowing confusion among Iranian scientists about the cause of mishaps.
The use of the cyberweapon — code designed to infiltrate and damage systems run by computers — was supposed to make the Iranians think their engineers were incapable of running a uranium enrichment facility, said one participant in the cyberattack. “If you had wholesale destruction right away, then they generally can figure out what happened, and it doesn’t look like incompetence.”
Even after software security companies discovered Stuxnet loose on the Internet in 2010, causing concern among U.S. officials, Obama secretly ordered the operation continued. Overall, the attack destroyed nearly 1,000 of Iran’s 6,000 centrifuges — fast-spinning machines that enrich uranium, an essential step toward building an atomic bomb. The National Security Agency developed the cyberweapon with help of Israeli experts.
Iranian officials had no immediate comment on the news reports on Stuxnet Friday. In the past, they have blamed U.S. and Israeli officials and said that their nuclear program is for peaceful purposes such as generating electricity, not making bombs.
White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden declined to comment on Friday’s reports.
The revelations come at a particularly sensitive time, as the United States and five other world powers are engaged in talks with Iran on proposed cuts to its nuclear program. Iran has refused to agree to any concessions on what it says is its rightful pursuit of peaceful nuclear energy. The next round of negotiations are scheduled for later this month in Moscow.
Iranian officials have denounced the cyberattacks — as well as the slayings of four Iranian scientists in recent years — as part of a “terrorist” campaign backed by Israel and the United States. U.S. intelligence officials attribute recently foiled assassination plots against Israeli, U.S. and Saudi diplomats to an Iranian effort to retaliate against such covert actions.
In a statement released this week by Iran’s U.N. mission, a spokesman complained that Iran has been a “victim of vicious acts of terrorism” and accused the West of being hypocritical in its complains about alleged Iranian-sponsored attacks.
“This raises the question of who really supports terrorism,” the statement said.
Senior Bush administration officials developed the idea of using a computer worm, with Israeli assistance, to damage Iranian centrifuges at its uranium enrichment plant in Natanz.
“Effectively the United States has gone to war with Iran and has chosen to do so in this manner because the effects can justify this means,” said Rafal Rohozinski, a cybersecurity expert and principal of the SecDev Group, referring to the slowing of Iran’s nuclear program.
“This officially signals the beginning of the cyber arms race in practice, and not in theory,” he said.
With more countries in the race to develop cyberweapons, Stuxnet has set a precedent for their use that may embolden others to use them, some experts say.
U.S. officials have long had concerns about backlash, which is one reason why ambiguity about who was behind the worm was useful.
“I think it is very dangerous for the United States to do this stuff because the U.S. is the most vulnerable country in the world to e-attacks,” said one security official with knowledge of the program, referring to the country’s reliance on computers for everything from banking and commerce to running power systems and sending e-mail.
Gonna post this here.
The signs of a world war are as follows.
1. Depression / dying economy
2. Development of arms...
3. Assassinations of enemy nation's government leaders
4. Ongoing wars.
1. The world economic condition is in bad shape and moving toward depression. (definition of a depression isa sustained economic recession in which a nation's Gross National Product (GNP) is falling and marked by low production and sales and a high rate of business failures and unemployment). Several countries are on the edge of DEFAULT!
2. Arms development. Russia and China building new crap, planes, carriers, etc. North Korea developing better nukes. Iran developing nukes.
3. Don't think anyone has been assassinated lately - but wait for it... something will happen soon in places like Greece, England, Spain, etc.
4. Guess we can say there are at least a couple of "on-going" wars and conflicts at the moment.
We've fulfilled many of the items above - and though I am certain there are other, perhaps more persuasive signs, these are historical in the sense they pointed to World War II. And to a great degree World War I.
I suppose it comes down to who acts and the manner they act, how they act and when. I guess we poor citizens can sit and watch, wait and see - and then get drafted or ordered into our homes for the duration.
Depends I guess on what each of US do....
I have a sinking suspicion war could break out between member states of the EU. and given that they are all mostly NATO nations, how does that work itself out....?
If that happens, i'm CERTAIN China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran will also start wars while taking advantage of the situation in europe. just a scenario we were kicking around at work today.
-ev
Which member states do you see specifically?
I see Greece, Germany and Spain involved.... pissing at each other over money.
But I'm usually wrong.
Will World War III be between the U.S. and China?
By Max Hastings
UPDATED: 20:11 EST, 25 November 2011
China's vast military machine grows by the day. America's sending troops to Australia in response. As tension between the two superpowers escalates, Max Hastings warns of a terrifying threat to world peace.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/...83_233x374.jpg Mass hysteria: The armies of Mao Tse-tung stunned the world by intervening in the Korean War
On the evening of November 1, 1950, 22-year-old Private Carl Simon of the U.S. 8th Cavalry lay shivering with his comrades in the icy mountains of North Korea.
A patrol had just reported itself ‘under attack from unidentified troops’, which bemused and dismayed the Americans, because their campaign to occupy North Korea seemed all but complete.
Suddenly, through the darkness came sounds of bugle calls, gunfire, shouts in a language that the 8th Cavalry’s Korean interpreters could not understand. A few minutes later, waves of attackers charged into the American positions, screaming, firing and throwing grenades.
‘There was just mass hysteria,’ Simon told me long afterwards. ‘It was every man for himself. I didn’t know which way to go. In the end, I just ran with the crowd. We ran and ran until the bugles grew fainter.’
This was the moment, of course, when the armies of Mao Tse-tung stunned the world by intervening in the Korean War. It had begun in June, when Communist North Korean forces invaded the South.
U.S. and British forces repelled the communists, fighting in the name of the United Nations, then pushed deep into North Korea. Seeing their ally on the brink of defeat, the Chinese determined to take a hand.
In barren mountains just a few miles south of their own border, in the winter of 1950 their troops achieved a stunning surprise. The Chinese drove the American interlopers hundreds of miles south before they themselves were pushed back. Eventually a front was stabilised and the situation sank into stalemate.
Three years later, the United States was thankful to get out of its unwanted war with China by accepting a compromise peace, along the armistice line which still divides the two Koreas today.
For most of the succeeding 58 years the U.S., even while suffering defeat in Vietnam, has sustained strategic dominance of the Indo-Pacific region, home to half the world’s population.
Yet suddenly, everything is changing. China’s new economic power is being matched by a military build-up which deeply alarms its Asian neighbours, and Washington. The spectre of armed conflict between the superpowers, unknown since the Korean War ended in 1953, looms once more.
American strategy guru Paul Stares says: ‘If past experience is any guide, the United States and China will find themselves embroiled in a serious crisis at some point in the future.’
The Chinese navy is growing fast, acquiring aircraft-carriers and sophisticated missile systems. Beijing makes no secret of its determination to rule the oil-rich South China Sea, heedless of the claims of others such as Vietnam and the Philippines.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/...26_468x286.jpg Expansion: The Chinese navy is growing fast, acquiring sophisticated missile systems
The Chinese foreign minister recently gave a speech in which he reminded the nations of South-East Asia that they are small, while China is very big.
Michael Auslin of the American Enterprise Institute described these remarks as the diplomatic equivalent of the town bully saying to the neighbours: ‘We really hope nothing happens to your nice new car.’
This year, China has refused stormbound U.S. Navy vessels admission to its ports, and in January chose the occasion of a visit from the U.S. defence secretary to show off its new, sophisticated J-20 stealth combat aircraft.
Michael Auslin, like many other Americans, is infuriated by the brutishness with which the dragon is now flexing its military muscles: ‘We have a China that is undermining the global system that allowed it to get rich and powerful, a China that now feels a sense of grievance every time it is called to account for its disruptive behaviour.’
Washington was angered by Beijing’s careless response to North Korea’s unprovoked sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan a year ago, followed by its shelling of Yeonpyeong island, a South Korean archipelago.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/...83_468x286.jpg Wreckage: Washington was angered by Beijing's careless response to North Korea's sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan
When the U.S. Navy deployed warships in the Yellow Sea in a show of support for the South Korean government, Beijing denounced America, blandly denying North Korea’s guilt. The Chinese claimed that they were merely displaying even-handedness and restraint, but an exasperated President Obama said: ‘There’s a difference between restraint and wilful blindness to consistent problems.’
Washington is increasingly sensitive to the fact that its bases in the western Pacific have become vulnerable to Chinese missiles. This is one reason why last week the U.S. made a historic agreement with Australia to station up to 2,500 U.S. Marines in the north of the country.
Beijing denounced the deal, saying it was not ‘appropriate to intensify and expand military alliances and may not be in the interests of countries within this region’.
Even within Australia, the agreement for the U.S. base has provoked controversy.
More...
Hugh White of the Australian National University calls it ‘a potentially risky move’. He argues that, in the new world, America should gracefully back down from its claims to exercise Indo-Pacific hegemony, ‘relinquish primacy in the region and share power with China and others’.
But Richard Haas, chairman of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, says: ‘U.S. policy must create a climate in which a rising China is never tempted to use its growing power coercively within or outside the region.’
To put the matter more bluntly, leading Americans fear that once the current big expansion of Chinese armed forces reaches maturity, within a decade or so, Beijing will have no bourgeois scruples about using force to get its way in the world — unless America and its allies are militarily strong enough to deter them.
Meanwhile, in Beijing’s corridors of power there is a fissure between the political and financial leadership, and the generals and admirals.
On the one hand, Chinese economic bosses are appalled by the current turmoil in the West’s financial system, which threatens the buying power of their biggest customers.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/...91_233x400.jpg Allies: The U.S. made a historic agreement with Australia to station up to 2,500 U.S. Marines in the north of the country
On the other, Chinese military chiefs gloat without embarrassment at the spectacle of weakened Western nations.
As America announces its intention to cut back defence spending, the Chinese armed forces see historic opportunities beckon. Ever since Mao Tse-tung gained control of his country in 1949, China has been striving to escape from what it sees as American containment.
The issue of Taiwan is a permanent open sore: the U.S. is absolutely committed to protecting its independence and freedom. Taiwan broke away from mainland China in 1949, when the rump of the defeated Nationalists under their leader Chiang Kai-shek fled to the island, and established their own government under an American security blanket.
China has never wavered in its view that the island was ‘stolen’ by the capitalists, and is determined to get it back.
Beijing was infuriated by America’s recent £4 billion arms deal with Taiwan which includes the sale of 114 Patriot anti-ballistic missiles, 60 Blackhawk helicopters and two minesweepers.
When I last visited China, I was struck by how strongly ordinary Chinese feel about Taiwan. They argue that the West’s refusal to acknowledge their sovereignty reflects a wider lack of recognition of their country’s new status in the world.
A young Beijinger named David Zhang says: ‘The most important thing for Americans to do is to stop being arrogant and talk with their counterparts in China on a basis of mutual respect.’ That is how many of his contemporaries feel, as citizens of the proud, assertive new China.
But how is the West supposed to do business with an Asian giant that is not merely utterly heedless of its own citizens’ human rights, but also supports some of the vilest regimes in the world, for its own commercial purposes?
Burma’s tyrannical military rulers would have been toppled years ago, but for the backing of the Chinese, who have huge investments there.
A million Chinese in Africa promote their country’s massive commercial offensive, designed to secure an armlock on the continent’s natural resources. To that end, following its declared policy of ‘non-interference’, China backs bloody tyrannies, foremost among them that of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/...23_468x286.jpg 'Non-interference': China backs bloody tyrannies, foremost among them that of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe
China, like Russia, refuses to endorse more stringent sanctions against Iran, in response to its nuclear weapons-building programme, because Beijing wants Iranian oil. Indeed, Chinese foreign policy is bleakly consistent: it dismisses pleas from the world’s democracies that, as a new global force, it should play a part in sustaining world order.
If Chinese leaders — or indeed citizens — were speaking frankly, they would reply to their country’s critics: ‘The West has exploited the world order for centuries to suit itself. Now it is our turn to exploit it to suit ourselves.’
A friend of ours has recently been working closely with Chinese leaders in Hong Kong. I said to his wife that I could not withhold a touch of sympathy for a rising nation which, in the past, was mercilessly bullied by the West.
She responded: ‘Maybe, but when they are on top I don’t think they will be very kind.’ I fear that she is right. It seems hard to overstate the ruthlessness with which China is pursuing its purposes at home and abroad.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/...26_233x423.jpg China chose to make an example of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu by jailing him for 11 years
The country imprisons Nobel prizewinners such as the political activist and writer Liu Xiaobo, steals intellectual property and technological know-how from every nation with which it does business and strives to deny its people access to information through internet censorship.
The people of Tibet suffer relentless persecution from their Chinese occupiers, while Western leaders who meet the Dalai Lama are snubbed in consequence.
Other Asian nations are appalled by China’s campaign to dominate the Western Pacific. Japan’s fears of Chinese-North Korean behaviour are becoming so acute that the country might even abandon decades of eschewing nuclear weapons, to create a deterrent.
A few months ago, the Chinese party-controlled newspaper Global Times carried a harshly bellicose editorial, warning other nations not to frustrate Beijing’s ambitions in the South China Sea — Vietnam, for example, is building schools and roads to assert its sovereignty on a series of disputed islands also claimed by China.
The Beijing newspaper wrote: ‘If Vietnam continues to provoke China, China will . . . if necessary strike back with naval forces. If Vietnam wants to start a war, China has the confidence to destroy invading Vietnam battleships.’
This sort of violent language was familiar in the era of Mao Tse-tung, but jars painfully on Western susceptibilities in the 21st century. China’s official press has urged the government to boycott American companies that sell arms to Taiwan.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/...02_468x286.jpg The people of Tibet suffer relentless persecution from their Chinese occupiers
The Global Times, again, demands retaliation against the United States: ‘Let the Chinese people have the last word.’
Beyond mere sabre-rattling, China is conducting increasingly sophisticated cyber-warfare penetration of American corporate, military and government computer systems. For now, their purpose seems exploratory rather than destructive.
But the next time China and the United States find themselves in confrontation, a cyber-conflict seems highly likely. The potential impact of such action is devastating, in an era when computers control almost everything.
It would be extravagant to suggest that the United States and China are about to pick up a shooting war where they left off in November 1950, when Private Carl Simon suffered the shock of his young life on a North Korean hillside.
But we should be in no doubt, that China and the United States are squaring off for a historic Indo-Pacific confrontation.
Even if, for obvious economic reasons, China does not want outright war, few military men of any nationality doubt that the Pacific region is now the most plausible place in the world for a great power clash.
Michael Auslin of the American Enterprise Institute declares resoundingly: ‘America’s economic health and global leadership in the next generation depend on maintaining our role in the world’s most dynamic region.’
But the Chinese fiercely dissent from this view. It is hard to exaggerate the threat which this clash of wills poses for peace in Asia, and for us all, in the coming decades.
Romney, Russia, and Ukraine
At the end of his meeting with Medvedev, Obama asserted that he would have “more flexibility” after the November elections in dealing with controversial issues such as Missile Defense (MD). The remarks set off alarm bells among Republicans that Obama was placating the Kremlin by making major concessions on MD. Some Republican leaders even charged the White House with secretive deal making about US national security.
Democrats in turn attacked Romney as a Cold Warrior for claiming that Russia remained America’s “number-one geopolitical enemy.” Obama himself had previously asserted that Putin still had a foot in the Cold War past. But all such Cold War comparisons miss the most important question: in present-day geopolitical configurations is Russia a partner or a competitor for the US? The answer is that both Obama and Romney are correct.
Obama’s Russia “reset” was based on the premise that Moscow can be drawn into cooperative relations by focusing on joint projects. And this proved useful in signing a new arms control agreement, gaining NATO access to Afghanistan across the former Soviet Union, and placing limited UN sanctions on Iran. However, in the bigger picture Romney is right that a resurgent Russia ultimately challenges US interests in numerous domains. His views are shared by many senior Republicans, including Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl.
According to Romney, Russia’s nuclear arsenal, its energy politics, its geographic position astride Europe and Asia, the veto it wields on the UN Security Council, and its domestic authoritarianism present serious challenges for Washington. And among the regional challenges are the future of Ukraine and other former Soviet republics that are seeking to avoid incorporation in a new Moscow-dominated bloc.
Although Romney has not been specific on Ukraine or the broader region, he has strongly favored NATO enlargement eastward, condemned Russia’s occupation of Georgian territory, and supported the emplacement of the MD system in Central Europe.
In doing so, Romney has depicted Obama’s foreign policy as weak and indecisive. Although much of this is electioneering bluster, Democrat representatives are themselves aggressively defending the president by exaggerating Romney’s comments on Russia as “reckless and dangerous.” Democrats also underscore Obama’s foreign policy successes in decimating al Qaeda’s leadership, ending the Iraq war, and initiating a transition in Afghanistan.
If Ukraine was a developing democracy and eager to join NATO and the EU, much like Georgia, it would benefit from more substantial support among the majority of Republicans. But Kyiv’s problem is Ukraine’s reversals in democratic development and its deteriorating human rights record. This can rebound negatively if Romney reaches the White House.
The human rights constituency in Washington spans both parties and one of its most active champions is John McCain, who is likely to be a senior voice on foreign policy in a future Republican administration. US support for Ukrainian independence may be tempered by condemnation of its internal politics, much like in Belarus. Hence, it will be vital for Kyiv to demonstrate that it is determined to maintain its national sovereignty, as Washington has doubts about Minsk’s commitment to statehood.
The Romney approach may be even more evident toward Russia, where the Putinist system not only destroys democracy, but also threatens US allies and partners. Putin’s assertive foreign policy distracts attention from domestic upheavals by depicting the US as the major global adversary intent on breaking up Russia.
Whatever the degree of cooperation in arms control or counter-terrorism, the fundamental relationship between the US and Russia will remain competitive and potentially conflictive. While the Democrats are right that one can work with Moscow in certain circumscribed areas, Romney is also correct that at present no single power is as well positioned as Russia to disrupt America’s national interests. And a Romney administration could prove more intent on responding to Moscow’s challenges.
Janusz Bugajski is a Senior Associate in the Europe Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C.
Supposition by FNC Martha McCallum...
"Is the US and Russia fighting a proxy war right now in Syria".
Claims made on both sides that the other side is supplying weapons. US has claimed Russia is supplying modernized Russian weapons, including AK-47s, and attack helicopters to the Syrian Government to keep Assad in power.
Russia is claiming the US has been supplying similar weapons to the rebel forces.
The Rebels are vastly outmatched already and now helicopters are alleged to have flattened a couple of towns. Russians have CLAIMED that a couple of "towns have been purged of rebel fighting forces...."
To me, that's an admission of the flattened towns, by Russia who had to have had a hand in it.
Those machines aren't like ours, aren't designed to take down a couple of people or a group. They are designed to destroy and kill everything that MOVES in front of them.
Wesley Clark (US 4 Star General) US will attack 7 countries in 5 years
Wesley Clark , Oct 3 2007 at the commonwealth club of California. (San Francisco California )
He openly says that there was a policy coup . ( Donald Rumsfeld , Paul Wolfowitz , Dick Cheney ) - Project for a New American Century .
He stated that they are going to destroy the governments of 7 countries in 5 years .Countries listed below !
Iraq, Syria , Lebanon , Libya, Samolia , Sudan and Iran
( 7 countries in 5 years)
They must clean up all former soviet client regimes before the next super power comes on to challenge us.
So if this was Bush's foreign policy why has it been accelerated under the Obama/Clinton Administration?
I guess the Clinton/Obama/Soros/Brzezinski plan was to bring Russia in from the cold and cut deals with them as we take down their former "Soviet Client Regimes" Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria and Iran before we get into the next World War.
Which I guess is with China as we try to isolate them and shift our Naval Assets in the region under the guise of taking down their Client "North Korea".
Russia and China are aware of this:
Companion Post:
Quote:
Putin’s assertive foreign policy distracts attention from domestic upheavals by depicting the US as the major global adversary intent on breaking up Russia.
Whatever the degree of cooperation in arms control or counter-terrorism, the fundamental relationship between the US and Russia will remain competitive and potentially conflictive. While the Democrats are right that one can work with Moscow in certain circumscribed areas, Romney is also correct that at present no single power is as well positioned as Russia to disrupt America’s national interests.
Russia, China to boost military cooperation
Quote:
Moscow and Beijing will work to bring cooperation between the two countries' armed forces “to a new level,” Chinese President Hu Jintao has said.
This is not going to end well.
I've been thinking along these lines - and I suspect we've been in cahoots with Russia in some cases to hold China back, and I KNOW we've worked with China at least on the economic front.
I think you're right, not gonna end well.
U.S., Israel developed Flame computer virus to slow Iranian nuclear efforts, officials say
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View Photo Gallery — Stuxnet and other big worms and viruses: The computer virus is growing in popularity as the weapon of choice in the Middle East. Here’s a look at some of the more notable viruses and worms.
By Ellen Nakashima, Greg Miller and Julie Tate, Published: June 19
The United States and Israel jointly developed a sophisticated computer virus nicknamed Flame that collected intelligence in preparation for cyber-sabotage aimed at slowing Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon, according to Western officials with knowledge of the effort.
The massive piece of malware secretly mapped and monitored Iran’s computer networks, sending back a steady stream of intelligence to prepare for a cyber*warfare campaign, according to the officials.
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Iran’s quest to possess nuclear technology: Iran said it has made advances in nuclear technology, citing new uranium-enrichment centrifuges and domestically made reactor fuel.
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The effort, involving the National Security Agency, the CIA and Israel’s military, has included the use of destructive software such as the Stuxnet virus to cause malfunctions in Iran’s nuclear-enrichment equipment.
The emerging details about Flame provide new clues to what is thought to be the first sustained campaign of cyber-sabotage against an adversary of the United States.
“This is about preparing the battlefield for another type of covert action,” said one former high-ranking U.S. intelligence official, who added that Flame and Stuxnet were elements of a broader assault that continues today. “Cyber-collection against the Iranian program is way further down the road than this.”
Flame came to light last month after Iran detected a series of cyberattacks on its oil industry. The disruption was directed by Israel in a unilateral operation that apparently caught its American partners off guard, according to several U.S. and Western officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
There has been speculation that Washington had a role in developing Flame, but the collaboration on the virus between the United States and Israel has not been previously confirmed. Commercial security researchers reported last week that Flame contained some of the same code as Stuxnet. Experts described the overlap as DNA-like evidence that the two sets of malware were parallel projects run by the same entity.
Spokesmen for the CIA, the NSA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, as well as the Israeli Embassy in Washington, declined to comment.
The virus is among the most sophisticated and subversive pieces of malware to be exposed to date. Experts said the program was designed to replicate across even highly secure networks, then control everyday computer functions to send secrets back to its creators. The code could activate computer microphones and cameras, log keyboard strokes, take screen shots, extract geo*location data from images, and send and receive commands and data through Bluetooth wireless technology.
Flame was designed to do all this while masquerading as a routine Microsoft software update; it evaded detection for several years by using a sophisticated program to crack an encryption algorithm.
“This is not something that most security researchers have the skills or resources to do,” said Tom Parker, chief technology officer for FusionX, a security firm that specializes in simulating state-sponsored cyberattacks.
He said he does not know who was behind the virus. “You’d expect that of only the most advanced cryptomathematicians, such as those working at NSA.”
[IMG]https://d233eq3e3p3cv0.cloudfront.net/max/700/0*-q7X8V7ImVkLXedA.jpeg[/IMG]F-22 Raptor on May 10, 2012. Air Force photo
- in War is Boring
- 2 min read
F-22 Raptors Taunted Iranian Fighter Jets Earlier this year, Pentagon press secretary George Little said that an Iranian air force F-4 Phantom combat plane attempted to intercept a U.S. MQ-1 Predator drone flying through international airspace near Iran.
David Cenciotti writes: The March incident began over a drone, and luckily, no one started shooting
As we reported back then, one of the two F-4 Phantom jets — in service in Iran since the Shah — came to about 16 miles from the Predator, but broke off pursuit after two American planes escorting the drone broadcast a warning message.
It was a close call.
The March 2013 episode happened only a few months after a two Sukhoi Su-25 attack planes operated by the Pasdaran (the informal name of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards) attempted to shoot down an American MQ-1 flying a routine surveillance flight in international airspace some 16 miles off Iran.
After this attempted interception, the Pentagon decided to escort drones involved in reconnaissance missions with fighter jets: either F-18 Hornets embarked on the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis, currently in the U.S. Fifth Fleet area of responsibility, or F-22 Raptors like those deployed to Al Dhafra in the United Arab Emirates.
New details about the latest episode were recently disclosed by Air Force chief of staff Gen. Mark Welsh at an annual conference of the Air Force Association. On Sept. 17, the general not only confirmed that the escorting fighters were F-22 stealth fighters but also said that: “He [the Raptor pilot] flew under their aircraft [the F-4s] to check out their weapons load without them knowing that he was there, and then pulled up on their left wing and then called them and said ‘you really ought to go home.’”
If the episode went exactly as Welsh described it, it was something more similar to Maverick’s close encounter with Russian MiG-28s in Top Gun than a standard interception.
It would be interesting to know how the Raptors managed to remain in stealth. Did the pilots use radar? Were they vectored by an AWACS? Why didn’t an E-2 — providing Airborne Early Warning in the area — not broadcast the message to dissuade the F-4 from pursuing the drone before the Iranian Phantoms and the U.S. Raptors came close to a potentially dangerous and tense situation?
Anyway, the U.S. pilot scared the Iranian pilots off and saved the drone. A happy ending worthy of an action movie.
Boys and Girls... things are getting rather rough out there, judging from what I am reading in the news this morning.
Not only have the Russians essentially invaded Crimea/Ukraine, the Venezuelans are rioting in the streets as well. The country is in massive turmoil. It appears the military there might "step in" shortly....
I guess we live in interesting times. Russians invading the Ukraine and the collapse of popular socialism in Venezuela. Bah, it's not interesting, I need to see what's on the boob tube tonight.