- Russia has been using a playbook developed in the KGB’s Andropov Institute and by other intelligence agencies, a set of methods called “active measures” described by KGB defector Oleg Kalugin as follows: “Not intelligence collection, but subversion: active measures to weaken the West, to drive wedges in the Western community alliances of all sorts, particularly NATO, to sow discord among allies, to weaken the United States in the eyes of the people of Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and thus to prepare ground in case the war really occurs. To make America more vulnerable to the anger and distrust of other peoples.”
Shared but sigh. But the truth is far more alarming. Russia’s activities aren’t part of a conspiracy. They are elements of an openly stated doctrine — a resurrection of Soviet style political warfare, in which intelligence agencies seek to amplify divisions among their enemies, weakening the Western front by sowing discord and dissent whenever the opportunity presents itself. Well yes and no. The FSB had been in the DNC's servers for like a year from what I've read. Then the GRU stumbled on in and tripped enough alarms that they fucked it up for the FSB. So on the one hand, yeah, classic spy shit. On the other hand, "Watergate break-in." Did it ever really leave? eyeroll Russia, as the USSR, had a buffer of client states surrounding it and protecting it from direct Western interface. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, those client states became foreign (the "near abroad" as they evocatively call it). People forget: Lenin Stalin Khruschev Brezhnev Andropov Chernenko Gorbachev Yeltsin Putin That's every ruler of Russia since Czar Nicholas and Andropov and Chernenko were good for 27 months between the two of them. Gorbachev was the first premier that wasn't buddies with Stalin; Putin was a lieutenant colonel in the KGB when the USSR collapsed - he got to see Gorbachev fuck it up and Yeltsin burn it down. AND - strongman that he is, demagogue that he is, certified Bad Dude that he is, Russia is stronger today than it's been since the defeat in Afghanistan - a defeat that was 100% instigated, funded and coordinated by the United States. "Democratic fabric of American society?" Yes, we call that propaganda. It's been around for a while. Know why Condoleeza Rice was Bush's National Security Advisor? EXCUSE ME? The guy who fought the Soviets in Nicaragua, Panama and Afghanistan "ended" containment? To say that the kleptocracy that swept Russia under Yeltsin was a "choice" is to argue that ISIS was a "choice."TALLINN — The revelation that Russia’s intelligence services hacked the computer systems of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in what appears an attempt to weaken her in the U.S. election against Donald Trump may seem like the stuff of conspiracy.
The political warfare of the Cold War is back — in updated form, with meaner, more modern tools, including a vast state media empire in Western languages, hackers, spies, agents, useful idiots, compatriot groups, and hordes of internet trolls.
What the Russians have in their sights is nothing less than the democratic fabric of American society and the integrity of the system of Western liberal values.
Russia is effectively using our democracies and our systems of rule of law against us. The method works like a computer virus. They insert a lie, a false accusation, a fabrication, an illegally-obtained private conversation — some form of kompromat — into our media, competing for ratings and ad revenue, and then they let us tear ourselves apart.
On one occasion, some years after the Spanish Armada, Sir Walter Raleigh complained bitterly about the Spanish propaganda (though he didn’t use that name). He was angry about a Spanish report of a sea battle near the Azores between the British ship Revenge and the ships of the Spanish king. He said it was “no marvel that the Spaniard should seek by false and slanderous pamphlets, advisoes, and letters, to cover their own loss and to derogate from others their own honours, especially in this fight being performed far off.” And then he recalled that back at the time of the Spanish Armada, when the Spaniards “purposed the invasion” of England, they published “in sundry languages, in print, great victories in words, which they pleaded to have obtained against this realm; and spread the same in a most false sort over all parts of France, Italy, and elsewhere.” The truth of course was that the Spanish Armada suffered a colossal disaster in 1588.
The West has been slow to see Putin’s reign for what it is: a KGB takeover of Russia. The security services now operate unrestrained. They are the state.
At a 1985 meeting of arms control experts at Stanford, Rice's performance drew the attention of Brent Scowcroft, who had served as National Security Advisor under Gerald Ford. With the election of George H. W. Bush, Scowcroft returned to the White House as National Security Adviser in 1989, and he asked Rice to become his Soviet expert on the United States National Security Council. According to R. Nicholas Burns, President Bush was "captivated" by Rice, and relied heavily on her advice in his dealings with Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin.
In the early 1980s, U.S. President Ronald Reagan ended the long period of containment, saying he had a simple policy objective toward the USSR: “We win and they lose.”
He inspired a vision that eventually broke the Soviet Union, liberated Europe, and gave Russians a chance to live in a plural, representative democracy where they had the right to determine their own future. They didn’t choose it.
I agree with your analysis, but I forgive the simplistic terms of the article for the simple reason that at least it's raising the issue. I'll bet if you polled millennials, many would be unaware that the destruction of capitalism (and world domination a la some Bond villain) was the stated position of the USSR for the entirety of their terrible, short history. It's important to keep that memory alive, especially as Putin is a career spy who made a living terrorizing East Germans.
I might be wrong wrong (ThatFanficGuy, we need you here), but I think that the FSB has a different logo. This one is from the Военная Разведка ВС РФ - Russia's Military Intelligence, which, I am assuming, operates under a different roof. FSB functions within the country (or at least it's supposed to), while the Military Intelligence would probably deal with external affairs. Still a sick logo though.
I spent a week in Finland last month. I can say without reservation that the Finns are scared stiff of the Russians. All my cousins wanted to talk about was whether and how the west would support them if Putin invaded. It's a small but real possibility to them. There are still people alive in Finland who lived through the winter war.
I think for much of the west, "Scandinavia" is a broadly-defined thing north of Europe that most people would be shocked isn't universally NATO. I suspect aggression in Finland would be recognized as a dire crisis by every player in the theater. Ahhh, the Winter War.
So your chief criticism is that the article is understating not only the length of time that Russia has been antagonizing the West but the scope of this undermining? But at the same time, it's more or less to be expected because this is how states operate. I'm glad that somehow George H. W. Bush et al were able to help smooth the transition from two superpowers to one with little blood lost. But I'm not sure future Western leadership (either Trump or the typically hawkish Clinton) will be capable of replicating relatively peaceful geopolitical transitions if Russia's ruling class has an existential crisis that can only be assuaged by creating a new buffer of states around it.
My chief criticism is that the article is overstating the threat that Russia presents by insinuating that the actions of Russia are in some way new, novel, or unprecedented. The shit Russia is pulling is the shit state actors have pulled on each other since Augustus Caesar. In this case, neither the technology nor the methods have changed. Yes - Russia has basically said that economic warfare and propaganda are fair game but that's basically just another way of pointing out that the Americans have been doing it forever, too. I mean, here's a book wherein all the shit we're accusing Putin of doing to the US, the CIA was doing to the US. Everything old is new again. And granted - were I Estonian, I'd probably see an existential threat in Putin flexing into Crimea. But I'm not.
Fun trivia. Putin was Kissinger's driver in St. Petersburg.
The shitty thing is that we have a whole generation who has given up on Russia as a threat. The only thing they hear about the cold war is Joe McCarthy, and they think the whole thing was overblown. The CIA may be populated by paranoid and power hungry jerkoffs, but the KGB is just depraved. They used to treat their own Olympic athletes like criminals in waiting. I was happy to read a former CIA director endorse Clinton today. Even if that's a bridge too far for most national security types, I hope more have the foresight to denounce Trump ASAP.
You sound like you have a serious bone to pick with Russia. Why is a general, nationwide awareness of Russia as a threat important to you?
I don't have a bone to pick with Russia. I just don't want to see a return to Soviet power. The USSR was a plague on the world in general, and Eastern Europe in particular. Putin seems to long for the "glory days" of Brezhnev invading Czechoslovakia for daring to want their own brand of communism. The world shouldn't have to endure another bout of Bolshevism any more than it should have to endure the Nazis for a second time. I think a failure of imagination vis-a-vis what Putin's designs on Eastern Europe are could be a complete catastrophe. That's all. No ill will toward Russia or the Russian people from me.
I'm not a defender of all things Russian. Thank you, I was curious as to what was populating your worldview that I might not have known about.
USA stands in the way of a unified world government. Elements at home and abroad have been working tirelessly since the late 90s to take down the hyperpower. The conflicts are theatre or at worst case jockeying for securing revenue streams for the neofeudal global regime. Today's criminals are tomorrow's aristocracy. You know, the question in the early days post 9/11 was "do they think we are stupid?". Now it is clear that they are simply making a point that you the poeple are (clearly and I must agree) unfit for self governance.
Am I the only one who is calling bullshit on this entire conspiracy against Clinton? the polls are a fucking joke - and this entire scam has played into Clinton's favor. If you want to know what the hell is going on here. LOOK AT WHERE THE MONEY IS GOING. Money is not cash fyi. Or, the dollar is not money. Yes, I'm calling bullshit on the whole fucking thing. If I could short the entire dollar, I would. But I'm not there yet. If my words have you laughing then don't waste your time reading on First off, Clinton is beholdent to a floating currency that is, for a fact, being disowned by the rest of the real wealthy types in the world today. Trump understands the difference between money, and currency. What if this was all a fucking maneaveur by the Clinton resime to maintain the power and status quo as the impending collapse of our fiancial system is iminent? No, don't waste your time breaking apart my claims with links and your own knowledge. Waste of time You are all wrong, anyone want to bet money on it? Russia has more long term value than any country in the world. They know it. the imprint of the bloated - overbearing system of governance the current United States government has devolved to.... ESPECIALLY their unbalanced influence on the rest of the world out of said systems in place, is what is forcing the issue. Hillary Clinton as president is going to being a massive world conflict. 33% chance.... BECAUSE THE BITCH doesn't fucking care about reality, only implementing her ideals and being in power above those. The world doesn't turn on ideals Trump is not an ideologue, he is a fucking greedy bastard who is horrendously full of himself. Clinton is exactly the same but has pursued the same means in a completely oposite way. Hubski you've pissed me off again see you in a few weeks.
Trump is a man of questionable moral character and based on his record as owner and operator of a gambling casino not above exploiting his fellow human beings ("losers") for profit. He is also a narcissist of first order and unable to attract and take benefit from informed advice. Clinton is a member of an initiated servant family of the ruling oligarchy and (along with her husband) complicit in various crimes, including war crimes, and apparently "above the law". This nation has fallen to depths that was unimaginable merely 20 years ago, following other nations before it.
I've said it here before. America has a 4 year plan to take over the world. Russia has a 400 year plan to take over the world, and the ability to exchange land for time in a way the US cannot. Russia's been trying to take over the world since Peter the Great (well, he was the first to be any good at it), and has a lot more experience, but America's faster than the "Giant with Feet of Clay". Then again, Russia has already waited out France, England, and Germany - What's one more? We'll see how it plays out in a hundred years or so. If you've not read War at the Top of the World by Eric Margolis, I recommend it. He's got bias like anyone else, but he talks it pretty straight.