RUSSIAN HACKING AND THE US
ELECTIONS. SAME OLD CAR….JUST NEW PAINT.
So the Russians attempted to
manipulate data to influence an event in the US? Is that earth shattering? Is
this yet another example of just how devious the Tsar truly is? It makes a
great news story for those reporters and listeners who have no clue how events
between countries have taken place for thousands of years. Four thousand years
ago, the Egyptians and the Chinese manipulated information to influence the opinions
and the actions of civilian populations and the truth be known, it was probably
going on even before these two great societies were established. The Spanish Inquisition. Now, there is a
great example of manipulating information. Radio Free Europe! Who ran that program?
What was the overall, strategic purpose? Yep. To destabilize, impact, foreign
governments. Tokyo Rose….Ditto! In the 21st century, does anyone
really believe the concept is going to change? What’s the old saying, “ Information
is power”!
In 2016 and beyond, countries are
going to continue to refine the weaponization of information. If most of that
information is now stored on the worldwide web, then that is where the fight is
going to move to, it already has. Why do you think the US and others are
spending Billions of dollars on cyber operations? The fact of the matter is,
everyone is doing it, but some have fewer restrictions on what their government
will allow them to do and that means someone or some nation has and will have
the advantage.
The story goes the Russians hacked
into private emails that painted a very embarrassing picture of the Democratic Party
in the US. Stop to ask yourself one question. Why would the Tsar pick Trump
over Hillary Clinton? I will tell you why, because the Tsar and his government
were and still are convinced that Hillary Clinton was part of an information
campaign to unravel the Tsar’s government. Yep. Hillary was part of an
information warfare operation. You can imagine how entertaining I found the
accusations against the Russians to be. By the way, Hillary is on record
stating she believed the Putin administration should be defeated! Gee, I wonder
why the Tsar was out to get her.
Are there boundaries to the concept
of information warfare? No. Should elections and the ability to influence elections
be placed off limits? No. No, because it would never hold. What happened in the
US elections cycle is nothing new. It will happen again. It will happen at the
hands of the West, the East and anyone else who sees information that can
further their plans.
Here is a bit of advice that I
fully believe no politician can ever follow. Don’t send emails that might embarrass
you or incriminate you. Did anyone happen to notice the emails that were hacked
were never disputed as being factual? Yes, I know towards the end, Hillary’s
camp tried to say the emails were forged, but unfortunately for her camp, the
ability to show authenticity is well known. How dare someone leak emails that
shows how dishonest a politician is!
It’s the 21st century and
the worldwide web, social media are only going to become more complex. The
ability to communicate without someone knowing your true intentions is always
going to be a risk that will have to be weighed.
In the end, this story is a few
thousand years old and something tells me releasing a few emails is going to be
seen as child’s play compared to what will happen in the future.
