By Colleen O’Connor
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine dominates the headlines; with good cause. Diplomacy is failing. Inflation is raging. Europe is reliving the nightmare possibilities of more Russian tanks, troops and trenches on its borders.
The current carefully scripted takeover of the two Ukrainian “state-lets” is a repeat of Putin’s takeover of the former Soviet state of Georgia, and more recently, the seizure of Crimea.
“August 7th, 2008, Russia launched a full-scale land, air and sea attack against its tiny neighbor, across an internationally recognized border.
The conflict pitted 70,000 Russian troops against Georgia’s army of about 10,000 soldiers and another 10,000 reservists. Needless to say, the “war” did not last long—it was over by August 12.”
That invasion lasted 5 days.
The current Ukrainian invasion, now a few days old, has spawned predictions from being a prelude to WWIII, a short-lived nibbling of nearby geography, and/or the takeover of the entire country.
One knowledgeable commentator predicted that Russia’s battle formation military of 180,000 troops, tanks, missiles, and aircraft could rollover the country of Ukraine in two weeks.
And the U.S. appears to be the guardian of last resort, seemingly frozen in place.
NATO has condemned the invasion, but not much fire power there.
Germany has halted construction of the Nord Stream II gas pipeline, but that hurts Germany’s fuel needs more than Russia. As former Senator, John McCain once famously remarked, “Russia is just “a large gas station, masquerading as a country.”
Yet, what can America, the superpower, do?
Sanctions? They do not work. Russia has amassed lots of cash, rogue states, corrupt politicians, and international bank hide-e-holes, to survive a long slog.
Cutting off the oil and gas hurts, but does not cripple Russia with its kleptocracy, corruption, oligarchs, and for now bloated cash accounts accumulated in advance.
Furthermore, this will be a new kind of war; a “hybrid” war. The current WWI version of “boots on the ground” in eastern Ukraine or frozen bank accounts will not end the conflict. Or even de-escalate the tensions.
Get ready for “high-tech, high-stakes” drama and a “shoot-out” among those modern-day stateless cowboys; aka hackers.
Grid shut downs; ransomware attacks; stock market woblies; random acts of chaos; and the new cyberweapons’ global warfare, as detailed in New York Times’ journalist, Nicole Perlroth’s book, This is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race.
Read It. Chilling and but a peek into what is coming. Starting with “Zero Days” computer software vulnerability. Meaning, by the time the malware is discovered it is too late. Zero days to fix it.
So, YOYO is the new theme; “You’re On Your Own,” against all the odds mentioned above, but what are “you” to do?
Stay off the grid? Lock and load? Shelter in Place? Pray?
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Colleen, thanks for the history update, we all need to remember the past so when we repeat it again, the bad outcome won’t be such a surprise.
The only thing we can do is stay calm and not go crazy worrying about all the many possible awful outcomes. We can’t stop it, so we just have to deal with what does happen. It’s beginning to feel as dangerous as it did when I was young and hiding under my school desk so the atom bomb wouldn’t get me.
Bloomberg News reporting: Cyberattacks on Ukraine this a.m.
Cyberattack on Ukraine Government Sites Reported (3:50 p.m.)
Several Ukrainian government websites including those of the Cabinet of Ministers and the parliament suffered cyberattacks Wednesday, according to news agency Interfax
Anonymous Hackers hit Russian sites! Cyberwar updates.
“As of Saturday, State Telecommunications Service stated more than 6 Russian government websites including the Kremlins official website are down and inaccessible following reports of cyberattacks on various other Russian government and state media websites.”
Vow more and to keep Ukraine sites online.
Hackers take down Russian site. Cyber war escalates. Feb. 26th
As of Saturday, State Telecommunications Service stated more than 6 Russian government websites including the Kremlins official website are down and inaccessible following reports of cyberattacks on various other Russian government and state media websites.
The choice is always war. Notice there isn’t any Peace Department in the US govnerment or any others (that I know of).
Gravitas, whose hackers? Every government has their own state-sanctioned hackers. What this shows is that putting all your eggs in one technological basket isn’t such a good idea. Computers are just too vulnerable is my thought. Read Edward Snowden’s book Permanent Record. That’s a wake-up call.
A world full of the worst kind of people in gov/business/military. Doesn’t matter what country, what economic system, what political system.
Very big sigh.
A link to Cat Steven’s worldwide Peace Train for a Saturday afternoon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QpjR6-Uuks
sealintheSelkirks
And now cryptocurrency tips/rewards/cyberattacks wanted to help Ukraine.
From Bloomberg News Sunday.
“Ukraine Government Wants Broad Crypto Crackdown on Russians”
Rewards offered for info on Russian politicians’ wallets
Asking major crypto exchanges to block all Russian users”
Now it’s take away Russia’s Crypto? What, like stealing Afghani billions and giving half to 911 families because…the Taliban were flying those jets?
Why didn’t the world sanction the US in 2003? Why isn’t Wbush and the rest in prison instead of Assange who only published the evidence of US war crimes?
And as for the worldwide peace protests around the world that year, they obviously didn’t stop the US so I don’t expect it to work on Russia, either.
When autocrats want to blow somebody up, they just go do it. They don’t listen to us at all. And we beat and imprison our peace protesters, too, just like Russia.
How George W. Bush Laid the Groundwork for Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/02/26/how-george-w-bush-laid-groundwork-putins-invasion-ukraine
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And now the outrage at Putin’s use of internationally banned cluster bombs. Russian-made cluster bombs? I thought everybody just bought them from the US. How many has the US sold to Saud’s Arabia used on Yemeni civilians??
Here’s how the US military thinks about cluster bombs on civilian populations:
https://nexusnewsfeed.com/article/human-rights/us-upholds-use-of-illegal-cluster-bombs-as-legitimate/
A 2019 plan to phase out the use of cluster bombs that are considered indiscriminate due to their release of unguided sub-munitions was called off by military officials. In a press statement, the U.S. Department of Defense defended its use of internationally outlawed cluster bombs because of their alleged importance in warfare.
“The Department of Defense has determined that cluster munitions remain a vital military capability in the tougher warfighting environment ahead of us, while still a relatively safe one,” Pentagon spokesman Tom Crossen said.
Officials told Reuters that safer weapons have not advanced to the point of being able to tactically replace already existing cluster weapons.
“Although the Department seeks to field a new generation of more highly reliable munitions, we cannot risk mission failure or accept the potential of increased military and civilian casualties by forfeiting the best available capabilities,” a Pentagon memo cited by Reuters insists.
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Why is it we can no more change our country’s behavior than Russians can change theirs? And it’s always about wealth and power.
How do we change this paradigm or is war always inevitable? You know something? It’s been one second to midnight our entire freaking life.
sealintheSelkirks