If we want to save our country and be a beacon for global democracies, we’ve got to neutralize Putin.
We have to stop Russia’s infiltration or we’ve stopped nothing at all. If we don’t beat ‘em back now, they may not topple us this time but they’ll get us the next time.
Thread
1/ We’ve been so focused on the Circus of Trump, like moths drawn to a horror flame, but there’s a bigger picture. For context, let’s go back a decade to Estonia, when it tried to relocate a statue.
@ForeignPolicyforeignpolicy.com/2017/04/27/10-…
2/ ”Since 2014, Russia has also focused cyber attacks on Poland, Germany, France, Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Romania, Switzerland, Austria and Spain. In addition to information warfare, Russia is using economic and foreign direct investment.”-@dvgsecurity thehill.com/opinion/cybers…
3/ Con. “..plus funding and support for conservative and alt-right European political parties, to minimize the influence of Western-style democracy and convert the European powers to an authoritarian implementation of democratic principles.”-@dvgsecurity thehill.com/opinion/cybers…
4/ “We know they can use information warfare easily without having to put in too many resources because Russia is starting from a position of great economic weakness. Its economy is a tenth of the size of the economy of the United States”-@MishaGlenny
@NPRnpr.org/2018/07/15/629…
5/ “Putin has been likened to a mafia don running his homeland like a protection racket..allies are rewarded for loyalty. Enemies & rivals are ruthlessly extirpated..corruption, much of it officially facilitated and approved, sucks up 48% of GDP”
@guardianamp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
6/ “Russia takes advantage of the divisions within the West—and within the U.S.—by driving wedges between its opponents, using psychological warfare, propaganda, and cyberwar..Hacking the Democratic Party’s emails in 2016 hit that sweet spot.”
“Cyber warfare is no longer just about the technical details of computer ports and protocols. Rather, disinformation and social media are rapidly becoming the best hacking tools.”-@HowHackersThink
@FastCompanyfastcompany.com/90209667/what-…
11/ Con. “With social media, anyone–even Russian intelligence officers and professional trolls–can widely publish misleading content. As legendary hacker @kevinmitnick put it, ‘it’s easier to manipulate people rather than technology.’”-@HowHackersThink fastcompany.com/90209667/what-…
12/ “Russian interference undermined democracy in the West by destabilizing institutions and polarizing societies. Western democratic governments must strengthen their domestic institutions to protect against adversaries eager to exploit weaknesses.”
@FPRIfpri.org/article/2019/0…
13/ Contained in the Mueller Report is hard evidence of an illegitimate president* who benefited from dezinformatsiya, encouraged Russia’s criminal attacks and is doing nothing to prevent future attacks. Makes sense.
15/ Watch @ActMeasuresDoc to get the full backstory on Russia’s long game. If you don’t have access, here’s my review of the film. Even Trump’s catchphrases were recycled dezinformatsiya.
18/ Our illegitimate president* is doing a fantastic job for a marionette, a vulgarian against the world doing the bidding of his handler (see #14). Ergo, a global pariah’s emboldened.
“The troubling reality is that we lack a full picture of what is really happening in the social media (disinformation) sphere because the main platforms are not fully transparent."-@FabricePothier
22/ When the scope of the Russian cyber aggression was revealed in February 2018, it became very clear our democratic systems are fragile.
@TheJusticeDeptjustice.gov/file/1035477/d…
23/ Like a proper marionette, Trump has spent much as his presidency* obstructing justice.
25/ With Mueller’s stark warning on Russian cyber aggression still fresh in our minds, a Helsinki refresher is in order:
@BBCNewsbbc.com/news/world-eur…
29/ To understand recent Ukraine history, is to understand what we are dealing with in real time.
@politicopolitico.eu/article/ukrain…
30/ We need to create new words for a new war: “trolls” “hacks” and “meddling” must be thrown in the dustbin of history. These are benign words. They sound mischievous, rather than toxic, criminal. Nothing benign about losing your democracy to cyberwar.
31/ It will end badly for Trump, as it does for puppets. Maybe he’ll be impeached, indicted, and convicted. Or maybe he’ll grab the silver and run off to Russia. However it goes, we must stop Putin. We must thwart cyberwar. Or it’ll happen again. And again news.yahoo.com/nato-seeks-way…
ADDENDUM: A chilling reminder that all is not well, and all is not what it seems. h/t @Verba_et_Vertus
Julius Caesar stood on the banks of the Rubicon River contemplating the fate of his country and the world. The legions were expressly forbidden to return to the city of Rome for the Roman Senate knew very well that if they did, the Republic would lost.
2/
Caesar is reputed to have uttered the words “the die is cast”, as he ordered his troops to make the crossing.
Ever since Caesar’s pivotal decision, mankind has understood that the deployment of a nation’s armies against its own people marks the end of that nation.
3/
HOT TYPE: The Real Leaders of the Free World Are Women
My latest column in @BylineTimes focuses on the remarkable women leaders of Eastern Europe, who are a crucial counterweight to the media's obsession with the ‘strongmen’ Trump and Putin
I was an investigative reporter in broadcast journalism when Donald Trump landed on my radar in 2006 while I was interviewing the victims of a pyramid scheme. Lured in by get-rich-quick videos featuring Trump, some told me they’d spent their entire life savings on a video phone company that turned out to be bad business.
2/
So when I realized Trump had become a serious contender for US President in 2016, I had already investigated him and unearthed a long history of bad business dealings.
Canada and EU universities are offering US scientists and academics safe harbour from an increasingly authoritarian US in an echo of a dark past. From my latest column in @BylineTimes
“Project 2025 is a revenge fantasy and the victim is democracy… It reads like a Soviet-era how-to manual on the total annihilation of the US government and any critics of the regime.”—Heidi Siegmund Cuda, December 16, 2023
2/
In 2023, I reported that Donald Trump and the religious extremists he had aligned with created a blueprint for the total annihilation of democracy. The report was titled ‘A MAGA Hat and a Gun’ — Trump’s Violent Vision for 2025:
American columnist Heidi Siegmund Cuda turns to Václav Havel’s dissident essays from 1978, 'The Power of the Powerless', to learn how people can find a collective way back from democratic ruin bylinesupplement.com/p/hot-type-bei…
In 1969, when I was five years old, I traveled with my parents to Czechoslovakia. It was the same year my parents became proud US citizens. It was the same year humans landed on the moon.
1/
I recall making party favors for their citizenship celebration, using tie-dye bouncing balls that I painted to mirror the moon, attaching little astronaut figures holding American flags.
2/
In my latest Hot Type column, I document Russia’s attacks on 22 countries to show that America is just another campaign for Moscow and Elon Musk is just another oligarch.
It’s rare for an independent woman reporter like me to be invited on high-profile radio shows to discuss my work.
2/
Generally, independent investigative reporters, who freely speak to truth to power, are ignored by colleagues in legacy media, whose normalizing and euphemisms cloaking the rise of fascism allowed a decapitation strike on America by an organized crime ring run out of Moscow.
3/