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Molly McKew Profile picture
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13 Apr, 5 tweets, 2 min read
At SASC hearing on European Command priorities, good answer from Gen. Wolters on a (somewhat irritating) question about whether EUCOM should “free up” assets used to deter Russia to compete with China: /1
WOLTERS: “My first response is, what we do to effectively compete and deter against the nearest-peer competitor in Europe — Russia — is effective in deterring China, because of the connectivity between the two nations ... /2
... and the willingness of both nations to engage in malign influence against the United States and against NATO. So those activities that allow us to continue to be successful in the competition phase against Russia are also helpful against China.” /3
This point about the cooperation between Russia and China against US strategic interests is critical and not made enough.

It is also highlight in today’s Global Threat Assessment from ODNI /4

dni.gov/files/ODNI/doc…
I wrote about how Chinese and Russian interests are aligned, and how we must account for that in our own planning, here: /5

greatpower.us/p/the-way-ahea…

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More from @MollyMcKew

Molly McKew Profile picture
10 Apr
Made some of my favorite post-Soviet-world treats for an under-the-weather friend (toasted sesame seeds in a spiced honey caramel, basically).

Sesame seeds are loaded with iron, magnesium, calcium, protein — a good gift for all kinds of friends and neighbors who need a boost.
Also a good opportunity to use your trusted Jameson rolling pin
Some of you asked for a recipe. There are as many versions as grandmothers but I like mine crunchy and use this:

2 c sesame seeds
1/2 c fragrant honey (orange blossom etc)
1/2 c raw sugar
Spices to taste— I use 1/2 or 1 tsp cinnamon & ginger plus some coriander & lavender
Read 9 tweets
Molly McKew Profile picture
19 Mar
Oh my goodness, the forever-kale — long may she reign 🥬 👑— has made kale babies just in time for spring!

(Btw, my phone tries to autocorrect the word “kale” to “jaleo” which I think is pretty A+ cc @chefjoseandres )
And ok, I give a lot of credit to the bountious forever-kale, which has survived a year of hot and ice and snow and ups and downs of the DC weather shield — but shoutouts to the forever dandelion greens, watercress, and parsley are also in order as we roll into spring
Also excited to see the first scarlet nubbins of the red fennel peeking out from beneath the accumulated bird seed. Prettiest thing in the garden.
Read 4 tweets
Molly McKew Profile picture
17 Mar
The ODNI report on foreign threats to the 2020 elections shows a serious, ongoing threat to US national security that we really aren’t talking about: the American proxies & dupes doing the Kremlin’s dirty work against America

New via @RenewGreatPower /1

greatpower.us/p/in-the-2020-…
The report covers technical interference, Russia, Iran, China, and other actors.

It also corrects (without saying so) some misrepresentations of US intelligence findings issued before the election, which attempted to play up Chinese initiatives and downplay Russian activities /2
Key takeaways—

1) Trump’s denial of 2016 Russian elex interference & refusal to act helped normalize the use of election interference by a broader range of actors who perceive there are few real costs. This is now just another tool in the toolkit. Bad news. /3
Read 22 tweets
Molly McKew Profile picture
11 Mar
New FBI bulletin from warns of increased use of synthetic media in influence operations, specifically mentioning use of these tools for “social engineering”

The acknowledgement that the goal of these ops is behavioral change is a leap forward from 2017 /1 beta.documentcloud.org/documents/2050…
Cc “it’s just Facebook ads” and “but it doesn’t do anything” people

Recommendations on what you can do about it are all over the place — jumble of security tips and “media literacy” recs

“Train users to report social engineering attempts” — sure, ok, easy-peasy /2
I remain 🙄 of solutions that pass along responsibility for state-led attacks to individual citizens. But I am encouraged to see greater engagement from the government & timely warnings like this that add authority and credibility to attempts to explain what has been happening /3
Read 4 tweets
Molly McKew Profile picture
24 Feb
An interesting point from the Bill Burns/CIA confirmation hearing today.

Sen. Blumenthal raised the issue of US Intel agencies going around legal restrictions/court approval to buy the private data of Americans from data brokers — which he labelled sleazy operators (true) /1
Raises an interesting point tho about the “OSINT” stuff which often relies on such purchased/illicit but online anyway data

“private” researchers can leverage information in ways Intel agencies can’t—in ways they are often criticized for (“how can they not know, it’s online”) /2
This same data also underpins all political campaigns.

Why should goons like Parscale get to use this against Americans? /3
Read 4 tweets
Molly McKew Profile picture
10 Feb
Republican commentator on PBS makes point that by same standard presented by House managers, you could argue many Republican senators also incited violence and anti-constitutional sentiments — but like, yes, that’s the point.
Now she is arguing Trump tweeted a lot, so a hundred or so tweet inciting violence isn’t really a lot in the total volume, and just 😂
Republican commentator on PBS continues: are we getting to the point where everyone is going to be held accountable for what they say? I hope not.

...
Read 4 tweets

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