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Kaspersky Lab Says It Has Become Pawn in US-Russia Geopolitical Game (reuters.com)
Russian cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab, reacting to a U.S. government move restricting its activities, said on Wednesday it had fallen victim to U.S.-Russia global sparring while the Kremlin criticized the U.S. action as politically-motivated. From a report: The Trump administration on Tuesday removed the Moscow-based firm from two lists of approved vendors used by government agencies to purchase technology equipment, amid concerns its products could be used by the Kremlin to gain entry into U.S. networks. "By all appearances, Kaspersky Lab happened to be dragged into a geopolitical fight where each side is trying to use the company as a pawn in its game," RIA news agency quoted the company's press service as saying.
children with nuclear weapons.
Is there any American company that can prove their independence from the U.S. government?
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Putin is certainly corrupt but he's not all powerful even in Russia. There are other oligarchs besides him in that country. I'm sure that Kaspersky Labs does things for the Russian Intel agencies. Just like Microsoft does things for the NSA in this country.
Cisco should realize that their word that they aren't acting on behalf of the American government isn't worth shit. The NSA is all fucking powerful in America and there is no rule of law there. So when they say they aren't at the behest of American intelligence, nobody fucking believes them.
Grow some balls and take back your democracy and rule of law and then maybe someone will believe you when you say you aren't a vehicle for American government surveillance.
Russia reverted to an illiberal criminal-syndicate state.
Not something the West has had much luck working with.
Hans plays with Lotte, Lotte plays with Jane
Jane plays with Willi, Willi is happy again
Suki plays with Leo, Sacha plays with Britt
Adolf builts a bonfire, Enrico plays with it
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Just a few examples:
1) Both are actively fighting radical Islamic terrorist threats
2) Both are pretty conservative (in opposition to the ultra-liberal European norm)
3) Both are very religious and very Christian (in opposition to the increasingly atheist/agnostic European norm)
4) Both are very patriotic (in opposition to the cynical European norm)
5) Both are taking a fairly hard-line approach to immigration (as opposed to other European countries who seem to just be throwing their doors open to any middle-aged African claiming to be a sixteen-year-old Syrian refugee)
6) Both still have an active and functioning space program
7) Both are very pro-military--in spirit, funding, and practice.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
The Cold War should have ended 25 years ago. But we just can't let it go.
Who is WE you are talking about?
Since the fall of the Berlin wall and Glasnost in Russia, who has been the aggressor and why?
The cold war WAS over until the Russians under Putin decided that they'd revive it for geopolitical reasons. Putin is doing all this in order to keep looking powerful and getting elected, but at this point it's all just show. Putin knows that a full frontal conflict with the USA would be a disaster for him, but he certainly is willing to take the risk of starting something he cannot finish in order to stay in power.
And what's the US's motivation? Generally we just want to engage in profitable trade and keep oil prices low/stable...With a bit of "keeping the terrorists at bay" thrown in of course.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Ditto for Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Apple, and all the other American companies vis-a-vis the US government.
Or German companies vis-a-vis the German government.
Or British companies vis-a-vis the British government.
Or French companies vis-a-vis the French government.
Welcome to reality.
The difference is that Russia is uniquely willing both to use malicious hacking as a first option and to apply unconventional pressure on its people. "What's that Eugene, you don't want to backdoor your software for us? Okay, well, we figured there was no harm in asking. By the way, doesn't your mother live near here? I wonder if we should stop by her place for a visit."
So we know of all these tools the US has had at its disposal, but other than maybe Stuxnet and a few others, it's hard to pinpoint real world fallout from their use. You can't swing a dead cat in this world without hitting a server that "patriotic Russian hackers" have compromised.
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
I think you are asking the wrong question. Of course there does not exist a company that is completely free from the laws, regulations and requirements of the country in which it works (and that includes all countries in which they work for the multinationals).
What you are forgetting in your question is that, in the United States, CEOs are not murdered by the United States government if they oppose the chief executive, as has happened with Russians. You are forgetting that the United States is not an official kleptocracy (yet) where plutocratic friends of Vladimir Putin are free to steal from the country's resources at the expense of the taxpayers and that the government there is absolutely uninterested in transparency. You are forgetting that, in Russia, there are no checks and balances, the Judiciary is not independent of the central government, that the legislature (Duma) does not hold hearings to investigate the President or the Prime Minister and that the current President found a loophole in the country's constitution that allows him to hold onto power for much longer than his country's constitutional intent.
From this standpoint, a company that is located in the United States is unfettered by the politics of the day, as long as the company produces a valuable product and is a good corporate citizen. When our federal government asked for a "back door" (as a forinstance) into the Apple iPhone, Apple fought it. and, although the issue was declared moot, the government had to come up with a hack that would work on its own.
Were Apple's headquarters in Moscow or St. Petersburg, there would be no appeal to a court—they would have been forced to comply. And there might have been a sudden, unexplained death of the CEO were there any resistance.
So, my answer to your question is, yes. Companies are independent from our government here in the United States. They do not exist at the pleasure and tolerance of our Chief Executive as they do in Russia
Gods don't kill people, people with gods kill people.
Russian oligarchs that don't follow Putin's orders end up dead and in jail.
That's the difference between Russia and the USA. We don't kill our cranky billionaires, or jail them on phony charges.
The Trump crime family broke alot of laws in their treasonous collusion with Russia's attack on our country, but we still let him run for president and "win"
Opposition figures in Russia are imprisoned and bankrupted by Vladimir Putin who has even less regard for the rule of law that his puppet Donald Trump. Once we kick that traitor out of office, America's rule of law will once again be a beacon to the free world.
It's not hard to understand the difference between Russia and the US, but if you can play the false equivalence game that equates a boring centrist (Hillary) to a right wing traitor (Trump) then I guess you are gullible enough believe any false equivalence.
>And what's the US's motivation?
Just off the top of my head...
The military-industrial complex still wields a lot of political clout, and a good enemy helps keep the defense contracts flowing.
We're also rapidly becoming an authoritarian surveillance state, and the "war on terror" is running out of steam as a distraction/justification for that. Having a more credible foreign threat helps keep that ball rolling as well.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
Don't forget the destabilization of Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea.
Better known as 318230.
The Pee Memos and the Russian Attorney are linked to the same Democratic Party black ops company, FusionGPS.
https://www.washingtonpost.com...
Not only that, but HRC campaign colluded with Ukrainian Government against Trump
A veteran DNC operative who previously worked in the Clinton White House, Alexandra Chalupa, worked with Ukrainian government officials and journalists from both Ukraine and America to dig up Russia-related opposition research on Trump and Manafort. She also shared her anti-Trump research with both the DNC and the Clinton campaign, according to the Politico report.
Both R and D are doing whatever it takes to win an election. No story here, unless you're equally outraged at "collusion" between Hillary and Ukraine, this is a nothing story.
The problem is, both sides are in deep, but we only hear about Trump.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
Who is WE you are talking about?
Since the fall of the Berlin wall and Glasnost in Russia, who has been the aggressor and why?
Okay, before Putin came to power, which is what you described, the US was the aggressor. Like during Clinton's 'Wag the dog' operation in bombing Serbia, which never did anything remotely anti-American. By supporting Chechen rebels against Russia. By continuing to expand NATO, despite the fact that NATO's rationale for existing - countering the Warsaw Pact & the Soviet Union - were gone!
GP was right. On 9/11, Islam showed us that it had succeeded Communism as the ideological enemy of not just the West, but the entire non-Muslim world. Yet we still have the bulk of our establishment politicians - both Democrat & Republican - obsessed w/ Russia. It showed in the 2000s, when the Bush Administration, despite the support from Uzbekistan, supported an attempt to oust the regime of Islam Karimov, who kept Jihadists in his country suppressed: in response to that, Tashkent canned 2 US air bases that were used in Afghan operations. The McCains, the Grahams, the Rubios are all a bunch of cretins who think that the hammer & sickle still fly in Moscow, but can't see Jihadists in Orlando or San Bernardino
What about Cisco?
Mother Russia thanks you for your service.
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
Sure, and Moscow is legitimately Mongolian, because they owned it once, and then later they didn't.
This is B.S. A gift is a gift first off, you can't just turn around and say "oops, I didn't realize the gift I gave you was worth so much!" Second, it is primarily Russian because of Russian military bases. Historically it has not been a Russian region, the Tatars have a stronger claim than either Russia or Ukraine, although they were forcibly removed by USSR after WWII ended.
Russia rolled into Ukraine against all international laws and norms. It's exactly what Hitler did in the Sudatenland, to "protect" a German speaking region. Except that ironically Russia was the one accusing Ukraine of being full of nazis (it's their go-to insult). The election in the Crimea was pure bullshit and had no legitimacy.
Russia really moved in because the Ukraine got rid of it's pro-Putin president and got a pro-western president. Putin hated the Orange revolution as he feels all former Russian or Soviet regions belong to him, and he treats it as an insult when they reject their former overlords.
The US doesn't drop this because Ukraine is our ally, and Russia is not.