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US Government Crackdown Threatens Kaspersky's American Dream (reuters.com)
Eugene Kaspersky, the CEO of the Russian cybersecurity software firm that bears his name, had a big American dream. From a report: He wanted his company to go beyond selling anti-virus software to consumers and small businesses and become a major vendor to the U.S. government -- one of the world's biggest buyers of cybersecurity tools. Kaspersky set up a U.S. subsidiary, KGSS, in Arlington, Virginia that would be focused on winning that business. He sponsored flashy conferences with high-profile speakers --including Michael Flynn, who was briefly President Donald Trump's national security adviser -- sought to join U.S. trade groups and even underwrote programming on National Public Radio. All of this was done to burnish Kaspersky's image and help it become an accepted vendor for the U.S. government despite its Russian roots, according to people familiar with the strategy. But Eugene Kaspersky was never able to overcome lingering suspicions among U.S. intelligence officials that he and his company were, or could become, pawns of Russia's spy agencies. Kaspersky "has never helped, nor will help, any government in the world with its cyberespionage efforts," the company said. Kaspersky's American ambitions were further eroded by the sharp deterioration in U.S.-Russia relations following Russia's invasion of Crimea in 2014, and later when U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russia had hacked the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
As much as I distrust the NSA and loathe the MSM's "Russia narrative," don't see why I should feel bad about foreigners not getting my tax dollars to perform security-sensitive work that should go to US citizens. Keep the jobs and the secrets stateside.
Remember when the US empire collapsed, and US gangsters moved in with Russia's blessing and bought up US assets for pennies on the dollar - despite Russian assurances that they wouldn't fuck the US over for coming back into the international fold? Remember when the Russians promised that they wouldn't expand their military bases and missile shields right up US borders, and then installed bases in Canada and Mexico?
Oh, right. That didn't happen. It was in fact the total opposite of what occurred.
You think Russians have short memories, my friend. Russia has been around a lot longer than the US, and has fought far worse enemies on their own soil at a tremendous cost that the US even lacks a context to compare with. Not only are they a far tougher breed of people, it's easy to forget they put the first satellite in space. The first human in space. They play chess while the US plays checkers. They have Putin, while the US has a buffoon at best, and a puppet at worst.
They don't need to watch movies. They know exactly what it takes to play with the most mendacious power on Earth. A weakened US isn't good for the geopolitical balance, but I can't fault them for wanting some serious payback. Never forget that Putin is a product of the times of this humiliation when Russia was on its knees. Turnabout is fair play, they say, but fracturing the US domestically - look at the level of hate in this country right now - seems like soft power at its most nefarious.
"has never helped, nor will help, any government in the world with its cyberespionage efforts,"
And this is why they won't win any contracts. Symantec refuses to share their source code with other governments and is at the same time one of the biggest US government contractors despite their products consistently scoring lowest detection rates.
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Not difficult at all. First of all, how do you even know, there was an actual "approval of the population"? Residents of an occupied territory "voting" in support of the occupying power — is that really that convincing to you?
But even if a respectable proportion did sincerely want Russia to come over and "protect them". Imagine Mexico "reinforcing" Southern California and Arizona... Why? To protect the Spanish speaking people from the imminent threat of "Nazis" — like Donald Trump and Joe Arpaio... And claim "historical ownership" of the lands going back to Santa Anna.
Will you really have any difficulty deciding, whether it was an "invasion" and seek a different term? What if they promptly organize a referendum on whether to join Mexico — will you accept its results?
No, we can't. Russia delenda est. The country — since long before Lenin — is a constant threat to liberty and peace world-wide with nothing especially valuable to justify it... There is definitely nothing to "respect" them for — not even their lousy weaponry.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.