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Russia Says in Talks With US To Create Cyber Security Working Group (reuters.com)

Posted by msmash on from the up-next dept.

An anonymous reader shares a brief report on Reuters: Moscow and Washington are in talks to create a joint cyber security working group, RIA news agency reported on Thursday, citing Russia's special envoy on cyber security Andrey Krutskikh. Further reading: CBS News.

55 of 158 comments (clear)

  1. At least they're honest by nine-times · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Trump says:

    Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded..

    To which I can only say, at least he's being honest. He wants to guard the election hacking and many other negative things. He's not saying that he wants to guard against election hacking, but he wants to guard the election hacking to prevent American law enforcement from interfering and allowing fair elections.

    Seriously, though, we need to get this guy out of office. Just yesterday, he admitted that he wouldn't have appointed Sessions to Attorney General if he'd known that Sessions wasn't going to help cover up his campaign's collusion with the Russian government. Even if Putin weren't involved, Trump's involvement already means that this wouldn't should not be trusted with the security of our elections.

    1. Re:At least they're honest by Enigma2175 · · Score: 4, Funny

      In other news, the US has decided to outsource all henhouse guarding in the country to We Are Foxes, Inc. Proponents claim this will save the country eleventy kajillion dollars per year.

      --

      Enigma

    2. Re: At least they're honest by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yoy have jusy won the idiot of the day competition

    3. Re:At least they're honest by DigiShaman · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      Oh please. Robert Mueller investigation into Trump is staffed with people whom have had direct campaigning with the Clintons. His scope into the investigation is unlimited. The point isn't to nail Trump on anything with Russia; no, that's bonus points. Rather, this entire *legalized* fishing expedition into trump is to gather anything that could be used against him and the GOP for the 2020 election cycle. In addition, to slog the Trump administration down so effectively he's a lame duck president that can't push anything through the door policy-wise.

      It's a cold civil war. You know it. I know it. We all know it. Anything goes. No matter who ends up winning, we all lose. If Trump doesn't end up as the next Julius Caesar, totalitarianism will just take another form via the "Deep State".

      America is done! The only question is what happens next?

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    4. Re:At least they're honest by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Oh please. Robert Mueller investigation into Trump is staffed with people whom have had direct campaigning with the Clintons.

      In a country with for all practical purposes only two parties, you sided with one or the other, no getting around it.

      But does it matter? If they find bonafide "wrong-doing", it bonafide "wrong-doing" no matter who discovers it. And, a biased Libertard Snowflake Demobrat is more likely to uncover the dirt both because they are more motivated to find something, and it has been established that Trump's supporters at the high level of Dirt Investigators are predisposed to miraculously find nothing at all.

      --
      If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    5. Re:At least they're honest by nine-times · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Oh please. Robert Mueller investigation into Trump is staffed with people whom have had direct campaigning with the Clintons.

      So first, I've heard about this accusation, and then heard disputes, claiming that some people had been somewhat involved with campaigning for Clinton, while others were Republicans. I haven't investigated that myself, but it seemed worth mentioning.

      And honestly, beside all of that, these people are respected independent investigators. And even if they were biased against Trump, it's not entirely a conflict of interest for an investigator to be biased against the people they're investigating. If a police officer is investigating you for murder, it's not really a defense to say, "I must be innocent because the police officer doesn't like me." If a police officer thinks that you're a murderer, you could expect that he wouldn't like you. It'd be far more of a conflict of interest for the investigator to be a political ally.

      If you had some evidence that Mueller is trying to frame Trump or misrepresent the facts, that'd be one thing. As far as I've heard, no one reputable has raised any doubt about Mueller's ethics.

      And beside all that, they've already been caught. No need for a fishing expedition. No need to frame anyone. The Trump campaign colluded with Russia. First the defense was, "we didn't collude," then it was, "we colluded a little, but there wasn't anything illegal," and now it's turned into, "it may have been a little illegal, but those laws don't count." We know there were meetings with people representing the Russian government to coordinate efforts to influence the election, which coincided with Russia hacking Democrats, hacking election systems, and pushing an advanced propaganda campaign. There were multiple meetings and communications between many people in the Trump campaign and the Russians, they tried to hide it, they lied about it under oath, and now they're caught.

      There's still work for investigators to do. It's not enough to know it. They need hard proof of violation of specific laws. They want to know exactly what was done, how, and by whom. That'll take a while. But we already know they did it.

    6. Re:At least they're honest by DigiShaman · · Score: 1, Troll

      Trump didn't collude with Russia. If he did, there would already be articles of impeachment and Pence would be the acting POTUS. Period. The GOP establishment wants nothing to do with the fallout! As for CNN and the rest of the mainstream media. Everything they've reported has either been exaggerated from supposition or outright fabricated. Essentially everything brought out against Trump in this regard is a big giant nothing burger.

      As for the accusations, they're true. http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/12/...

      As for Robert Mueller himself has close ties to Comey. While is in of itself isn't a problem per se, it's highly biased. For a high profile investigation, Mueller shouldn't even be leading this. It's more or less a conflict of interest.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    7. Re:At least they're honest by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      She's protecting herself from going to jail. By accusing someone else for the very actions she's been involved in (collusion with Russia), it make it all more difficult for the shift in blame to be shifted back to her; specifically if it's over the same thing. She's smart to be pro-active in deflecting her criminal activity.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    8. Re:At least they're honest by nine-times · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Trump didn't collude with Russia. If he did, there would already be articles of impeachment and Pence would be the acting POTUS. Period.

      First, the investigation isn't done. You don't really want to start a trial before you've gathered all the evidence you think you need. Second, impeachment is a political process, not a law enforcement process, and so it's entirely dependent on the majority of Congress deciding they want to bring charges. I think we've already seen that the Republicans want to cover this up.

      As for the accusations, they're true. http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/12/... [cnn.com]

      Umm... let's look at this article. First sentence:

      Three members of the legal team known to have been hired so far by special counsel Robert Mueller to handle the Russia investigation have given political donations almost exclusively to Democrats

      So *three* members. Three out of five. Three of them have given political donations "almost exclusively" to Democrats. From the use of the word "almost", we can conclude that they didn't give money exclusively to Democrats. It says later in the article that one of the three donated to Jason Chaffetz and George Allen, both Republicans.

      And that's just political donations, not active campaigning. It's not terribly uncommon for people to donate some money to a political party. So what do you want? You want to disqualify anyone who ever donated money to a Democratic campaign from working on the investigation? That'd be absurd.

      As for Robert Mueller himself has close ties to Comey. While is in of itself isn't a problem per se, it's highly biased.

      You mean biased toward ethics and fair enforcement of the law? I'll take that bias. And if Mueller is so terrible, why was he being considered for the head of the FBI? Why was he appointed by the Deputy Attorney General. Why is it that of all the major Republican figures, only Trump has anything bad to say about Mueller?

      I mean, exercise a little judgement. Think for yourself, at least a little bit.

    9. Re:At least they're honest by DigiShaman · · Score: 1, Troll

      I know you don't get it. Most people don't. And no, you're not a smart as you think you are.

      The fact is the GOP Establishment (Washington DC) is in alignment with Democrats with mutual (but differing in other areas) interests. In effect, it's Trump vs. the World at the political and geo-political level. So here comes Trump, trolled the entire process, and WON election. Shell-shocked the fuck of the entire political echo chamber. I mean, how could "the pussy grabber" win?? Easy. Real real easy! He wasn't a conservative. This wasn't an election about values. It was an election about justice. It was rural vs urban. And, it's being played out all over the world. It's how the Brexit happened. It's how the world is pivoting away from Globalism due to the stratification of wealth it has caused, eviscerating the middle-class in the process.

      Ok, so again your asking "why Mueller?". Notice all the others that smell opportunity after a Trump victory? Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos (maybe), Kid Rock, Dwayne Johnson - AKA The Rock...all of them are OUTSIDERS. Even to a lesser extent, Bernie Sanders was an outsider to the DNC. In fact, the Deep State FBI is going after his wife. Never mind the fact the Clintons have entire cemeteries while Jane had few skeletons in the closet. The DC establishment has a few fires to put out, and they will punish and stamp out anyone who's not them. They will not let that insolence to their way of life stand!

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    10. Re:At least they're honest by skids · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      There's enough dirt to go around

      Whatever, Trump is dirtier than socks. So obviously, that he is a national embarrassment. Doesn't matter how much other dirt is around, he is the skidmark on the national underwear, and gets top priority on laundry day.

      --
      Someone had to do it.
    11. Re:At least they're honest by skids · · Score: 1

      Notice all the others that smell opportunity after a Trump victory?

      You forgot: workplace sex pigs, real estate money launderers, and just about every con artist in the world. To them, the election was a declaration that it is open season.

      Really, just the encouragement the Trump victory provides to the worst assholes humanity has to offer represents a huge amount of damage to society.

      --
      Someone had to do it.
    12. Re:At least they're honest by DigiShaman · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. -C. S. Lewis

      Yeah, I'd rather have sleazeballs in office than someone ideological do-gooder whom thinks they know what's better for me, and proceeds to act on it to the detriment of my actual wellbeing.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    13. Re:At least they're honest by DigiShaman · · Score: 2

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    14. Re:At least they're honest by skids · · Score: 1

      By accusing someone else for the very actions she's been involved in

      Oooh. A meta-Rovian-flip. The absurdity has started to eat its own tail.

      Then:
      "I love my grandchildren so much, but if I talk about them for more than nine or 10 seconds ... after that, what are you going to say? ... I love golf, but after speaking about golf for a couple minutes, it’s tough.”"

      Now:
      "I went down just to say hello to Melania, and while I was there I said hello to Putin. Really, pleasantries more than anything else. It was not a long conversation, but it was, you know, could be 15 minutes(sic). Just talked about things"

      --
      Someone had to do it.
    15. Re:At least they're honest by nine-times · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I know you don't get it. Most people don't. And no, you're not a smart as you think you are.

      Geeze. What, are you 15 years old?

      The fact is the GOP Establishment (Washington DC) is in alignment with Democrats with mutual (but differing in other areas) interests. In effect, it's Trump vs. the World at the political and geo-political level.

      And Trump is such a rebel against the Republican Establishment that he's just been turning to the Republican party and saying, "Let's do whatever you want. Give me bills, and I'll sign them. I don't really care what they do." He's so against globalism that he recently moved to expand a program to bring in unskilled immigrant labor.

      The truth is, you've been played. Worse, the guy who played you is only barely trying to hide it. It's like you're watching a magician who says, "Hey, watch me 'saw my assistant in half'. Right? I mean, obviously you can't saw a person in half, but I'm going to do it. That's the trick!" And then you see his assistant climb out of the box's false bottom, but you're still sitting there in awe, saying, "This guy is brilliant! I can't even figure out how he did it!"

      This wasn't an election about values. It was an election about justice. It was rural vs urban. And, it's being played out all over the world. It's how the Brexit happened. It's how the world is pivoting away from Globalism due to the stratification of wealth it has caused, eviscerating the middle-class in the process.

      Well, no, it was an election about values. One of the chief values was "fuck Democrats". Also, "I want to get mine, even if the rest of the world goes down the tubes." And also, "we need to get rid of all these Mexicans and Muslims, and put these black people in jail."

      And really, it wasn't about urban vs. rural. It was about cosmopolitanism vs nationalism far more than that. It was about pro-authoritarian xenophobic nationalists wanting to give a poke in the eye to "city fags" because "they think they're smarter than me!" There are a lot of apologists who want to make it about, "Oh, these poor coal miners. The coastal elite are in a bubble, out of touch with the poor coal miners." Nope. You had some people who were sold a pack of obvious lies, and some people who were straight up bigots, but it was never about the struggling rural areas or the evisceration of the middle class. Trump isn't doing anything to help those people.

      The rest... it's paranoid nonsense. Try a news source other than InfoWars.

    16. Re:At least they're honest by DigiShaman · · Score: 1, Interesting

      The DNC is the party of pure evil Duh! Of course it was about fucking the Democrats. :) Only true patriots fuck Democrats out of power. The 2ndary mission is to do the same to the GOP.

      I'm a libertarian - small "L". The party is a joke and always will be.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    17. Re:At least they're honest by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      GOP is locked in a civil war of its own between Trump being the titular head (though they despise him for that being the POTUS and all), and blue blooded establishment types. The Democrats have just lost their mind. It's pure lunacy what's going on in that party.

      I predict that the DNC will get back into power (the demographs are not in the GOPs favor), but headed by the Silicon Sultans with the siren song of "free shit" and universal income. I mean, the real irony is that they are the cause of all this wealth stratification from the insourcing and outsourcing going on. But let's be real, these Sultans of the west coast are neo feudalist. Let the fun (not) begin!

      Start stacking :)

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    18. Re:At least they're honest by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      If he continues to have approval ratings like he does now, and the Democrats can find a relatively decent candidate, I see little likelihood of a second term for Trump. As to impeachment, that all depends on what comes out of the investigations. Right now, with a large portion of the Republican base still behind Trump, Congressional Republicans are in a politically difficult spot; to move openly against him is to basically declare war on your voters. But if his approval ratings continue to fall, and the base starts to erode, then there are going to be a lot of Republicans in the House who will start asking "Is he a liability to my re-election." At the moment, the answer to that question is no, currently Trump is not a liability, but if, in six or nine months, he's suddenly crashing into the low 30s or the high 20s, then yes, his unpopularity will almost certainly have an effect on down ticket races.

      And really, when you look at the situation on Capitol Hill, it's pretty clear that while Republican lawmakers by and large are making plenty of pro-Trump noises, the reality is that they aren't breaking their backs to push his agenda. He's had no significant legislation passed, and the failure of the ACA repeal-and-replace shows just how little political capital Trump really has, to the point that he's left with little more than cheap threats.

      This is the master negotiator, who in reality has so few real negotiating skills that he can't even sell anything to his own party. So even if he survives four years, he'll have been rendered largely impotent. And if he's this unpopular in three years, there's even the possibility that he won't be able to gain his own party's nomination. There are ways to kill the Trump presidency that don't involve lawmakers removing him from office.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    19. Re:At least they're honest by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      Ok, what news source did you read this? Considering there's been nothing about what you speak of in the news (and let's be honest: if there was any kernel of truth to this, it would be all over considering how Russia is the hot topic lately), I think you either made that up or read some sensational story someone else made up.

      The usual claims seems to be about Hillary giving a huge chunk of Uranium in exchange for Clinton Foundation donations. That theory falls apart when you realize Hillary did not have veto power over the decision (only Obama did), nor was she a participant in the decision. Second, the uranium was not (and cannot be) transported out of the US. It remains under control of the US subsidiaries.

      That and the donations people were up in arms about occurred when GWB was president, and it came from the non-Russian founder of the company. The closest we can get to malfeasance here is that the Clinton Foundation did not properly disclose the much smaller donations that happened later

    20. Re:At least they're honest by nine-times · · Score: 3, Interesting

      GOP is locked in a civil war of its own between Trump being the titular head (though they despise him for that being the POTUS and all), and blue blooded establishment types.

      I think that's a misunderstanding of what's going on. There isn't one big unified "establishment" that doesn't like Trump. There are bunch of factions within the Republican party. Most of them don't like Trump. Like... loads and loads of people on all sides of things don't like Trump. It's not because he's disturbing their comfortable status quo, it's because he's a dangerous moron. He's a narcissist and a con man, but he doesn't even understand how things work well enough to fool anyone except people who are even bigger morons.

      But he seems to have reached a deal with the Republican leadership that amounts to this: Republicans will support Trump publicly and try to protect him from his scandals, and Trump will do whatever they say. If Republicans can pass a healthcare bill, he'll sign it, even if it violates all of his campaign promises. Meanwhile, Republicans will try to defend his lining his own pockets and abusing power. It's been an uneasy detente, but Trump is specifically *not* upsetting the comfortable status quo for "the Establishment". He's hurting poor people and minorities, and not the rich and powerful.

      However, even that's starting to break down. Republicans haven't been able to get much done, so while Trump will sign anything that gets put on his desk, that's not very valuable if they can't get a bill to his desk. Meanwhile, his scandals have gone from, "Trump is profiting off of the presidency in ways that are unethical and probably illegal," to "Trump conspired with the Russians to fix the election," so he's becoming harder and harder to defend.

      Of course he tries to make it sound like people are out to get him. It's just like the "vast right-wing conspiracy" that was out to get Bill Clinton. You know the saying, "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean people aren't out to get you"? Well, just because people are out to get you doesn't mean you aren't guilty. Trump may have plenty of political enemies, but even the facts that he's willing to concede show a pretty clear pattern of coordinating with Russia, and undermining our national security in order to serve Putin's interests.

    21. Re:At least they're honest by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You're a special kind of sucker. The kind that is used against the rare honest politician. Your attitude is actually part of the problem.

    22. Re:At least they're honest by dbIII · · Score: 1

      Trump didn't collude with Russia. If he did, there would already be articles of impeachment

      Go ask your Dad how many years it took for Nixon to resign after Watergate hit the papers, then add a few more on to get how long it would take for impeachment even if Republicans didn't control congress.

    23. Re:At least they're honest by dbIII · · Score: 1

      Oh yes I forgot - Hillary uses email, thus whatever crime anyone else does she's done worse.
      Why the fuck are you still pushing this shit? Hillary lost. She's irrelevant, so making up all kinds of stupid shit about here to try to fool readers here does nothing other than demonstrate your contempt for us all whether R, D or none of the above.

    24. Re:At least they're honest by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      In the world of mass-media and soundbites, politics is governed by the seriousness of the charge and not the nature of the evidence. Contrary to how it's supposed to be.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    25. Re:At least they're honest by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      You won. Get over it.

      You apparently have admitted that the administration is sleazeballs, and are now trying to justify them by claiming that it could be worse. More people now disapprove of Trump than ever disapproved of Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Busy, Clinton, Bush, or Obama, so it's unclear how it's supposed to be worse.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    26. Re:At least they're honest by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      http://www.politico.com/story/...

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    27. Re:At least they're honest by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

      That's right. When is the last time a Democrat recused themselves. I don't ever recall it happening. Going back 50 years. He's disappointed in him because it showed he's weak.

      Obama on the other hand knew it was happening and criticized Trump for indicating it was even a possibility. He even made a speech on it right here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?... space to 17:50. Understand while he's saying this, he knows very well exactly what he is saying can't happen is in fact happening.

      We finally have a real president, probably the first one since Reagan and you hate him. Look into history, understand why you're wrong.

  2. What? Why? by EndlessNameless · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The US and Russia have adversarial interests quite frequently. You can list every country in eastern Europe and the Middle East, and most of them have been a source of contention between the US and Russia in the last 20 years.

    Given that frequency of conflict, why on earth would the US share sensitive technical information? What is Russia offering that Israel, Germany, and the UK aren't?

    The US has a few arrangements already, and those include nations which are both technologically astute and far more friendly than Russia.

    I don't care what Trump says; he knows jack about cyber security. What do the real experts think the US will gain? I.e., private sector and NSA/CIA security analysts.

    --

    ---
    According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
    1. Re: What? Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Trump doesn't want to listen to the experts because then he would essentially be 'admitting' that they are correct about what Russia did to our election (I'm not talking about collusion, just the Russian meddling/attack).
      That admission would hurt his fragile ego and in his mind would put the legitimacy of his presidency in question.
      He is literally making decisions that make him look 'good', at least in his mind.

      I'm still completely lost on how he is hanging on to the support of his 'base'. I mean I get the whole "Its us against the establishment/deep state/fake news" garbage that he plays on, but how the hell can 35%-40% of this country NOT see his actions and words as selfish, childish, and completely idiotic?!

    2. Re: What? Why? by humptheElephant · · Score: 1

      I think he did promise some things for people who are having a hard time making it. He did get rid of TPP for example, which could have been pretty sketchy. However I think there is more under the rug to be exposed and he probably knows it. He starts his diversions with his idiotic tweets. I think he knows exactly what he is doing.

    3. Re:What? Why? by fafalone · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What does anything you said have to do with Trump or Trump's objectives? Trump doesn't care about historical conflicts, doesn't care about those other countries, wants to work with Russia specifically, doesn't care about their technological astuteness, and absolutely 100% does not care what people like experts and scientists think in cybersecurity or any other subject. He's flooded the swamp with sycophants, and the Republicans won't oppose anything he does no matter how horrible because it would compromise The Party, and it's Party First, their own interests second, and the best interests of America or the people exist only as a soundbite they talk about to advance #1 and 2.

    4. Re:What? Why? by dslmodem · · Score: 2

      There is a country called China. That is my guess.

      --

      ^(oo)^pig~

    5. Re: What? Why? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 2
      Maybe if we stopped antagonizing the shit out of Russia they would stop acting like this. Just a suggestion.

      Do you really think a second rate nation like Russia, with a huge indefensible border and ringed by hostile NATO bases, would be starting shit if they weren't backed into a corner? Discard your outdated Cold War propaganda and look at the situation with fresh eyes. America hasn't treated Russia kindly for the past quarter century.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    6. Re: What? Why? by stabiesoft · · Score: 2

      TPP was dead before he was sworn in. Now I'd agree his campaign rhetoric may have helped it die, but it died before he could kill it. I'd also agree there is something financial that is going to be found. Maybe Russia has been propping up his real estate. I disagree he knows what he is doing. You do not tell the cop "Don't look in the trunk, there are no drugs there", just like you don't tell mueller, "Don't look into my finances".

    7. Re:What? Why? by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 3, Interesting

      What is Russia offering that Israel, Germany, and the UK aren't?

      The dirt and espionage on Americans. Which as has already been admitted and is proven in an email trail, is what this administration believes is something anyone would want to participate in.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    8. Re: What? Why? by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      Good question. I think there is a much bigger base than people thought who are just opposed to it all. Where "it" means everything, but especially anything to do with politics. They have been flipping their finger at the world for a long time, and now that there's a leader of the flip-the-finger movement they vote for him. They're anti-elite but at the same time for this guy who's the biggest elitist of them all. But Trump manages to give the impression of not being elite, they see him as not smart with elitist education but smart with down home gut feelings. They see his real estate money as a result of being smart and nothing at all to do with being lucky. But maybe more than all that, Trump says what they want to hear - that country's problem is with everyone else except his backers, especially politicians and immigrants.

      When people push back against Trump it only reinforces the base. They see the elite being the ones pushing against Trump, or immigrant lovers, etc. The more that people rally against Trump the more it convinces his backers that Trump must be doing something right.

    9. Re: What? Why? by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      He's been doing idiotic tweets for as long as Twitter existed. Trump is not a deep person, he doesn't have a subtle bone in his body, and he's certainly not following a secret long term strategy. Occam's Razor applies here and the the simplest solution is that he's exactly what he appears to be: shallow and ego driven. The inscrutable tweet at 3am is merely an impulse he has after listening to some conspiracy oriented radio show. The tweets are stream of consciousness ramblings. He has so many contradictions in what he says over time because he's making it all up on the fly, and not because he knows what he's doing.

    10. Re:What? Why? by nine-times · · Score: 1

      [Trump] wants to work with Russia specifically

      I have to say, at first when all this news about Russia started coming out, I thought that most likely, we'd find that Trump wasn't involved with the Russia hacking. Putin probably got him elected because he knew Trump was a moron, he wanted to sow chaos into the American political system, and putting Trump into the presidency was a convenient way of damaging the US.

      But as time has gone on, it's become evident that can't be the case. First, because of Trumps repeated attempts at obstructing the investigation. Second, all these meetings are really adding up, and we know that they were, at the very least, coordinating with the Russian government. They were aware that the Russian government was trying to get Trump elected, and his campaign welcomed the help. But it's also weird that the Russians had sanction put on them last year, and they've sat around patiently for months, only now getting upset that the sanctions haven't been lifted and their property hasn't been returned. It's weird that Trump has had these private meetings with Kislyak, Lavrov, and Putin. Trump has repeatedly hinted at wanting to remove the sanctions. And now, he basically wants to bring in Russian security personnel involved in our elections?

      I've actually come to believe that Trump himself was involved with colluding with the Russians. I think that, if we had his tax returns, we'd see that he's getting income and loans from Russia. I think Russian intelligence probably has the Russian prostitute pee tape. I think Putin just owns him. And honestly, I suspect that this "joint cyber security unit" is an attempt to put our elections under control of Russian intelligence, so that they can fix it in favor of Trump. He's going to drum of some bullshit claims of election fraud by Mexicans, claim we need help ensuring the security of our elections, and hand the keys over to Putin so that Putin can rig the election.

      Seriously. Honestly. I think that's the plan. Trump once said that he could shoot someone in the middle of 5th avenue and not lose his supporters, and I think he's right. I think he's so correct in that assessment that he's demonstrating, in fact, that he could hand control of our country over to Russia, and he wouldn't lose his supporters.

    11. Re: What? Why? by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Let's also not forget that he does indeed appear to be an idiot. This is not a man of deep thoughts, or much thought at all. He has virtually no impulse control (something his eldest son has inherited), and I've come to believe that it isn't that he doesn't want to understand the world, it's that he is incapable of it. What the US has done has elected Chauncey Gardner's mean-spirited brother.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    12. Re: What? Why? by dbIII · · Score: 1

      and in his mind would put the legitimacy of his presidency in question.

      I don't think Trump has every seriously cared about the legitimacy of anything he has for most of his life. For example, it was enough for "Trump University" to have that title but none of the trappings of a real University.
      I think he just cares about having something, whether it was gained by fair means or foul doesn't seem to matter to him.

    13. Re: What? Why? by dbIII · · Score: 1

      It's sleeping.
      Many very large donors to both R and D like the idea a great deal.

    14. Re: What? Why? by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Do you really think a second rate nation like Russia, with a huge indefensible border and ringed by hostile NATO bases, would be starting shit if they weren't backed into a corner?

      Yes. Foreign adventurism is an old Russian technique for distracting Russians from what their leaders are doing.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  3. Filed Under "What Could Possibly Go Wrong?" by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

    Moscow and Washington are in talks to create a joint cyber security working group...

    Does this need further analysis?

    I think not.

  4. MAHA! by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    "The fox is building a beautiful hen house to protect American hens! Believe me, the fox knows protection better than the wealthiest lock-smith. And the cows will pay for it! Make hen-houses secure again!"

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  5. Can I get a "HELL, NO!" from y'all? by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Hey, I've got a great idea! Let's have the fox guard the henhouse!

    LOLOLOL, no.
    The only possible way you could convince me this is even remotely a good idea, would be if it's under the 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer' philosophy. But even then I'd still say "HELL, NO!".

  6. Re:Fuck Russia and fuck the US by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Would you want some known nations off the board? China is imperialistic and would be happy to have the balance of power in the Pac Rim belong to them, just because old hatreds run deeply, and they would love to visit some retribution versus the California-sized island that terrorized them in the past century. Iran and Saudi Arabia wouldn't be fun either. Daesh is scurrying around in the shadows looking for a power vacuum and has the best propaganda artists in the world, preying on the despairing and desperate. North Korea isn't exactly friendly to those not of their race.

    History learned from the Shah, Saddam, and other places that when one baddie got knocked off, a far, far worse one took the stage.

    Of course, there is the fact that instability breeds people willing to double-down. Which means war. For example, when the revolutionaries in Iran killed the Shah's generals, Saddam decided to move in for the kill.

    No, the US and Russia are not perfect... but at least it is better than a permanent state of war, or revolution where the most brutal tinpot is always on top. The West survived through that type of existance for almost a millennium until the Black Plague took away all the slaves, forcing nobility to actually do more than just oppress and battle each other.

  7. Re:You WISH you were me... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Your ads concern me more than any advert that even the most skeezy site promotes and I'll elaborate why.

    Your ads are more dangerous. Why you may ask? Because you're worse than a regular advertising company! You keep a dossier on people, tracking all their posts, trying to find out their Internet history and keep records (I mean, just look at your replies throughout time), you've been known since the 90s on the Internet as someone who contacts people's ISPs if you have sufficient details, you contact their webhosting providers, people's companies where they work to make a scene because they dared to disagree with you on the Internet.

    You ironically are the antithesis of safety online, you harass, provoke, stalk and it often starts with one of your advertisements. You have people tell you to go away and leave them alone, but you continue to pursue them, make legal threats etc. until you are satisfied. You are one of he few advertisers out there that I can actually point at and show that you are using information gathered against other people! In summary, the most dangerous advertisements people need to be weary of is yours, APK. Your adblocking solution does nothing to stop them either.

  8. Re:Trump ends CIA in Syria- Clintonists go mad by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

    Excellent post - you've earned your rubles there, comrade.

    Boris has indeed served the motherland well, comrades. We shall see that he gets an extra ration of Vodka, and maybe a pair of shoes for his children.

    Don't forget what we know about you Boris, you wouldn't want that to get out.......

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  9. US cutting cyber relations in State department by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Interesting timing, considering that the coordinator for cyber issues at the State department is leaving, and Tillerson is considering closing the cyber office or merging it with another department.

    Cede the international leadership to Russia. That's great.

  10. wtf is an impenetrable Cyber Security unit?? by Spinlock_1977 · · Score: 1

    First up, nothing is impenetrable. Especially something with computers and people.

    But if they could be impenetrable, that would be nice. But shouldn't their job be to make other units impenetrable?

    --
    - The Kessel run is for nerf herders. I can circumnavigate the entire Central Finite Curve in a lot less than 12 parse
  11. AKA backdoor/channel to Russia by evolutionary · · Score: 2, Informative

    Apparently this group is to work outside the CIA with fewer people to answer (if anyone besides Trump). Trump's son was already talking about a backdoor channel. Now it seems Trump wants to roll out the red carpet. Makes Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy look like lightweight in comparison.

    --
    "Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
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