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Lacking an actual war, and admitting that the intrusions were easy to pull off for a trained script kiddy, what can we do to punish the Russian regime for this?

Lacking an actual war, and admitting that the intrusions were easy to pull off for a trained script kiddy, what can we do to punish the Russian regime for this? Ideally, we could hit only the oligarchs' interests, since dividing them from their general population will be the most strategically effective move when their economy is already taking a hit from low oil/gas prices.

zzrg 10y ago
Well, our incoming leadership is the beneficiary of the interference, so the US will do nothing to punish Russia.
revelation 10y ago
You mean "what can we do to further escalate this cold war that has previously brought both our countries to the brink of nuclear destruction". Here is a proposal, let's secure our information technology and stop paying the NSA billions to actively weaken it or oppose secure systems as policy. Let us also in the spirit of the new year abandon this general obsession with global power projection and care more about what happens in Flint rather than Siberia or Mockba, I hear it's fucking cold there anyway.
- eli_gottlieb 10y ago
  Unfortunately, due to the electoral interference, in order to care about Flint, Michigan, we now have to get rid of a Kremlin-backed government who will be trying to "build the wall" while kids in Flint have lead-poisoning.
  - StPete 10y ago
    Who would "get rid of them?" The DOJ/FBI seem useless, except for their right wingers, which helped Trump & the Russians rather than see the Left take power for another 8 years. The House and Senate leadership seem frozen if not complicit. The most likely way out of this is yet another coup but who's left? So many policemen and members of the military support Trump, it isn't clear they'd follow orders, or even could maintain order if Trump were removed. And everyone knows the radical right wing has dumped some 300 million guns into the general population, and we know how a lot of them feel. So it looks like we're screwed for a while, but at least historians will have a ball with this in a couple hundred years.
nickbauman 10y ago
Could just tell it like it is. I have yet to see this fully assembled in one place but it connects the dots pretty well. Trump owes Blackstone/ Bayrock group $560 million dollars (one of his largest debtors and the primary reason he won't reveal his tax returns) Blackstone is owned wholly by Russian billionaires, who owe their position to Putin and have made billions from their work with the Russian government. Other companies that have borrowed from Blackstone have claimed that owing money to them is like owing to the Russian mob and while you owe them, they own you for many favors. The Russian economy is badly faltering under the weight of its over-dependence on raw materials which as you know have plummeted in the last 2 years leaving the Russian economy scrambling to pay its debts. Russia has an impetus to influence our election to ensure the per barrel oil prices are above $65 ( they are currently hovering around $50) Russia can't affordably get at 80% of its oil reserves and reduce its per barrel cost to compete with America at $45 or Saudi Arabia at $39. With Iranian sanctions being lifted Russia will find another inexpensive competitor increasing production and pushing Russia further down the list of suppliers. As for Iranian sanctions, the 6 countries lifting them allowing Iran to collect on the billions it is owed for pumping oil but not being paid for it. These billions Iran can only get if the Iranian nuclear deal is signed. Trump spoke of ending the deals which would cause oil sales sanctions to be reimposed, which would make Russian oil more competitive. Rex Tillerson (Trump's pick for Secretary of State) is the head of ExxonMobil, which is in possession of patented technology that could help Putin extract 45% more oil at a significant cost savings to Russia, helping Putin put money in the Russian coffers to help reconstitute its military and finally afford to mass produce the new and improved systems that it had invented before the Russian economy had slowed so much. Putin cannot get access to these new cost saving technologies OR outside oil field development money, due to US sanctions on Russia, because of its involvement in Ukrainian civil war. Look for Trump to end sanctions on Russia and to back out of the Iranian nuclear deal, to help Russia rebuild its economy, strengthen Putin and make Tillerson and Trump even richer, thus allowing Trump to satisfy his creditors at Blackstone. Sources: Time Magazine, NY Times, The Atlantic, The Guardian UK.
- eli_gottlieb 10y ago
  Thanks for putting all that together. But when I said "we", I meant the tech community. After all, it's our shitty infosec defaults and love for "disruption" of reliable mainstream information sources that got us in these situations.

zzrg 10y ago

Well, our incoming leadership is the beneficiary of the interference, so the US will do nothing to punish Russia.

revelation 10y ago

You mean "what can we do to further escalate this cold war that has previously brought both our countries to the brink of nuclear destruction". Here is a proposal, let's secure our information technology and stop paying the NSA billions to actively weaken it or oppose secure systems as policy. Let us also in the spirit of the new year abandon this general obsession with global power projection and care more about what happens in Flint rather than Siberia or Mockba, I hear it's fucking cold there anyway.

eli_gottlieb 10y ago
Unfortunately, due to the electoral interference, in order to care about Flint, Michigan, we now have to get rid of a Kremlin-backed government who will be trying to "build the wall" while kids in Flint have lead-poisoning.
- StPete 10y ago
  Who would "get rid of them?" The DOJ/FBI seem useless, except for their right wingers, which helped Trump & the Russians rather than see the Left take power for another 8 years. The House and Senate leadership seem frozen if not complicit. The most likely way out of this is yet another coup but who's left? So many policemen and members of the military support Trump, it isn't clear they'd follow orders, or even could maintain order if Trump were removed. And everyone knows the radical right wing has dumped some 300 million guns into the general population, and we know how a lot of them feel. So it looks like we're screwed for a while, but at least historians will have a ball with this in a couple hundred years.

nickbauman 10y ago

Could just tell it like it is. I have yet to see this fully assembled in one place but it connects the dots pretty well. Trump owes Blackstone/ Bayrock group $560 million dollars (one of his largest debtors and the primary reason he won't reveal his tax returns) Blackstone is owned wholly by Russian billionaires, who owe their position to Putin and have made billions from their work with the Russian government. Other companies that have borrowed from Blackstone have claimed that owing money to them is like owing to the Russian mob and while you owe them, they own you for many favors. The Russian economy is badly faltering under the weight of its over-dependence on raw materials which as you know have plummeted in the last 2 years leaving the Russian economy scrambling to pay its debts. Russia has an impetus to influence our election to ensure the per barrel oil prices are above $65 ( they are currently hovering around $50) Russia can't affordably get at 80% of its oil reserves and reduce its per barrel cost to compete with America at $45 or Saudi Arabia at $39. With Iranian sanctions being lifted Russia will find another inexpensive competitor increasing production and pushing Russia further down the list of suppliers. As for Iranian sanctions, the 6 countries lifting them allowing Iran to collect on the billions it is owed for pumping oil but not being paid for it. These billions Iran can only get if the Iranian nuclear deal is signed. Trump spoke of ending the deals which would cause oil sales sanctions to be reimposed, which would make Russian oil more competitive. Rex Tillerson (Trump's pick for Secretary of State) is the head of ExxonMobil, which is in possession of patented technology that could help Putin extract 45% more oil at a significant cost savings to Russia, helping Putin put money in the Russian coffers to help reconstitute its military and finally afford to mass produce the new and improved systems that it had invented before the Russian economy had slowed so much. Putin cannot get access to these new cost saving technologies OR outside oil field development money, due to US sanctions on Russia, because of its involvement in Ukrainian civil war. Look for Trump to end sanctions on Russia and to back out of the Iranian nuclear deal, to help Russia rebuild its economy, strengthen Putin and make Tillerson and Trump even richer, thus allowing Trump to satisfy his creditors at Blackstone. Sources: Time Magazine, NY Times, The Atlantic, The Guardian UK.

eli_gottlieb 10y ago
Thanks for putting all that together. But when I said "we", I meant the tech community. After all, it's our shitty infosec defaults and love for "disruption" of reliable mainstream information sources that got us in these situations.