Covid19 Vaccine Influence in Latin America
Followup: This note adds context to discussions of ways to meet challenges to U.S. policies reversing autocratic digital influence in Latin America. Reports: Andres Oppenheimer wrote in the Miami Herald that the Trump Administration, as recently as late July, was not planning to supply Latin America with U.S.-developed vaccines while Russia and…
First Debate: Draining the Swamp to Waterboard America with the Firehose of Falsehood
The anti-George Washington seeks another term. The incumbent in the White House is ‘draining the Swamp,’ with his “Firehose of Falsehood” plumbed in reverse and directed out his mouth at our eyes, ears, noses, and throats, waterboarding us with the bacterial corruption of the Swamp. ‘Toxic waste dump’ is a more apt…
The Covid-Digital Storm: Authoritarian Influence on Latin America’s Digital Demographic
Purpose: To explore the digital demographic connection to reversing Russian and Chinese subversion of democracy and liberty in Latin America. Background Before Covid19 spawned a pandemic, Russia and China had been plying influence operations and digital authoritarianism to pressure Latin America’s governments, elections, nationalists, businesses, security biases, attitudes toward democracy, and…
“Toronto Today” New Disinformation Site in Larger War of Destabilization
The website “TorontoToday.net” posted disinformation that U.S. officials reassessed the cause of the 2020 wildfires in California and the Pacific Northwest from lightening to “coordinated arson” by Antifa. The 2020 wildfires started when storms generated severe lightening, igniting forests and woodlands under dry, hot, and windy conditions, as widely reported by…
Moscow Utilizes the Whipsaw
“They’ll send 80 million ballots to people — they have no idea where they’re going,” Mr. Trump said during his 94-minute speech. “Actually, they probably do have a pretty good idea where they’re going, and that’s our problem. They send 80 million ballots out, where are they going? Who do…
Germany’s Choice Shines a Light on Moscow’s Strategy
The Nord Stream gas pipeline deal between Russia and Germany could enter its own coma along with Russian dissident Alexey Navalny, in whose system German military physicians found the Soviet nerve agent Novichok. In light of Moscow’s continuing willingness to use state terror to get its way, Berlin should question what authoritarian strings…
On Labeling Adversarial Governments
The imprecise labeling of adversarial autocratic states in an information war can backfire on U.S., allies, and democracies in general. “ChiComm,” “Marxist,” “rogue state,” “communist” and “criminal” are broad labels that do not specify how autocracies like China, Russia, and North Korea actually behave, use, and abuse those concepts as distinguished from…
Debilitating counter-espionage mindset regarding China
It is common for us to vent or joke about China’s “stealing.” While this has limited use against China’s public relations campaigns, the mental impression formed from the repeated theft conversation is a sense of moral triumph, disgust, and anger. Yet these emotions can shroud our minds from understanding our…
Recent History is Instructive: 2015 Warning from NSA’s Adm. Rogers
Recent history is instructive. Hear the then-Director of the National Security Agency, Adm. Michael Rogers: “At the moment, most of the [malicious cyber activity] has been theft,” Rogers said. “But what if someone gets in the system and starts manipulating and changing data, to the point where now as an…
Threat Assessment & Initial Recommendations: Adversarial Military Use of Hacked Medical Records
At the Wall Street Journal, Christopher Porter and Brian Finch opined in “What Does Beijing Want With Your Medical Records?” that China’s 2015 Anthem hack accessed almost 80 million Americans’ private medical and insurance records as an ominous sign that it plans to expand and impose its massive surveillance state on Americans.…