EDITORIAL
Russia Today Declares war on USA
If the KGB regime of Vladimir Putin is looking to “reset” relations with the world’s only superpower, rather than to ratchet up cold-war tension, it sure has a funny way of showing it. Dripping with anti-American poison, a recent RT item on Kremlin-controlled propaganda network Russia Today recently threatened that Russian hackers would cause satellites to drop out of the sky on Los Angeles at will if America wasn’t careful.
Quoting an anonymous Russian hacker, RT gleefully proclaimed that America is a “juicy target” for assault by Russians:
Everything is dependent on computers now. Bank cards, phones – everything functions through a computer, through an operating system. And all of it can be broken into and destroyed. I don’t know if Americans are afraid of us, but we’re definitely not afraid of them. Half of our country is made up of hackers, why would we be afraid of the Americans? When we are the ones stealing their products and their software.
Then RT quoted Nikita Sinitsyn, Editor-in-Chief of Hacker magazine (“a how-to Russian publication”).
The scariest thing about what a hacker can do is not money loss, but human lives. Hypothetically, if a hacker broke into a system of satellite control, made satellites crash into each other and fall to Earth, let’s say, in Los Angeles, that’s scary. Systems containg state secrets being broken into by hackers – maybe that’s not such a bad thing. This doesn’t influence individual human lives. That’s something that states and corporations should worry about.
In case you missed it, that’s scary. Americans should be scared. Of Russians. Dangerous Russians. Better do what they say.
RT finishes as if boasting about the power of Russian crime: “The Russian police’s cybercrime division named ‘Department K’ has warned many times that Russian hackers are the strongest in the world. And it’s extremely hard to catch a hacker red-handed.”
The Kremlin mouthpiece never stops for a single second, of course, to ask whether the Russian government might be supporting these hackers, who launched a massive attack on Estonia a few years ago when hostility with Russia erupted over a World War II Soviet memorial, and who did the same against Georgia last August. Western analysts have concluded that the Russian government was in fact behind those attacks, as we’ve previously reported, but RT simply ignored that fact, acting as if these hackers were acting entirely on their own.. It makes no attempt to confront the Russian government with its failure to reign in the hackers, and to the contrary appears to be, speaking on the Kremlin’s behalf, reveling in the cyber terrorism that these criminals are capable of inflicting on the West.
This is “journalism” as the Kremlin sees it.
It’s almost as if the Kremlin were admitting that Russia’s conventional military is totally incapable of confronting the West in any serious way, and warning that it is prepared to use the tactics of Osama bin Laden to harm the West by any means possible.
Which is, in fact, basically the truth.
La Russophobe 
One of RT’s more virulent bloggers and opinion talking heads is Peter Lavelle, who is as vile as they come. He started out American, but he is now a willing lapdog of Putin’s mouthpiece, RT.
Many in the investment community knew him at his so-called Alfabank investment analyst position – where he not only spun Russia’s markets (surely in a more dignified fashion as mandated by the conservative banking world) but was even known to snipe at fellow researchers when they were down.
People invariably helped him up when he was down (during the 98/99 Russian bust days, and many times later) only to be sniped at by this lame excuse for intellect.
He has now finally over-ripened into his final manifestation – a new form of Tokyo Rose – a Putin’s peter as it were, and a shriveled, toxic one at that. Such are the dregs of humanity that end up as mouthpieces of RT, and hence the Kremlin…
Yes, that vile little toady, Peter Lavelle, has been around for awhile. He shows up in various places. I have my own opinion as to whom are his paymasters. Thanks for some more history on him. He’s a creep.
Am I mistaken or was he not a contributor at the eXile when it was up and running, another group of western Useful Idiots?
No, Mark Ames and his gang also viewed Lavelle with suspicion. Mark was briefly on RT as a roving travelogue, but choked on his own bile after just a few of them, and finally exiled himself from Russia…
Now your half backed ideas are gonna make me defend Mark Ames. No Lavelle didn’t work for the eXile. He is a creep, not because he is paid to give these opinions, but because he has these opinions. He’s just proof of how self delusional people can whip themselves up into a frenzy and think only they know “the truth.” He also categorically describes anyone who disagrees with him as an idiot, just like LR. His biggest crime is his arrogance. I read his editorials a bit, just like I read some wacky stuff here (I read many sources of information to find the truth), he claims to have been a California liberal in an earlier life, that will make some of your right wing blood boil even harder.
Mark Ames is also arrogant, but he’s nobody’s fool, he really is the loose cannon he claims to be. He has been both pro-Kremlin and anti-Kremlin, I’m not surprised he didn’t get along with the folks at RT, I’ve met some of them, they are really up-tight. Now of course he’s anti-LaRussophobe so around these parts claiming he’s not satan will get me some more low grade insult comedy thrown my way, but I don’t take sides with anyone, not RT, not with eXile and not the Dido-Heads of LaRussophobe. The only person I take at their word on Russian politics is Yulia Latinina, who’s radio show I listen to every week.
The Moscow Times is also an excellent source for Russia info, as you know here, because about 25% of the content here is taken directly from the Moscow Times, although it’s reanamed with more anti-Russian sounding titles.
I think USA has ways to shut down russian access to Internet in emergency.
Thats a good idea! America should also shut off China, most of South America and all of Eastern Europe. You know, just to be safe, why doesn’t American just shut down the internet completely?
I think Russia equally is able to shut down the US ruled Internet in case of emergency.
Really? And I thought the allegedly 70 million (“Half of our country is made up of hackers”) Russian hackers couldn’t even properly shut down the Internet in mighty Georgia for a few days in the last war.
USA ruled Internet? What do you mean by that?
“Half of our country is made up of hackers, why would we be afraid of the Americans?”
I laughed hard imagining a country full of total nerds. Maybe that’s why the Russian Army can’t find enough healthy young men to conscript? ;)
Robert
The Russians find it hard on their side too imagining a country full of total nerds. That remains a salient issue in the US-Russia relations. This blog here indicates it well enough.
Are American soldiers in Iraq getting healthier shooting each other in the back just for nothing special to do?
I am not trolling but asking questions (simple ones).
Let’s see.
“If you want to want to read about a military that has had a serious problem with fragging, take a look at the Russian Federation. (…) Most alarming were stories like the 1994 incident, when a soldier assigned to guard a battery of nuclear missiles went berserk, killed his commanding officer and reportedly sprayed the installation with automatic weapons fire. These unhappy incidents persist. A quick perusal of the Russian press shows a few recent cases: In Chechnya, a soldier killed his platoon commander and two of his fellow soldiers before turning the gun on himself; a contract soldier killed two of his colleagues after a quarrel; a serviceman in Siberia killed two of his fellow soldiers before taking his life.”
Why Soldiers (Don’t) Frag
* By Nathan Hodge Email Author
* May 12, 2009
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/05/why-soldiers-dont-frag/
With links (the mentioned incidents were in February, March and April).
Robert
Chechnya, Iraq, Vietnam, Afganistan – the same ols story, same old song – goes all right till it goes all wrong. Be that USA or Russia.
Now back to the editorial:
You won’t have a chance to see “Russia Today Declares war on USA” in the evening news. The reverse is equally true. The rest is just old Soviet/present American propaganda BS.
You missed the thing they do not only kill each other in Caucasus. One of the examples quoted here was from Siberia (3 killed), where they had no war since the 1920s?
But all this is not making international headlines (and even not really in Russia), because it’s normalno.
Thousands of Russian soldiers murdered each other since 1991 well outside of the conflict zones – beaten or otherwise tortured to death, shot or otherwise fragged. Many are not in official statistics, classified as “accidents” or “suicides”.
And not only soldiers. Like in one incident in the early 2000s, two elite soldiers from a spetsnaz unit went on a rampage through a city far from war zone, killing like a dozen cops and some civilians (they were in the police cars) before they offed themselves when the OMON surroundered them. And so on.
You pulled this “and you are beating negroes” argument out of nowhere, forgetting that in Russia they “beat the negroes” so much more.
And of course, Iraq is not even in the USA (while Chechnya’s in Russia, so you have tens of thousands of Russian civilians killed by the Russian soldiers). But I’m not going into this, because “the same ols story, same old song” and so you’ll bring the American Civil War of 150 years ago or whatever other retarded argument.
Oh, and of course you are trolling. Even if you managed to troll only this poor silly chap “I am Russian” who now wants to be your pal after I explained it to him.
The Russian soldiers were caught napping when a burst of automatic gunfire shot up their dugout in the Caucasus Mountains. Two shadows slipped into the valley below, leaving eight corpses behind.
Officials at first blamed the usual suspects – rebels from nearby Chechnya.
But then the investigation took a different tack. After a four-day hunt involving thousands of police, privates Oleg Khismatulin and Nikolai Bozhkov were caught and confessed to killing their comrades in revenge for being hazed.
The murders in late August topped national television headlines as the bloodiest military shoot-out since February, when two Russian paratroopers fled their unit and killed 10 police officers and civilians.
It highlighted the military’s worsening problem of hazing and desertions.
One desertion made news in early September because of its sheer scale: 54 soldiers left their unit in southern Russia and marched 55 kilometres to Volgograd to protest against beatings by their officers.
But most desertions go unreported. The deputy chief of the Russian General Staff, Lieutenant-General Vasily Smirnov, says 2270 servicemen fled their units during the first six months of this year and 860 remain missing. General Smirnov said 2265 deserters were at large, and some had been on the run for 10 years.
Russia’s anti-conscription activists give a much higher figure – about 40,000 – and say only radical reform can improve things.
“The military degradation has gone too far to deal with through evolutionary steps,” said Ida Kuklina, who is active in Soldiers’ Mothers, the leading anti-draft group. “The army is the only part of Russian society that has remained virtually unreformed since Soviet times, except for shrinking in size.”
Her group believes that about 3000 servicemen die every year in shootings, suicides and accidents, not counting daily casualties in the war with separatists in Chechnya.
General Smirnov said that, excluding deaths in battle, 483 servicemen died on and off duty in the first half of the year – about one-third by suicide.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/10/02/1033538673401.html
Robert
I see you have more to say on the subject so do I.
Let’s work something out. You have got your numbers, I’ve got mine. Are you ready for the contest?
Where do we begin – Russian army or Colombine high school? Let me rely on your refined choice of a number wizard and your “liberal” sources of information from the inside Russia as I could see from your post.
So – American high schools and colleges vs Russian army mass shootings.
I have just made a Google search and found no trace of any school shooting in Russia (just to be on the safe side)
rts
I see that you passed spin-doctor 101 class at the DCKT Acadamy.
In the
In the USA the majority of the guilty are arrested and sentenced to protect the innocent.
In roosha, the majority of the innocent are arrested and sentenced to protect the guilty!
The Columbine dynamic Hitler-inspired duo from 1999 is nothing compared to the ununiformed Russian kids’ very recent killing sprees:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/3777299/Russian-teenage-skinhead-gang-jailed-for-19-racist-murders.html
Ah, 6-20 years for the gang that scored 19 murders in just little over 1 year. Oh wait,
“Skachevsky has said he was a “Russian soldier” who was cleansing the city of “occupants.””
Okay, so he was “a soldier” too. I can see the pattern.
Except in America, they give you around 100 years for murdering only five Iraqis (none of which was a US citizien).
So try again and a little harder. You know, we’re lynching the negroes or something.
Oh, and the Columbine kids tried to join the army but were rejected.
And speaking of a school massacres, lt’s not forget the biggest one in the recent years (more than 300 dead). Can you guess? “The weak get beaten.” With flamethrowers. Sucks to be weak.
I am having a hard time trying to understand who you people are and what your intentions are. While the blog seems to do a good job of systematically pointing out the flaws in Russia, the commenters ‘seem’ to be a small group of rednecks that slander anyone that tries to defend Russia. While some comments are on point, the majority have no real purpose other than slander, and some are simply insults with no real value what so ever. Who are you people? … and can you experience emotion other than hate?
As for the article, lets start with the title. I understand that a good headline is crucial to attracting views, but this is just baseless. The video in question aired several days ago, and I happened to watch it. How you can make such a ludicrous statement from this particular video is beyond me. True, RT has definitive anti-american connotations throughout their broadcasts. Have you guys missed the fact that CNN, BBC, Fox, NBC, Guardian and practically 90% of western media do exactly the same to Russia? If one Russian media outlet does it, this is sacrilege … however, the brunt of Western Media doing it is perfectly fine? Double Standard, no?
As for the meat of the story, you seem to have missed the entire point. The fact that the USA is being used as an example is because it is the prime target of most international hackers … the USA is where all the money is, it is the most interesting target. Where is the confusion? Again, I admit that the story has a twinge of anti-americanism, big deal! The majority of the world is anti-american … are you surprised? The only countries not anti-american are … America and … well, probably Canada.
I am curious, how many of you actually know Russians? How many of you truly travel the globe? I am as American as they come, but speak fluent Russian. When I travel through Europe I ALWAYS say I am Russian. Initially, I said I was American but the hostility was endless. Claiming I was Russian still draws hostility at times, but not nearly as much as being American. Going a bit off subject, I know, but the purpose of this comment is more to assess the ‘regulars’ than anything.
Finally, the instructer of the spin-doctor 101 class from the DCKT Acadamy makes a comment? :)
Ah, les, nothing important to say, and doesn’t even know what a Barbarian is. I take it you can’t respond to anything that I have written so you will soon resort to “You are a F#@!*^& ignorent IDIOT!”
So, have you ever even left the USA? Do you know anything about the real world other than what is fed to you?
Hey, I was recently outside the US; you’re right, people virulently hate us. Primarily idiots who are pissed off their countries aren’t powerful. When I was in Catalonia I encountered anti-American hatred, and when I was in Valencia, none. Why? Because Catalonians think they’re better than everyone else and jealous of America. “Iraq and Afghanistan”-Guess what? The British screwed up both, and then the Russians played idiots in both countries during the 60s, 70s and 80s.
The reality is most of Europe who hates America is pissed off Russia collapsed and want America to collapse so they can reclaim their place as head of the western world. And they can tolerate Russia better than us, because, well, Russia is white, err, European.
Insane anti-American rhetoric is what’s fed to YOU, zhann. As well as most America haters. Most people I’ve met from wartorn countries have less negative things to say about America than most Russian nationalists and people ashamed to say they’re American who have never seen warfare, let alone Europeans who only knew warfare from their grandparents, when they committed a bunch of crimes.
You are an ignorant idiot, have fun watching Russia Today, and good luck supporting neo-Fascism when it comes, as you will like a good little Russian (all the sane Russians will fight this, but you won’t, because you’re not sane, just real).
Dosvedonya, suka.
“Have you guys missed the fact that CNN, BBC, Fox, NBC, Guardian and practically 90% of western media do exactly the same to Russia?”
1. Totally uncomparable (unless if you meant the BBC World Service).
2. You just described the whole mainstream political spectrum (from FOX News to The Guardian).
3. Not this level of “journalism”, maybe beside FOX. Russia Today is very Russian, or should I rather say Soviet.
4. They’re simply right. What now?
Some on RT from the evil western media:
Back in the USSR: The return of propaganda TV from Moscow
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2008/ss_politics0442_08_19.asp
CONTROVERSIAL PROPAGANDA
Using Stalin To Boost Russia Abroad
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,518259,00.html
Pravda on the Potomac
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=2787a45f-cd3e-4f40-9e9b-768bfa628fb4
And the bonus:
http://www.exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=7789&IBLOCK_ID=35
I am confused, how are they totally incomparable? Where is the difference?
I have intentionally described Western Media. Western Media, as all media, is incredibly biased. Western is notoriously biased against Russians, Arabs and the Far East (majority) … while often pushing their agendas with half truths and subtle deception. While this is in no way a representation of every news story, it fits in most cases when the above mentioned are in the story. A great example of media bias is Israel/Palestine … this can work from both sides. As a ‘homework’ assignment, try to pay attention to both sides of the story for a while. European news are often pro-Palestine, so this should be very easy to follow. Try and read the stories and compare … the same incident is described with extreme contrasts in details. This holds true with Russia as well. While much of it is true, such as the Woman Metro Drivers mentioned in another thread, concentrating on the negative and ignoring the positive is what Western Media does best. When was the last time you read a positive story about Russia in Western Media? While it does happen, it is extremely rare. Why? Because hate sells, and there is a great deal of angst against Russia in the Western World.
As for your #4, I don’t understand that at all … please explain.
Also, please explain this fascination with ‘Soviet’. There is a substantial difference with Russia and the Soviet Union, why is this such a common theme here?
By #4, I meant they’re (usually) simply right in their citicism of Russia. They’re reporting reality. That’s all.
“There is a substantial difference with Russia and the Soviet Union”
A “substantial difference” is rather between the Third Reich and the Federal Republic of Germany. And this (posting the same link again) is some Germans explaining this to you: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,518259,00.html
“the commenters ’seem’ to be a small group of rednecks that slander anyone that tries to defend Russia. While some comments are on point, the majority have no real purpose other than slander, and some are simply insults with no real value what so ever. Who are you people? … and can you experience emotion other than hate?”
zhann,
When you immediately accuse people of being ignorant rednecks, you will invite insults and slander. I can’t speak for any other commentors on this blog, but for me, when someone is supporting the criminal Putin KGB/regime, they deserve to be insulted and slandered, because they are either really stupid, or paid FSB hacks, of which there seems to be a steady stream of on this blog. The anti-American propaganda in the world is very wide-spread, just because someone dislikes the U.S. doesn’t make them informed, on the contrary, they more than likely have been duped. If you’d rather pretend to be Russian, why don’t you move there permanently?
Duped? Its unfortunate that most American’s think like you, rather than trying to learn the truth. People don’t like America for one simple reason … America believes that it has the right to dictate what every nation must do. It’s double standards and aggressive acts have not only inflamed the Muslim world, but even Western Europe is tired of it.
As for making the general “redneck” assessment, am I wrong? You, personally, simply spit hate with no basis of fact or reason. I haven’t been watching this site for too long, but I have yet to see one good argument out of you.
“they deserve to be insulted and slandered” … There is a general rule of thumb that can be applied to people that make such mundane claims. It involves a great lack of intelligence, I’m sure you know where I am going with this.
zhann,
Maybe it’s snooty American’s like you that Europeans and Russians don’t like. I don’t need your assessment of my intelligence, or whether you consider me a redneck. I have traveled extensively, and don’t need to prove anything to you.
Oh, you know, that makes perfect sense. Its the ‘snooty Americans’ like me that teach tolerance and compassion that are the problem, while the aggressive Americans as yourself who preach intolerance and hate are the ones loved throughout the world. Why didn’t I think of that before? So, you mean to tell me that if I tell everyone that Americans are the new master race and the rest must bow to our every whim, I will be loved?
zhann,
I think your crystal ball is a bit foggy. Nothing I’ve said would suggest an “aggressive” person, nor one who “preaches” intolerance and hate, and certainly not a word about racial superiority. I suspect you dislike my username, probably upset’s your leftwing sensitivity, so you bombard me with your mindless leftist rhetoric. My crystal ball suggests you are a narcissist, who runs your mouth as soon as you enter a room, because you assume everyone there can’t wait to hear what you have to say. I see no reason to have further discussions with a person with your propensity for deluded machinations.
My comment wasn’t trying to compare myself to you, I was making a generalization on your previous comment. But, if you want it to be about you, lets do so …
Aggressive:
– Constantly bragging about America’s military, with no one really contesting its superiority.
Intolerant:
– Quote “when someone is supporting the criminal Putin KGB/regime, they “deserve to be insulted and slandered”, because “they are either really stupid”, or paid FSB hacks”
Hate:
– Quote “Getting drunk and slobbering on yourself is a Russian tradition”
And these tidbits are only pulled from this thread and the Medvedev Psycho thread. Your comments generally have a tone of ‘superiority’ over the ‘Rooshans’, which is also hate speech. Before you get high and mighty, I suggest you do a little reflection on yourself.
zhann,
Another ‘useful idiot’ to lecture us about political correctness. For lefty’s like you, telling the truth is hate speech. As for my “bragging” about the U.S. military, I have some history there, served 20 years in the Air Force, of which I am proud of my service, and retired in 93. Sorry, but I don’t ascribe to your PC dictionary, or maybe you have a reading comprehension problem, or maybe your parents didn’t spank you enough. I’ve heard enough liberal drivel for one lifetime, so keep your illogical opinions to yourself. If you are so embarrassed to be an American, I challenge you to renounce your U.S. citizenship, the air will smell a lot better when your gone.
Careful now, he isn’t a left winger necessarily; read David Duke; they both say the same thing.
Sorry, zhann, could you clarify what qualifies you to “assess” the commenters on this blog, let alone give the home assignments?
You are obviously entitled to feel that Western Media from Fox to Guardian is biased anti-Russian; I tend to disagree – and equally entitled to think that way. I also noticed that all of Western Media is biased against Robert Mugabe; yet, when Mugabe accused the West of trying to starve him out – it was still hilarious. Frankly, no idea what yo meant by your Israel / Palestine example.
My first language is Russian; however, when I travel in Europe I always say that I am American. Especially, in Eastern Europe – but Germany, Italy as well. Doesn’t even cross my mind to introduce myself as from Russia. Apparently, we are traveling in different Europes. It happens sometimes.
I know, it’s a little off-topic but the purpose of this topic is to assess you – delusional Russian pretending to be American or Berkeley-type liberal, still mourning the demise of the USSR.
LA RUSSOPHOBE RESPONDS:
As the only ones who actually have any such qualifications, we’ll add our clarification: Nothing whatsoever does.
Assessing me is perfectly fine. I am a businessman/entrepreneur that has lived in Ukraine for the better part of 5 years now. I travel throughout Europe, mostly Germany, and am constantly meeting people to move business forward.
During casual conversation, my American accent gives away that I am American. This inevitably leads to statements like “Trying to run the world”, slander against Bush, blame of the financial crisis on America … and so on, and so on. This gets old. I quickly begin to explain that I am more Russian than American, which always seems to quell the crowd.
Back to the question at hand, assuming you are of Russian decent, do you honestly feel that Russia is a nation of pigs? Full of idiots? or any of the other slander that the commenters are suggesting?
Oh, last point … I am far from a Russia supporter. I simply feel that many of the commenters go out of their way to slander with no knowledge of the subject. Of course, I could be wrong. My honest opinion, rather than slander to no end, making positive suggestions on how to improve Russia would be far more beneficial.
The problem is, that the current Russian leadership has no desire to improve Russia, at least not to the benefit of the common people.
Now here is where we agree. It is not beneficial to the leadership to fix the problems. The greater the disorder within a country, the easier it is to steal. The Russian government is as corrupt as they come, you can literally buy anything in Russia with enough money. In my opinion, this is the core problem of the Russian government. The vast majority of other problems … police, education, etc … stem from corruption.
Now, this isn’t to say that there exists a country in the world that isn’t corrupt. However, to the degree that Russia is corrupt, only Ukraine and various African nations can claim a higher degree of corruption.
Les
“I see that you passed spin-doctor 101 class at the DCKT Acadamy.”
rts
OK. A real American patriot must know the difference to make right judgments.
Let’s talk about the greatness of America and avoid “controversial” subjects.
Who’s avoiding? I allowed you to bring it on with “and you’re beating the negroes” and you lost it badly anyway.
Robert
“You know, we’re lynching the negroes or something.”
I’m dead sure neither you nor your ancestry didn’t and do not lynching the negroes or anything. The reason is your Soviet-style mentality can be easily traced down the blog revealing your original background.
zhann
You demonstrate a level of sophistication I wouldn’t expect out of most Americans.
zhann,
how does it feel to get a compliment from rts? Just curious…
I still don’t know who is who on this site, so it is difficult for me to have any feeling good or bad from the majority of commenters.
RT uses the same self delusional tactics that Fox News depends on. Even it’s mix of “cat up a tree” stories, and heavily politicized coverage of world events seems to be in the same ratio. They follow the directions of Edinaya Russiya just like Fox News followed Carl Rove’s “talking points” all through the the Bush era.
Here’s the formula: If you say it enough, it’s true (SECRET MUSLIM). If you’re losing an argument keep saying the same thing until someone else loses interest or their patience. If someone disagrees with you, attack them personally, when personally attached people become less likely to respond, or it impairs their ability to think rationally, and most importantly, follow the “official” enemy, not the actual enemy.
Marc, and CNN and the ridiculous MSNBC aren’t agenda driven too? Add the NYT’s too into the 24/7 lefty loop of agenda driven news.
Please.