Krishna
This story is about how Russian hackers helped destroy the campaign of Hillary Clinton and help Donald Trump gain Presidency in 2016.
As you read the book, initially at least, it is all about the author. Nance boasts about his prowess in Russian language, his experience in both people spying and cyberspying, how he has a suspicious mind conducive to his skills in the field and so on and on and on.
Yes, the details he produces are interesting and strong evidence for the case he is building but reading about how great the author is in the midst of it reminds one of Trump’s own self description as ‘a very stable genius’.
We learn of the sophisticated attack on the computer on Democratic National Headquarters and the sustained, long term theft of sensitive materials. It had all the modus operandi of Russian operation.
Luckily, this self aggrandizement stops after the first few pages and we get on with the story. It starts with Trump’s visit in 2011 for Obama dinner where he was roasted by both Obama and Bill Myers and hated every moment of it. It may have sown the seed of standing for the Presidency in 2016.
Trump astonishingly lead the field and became the official candidate of the Republican party in 2016. However, Hillary was first tarnished by her bitter mudslinging of Bernie Sanders who, by the time he realized he had to withdraw had tarnished her so much that his young and enthusiastic supporters lost heart. And despite multiple enquiries clearing Clinton of wrongdoing, Trump’s slander stuck.
OK, I do realize that this book is very biased towards Democrats but there is a grain of truth in it if you are willing to take the arguments with a pinch (OK, several spoonfuls) of salt.
We learn that Putin, as a teenager was interested in joining the Intelligence Agency and became a lawyer to achieve that aim before starting at a low level in the KGB. He was assigned in East Germany where, with Stasi’s infrastructure, he recruited West Germans to act as spies for the Soviet Union, and learnt intelligence methods and tricks.
When Berlin wall fell, he destroyed incriminating evidence of Stasi offices before retreating. He was also trained in counterintelligence, which caused the paranoia and distrust of all people for the rest of his life.
There is a fascinating description of how ruthless the spy agencies of Russia have been right from the earliest tsar times. He talks of the Stalin’s agency and talks of the usual Soviet habit of pursuing enemies in other countries to assassinate them. It is a bit of a surprise that Gorbachev, who is blamed for the collapse of the Soviet Union is the one who set up the KGB. (The earlier ones had different names)
Even if you are not predisposed to dislike Trump and keep an open mind – as I hope I am – the details you read are shocking. How Trump, long before his election was filled with admiration for Putin and how he tried to build Trump properties in Russia (which subsequently declared bankruptcy and closed down) and gloated that ‘Putin is a friend and likes me’. The claim by the author that Trump was identified as ‘the ideal mark to groom by KGB’ may be a bit farfetched but other details are verifiable.
What I am summarizing below are the author’s description of the events as given.
For instance, Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign manager, made his living by defending dictators, among whom numbered such cruel dictators as Mobutu Sese Seko of Zimbabwe, Ferdinand Marcos of Philippines, Jonas Savimbi of Angola, Victor Yanukovich, the pro Russian president of Ukraine who was hounded out by a popular uprising – all this long before the current conflict. Representing any client is not a crime, of course but his client list ought to at least raise eyebrows, right? (For the campaign manager selection). On top of that, he had claimed never to have worked for Russian or Ukrainian clients when he was named in shady deals in both countries in lawsuits.
The campaign team of Trump was filled with people who had large investments in Russia and ties to Russian business and they all opposed any language in the Republican platform information of any support shown to Ukraine – this is after the loss of Crimea but before the Donbas insurrection, let alone the Russian Ukrainian war.)
The roll call includes Michael Flynn with strong ties to Russia Today television and a close connection with Putin. He was a paid contributor to RT, a state owned television station in Russia and said ‘They paid me so much’ but refused to reveal the numbers – in an interview with The Washington Post.
Meanwhile the book portrays why Hillary Clinton, who was opposed to Russia and pro Nato and Ukraine was loathed by Putin, who definitely would have liked Trump, with his suspicion of allies, disdain for Nato and even uncertainty about defending Nato members if one of them were attacked (unless they did not saddle the costs on Uncle Sam) was the perfect candidate to engineer into the President’s seat.
The cyber operations with names for teams like COZY BEAR and for the operation as LUCKY 7 goes into high gear. The hacking of the Democratic Head Quarters computers is now a treasure trove to be used judiciously to influence public opinion through social media.
The details of the Cyber attacks by exploiting the known and unknown software vulnerabilities in a the target computer system and the detailed description of the Russian hackers code named Fancy Bear and Cozy Bear may seem a bit too detailed for the layman; I suspect it would, not being a computer layman.
But the various names by which each of these hacker teams are known in various companies is definitely tedious for everyone.
But the explanation and prominent examples of the spear-phishing techniques of the groups are fascinating!
The back history of Estonia is amazing. Estonia was considered Russia’s backyard and Putin was irate when Estonia, after its independence, slipped into the Western orbit and joined NATO. On top of that, all the ethnic Russians who were settled in Estonia during the Soviet rule were considered foreigners by native Estonians, which did not sit well with Russia or Putin. So he decided to express his displeasure by cyber sabotage of Estonia.
The ultimate insult was in 2007 when the statue of a Russian soldier, representing Russian sacrifices in the war against Germany was removed by Estonian government from its place in Tallinn, Estonia’s capital. Cozy Bears went into action and successfully shut down all internet traffic in Estonia!
When Russia took over South Ossetia, a Russian majority oblast (province), Georgia tried to take it back but was defeated by pro Russian forces. Russia helped them by conducting a hybrid warfare including cyber attacks on Georgian web. While disabling Georgian government internet, they also posted pro Russian messages to influence Georgian public opinion. This was the first time a hybrid warfare was fought anywhere in the world, according to the author.
Also, when Lithuania passed a law in 2008 to prohibit any display of both Nazi and Soviet symbols, Russia retaliated with a cyber attack in anger. The websites taken over were altered to show anti Lithuanian messages and Soviet symbol of the hammer and the sickle.
Interesting but when all you see is a list of attacks including Ukraine and Poland without much variation, again it gets saggy. (I know real life is not a racy story but the skill of narration is in summarizing the items so that it does not read like many grocery lists.)
But undeniably there are gems in the descriptions. For example, about Julian Assange and Wikileaks. It is interesting that – even if you assume that their stated motives are really as they are stated – the disclosure of secret documents can be selectively sent by those with political goals that are partial to or against someone. The author says that Russia chose to release damaging documents from the Democratic Office (obtained by a cyber penetration illegally) to Wikileaks in order that the document contents could be believed.
Assnage himself was born in Australia and had an uneven homeschooling. He had an early interest in computers and was ‘online’ before internet was born (in smaller networks). He learnt hacking and was arrested in 1991 was hacking into some US sites and also Nortel, the Canadian telecom giant that subsequently went bust. Wikileaks, established many years before burst into public consciousness when in 2010 it published illegally a video showing US helicopters opening fire and killing two journalists and some children in a mistaken ‘friendly fire’ incident.
With the help of an ar my Private assigned to sensitive documents, Wikileaks then published a very large number of top secret documents. The army private was court martialed and sentenced to 35 years in prison for her breach of confidentiality.
Assange by giving people to anonymously expose confidential documents, is looking for justice and transparency but not even handed reporting, according to the author. Christopher Hitchens accused Assange of megalomania and having no scruples and an agenda (‘to end two wars’ during the 2000’s and we know which wars they are – ie, not neutral. He called him a ‘middle man and a peddler who resents the civilization that nurtured him’.
Also, Wikileaks decided to wait until just before Democratic National Convention to publish the illegally obtained emails from the DNC headquarters earlier, causing allegations of ‘lack of objectivity and pushing a specific agenda’.
The value of some of the material published by Wikileaks have been acknowledged even by some of the critics of its methods and timing.
Maybe not related, but Assange had close ties with Russian media, and had a stint as a host of a Russian state controlled TV network, as was pointed out by Bittner, a German journalist.
You learn that the name of the Russian state controlled magazine Pravda means ‘Truth’ in Russian.
The author says that Russia today does not care for the veracity of truth, and in his words, ‘has adopted sloppy Fox-News style reporting wherein they present unverified news with the prefix “Some people say…” ‘
Assange, according to Guardian journalist Luke Harding, was a ‘useful idiot’ to Putin. Putin commissioned him to host a show in Russia Today from the Ecuadorian embassy where Assange had taken refuge to evade his arrest warrant of US. Assange had claimed in an interview for the Russian newspaper Izvestia that he had dirt on Russia also and will publish it fearlessly. But when the well timed leak of US dirt was aired, or later, there was no explosive revelations about Russia. It is interesting to note that right after that interview, an anonymous official from FSB told LifeNews.ru a Russian website that ‘It’s essential to remember that given the will and … orders, [Wikileaks] can be made inaccessible forever”.
Assange has openly admitted that it was he who encouraged Edward Snowden to seek asylum in Russia.
Assange was also vocal about his hatred for Hillary and has written (in 2016) that Clinton ‘certainly should not become President of the United States’. With his hatred for Hillary expressed in many interviews, the author contends that Russia had its useful idiot to leak the information to, so that he could publish and cause exactly the result that they wanted. While stopping him from leaking any information of the debacles of Russian intelligence that he claimed to have collected.
The leaks, when they came, were carefully sorted to create the impression that Hillary stole the primary election from Bernie Sanders, thus angering his base into not supporting her after he withdrew. Trump piled into the issue with tweets and Assange gleefully linked it to the documents so that it would get a wider circulation! When Bernie finally endorsed Clinton, it did not seem wholehearted and one of the main reason is the information in the leaks.
What is also shocking in the author’s account is how close the leaks came to breaking up the Democratic party. The Bernie supporters were livid that the officials had made up their mind on their preferred candidate even before Bernie conceded and many were openly saying they will not vote for Hillary even if Bernie did not get the nomination. Also they were echoing Trump’s claim that the Democratic primary was a ‘stage managed,stitched up process’ and even chanted ‘Lock her up!’ echoing Trump rallies. These must have been sweet music to the Republican ears.
Finally the person who saved the Democratic unity was Trump. In a speech he said ‘Russia, if you are listening, please release all the 3000 emails from the DNC servers!’ which created doubts on what he knew about the hack and whether Russia was seriously trying to influence the elections.
Trump at this stage was saying that ‘If we do not win Pennsylvania, the election is stolen!’. (As an aside). The alleged Russian team made sure to leak documents supporting whatever claims Trump made, thereby selectively reinforcing the doubts in the minds of independent voters.
The state election system servers were hacked a a lot of voter registration data was stolen around this time. The author does not state that it is related to the above attacks.
The book was written in 2016 just before the election results (from the looks of it) but has sentences to the effect (not a direct quote) ‘The erosion of faith and the constant claiming of fraud in fundamental American functions like the elections by claims from Trump that the system is rigged will produce an environment where any unfavourable result will be rejected as rigged’.
Interesting.
One sided, for sure, because he has no explanation of the shenanigans engaged by the Democrats but nevertheless an extremely interesting and disturbing argument.
7/10
— Krishna