"The Russians Hacked My Toaster!" - What Else Will Evil Russkis be Accused of by Western Press?
The US and the UK's constant accusations of alleged Russian hacker activity have no substance and lack proof. That's how the Russian President's Press Secretary, Dmitry Peskov reacted to numerous warnings from the Pentagon that "the Russians are coming" to every house via modems and IP addresses. The news about the mythical cyber attack was quickly picked up by the British Daily Mail and Sky News. However, a cybersecurity expert from Washington has spilled the beans. The hacking accusations are just a reason for the White House to justify the expansion of anti-Russian sanctions.
Aleksandr Khabarov reports on the issue.
The US and the UK special services accuse Russia of preparing large-scale cyber attacks. They say that Russian hackers aren't just interested in government organizations, but in regular homeowners, too, as they break into home networks. The Times published the experts' dire forecasts.
The Times: "There's been an attack, and this attack may be the first one in a battle that can result in an all-out war. They cyber Cold War continues; we're expecting Russia's response soon. We must get ready".
The Russian Embassy in London has reminded that during UK Foreign Minister Boris Johnson's visit to Moscow in December of last year, the UK side was offered to have open talks between both countries' cybersecurity experts. However, this initiative didn't receive an answer.
Aleksandr Yakovenko, Russian Ambassador to the UK: "First, they start hysterics in the press, then the Brits avoid expert-level negotiations with us. The topic of near symmetrical countermeasures towards Russia is discussed. We've suggested that the UK make an official statement that they do not intend to initiate a cyber attack on our country, coming from our policy that we don't threaten anyone, and there will be no attacks from our side".
We remind you that the UK Parliament threatened Russia with a cyber attack a month ago after the poisoning of the former double agent, Sergey Skripal. The US and the UK's accusations of Russia look odd, especially if we recall the revelations of Edward Snowden, a former NSA employee. He talked about a system that imposes global control over communications, a system created by British and American special services.
Let's recall America's PRISM surveillance program, which intercepts over 1.5 billion online messages and phone conversations per day. The perpetual scandal around UK's Cambridge Analytica clearly shows just what US and UK specialists are capable of. This company monitored millions of Facebook users. In the UK, just like in the US, they believe that this company has a magical influence on the voters, who ended up voting for Brexit in the UK. The company's directors, former and current ones, are now constant responders at the Parliament Committees' hearings.
Brittany Kaiser, a former Director at Cambridge Analytica: "I was never given knowledge of all the activities of the company. The reason was the recently uncovered facts".
The UK government has launched a system of scaring everyone with tall tales of an "aggressive Russia." As big as the Salisbury provocation was, it doesn't take much for Britain to find a pretext. However, the UK government is already being held responsible for their actions in Syria. Parliament has been holding fiery debates for the second day in a row.
Theresa May, the UK PM: "Let no one doubt that neither the government nor I receive instructions from any president or from another country's government. We always act in the best national interests as we see them".
Judging from May's logic, it's in the interests of the UK to launch cruise missiles at other sovereign states without any approval by the United Nations Security Council. London calls this a "limited strike". However, nobody asks these questions: How much death and destruction could this pointless attack have caused if Syrian air defense systems hadn't worked? What would've happened had all 100 missiles made it to their targets?
Aleksandr Khabarov, Ilya Mordyukov, Vesti, UK.