U.S. officials think that Russia may have recently obtained the ability to evade U.S. eavesdropping equipment while commandeering Crimea and amassing troops near Ukraine's border.
The revelation reportedly has the White House "very nervous," especially because it's unclear how the Kremlin hid its plans from the National Security Agency's snooping on digital and electronic communications.
One interesting parallel is the presence of Edward Snowden in Russia, where he has been living since flying to Moscow from Hong Kong on June 23.
In July, primary Snowden source Glenn Greenwald told The Associated Press that Snowden "is in possession of literally thousands of documents that contain very specific blueprints that would allow somebody who read them to know exactly how the NSA does what it does, which would in turn allow them to evade that surveillance or replicate it."
So it's either a coincidence that the Russians figured out how to evade NSA surveillance while hosting the NSA-trained hacker, or else it implies that Snowden may have provided the Russians with access to NSA files.
A coincidence? Yeah, right.
Of course the claim is that Snowden gave all of his purloined data to the journalists and kept nothing for himself, however the timeline, and veracity, of that occurrence is still in doubt.
There were many who suggested that President Obama's public statement that he will work with Congress to reign in the NSA's ability to collect data as proof that Snowden is a hero and that the country owes him their gratitude.
However we still do not dully understand exactly WHAT Snowden took, and WHOSE hands it ended up in. (Remember before landing in Russia Snowden stopped in Hong Kong for a month, and at that time definitely had the data on him. And we have already possibly seen the fallout from that.)
Personally I find it hard to believe that Putin would offer Snowden sanctuary in Russia if he did not have something substantial with which to bargain. And the ability to evade American eavesdropping equipment, allowing you to invade countries under the radar, would be a rather large bargaining chip.
One of the questions remaining is, if our intelligence gathering technology is now in the hands of the Russians, how vulnerable are we?
Invasion? What invasion. The US of A weren't so fussy about Kosovo if i remember correctly...
ReplyDeletePerhaps, you could tell us what you remember. Are you referring to the NATO intervention and our support of it?
DeleteI'm sure Snowden gave our technology to the Russians AND the Chinese, duh. Of course that is why President Obama is trying to reduce data gathering, but really, now Russia and China have access to 7 years of USA phone data, regardless of what we do at this point. In this "brave new world" he who has access to the most technology wins. Funny that Putin sat there during the Olympics knowing that as soon as those games and the Paralympic games were over he was marching into Crimea and neither the US nor Ukraine, nor any other bordering country knew. I guess Snowden will live out his days as a Russian exile and possible hero in Russia, but he gave up his American life in exchange for life under a regime who may find you useful one day and not so much the next.
ReplyDeleteAll kidding aside, I am still scratching my head wondering why Snowden would do such a thing. Was it money alone? Surely he could not be naive enough to believe that this is about good vs. evil.
DeleteHe seems like a narcissist who thought he was smarter than everyone else, including Chinese and Russian agents. He was sure he could control the whole thing. Nope.
DeleteC.A.L.: IMHO, he is/was a double agent, maybe even a tripple one (for both Russia as well as China). Maybe he was even planted by someone within the US itself, because his meteoric rise from college dropout to expert at NSA was definitely 'interesting' to say the least!
Delete@ anon 4:54
DeleteYes, something like that seems to be a possible scenario. His "meteoric rise" is indeed suspicious.
Perhaps a combination of greed and a twisted notion that the Obama administration must be undermined at all costs is driving this.
Eddie has been very quiet about Putin's annexation of Crimea. You would figure that a person so concerned about privacy would be concerned about invading other countries and have something to say about it. But Eddie is curiously quiet on this subject, isn't he?
ReplyDeletewhere's jack bauer ?
ReplyDeleteI want to know how long Snowden will have coverage in Russia...the USA will get him eventually and I would suspect his ending will not be pretty!
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, something that really matters. ACA sign up has been delayed yet gain. Mandate? What mandate?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20140326/obamacare-sign-deadline-delayed-mandate-effectively-gone
For all your horn tooting about this, the Affordable Care Act is a failure and is imploding.
This is not a failure but giving those that qualify another chance to take advantage of affordable health care. I work only seasonally and have a policy that is $250 deductible, covers ALL preventive and birth control for $116/mo. My partner, who makes very good money had done a prelim signup but didn't commit. He got paperwork in the mail yesterday confirming that he could get a $5000 deductible, full preventive coverage policy for only $250/mo. He will now sign up, but procrastinated and didn't think about it until he got his paperwork package in the mail yesterday.
DeleteAny person that can be encouraged to become insured instead of relying on emergency medical care that raises the rest of our premiums might now think about signing up for actual insurance. The ACA is but a harbinger for better care to come for everyone, including those that live in states that didn't accept the additional medicaid funds. Those states are now realizing that they are funding the uninsured through their State budgets, in the longterm, and I can't imagine any Governor that would want a preponderance of uninsured in their state, whom they would have to pick up the bill for.
The ACA lowered my insurance by $200 a month. I don't qualify for any tax credit, either. I'm thrilled to death! Maybe I'll spend some of my extra money on "stuff" and stimulate the economy :) go spread your negative energy somewhere else. Shoo!
DeleteWhat a stupid thing to say. Because of the close to traitorous republican obstruction of a constitutional law, people have not been able to sign up in a timely manner. They are reasonably being given an extension.
DeleteJust imagine if each state had proactively set up their own exchange in a timely manner, well-designed for the demographics of its citizens. But no, traitorous republicans who are willing to see Americans die if they think it will have a negative effect on the President, delayed and obstructed every step of the way. In Michigan, the republican controlled legislature finally grudgingly approved Medicaid expansion.
Of course, it won't be in effect until April 1st. After the March 31st deadline.
Sorry, asswipe, you don't get to block and obstruct, and then suddenly be concerned that the law must be implemented according to the time table that scum like you sabotaged.
And no, the law is not imploding and is not a failure. So sorry, you won't be able to jerk off or rub one out while reading about people dying after being denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions, or hitting the coverage caps or turning 19.
You traitorous monsters make me sick. Go gleefully call for the deaths of Americans somewhere else.
Yeah, yeah. I'm old enough to have heard all this before. People hated the idea of Medicare Part D. It had a terrible rollout. Five months after its launch fewer than 50 % percent of seniors said they would sign up.
DeleteGeorge W. extended the deadlines. Everyone threw their arms in the air - the sky was falling. The thing would never work.
Now they're all "Keep your hands off my Medicare" and that includes Part D. Me, I am personally grateful and that, under the ACA, we now have so many people covered who have never had health care before and millions of children, that gives me great joy.
(Sorry to be OT)
Or just maybe, the technology that Snowden and Greenwald claim is not as good as they say....maybe they never had as much as they have convinced some they had and that the government had. Did anyone ever think that. Nothing that I have seen Snowden released was anything new.. it had all been released over the last few years..just he released it in one fell swoop..Possibly we never had the capability to listen into and learn what these countries were up to.. we never knew they were going into Georgia either under Bush did we? Think about that for a while and let it sink in.
ReplyDeleteSo you presume that we know all that Snowden has shared to foreign governments? Hell, our national media doesn't report half of what happens in THIS nation, much less have access to what Snowden shared in foreign countries!
DeleteI'm pretty certain that the Bush regime knew that Russia was invading Georgia, but really, who cares? I don't think we care about the Crimean invasion except for the fact that they used American intelligence to facilitate it.
If Snowden thought running to China and then Russia would endear him to Americans and gain their trust, he's a big idiot. Doing so proved to ME he's a traitor .
ReplyDeleteI'm still convinced Snowden is working for the Kochsuckers.
ReplyDeleteThat's entirely possible. He's a portage of Glenn Greenwald and his ties to the far right are many. Snowden is a traitor, plain and simple. I'm sure that he disgorged information to both the Chinese or the Russians.
DeleteBeaglemom
I'm happy you seem to have gotten over being a Snowden fanboy.
ReplyDeleteFrom the very beginning I said this guy was a very bad guy. Not for one second have I changed my thoughts on this. It's a gut, visceral feeling every time I see an image of him. And more and more the pieces are falling into place and we're seeing his heinous activities and treason play themselves out around the globe. He really needs to take a bullet between the eyes for his utter betrayal of this country.
ReplyDeleteSnowden will always be an American hero
ReplyDeleteFor exposing Obama's surveillance state.
Yeah, he's so brave, he's coming back for the medal of honor ceremony!
DeleteFor exposing OBAMA'S surveillance state??? Make that BUSH'S surveillance state, because CHIMPY is the one who instigated all this!!!
DeleteGet your facts straight, MORON!
I'm surprised Snowden wasn't seated next to Comrade Putin during the olympics. I bet he has regrets now. If he didn't bring the goods he promised Putin, I'm sure Putin has some pretty nasty ways of getting him to sing.
ReplyDeleteOnce Putin has gotten all he can get from him, he will have an 'unfortunate accident'.
Delete