Could Russian Hackers Cause Power Outages In The U.S.?

 

Hackers believed to be allied with the Russian government have devised a cyberweapon that has the potential to be highly disruptive against the world’s electrical systems, researchers have reported.

The malware, which researchers have dubbed CrashOverride or Industroyer, is known to have disrupted the electrical system in Ukraine in December, briefly shutting down one-fifth of Kyiv’s electric power.

New EU policy document calls Russia “strategic challenge”

The document, which is set to be endorsed at a June 28 summit of leaders, was produced by the bloc’s diplomatic corps after EU heads of state last year tasked EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini with providing a strategic assessment to “guide the European Union’s global actions in the future,” according to RFE/RL.

Court rules complete ban of Communist Party of Ukraine

Kyiv’s District Administrative Court satisfied the claim of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine in full, banning the activities of the Communist Party of Ukraine, according to the court’s official website.

It is noted that the District Administrative Court of Kyiv has completed consideration of the lawsuit by the Ministry of Justice to ban the activities of the Communist Party.

Moscow preparing to destabilize Belarus if Lukashenka refuses to allow a Russian base, Mensk experts say

Alyaksandr Lukashenka has so far refused Moscow’s demand for the establishment of a Russian military base in Belarus, two senior Belarusian analysts say, noting that in addition to promises of aid, Moscow is currently preparing to destabilize its Western neighbor and even create the conditions for a Russian military intervention.

Arseniy Sivitsky, the director of the Belarusian Center for Strategic and Foreign Policy Research, and his colleague Yury Tsarik shared their concerns about the situation with Kseniya Kirillova of Novy Region-2.

Lithuania to become first country to arm Ukraine against Russia

Vilnius says other NATO members should follow Lithuania’s example

Lithuania’s ambassador to Ukraine says Vilnius is ready to start shipping defensive weapons to Ukraine to help the country stop Russia seizing more of its territory.

Marius Yanukonis told Ukraine’s Channel 5 that Lithuania wanted to be the first country to openly arm Ukraine and hoped it would set an example to other NATO countries which he said should follow suit.

Kiev prepares for Russian ‘full-scaled offensive’

Ukraine is mobilising troops and seeking European Union help in anticipation of a Russian military offensive in the east of the country, Kyiv Post and EUobserver report on 14 November.Kyiv Post writes that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and NATO have both observed weapons and soldiers crossing the border into the eastern Donbass region, in what the Ukrainian government calls “a violation of the 5 September Minsk ceasefire agreement”. In response, Ukraine has reportedly been

staffing and equipping the reserves [as well as signing] more than Hr 1 billion [€52m] worth of contracts for supply of weapons and military equipment in the past week alone.

Ukraine readies for attacks in east

Amid a crumbling peace plan in Ukraine, NATO has reported Russian troop movement near the Ukrainian border. Meanwhile, Kyiv has vowed to protect eastern cities from the rebels trying to exert power over the region.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko convened the Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council on Tuesday evening in reaction to the ballot held over the weekend by separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine.

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While the peace plan has not been entirely effective, with continued reports of fighting near Donetsk and other cities in the east, the Ukrainian president has thus far rejected a new military campaign.

Preparing for War Against the US on All Fronts—A Net Assessment of Russia’s Defense and Foreign Policy Since the Start of 2014

In a series of recently published interviews, President Vladimir Putin (kremlin.ru, October 15), Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (Interfax, October 15) and national security council secretary Nikolai Patrushev (Rossiyskaya Gazeta, October 15) have outlined Moscow’s strategic vision of the world after the Ukrainian crisis, Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the Moscow-inspired proxy war in the southeastern Donbas region of Ukraine, and resulting punitive sanctions imposed by the West. The view from Moscow is uninviting—A new cold war with the West is in the making; Russia is under attack and will use all means at its disposal to resist, including the nuclear option. Putin accused Washington of deliberately provoking the Ukraine crisis by supporting extreme nationalists in Kyiv, which in turn ignited a civil war. “Now they [the United States] accuse us of causing this crisis,” exclaimed Putin, “It is madness to blackmail Russia; let them remember, a discord between major nuclear powers may undermine strategic stability” (kremlin.ru, October 15).

Under mounting Western pressure this year, Russian leaders have been repeatedly and unambiguously reminding the West of the ultimate weapon at Moscow’s disposal—nuclear mutual assured destruction. The Russian military is also rearming and conducting massive exercises, preparing for a possible global war. The consensus view in Moscow within the political, military and intelligence community is that relations with the United States are beyond repair and, quoting Medvedev, there is no possibility of any new US-Russian “reset.” Moscow has come to believe that there is no possibility of any genuine détente with Washington until 2020 at the earliest. Indeed, National Security Council Secretary Patrushev’s interview in the official government-published Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper has the title: “Second Cold War.” Patrushev openly describes the US as Russia’s eternal foe and accuses Washington of planning for many decades to fully isolate Moscow and deprive it of any influence in its former dominions in the post-Soviet space. Patrushev announced (which seems to be an officially held policy opinion) that the US is today fulfilling a strategic plan to marginalize and destroy Russia—a strategy that he says was initiated in the 1970s by Zbigniew Brzezinski, the then–United States National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter.

NATO warns Vladimir Putin sending aid convoy to Ukraine as pretext for invasion of ‘New Russia’

As previously discussed here.

 

President Vladimir Putin said on Monday Russia is sending an aid convoy to eastern Ukraine despite urgent Western warnings against using humanitarian help as a pretext for an invasion.

With Ukraine reporting Russia has massed 45,000 troops on its border, NATO said there was a “high probability” that Moscow could intervene militarily in the country’s east, where Kyiv’s forces are closing in on pro-Russian separatists.

Western countries believe that Putin – who has whipped up the passions of Russians with a nationalist campaign in state-controlled media since annexing Crimea from Ukraine in March – could now send his forces into the east to head off a humiliating rebel defeat.

Russia warns Ukraine of ‘irreversible consequences’

Russia’s foreign ministry has warned Ukraine over an incident in which a cross-border shell hit two houses in Russia, reportedly killing a Russian man. It threatened possible “irreversible consequences.”

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A statement from the foreign ministry said Ukraine had been handed a note of protest describing the incident as “an aggressive act by the Ukrainian side against sovereign Russian territory and the citizens of the Russian Federation.”

The Galloping Militarization of Eurasia

Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula and the deployment of up to 40,000 troops on Ukraine’s border to support the actions of pro-Russian separatist forces have been widely identified as a turning point in the “post-Cold War” European security system. But Russia’s militarized policy toward Ukraine should not be seen as a spontaneous response to the crisis. It has only been possible thanks to a long-term program by Moscow to build up its military capabilities.

A 21ST CENTURY RUSSIAN MILITARY

To be a “great power” – which is the status that Moscow’s political elite claim for Russia – is to have both an international reach and regional spheres of influence. To achieve this, Moscow understands that it must be able to project military force, so the modernization of Russia’s armed forces has become a key element of its “great power” ambitions. For this reason, seven years ago, a politically painful and expensive military modernization program was launched to provide Russia with new capabilities. One of the key aims of this modernization has been to move the Russian military away from a mass mobilization army designed to fight a large-scale war (presumably against NATO) to the creation of smaller and more mobile combat-ready forces designed for local and regional conflicts.

In military rout, Russia seizes 51 Ukrainian ships in Crimea

In its invasion and annexation of Crimea, Russia has seized 51 vessels belonging to the Ukrainian navy, according to information compiled by Dmitry Tymchuk, director of the Center of Military and Political Research in Kyiv.

Among the Ukrainian vessels reportedly captured by the Russians are submarine Zaporizhia, management ship Slavutych, landing ship Konstantin Olshansky, landing ship Kirovohrad, minesweeper Chernihiv and minesweeper Cherkasy.

Ukraine in near state of war, foreign minister says

Moscow ratchets up pressure on Kyiv, claiming that Russian-leaning eastern regions have plunged into lawlessness.

KYIV, UKRAINE—Ukraine’s foreign minister said Monday that his country was practically in a state of war with Russia, as Moscow further ratcheted up pressure on Kyiv, claiming that Russian-leaning eastern regions have plunged into lawlessness.

Russian forces have effectively taken control of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in what has turned into Europe’s greatest geopolitical crisis since the end of the Cold War. On Sunday the region is to hold a referendum on whether to split off and become part of Russia, which the West says it will not recognize.

Ukraine’s army recruitment centres inundated with willing soldiers

If interested, please click on the link to see the video, which was incompatible and unable to be posted here.

Though only a part of the reservists have been summoned, many others have felt the call of duty.

One man interviewed by our correspondent outside the office said, “I came because I feel a responsibility towards my land, for my country…I am reservist officer. I left the army two years ago. But I came here on my own initiative even without officially being called up.”

US lets EU take center stage on Ukraine peace accord

Remember that the EU is led by Germany, therefore America is encouraging Germany to take center stage — and it has.

In allowing the EU to mediate Ukraine’s peace accord, the US achieved its objectives and lightened its own burden. Whether it can stay in the shadows depends on the likelihood of a Ukrainian financial crisis.

The US had two priorities in Kyiv, says Charles A. Kupchan, who under the first Clinton administration directed the National Security Council’s (NSC) European affairs.

“Number one, to stop the killing and the loss of life. And number two, to bring to an end a political stalemate and find a way forward for Ukraine,” he told DW.

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“From the perspective of Washington, it’s important that the Atlantic community move to a new division of responsibility in which Europe shoulders a greater burden,” Kupchan said. “And in the first instance, those burdens should be in Europe.”