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OT: Kate Starbird, Kremlinologist - dabigv13 - 06-12-2017

Kate Starbird, now a professor at UW, quoted in this (scary) article.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/12/how-russia-targets-the-us-military-215247

Re: OT: Kate Starbird, Kremlinologist - fullmetal - 06-12-2017

It's scary that purportedly pro-American websites are entering into financial agreements with what seems to be Russian intelligence-backed entities.  Ridiculous.

Re: OT: Kate Starbird, Kremlinologist - dabigv13 - 06-12-2017

Yeah, and the scariest part is we don't seem to have a very developed strategy to counter this sort of thing.

________
This is very tangential but I think folks here would like it. Quoted here is a different UW professor, who studies crows. They're a lot smarter and complex than I realized. Really well written article too.

https://www.seattlemet.com/articles/2017/5/17/the-secret-life-of-urban-crows

Re: OT: Kate Starbird, Kremlinologist - OutsiderFan - 06-12-2017

It's sad and embarrassing, but Russia is killing the United States in asymmetrical warfare.  While it is true we have superior kinetic military capability, it's not like Russia doesn't have devastating kinetic weaponry, like this: http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a24216/pentagon-confirm-russia-submarine-nuke/ 

If you add it all up, Russia is the country really driving the world right now.  They now have influence over the United States political system and have infiltrated its media.  Based on what I can gather, Russia wants its former states back, or at least the strategically valuable geography they have, which is mostly sea ports, highways, and natural resources. Any hope of getting them back requires weakening the U.S., Europe, and NATO. 

None of this is easy.  The solutions are quite difficult politically, militarily, and morally, but it sure would be nice to have a commander in chief to protect the United States from Russian active measures rather than one who ignores them at best, and embraces them at worse.

Re: OT: Kate Starbird, Kremlinologist - 76lsjumb - 06-12-2017

Not sure we really want to go down this path on this Board, but, if so, who can forget this:

In the final debate of the presidential campaign, President Barack Obama tried to portray challenger Mitt Romney as a novice who lacks understanding of complex world issues.

"Gov. Romney, I'm glad that you recognize that al-Qaida is a threat, because a few months ago when you were asked what's the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said Russia, not al-Qaida. You said Russia ... the 1980s, they're now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because, you know, the Cold War's been over for 20 years," Obama said.


Ahh, what might have been...

Re: OT: Kate Starbird, Kremlinologist - dabigv13 - 06-12-2017

Perhaps this is one "....but Obama!" that has some merit. Nevertheless, he's out, and the guy we have in there now is who will have to have to face this threat.

I think the thing that's interesting and alluded to in the article is how they invoke Western values such as free speech in their appeals. Of course, this very day, they arrested an opposition leader on his way to protests.

Effective countermeasures will need to be multinational, and soon, or Russian interference will only intensify.

Re: OT: Kate Starbird, Kremlinologist - fullmetal - 06-12-2017

While I'm sure the Pentagon and military branches have put every soldier through a powerpoint presentation on what not to do on social media, it seems there is no systemic or structured way to protect against these soft incursions/recon/psyops tactics short of asking social media platforms to use ML to detect Russian activity and firewall it.  And if Russian psyops decides to appeal to the warrior ethos and generate sympathy...isn't that more an indictment of our own military and their inability to think critically?

I remember reading that "story" of the Russian soldier dying in epic fashion in Syria (the story alluded to in the article).  It seemed pretty melodramatic to be true (I did not believe it), but I can definitely see how the story would appeal to veterans.  Great emotional play  :-X

Re: OT: Kate Starbird, Kremlinologist - 82 Card - 06-12-2017

(06-12-2017, 08:48 AM)OutsiderFan link Wrote:... Based on what I can gather, Russia wants its former states back, or at least the strategically valuable geography they have, which is mostly sea ports, highways, and natural resources....

Among "former states" I assume you included California:
https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-03-07/leader-california-independence-movement-lives-russia