I'm not sure why you're worried about our military/industrial complex and informatics capabilities. I say this as an American: We're increasingly not a global power.
1. Our drone program is garbage, cheap chinese factories are giving $200-1000 solutions that are better than our $60000 solutions (edit: cost of explosives not included, but for lower yields it's way cheaper). Same for our logistics, it's dated and the civilian market has better for 1/100th the cost.
2. Our opsec is broken. Whoever's behind these attacks on the US's intelligence community is winning. For example, we know for a fact that Russia has been using a very similar tool outside embassies, but the fact that we know that is because actors has so much to gain by dumping it into the public sphere, politically. The US increasingly cannot "keep a secret".
3. Our industrial capabilities are falling behind. America's efforts of pursuing ultimate cost efficiency have ultimately outsourced the majority of the US's modern manufacturing capacity. This means at a national level we're at a demonstrably disadvantage to nations with much more of a connection to their private sector, with the classic example being China.
Worrying about America's military-industrial complex is reasonable if you're near a naval deployment because America still has an impressive supply of very powerful explosives. But beyond that... we're sort of getting our asses kicked and our government appears to be rapidly destabilizing. You can suggest this is from outside influence, and I think there's strong reason to believe that there is an ongoing attack. But it can't explain the entire phenomenon.
So I'm not sure what you're afraid of from us. Nothing in the WL page should be surprising. We've seen similar tools disclosed earlier this year. These tools are more sophisticated versions of attacks that have been ongoing for, gosh... I had to write a less awesome version of this tool as a demonstration I was ready to move up in rank in a security challenge forum, it was so easy. It's harder now, for sure, but...
During the Arab Spring there were multiple reports of European surveillence technology being fundamental to the police state in the Middle East/Africa (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-40276568). Small arms made by H&K, Beretta, and FN etc are prevalent across the region. Advanced weapons like anti-aircraft systems also flood in from across the globe.
The UK, French, and Germans were also key supporters of Saddam Hussain during the Iran-Iraq War in the 80's and actively supported the WMD program there by supplying technology etc.
Every large power is involved in military manufacturing and seeks markets to sell too. Americans are no less ignorant to this than citizens in Europe, Russia, or Asia.
Europe having an out of control military industrial complex doesn't negate the fact that the US has an out of control military industrial complex as well.
I've seen it occasionally used to refer to Americans, because technically speaking, any citizen of any country of North or South America is an "American", and yet citizens of the USA don't recognize this.
To many, the implicit assumption that USA strictly equals America and vice versa is just another artifact of the arrogance built into US culture.
KirinDave|8 years ago
1. Our drone program is garbage, cheap chinese factories are giving $200-1000 solutions that are better than our $60000 solutions (edit: cost of explosives not included, but for lower yields it's way cheaper). Same for our logistics, it's dated and the civilian market has better for 1/100th the cost.
2. Our opsec is broken. Whoever's behind these attacks on the US's intelligence community is winning. For example, we know for a fact that Russia has been using a very similar tool outside embassies, but the fact that we know that is because actors has so much to gain by dumping it into the public sphere, politically. The US increasingly cannot "keep a secret".
3. Our industrial capabilities are falling behind. America's efforts of pursuing ultimate cost efficiency have ultimately outsourced the majority of the US's modern manufacturing capacity. This means at a national level we're at a demonstrably disadvantage to nations with much more of a connection to their private sector, with the classic example being China.
Worrying about America's military-industrial complex is reasonable if you're near a naval deployment because America still has an impressive supply of very powerful explosives. But beyond that... we're sort of getting our asses kicked and our government appears to be rapidly destabilizing. You can suggest this is from outside influence, and I think there's strong reason to believe that there is an ongoing attack. But it can't explain the entire phenomenon.
So I'm not sure what you're afraid of from us. Nothing in the WL page should be surprising. We've seen similar tools disclosed earlier this year. These tools are more sophisticated versions of attacks that have been ongoing for, gosh... I had to write a less awesome version of this tool as a demonstration I was ready to move up in rank in a security challenge forum, it was so easy. It's harder now, for sure, but...
knz|8 years ago
During the Arab Spring there were multiple reports of European surveillence technology being fundamental to the police state in the Middle East/Africa (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-40276568). Small arms made by H&K, Beretta, and FN etc are prevalent across the region. Advanced weapons like anti-aircraft systems also flood in from across the globe.
The UK, French, and Germans were also key supporters of Saddam Hussain during the Iran-Iraq War in the 80's and actively supported the WMD program there by supplying technology etc.
Every large power is involved in military manufacturing and seeks markets to sell too. Americans are no less ignorant to this than citizens in Europe, Russia, or Asia.
CaptSpify|8 years ago
willstrafach|8 years ago
JumpCrisscross|8 years ago
What this?
na85|8 years ago
To many, the implicit assumption that USA strictly equals America and vice versa is just another artifact of the arrogance built into US culture.
therobotking|8 years ago