The Dutch have an absolutely amazing intelligence apparatus.
In 2014 AIVD hacked the office network of Russia's APT29, and maintained access at least through the 2016 DNC hack. The best part was they also had access to the security cameras and were able to watch the attacks in real time.
I'm skeptical of that story. I know a Russian on Facebook who disputed it. He said that the Red Square building described in the report doesn't exist, and provided a Google Maps view of Moscow to support his claim. It's also curious to me why the Dutch even would allow APT29 to get away with their activities at the time, if they truly had access as deep as they claimed.
I know it's probably unintentional considering the false news reports at the time, but the 2016 DNC hack was actually never conclusively pinned on Russia.
In fact, according to a recent release the entire basis for the US intelligence appartus' opinion was totally unproven.
CrowdStrike never conclusively proved Russia was behind the hack, and in fact didn't even conclusively prove a hack even occurred.
As a citizen, I am not okay with this degree of intra-sovereign surveillance. If I am to live in, pay taxes, and otherwise contribute to a society, I want to be free of surveillance and subterfuge within that society - my states laws, designed to protect me from thugs and mafia (a very real threat), should not be thwarted by military industrial mafia hell-bent on exerting control over sovereign states, in spite of my desires as a citizen.
The trouble is, I see no way forward for citizens of the 5-eyes states to address this issue, other than either a) revolution to uncover and dissolve the control networks that have been covertly put in place, or b) sedition - leaving the state, and not contributing (taxes) to its continued economic development.
As we have seen with Wikileaks and Julian Assange, its not enough to just reveal the covert secrets that underpin this inner state-within-a-state - there have to be actual repercussions for those involved, and this isn't happening at any rate near well enough for my needs.
So, it appears that sedition is the only option - and indeed, that is what I have done: I no longer participate in the economies of any of the 5-eyes states, directly, and I"m about to give up my citizenship in my birth nation over the issue.
But we know this isn't a solution. Do we have to start a brain-drain revolution which moves the economic power of an intelligent class from state to state? Or, do we just let mother nature do its thing, and 'hope' that things will 'change' in the 5-eyes super-state somehow? Too many people I trust and respect in the crypto-anarchist sphere are responding to this appeal with "well, covid-19 will sort it out" for my liking .. but what other options are there, really? Journalism is utterly dead and decrepit in the West, this is not an avenue. Violent revolution makes no sense whatsoever. So, brain-drain it is ...
We tend to like surveillance as long as it's in our favor and interest. Aren't we?
But the moment you hear some surveillance or espionage from another country, then it's time to bash them hard and feel bad about them.
But, I'm afraid we don't have a choice because we are living in a zero-sum game.
And the irony is that the more we play non-cooperative, the more reasons we give to each other to play non-cooperative.
Argentina did not have air refueling nor night vision equipment. They sent conscripts to fight gurkhas. Their exocet missiles where sabotaged by the military contractors servicing them. Their neighbors monitored them via radar and notified movements the British.
Many countries were helping with intelligence. Norway helped by stealing Soviet satellite imagery.
And by attacking first they could not invoke the Rio Pact.
Argentina did have an air to air refuelling capability, and its availability or not was crucial in a number of instances. Likewise, the Gurkhas went out at battalion strength near the end of the war. The exocets weren't so much sabotaged as much as all the French simply returning home leaving the kit unfitted and unconfigured. The stuff that had been set up already was used to great effect.
You're right though that they did not set themselves up for success when they did not make the most of their first mover advantage and build up the island with supplies, equipment, and well trained soldiers rather than conscripts.
At the time, they hoped that domestic events meant that the UK simply wouldn't care is all. They didn't come for a fight.
It was stupid on many levels. It would have been a lot smarter to invest in better relations with the islands: pay for people to study in Buenos Aires, subsidize vacations on the mainland, etc.
"a) revolution to uncover and dissolve the control networks that have been covertly put in place, or
b) sedition - leaving the state, and not contributing (taxes) to its continued economic development."
Many have enough power to leverage a) or b), but very few choose to do so. Why?
Because if you somehow manage to disolve the current status quo, you'd need to rebuild a similar status quo, probably with your group deeply plugged into the newest surveillance / society control system.
> ultimatelly you would probably have accomplished very few changes, though you could obtain more power / money, but
If you're capable / resourceful enough to make happen a) or b), you probably already have lots of power / money.
Therefore, the current status quo works quite well for you, and there are easier ways to change some things (not all of them though), than going right to a revolution.
That's something you can see in most empires through history: very few were intentionally brough down by internal players. Most players just wanted to get in charge (by any means), but they were not fundamentally changing anything in the current social order.
Going against the state was (and it is), almost certainly not the best path of action.
Would it have been possible for Argentina to use public encryption algorithms back then, instead of crypto machines weakened by US intelligence? No idea what was available back in the 80s.
Take into account that Ultra (breaking of enigma) was only made public in 1970s (or 1960s if you count information about Polish intelligence breaking enigma before WWII). NSA only stopped using similar rotor-based designs in 1980s.
[+] [-] mike_d|5 years ago|reply
In 2014 AIVD hacked the office network of Russia's APT29, and maintained access at least through the 2016 DNC hack. The best part was they also had access to the security cameras and were able to watch the attacks in real time.
[+] [-] krona|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] the-dude|5 years ago|reply
The timing was also amazingly convenient.
[+] [-] 1MachineElf|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] coldtea|5 years ago|reply
Including making up claims for specific foreign countries people have no way of substantiating...
[+] [-] mrmonkeyman|5 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] codr7|5 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] 0xy|5 years ago|reply
In fact, according to a recent release the entire basis for the US intelligence appartus' opinion was totally unproven.
CrowdStrike never conclusively proved Russia was behind the hack, and in fact didn't even conclusively prove a hack even occurred.
https://www.itwire.com/security/crowdstrike-chief-admits-no-...
[+] [-] fit2rule|5 years ago|reply
The trouble is, I see no way forward for citizens of the 5-eyes states to address this issue, other than either a) revolution to uncover and dissolve the control networks that have been covertly put in place, or b) sedition - leaving the state, and not contributing (taxes) to its continued economic development.
As we have seen with Wikileaks and Julian Assange, its not enough to just reveal the covert secrets that underpin this inner state-within-a-state - there have to be actual repercussions for those involved, and this isn't happening at any rate near well enough for my needs.
So, it appears that sedition is the only option - and indeed, that is what I have done: I no longer participate in the economies of any of the 5-eyes states, directly, and I"m about to give up my citizenship in my birth nation over the issue.
But we know this isn't a solution. Do we have to start a brain-drain revolution which moves the economic power of an intelligent class from state to state? Or, do we just let mother nature do its thing, and 'hope' that things will 'change' in the 5-eyes super-state somehow? Too many people I trust and respect in the crypto-anarchist sphere are responding to this appeal with "well, covid-19 will sort it out" for my liking .. but what other options are there, really? Journalism is utterly dead and decrepit in the West, this is not an avenue. Violent revolution makes no sense whatsoever. So, brain-drain it is ...
[+] [-] MaxBarraclough|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stunt|5 years ago|reply
But, I'm afraid we don't have a choice because we are living in a zero-sum game. And the irony is that the more we play non-cooperative, the more reasons we give to each other to play non-cooperative.
[+] [-] tonyedgecombe|5 years ago|reply
The Dutch aren't part of 5-eyes.
[+] [-] polytely|5 years ago|reply
Maximator: European signals intelligence cooperation, from a Dutch perspective
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02684527.2020.1...
[+] [-] 29athrowaway|5 years ago|reply
Many countries were helping with intelligence. Norway helped by stealing Soviet satellite imagery.
And by attacking first they could not invoke the Rio Pact.
[+] [-] abstractbeliefs|5 years ago|reply
Argentina did have an air to air refuelling capability, and its availability or not was crucial in a number of instances. Likewise, the Gurkhas went out at battalion strength near the end of the war. The exocets weren't so much sabotaged as much as all the French simply returning home leaving the kit unfitted and unconfigured. The stuff that had been set up already was used to great effect.
You're right though that they did not set themselves up for success when they did not make the most of their first mover advantage and build up the island with supplies, equipment, and well trained soldiers rather than conscripts.
At the time, they hoped that domestic events meant that the UK simply wouldn't care is all. They didn't come for a fight.
[+] [-] forinti|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anon234345566|5 years ago|reply
Many have enough power to leverage a) or b), but very few choose to do so. Why?
Because if you somehow manage to disolve the current status quo, you'd need to rebuild a similar status quo, probably with your group deeply plugged into the newest surveillance / society control system.
> ultimatelly you would probably have accomplished very few changes, though you could obtain more power / money, but
If you're capable / resourceful enough to make happen a) or b), you probably already have lots of power / money.
Therefore, the current status quo works quite well for you, and there are easier ways to change some things (not all of them though), than going right to a revolution.
That's something you can see in most empires through history: very few were intentionally brough down by internal players. Most players just wanted to get in charge (by any means), but they were not fundamentally changing anything in the current social order.
Going against the state was (and it is), almost certainly not the best path of action.
[+] [-] eternauta3k|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] isbvhodnvemrwvn|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|5 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] dvfjsdhgfv|5 years ago|reply