BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

03/05/2008

Cold War jamming, cyber-style

By Bruce Sterling

(((Jamming Radio Free Europe?! Wow, they really do cling to the good old days in Belarus.)))

(((You gotta like the part here where the US State Department no longer bothers to pretend they don't know it's state-sponsored cyberwar. When Putin does stuff like this it's "hmmmm.... Might be the mafia! Might be Chinese!" But if you're puny, grumpy, got-no-friends Belarus and the imaginary botnet chinese mafia decide to bust up websites on your property, you're gonna catch it.)))

(((Has the NATO Estonian Cyberwar Center of Excellence been informed? Perhaps someone should do the "midnight pizza count" outside their shiny new headquarters.)))

http://www.upi.com/International_Security/Emerging_Threats/Analysis/2008/05/02/analysis_us-belarus_row_escalates/2468/ Link: Analysis: U.S.-Belarus row escalates - UPI.com.

.S.-Belarus row escalates after cyberattack, expulsions

Published: May 2, 2008 at 12:59 PM

The United States will not, for now, cut off relations with Belarus after Minsk ordered the expulsion of 10 American diplomats, but State Department officials have been outspoken in denouncing the weekend's cyberattacks against a U.S.-supported broadcaster as the work of the regime.

By SHAUN WATERMAN <---- (((a busy guy lately)))

UPI Homeland and National Security Editor

WASHINGTON, May 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. State Department said Thursday it had not yet decided what action, if any, it would take in response to the Belarusian expulsion of U.S. diplomats this week.

The expulsions are the latest step in an escalating confrontation between Washington and Minsk following the imposition last December of U.S. sanctions against a state-owned energy conglomerate. They came on the heels of a cyberattack on the Belarusian site of U.S.-supported broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which State Department officials blamed on the regime. (((You hit our pipelines, we hit your Internet.)))

The expulsions reduced the size of the U.S. diplomatic staff in Minsk to four, department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters.

"We have told (Belarusian officials) that we have very serious concerns about this step that they have taken, and that means we need to think very carefully about our future and their future diplomatic presence in our respective countries," he said....

Source:

http://blog.wired.com/sterling/2008/05/cold-war-jammin.html

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