Comrade Obama

This makes me distinctly uncomfortable:

"The White House confirmed Wagoner was leaving at the government's behest after The Associated Press reported his immediate departure, without giving a reason."

That the CEO of GM (a privately owned company) should have left, I would have it thought an issue for the board, stockholders and the market, not the president of the United States or for that matter any government official. But hey, ask the government for >USD$20billion, ya gotta expect some sort of 'return' on their investment. Something about getting in bed with devil would be appropriate here...

Far be it from me to once again suggest, imply or otherwise state in plain English I believe Obama is really a not-so-in-the-closet-socialist, lets hear from that the PM of that other great shining example of capitalism, the former USSR.

From this article:

"Russia's [PM] Dmitry Medvedev hailed Barack Obama as "my new comrade"

Nothing to see here, move along. Just business as usual in the land of the free markets and liberal democracy.

And if you think that now the Russkies and Uncle Sam are all rolling around in a geopolitical lovefest, here's the parting shot Medvedvedvedved made speaking of their recent 'expedition' into Georgia (which I have previously written about here, and here):

“"Everything that has happened, I will tell you frankly, that the leader of Georgia is responsible for everything. That is my direct and honest and open opinion.

"A lot of people had to pay for the mistakes of one man. We love and appreciate the Georgian people. But I do not want to have any relations with President Saakashvili."

Not a good time to be Georgian...

Right on cue...

I think this must have happened about 5.4 seconds after the Obama acceptance speech:

Headline: Russia to deploy short-range missiles near Poland

(can't see what they're worried about though, given my last post, The One's as yet unarticulated policies and his ideological mentors, they should be extending the hand of the proletarian revolution or whatever it is that commies do when they say hello to each other)

A "little" problem in Georgia

Coincidentally coinciding with the opening of the Beijing Olympic games this week, Russia started a "little" conflict with the breakaway republic of Georgia.

When the USSR collapsed in 1991, Georgia proclaimed it independance and ever since has made loud noises to join NATO and the West, adopting free market and democratic reforms. In 2004, Mikheil Saakashvili was elected president. Georgia even committed 2,000+ troops to the Iraq War, stationed on the Iran/Iraq border.

What is interesting about this conflict, other than the Russkies inflaming the ol' Cold War enmities, was the Russians use of cyber warfare. In particular, they targeted Georgian government websites, hijacking them, or simply hammering them with so many requests that they went down. They did this specifically to deny the ability to the Georgians to get accurate information out about what was really happening, and given the reports that the Russkies were bombing civilian targets and a major port, this was perhaps to avoid international condemnation, although the Soviets aren't really known to care too much about what the rest of the world thinks.

And whilst the techniques employed weren't exactly new, the sophistication and aggressiveness of the cyber attack suggest very strongly that this was a government operation. Previously, these types of cyber-conflict were always conducted at arms length, where agressor countries could claim it was the work of hackers infused with nationalistic fervour, but this operation was degrees of magnitude bigger than that.

Hijacked: Those wily Russkies had essentially hijacked all Internet communications into Georgia. They had effected a cyber-seige. They were able to deface government websites, inserting the graphic below. (The other guy is Saakashvili).

Picture that defaced some Georgian Government websites this week.
The guy you don't recognise is the president of Georgia

This kind of psy-ops could only be cooked up, as one pundit said, by a certain three letter spy agency.

10 years ago, no one would have cared or even known if a government website had gone down. Nowadays, it is on the frontline of any conflict, and people notice immediately.

Links:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1670
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10014150-83.html