All the GG haters are boringly predictable. Never any substance to the criticism just ad hominem attacks. Greenwald remains one of the most thoughtful and consistently principled journalists alive. He does what journalists are supposed to: confronts the corruption and abuses of power. He isn't a partisan hack which is what enrages those who attack him.
Greenwald is trained as a constitutional lawyer. The principles at issue arise from his training--disinterest, equal application of the law. It is best we do not miss this.
Interesting read, does anyone have a link to elaborate what is meant by the "hard evidence to the contrary" of DNC servers being compromised and data being exfiltrated?
While you can see a lack of traces for a specific attack technique or malware definitive evidence of systems being completely uncompromised is rare
Aaron Mate has done substantial reporting on all aspects of Russiagate. He writes for The Gray Zone and used to contribute to The Nation. He now has his own Substack newsletter. Crowd Strike admitted, under sworn testimony before Congress, that they have no evidence that the DNC was hacked and that there is no evidence to suggest any data were exfiltrated. This admission is available in public transcriptions of the testimony, parts of which have been published by Mate and Glenn Greenwald as well. I've personally read the pertinent sections. The record is all there.
Okay, so I had to do a lot of wading trough political non technical types tumbling over each other in that Nation article and its semi-retraction/discussion but it turns out the primary source is "the forensicator"s analysis here:
As you can see it doesnt look at DNC systems and whether the X-agent and seadaddy malware was found there. In fact it doesnt adress the question of whether DNC systems were compromised at all. It only looks at the leaked files and as you can see in fact it disagrees with the analysis that the only explanation is that files were copied to USB storage trough physical access.
At the time I only looked at the metadata of the leaked text files with the Russian error messages all over them. Forensicator found much more detail in the compressed archives which was a fascinating read.
What was especially cool is how his (?) "local pivot" scenario fits with files being added to a compressed archive via a RAT on Windows NTFS DNC servers, transfered to a linux VPS server at any internet speed, copied locally on slow cheap virtualised server speeds slower than assumed DNC servers but faster than the typical Internet using the linux cp command and finaly added to the 7-zip archive and months later ending up on a FAT usb drive in god knows what part of the world... Thats a neat finding to have independant of Mueller who claimed exactly that with a 70gb compressed file and a server in Illinois but of course after Crowdstrike identified 23.227.196.217 as the Illinois command and control server at a dodgy VPS provider of the kind where you would be lucky to get > 30Mib/sec virtual disk speeds.
Looking at the timeline its safe to assume the typical incident response scenario where crowdstrike collected file evidence but that evidence of networktransfers before crowdstrike got there wasnt logged or long gone.
You can ignore the detailed written report and testimony on the file evidence from the file compressed before exfiltration.. Maybe the hackers were helping their victims make a backup? Then you can take the "we dont have [network] evidence" out of context in the testimony. I guess you can then say Crowdstrike "admits" it doesnt have evidence of exfiltration... But thats still hardly the same thing as there being quote "hard evidence" that the servers were never compromised now is it?
And a funny sidenote, I actually met Binney the former NSA guy cited as the last remaining VIPs expert to stand by the VIPs memo once at a conference. He seems like a fun nice guy but he doesnt seem to have worked in this field in the last few decades and as near as I can tell never did forensics. Again, he seems honest enough, its just if someone cites his technical credentials against the guardian project and crowdstrike guys.... well thats a peculiar choice in sourcing in a critique of journalism and thats coming from someone who sees the value of the anonymous "forensicator" with his wordpress blog.
So thanks for the opportunity to add the forensicator to my understanding of the public record, there is indeed so much there. For an article critical of journalists and their sources the phrase "hard evidence" still needs to be backed up more than this though.
Schiff is now driving government’s domestic terrorism legislation !! In his free time this loathsome grifter plans to write a novel – of all things about Holocaust.
Congressmen Holding Concert Fundraisers Could See a Beyonce Bump | Politics | US News
Facebook's Partner: The Atlantic Council (5 Frightening Facts) (rumble.com)
The entire Russia-gate lying team is back in FULL power -- we are now paying the price for not fully unmasking the brazen scam of the century. Of course, Trump and GOP lunatics were and remain VERY bad, however -- DNC lying and warmongering team is INFINITELY more dangerous.
WHO will be the first current or former Democrat Congresswoman/man or Senator to publicly acknowledge and confirm the brazen scam of the century – DNC’s (St. Obama/Biden/Hillary/Pelosi/Schumer, etc.) Russia-gate hoax and conspiracy?
Biden administration is full of Russia-gate hoax conspirators. Among them is Hillary campaign's national security advisor, Jake Sullivan — now President Biden's National Security Advisor.
Sullivan was a member of the team that concocted the Russia-gate scam of the century and has played a role in destruction of Trump’s National Security Advisor, a distinguished general Michael Flynn (whom narcissist Obama abhorred). The persecution and insults to Mike Flynn still continue to this day:
Chase bank just cancelled credit card of US general, Michael Flynn. Reason given: Flynn is a "reputation risk"....
Truly an outrage – always remember Obama’s bank mega-gangsters and their “reputation”.
The Indictment of Hillary Clinton's Lawyer is an Indictment of the Russia-gate Wing of U.S. Media
The DOJ's new charging document, approved by Biden's Attorney General, sheds bright light onto the Russia-gate fraud and how journalistic corruption was key.
With Clinton lawyer charged, the Russiagate scam is now indicted
In accusing Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann of lying to the FBI, Special Counsel John Durham offers new evidence of the fabrications behind the Trump-Russia conspiracy theory.
The indictment of Michael Sussmann sheds new light on the outrageous pre-election activities of Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, which have a familiar ring
Russiagate, More Like Watergate - by Matt Taibbi - TK News by Matt Taibbi (substack.com)
Russia-gate is MUCH worse than Watergate and -- increasingly so because the whole DNC lying team is back in power and supported by “security” (CIA/FBI/intelligence) leadership. They like and NEED the continuing presence of the incompetent clown Trump --- to stay in power.
A recent description of an extreme example of corruption – by a hospital medical supply cartel is described by anti-monopoly specialist, Matt Stoller (Sept. 26, 2021). Also note the continuing ugly role of a despicable war monger David Frum who, among others, led us into Iraq invasion.
The Corrupt System Behind Covid Medical Shortages - by Matt Stoller - BIG by Matt Stoller (substack.com)
VERY interesting: Four (4) month before Jun. 6 riot in Washington DC there was a similar event in Berlin. A tiny side-demonstration, known and allowed in advance, “stormed” the Reichstag building which was left open and unguarded. We are all being played like a violin…
Thank you for this. And for all your comments and attentive reading. Meant to write you after our kind words on the three-part China series. managing a multipart series is no small thing in hackery. We were very pleased to get such a series published on The Scrum. On we go.
Thank you Patrick. Your efforts are invaluable although I often wonder how are you not discouraged. For 70+ years of the same/similar heroic efforts of the few -- but the US foreign policy remains exactly the same and murderous, regardless which wing, DNC or GOP, of the imperial War party is in power.
Always close to accidental or intentional atomic war trigger, always looking directly in whatever is the current horrible crime going on (a la currently torture of Assange, ongoing apartheid in Israel, drumbeat to coming war with China, destabilizations of entire continents, WMD, Russia-gate hoax, J6 "armed" insurrection hoax, etc.).
The entire population "knows" that CIA did absolutely horrible crimes against humanity, in past -- for seventy+ years.
But -- CIA is now so completely different and even so much beloved..... ;-)) And - the Earth is also flat.
I really like your analysis on the sad state of US media and I was impressed to see the way you engage with your Internet audience, that's a rare thing these days.
Since your article is about journalistic integrity and sourcing I would like to ask you for your source for the quote "hard evidence to the contrary" for the apparently contentious idea that DNC servers were compromised and that data was exfiltrated from them.
I am looking specifically for evidence that contradicts that servers were compromised with X-agent and SeaDaddy malware in a way that matches other incidents where no money was stolen and where geopolitical opponents of Russia were targeted.
Do you have comments on the Dutch Volkskrant and nieuwsuur reporting on how Dutch intelligence agencies compromised one of the actors in the DNC network and that this is part of the explanation of how the FBI could warn the DNC despite neither seeing what was going on in the DNC network themselves? What is your theory for how the FBI could warn the DNC?
Most of the former intelligence types behind the VIPs memo don't subscribe to it's analysis, Binney seems to be the last one left. If you read Binney you see he doesn't really care so much about the leaked file metadata, he simply has a challenge: maybe the FBI and crowdstrike were not wiretapping the DNC internet connection at the time of the exfiltration but given how much warrantless wiretapping the intelligence agencies do surely they did and they could just release their possibly illegally gathered communications right? Personally my impression of the Snowden files is that it's actually plausible that the NSA didn't have the all the communications between DC and Illinois (anymore).. Now I wouldn't just trust Intelligence source VIPs or otherwise, but isn't the Dutch reporting a pretty strong answer exactly to Binneys challenge?
And since it shows how incompetently the FBI and DNC handled this warning would you agree this is an example of good critical reporting?
I am also curious about your general impression of similar politically motivated hack-and-leak operations in Germany, France, the UK, Finland, Poland, the world anti doping agency after Russia was banned from the Olympics, the European medicine agency at a time when Russia was spreading vaccine conspiracy theories and Germany again just a few weeks ago in the run up to the election? If the DNC wasn't compromised was it the only place where fake evidence was made up or have all the other governments been faking their evidence as well?
I am sympathetic to the idea that democratic political operatives loyal to Clinton started to exaggerating the Trump-Russia ties and pee tape significance after Clinton lost. (Clearly the nuclear-17 incidents demand more attention than presidential kinkshaming?)
But clearly I am very sceptical of the idea that all of the non-partisan technical types all around the world all screwed up the technical investigations to the point of making up evidence of compromised systems were there were none even years before Trump came down the escalator..
So I would be happy to look at the sources but I could also imagine that the "hard evidence" line was a bit of rhetorical enthusiasm and could be rewriten with more attention to detail.
Thanks for the interesting read and I hope for a reply..
I stand by the line in the piece you question. I can't do your homework for you. Nor can I, or am I inclined to, prevent you from drowning in a sea of insinuations resting on sources with long, long records of disinformation. Do be careful about this.
It has long ago transpired that there has never been any evidence of any mail hack in mid-2016. Crowdstrike has admitted so, explicitly. Corrupt political figures, from Schiff on over, admitted so when (please note) under oath and not in front of media microphones. Since these people and the (compromised) firm they cited claimed for many years there was evidence of a Russian hack and that they had either developed it or seen it, we have a prima facie case of disinformation.
Final point, friend: No one has to date refuted the forensic evidence made public by VIPS. Many people have merely pretended to do so w/o presenting any of the countervailing evidence VIPS and its associated forensic investigators have from the start welcomed.
This is a careful catch, Avedon. Thanks for it. Phenom: A distinguished, outstanding person, a top performer in a given field: "As a track star he was a phenom." I stand corrected. I have long admired Terry Southern's Beat-inflected way of bending language, and my use of "phenom" here reflected this. He used to use it as I did. but to be avoided.
Thank you for your truth telling, Mr. Lawrence. Although I'm unfamiliar with Consortium News, I'm heading there next.
The train to Europe originating in China is news to me and disheartening because I thought I'd figured out where to find the actual news in the numerous independent media sources I frequent. This will get easier, surely, and an impatient populace will make it so.
Hello, Healy. & thanks for this comment. Yes, I urge you to make put Consortium among your regular media reads. We're made up of seasoned professionals who bring proper training as press people to new perspectives. (I'm avoiding the term "alternative.") Your experience w/ the Shanghai-to-Hamburg news is exactly the situation as we have it. Best wishes, and thanks again the encouragement.
The only way to make sense of anything is at the level of common denominators. When it is as vast as millions and billions of people, the layers of culture, politics and morality fade and it becomes about biology and physics.
There are two basic dynamics. Synchronization, which is centripetal, versus harmonization, which is centrifugal. The interaction of which creates nodes and networks, organisms and ecosystems, particles and fields. Then the constant interplay and feedback between them.
For instance, our conscious state isn't so much about our physical bodies, as it is the interface between the body and its context. We are aware of the world around us and how our body responds to it. Though some tend more toward the focus of synchronizing their world to their sense of self and others try to harmonize with that larger world, in order to fit in with it.
So any organization also has to develop some balance, since too much centripetal feedback will separate it from its context and the support systems it provides. While too much harmonization breaks down the distinctions defining it.
The West, operating between the poles of monotheism and capitalism, has evolved a messianic vision of its narrative infallibility.
For one thing, the logical fallacy of monotheism is that a spiritual absolute would be the essence of sentience, from which we rise, not an ideal of wisdom and judgement, from which we fell. It is a several thousand year old device of authority to state ideals as absolute and an epic philosophic fail to overlook that one is elemental, while the other is aspirational.
The problem of capitalism is that money functions as the social contract enabling mass societies, but is treated as a commodity to mine from the them. The medium becomes the store, though one is dynamic, while the other is static. Blood is a medium, while fat is a store. Roads are a medium, parking lots are a store. Mix them up and the system breaks down.
As a contract, the asset is backed by a debt, so our entire culture has devolved into the production of debt, to create the illusion of wealth. For instance, the capital markets could not function, without the government siphoning up trillions in surplus investment money. The wars are just a particularly hubristic method of spending it, but a bloated military is analogous to an autoimmune disorder for the body politic.
So as we spiral into this centripetal vortex, driven by those assuming it as some religious imperative, the rest of the world draws back, like an audience watching some zombie apocalypse movie. The consequence of which is that they are having to harmonize their various civilizations and states in response. The Russians, Chinese, Iranians, etc. have been interacting for thousands of years and only the vast distances involved have kept them from each others throats, like so many European states that live cheek by jowl.
Yet now the US and its political and religious satellites, England and Israel, are pushing them all into the same corner, forcing networks that would have taken much longer to evolve otherwise.
Obviously many of us can see it happening, but there doesn't otherwise seem much effort to explore the physical dynamics driving it.
I've read your remarks week to week and thank you for them. You have a particular view on the matters we raise, financially oriented at least in part--the vortex, as you say, of money and ideology if this isn't to put it too crudely. Maye when the time comes we can work together on something for publication. You know where to find us.
If you think it's too broad and what some revisions, or even have second thoughts, it's not a problem. I tend to be more of a thinker, than a writer, so it's given me the opportunity to clarify and organize some ideas, for which I'm grateful.
Thank you very much for the offer. I'm sure all those little voices in the back of my head will start churning out thoughts at the prospect. Though I will need to corral them into something focused on the political and economic factors.
It is evident that we are in the late stages of a monumental point in human history, the roots of which go to the foundations of civilization. As Michael Hudson has pointed out, the Ancients devised debt jubilees as a circuit breaker to the feedback loop of compound interest and yet the basic dynamic remains ignored to this day. Obviously because it doesn't suit those benefiting, to explore what is happening. So I see the breaking down of trust in authority in general as presenting an invaluable opportunity to really dig down into the real forces of nature creating our reality, not just those trying to control it.
I would add that I tried to start a campaign to have Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning as the write in candidates of choice, in the 20 election. It didn't get very far, mostly just me, but I'm sensing that they would be wise to not actually bring him back here and put on trial. They want an example, not a martyr and a public crucifixion wouldn't be a wise move.
If you have any suggestions as to how I might frame and direct an essay, I'm all ears.
All the GG haters are boringly predictable. Never any substance to the criticism just ad hominem attacks. Greenwald remains one of the most thoughtful and consistently principled journalists alive. He does what journalists are supposed to: confronts the corruption and abuses of power. He isn't a partisan hack which is what enrages those who attack him.
Greenwald, now appearing nightly on the Tucker Carlson White Power Hour to explain the evils of vaccines. Spare me…
Hello, Rheinhatd and Smoosh.
Greenwald is trained as a constitutional lawyer. The principles at issue arise from his training--disinterest, equal application of the law. It is best we do not miss this.
Greenwald has been vaccinated and he advocates others get vaccinated as well. He objects to vaccine mandates for some very good reasons.
Yeah, so sad about his rapidly advancing dementia
Yeah - Greenwald was the 13th chime on this clock.
Interesting read, does anyone have a link to elaborate what is meant by the "hard evidence to the contrary" of DNC servers being compromised and data being exfiltrated?
While you can see a lack of traces for a specific attack technique or malware definitive evidence of systems being completely uncompromised is rare
https://www.crowdstrike.com/blog/bears-midst-intrusion-democratic-national-committee/
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/a-new-report-raises-big-questions-about-last-years-dnc-hack/
Aaron Mate has done substantial reporting on all aspects of Russiagate. He writes for The Gray Zone and used to contribute to The Nation. He now has his own Substack newsletter. Crowd Strike admitted, under sworn testimony before Congress, that they have no evidence that the DNC was hacked and that there is no evidence to suggest any data were exfiltrated. This admission is available in public transcriptions of the testimony, parts of which have been published by Mate and Glenn Greenwald as well. I've personally read the pertinent sections. The record is all there.
Okay, so I had to do a lot of wading trough political non technical types tumbling over each other in that Nation article and its semi-retraction/discussion but it turns out the primary source is "the forensicator"s analysis here:
https://theforensicator.wordpress.com/2017/08/24/alternative-scenarios/
As you can see it doesnt look at DNC systems and whether the X-agent and seadaddy malware was found there. In fact it doesnt adress the question of whether DNC systems were compromised at all. It only looks at the leaked files and as you can see in fact it disagrees with the analysis that the only explanation is that files were copied to USB storage trough physical access.
At the time I only looked at the metadata of the leaked text files with the Russian error messages all over them. Forensicator found much more detail in the compressed archives which was a fascinating read.
What was especially cool is how his (?) "local pivot" scenario fits with files being added to a compressed archive via a RAT on Windows NTFS DNC servers, transfered to a linux VPS server at any internet speed, copied locally on slow cheap virtualised server speeds slower than assumed DNC servers but faster than the typical Internet using the linux cp command and finaly added to the 7-zip archive and months later ending up on a FAT usb drive in god knows what part of the world... Thats a neat finding to have independant of Mueller who claimed exactly that with a 70gb compressed file and a server in Illinois but of course after Crowdstrike identified 23.227.196.217 as the Illinois command and control server at a dodgy VPS provider of the kind where you would be lucky to get > 30Mib/sec virtual disk speeds.
Looking at the timeline its safe to assume the typical incident response scenario where crowdstrike collected file evidence but that evidence of networktransfers before crowdstrike got there wasnt logged or long gone.
You can ignore the detailed written report and testimony on the file evidence from the file compressed before exfiltration.. Maybe the hackers were helping their victims make a backup? Then you can take the "we dont have [network] evidence" out of context in the testimony. I guess you can then say Crowdstrike "admits" it doesnt have evidence of exfiltration... But thats still hardly the same thing as there being quote "hard evidence" that the servers were never compromised now is it?
And a funny sidenote, I actually met Binney the former NSA guy cited as the last remaining VIPs expert to stand by the VIPs memo once at a conference. He seems like a fun nice guy but he doesnt seem to have worked in this field in the last few decades and as near as I can tell never did forensics. Again, he seems honest enough, its just if someone cites his technical credentials against the guardian project and crowdstrike guys.... well thats a peculiar choice in sourcing in a critique of journalism and thats coming from someone who sees the value of the anonymous "forensicator" with his wordpress blog.
So thanks for the opportunity to add the forensicator to my understanding of the public record, there is indeed so much there. For an article critical of journalists and their sources the phrase "hard evidence" still needs to be backed up more than this though.
Wasd.
It's all very neat and cool and fantastic. It is not very neat and cool that you insist on lying about VIPS and various other matters.
We will now close this correspondence.
Thank you, thank you very much. Censorship AND all-encompassing brazen corruption at all government and business levels.
Remember when Raytheon put on a Beyonce concert to promote Adam Schiff?
Truly despicable -- that human excrement and serial liar is among leading Congress war-mongers and recipient of arm industry donations.
http://politicalpartytime.org/party/36073/
Schiff is now driving government’s domestic terrorism legislation !! In his free time this loathsome grifter plans to write a novel – of all things about Holocaust.
Congressmen Holding Concert Fundraisers Could See a Beyonce Bump | Politics | US News
Facebook's Partner: The Atlantic Council (5 Frightening Facts) (rumble.com)
https://rumble.com/vleq6v-facebooks-partner-the-atlantic-council-5-frightening-facts.html
Facebook's Partner: The Atlantic Council (5 Frightening Facts)
or (list of examples is literally endless)
YouTube demonetizes Jimmy Dore for criticizing AOC -- by using her own words
YouTube Suppresses Jimmy Dore's Criticism Of AOC - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9DbTimhVJc
The entire Russia-gate lying team is back in FULL power -- we are now paying the price for not fully unmasking the brazen scam of the century. Of course, Trump and GOP lunatics were and remain VERY bad, however -- DNC lying and warmongering team is INFINITELY more dangerous.
WHO will be the first current or former Democrat Congresswoman/man or Senator to publicly acknowledge and confirm the brazen scam of the century – DNC’s (St. Obama/Biden/Hillary/Pelosi/Schumer, etc.) Russia-gate hoax and conspiracy?
Biden administration is full of Russia-gate hoax conspirators. Among them is Hillary campaign's national security advisor, Jake Sullivan — now President Biden's National Security Advisor.
Sullivan was a member of the team that concocted the Russia-gate scam of the century and has played a role in destruction of Trump’s National Security Advisor, a distinguished general Michael Flynn (whom narcissist Obama abhorred). The persecution and insults to Mike Flynn still continue to this day:
Chase bank just cancelled credit card of US general, Michael Flynn. Reason given: Flynn is a "reputation risk"....
Truly an outrage – always remember Obama’s bank mega-gangsters and their “reputation”.
Glenn Greenwald on Breaking Points Sept. 21
https://youtu.be/aWI6qk1J-94
The Indictment of Hillary Clinton's Lawyer is an Indictment of the Russia-gate Wing of U.S. Media
The DOJ's new charging document, approved by Biden's Attorney General, sheds bright light onto the Russia-gate fraud and how journalistic corruption was key.
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-indictment-of-hillary-clintons
With Clinton lawyer charged, the Russiagate scam is now indicted
In accusing Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann of lying to the FBI, Special Counsel John Durham offers new evidence of the fabrications behind the Trump-Russia conspiracy theory.
https://mate.substack.com/p/with-clinton-lawyer-charged-the-russiagate
Russiagate, More Like Watergate
The indictment of Michael Sussmann sheds new light on the outrageous pre-election activities of Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, which have a familiar ring
Russiagate, More Like Watergate - by Matt Taibbi - TK News by Matt Taibbi (substack.com)
Russia-gate is MUCH worse than Watergate and -- increasingly so because the whole DNC lying team is back in power and supported by “security” (CIA/FBI/intelligence) leadership. They like and NEED the continuing presence of the incompetent clown Trump --- to stay in power.
A recent description of an extreme example of corruption – by a hospital medical supply cartel is described by anti-monopoly specialist, Matt Stoller (Sept. 26, 2021). Also note the continuing ugly role of a despicable war monger David Frum who, among others, led us into Iraq invasion.
The Corrupt System Behind Covid Medical Shortages - by Matt Stoller - BIG by Matt Stoller (substack.com)
VERY interesting: Four (4) month before Jun. 6 riot in Washington DC there was a similar event in Berlin. A tiny side-demonstration, known and allowed in advance, “stormed” the Reichstag building which was left open and unguarded. We are all being played like a violin…
https://consentfactory.org/2020/09/02/new-normal-gleichschaltung-or-the-storming-of-the-reichstag-building-on-29-august-2020/ New Normal Gleichschaltung, or: The Storming of the Reichstag Building on 29 August, 2020
PS: I am sure that Hunter Biden has all his credit cards - full of money "earned" by Biden-family corruption.
Boris.
Thank you for this. And for all your comments and attentive reading. Meant to write you after our kind words on the three-part China series. managing a multipart series is no small thing in hackery. We were very pleased to get such a series published on The Scrum. On we go.
Thank you Patrick. Your efforts are invaluable although I often wonder how are you not discouraged. For 70+ years of the same/similar heroic efforts of the few -- but the US foreign policy remains exactly the same and murderous, regardless which wing, DNC or GOP, of the imperial War party is in power.
Always close to accidental or intentional atomic war trigger, always looking directly in whatever is the current horrible crime going on (a la currently torture of Assange, ongoing apartheid in Israel, drumbeat to coming war with China, destabilizations of entire continents, WMD, Russia-gate hoax, J6 "armed" insurrection hoax, etc.).
The entire population "knows" that CIA did absolutely horrible crimes against humanity, in past -- for seventy+ years.
But -- CIA is now so completely different and even so much beloved..... ;-)) And - the Earth is also flat.
Hello Mr Lawrence,
I really like your analysis on the sad state of US media and I was impressed to see the way you engage with your Internet audience, that's a rare thing these days.
Since your article is about journalistic integrity and sourcing I would like to ask you for your source for the quote "hard evidence to the contrary" for the apparently contentious idea that DNC servers were compromised and that data was exfiltrated from them.
I am looking specifically for evidence that contradicts that servers were compromised with X-agent and SeaDaddy malware in a way that matches other incidents where no money was stolen and where geopolitical opponents of Russia were targeted.
Do you have comments on the Dutch Volkskrant and nieuwsuur reporting on how Dutch intelligence agencies compromised one of the actors in the DNC network and that this is part of the explanation of how the FBI could warn the DNC despite neither seeing what was going on in the DNC network themselves? What is your theory for how the FBI could warn the DNC?
Most of the former intelligence types behind the VIPs memo don't subscribe to it's analysis, Binney seems to be the last one left. If you read Binney you see he doesn't really care so much about the leaked file metadata, he simply has a challenge: maybe the FBI and crowdstrike were not wiretapping the DNC internet connection at the time of the exfiltration but given how much warrantless wiretapping the intelligence agencies do surely they did and they could just release their possibly illegally gathered communications right? Personally my impression of the Snowden files is that it's actually plausible that the NSA didn't have the all the communications between DC and Illinois (anymore).. Now I wouldn't just trust Intelligence source VIPs or otherwise, but isn't the Dutch reporting a pretty strong answer exactly to Binneys challenge?
And since it shows how incompetently the FBI and DNC handled this warning would you agree this is an example of good critical reporting?
I am also curious about your general impression of similar politically motivated hack-and-leak operations in Germany, France, the UK, Finland, Poland, the world anti doping agency after Russia was banned from the Olympics, the European medicine agency at a time when Russia was spreading vaccine conspiracy theories and Germany again just a few weeks ago in the run up to the election? If the DNC wasn't compromised was it the only place where fake evidence was made up or have all the other governments been faking their evidence as well?
I am sympathetic to the idea that democratic political operatives loyal to Clinton started to exaggerating the Trump-Russia ties and pee tape significance after Clinton lost. (Clearly the nuclear-17 incidents demand more attention than presidential kinkshaming?)
But clearly I am very sceptical of the idea that all of the non-partisan technical types all around the world all screwed up the technical investigations to the point of making up evidence of compromised systems were there were none even years before Trump came down the escalator..
So I would be happy to look at the sources but I could also imagine that the "hard evidence" line was a bit of rhetorical enthusiasm and could be rewriten with more attention to detail.
Thanks for the interesting read and I hope for a reply..
Cheers
https://web.archive.org/web/20180724000139/https://www.volkskrant.nl/wetenschap/dutch-agencies-provide-crucial-intel-about-russia-s-interference-in-us-elections~b4f8111b/
Wasd.
I stand by the line in the piece you question. I can't do your homework for you. Nor can I, or am I inclined to, prevent you from drowning in a sea of insinuations resting on sources with long, long records of disinformation. Do be careful about this.
It has long ago transpired that there has never been any evidence of any mail hack in mid-2016. Crowdstrike has admitted so, explicitly. Corrupt political figures, from Schiff on over, admitted so when (please note) under oath and not in front of media microphones. Since these people and the (compromised) firm they cited claimed for many years there was evidence of a Russian hack and that they had either developed it or seen it, we have a prima facie case of disinformation.
Final point, friend: No one has to date refuted the forensic evidence made public by VIPS. Many people have merely pretended to do so w/o presenting any of the countervailing evidence VIPS and its associated forensic investigators have from the start welcomed.
Best wishes, and thanks for the read.
P.L.
Including Greenwald in your list undermines an otherwise great article.
How so?
"Phenom" doesn't mean what you think it means. You want to correct it to "phenomenon".
This is a careful catch, Avedon. Thanks for it. Phenom: A distinguished, outstanding person, a top performer in a given field: "As a track star he was a phenom." I stand corrected. I have long admired Terry Southern's Beat-inflected way of bending language, and my use of "phenom" here reflected this. He used to use it as I did. but to be avoided.
Thank you for your truth telling, Mr. Lawrence. Although I'm unfamiliar with Consortium News, I'm heading there next.
The train to Europe originating in China is news to me and disheartening because I thought I'd figured out where to find the actual news in the numerous independent media sources I frequent. This will get easier, surely, and an impatient populace will make it so.
Hello, Healy. & thanks for this comment. Yes, I urge you to make put Consortium among your regular media reads. We're made up of seasoned professionals who bring proper training as press people to new perspectives. (I'm avoiding the term "alternative.") Your experience w/ the Shanghai-to-Hamburg news is exactly the situation as we have it. Best wishes, and thanks again the encouragement.
Thank you again. I agree with your avoidance of the term "alternative" and utilize "independent" in its stead
The only way to make sense of anything is at the level of common denominators. When it is as vast as millions and billions of people, the layers of culture, politics and morality fade and it becomes about biology and physics.
There are two basic dynamics. Synchronization, which is centripetal, versus harmonization, which is centrifugal. The interaction of which creates nodes and networks, organisms and ecosystems, particles and fields. Then the constant interplay and feedback between them.
For instance, our conscious state isn't so much about our physical bodies, as it is the interface between the body and its context. We are aware of the world around us and how our body responds to it. Though some tend more toward the focus of synchronizing their world to their sense of self and others try to harmonize with that larger world, in order to fit in with it.
So any organization also has to develop some balance, since too much centripetal feedback will separate it from its context and the support systems it provides. While too much harmonization breaks down the distinctions defining it.
The West, operating between the poles of monotheism and capitalism, has evolved a messianic vision of its narrative infallibility.
For one thing, the logical fallacy of monotheism is that a spiritual absolute would be the essence of sentience, from which we rise, not an ideal of wisdom and judgement, from which we fell. It is a several thousand year old device of authority to state ideals as absolute and an epic philosophic fail to overlook that one is elemental, while the other is aspirational.
The problem of capitalism is that money functions as the social contract enabling mass societies, but is treated as a commodity to mine from the them. The medium becomes the store, though one is dynamic, while the other is static. Blood is a medium, while fat is a store. Roads are a medium, parking lots are a store. Mix them up and the system breaks down.
As a contract, the asset is backed by a debt, so our entire culture has devolved into the production of debt, to create the illusion of wealth. For instance, the capital markets could not function, without the government siphoning up trillions in surplus investment money. The wars are just a particularly hubristic method of spending it, but a bloated military is analogous to an autoimmune disorder for the body politic.
So as we spiral into this centripetal vortex, driven by those assuming it as some religious imperative, the rest of the world draws back, like an audience watching some zombie apocalypse movie. The consequence of which is that they are having to harmonize their various civilizations and states in response. The Russians, Chinese, Iranians, etc. have been interacting for thousands of years and only the vast distances involved have kept them from each others throats, like so many European states that live cheek by jowl.
Yet now the US and its political and religious satellites, England and Israel, are pushing them all into the same corner, forcing networks that would have taken much longer to evolve otherwise.
Obviously many of us can see it happening, but there doesn't otherwise seem much effort to explore the physical dynamics driving it.
John.
I've read your remarks week to week and thank you for them. You have a particular view on the matters we raise, financially oriented at least in part--the vortex, as you say, of money and ideology if this isn't to put it too crudely. Maye when the time comes we can work together on something for publication. You know where to find us.
Patrick,
In response to your possible offer, I wrote this out;
https://medium.com/@johnbrodixmerrymanjr/the-cliffs-edge-2b382ae2a73
If you think it's too broad and what some revisions, or even have second thoughts, it's not a problem. I tend to be more of a thinker, than a writer, so it's given me the opportunity to clarify and organize some ideas, for which I'm grateful.
Regards,
John
Thank you very much for the offer. I'm sure all those little voices in the back of my head will start churning out thoughts at the prospect. Though I will need to corral them into something focused on the political and economic factors.
It is evident that we are in the late stages of a monumental point in human history, the roots of which go to the foundations of civilization. As Michael Hudson has pointed out, the Ancients devised debt jubilees as a circuit breaker to the feedback loop of compound interest and yet the basic dynamic remains ignored to this day. Obviously because it doesn't suit those benefiting, to explore what is happening. So I see the breaking down of trust in authority in general as presenting an invaluable opportunity to really dig down into the real forces of nature creating our reality, not just those trying to control it.
Here is an essay I wrote a couple years ago; https://medium.com/predict/peeling-the-paradigm-1ceab7e774b0?source=friends_link&sk=cf20023b659f0399f5a3ad7a7eb84f9b
I would add that I tried to start a campaign to have Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning as the write in candidates of choice, in the 20 election. It didn't get very far, mostly just me, but I'm sensing that they would be wise to not actually bring him back here and put on trial. They want an example, not a martyr and a public crucifixion wouldn't be a wise move.
If you have any suggestions as to how I might frame and direct an essay, I'm all ears.