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Russia: We did not hack the US Democrats. But if we did, we're immune from prosecution:
The Russian government has denied having anything to do with hacking the US Democratic party in 2016, although in a court filing this week stressed that even if it did break into the DNC's servers, it is immune from prosecution.
And furthermore the Kremlin claimed America is "one of the most prolific practitioners of cyberattacks and cyber-intrusions on the planet." So, nerr!
"The [Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act] FSIA provides that foreign sovereign states enjoy absolute jurisdictional immunity from suit unless a plaintiff can demonstrate that one of the FSIA's enumerated 'exceptions' applies," argued [PDF] the Russian government this week in a New York court in response to a lawsuit from the DNC.
The DNC claims that it was subject to a "military attack" by Kremlin intelligence, causing Russia to argue back that any act of its military is a sovereign action and so therefore it can't be sued for it.
It's an amazing defense though one the DNC foresaw. It argued in its initial court paperwork [PDF] that "Russia is not entitled to sovereign immunity because the DNC's claims arise out of Russia's trespass onto the DNC's private servers - a tort allegedly committed in the United States.
"In addition, Russia committed the trespass in order to steal trade secrets and commit economic espionage, two forms of commercial activity undertaken in and directly affecting the United States."
Of course this being 2018 and Russia, the Putin administration can't leave it at that, and takes the opportunity to troll the US government by pointing out that the immunity provision is also heavily relied upon by Uncle Sam and its officials abroad.
"The United States benefits significantly from the sovereign immunity that it enjoys (and US officials enjoy) in foreign courts around the world with respect to the United States' frequency acts of cyber intrusion and political interference," Russia's response reads. "As current and former US officials have acknowledged on many occasion, the United States - acting primarily through the National Security Agency (NSA) with the US Department of Defense - is one of the most prolific practitioners of cyberattacks and cyber-intrusions on the planet."
Pot calling the kettle black?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Lester on Thursday November 15 2018, @09:04AM (3 children)
Instead of the new way: duckwriting for 12 hours in 140 characters messages, 9 hours insulting and being politically incorrect, and 3 hours saying I-didn't-mean what they wrote 4 days ago. And then, 12 hours following an agenda that has nothing to do with their messages.
In the old days, politicians were careful because they gullibly thought that people would remember what they said and would be accountable for it. Now they have learned that people don't remember what politicians have said a month ago (let alone four years ago), and/or probably don't care. They have learned that people want showmen, entertainment and not to think too much about the consequences of what would happen if politicians really did what they said in their simple discourses.
Diplomacy is like chess: A match between grand masters is boring, they think a lot and finally move a pawn a square. Matches between beginners ones are more funny, they take queens, rocks... A match of a master against a beginner looks like beginner is more active and winning, but in the end, master crushes the beginner... unless you replace the master with a beginner that is more active.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Thursday November 15 2018, @02:30PM (2 children)
Is it that, or could it be something else?
I have a different theory. People have learned not to listen to what politicians say because whether their remarks are couched in facts or take the form of emotional appeals, the reality is they keep getting poorer year after year while the same few consistently grow fabulously wealthy at their expense. In short, the public has learned that in a sham democracy everything that comes out of a politician's mouth is a smokescreen for the same puppet masters. The only thing that makes any sense to pay attention to is what actually materializes in the real world.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Lester on Thursday November 15 2018, @04:50PM
Or maybe some people have learned not to listen to what politicians say and politicians have learned to talk just to the other people, those who just want to listen a clear message with clear black and white colors, a message with the promise of solving complex problems with an easy definitive solution, and better if there is some to blame and punish. Politicians have learned to exploit that dark side of human mind, or at least now they dare to do it more shamelessly and more efficiently thanks to big data: Facebook, google, twitter etc.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 16 2018, @04:46AM
That is all true, and therefore it makes no sense whatsoever to support Trump. That support of Trump is sensible to many people demonstrates the effectiveness of propaganda. Not the supposed Russian propaganda. The MSM propaganda. To answer the question of all those who wonder why the media plays into Trump's hands with another question: how do they know that is not, in fact, the media's present mission?
(To fend off "but Clinton!" bullshit: this also has nothing to do with the corrupt, neoliberal Democratic Party. You will never find the answers to your concerns within the two party system. Those concerns can only be addressed by options outside of the two major parties.)