John Bolton Proposes Cyber Retaliation Against Russia, Starting with Wikileaks

[Badger]

Here we go with incorporating absurd Russophobia into White House foreign policy. Russia wasn't the first country to engage in such cyber activities; the US has been developing these capabilities and executing them for years now. Exploiting the current Russian interference fears to justify the desired expansion of these cyber warfare/manipulation tactics is all this is about. The US intelligence communities want to crack down on information leaks (hence targeting Wikileaks) and further develop their capabilities to target foreign countries to better manipulate their domestic politics (if not our own).

What would you propose the US do in regards to 2016 then?

I don't necessarily favor retaliation in cyberspace over anything else. I just want something that will get Russia to stop with the least amount of disruption (in addition to hardening our own defenses). But doing nothing is just absolutely not something I could personally agree with, and I'm not particularly favorable towards war or other acts of aggression either.

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Only people who don't know what they are talking about or are totally blinded by partisanship are saying that Putin flipped a Clinton victory to a Trump victory. What the intelligence community is arguing is that the Kremlin ran a campaign to damage Americans' faith in their democratic institutions. If you see America's actions in Russia in the 90s as shameless, than you should be more than happy to see Russia exposed for its election meddling, and "but he did it first!" is not an excuse to allow for one country to manipulate the democratic processes of another, let alone preclude a country that has been hit from building up their defenses against future attacks.

I know that you yourself identify as a strong anti-imperialist. I don't see how you cannot see Russia's attempts to - if not pick the winners of elections - disrupt elections, funnel money to certain campaigns, promote candidates on social media and tamper with voter rolls as anything but an imperialist persuit. And yes, I know the US does many of the same things. Here is the difference - the US, for all of its flaws, allows for public debate and discussion about our actions, and to remove those who were in charge of those actions when we collectively see fit. It's why you and I are able to have this kind of conversation without fearing any sort of repurcussions from it. I say that not to defend US actions, but to underscore that equating US interference to Russian interference is a dangerous false equivalency. Putin (and Xi for that matter) are desperately trying to have everyone simultaneously think their countries are superpowers that can take on any threat, but beg for sympathy when the evil imperialist US/EU call them out on their BS. Putin's a big boy who can answer for his actions.

And out of curiosity, I'd like to know where you think I fit into this Russophobic conspiracy. I am someone who supported Clinton from the get-go, someone who hopes eventually to have a career in foreign policy, and someone who wants to see the investigations into the 2016 elections continue, and see those who are found responsible for any wrongdoing brought to justice. I am also someone who has been to Russia twice, studied abroad in Russia, speaks Russian, worked as a tutor for disadvantaged Russian-speaking teens, will be rooting for team Russia in the world cup this year, is learning the balalaika, and has my room decorated with matreshkas, Russian art, and a Cheburashka doll. Please present evidence to me that by not liking Putin, Kadyrov, Yanukovych, and the like, I am being Russophobic. You can call that a strawman, but that is pretty much the impression that I get from your post.

I will also say for the record, that I think the US, UK, et al, have been pretty ham-handed in their handling of some aspects of the response to the Skripal case. At the very least, I would have liked to have seen a broader presentation of evidence against the agents who were expelled other than "oh yeah, there were a bunch of agents hanging out at our consulates, but Skripal got poisoned so we decided to kick them out."

To say that the number of Russian intelligence cyber officers numbering in the low triple digits dedicated full-time towards a sophisticated coordinated effort to impact the election in Trump's favor couldn't or didn't flip about 55,000 votes in Pennsylvania and Michigan to swing the Electoral College in his favor is, while hardly a given, by no means whatsoever can you hold out by any reasonable mathematical or political analysis.