from the would-a-russian-controlled-asset-do-literally-anything-differently? dept
I don’t know if Trump believes this is what will finally score him a Nobel Peace Prize for him to wave around as proof of his impeccable deal-making skills, but while we wait for the world to get even worse, things are going to get a little less secure here in the United States. Here’s Martin Matishak, reporting for The Record.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week ordered U.S. Cyber Command to stand down from all planning against Russia, including offensive digital actions, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Hegseth gave the instruction to Cyber Command chief Gen. Timothy Haugh, who then informed the organization’s outgoing director of operations, Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Ryan Heritage, of the new guidance, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.
The speculation is that this is being done to relax things a bit while Trump hustles Ukraine into the proper supplication position at the bargaining table. This isn’t necessarily unusual in this overall context. Pulling back on offensive actions in anticipation of peace talks happens all the time.
The weird thing about this one is that the United States isn’t one of the combatants in this war. Well, “weird” isn’t really the right word. “Normal” is probably a more accurate term, at least in terms of Trump and his administration.
Trump has always considered Putin an ally and managed to retain this position/infatuation even as the rest of the world (autocratic regimes excluded) put Russia back in its Cold War place following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The multiple levels of propaganda are being spouted by one of Trump’s most loyal idiots, Marco Rubio, who is somehow employed at the head of the State Department. This pair of paragraphs, taken from the New York Times coverage of this cyberwar drawback, paints an accurate, disheartening, and truly chilling picture of America under its current leadership.
“You’re not going to bring them to the table if you’re calling them names, if you’re being antagonistic,” Mr. Rubio said on ABC’s “This Week.” “That’s just the president’s instincts from years and years and years of putting together deals as someone who’s in business.”
Mr. Rubio was not asked about the decision to stop the offensive cyberoperations, but he grew defensive when pressed on why the United States was letting up on pressure on Moscow, to the point of removing language from a United Nations resolution that described Russia as the aggressor in the war in Ukraine. Almost all of the United States’ traditional allies voted against the resolution, leaving the Trump administration siding with Russia, North Korea, Iran and Belarus, and a handful of other authoritarian states.
It’s terrible enough that Rubio is willing to echo Trump’s own overblown claims about his deal-making acumen, especially when what’s happening here is Trump bending a knee to Putin hopes of making Ukraine bend its knee to both of them. The next paragraph is somehow worse, showing the man supposedly making America great again aligning us with some of the most corrupt and undeniably evil governments on the planet.
Again, it cannot be stressed enough how dangerous all of this is. Even as the federal government is being ripped apart by corporate and elected raiders, the US is dropping its guard against one of the most powerful nations in the world — one that hasn’t been considered a true ally since Putin took office.
Filed Under: cisa, cybersecurity, defense department, dhs, russia, trump administration
