Tag Archives: GRU

Opinion: US pays a price for spying on Merkel ex FT – John Gelmini

October 30, 2013 By in Business Administration, China, Growth, People, Politics, Russia, US Tags: , , , , , 6 Comments
Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany

Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Dr Alf raises an important point about cyber warfare in that China has at least 4 million people engaged in it and is penetrating our networks in Government, the media, Big Business, the military and the inboxes of the rich and powerful.

Russia has 2 million people doing this, mostly in the GRU and India has started to develop its own capability in this area.

We (in the UK) have been spying since Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne, when the first “C” was appointed to her secret service which became the forerunner of what is MI5 and MI6 today.

We under Sir William Stephenson taught the Americans who developed the OSS in World War 2 which then became the CIA with the other bodies like the NSA coming into prominence more recently.

Spying is necessary for our own security but we seem to have reached a point where the only privacy we have will come from entrusting our thoughts to Basildon Bond and sending an old fashioned letter.

Certainly I have no illusions that any e mail I send and any telephone call and Skype call I make is not being monitored by one of General Alexander’s machines and by ourselves.

The same applies to this and the rest of Dr Alf’s blogs but as concerned citizens who want people to do well, get on and prosper the UK Government and its allies need to focus on really dangerous troublemakers in our midst and further afield who wish to undermine our way of life, establish Caliphates and damage Western interests.

What Angela Merkel‘s mobile has to do with this is another issue which relates to her rising power within Europe , the extent of her relationships with the Chinese, Russian and Brazilian leaderships and her position on Israel vis a vis Iran and the plans for regime change in the Middle East and later Eurasia.

Whereas David Cameron does not get on with these regimes, Angela Merkel does, thus creating mistrust over her long term motives which I think have to do with trade, business and exports rather than geopolitical maneuvering.

John Gelmini

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Some thoughts on Putin’s op-ed article in the NYT – John Gelmini

September 13, 2013 By in People, Politics, Syria, UK, US Tags: , , , , , , , 5 Comments
English: Vladimir Putin at school age

English: Vladimir Putin at school age (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Vladimir Putin makes good points in his Op -Ed concerning the risks of wider war and more casualties.

However, his real concern is the retention of the Port of Tartus and continued arms sales to Syria.

For all the talk about international law, the Putin article shows that what both Russia and the West wants is control of Syria.

Russia wants it as a warm water port in the Mediterranean, something they have coveted since before the Crimean War and in several brutal wars with the British in Victorian times.

Secondly, they want it as a first line of defense against a military strike on Iran and Iran as a second line of defense against an attack on themselves(See PNAC website).

Thirdly, he sees himself as the savior of Greek Orthodox Christians and has made a promise to the head of that church to defend it and its values which is part of the rationale behind his anti gay legislation and his desire to stop the march of militant Islam in the Caucasus,the Balkans and everywhere else.

America for all the hand wringing about gas attacks and 5 million refugees, wants to topple the regime as a precursor to doing the same in other countries including Iran.

So far Putin, being more fleet of foot than the cautious Obama, is winning the argument because the vast majority of the public in America, the UK and Europe are heartily sick of wars which deliver death, destruction and more trouble rather than the purported benefits of acting or “making history” as Senator McCain puts it.

That said, we should not see Vladimir Putin as someone entirely reasonable with whom we can have tea and cake on the vicarage lawn after lunch.

Chechnya with its oil pipeline was subjugated by being reduced to rubble at the behest of Putin albeit with the squeamish acquiescence of the G8 and the EU as it was at the time.

Other uprisings in the Muslim fringe of Russia have been crushed and the Ukraine and Estonia were subjected to blackouts by the GRU‘s 2 million cyber warriors and cutoffs of gas and power when they failed to pay their bills and when Estonian Nazi sympathisers defaced a Russian war memorial.

With him and the Chinese it is all about realpolitik and the endgame rather than the niceties that precede action.

John Gelmini

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