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If the US/NATO insist(s) that Article 5 could be invoked in response to cyberattacks, why doesn’t the same apply to Russia?
Written by Drago Bosnic, independent geopolitical and military analyst
Carl von Clausewitz, a prominent Prussian general described war as “merely the continuation of policy by other means.” This perfectly describes the political West’s relationship with the world. However, against Russia, it is unable to conduct what late Donald Rumsfeld euphemistically called “kinetic force.” The phrase differentiates conventional warfare from “soft” force, limited to diplomacy, sanctions and cyber warfare. The latter is usually overlooked, despite often taking center stage in geopolitics.
The advent of the Digital Age gave rise to cyber warfare. While it was applied even during the 1990s, it became more prominent in the last 20 years. With nearly all organizations on the planet now being online, we got unprecedented access to information. However, this has its downsides, particularly in the form of hackers, who aren’t necessarily just “lone wolves” motivated by money (or ideology). The data on hackers is questionable at best. However, there’s publicly available information, especially that coming from state structures openly talking about the military usage of cyberspace.
General Paul Nakasone, the head of US Cyber Command, stated the US is conducting offensive operations in “support of Ukraine.” In an exclusive for Sky News, he explained: “‘Hunt forward’ operations are allowing the US to search out foreign hackers and identify the tools they use against America.” Nakasone, who is also director of the NSA, stated he is “concerned every single day about the risk of a Russian cyberattack” and that the “hunt forward” activities were an “effective way of protecting America.” He confirmed for the first time the US is conducting offensive cyber-ops against Russia. “We’ve conducted a series of operations across the full spectrum; offensive, defensive, [and] information operations,” he stated. The general didn’t give any specifics, but he claimed the activities of US military hackers were allegedly “lawful, conducted with complete civilian oversight of the military and through policy decided at the DoD.” His job is to “provide a series of options to the secretary of defense and the president, and so that’s what I do,” he said, declining to give any further details.
“We had an opportunity to start talking about what particularly the Russians were trying to do in our midterm elections. We saw it again in 2020, as we talked about what the Russians and Iranians were going to do, but this was on a smaller scale. The ability for us to share that information, being able to ensure it’s accurate and it’s timely and it’s actionable on a broader scale has been very, very powerful in this crisis,” the general said.
When asked about counterattacks in response to US offensive operations, Nakasone said: “We remain vigilant every single day. I think about it all the time. This is why we’re working with a series of partners to ensure we prevent that.” He delivered a speech at CyCon, a conference on cyber conflict, hosted by NATO’s Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence (CCDCOE) in Tallinn, and praised the cooperation as a “key strategic benefit.”
“Hunt forward is a key aspect of the Cyber Command’s partnerships. It is so powerful… because we see our adversaries and we expose their tools. Cyber Command specialists have been deployed abroad to 16 other nations where they can seek intelligence from the allies’ computer networks – always on a consensual, invitation basis,” General Nakasone said.
“Crucial to how hunt forward works is Cyber Command sharing the intelligence they find with the host nation. If you’re an adversary, and you’ve just spent a lot of money on a tool, and you’re hoping to utilize it readily in a number of different intrusions, suddenly it’s outed and it’s now been signatured across a broad range of networks, and suddenly you’ve lost your ability to do that,” the general said. “In one such hunt forward deployment, US military specialists had been present in Ukraine very close to the date of the invasion. We went in December 2021 at the invitation of the Kiev government to come and hunt with them. We stayed there for a period of almost 90 days,” he added.
A spokesperson confirmed this team left in a hurry after Russia intervened. There aren’t many details regarding US cyber-ops, but what we know 100% is what Nakasone himself admitted – the US is actively conducting offensive cyber-ops against Russia. This may very well explain the strange blackouts in some Russian regions, as well as other unexpected disruptions of its key infrastructure. The issue is not just that Russia could respond to these attacks with its own cyber-ops, but also with “kinetic force”, as Rumsfeld defined it. This is especially true as the consequences of cyber-ops aren’t only limited to cyberspace. Blackouts result in very real damage. Schools, hospitals, state institutions, etc. all rely on critical infrastructure. If the result of these attacks is similar to armed aggression, Russia would be compelled to respond.
After all, the political West itself has been contemplating this approach. NATO is considering including cyber warfare in Article 5. The clause is the focal point of the “defensive alliance.” Expanding its scope to cyber-ops could lead to uncontrollable escalation. It also reveals yet another instance of glaring hypocrisy of the political West – while the US and its satellites conduct offensive cyber-ops against Russia, and then openly brag about it, they’re saying those same cyber-ops in response to US/NATO cyberattacks would trigger its infamous “collective defense” clause.
If the US/NATO insist(s) that Article 5 could be invoked, why doesn’t the same apply to Russia? Well, as far as Russia goes, the “purely defensive alliance” doesn’t get to decide what Russia defines as a security threat. Thus, the political West might not only be facing Russia’s cyber counteroffensive, but an actual, physical response. As Huntington defined it, “the West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion (to which few members of other civilizations were converted) but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.” Russia can also “apply organized violence” in a way superior to anyone else’s. It hopes it won’t need to, but it most certainly is capable of it. If the political West wants to prevent a world-ending conflict, it will stop its cyber, bioweapons or other operations against Russia. Otherwise, the “purely defensive alliance” will finally get the taste of its own medicine, facing the full might of the “defense” it has been conducting against the world. Only radioactive.
Stop fronting like Russia not doing the same and def don’t get me started on china who commits the most cyber attacks
Provocations elicit g desired responses to suit e traomenrs Baiting the hook. Hypocrisy is the one thi g God Hates above all abominations and sins, the Bible tells us. “they I.fbere hate Jesus and Christians”Pope Emeritus Benedict describing the Vatican with the first ever Jesuit Pope.
In the real world, Arab and US media and intelligence sources have confirmed that a Zionist Commander of Mossad terror squad Asa Flots real name IIak Ron (A major in the IDF)was killed in a drone attack last night.
His convoy was targeted by Iranian suicide drone near Erbil airport.
Mazel Tov!!
The more weakness Russia displays the more the West will push Russia around.
There seems to a problem in Russia decision making which is bi-polar and indecisive. Russia needs to use maximum force in Ukraine and neutralize the maidan IDF sniper installed Zionist puppet Zelensky regime. He is going around Scott Free inciting more Russophobia and misery for Ukraine.
Putin learned a thing or two from the assault on Kiev, that’s the best Russia can do.
Unexpectedly, countries are no more impressed when Russia flexex its muscles. Or cryes to lift sanctions. They will be lifted in 10000 years.
It’s too bad we will probably never be publicly updated on Russian developments with the captured Starlink systems. Some of the guys in Chinese defense released a white paper recently calling for solutions targeted against Starlink in particular so it is probably safe to assume that captured and intact terminals are being reverse-engineered by Russia, China, and possibly Iran. Compared to the ‘game-changers’ that have been sent the Starlink can immediately be deployed with Ukrainian forces, it doesn’t have to fit with a military doctrine, force composition, etc. There were thousands of fried terminals at the beginning of the operation but Starlink was an effective and immediate counter that required no infrastructure time or investment. It’s hard to read into without wading into propaganda but Starlink claimed a few months ago that they were fending off jamming attempts and had the US military impressed. There are reports that Ukrainian GiS Artillery paired with Starlink is very effective, hopefully Russian forces have learned some things and are maybe beginning to apply countermeasures.
Starlink teeminals are of commercial use not military, China already had them. I can understand that for Russians that steal washing machines, starlink sounds like alien technology though.
Starlink satellites and their operators have entered the war as a participant they should be shot down on mass (s4-500 missiles are well capable of this), they are supposedly owned by a private company and are not USA military. If they were USA military then their participation could be seen as a declaration of war.
Elon Musk is definitely thoroughly meshed with US defense and intelligence agencies now, I personally find him to be a bit of a grifter in regards to his business practices and think financial regulators should have given him some jail time for his outbursts. His association with the Empire will probably not allow that but I do get a good laugh out of seeing all his poor fanboys sticking up for him and sucking billionaire dick on the social networks. There is another concern with Starlink that leads me to believe they will begin receiving substantial off-the-books US defense funding and it has to do with their plans to increase the Starlink count to 42,000 satellites. They will take up ~80% of the low earth orbit which will prohibit other powers from fielding their own alternatives, orbital position and frequency are important for these systems. Starlink could also be used to blast disinformation into China or Russia, it may be even more dangerous with its usage for regime change and color revolutions. The US has definitely begun the militarization of space and through the cover of their most recognized oligarch, you really can’t make the shit up.
I have serious doubt they can fend off jamming when the US military cannot. Starlink is a just a bunch of LEO satellites with a dish antenna on the ground. They don’t even work particularly good, from the impressions of the first customers. They devices get hot as fuck, lose signal, the noise to signal ratio goes up very fast, the 100 Mbits/s become soon a dream.
The only good thing is that it is easy to deploy and use. And obviously Musk is producing gazillions of these things every day. But the satellites are easy to spot, blind and destroy. And a massive jamming over an area doesn’t live the system unscattered.
>we are conducting acts of war against a foreign nation
>NOOOOOOO WHAT IF THEY DO THEM BACK
I do find it interesting that Russia turned out not to have the vast network of hackers that the US intelligence has suggested it’s had for decades…….but if not them, who is it that they’ve been detecting?
Nuke the Pentagon !!!
Contrary to many reports I found an actual US scientific website admitting Starlink/Navstar had been jammed and US HawkEye 360 says GPS access to drones-Switchblade & Puma have been blocked by Russia .
It wasn’t that long ago that hackers were routinely hacking US systems. At that time the USadmin was also claiming that their security was top notch.
The countries of the world are beginning to finally call the US bluff, and so the USadmin responds with more jargon and bullshit.
the russians are weak at every level: army, air force, navy, cyber warfare, etc. Even countries like italy or spain would beat russia in a convential war. the only thing russia has, are nukes. and the may not function correctly if needed. russia is technogically 50 years behind the west in every aspect
You’re weak in brain. u have no idea what are u writing about. do some learning of history (give u a hint about tech) before u come again here showing us unknowledge. your parent should request money back from the school u attended to, because u’re utterly failure. over and out!
Russia just declare war on the US! Thought it through and discussed it? The US and NATO will not be declaring war on Russia in a hurry either. If the US tells you dont do this or we will take it as a declaration of war, why does Russia feel threatened when they already have a war going on against you.
The US ESCALATES its undeclared wars IF the other side is WINNING. If Russia is winning, then the US ups the ante, if Russia is winning, the US declares new rules more favorable to itself The US is not escalating and upping the ante because Russia does so, have you noticed?
So this means that RUSSIA should NOT accept the boundaries which the US is setting, this means that Russia should NOT be afraid of stepping over boundaries.
Send some sleeping gas into the bunkers where there are hostages.
Bomb up a Polish airport with US planes filled with weapons!
The US makes threats but do they really carry them out?
If the US has set itself boundaries, it means that these are boundaries which they do not really want to cross. If the Russians up the ante, the US may make a token gesture and then just go back into their boundaries again or even set themselves tighter boundaries.
It would be sporting of Russia to feign harm or be ambiguous about harm from the US token gesture of retaliation, whilst laughing at the US!
Russia would love to have monopoly on cyberattacks. But as all capable IT guys flee the country, there is no-one to cyber anything.
Recently, the only competent hacker was the guy who stole Hunters laptop, everything else is Hollywood BS.
Russia needs to get sanctioned, drained and crushed once and for all.
the russians are weak at every level: army, air force, navy, cyber warfare. Even countries like italy or spain would beat russia in a convential war. the only thing russia has, are nukes. and the may not function correctly if needed. russia is technogically 50 years behind the west in every aspect. Only North Korea is worse.
In any conflict with nato the first thing to do is blind them! Knock out their space satellite and GPS systems and their land systems. Communications and so on.