You’re Surrounded
If you spend too long looking at the subversive actions of America’s enemies, you soon realize you can tie together a lot of odd stories and anecdotes that are easy to interpret in disturbing ways, to say the least. As the joke goes, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean people aren’t out to get you. Yet even knowing that, peering too deeply into the world of spy and intelligence games can leave you feeling vaguely surrounded.
The Chinese government, for instance, would like to make use of our open society to gather all the information it can get, by any means, legal, illegal, open, or secret. But if it can inspire our own young to install spying software on their ubiquitous smartphones? It turns out that from our enemies’ perspectives, our society is not so much a soft target as completely disarmed and defenseless.
In contrast, Chinese youngsters are restricted by their government in how much they can use Douyin, the sister app to TikTok available in China, made by the same Chinese parent company, ByteDance. People 14 years and younger cannot use the app more than 40 minutes per day, and not at all between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Users real names and identities must be registered and known to the government, and content is strictly monitored to censor any talk critical of the governing Chinese Communist Party.
The point here isn’t that our government should use the techniques of an authoritarian police state as a model. Rather, we shouldn’t allow an app under the control of a hostile foreign power to track and monitor our citizens as unwitting data collectors from within.
When it comes to Russia, you wouldn’t think we’d make it so easy for their spies to infiltrate. Then, out of the blue, we have a major leak from our military, probably—but not likely provably—thanks to Russian spy services laying the groundwork. This comes on the heels of a year during which European governments were unmasking Russian affiliated spook networks everywhere they looked, mainly because those networks were going into overdrive trying to undermine any support in free countries for Ukraine as it fought off the Kremlin’s murderous conquest.
At times you can feel like you’re surrounded—and maybe you are. The ubiquitous smartphones and constant internet communications with other people (or software programs posing as people) all around the world are an open door to person-to-person infiltration for the purpose of influence campaigns. Always-on communications allow impressionable, often young citizens to be “groomed” by our adversaries for future use by shaping their worldview.
It is in this context that I recalled overhearing a conversation a bit over a year ago between two women, one of whom had a son about to graduate from high school. She was proud of him—understandable for most parents, of course—in his case for how he was using the internet on his smartphone to get to know exotic people from far-off places. Recently, she said, he had been conversing with a young lady about his age in Russia, and this Russian stranger was sending the young American man videos featuring modern Russian battle tanks performing maneuvers in formation, playing war games, generally doing the sorts of shoot-explode-action things that impress young men just about everywhere.
I overheard this story only around a week before the Russians launched their invasion. The subject of Russia and Russian military power was in the air, raising interest among the apolitical, among citizens who don’t spend much time thinking about distant lands. And some friendly, flirty, presumably attractive person was feeding a young man’s mind stories about the strength and honor of the Russian military in live chats, and—I gathered—direct video calls. The young man was impressed, and he shared his enthusiasm for what he was learning about Russia and its exotic macho wonders with his mother, who couldn’t have been prouder.
I relay this anecdote merely with the observation that such is how today’s influence operations work: subtly and behind the scenes, ever seeking out those who might show a curiosity and interest, people who can be nudged psychologically to thinking about the world outside America in certain ways. Maybe those foreign people are misunderstood. Maybe it is American politicians and policymakers who invent enmities for their own gain. Maybe you should help these misunderstood foreigners get a fair hearing. After all, you know what it’s like to be misunderstood, don’t you?
It isn’t necessary to shape the targets right away. It is merely helpful to seed a lot of ideas in fertile imaginations, and—once the contacts are established on the wide-open networks of free societies—to come back later and see what has blossomed. And if possible, to prompt the targets to make the types of life and career choices to position them where they have access, say, to restricted communications.
As I say, the whole arrangement can make you think at times you may be just a bit paranoid. And at other times that perhaps you aren’t paranoid enough.
*AI art generated by DALL-E to the prompting “an evil spy holding a smartphone in a socialist realist painting style”.
Well, crap. After a weeks-long run of semi-bad luck that might induce someone who's already semi-paranoid such as myself to think that life really is maybe out to get them, including spending much of the last two days and no small amount of time and vet $$ tending to a horse suffering from spring colic when I expected to be doing just normal springtime chores, I finally sit down to relax and enjoy life for a minute, and what do I get? A paranoia booster shot. It was my wife's mare that needed a shot, not me. So, thanks a lot for that. I really appreciate it.
All this time I've been amblin' along in these digs thinkin' I was amongst friends, but how the hell am I supposed to have any confidence now that I haven't been mixin' it up with a bunch of Ruski bots or some such in search of my deepest held and most highly classified secrets? Like do I wear boxers or briefs? Or maybe tryin' to influence me to their way of thinking, assuming bots can think. I mean this is the internet, AI is spreading its tentacles like kudzu, so anything's possible.
All this time I've proceeded on the assumption that this joint was run by a smart, affable guy down in WVa somewhere who simply wanted to provide a place for folks to talk about lots of different things amongst themselves in a respectful and civilized manner and to encourage them to do so, all while having some fun along the way. But you know, after my wife's laptop got hacked a couple of weeks ago, the tech at the computer shop who scrubbed and disinfected and deloused the thing said that all he could really say for sure about the invasion was that it was launched about 5 in the morning on Mountain time. And the Appalachians run through WVa if I recall my geography correctly. And this guy is known to be an early riser.
So, now I'll have to keep my guard up even higher I suppose, giving the 👀 to everything here just like I do everywhere else. But I have to give this guy credit. He's really good at what he does, having so far not even once allowing anything to slip that would remotely indicate he might just be some 300-pound ne're-do-well sitting on a couch in his momma's basement.
And for the record, in the interest of eliminating the need for any further intrusions on my wife's PC, I prefer b.....
Good Morning all. Today is: Bean Counters Day...Yea for me...lol...and wear your Pajamas to work Day ( which I would so do if today was a work day...lol..(it would be the more staid, like regular clothing version, not what I actually wear...lol... most likely one of my flannel Christmas Pajamas...lol)
I have good news...our friend ( Rick and I) who used to be our next door neighbor but moved back to his home town, says he can install the fan for my laptop for $35...the only problem is Rick isn't going to visit till May 2nd, so I have to deal with the issues of trying to use my desk top till then, but what a deal.
And I paid my city taxes ( work ( Quick Books, which is my enemy...lol) had the old % , which I found out last April, so I had to pay for those 4 months it was wrong). Their website needs work, but, it didn't take too long. If someone as computer literate as I am gets confused, they have an issue....lol
Have a wonderful Sunday!