Chris Martenson
Executive Summary
- The 4 most likely scenarios of Russian response
- Europe is more vulnerable, and will feel more pain sooner than the US (though the US is still at risk)
- The risk to the world economy and financial markets
- What you should be doing now, in case things worsen
If you have not yet read Part I: The West's Reckless Rush Towards War with Russia available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.
Europe Will Pay the Price First
Europe is already on the edge of slipping back into outright economic contraction and can ill afford any sort of protracted sanction warfare with Russia, a major trading partner in both directions.
While the sanctions levied by Europe were very carefully crafted to cause the least amount of pain for itself as a fist order of business, while imposing maximum pressure on Russia second, they will still bite.
‘EU sanctions on Russia will hit UK economy’ – Foreign Secretary
Jul 30, 2014
EU sanctions aimed at ‘imposing economic pain’ on Russia following the MH17 crash will hit the UK economy, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has warned, saying ‘you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs’.
Hammond said the measures had been “designed to maximize the impact on Russia and minimize the impact on EU economies.”
“It will affect our economy… but you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs, and if we want to impose economic pain on Russia in order to try to encourage it to behave properly in eastern Ukraine and to give access to the crash site, then we have to be prepared to take these measures,” he told Sky.
On Wednesday, The Russian Foreign Ministry criticized the new package of EU sanctions, saying it was disappointed Europe was unable to act independently from Washington in the International arena.
“We feel ashamed for the European Union who, after long searching for a unified voice is now speaking with Washington’s voice, having practically abandoned basic European values, including the presumption of innocence,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
(Source)
Indeed, it's easy to imagine how disappointed Russia might be to have so many unresolved questions about MH-17 lingering yet having Europe rush forward with punishment despite a long and warming history of economic ties.
Of course, the main consideration for Europe now that autumn is just a couple of months away is…
How The Coming Confrontation Will Unfold
PREVIEWExecutive Summary
- The 4 most likely scenarios of Russian response
- Europe is more vulnerable, and will feel more pain sooner than the US (though the US is still at risk)
- The risk to the world economy and financial markets
- What you should be doing now, in case things worsen
If you have not yet read Part I: The West's Reckless Rush Towards War with Russia available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.
Europe Will Pay the Price First
Europe is already on the edge of slipping back into outright economic contraction and can ill afford any sort of protracted sanction warfare with Russia, a major trading partner in both directions.
While the sanctions levied by Europe were very carefully crafted to cause the least amount of pain for itself as a fist order of business, while imposing maximum pressure on Russia second, they will still bite.
‘EU sanctions on Russia will hit UK economy’ – Foreign Secretary
Jul 30, 2014
EU sanctions aimed at ‘imposing economic pain’ on Russia following the MH17 crash will hit the UK economy, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has warned, saying ‘you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs’.
Hammond said the measures had been “designed to maximize the impact on Russia and minimize the impact on EU economies.”
“It will affect our economy… but you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs, and if we want to impose economic pain on Russia in order to try to encourage it to behave properly in eastern Ukraine and to give access to the crash site, then we have to be prepared to take these measures,” he told Sky.
On Wednesday, The Russian Foreign Ministry criticized the new package of EU sanctions, saying it was disappointed Europe was unable to act independently from Washington in the International arena.
“We feel ashamed for the European Union who, after long searching for a unified voice is now speaking with Washington’s voice, having practically abandoned basic European values, including the presumption of innocence,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
(Source)
Indeed, it's easy to imagine how disappointed Russia might be to have so many unresolved questions about MH-17 lingering yet having Europe rush forward with punishment despite a long and warming history of economic ties.
Of course, the main consideration for Europe now that autumn is just a couple of months away is…
Ukraine. Iraq. Nigeria. Libya. Tunisia. Syria. All are hotspots of conflict in different regions of the world, yet the same underlying cause behind each can clearly be seen when looking through the lens of finite resources.
In this week's podcast, Chris talks with Hampshire college professor Michael Klare, author of The Race for What's Left: The Global Scramble for World's Last Resources and Resource Wars.
Michael Klare: Finite Resources And The Geography of Conflict
Ukraine. Iraq. Nigeria. Libya. Tunisia. Syria. All are hotspots of conflict in different regions of the world, yet the same underlying cause behind each can clearly be seen when looking through the lens of finite resources.
In this week's podcast, Chris talks with Hampshire college professor Michael Klare, author of The Race for What's Left: The Global Scramble for World's Last Resources and Resource Wars.
Executive Summary
- The most likely forms of cyber attack the national grid is vulnerable to
- The evidence that shows malicious attacks on the US grid have been attempted multiple times
- The low level of integrity in the current grid's defenses
- A checklist of backup systems at the home level every concerned citizen should work to have in place
If you have not yet read Part 1: The Electrical Grid May Well Be The Next War's Battlefield available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.
Cyber Attacks, Hacking, and Malware
The other main threat we should concern ourselves with centers on the highly automated nature of the electricity grid combined with the human propensity for mischief. As with everything these days, computer-controlled devices are at the heart of the entire electrical generation and distribution system.
Again from the same Peak Prosperity member quoted earlier:
Combine this with the known vulnerabilities of the SCADA [Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition] systems controlling the power grid and you have the recipe for a real coordinated and manufactured disaster.
US researchers have identified 25 zero-day vulnerabilities in industrial control SCADA software from 20 suppliers that are used to control critical infrastructure systems. Attackers could exploit some of these vulnerabilities to gain control of electrical power and water systems, according to Wired.com.
Nine of these potential exploits have so far been reported to the suppliers concerned and the US Department of Homeland Security.
In theory, an intruder could exploit the vulnerabilities simply by breaching the wireless radio network over which the communication passes to the server.
Unlike the "heartbleed" zero-day bug that could be more or less addressed by software server patches, the SCADA systems are hardware boxes sitting out in the field. It's quite possible they are not upgradeable, or they were made by companies no longer in business, or whose programmers no longer support the system any more. "Uh, you want me to come up with a patch for THAT old system? Really? The guy who knew that code retired 10 years ago. I'm not even sure we have the source code anymore – or if it compiles – or if our build system can even compile for that CPU-type. And then we have to test it. We don't have any of those boxes to test it on anymore. And once tested, how exactly do we deploy this patch?"
If you've ever worked in a software organization, you'll know what I'm talking about.
No need to launch any supersonic missiles. If the US power grid is down, the US Navy won't be projecting power anywhere, since we'll be so busy trying to keep our people alive (and/or deploying what forces we have available into our own cities to prevent all those people who can't use their EBT cards anymore from tearing the place apart) to worry about what Russia is doing in their own backyard.
So – yes, asymmetric warfare. A coordinated cyber-assault supported with a kinetic attack on a select group of substations will…
Reducing Your Risk To A Grid-Down Event
PREVIEWExecutive Summary
- The most likely forms of cyber attack the national grid is vulnerable to
- The evidence that shows malicious attacks on the US grid have been attempted multiple times
- The low level of integrity in the current grid's defenses
- A checklist of backup systems at the home level every concerned citizen should work to have in place
If you have not yet read Part 1: The Electrical Grid May Well Be The Next War's Battlefield available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.
Cyber Attacks, Hacking, and Malware
The other main threat we should concern ourselves with centers on the highly automated nature of the electricity grid combined with the human propensity for mischief. As with everything these days, computer-controlled devices are at the heart of the entire electrical generation and distribution system.
Again from the same Peak Prosperity member quoted earlier:
Combine this with the known vulnerabilities of the SCADA [Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition] systems controlling the power grid and you have the recipe for a real coordinated and manufactured disaster.
US researchers have identified 25 zero-day vulnerabilities in industrial control SCADA software from 20 suppliers that are used to control critical infrastructure systems. Attackers could exploit some of these vulnerabilities to gain control of electrical power and water systems, according to Wired.com.
Nine of these potential exploits have so far been reported to the suppliers concerned and the US Department of Homeland Security.
In theory, an intruder could exploit the vulnerabilities simply by breaching the wireless radio network over which the communication passes to the server.
Unlike the "heartbleed" zero-day bug that could be more or less addressed by software server patches, the SCADA systems are hardware boxes sitting out in the field. It's quite possible they are not upgradeable, or they were made by companies no longer in business, or whose programmers no longer support the system any more. "Uh, you want me to come up with a patch for THAT old system? Really? The guy who knew that code retired 10 years ago. I'm not even sure we have the source code anymore – or if it compiles – or if our build system can even compile for that CPU-type. And then we have to test it. We don't have any of those boxes to test it on anymore. And once tested, how exactly do we deploy this patch?"
If you've ever worked in a software organization, you'll know what I'm talking about.
No need to launch any supersonic missiles. If the US power grid is down, the US Navy won't be projecting power anywhere, since we'll be so busy trying to keep our people alive (and/or deploying what forces we have available into our own cities to prevent all those people who can't use their EBT cards anymore from tearing the place apart) to worry about what Russia is doing in their own backyard.
So – yes, asymmetric warfare. A coordinated cyber-assault supported with a kinetic attack on a select group of substations will…
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by sand_puppy 
