An Angle for Russian Intervention in Syria?

The Russian government has rejected the notion of international intervention because the conflict in Syria is a domestic matter to be handled internally.

 It is far from classified information that the two countries have been friendly since the heydays of the Soviet Union in the 1960’s and 1970’s but recent developments may make Russian intervention more likely.

First, Assad is having money issues and is looking towards his large friends in Moscow for help. The more damning scenario for Russian intervention is that Al Qaeda fighters in Syria are reported to have arrived in the country from Chechnya—where a Russian backed strongman has suppressed most attacks against the Kremlin.

Russia could use this as an entry point because the Chechen arm of Al Qaeda has been blamed for several attacks within Russia, and its’ entirely possible that the Putin government would want to take the fight to any Chechen member of Al Qaeda in an attempt to repair his own weakened domestic image.

 Of course, its also likely that Putin will say goodbye and good riddance to Chechen fighters because if they are in Syria, than they can cause Putin problems in Russia.

Putin, we Protest?

The recent Russian Duma elections have brought a rare sight to Russian streets: mass protests against Vladimir Putin and his system of managed democracy.

 The polls showed that United Russia had won with almost fifty percent of the vote--a far cry from their 2007 totals, amid allegations of voter fraud and ballot box stuffing. These mass protests seem to have caught everyone off guard because of their size and the youthful core of the protestors.

While no one is predicting a Putin collapse, these protests are a positive development for Russian democracy.

Putin has largely run a dominant party police state that has excluded opposition parties and restricted voter choice. No population is going to stay passive forever against such conditions. Still, most Russians continue to put up with the system of managed democracy and the need for a police state.

It was largely assumed before these mass protests that things were peachy under the Russian sun. These protests offer a flicker of hope for advocates of democracy within the Russian Federation, but don’t expect these protests to lead to anything other than a Putin crackdown because the majority of Russians stand firmly behind Putin.

Techno Espionage and The Road East

CBS News ran a report tonight detailing a United States report that named Russia and China as the two most aggressive cyber espionage countries against the United States, stealing a variety of technological secrets ranging from military to our electrical grid.

 This isn’t really a new development, our power grids and military secrets have been of concern for many years. China and Russia are seeking to build their economies as quickly as possible. Why waste billions of dollars and time on the machinery of economic growth, when one can develop a team of cyber hackers and steal what you need?

The real question is: How do targeted governments deal with the problem? IT specialists may be able to offer more insights then I can on the technological aspects of the problem, but greater security systems are an absolute given.

 Overall though, we became a global power in part by using our minds to create and innovate things that were bigger and better than everyone else. To beat back the challenges of cyber criminals, we need to rediscover our innovative spirit to create bigger and better things.