It occurred to me today that while everyone has been distracted by Kim Kardashian, they’ve missed a few… key details.

Let’s see.  First of all….  Edward Snowden is not a hero.  I am not yet sure what he is.  Revealing to the world the existence of the spy games under the Patriot Act didn’t surprise me at all, having been on the watch list since 1996.  I was fascinated that he just walked out with a thumb drive containing all of the secrets of the Utah NSA spy centre, not surprised that he was looking for asylum, and when I discovered that he had been taken in by the Russians, was more than a little…  taken aback.  Given the current state of affairs regarding the Russians and their electronic warfare systems (see the article Radar Love), I am not at all impressed by the guy.  Although…  I must say, the level of psy op wizardry at this level IS impressive indeed.

Secondly. It disturbs me profoundly how many of my fellow human beings are falling for the Russian propaganda machine.  Russia Today is just as much a controlled media outlet as any of the North American versions — when was the last time you saw them run a negative piece on Russia? But it is considered by many to be fair and open. The shame.  They never cover the fact that torture is considered a routine part of law enforcement in Russia; the anti-Putin protests that have been occurring; the issue with Krokodil (a particularly nasty drug which has been growing in popularity in Russia), and they’ll never tackle the issue of the children living under the streets of Russia.

Thirdly.  And perhaps most importantly.  In November, it broke out on the chatter that Russian hackers were using the cameras of certain North American citizens to spy on them in their own homes and uploading the feeds to a third-party platform. This is…  well, if I was going to do something like that, it would be for the purpose of collecting information like innovations and designs by geniuses or using it to blackmail people.  Though, it would be a highly effective psy op program for demoralization as well.