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by hutzlibu 3288 days ago
"In cyber, offense and defense become the same"

More details pls. Because it sounds like bs. It is a difference to secure a network and maybe find out who a attacker is - and then attack back - than to just hack everyone you can and build as much hidden botnets as possible. Which would be "offense"

"Gentlemen do not read each other's mail".

It is indeed a noble statemt. And I'd like to see claims, how that led to US disadvantage in WW2. Because when you have Nazis e.g. they are clearly not gentlemans anymore and can (and were afaik) be spied on. The statement means, that you only spy on enemys.

"We (USA) can impose restrictions on our NSA but not on anyone else's"

You are the still the superpower number one. And for once you lead by example. And you do indeed(or try to) impose restrictions on everyone else all the time.

If you would really stop to spy on everybody in the world and really only on your enemys ... this alone would make a huge impact. But you as a empire does not really want to. The more you know about the worlds secrets, the more you can controll it. And no, I am not saying that the smaller empires like china or russia are any better (not at all). But you are the power number on. You have the choice of leading by fear, violence and intimidating - or by sticking to your old values of respecting your peoples and others freedom(as long as it is mutual) and providing a base for a voluntary coorporation of any kind. If you do this, you stay in leadership. If you just become one more lame empire, using any means necessary to stay in power, you will just fall like any of those empires, as history and current trend shows.

1 comments

It's an obvious consequence of the action. They're not getting others' secrets. Their enemies are still getting theirs. So, their enemies will know their plans but not vice versa. Definitely not a smart way to wage war.
So you are saying the whole world is the enemy of the US, including their own population?

(I never said something against spying against enemys)

They look inside the US (in theory) to find the enemies inside the US. As for the whole world, they're competition when not enemies. Many allies even use spies to get our IP, outbid us on contracts, and so on. Need a spy agency to deal with that or do similar things. They help us stay on top.
"They help us stay on top."

Sure, with the biggest spy agencys and the biggest military(including ready to strike killer squads) stationed around the world, US are the biggest empire and they need all that to stay the biggest empire. Logic of the powerstruggle of empires. No doubt about it.

But I was talking about the other america, the former "leader of the free world" defender of human rights etc. Which is a different thing from an empire. And people all around the world actually did and some still love the former, but an increasing number hates the latter.

So continue to think and act like an empire - and see where that leads to.

Here in germany there are allready many people thinking siding with russia and china could be a better choice, as in their opinion the US is doing more evil stuff. Even though I do not think so, the fact alone should worry you. Because at some point there will be no more US-Dominance, when the whole world turns away.

"Sure, with the biggest spy agencys and the biggest military(including ready to strike killer squads) stationed around the world, US are the biggest empire and they need all that to stay the biggest empire."

It seems you agree with my comment that the U.S. has need of such spy agencies but disagree with their goals or probable results of their actions. We're in the same boat on the latter.

"Here in germany there are allready many people thinking siding with russia and china could be a better choice, as in their opinion the US is doing more evil stuff. "

That shouldn't worry me. What people think is often a consequence of the media they view. I know people believed what you wrote and sometimes killed/died for it in the 1930's-1940's in Germany. We're educated about that extreme example but I don't know your current trends. I do know you also have different sides of politics with media groups focusing on each. I also know you're a huge player in exported goods. So, I can't predict anything except that Germany's choice will be significant. I do know the government wanted to be part of Five Eyes giving a lot of concessions for that. And BND is as devious externally and internally as the CIA. So, more similarities on this topic than differences except for the large scale nature of foreign involvement that American government has done. Those pricks meddle with everyone.

"It seems you agree with my comment that the U.S. has need of such spy agencies but disagree with their goals or probable results of their actions."

Not quite. I said that the EMPIRE USA needs all that. But empires rule with fear under the threat of violence and the aura of knowing everything about everyone.

So I was trying a bit subtle to ask, whether you and other US-People want the USA to be an Empire - or simply the most powerful state, which uses is power to actually defend human rights and respect the sovereignty of other states and people. Such a USA other states and people would follow willingly.