The rise of Thug world

[Argus]

China, Russia, Turkey, the Philippines, Venezuela, North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia. Wherever you look in the world you see thuggish scumbag countries elbowing their way around, while virtually all the democracies are in a state of angst, confusion, and self-absorbed infighting. Why? It sounds like something from William Yates Second Coming. The Democracies seem focused on the efforts of politicians with limited intellects to offer up goodies to their electorate without any regard to the well-being of the country. They're certainly not in any position to confront thugs. The only democracy with a significant military is the US and it's being led by a brainless idiot of a wannabe thug itself.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Which leaves the question of what to do with the thugs confronting Canada. China is the most immediate one, and China is definitely a thug country, with a government we would probably consider astonishingly ignorant, backward and immature given the history and technological ability of the country.

https://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2018/12/12/chinas_tantrum_diplomacy_and_huawei_112927.html

[Queenmandy85]

I have heard that is you stand on the street and watch the entire Chinese army march past 10 abreast, they would keep passing you forever. Probably urban folklore but the only way to defeat them is with nuclear weapons. As President Kennedy once said, after a nuclear war, "the fruits of victory would be ashes in our mouth."

We can't do too much about the thugs without a war. I am sure there are some smart people out there who know how to deal with them without killing innocent people but I'm not one of them.

[Argus]

15 minutes ago, Queenmandy85 said:

I have heard that is you stand on the street and watch the entire Chinese army march past 10 abreast, they would keep passing you forever. Probably urban folklore but the only way to defeat them is with nuclear weapons. As President Kennedy once said, after a nuclear war, "the fruits of victory would be ashes in our mouth."

We can't do too much about the thugs without a war. I am sure there are some smart people out there who know how to deal with them without killing innocent people but I'm not one of them.

Well, first, the Chinese military is smaller than the US military. They've been modernizing, and relying more on technology than brute force. It doesn't even appear they have that big a reserve, though obviously with their population they could build that up if they wanted to. But the real attacks China is making on the West today are technological - through infiltrating every western government computer system - and monetarily, though bribing foreign leaders and parties.

I've been talking to a couple of public servants over the past week, about the horribly outdated computer systems they have. They're in different departments (Health, CRA, Indigenous Services, and this is what they have to say about the state of our government's computer system.

It's an outdated, confused mishmash of outdated and confused systems which often don't work well together. One complained that her computer is so obsolete that the manufacture doesn't even provide services for it any more, and it can't be updated to Windows 10. Another said that his branch's purchase of modern computers with windows 10 had to be halted when they found out the computer systems they were to connect with couldn't handle Windows 10. Another said Shared Services, supposedly in charge of all federal computer systems, has never worked right, and has neither the staff nor the money to maintain the systems, never mind modernize and protect them. You think the Chinese aren't reading everything they want that the federal government holds?

[Queenmandy85]

For a couple of years 15 years ago, I was tasked with logging cyber probes against the University where I worked. The volume even then was incredible.

[Argus]

6 minutes ago, Queenmandy85 said:

For a couple of years 15 years ago, I was tasked with logging cyber probes against the University where I worked. The volume even then was incredible.

But 15 years ago it was mostly nerd boys in their parents basements. Now it's thousands and thousands if not tens of thousands of highly trained computer engineers working in concert with the best equipment a major power can provide. That includes super computers with their computing power to crunch their way through passwords. And what are we doing about it? Nothing.

Edited December 20, 2018 by Argus

[Bonam]

47 minutes ago, Argus said:

That includes super computers with their computing power to crunch their way through passwords. 

That's not really a thing. Any remotely sensitive system designed this century would have enough possible password combinations to take billions of years to stumble on the right one by chance, and moreover would prevent such an attack by requiring progressively longer wait periods after multiple failed attempts. And if there's some top secret data stored on computer systems from the 90s, you know what, whoever put it there deserves to have it hacked. 

[Argus]

2 hours ago, Bonam said:

That's not really a thing. Any remotely sensitive system designed this century would have enough possible password combinations to take billions of years to stumble on the right one by chance, and moreover would prevent such an attack by requiring progressively longer wait periods after multiple failed attempts. And if there's some top secret data stored on computer systems from the 90s, you know what, whoever put it there deserves to have it hacked. 

Uh... that would be your federal government... Where Cobol is still a big deal.

[Queenmandy85]

5 hours ago, Argus said:

But 15 years ago it was mostly nerd boys in their parents basements. Now it's thousands and thousands if not tens of thousands of highly trained computer engineers working in concert with the best equipment a major power can provide. That includes super computers with their computing power to crunch their way through passwords. And what are we doing about it? Nothing.

It was the Chinese government even then. The probes were in the thousands. 

[Argus]

12 hours ago, Queenmandy85 said:

It was the Chinese government even then. The probes were in the thousands. 

And aside from making indignant mouth noises now and then, like they are doing now over the recent 'charges' laid against Chinese intelligence officers (what a joke) nothing is done to safeguard even government systems, never mind those of important Canadian private sector institutions.