That the world is dividing into a 21st century version of Allies V Axis nations is no secret . China /Russia /North Korea /Iran and a host of other bad actors on one side . The US /EU/India (maybe) /Japan /Australia and a host of other nations on the other side.
In Beijing, Xi and Putin left no question of their close alignment in a divided world | CNN
China Reaches out to Russia, North Korea as US Cements Trilateral Partnership With Japan, Philippines – The Diplomat
The Axis of Upheaval: How America’s Adversaries Are Uniting to Overturn the Global Order (foreignaffairs.com)
America, Australia, UK expand military tech, information sharing in Indo-Pacific region | Fortune Asia
Suspicious of China, Philippines Expands US Military Presence (voanews.com)
Japan-U.S. Extended Deterrence Dialogue | Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (mofa.go.jp)
What is not as well reported is that both sides have been shaping the battlefield already.
This is being done with cyber as well as direct attacks .
We may deny it all we want to ;but the other side doesn't even try to pretend according to 'The Economist' .
"Germany arrested two German-Russian dual nationals on suspicion of plotting attacks on American military facilities and other targets on behalf of the GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency. Poland arrested a man who was preparing to pass the GRU information on Rzeszow airport, the most important hub for military aid to Ukraine. Britain charged several men over an earlier arson attack in March on a Ukrainian-owned logistics firm in London whose Spanish depot was also targeted."
Russia is ramping up sabotage across Europe (economist.com)
At the Cyber-UK Conference Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ.....the equivalent of the US National Security Agency NSA ) Director Anne Keast-Butler said
"Before, Russia simply created the right environments for these groups to operate, but now they are nurturing and inspiring these non-state cyber actors in some cases seemingly coordinating physical attacks against the West."
She also called out China
China an ‘epoch-defining challenge,’ new UK spy boss warns – POLITICOQuote:
“Russia and Iran pose immediate threats. But China is the epoch-defining challenge,” Keast-Butler said.
“We now devote more resource to China than any other single mission,” she told the CyberUK conference in Birmingham. “Through their coercive and destabilizing actions, the PRC (People’s Republic of China) poses a significant risk to international norms and values.
“In cyberspace, we believe that the PRC’s irresponsible actions weaken the security of the internet for all. China has built an advanced set of cyber capabilities and is taking advantage of a growing commercial ecosystem of hacking outfits and data brokers at its disposal.”
FBI Director Chris Wray issued similar warnings
"The PRC [People's Republic of China] has made it clear that it considers every sector that makes our society run as fair game in its bid to dominate on the world stage, and that its plan is to land low blows against civilian infrastructure to try to induce panic and break America's will to resist,"
Wray: Chinese Government Poses 'Broad and Unrelenting' Threat to U.S. Critical Infrastructure — FBI
It takes two to tango ;and the west had done it's share of covert mischief .
Commando Network Coordinates Flow of Weapons in Ukraine, Officials Say - The New York Times (nytimes.com)Quote:
As Russian troops press ahead with a grinding campaign to seize eastern Ukraine, the nation’s ability to resist the onslaught depends more than ever on help from the United States and its allies — including a stealthy network of commandos and spies rushing to provide weapons, intelligence and training, according to U.S. and European officials.
Much of this work happens outside Ukraine, at bases in Germany, France and Britain, for example. But even as the Biden administration has declared it will not deploy American troops to Ukraine, some C.I.A. personnel have continued to operate in the country secretly, mostly in the capital, Kyiv, directing much of the vast amounts of intelligence the United States is sharing with Ukrainian forces, according to current and former officials.
The campaign involves long standing sleeper cells that the allied spy service has activated to hinder Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine by waging a secret war behind Russian lines.
The CIA is using a European NATO ally’s spy service to conduct a covert sabotage campaign inside Russia under the agency’s direction, according to former U.S. intelligence and military officials. | Jack Murphy (archive.org)Quote:
Years in the planning, the campaign is responsible for many of the unexplained explosions and other mishaps that have befallen the Russian military industrial complex since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, according to three former U.S. intelligence officials, two former U.S. military officials and a U.S. person who has been briefed on the campaign. The former officials declined to identify specific targets for the CIA-directed campaign, but railway bridges, fuel depots and power plants in Russia have all been damaged in unexplained incidents since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February.
Who destroyed Nord Stream pipelines ? It could be anyone ;but Russia sabotaging it sounds absurd. As noted before Seymore Hersh pointed the finger at the US . The Washington Compost playing cover blames it on a rogue Ukraine officer .
Ukrainian military officer coordinated Nord Stream pipeline attack that shocked and mystified the West - The Washington Post
Russia invaded Ukraine with limited goals . But now Russia believes that they are at war with the west .
Kremlin, in change of language, says Russia is 'at war' due to West's role in Ukraine | Reuters
We are not yet in the 'find a safe place in your basement to bend over and kiss your a$$ goodby' mode yet. But when the grid gets disrupted ;or that wild fire mysteriously ignites ; or barges suddenly start striking bridges it may not be a coincidence .
Ship that struck Baltimore bridge had 4 blackouts before disaster | AP News
Barge hits bridge in Texas, causing oil spill – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth (nbcdfw.com)
