Aug 12, 2008 0
Cyber warfare, Caucasus update
This article about cyber warfare in connection with the recent Russia-Georgia stand-off caught my attention today:
Researchers at Shadowserver, a volunteer group that tracks malicious network activity, reported that the Web site of the Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, had been rendered inoperable for 24 hours by multiple D.D.O.S. attacks. The researchers said the command-and-control server that directed the attack, which was based in the United States, had come online several weeks before it began the assault.
So, the conflict has de-escalated, but the problematic issues are far from solved. There is no solution for Abkhazia and South Ossetia, even though I guess Russia will seek to have the two break-away parts of Georgia integrate closer to Russia.
This article from today, which is highly critical of Georgian actions in this conflict, is quite interesting.
There is a strange symmetry to the situation. Ossetia and Abkhazia, outnumbered 30 to 1 by Georgia, turned to Russia for help. That caused Georgia, outnumbered 30 to 1 by Russia, to turn to the United States for assistance. But there the symmetry ends. The US is 5,000 miles distant, while Russia is adjacent. Georgia is not of vital national interest for Washington, whereas Russia has already fought two wars (with Chechnya) to defend its frontier in the Caucasus.
Meanwhile, Ian, the British ex-pat working in a Georgian NGO, has decided that he is leaving the country. It is truly sad if international NGOs pull out of this country.
All along, I saw this conflict as a way for Russia to give a signal regarding NATO, and this OpenDemocracy article seems to support that claim
[...] what Russia is really doing is a preventive strike against Nato, which happens to take place on Georgian territory. Moscow wants to teach Georgia a lesson for Tbilisi’s open and defiant wish to become part of the west; it wants to send a message to the United States and Europe that it will not tolerate further encroachment on its zone of influence; and it wants to make clear to other countries in its neighbourhood (Ukraine first of all) that they are in Russia’s backyard and should behave accordingly.