3/12/19, “Venezuela Blackout: Cyber Attacks, Sabotage And Mighty Cuban Intelligence,” southfront.org
“During the past few days, Venezuela was suffering a major blackout that left the country in darkness. The crisis started on March 7 with a failure at the Guri hydroelectric power plant, which produces 80% of the country’s power. Additionally, an explosion was reported at Sidor Substation in Bolivar state. Since then, the government has been struggling to solve the crisis with varying success.
President Nicholas Maduro says that the blackout is the reason of “the electric war announced and directed by American imperialism.” According to Maduro, electrical systems were targeted by cyberattacks and “infiltrators”. He added that authorities managed to restore power to “many parts” of the country on March 8, but the restored systems were knocked down after the country’s grid was once again attacked. He noted that “one of the sources of generation that was working perfectly” had been sabotaged and accused “infiltrators of attacking the electric company from the inside.”
Communication and information minister Jorge Rodriguez described the situation as “the most brutal attack on the Venezuelan people in 200 years”. He also described the situation as the “deliberate sabotage” on behalf of the US-backed opposition.
In own turn, the US continues to reject claims accusing it of attempts to destabilize the situation in the country. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo even claimed that Washington and its allies would not hurt the “ordinary Venezuelans.” According to him, what’s hurting the people is the “Maduro regime’s incompetence.”
“No food. No medicine. Now, no power. Next, no Maduro,” Pompeo wrote in Twitter, adding that “Maduro’s policies bring nothing but darkness.” Unfortunately, the top diplomat did not explain how wide-scale economic sanctions imposed to wreck the country’s economic should help the “ordinary Venezuelans”.
The State Department attitude was expectedly supported by US-proclaimed Venezuelan Interim President Juan Guaido, who recently returned to country after an attempt to get more foreign support for US-backed regime change efforts. Guaido accused the “Maduro Regime” of turning the blackout during the night in a “horror movie” with his “gangs” terrorizing people.
Another narrative, which recently set the mainstream media on fire, is the alleged Cuban meddling in the crisis. According to this very version of the event, “forces of democracy” were not able to overthrow the Venezuelan government because its political elite is controlled by Cuban intelligence services. President Donald Trump even said Maduro is nothing more than a “Cuban puppet.”
Taking account already existing allegations about the presence of Hezbollah and Russian mercenaries in Venezuela and an expected second attempt to stage US aid delivery provocation on the Colombian-Venezuelan border, it becomes clear that chances of US direct action to bring into power [its] own political puppet are once again growing.
The February attempt to stage a provocation failed and make a final step toward a regime change by force failed after it was publicly revealed that the US-backed opposition was intentionally burning “aid trucks” to blame the Maduro government. Furthermore, the military backed Maduro, and the scale and intensity of protests across the country were not enough to paralyze the government.
The blackout in Venezuela was likely meant to bring the country into disorder and draw off army and security forces. Therefore, an attempt to stage a new provocation to justify a foreign intervention to overthrow the Venezuelan government could be expected anytime soon.”
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Added:
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Image, TheTechnocraticTyranny.com, published 2/27/2016, “State Department’s Mission: Coup d’etat"
US believes Venezuela belongs to them. In August 2001, Venezuela’s government asked the US to leave a military mission site it had occupied there for more than 50 years.…In April 2002, “US ‘gave the nod’ to a Venezuelan coup“…Elliott Abrams was “crucial figure” in the attempt….April 2002: Not realizing the 2002 US backed coup of a democratically elected government would fail in 48 hours, IMF right away stated publicly it was ready to support new Venezuelan dictator, Carmona….The move was seen in Venezuela and elsewhere as IMF support for the [2002] coup…May 2007: Venezuela withdraws from IMF and World Bank. In 1999 Chavez had begun loosening ties with them…June 2012-Venezuela and 5 other Latin American countries requested expulsion of USAID for interference in their internal politics under the excuse of…“humanitarian assistance:”…There’s no such thing as Humanitarian Intervention separate from war…Feb. 2015-Obama orders assassination of Venezuela Pres. Maduro…2017 to present: Unfortunately for Venezuela, Ivanka loves IMF and World Bank.
Image, “Christine
Lagarde (L), Managing Director and Chairwoman of the International
Monetary Fund (IMF), speaks next to White House Presidential Advisor
Ivanka Trump at the 55th Munich Security Conference in Munich, southern Germany, on February 16, 2019.” AFP, Getty 3/11/19, “Trump Regime Electricity War in Venezuela More Serious Than First Believed,“ Strategic Culture, Stephen Lendman
“On Thursday [3/7/19], Venezuela’s Guri dam hydroelectric power plant was cyberattacked at 5:00 PM during the late afternoon rush hour to cause maximum disruption.
Up to 80% of the country was affected, damage done more severe than initially thought. Weeks or months of planning likely preceded what happened – US dark forces almost certainly behind it, considerable expertise needed to pull it off.
On Friday [3/8], another cyberattack occurred, followed by a third one on Saturday [3/9], affecting parts of the country where power was restored, further complicating resolution of the problem, Maduro saying:
After power was restored to about 70% of the country, “we received another attack, of a cybernetic nature, at midday…that disturbed the reconnection process and knocked out everything that had been achieved until noon,” adding:
“(O)ne of the sources of generation that was working perfectly” was sabotaged again…infiltrators…attacking the electric company from the inside.”
Power is being restored “manually,” efforts continuing to learn precisely why computerized systems failed – things further complicated after a Bolivar state substation transformer exploded and burned, suggesting more sabotage.
What’s happening in Venezuela is similar to infecting Iran’s Bushehr and Natanz nuclear power facilities with a Stuxnet malware computer virus in 2010, a likely joint US/Israeli intelligence operation [NY Times substantiates 6/1/2012, that US carried out Stuxnet attacks]. Edward Snowden blamed them for what happened. [NY Times, 6/1/2012, “Obama order sped up waves of cyberattacks against Iran,” David E. Sanger, page A1].”…
[Achieving against Iran with computer code what until then could be accomplished only by bombing a country or sending in agents to plant explosives.…“This is the first attack of a major nature in which a cyber attack was used to effect physical destruction,” said former CIA chief Michael V. Hayden….It is only a matter of time, most experts believe, before it [the US] becomes the target of the same kind of weapon that the Americans have used, secretly, against Iran.”… Stuxnet variant could attack the US, rendering it unable to protect itself, said “little noticed” but “strongly worded” Dec. 2010 report from Congressional Research Service….“Countries hostile to the United States may feel justified in launching their own attacks against US facilities, perhaps even using a modified Stuxnet code.”]
(continuing): “At the time, [Iran] operations were halted indefinitely. Iran called the incident a hostile act. [US officials at the time said US committed “an act of war” that would likely cause retaliation.] General Gholam-Reza Jalali said if the affected facilities went online infected, Iran’s entire electrical power grid could have been shut down. [US Stuxnet did eventually escape and infect other systems]
It took months to fully resolve the problem. Following the summer 2010 attack [on Iran’s nuclear facilities], the malware continued to infect the facilities’ centrifuges, requiring their replacement.
An Institute for Science and International Security analysis said “(a)ssuming Iran exercises caution, Stuxnet is unlikely to destroy more centrifuges at the (affected plants).”
“Iran likely cleaned the malware from its control systems. To prevent re-infection, Iran will have to exercise special caution since so many computers in Iran contain Stuxnet,” adding:
“Although Stuxnet appears to be designed to destroy centrifuges at (Iranian nuclear facilities), destruction was by no means total.”
“Stuxnet did not lower the production of low-enriched uranium (LEU) during 2010. LEU quantities could have certainly been greater, and Stuxnet could be an important part of the reason why they did not increase significantly.”
“(T)here remain important questions about why Stuxnet destroyed only 1,000 centrifuges. One observation is that it may be harder to destroy centrifuges by use of cyber attacks than often believed.”
Head of Bushehr’s nuclear power plant said only personal computers of staff were infected by the Stuxnet virus. Then-Iranian Telecommunications Minister Reza Taghipour said government systems experienced no serious damage.
Iran’s Information Technology Council director Mahmud Liaii said “(a)n electronic war has been launched against Iran… This computer worm is designed to transfer data about production lines from our industrial plants to locations outside Iran.”
Deputy head of Iran’s government Information Technology Company Hamid Alipour said “(t)he attack is still ongoing and new versions of this virus are spreading,” adding:
“We had anticipated that we could root out the virus within one to two months, but the virus is not stable, and since we started the cleanup process three new versions of it have been spreading.”
If malware similar to Stuxnet was used against Venezuela’s power grid, the problem could linger for months, parts of the country continued to be affected by outages for some time.
Maduro’s government will need to marshal considerable technical expertise to fully resolve things – the type cybersecurity/anti-virus/security software skills Russia-based multinational firm Kaspersky Lab can provide.
It can also identify the attack’s source and lay blame where it belongs – the US most likely responsible. It clearly has motive, opportunity and expertise – waging war on Venezuela by other means to topple its government and gain another imperial trophy.
If the malware infection is widespread, continued outages may happen until the problem is fully resolved.
Resolution may take months, disruption in the country persisting, clearly the motive behind the attack.”
stephenlendman.org
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Added: Per The Atlantic: John Bolton “is for now the shadow president of the deep state.”
“[John] Bolton, who for a whole career has fumed over bureaucrats who try to stand between their elected bosses and destiny, is for now the shadow president of the deep state.” [end of article]. The Atlantic: “John Bolton: Trump’s Shrewd [per The Atlantic] National Security Adviser”
Added: Ridiculous John Bolton names “Troika of Tyranny” which he says is Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua:
“In a speech [11/1/2018 in Miami, Fla.] richly deserving adaption as a Saturday Night Live skit, US national security adviser John Bolton has unveiled the latest extension of America’s enemies list. Eclipsing the post-9/11 ‘Axis of Evil’ we now have a ‘Troika of Tyranny,’ consisting of those powerhouse troublemakers Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua….
There are two points to be made about Bolton’s initiative. First, it arrives drenched in hypocrisy. The United States has never cared a fig about whether Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans enjoyed the rule of law, liberty, and basic human decency. The history of US relations with those nations has alternated between naked exploitation and complete disregard.
Second, whatever form any coming US sanctions may actually take, you can count on one thing: It won’t be Cuban, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan elites who suffer. It will be ordinary people.”
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Comment: The most important function of the Endless Genocide Industry is to permanently silence and enslave Americans from birth. The “peace” movement was going strong until Nov. 2008. It abruptly ended when Obama was elected. During his 8 years Obama transformed the Democrat Party into the home of the military-intel dictatorship. Government became something about which everything was said to be “classified.” Should a taxpaying rube dare ask a question about why this was happening, the rube was told, “That information is classified, national security, you hick.” This must be one of those “US values” we hear about that the US is exporting around the world.
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