(August 19, 2016 at 3:03 pm)Minimalist Wrote: I guess Putin does not consider hacking to be "interference?" Perhaps it loses something in translation.
Either way, what is known for sure is that such an interference would pale in comparison to the interference already engaged by the US in various Middle Eastern countries. We have a remarkable record of trying to cause regime change and oust leaders in those regions - both overtly and covertly. So, in light of that, maybe Putin doesn't mind hacking because that would just give the US a small taste of it's own medicine.
The most recent example that comes to mind is Syria. US officials revealed to Time that the Obama Administration has been providing "media-technology training and support to Syrian dissidents by way of small nonprofits like the Institute for War & Peace Reporting and Freedom House. Viral videos of alleged atrocities, like the footage Abu Ghassan produced, have made Assad one of the most reviled men on the planet, helping turn the Arab League against him and embarrassing his few remaining allies almost daily." The Time article also reveals the following:
"The funding comes from a warren of cubicles in the southeast corner of the seventh floor of the State Department’s Harry S. Truman building in Washington. There, a team of six people - two women and four men - doles out Internet Freedom Grants to nonprofit groups and software developers that help dissidents all over the world. [...] In all, more than 10,000 bloggers, journalists and activists have been trained in 10 languages through 50 programs, and hundreds of thousands more have accessed materials and guides published by the groups."
Unsurprisingly, some of the media-trained activists who called for protests in Syria were based in the Unites States, and some specifically in Washington (where thousands of bloggers, journalists, activists, and Syrian dissidents were trained and funded):
"Anas is one of dozens of activists based in Detroit, Washington DC and Chicago who upload and verify videos, host servers, and coordinate and dispatch citizen-journalists on the ground. Another is Muna Jondy, a Syrian living in Flint, Michigan. In addition to getting satellite phones smuggled into Syria, she's one of the main curators and moderators for the Syrian Days of Rage Facebook page. It's one of most popular English language websites for the Syrian Revolution." (Source)
Such shady social media campaigns also had a significant impact in the uprising that occurred in Egypt and Tunisia. As a New York Times article states, "By many accounts, the new arsenal of social networking helped accelerate Tunisia’s revolution, driving the country’s ruler of 23 years, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, into ignominious exile and igniting a conflagration that has spread across the Arab world at breathtaking speed." Activists tried to do the same in Syria, but they were less successful because Assad was stronger against his opponents and social networking sites were heavily monitored by Syrian authorities. And because Putin finally came to his aid at the most critical moment.
Aren't all the above to be considered interference? Yes.
