Розділ: Повідомлення
Biden Set Out to Repair Europe Ties, and Some Say He Is Succeeding
European leaders and other American allies say President Joe Biden has done much in his first 100 days in the White House to start rebuilding confidence in U.S. leadership. But while agreeing with his key foreign policy goals, including confronting the global rise of authoritarianism, they are still taking the measure of the Biden administration — as are America’s foes, say analysts and diplomats.They say the 78-year-old Biden has already shown how a switch in the Oval Office can prompt significant political change with a promise of more to come, not only in the United States but across the globe. Observers in Europe and Asia praise the U.S. leader for his emphasis on multilateral cooperation and the need for a coordinated global effort to tackle climate change. The fresh emphasis on the importance of alliances is a sharp break with Biden’s immediate predecessor, Donald Trump, they note.By Weighing In on Long-running Serbia-Kosovo Dispute, Biden Signals Interest in EuropeUS president has weighed in on long-running dispute between Serbia and Kosovo with letters urging two countries’ leaders to normalize relations based on ‘mutual recognition’Biden has “reset the global agenda by strengthening international cooperation, shifting away from a unilateral approach to leverage the strength of allies and global institutions to see tangible outcomes,” says Siddharth Tiwari, chief representative for Asia at the Bank for International Settlements. He was speaking during an online discussion hosted by Britain’s Financial Times and the Japanese business newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun. In Europe, too, high marks are being given to Biden with some commentators suggesting that despite his age, Biden may turn into a transformative leader. “Politics throws up two sorts of leader,” according to influential British newspaper columnist Philip Stephens. “There are those forever reaching for an umbrella and others, far fewer in number, who set out to change the weather.” He says, “The task of rediscovering the power of agency has fallen to the 78-year-old who has moved into the White House.” Stephens and others highlight the steps Biden is taking at home to reassert the power of government and to try to heal what Trump critics said was America’s “uncivil” political war with an economic expansion plan that has drawn comparisons with Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal of the 1930s. A $1.9 trillion economic stimulus measure has already been passed by Congress and the White House is advocating for a massive infrastructure and education package that may help to calm the socioeconomic anxieties of white working-class voters who fled the Democratic Party and backed the populist Trump. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 12 MB480p | 17 MB540p | 22 MB720p | 45 MB1080p | 88 MBOriginal | 274 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioThe economyMany analysts say America’s economic performance will be crucial if the U.S. is to restore its global leadership. “Unless the U.S. economy recovers, then I think the U.S. diplomacy won’t be able to recover from the Trump era,” according to Richard McGregor of Australia’s Lowy Institute research institution. Economic recovery may help Biden to repair some of America’s divisions, according to Georg Löfflmann, an academic at Britain’s University of Warwick. But he notes: “President Joe Biden faces an immense task to bring together a deeply divided nation that remains at odds over key issues from immigration to combating climate change and the enduring legacy of slavery and racism in the United States.”Domestic success will beget greater foreign policy success, observers acknowledge. The two are linked. “In his first 100 days, U.S. President Joe Biden has taken laudable steps to address climate change including establishing a ‘whole of government’ approach, rejoining the Paris Agreement and embedding climate experts to take action across the administration,” according to academics Antony Froggatt and Rebecca Peters. Writing in a paper for Britain’s Chatham House policy institute, the pair caution, though, that the “real challenge looms.” They say, “In order for the U.S. to affirm its legitimacy on climate in a politically divided landscape at home, Biden needs to simultaneously prioritize domestic policy action, while rebuilding international alliances to show that his administration can deliver on its long-term commitments.”While policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic are determined to repair frayed relations and steady democracies roiled by unprecedented domestic political turmoil and challenged by authoritarian powers, there is a recognition that the road ahead will be tricky to navigate. There has been quick agreement on a range of issues with both Brussels and Washington eager for closer collaboration. European, Other World Leaders Welcome Joe BidenThere were words of welcome Wednesday from across the world for Joe Biden as he was sworn in as America’s 46th presidentSignificant differences remain. The Biden team is encountering some of the same headwinds that contributed to the straining of Euro-Atlantic ties, first during Barack Obama’s tenure in the Oval Office, and then to a much greater degree under Trump, who identified Europe as an economic adversary and complained about NATO’s purpose.All EU national governments have welcomed Biden’s aim of revitalizing U.S.-European ties and are relieved the adversarial language has gone. Washington, however, is now facing an EU that’s turning inward, with the bloc focused on protecting its post-pandemic market and protecting its industrial champions, analysts say, and determined to become more of a global player in its own right. All fo this is likely to aggravate some trade and geopolitical frictions.The post-Second World War transatlantic consensus is also being complicated by splits within the bloc over the best ways to handle the rising power of Communist China and how to manage a revanchist (retaliatory) Russia, they add. That is placing some populist European governments in an especially awkward position — including Hungary. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been accused of hedging his bets between the West and the autocracies of Russia and China.“In the transactional world of Trumpist foreign policy, it was perfectly okay for many European leaders such as Viktor Orban to do this limbo between Eastern autocracies and Western democracies. Right now, they have to choose sides,” Katalin Cseh, a liberal Hungarian politician, said during an online exchange between EU lawmakers discussing Biden’s first 100 days. The discussion was hosted by Visegrad Insight, a Warsaw-based debate platform.But Biden’s more confrontational strategy toward China poses problems also for Europe as a whole, according to the discussion’s participants. “Our challenge is to maintain trade with China while at the same time maintaining our alliance with the United States. It will not be easy,” said Radosław Sikorski, a European lawmaker and former Polish foreign minister. Overload is also seen as a risk ahead for the Biden administration with a daunting number of foreign policy challenges to overcome — not least curbing the spread of the coronavirus and rolling out vaccinations. So far, the Biden administration is given high marks for its blending of clear-eyed pragmatism with idealism in how it is handling Russia, China and Iran, offering both sticks and carrots. “Mr. Biden is attempting a two-track policy, trying at once to resist and relate to such regimes: to constrain their territorial ambitions and discourage their human-rights abuses and transnational meddling, while working with them where their interests might overlap with America’s,” appraised Britain’s Economist magazine.
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By Polityk | 04/28/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Мешканця Закарпаття заочно засудили до 12 років тюрми за заклики до відокремлення регіону – СБУ
Співробітники СБУ знайшли план забезпечення федерального статусу Закарпаття в оприлюдненому листуванні Суркова
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By Gromada | 04/27/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
Головою правління «Суспільного» обраний Микола Чернотицький
За нового голову правління НСТУ Миколи Чернотицького проголосували 10 з 15 членів наглядової ради компанії
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By VilneSlovo | 04/27/2021 | Повідомлення, Свобода слова
Захист «Схем» про підпал редакційного авто: слідство досі не встановило замовників та організаторів злочину
В Офісі генпрокурора повідомили про передачу спави щодо підозрюваного в підпалі авто «Схем» до суду – захист журналістів зауважує, що слідство досі не встановило замовників та організаторів
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By VilneSlovo | 04/27/2021 | Повідомлення, Свобода слова
Фонд «Повернись живим» провів Форум підтримки ветеранського підприємництва
Обговорювалися питання розробки механізмів державної підтримки ветеранського бізнесу як одного із головних напрямків соціальної адаптації учасників бойових дій
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By Gromada | 04/27/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
Україна та Туреччина домовилися про гарантування безпеки туристів
У 2020 році Туреччину відвідав майже мільйон українських туристів, Україна увійшла до першої четвірки країн за числом туристів у цій країні
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By Gromada | 04/27/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
На активістів у першому кварталі 2021-го нападали частіше, ніж за аналогічний період торік – Zmina
У січні зафіксували дев’ять випадків, вісім – у лютому, 13 – у березні
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By Gromada | 04/27/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
Синоптик Наталка Діденко розповіла, якою буде погода на Великдень
У Києві на Великдень передбачається дощ, гроза і +18 градусів
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By Gromada | 04/27/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
Чергове засідання у справі Шеремета перенесли на 30 квітня – суд
Конкретних причин перенесення в суді не назвали
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By Gromada | 04/27/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
«Фукусіма-Чорнобиль 10/35»: українська художниця відкрила виставку до роковин аварій на АЕС в Україні та Японії
На онлайн-виставці представлені роботи 10 митців з України, Японії, США та Італії
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By Gromada | 04/26/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
«Секретно»: СБУ оприлюднила документи КДБ про Чорнобильську трагедію (фотогалерея)
Служба безпеки України оприлюднила чергові архівні документи про аварію на Чорнобильській атомній електростанції 1986 року
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By Gromada | 04/26/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
As Day 100 Approaches, Biden’s Ability to Keep Promises Strained
Like all U.S. presidential candidates, Joe Biden spent most of last year’s election campaign making promises. As his 100th day in office approaches — a traditional, if arbitrary, milestone for assessing presidential performance — he has delivered on many of them, but fallen short on others. The president’s campaign promises can be sorted into three broad baskets, regardless of the policy areas in which they fall. There was the low-hanging fruit — things Biden really could accomplish “on Day One” with the stroke of a pen or the issuance of an order. As of April 15, Biden had signed 49 different executive orders and memoranda, far more than his recent predecessors: Donald Trump (36), Barack Obama (34) and George W. Bush (12). Slightly more difficult to achieve, though still within the sole purview of the executive branch, were other policy changes and initiatives that would take some time to implement but could be achieved with no input from members of Congress. Finally, there were the grand promises of a transformed relationship between the two major parties. Biden said he would work to bring Republicans and Democrats together to work in a bipartisan fashion on issues of importance to the country. Across a wide array of policy areas, Biden quickly accomplished most of the issues in that first basket, and some in the second, but efforts to achieve bipartisan successes in Congress have almost all come up empty.Biden Urges World Leaders to Keep Promises on Climate Following SummitUS president addresses world leaders on final day of virtual climate change summitClimate Biden was quick to take care of the easy wins on issues related to the climate and global warming. In his first eight days in office, he announced that the U.S. would rejoin the Paris climate accord, issued a slew of executive orders halting projects associated with high greenhouse gas emissions, like the Keystone XL pipeline, and announced that he would ask the Senate to ratify an international accord on reducing the production of hydrofluorocarbons. On Thursday, Biden kept his promise to convene an international climate summit, gathering world leaders for a virtual conference in advance of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in November. He pledged to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030, using 2005 levels as a baseline. Biden’s vow to create new energy infrastructure in the U.S., ranging from electronic vehicle charging stations to a smart electrical grid, is part of a massive infrastructure package that is currently working its way through Congress. Other initiatives have been slower to take off. A promise to make 30% of the land and water in the United States subject to conservation requirements has not been fleshed out with an official proposal. The administration is also still working on ways to get the aviation and transport industries to commit to emissions reductions. Biden Moves to Curb US Gun ViolenceUS leader: Mass killings are ‘a blemish on our character as a nation’Guns Simply put, there isn’t much low-hanging fruit to be had in the debate over gun control in the United States. Earlier this month, the White House announced a pending proposal to slow the proliferation of so-called “ghost guns” that individuals can assemble from separately purchased parts without serial numbers for identification. The administration said that within 60 days it would publish model “red flag” legislation for states, which could block individuals deemed to pose a threat from purchasing firearms. Biden had promised to send Congress a gun control bill, but instead threw his support behind two measures in the House of Representatives strengthening background checks and regulating the transfer of firearms. Both bills passed in that chamber, but are stalled in the Senate. Biden’s promise to sign a bill renewing the Violence Against Women Act is contingent on the bill passing Congress and, while the House approved it in a bipartisan vote last month, the Senate has taken no action. Biden Accelerates Deadline for Opening Up COVID-19 Vaccinations President’s announcement comes amid increase in coronavirus cases among young adults COVID-19 On his first day in office January 20, Biden announced a mask mandate in federal buildings and sent a letter informing the World Health Organization that the U.S. would like to rejoin that organization after the Trump administration withdrew. Biden has also been able to keep, and often exceed, other pandemic-related promises. An initial vow to deliver 100 million vaccinations in 100 days has been greatly exceeded, with twice that number already completed, and the administration made good on promises to set up 100 mass vaccination sites and to create mobile vaccination clinics. A pledge to reopen most schools for in-person instruction has been less successful, in large part because decisions about local school policies are not within the purview of the White House. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did issue guidelines on how to safely reopen schools and other public facilities, but only a little more than half of public schools are open full time for in-person learning.Biden to Lift Refugee Cap Next Month, White House SaysPresident initially retained historically low 15,000-person limit set by Trump administrationImmigration/refugees Biden did away with former President Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban and expanded deportation criteria on his first day in office, and at the same time he halted construction on the wall that the Trump administration was attempting to build on the U.S-Mexico border. He attempted to implement a 100-day “freeze” on deportations, but that effort was blocked by a court ruling. Within the first month of his term, Biden also sent Congress an immigration bill that would create a pathway to citizenship for many undocumented immigrants and announced a program aimed at reuniting children who were separated from their families by the previous administration. As promised, Biden eliminated the “public charge rule” implemented by Trump to prevent recent immigrants from accessing public services. The administration appears to have stumbled badly in its efforts to restore the acceptance of refugees into the U.S. to pre-Trump levels. After promising to accept 62,500 in fiscal year 2022, the administration last week reduced that number to 15,000. The White House then said Biden would raise that number in May, but likely not to the promised level.Biden Lifts Ban on Transgender People in Military Trump had banned further recruitment of transgender people but allowed those already in the military to continue their serviceRacism/Inequity On his first day in office, Biden signed an executive order calling for a comprehensive assessment of racial equity in the federal government and in the services it provides. Within his first few months in office, Biden had signed multiple executive actions meant to protect people from discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, including the lifting of a ban on transsexuals serving in the armed forces. However, his promise to sign the Equality Act, which would codify many of those protections, has stalled in the Senate after the legislation passed the House in February. The White House placed a hold on the creation of a police oversight commission, instead electing to work toward passage of a police accountability law in Congress. Biden Promises Sharply Increased US Engagement Around the WorldNew US president warns Russia and China, while announcing an increase in accepting refugees and an end to support for Saudi offensive against Yemen National security Biden pledged to restore America’s standing across the globe by reengaging with allies, and in the opening months of his term, he has begun the work of repairing U.S. relations with NATO countries and U.S. security partners in the Pacific region. Biden also promised to bring the U.S. back into the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, better known as the Iran nuclear deal. Talks to do that have begun, but success is far from assured.
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By Polityk | 04/26/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Зеленський підписав закон, який звільняє учнів від обов’язкового проходження ДПА
В ОП нагадали, що учні мають право пройти ДПА за власним бажанням, зокрема, у вигляді ЗНО
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By Gromada | 04/26/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
У поліції перевіряють заяву про перешкоджання роботі журналістів у ВНЗ, де Кива захистив дисертацію
26 квітня журналісти повідомили, що їх не пропускали до зали трансляції захисту Іллею Кивою його дисертації
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By Gromada | 04/26/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
Хрещатик у Києві частково перекрили на три дні – мерія
Роботи планують закінчувати до вечірньої години пік
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By Gromada | 04/26/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
В УЦОЯО назвали дати додаткової сесії ЗНО
Додаткова сесія зовнішнього незалежного оцінювання відбудеться з 29 червня до 14 липня
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By Gromada | 04/26/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
В Україні сьогодні проходять пам’ятні заходи до 35-х роковин катастрофи на ЧАЕС
Цього дня 26 квітня 1986 року на Чорнобильській АЕС сталася аварія, найбільша в історії ядерної енергетики
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By Gromada | 04/26/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
Biden Set to Address Congress as He Marks His First 100 Days
With U.S. President Joe Biden set to give his first address to a joint session of Congress this week, a slight majority of Americans approves of his performance, according to a recent poll. There are many issues Democrats and Republican leaders expect him to address. Michelle Quinn reports.
Video editor: Mary Cieslak
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By Polityk | 04/26/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Епіфаній: ПЦУ обговорює створення «пенсійного фонду» для священнослужителів
Епіфаній: ми наголошуємо на тому, щоб зараз кожен священнослужитель в молодому віці був офіційно оформлений
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By Gromada | 04/26/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
Polls: Americans Give Biden a Mostly Favorable Review at Three-Month Mark
A majority of Americans approve of U.S. President Joe Biden’s overall performance as he nears the end of his first 100 days in office, two major national polls show, with positive marks for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and negative reviews for controlling the surge of migrants at the border with Mexico. A Washington Post-ABC News survey shows 52% of adults give Biden a favorable review compared to 42% who disapprove. An NBC News poll gives Biden a 53%-39% favorable rating. Both polls show the country’s deep political divide has not changed from the contentious 2020 election in which Biden defeated then-President Donald Trump by narrowly winning several key political battleground states en route to a four-year term in the White House. The Post-ABC poll showed 90% of Democrats approved of Biden’s performance compared with 13% of Republicans, while the NBC survey said 90% of Democrats, 61% of independents and only 9% of Republicans approve of his performance. According to the polls, Biden wins some of his highest approval marks for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 226 million vaccinations having been administered and more than 93 million people fully vaccinated. The Post-ABC poll said 64% of adults — including a third of Republicans — approved of Biden’s handling of the coronavirus crisis. NBC said 69% approved. But Biden’s performance standing on other issues is weaker, according to the surveys. The Post-ABC poll said the country’s 46th president is winning a 52% approval rating for his handling of the economy, while 53% disapprove of the way he had dealt with the thousands of migrants from Central America and Mexico who have tried to cross into the United States. Biden, reversing a Trump policy, has allowed unaccompanied minors to stay in the U.S. rather than expelling them. The NBC poll showed Biden with his highest marks, aside from the pandemic, at 52% on both the economy and uniting the country and 49% on improving race relations. His lowest scores came on dealing with China (35%), restricting guns (34%) and dealing with border security and immigration (33%). Biden’s first major legislative initiative was a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, approved solely with the votes of Democratic lawmakers against unified Republican opposition. But the Post-ABC poll showed strong public support, with 65% of those surveyed saying they back the plan compared with 31% opposed. In the politically divided U.S., however, some Republican lawmakers are beginning to publicly take on Biden. One Trump supporter, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, told the “Fox News Sunday” show, “I’m in the 43% [who disapprove of him] — he’s been a disaster on foreign policy. The border is in chaos, the Iranians are off the mat, he’s opening up negotiations with the Iranian regime and they haven’t done a damn thing to change. Afghanistan is going to fall apart. Russia and China are already pushing him around.” “So, I’m very worried,” Graham said. “I think he’s been a very destabilizing president. And economically, he’s throwing a wet blanket over the recovery, wanting to raise taxes in a large amount and regulate America basically out of business. So I’m not very impressed with the first 100 days. This is not what I thought I would get.” Biden’s overall favorability rating was essentially the reverse of Trump’s at the same point in their presidencies, with Trump having a 53%-42% disapproval rating three months into his presidency in 2017. But Biden’s approval standing was lower than that for President Barack Obama at the outset of his eight-year presidency in 2009. Biden is reviewing his first three months in office in a Wednesday night address to a joint session of Congress, although with the necessity of social distancing because of the pandemic, many lawmakers are not expected to attend, and few other officials will be there. In all, about 200 people are expected, compared to the normal 1,600 who have witnessed past presidential speeches in the House of Representatives’ chamber. In his next effort on a major legislative effort, Biden is attempting to win approval for a more than $2 trillion infrastructure deal. But many Republican lawmakers are balking at the inclusion of such items as funding for home health care that go beyond the normal infrastructure spending for road and bridge repairs and opposing paying for the program with higher taxes on businesses and wealthy individuals. Biden, a Democrat, has expressed a willingness for compromise with Republican lawmakers but the two sides remain far apart.
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By Polityk | 04/26/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Епіфаній розповів, чи отримає Православна церква України цього року Благодатний вогонь
Епіфаній: ми не будемо замовляти чартерного літака для Благодатного вогню
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By Gromada | 04/25/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
За два роки до ПЦУ приєдналося близько 700 парафій – Епіфаній
Епіфаній: є зараз декілька переходів у ПЦУ, які не афішуються спеціально для того, щоб до кінця юридично оформити документи, а вже потім озвучити про те, що ці переходи відбулися
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By Gromada | 04/25/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
Призведе до усвідомлення, де Українська православна церква, а де РПЦ – Епіфаній про візит Вселенського патріарха
Вселенський патріарх має відвідати Україну в серпні на День Незалежності
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By Gromada | 04/25/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
«Я не дивлюся російську пропаганду» – Епіфаній про фільм «Паломниця» Марченко
«Ми бачимо подібні меседжі і з боку митрополита РПЦ Онуфрія, який закликає нібито пробачати. Але водночас ми бачимо зовсім інше на практиці»
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By Gromada | 04/25/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
Епіфаній розповів, як ПЦУ працює над уніфікацією церковних традицій і повертає «вкрадені» Росією
Якщо говорити про російську традицію, то це певною мірою є українська традиція, яка була забрана свого часу з Києва»
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By Gromada | 04/25/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
Pentagon Internet Mystery Now Partially Solved
A very strange thing happened on the internet the day President Joe Biden was sworn in. A shadowy company residing at a shared workspace above a Florida bank announced to the world’s computer networks that it was now managing a colossal, previously idle chunk of the internet owned by the U.S. Department of Defense.That real estate has since more than quadrupled to 175 million addresses — about 1/25th the size of the current internet.”It is massive. That is the biggest thing in the history of the internet,” said Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik, a network operating company. It’s also more than twice the size of the internet space actually used by the Pentagon.After weeks of wonder by the networking community, the Pentagon has now provided a very terse explanation for what it’s doing. But it has not answered many basic questions, beginning with why it chose to entrust management of the address space to a company that seems not to have existed until September.The military hopes to “assess, evaluate and prevent unauthorized use of DoD IP address space,” said a statement issued Friday by Brett Goldstein, chief of the Pentagon’s Defense Digital Service, which is running the project. It also hopes to “identify potential vulnerabilities” as part of efforts to defend against cyber-intrusions by global adversaries, who are consistently infiltrating U.S. networks, sometimes operating from unused internet address blocks. The statement did not specify whether the “pilot project” would involve outside contractors.
The Pentagon periodically contends with unauthorized squatting on its space, in part because there has been a shortage of first-generation internet addresses since 2011; they now sell at auction for upwards of $25 each. Madory said advertising the address space will make it easier to chase off squatters and allow the U.S. military to “collect a massive amount of background internet traffic for threat intelligence.” Some cybersecurity experts have speculated that the Pentagon may be using the newly advertised space to create “honeypots,” machines set up with vulnerabilities to draw hackers. Or it could be looking to set up dedicated infrastructure — software and servers — to scour traffic for suspect activity.”This greatly increases the space they could monitor,” said Madory, who published a blog post on the matter Saturday.What a Pentagon spokesman could not explain Saturday is why the Defense Department chose Global Resource Systems LLC, a company with no record of government contracts, to manage the address space. “As to why the DoD would have done that I’m a little mystified, same as you,” said Paul Vixie, an internet pioneer credited with designing its naming system and the CEO of Farsight Security. The company did not return phone calls or emails from The Associated Press. It has no web presence, though it has the domain grscorp.com. Its name doesn’t appear on the directory of its Plantation, Florida, domicile, and a receptionist drew a blank when an AP reporter asked for a company representative at the office earlier this month. She found its name on a tenant list and suggested trying email. Records show the company has not obtained a business license in Plantation.Incorporated in Delaware and registered by a Beverly Hills lawyer, Global Resource Systems LLC now manages more internet space than China Telecom, AT&T or Comcast. The only name associated with it on the Florida business registry coincides with that of a man listed as recently as 2018 in Nevada corporate records as a managing member of a cybersecurity/internet surveillance equipment company called Packet Forensics. The company had nearly $40 million in publicly disclosed federal contracts over the past decade, with the FBI and the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency among its customers. That man, Raymond Saulino, is also listed as a principal in a company called Tidewater Laskin Associates, which was incorporated in 2018 and obtained an FCC license in April 2020. It shares the same Virginia Beach, Virginia, address — a UPS store — in corporate records as Packet Forensics. The two have different mailbox numbers. Calls to the number listed on the Tidewater Laskin FCC filing are answered by an automated service that offers four different options but doesn’t connect callers with a single one, recycling all calls to the initial voice recording.Saulino did not return phone calls seeking comment, and a longtime colleague at Packet Forensics, Rodney Joffe, said he believed Saulino was retired. Joffe, a cybersecurity luminary, declined further comment. Joffe is chief technical officer at Neustar Inc., which provides internet intelligence and services for major industries, including telecommunications and defense.In 2011, Packet Forensics and Saulino, its spokesman, were featured in a Wired story because the company was selling an appliance to government agencies and law enforcement that let them spy on people’s web browsing using forged security certificates.The company continues to sell “lawful intercept” equipment, according to its website. One of its current contracts with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is for “harnessing autonomy for countering cyber-adversary systems.” A contract description says it is investigating “technologies for conducting safe, nondisruptive, and effective active defense operations in cyberspace.” Contract language from 2019 says the program would “investigate the feasibility of creating safe and reliable autonomous software agencies that can effectively counter malicious botnet implants and similar large-scale malware.”Deepening the mystery is Global Resource Systems’ name. It is identical to that of a firm that independent internet fraud researcher Ron Guilmette says was sending out email spam using the very same internet routing identifier. It shut down more than a decade ago. All that differs is the type of company. This one’s a limited liability corporation. The other was a corporation. Both used the same street address in Plantation, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale. “It’s deeply suspicious,” said Guilmette, who unsuccessfully sued the previous incarnation of Global Resources Systems in 2006 for unfair business practices. Guilmette considers such masquerading, known as slip-streaming, a ham-handed tactic in this situation. “If they wanted to be more serious about hiding this they could have not used Ray Saulino and this suspicious name.”Guilmette and Madory were alerted to the mystery when network operators began inquiring about it on an email list in mid-March. But almost everyone involved didn’t want to talk about it. Mike Leber, who owns Hurricane Electric, the internet backbone company handing the address blocks’ traffic, didn’t return emails or phone messages. Despite an internet address crunch, the Pentagon — which created the internet — has shown no interest in selling any of its address space, and a Defense Department spokesman, Russell Goemaere, told the AP on Saturday that none of the newly announced space has been sold.
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By Polityk | 04/25/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
