'No array of tanks, whether at their bases or on parade in Washington, can protect us against cyberwar.' (photo: Sergei Konkov/TASS)
By Timothy Snyder, Guardian UK
13 February 18
Defeat is hard to face; but every delay in facing the hard facts makes matters worse
rump’s
fantasy of a military parade and Trump’s choice to release or block
congressional memos about the Russia investigation were the two big
stories of last week. At first glance, they have nothing to do with one
another. In fact, they are part of the same story: a grand cover-up of
American defeat.
In the past, the United States has organized grand
military parades: but always after a victory in war, and always as a way
of welcoming soldiers back to civilian life. So it was after the civil
war, the first world war and the second world war. Such parades marked a
moment and made perfect sense.
The problem today is that the United States has not just won a war, but lost one. Carl von Clausewitz, the great student of war,
defined its aim as altering the will of the enemy. In the 21st century,
in the age of cyber, this can be achieved without combat.
America lost a cyberwar to Russia in 2016, the result
of which was the election of Trump. Defeat is hard to face; but every
delay in facing the hard facts makes matters worse. This is no time for
parades.
A country that treats defeat as a victory invites
calamity. The only serious American response to Russia’s violation of
its sovereignty, the Mueller investigation, is now also a target of
Russian cyberwar. As reporting by Politico
has shown, the very strange decision to release a highly partisan (and
very partial) hit memo against Mueller was in large part a consequence
of a cyber campaign in which Russian bots played a major part.
No array of tanks, whether at their bases or on parade
in Washington, can protect us against cyberwar. Serious national
defense would involve a serious defense against actual threats to
sovereignty, rather than costly gestures meant to change the subject.
And no amount of presidential or congressional posturing can substitute
for an independent investigation of what are, in the end, our own
weaknesses and flaws.
We don’t need memos and marches; we need truth and repair.
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