USA Busted Trying to Bug China's Presidential 767 510
morcheeba writes "A new Boeing 767-300ER was refitted to become China's presidental aircraft. What goes into a plane like this? Besides the bedroom, sitting room, bath with a shower, there was a 48" TV, satellite communications, anti-missile defense systems and advanced avionics. And oh yeah, numerous high-tech listening devices. Wonder how those got in. Read the article at washingtonpost.com." CD: The question is, what was the bug in the headboard for?
Re:What saddens me the most about this. . . (Score:2, Interesting)
That is an odd thing to complain about when there are so many other glaring human rights problems that are much more serious in china.
Yup (Score:2, Interesting)
Everybody spies on everybody (Score:3, Interesting)
Of course, that doesn't mean spying is moral or ethical--that is another discussion entirely.
We bug their buildings too (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:What saddens me the most about this. . . (Score:3, Interesting)
Nah, communism did that for itself. Come on - Marx wrote books to pay for his kids education, travel, etc. then on to Lenin, Stalin, and everything that made russia what it is today (which is: not a communist country).
Communism is a really interesting idea, and a very noble set of ideals. But what it comes down to is controlling people, and all it takes when you have power is one person to use it and all those lofty goals are subverted.
Final note: in business or in government, don't trust 5 year plans that don't have month-by-month goals. 'Cause no-one can procrastinate that much and still do the work.
-Peter
Copiers in USSR were bugged. (Score:3, Interesting)
Eventually, the Soviets figured out the ruse.
Obviously, the US government has taken advantage of US technology to bug the Chinese plane also. Just shows there is a benefit to being the world's technological leader. All your enemies have to come to the US for parts and service.
Re:Other way cool spying gizmos (Score:2, Interesting)
Canada doesn't fear US spying in the lower levels of government, like I said, it's a price of being friends. What we fear is the US trying to control our Cabinet by knowing what its issues are and how dicisions are made.
Remember the level of government of Canada go (Top to bottom)
Governor-General (Effectivly Canada's president, but she represents the Queen)
Prime Minister (Real Power)
Cabinet (Federal Minsitries)
Commons/Senate (Representatives of the population/provinces respectivly)
Lieutenant Governors (Governor's of the Provinces)
Premiers (Prime Minsiter of the Province)
Provincial Cabinet
Provincial Legislature/Provincial Parliament
Re:Not Neccesarily the USA (Score:4, Interesting)
There is plenty of evidence the US took active steps to reawaken a cold war, this time with China as the enemy. For a while we were doing absolutely everything we could to piss them off: We bombed their embassy "by mistake," we made it obvious that our spy planes are over their country (one of them crashed), Rumsfeld canceled the decades-long practice of mutual military inspections with China, we are building SDI again, and a bunch of other stuff. All of this shows a clear pattern: we were trying to provoke China to do something that we could point at and say: Hey, look at how evil China is! Then we'd have a "justification" to retaliate with something totally disproportionate, pissing them off even more, and that's all it takes to have a cold war! Fortunately, China appears to have a much more civilized foreign policy than the US and they didn't take the bait.
Remember that the microphones were planted before September 2001, and the order to plant them is older still. Fortunately for our warmongering administration, bin Laden handed them a kinder present than anything they could have imagined. Now they have a new enemy that they can indiscriminately call "evil" and the world makes sense to them again. This takes the heat off China, but we can't debug the plane by remote control.
Re:A matter of trust (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't think it's as simple as you think. First of all, when the US delivers (say) jet fighters to an allied country, they deliver all the technical information as well (note that if this stuff is too advanced, the plane does not get exported, period. See for example the F-22). The technical information is needed so that maintenance personnel can be trained. There may be exceptions, but usually maintenance and repair are done by local mechanics and engineers. Despite what some people may think, these guys are usually not morons. There is a substantial risk that a trojan horse device will eventually be found. If that happens, all hell breaks loose, and US exports will suffer, to say the least.
Also, consider that a lot of the equipment like radars, etc. are supplied by sub-contractors. With so many (often hundreds) of companies contributing, the risk of leaks becomes rather big.
Last, consider that an ally turning into an enemy overnight doesn't happen all that often. The only case I can think of is Iran.
Re:Reversed situation (Score:2, Interesting)
Actually, word has it that the DOD does not use any NIC's produced in China, because of possible off-network data streams, ie it is possible to have a nic duplicate a stream of data packets oubound from a targets system, after sending a command to that NIC, remotely. One of the ideas was that the Chinese military is one of the biggest manf's of electronics (dual-use purposes also), and quite possibly could 'bug' almost any system.
No, this isn't the X-Files.
Oooh. Bugs. That's NOT the point! (Score:4, Interesting)
There are always bugs in the residences of diplomats and the various cubby holes of mid-range political activity. But at the higher end of the scale. . . That is, if there are bugs on the Chinese version of Air Force One, then you can safely bet that they WILL be found.
Which means that they were meant to be found.
Bugs aren't interesting.
The interesting thing is that it made high profile 'real' news (i.e., the Washington Post).
Why? Easy. -To further the programming of public awareness on both sides of the Atlantic.
-See stories about how China now filters Email. Look for similar material over the next few months.
The highschool play unfolding on the world stage is clearly being performed in order to cast China in the role of the next big bad guy.
Why?
So that when the curtain finally goes up on 'act 2' (-That'd be the whole plot development between Pakistan, India and China, each with nukes, BTW), the U.S. will have paved the way for public sympathy in supporting the country most able to provide, um, oil. And general fear.
I'm betting on concentration camps being open for business in the U.S. in another ten years. Maybe sooner.
Why?
Cuz Fear is Food. Solution? Refuse to play. Fear is a choice. Laugh a lot. Love your friends. Stay healthy. Learn how to avoid the bullshit, in the air, in your food, in the programming. The end of the world, (beginning of the new), only happens once in a very long while; Try to enjoy it!
-Fantastic Lad