Voice of America Site Forced Offline By 'Iranian Cyber Army' 93
angry tapir writes with this excerpt from TechWorld: "The pro-Iran hacktivist group that defaced the Baidu and Twitter Web sites a year ago has hit another target: the US Government's Voice of America news site. Voice of America was knocked offline temporarily after hackers were able to change the organization's DNS (Domain Name System) settings, redirecting Web traffic hitting Voice of America sites to another site controlled by the hackers."
Iran is next (Score:1, Insightful)
nice one, Iran.
you guys are next in this revolution wave thing...
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Iran already has its revolution in 1979.
So? Libya had one is 1969, that's how they got the current regime. There is no reason Iran can not have another one like Libya is doing.
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A lot can happen in 31 years, including an entirely new generation that is very pissed off.
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The coup of 1969 in Libya was military and against the peoples. It was completly unlike what is happening now. The Iranian revolution of 1979 was a peoples revolte, much more similar to what happened in Egypt.
No, the 1969 revolution in Libya was against the monarchy.
You are also mistaken about Iran. Its 1979 revolution started as a people's revolution against the monarchy but it was hijacked by Islamic revolutionaries.
Iranians tried, and failed against islam's terror (Score:1)
Yeah, like in Gaza, Afghanistan, and quite a few other places, it turned out that "pro-democracy" demonstrators are totally incapable of defending against violence. (and really, before that in Saudi Arabia, and many other countries, read up on exactly how many families were exterminated to put the house of Saud into power. Not that the other north african monarchies were subtle, but the history of the house of Saud really does challenge one's stomach more than "average")
All it takes is a "tiny minority" rea
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Repeatedly saying "Paedophile prophet" makes it look like you've got some kind of agenda.
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Saying "you've got some kind of agenda" makes it look like you think that having an agenda is bad.
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God bless you. A voice of truth and sanity.
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For this reason, i dont thing anything will happen in Iran unless due subversive foreign activity. A theocracy canot be overthrow for as long idiots believe that cult.>
Arguably, subversive foreign activity(at least the sort that the CIA tends to favor) is actually a boon for theocrats and would-be theocrats. When it comes to foreign puppets, we have a hard-on for repressive right wingers that just won't quit. As long as they are tractable toward us, not commies, and keep the resources flowing, they can expect more or less free reign domestically. Rule by a repressive right wing government tends to, over time, erode the institutions(rule of law, votes that aren't farces, e
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Rule by a repressive right wing government tends to, over time, erode the institutions(rule of law, votes that aren't farces, etc.) and demographics(a middle class, the educated, political activists) on which democratic governance largely depends.
Somehow, that all sounds SO familiar...
Where is Anonymous when we need them? (Score:2)
Anonymous? Where are you?
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They'll only do it for lulz.
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Bravely defending liberty and lulz from the frontlines of Mom's basement.
But not for more than an hour on school nights.
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Iran has experience putting down riots and rebellions. Don't count your chickens just yet.
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nice one, Iran.
you guys are next in this revolution wave thing...
Next? Nope. The Iranian people tried "next" in 2009. They didn't get "wave". They got "dead". The Iranian government... much like the Chinese government... proved that it's willing to go to pretty much any lengths to put down uprisings. It has a huge apparatus built for just such control, literally a religious army [wikipedia.org] separate from the "regular" army, well armed, trained, and equipped. And they're fanatically devoted to preserving the Islamic revolution. Think Waffen SS, only dedicated to helping protect the I
Good! (Score:2, Insightful)
US propaganda abroad -- subverting legitimate political movements to produce US puppets since WWII.
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BBC was subjected to the same criticism. The difference is, UK no longer has imperial ambitions, and BBC ended up being superior to commercial services due to the massive whoredom of the latter far outweighing bureaucracy and bias of the former.
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"UK no longer has imperial ambitions"
The first foreign dignitary to Mubarak-free Egypt -- the British Prime Minister, with a party of 8 defense-firm CEOs in tow.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1359316/Prime-Minister-David-Cameron-takes-arms-dealers-Egypt-promote-democracy.html?ito=feeds-newsxml [dailymail.co.uk]
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At least now they jump into the country AFTER the leaders are gone.
uhh... (Score:3, Insightful)
The BBC is a legitimate and well respected news organization. VoA is about as close to a news organization as that Fox News Parody with Chris Wallace.
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WTF? The BBC is a corrupt pusillanimous shade of its former self, destroyed by Tony Blair.
All that remains is the BBC in exile, aka Al-Jazeera.
Re:Good! (Score:5, Interesting)
Funny. If anything, VoA has been criticized for not being American enough. The running gag is that throughout its existence, VoA hadn't even created an English language version of its broadcast.
That's because, as the GP accurately said, VoA is propaganda.
Even the US government considers it so and, as such, it is illegal to disseminate to a US audience.
Here's the relevant law: Smith-Mundt Act of 1946
There was an article in Foreign Policy magazine (a year or two ago) talking about how VoA turned down a US radio station that wanted to rebroadcast some of the VoA's foreign language programs.
I can't say for sure what, if any, law constricts the Dept of Defense, but they operate under the same "not for domestic consumption" policy.
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oops: Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 [wikipedia.org]
The short version is that information and psychological operations directed at foreign audiences are illegal to disseminate within the United States.
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"Just imagine if the BBC broadcasted programs in anything but English..."
They do, it's called BBC Arabic, Farsi, etc.
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Of course there have been English broadcasts on VOA. There certainly were back when I would occasionally listen to them on shortwave (late 70s early 80s). They also had "simplified English" broadcasts to help people learn English.
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Are you kidding? I would much rather have my government further its interests using words to using bombs.
VOA used to be broadcast on radio... (Score:1)
It reached far and wide with audiences all over the world, and as far as I know the radio broadcast was never hacked.
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Well, you got to feel pity for them (Score:5, Interesting)
Here they are raging against the great satan intervening in Islamic countries all the time, to little effect and then voila, couple of weeks and their Muslim brothers put the entire region on fire and overthrow government after government. Some in Iran must be pissing their pants by now. The world is changing and so far NOT to the extreme. All those cries for democracy in Muslim nations, that just ain't right is it. No burning of US flags, no cries for battle against Zionists. Just cries for democracy. Crazy stuff AND it is working.
The changes of it all working out okay are... well lets face it, nobody knows what the fuck is going to happen, if you had created a scenario in which North Africa would be in one big movement to overthrow local leaders last year, people would have told you to stop being a hollywood fantast and get a grip on reality. Just look at the map, a ribbon of rebellion and the end is not in sight. If Libya also falls... well then even outrageous violence doesn't work anymore or for that matter giving at least some of the oil wealth to the general public (Gadafhi might (now) be completely insane, but he was not as corrupt as some of his counter parts and at least the west of the country generally benefitted a bit from the oil income)
So, lets give the Iran cyber army its last few twitches before this guy will be in front of the firing squad for his allegiance to a overthrown regime.
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Debt was two years ago. This was famine; food prices have gone up by thirty percent in the past year [wsj.com], due to several factors but most notably global warming causing higher instances of storms [globalissues.org], leading to lower crop yields around the world.
Iran might go on about American President X being the some sort of demon, or President Y declaring war on them, but what they really needed to worry about was the third horseman...
Re:Well, you got to feel pity for them (Score:5, Informative)
But this wont happen.
Iran will democatise in the next 5-10 years, due entirely to a large young population that Iran's theocratic government hasn't had to deal with for the last 20 years (most of Iran's youth was wiped out in the Iran-Iraq war) but it wont be a revolution.
Iran's government is perfectly designed to weather this kind of thing. First off, the Islamic council aren't dumb, not in the slightest. The protests in mid last year were met mainly with subterfuge and false flag operations (sound familiar). Secondly they've isolated the military and police in this. They use the Republican Guard which are primarily non-Iranian Arabs (Iran is mostly Persian in ethnicity) who are loyal to the government and not attached to the people. Thirdly the power structure is not centred around a single person (president mahmoud whatisname) he's just a puppet, a front man to keep the real rulers (Islamic Council) safe.
Actual change will take time, there is not enough pressure yet for the majority of Persians to feel the need for change. This pressure will build over time however if a violent revolution were to occur today, it would just cause most Persians to rally around the government for security, isolating the youth (making things worse). The Iranian government isn't a brutal dictator like Gadafi or an incompetent embezzling oaf like Mubarak. They are cold and calculating, much like the Soviets.
When Iran does finally democratise it will be very good for us, the western world for two reasons. 1. Persians have westernised quite easily, even in Iran today there is a growing middle class who like the same things we do (nice cars, houses, consumer electronics). 2. There are a metric crapload of Persians who left Iran after the Islamic revolution currently living in the US, Australia and Israel, mostly Baha'i, Zorrostrians and a few Jews. Compared to these religions the Persian Christians have been well treated but they were never a big group to begin with. Iran should be our biggest ally in the ME, but we screwed that one when we deposed the legitimately elected government and put that idiot Reza on the throne.
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Sorry, my Iranian friend calls them the Republican Guard, their Farsi name is the Basij.
Yes, because the government is devoutly shiite Muslim and Persians were very culturally diverse before 1980 and the Iran-Iraq war wiped out most of the youth the ranks of the Basij swell with non-Iranian Arabs most notably from Lebenon and Palestine, ironically two groups the Iranian govenment support and fund are Hezbollah and Hamas.
2+2 =
Just one tiny problem (Score:5, Interesting)
Everything you said has been said before to explain why North African countries won't rebel. And then they did.
New game, new rules. Why do you think western leaders allowed themselves to be photographed hugging the Libyan leader whatever his name is (see comment below) and indeed the British PM is on a weapon selling trip while the weapons sold in the previous trip are busy killing civilians? A bit embarrassing?
You also seem to have forgotten the violent repression of the earlier uprising in Iran. These are not the actions of a government willing to change. Neither are there continued attempts at making nukes. It was Libya that stopped, not Iran.
Really, LOOK at what is happening. Something has changed. Even if Iran stays the same for now, the Middle East has changed. The power balance is gone. If Egypt and Tunesia truly become democratic they would side far closer to Turkey then dictatorships. That is going to leave the remaining dictatorships far more isolated. Rewatch the fall of the Soviet Union. Once dominoes start falling,it is hard to stop.
I think all bets are off and considering Iran's reaction so far, they think the same thing. Why else block access to these events if they are sure their own people will stand behind the government?
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Yes, military dictarorships with small middle classes (I.E. a lot of poor people) are falling.
Iran is none of those things. Iran is a theocratic state who's power-base is not in the nations military. Iran has a growing middle class.
Really LOOK at the nations this is happening to. Then really LOOK at Iran, not the western propaganda, the actual nation. They have little in common. For fecks sake, they are different races altogether.
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Iran will democatise in the next 5-10 years, due entirely to a large young population
Young population? You must be kidding.
High schoolers and students are the first people used as foot soldiers for any anti-government actions, by all forces, internal and external for the country. They are great material for that use, too, as they easily accept the most idiotic "teachings" as long as they are not what the rest of the society supports.
This is why any self-respecting government is prepared to face those "protests" and "revolutions", and defeat them. One that don't, are already conquered by suc
Re:Well, you got to feel pity for them (Score:4, Interesting)
1969 is calling, he wants you to know the government is bad man, also have you got any weed. A lot of popular, non violent revoltutions are lead by youth. This is also why the Iranian government is using Arabs (primarily from HAMAS and Hezbollah) as troops instead of Persians, a young Persian will think long and hard about firing on his own people, some of them his friends, a brainwashed Palestinian or Lebanese wont give it a second thought. Why do you think Gaddafi first bought in troops from Chad as opposed to ordering the Libyan army in?
The Iran-Iraq war of the 80's depleted Iran's youth. This is why their population is seriously skewed towards the younger ages, after the war everyone started having babies because there were no kids left. As a result the generation was somewhat spoiled (Persian parents normally spoil their kids, but this was extra). Also the memory of the Iran-Iraq war lingers in the minds of older Persians. Also, literacy is very high in Iran, I can also tell you've never met one, they are not the brainwashed automata you believe them to be, in actual fact young Persians are quite well educated.
But the whole reason why the Theocratic government will eventually fall is because the youth, which is now starting to enter adulthood wants change (war ended in 1988). They are the ones that protested in June 2010. The theocratic government is used to pandering to the needs of the older generations, the younger generations are finding themselves restricted and now that they are a rising force in Iran, they're pushing back. Iran has quite a few youth problems that they dont like advertised, in particular smuggling in of western culture (movies, music) and a rather nasty heroin problem (who do you think is buying all the poppies being grown in Afghanistan). Iran's response to this was to arrest users, shoot dealers and ignore the causes, obviously the problem remains.
What do you think they did six months ago.
Also, you said "defeat" not wait them out like western governments but ironically that's exactly what they do, they wait out the protest or use false flag operations to make quashing them a popular move (just like western governments). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009%E2%80%932010_Iranian_election_protests [wikipedia.org] Give that a quick read. They know how to deal with protests, as I said they are not stupid by any measure. Which is why they wont disappear overnight like Mubarak has and Gaddafi will.
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They ran out of money in the 80's.
The fall of the Soviet Union, the coup d'etat, everything revolves around the fact the Soviets were broke. When they couldn't feed their people, what else could they do but reshuffle the government to avoid an all out revolution. All of the Soviets woes can be traced back to how Stalin acted after WW II, he
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First off, the Islamic council aren't dumb, not in the slightest
I'm sure not. People who believe only one book contains all the knowledge anyone could need are beyond dumb, there's no adjective to describe that level of stupidity.
The protests in mid last year were met mainly with subterfuge and false flag operations
Which year are you living in? FYI the big protests against the fraudulent elections in Iran happened in June 2009 and right now it's 2011.
This pressure will build over time however if a violent revolution were to occur today, it would just cause most Persians to rally around the government for security, isolating the youth
That was the theory that other rulers, like Mubarak, believed in. The fact is that, as revolutions go, no one can predict when they will succeed. There were rebellions in Eastern Europe in 1956 and 1968, with
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just look at what democracy did for Ancient Greece!!
As opposed to other forms of government all of which of course were able to avoid being conquered by the Roman Empire except for democracies right?
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Islamic "democracy" just means you get to vote (once) for the Ayatollah of your choice.
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Gadafhi
I've seen: ... and more
Gadhafi
Gadaffi
Gaddafi
Ghadafi
Gadafhi is new to me though. Nice one!
PS I prefer Gadhafi
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Well, Qadhafi is more accurate, but whatever.
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I just call him Gandalfi...
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Most anti-government sentiment in Iran is fueled by outside interests and overhyped by Western media. Iran is really one of the more progressive nations in the entire region.
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And Grumpy is quite tall for a dwarf.
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So they took down the website (Score:1)
Hmm... (Score:2)
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free with the compliments are we? (Score:1)