Jeremiah Cornelius's Journal: US Denies Flame Malware Attack on France During Elections

"Le Cyberattaque?" Unnamed French officials have been cited in L'Express , claiming that the U.S. directed targeted attacks with the Flame malware, targeting computers belonging to top advisers to, then French president, Nicolas Sarkozy. The United States quickly rebutted such accusations, with an emailed statement by Department of Homeland Security spokespersons, "We categorically deny the allegations by unnamed sources that the U.S. government participated in a cyber attack against the French government." The alleged attacks were made during the cycle of elections in April and May of 2012, when Nicolas Sarkozy failed in his bid to maintain the French presidency against Francois Hollande in a runoff. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, has never acknowledged the US sponsorship of Flame, "These programs were never attributed in any way to the U.S. government," and continued affirm her role of protecting civilian infrastructure and that of France as an ally.

I'm just not reconciled. . .

[smittyoneeach]

. . .to the notion that the U.S. would commit an act of war to influence a foreign election.
Call me a naive little piece of work, but I just can't envision that.
Even as little regard as I have for BHO, I'd need more than an accusation to believe this.

All "Acts of War"

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Let's not open that can of Chile.

In 1990, the NED spent $20 per Nicaraguan voter to promote the electoral defeat of the Sandinista government. To put that into context, in 1988, George H. W. Bush and Walter Mondale combined spent only $7.81 per US voter. In 2006, US

Ambassador Paul Trivelli told a delegation of ours that he had $12-$13 million to spend on the Nicaraguan presidential election that year. The same year, Associated Press learned through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that the US spent $23

Re:

[mcgrew]

I thought Israel was the ones who wrote Flame? I wonder what the French candidates had to say about Israel and the Arabs?

Re:

[fustakrakich]

I wonder what the French candidates had to say about Israel and the Arabs?

When it comes to the middle east, the only real concern is arms sales. For instance, in Syria, the FSA (or whatever they're called now) will prove to be a better customer than Assad, who is buying from the Russians. Publicly, everybody in NATO has to say Israel is the good guy if they don't want Hillary to give them "the look [sharetv.org]"

A response worth repeating

[fustakrakich]

First rule of politics:
Never believe anything until it's been officially denied. [slashdot.org]

JC, have you ever watched that program in the link? It looks good.

Re:

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Yes, Minister. and the subsequent Yes, Prime Minister.

Good stuff about how established interests and Whitehall bureaucracy actually run Britain. While being devilishly funny. Used to be on Netflix. Humphrey Appleby used to be quoted, in my .sig:

"Yes, but even though they probably certainly know that you probably wouldn't, they don't certainly know that, although you probably wouldn't, there is no probability that you certainly would."

http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0030014/quotes [imdb.com]

I saw these when they wer

Re:

[FoolishOwl]

I only saw a few episodes. I believe the series, in a nutshell, was summed up when the chief of staff of a ministry is discussing the new minister's ostensible policies with another career civil servant.

"Open government? That's a contradiction in terms!"

Re:

[smittyoneeach]

Classic show. The "Mumbo Jumbo" episode in particular.