venik, iraqwar.ru, truth + lies ...

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: George Michaelson <ggm () apnic net>
Organization: APNIC Pty Ltd
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2003 11:09:28 +1000
To: dave () farber net
Subject: venik, iraqwar.ru, truth + lies ...


Dave, I've begun to appear on the end of a chain of email quoting this guy
Venik, translating iraqwar.ru into english. From what I can tell, the source
is a Russian speaker living in the USA claiming to channel the GRU decoding
US
military radio.

Frankly, it looks like bullshit. But its interesting how the
counter-propaganda machine might work. Web searches for Venik show he's been
doing reportage on war since Kosovo or before, and has fans, who claim he
is 70-80% correct in his summaries. And opponents, who take a contrary view.

Rather than me seed this into you, if it appeals to the spirit of 'where
does
the truth lie in war' you might try some websearches in google, on venik and
aeronautics.ru, see if you find the same kinds of links.

Me? I think both sides lie to advantage their cause. But if the GRU was this
overt in being able to break US Military battlefield comms, I think we'd be
hearing a bit more about it. So I personally don't buy the analysis because
I
don't think the claimed prime source is really very plausible.

have fun

    -George


------ End of Forwarded Message

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