Mark Hitchcock - Russia Rising - Tracking the Bear in Bible Prophecy

Putin’s grand goals are to destroy the West by breaking up the European Union, dividing NATO, frustrating and unnerving the United States, and expanding Russia’s global influence. On all fronts Russia seems to be succeeding.

The Bear is on the move, leaving its footprints across the globe. First, it was Georgia in 2008. Next, the Bear invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014 and supported separatists in eastern Ukraine. In 2015, Russia, working in tandem with Iran, sent armed forces and especially air power into Syria to prop up Bashar al-Assad’s crumbling regime. We’re facing a new “Red Dawn.” Russia is pulling the strings in the Middle East. Putin is trying to break NATO. He yearns to bring Eastern Europe and the Baltic States back into the Russian orbit.

Despite that Russia is the world’s largest nation, [9] Fareed Zakaria writes, “Russia is the largest country on the planet—48 times larger than Germany and encompassing 11 time zones that straddle Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.” Fareed Zakaria, “Why Putin Is World’s Most Powerful Man,” CNN , March 14, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/13/opinions/putin-most-powerful-man-world-zakaria/ . the Bear is hungry for more. Putin is busily canvassing the globe in search of weak prey and willing allies. And he’s finding no shortage on either front. The Kremlin, with assistance from Iran, is arming the Taliban in Afghanistan. There are reports of Russian activity in Nicaragua. Putin’s territory grab extends even to the Arctic Circle, which holds more than one-quarter of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas. He visited the area in 2017, and plans are under way to construct a massive military base there. The top of the world is a top Russian priority.

While many Americans may not be fully aware of all that Russia is doing around the world, Russia has dominated US headlines in 2017 because of its meddling in the 2016 US presidential election. By now everyone is well aware Russia has perfected cyber-terrorism and cyber-espionage. Global technological dependence has been weaponized.

The computer-hacking scheme and interference in the US elections has been directly tied to Russian spy agencies and was part of a larger strategy that included hacking computers of the Democratic National Committee. Nearly twenty thousand e-mails hacked by the Russians were dumped by WikiLeaks on July 22, 2016—just three days before the Democratic National Convention—and embarrassed many Democratic Party leaders.

The cyber-security firm CrowdStrike gave these Russian cyber-criminals names—“Fancy Bear” and “Cozy Bear”:

Traditionally, Cozy Bear targets potential victims with phishing attacks—email messages that appear to be from a legitimate, trusted friend or associate. Those messages may contain malicious software that scans a machine for antivirus software, then plants malware on the target machine that make it possible for attackers to monitor keystrokes, communications, documents and other sensitive material on target computers. Fancy Bear is known for stealing targets’ usernames and passwords by setting up dummy websites that appear real enough to convince users to input their email and password information. [10] Jeff Stone, “Meet Fancy Bear and Cozy Bear, Russian Groups Blamed for DNC Hack,” Christian Science Monitor , June 15, 2016, http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Passcode/2016/0615/Meet-Fancy-Bear-and-Cozy-Bear-Russian-groups-blamed-for-DNC-hack .

Russian attempts to influence American politics are nothing new. In the 1960s “Soviet intelligence officers spread a rumor that the U.S. government was involved in the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.” In the 1980s “they spread the rumor that American intelligence had ‘created’ the AIDS virus, at Fort Detrick, Maryland. They regularly lent support to leftist parties and insurgencies.” [11] Evan Osnos, David Remnick, and Joshua Yaffa, “Trump, Putin, and the New Cold War,” New Yorker , March 6, 2017, http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/06/trump-putin-and-the-new-cold-war . Russian intelligence services have been sifting through computer networks in the United States for more than a decade.

One of Russia’s strategies is known as dezinformatsiya , “false information intended to discredit the official version of events, or the very notion of reliable truth.” [12] Ibid. We know this strategy better today as “fake news.” Due to the increasing polarization in the American political landscape and the fractured media environment, Russia views the United States as a ripe target for this tactic.

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified before the Senate regarding “an unprecedented Russian effort to interfere in the U.S. electoral process. The operation involved hacking Democrats’ e-mails, publicizing the stolen contents through WikiLeaks, and manipulating social media to spread ‘fake news.’” [13] Ibid. The e-mail hacks are part of a much larger strategy to damage American confidence and undermine Western power and alliances. Again, Russia’s meddling in other nations’ elections is nothing new. Just ask the Europeans. Russia’s “Red Web,” as its espionage efforts have been called, has worked to exert influence on German and French elections as well.

The best term to describe Russia’s strategy, according to historian Angus E. Goldberg, “is the Russian word ‘bespredel,’ which means ‘absence of limits,’ or ‘anything goes.’” [14] David Ignatius, “Russia May Be Wounded, but It Can Still Bite,” Washington Post , November 3, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/russia-may-be-wounded-but-it-can-still-bite/2016/11/03/ec2287c0-a205-11e6-a44d-cc2898cfab06_story.html?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.1114581528bb . What we see today is “bespredel” on steroids—a dangerous new game of Russian roulette.

Russian meddling in US elections combined with Russia’s growing international aggression has pushed US-Russian relations to a troubling low point. Sergey Rogov, academic director of the Institute for US and Canadian Studies in Moscow, says that hostility between the United States and Russia is deeper than it has been in years. He adds, “I spent many years in the trenches of the first Cold War, and I don’t want to die in the trenches of the second. We are back to 1983…. It’s frightening.” [15] Osnos, Remnick, and Yaffa, “Trump, Putin, and the New Cold War.” The world has descended into a Putin-led Cold War 2.0. Consider these current headlines:

In addition to its cyber-espionage, Russia is constantly testing US patience and resolve with pinprick provocations. Russian bombers are flying off the coast of Alaska. Russian spy ships are loitering off the east coast of the United States. Russia’s acts appear to be carefully calculated and measured. Putin doesn’t want to cross the line and spark open confrontation with the United States, but he knows that microaggressions will be tolerated—to a point. Russia may also be testing the waters to see how far its intimidations can go without incurring a response from the US, or these may just be Putin’s attempts to constantly remind the world that Russia is relevant again. Whatever the Russian motivation for these actions may be, one thing is clear: the Bear is working on all fronts to let the US and the world know that there is a bear in the woods.