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A comment on Reflections on Ten Years Past the Snowden Revelations. Parent comment

Re:Reflections on Ten Years Past the Snowden Revelations by toyg on Saturday May 27, 2023 @04:53PM (#36098201)
Yes, agencies have all these capabilities, but at the same time they rarely sway the practical course of history. When the "euromaidan" demos in Ukraine forced regime change, and the Russians hacked and leaked all US/EU diplomatic chatter around it, the contents were utterly banal and predictable. There was no grand conspiracy or execution, just a bunch of interests scrambling to react.

Intercepting communications gives them a leg up, but that's about it.

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Re:Reflections on Ten Years Past the Snowden Revelations by scraptor on Saturday May 27, 2023 @05:23PM (#36098467)
I didn't follow that at the time and I'm finding it hard to find information about it, would love a link to those leaked documents.
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Re:Reflections on Ten Years Past the Snowden Revelations by toyg on Sunday May 28, 2023 @11:42AM (#36105030)
Search "Victoria Nuland" and it will come up.
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Re:Reflections on Ten Years Past the Snowden Revelations by scraptor on Sunday May 28, 2023 @02:27PM (#36106489)
Thank you
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Re:Reflections on Ten Years Past the Snowden Revelations by opportune on Saturday May 27, 2023 @08:42PM (#36099982)
People love to assume that the CIA/NSA/etc are all powerful all knowing cabals running the entire world, while also believing that government is inherently incompetent.

Anybody who’s been in a large organization, even one that’s highly selective or difficult to join, knows that they’re as a rule chaotic, dysfunctional, and reactive with no coherent or coordinated planning. They’re also composed of individuals who usually run the gamut of moral and honest to deceitful and self serving - but the “sociopathic puppet master genius” is more of a fictional archetype than something that exists in reality.

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Re:Reflections on Ten Years Past the Snowden Revelations by jruohonen on Sunday May 28, 2023 @05:07AM (#36102367)
This would be my take too. From all the past leaks of cables, the perhaps most hilarious revelation is the overall humdrum, including the speculative, often incorrect, and sometimes rude chatter between diplomats and intel people.
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