Russians just like to embarrass people

Like, it’s not just Putin, or the government, it’s just cultural

If there is an opportunity to embarrass someone from your position of power or discretion, it will be taken

People try to be aligned with Russian interests to avoid it, but there is no exemption

They also like to bomb people, so probably best to not let them locate individuals (or anything else) easily by using Russian traffic cams ...

It's remarkable how much the Russians love fighting given how generally inept they are at it.

They are only losing one war in the last few decades, another major empire has in that timeframe lost one and is currently losing another.

Even in the wars they win they tend to suffer massive human and materiel losses. And while we can't say they're losing in Ukraine yet it's clear they are just not very good at fighting a true peer whose operational thinking they should of understood the most.

> Even in the wars they win they tend to suffer massive human and materiel losses.

Which is a doctrine that works in countries that will suffer far more pain before they get war-weary.

Sounds plausable.

There is a video somewhere of a Finnish university professor from around the time the war started (maybe a bit before), explaining the Russian attitude to sportsmanship, or whatever you want to call it.

Basically he suggested cheating is not considered unethical in Russia. If you are not using all means available to reach your goal you are leaving something on the table and are weak. This applies to all levels of society.

I would be cautious of such generalisations normally. But the industrial scale cheating at the winter Olympics says a lot.

"Who does not steal [from the state] steals from his family." - Eastern bloc communist era worker proverb.

>"it’s just cultural" - so is being fucking racist

generalizations about a group of people are not “racist” when not talking about race, they’re also not inherently pejoratives either. reduction is to know what to expect

still buy the cameras, still buy the natural gas

just dont go on the public record saying its not backdoored knowing the supply chain

but assuming there was some introspection you were hoping to reveal, which culture were you considering to be racist?

>"generalizations about a group of people are not “racist” when not talking about race" - cut the bull please.

I'm not going to be able to match your colloquialism on that, words have meaning and this one hasn't changed yet despite mods of illiterate people using it your way

beautifully onbrand, *mobs

A big what?

A big fuck-up, but some people prefer (nobly even if I don't abide by the same rule) to keep some words out of their mouths.

spelled like that the "u" could mean "you".

You've got a point, a fuck-up and a fuck-you are somewhat different in this context, though I was assuming both had malice in my original interpretation.

fuck up

This would be far more impressive if not for:

> multiple reports in Slovak media that linked the purchase to a Cyprus shell company with fake certifications.

We're talking about this as if it's some precursor to a James Bond plot, but it really fizzles after learning Nina in the sourcing department skipped the compliance paperwork. James Bond doesn't need to leave the bed!

Trojan exploits aside, I just assume that it'd be easier for someone in SVR/GRU to bribe an admin.

Current government is extremely pro-russian to the point of treason, and people involved in this case double so.

This wasn't some oversight of the proverbial Nina in any way. They just did sloppy job from both sides covering tracks, not uncommon with current government. They are loud (and racist, xenophobic, and often dumb), not competent smart people.

If they're so pro-Russian, then they're not xenophobic enough.

> We're talking about this as if it's some precursor to a James Bond plot, but it really fizzles after learning Nina in the sourcing department skipped the compliance paperwork.

That's exactly the sort of thing that James Bond would do.

> Nina in the sourcing department skipped the compliance paperwork.

Well the interior ministry didn't really demand one (yes really) but the opposition people have read the documentation for the cameras and the hash of the supplied software was exactly the same as the hash for the russian simicon camera.

They bought tech from a bogus company. Putting that aside, we still don't know if RU exploited the backdoor.

Occam's razor says this was simply a custom batch that was available cheap.

There was no time to exploit it because only two cameras were installed, and one of them was right in seat of the company that supplied it.

With high probablity they are actually made in China. I don't think Russia makes their own chips for cameras.