NATO Providing Cybersecurity Equipment To Ukraine

wiredmikey "Ukraine is an area of great geopolitical significance -- a sort of buffer zone between NATO and Russia -- that both sides seek to influence," reports SecurityWeek. "Crimea aside, neither side wishes to be too overt with military intervention, and the result is tailor-made for modern cyber warfare... NATO's official policy towards Ukraine is to bolster its independence." As a result, NATO is providing Ukraine with cybersecurity equipment for some government institutions and authorities, which NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg says will enable Ukraine to investigate who is behind certain cyber-attacks, because the response to them is extremely important.

Re:

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Well, that's the great importance. Anyway, Ukraine was a major part of former Soviet economy. From the highest quality agricultural soils in the region to ICBM and orbital launcher development and manufacturing, it was no Siberian backwater for sure. Plus the sea access of course.

Re:

[dunkelfalke]

That was once, but not anymore. Their manufacturing and agriculture haven't been updated since the late 1980ies. The industry is mostly dead - what could not be sold lies in ruins -
and their agricultural produce varies from not very good to almost inedible, so they have to import food from Poland. I have visited most of eastern Europe and Ukraine was the poorest country so far.

Re:

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Of course. Potential and achievement are two different things. Ukraine had a shitton of bad luck so far. Still they're not to be dismissed as an economic entity in the region.

Re:"Great geopolitical importance"

[dunkelfalke]

I wouldn't call it "bad luck", just an example of a country that tried to run its economy on nationalism instead of goods and services.

Re:

[K. S. Kyosuke]

A perfect description of the whole Soviet Union and partly its successors...

Re:

[dunkelfalke]

Not at all. Soviet Union was a multi-ethnic state, running it on nationalism would have torn it apart - and this is exactly what happened when Gorbachev stopped suppressing nationalist movements. Its successors on the other hand often ran on nationalism resulting in several wars.

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[dunkelfalke]

Ah yes, the great Swiss empire. Nationalists wanting their own nation states were the ones who killed. Like in Yugoslavia. Or the Karabakh war.

WTF ?

[gDLL]

Yeah great example because all the world can be like the Swiss, right ? Right? But ok keep going what others have you got ? Luxembourg ? Lichtenstein ? Oh i know ! The VATICAN !!!!! Clearly multi-ethnic. My turn: the British empire/United Kingdom. The Russian empire. China. The Ottoman empire. The Habsburg empire. The Any Empire. But sure what are those compared to the Swiss and the Vatican. When you mix ethnicities you get bloodshed, I dare you to say it's not true.

Re:

[qaz123]

What deportations did Gorbachev stop? Deportations were under Stalin. It's like 40 years before Gorbachev

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[K. S. Kyosuke]

The soviet nationalism was somewhat Umma-ish in the sense that it really didn't revolve as much about nation states as such but nevertheless there was a strong us-vs-them boundary coinciding with the geopolitical borders that was more important than the actual economic results. I'm acutely aware of it, having lived in the Eastern Bloc when it existed.

Re:

[dunkelfalke]

I remember, jsi cesky. GDR here.

Re:

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Robotron 1715 FTW! :)

Re:

[superwiz]

While ussr (let's keep in lower case just to show it the disrespect that it is due) was multi-ethnic, it was without a doubt Russian nationalist. There were 4 classes of citizens: Russians (1st class), individuals of other slavic ethnicities (2nd class), anyone from central Asia (3rd class) and Jews (4th class). Soviet Union has no successors. It split into its components. The mythology that there is some historic Russian Empire which included Ukraine and that Soviet Union was once its successor is just

Re:

[dunkelfalke]

No, I mean nationalism. We Germans know very well what happens if one tries to run a country on that. Not a good idea at all.

Re:

[perpenso]

No, I mean nationalism. We Germans know very well what happens if one tries to run a country on that. Not a good idea at all.

France happens. Is that so bad? :-)

The problems you refer to are not simply born of nationalism. Nationalism was but one theme in a rather toxic brew. One that was misused and is not inherently bad.

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[dunkelfalke]

Yep, because Napoleon.

Re:

[perpenso]

Yep, because Napoleon.

Despite the fact that I was only referring to modern 20th century nations ... I still wish I could moderate your reply as "insightful". :-)

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[MightyMartian]

He ruled in one form.or another for two decades and during that time largely remade Europe. Even in defeat ideas like the Napoleonic Code and constitutional government (if at times still supporting authoritarian regimes) spread across the Continent. Napoleon is probably one of the most influential.men in European history.

Re:

[quonset]

Wow, nice spin job. Did you get those words from your handlers in St. Petersburg?

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and supporting terrorists therein, Russia hasn't been able to produce helicopters because the engines came from Ukraine [bbc.com]. Even though Russia now claims it can produce the parts, it's only for a limited type of aircraft.

Same for their icebreaker. It was supposed to be launched this year, but because of the sanctions, and the testing for the turbines being in Ukraine, the launch has been put [uawire.org]

Re:"Great geopolitical importance"

[dunkelfalke]

Your words smell of an astroturfer far more than anything I've ever read on Slashdot, except I guess you have to do it for free.
Anyway, all your ranting doesn't change the fact that Ukraine is in a worse shape than even Romania. I have visited both countries so I can compare.
Romanian food was generally of a much better quality, by the way. And yes, if I ever visit Ukraine again, I'll take instant noodles with me, they are safer to eat for Europeans, who generally are accustomed to food safety.
But never mind food, why exactly are you comparing the country you shill for with Russia? I mean, every point you make about them is even more so valid for Ukraine, but at least they have oil and gas, so they might turn things around. If you have to compare Ukraine with any country, then it would Belarus, but their economy does much better, and not just since 2014. Also their food quality was quite good the last time I have visited Minsk and the city itself was waaaaaaaaay cleaner than Kiew. Belarus border police wasn't very friendly, though, whereas I was sent through the diplomatic lane at the KBP as soon as I have waved with my German passport - that was the only nice thing happening to me during my stay.

Re:

[dunkelfalke]

Dude, what are you smoking?
Belarus as a country has existed about as long as Ukraine, except Lukashenko has been the president (or rather king, because he will probably pass the throne to his son) of Belarus since 1994.

How the weather in Moscow, komrade ?

[Anonymous Coward]

How the weather in Moscow, komrade ?

Re:

[superwiz]

While I don't like the militarism of the current Russian state, I take issue with calling people in it comrades. US Democratic Party has more "comrades" in it than the Russian Federation. The Russian Federation is committed to a capitalist economy. The Democratic Party is pushing for more and control of the industry by the Democratic Party bureaucrats. It's probably why they try to lumb Republicans and Russians together in this modern fantasy of collusion. They see an ideological enemy in both of them

Re:

[gDLL]

The komrades are not the people. The komrades are the members/militants of the ruling class, the hands of the emperor. This has nothing to do with capitalism. I'm sure you're right about your US Democratic Party.

Re:

[superwiz]

No, "comrade" is just a weaker form of "friend". It's somewhere around "buddy". It was used as a formal greeting meant to convey familiarity in the Soviet Union. "Comrade" is an English word, but has never been in common use as a greeting. Russians wouldn't have the first idea of what you said if you said that word itself. It's a translation of a Russian word into a close-by-meaning, but less-commonly-used English equivalent. Spanish "amigo" probably better conveys the meaning of the Russian word that

Re:

[superwiz]

Soviet what? What a soviet? Soviet Union was officially dissolved on December 26, 1991. That's over 25 years ago. It only existed for 73 years. Who cares about Soviet Union, Tsarist Russia, or anything else which hasn't existed for generations now. Russian Federation and Ukraine are separate independent countries. The fact that USSR contained both of them is no more relevant than the fact that Poland was once part of the Russian Empire. It's over... long time over.

Re:

[HornWumpus]

If we wanted to really change things, we'd send Ukraine a 1000 tons of steel and a ton of 'weapons grade'.

They gave up their nukes in a deal with Russia. Russia has violated that agreement, they need a nuke or ten.

Re:

[Ol Olsoc]

No it isn't. This is a game, and people in Ukraine are being used as pawns.

That's true. Trump supports Putin's Ukraine land grab, hates NATO, and now that the US is being bypassed, NATO is sending a message to dear leader.

"Cybersecurity equipment"?

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Mechanical typewriters? They already have those. ;)

Re:

[unixisc]

My question as well - what is 'cybersecurity equipment'? Thousands of servers preloaded w/ OpenBSD?

Re:

[unixisc]

Right, so is that what Ukraine is being given?

Re:

[l0n3s0m3phr34k]

Hey now! Long pig males for the BEST bacon!

Can we keep some to ourselves?

[iamacat]

As last election shows, our own cybersecurity is not great. Why don't we focus on that rather than medling in every regional conflict in the world?