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  • OPINION

    The cyber whodunnit and the global blame game

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 21/12/2017

    » The US government has officially attributed to North Korea the WannaCry ransomware attack, which encrypted hundreds of thousands of computer drives around the world in May, 2017. And yet as with a series of other highly public cyberattack attributions, little evidence for the claim was made public. It's time for the cybersecurity world to follow the advice of the Rand Corporation and set up an unbiased international consortium that would seek to attribute attacks based on a common set of rules.

  • OPINION

    Putin lacks the clout to cut isles deal with Abe

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 24/01/2019

    » The window of opportunity for Russia and Japan to officially end World War II with a peace treaty narrowed again after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Moscow on Tuesday failed to end in a breakthrough. There's still time for Mr Abe to secure his legacy, but a lot depends on President Vladimir Putin's increasingly shaky domestic standing.

  • OPINION

    Safer vehicles can make terrorist strikes much harder

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 07/06/2017

    » 'Enough is enough," UK Prime Minister Theresa May declared after the London terror attack on Saturday night, the third one this year. But what she proposed to counter the terrorist attacks was, essentially, some freedom of speech restrictions, more powers for law enforcement and longer sentences for terror-related offenses -- the same old toolbox that has been used for almost two decades.

  • OPINION

    The mundane radicalism of terror

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 22/06/2017

    » The UK tabloids hesitated about what to call the white driver of a van who crashed into a crowd of worshippers at the Finsbury Park mosque in London on Monday. But Harry Potter author JK Rowling tweeted furiously that he was no less a terrorist than the perpetrators of recent Islamic State-inspired attacks.

  • OPINION

    The new Saudi Arabian heir is a dangerous man

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 23/06/2017

    » The abrupt change in Saudi Arabia's line of royal succession will probably help maintain the House of Saud's sway over its 31 million people, 70% of whom are under 30. It is, however, a dangerous move in the context of a new Big Game unfolding in the Middle East, which involves the US, Russia and local players.

  • OPINION

    Don't rush to judge in war crimes -- the truth will out

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 19/04/2017

    » Something is wrong with the standard of proof we're willing to accept for extremely serious accusations. There's a cost to credibility and a need to weigh available evidence calmly before approving or criticising potentially deadly government action.

  • OPINION

    The key to tackling North Korea is Vladimir Putin

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 19/05/2017

    » The idea of a grand bargain between the United States and Russia is less popular in Washington than ever before. And yet one of the biggest foreign policy problems for the US -- that of North Korea -- cannot be resolved without Russia's participation. In recent years, Russian President Vladimir Putin has made sure to rebuild a close relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, and it's no longer enough to talk to China to mitigate the Stalinist state's aggressiveness.

  • OPINION

    Politicians should be keeping their money at home

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 07/04/2016

    » Ramon Fonseca, a founding partner of Mossack Fonseca, the Panamanian offshore incorporator that has suffered the biggest leak of privileged information in history, has told Financial Times that the investigations stemming from the leak are an attack on the basic human right to privacy. Dmitri Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, described them as an attack on his boss ahead of the 2018 presidential election. The investigative journalists themselves see their effort as a strike against corruption and money-laundering. So what purpose do the Panama Papers investigations really serve?

  • OPINION

    Saudis attack Russia's oil markets

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 19/10/2015

    » As President Vladimir Putin tries to restore Russia as a major player in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is starting to attack Russia's traditional stomping ground by supplying lower-priced crude oil to Poland.

  • OPINION

    No city is safe while Syria war drags on

    News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 16/11/2015

    » Although many details concerning the attacks that killed more than 120 people in Paris on Friday night remain unknown, Islamic State appears to have claimed responsibility. France and all other countries taking part in the Syrian conflict should keep in mind Russia's recent experience with this kind of terrorism: it won't cease until the epicentre is dealt with.

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