ZERO COINCIDENCE? At a time when the public and media have been noticing the administration declassifying lots of intelligence relating to the Russian threats to Ukraine, there was an interesting story out this week from the Associated Press quoting unnamed U.S. intelligence officials accusing the website Zero Hedge, which has 1.2 million Twitter followers, of parroting Kremlin propaganda. Some of the articles appearing on the site were reportedly written by people associated with an outfit called the “Strategic Culture Foundation,” which intelligence officials claim ultimately operates at the direction of the SVR, the Russian intelligence service. Zero Hedge wasted zero time in blasting the AP piece denying the allegations in a piece they posted titled: “Now We’ve Done It: We Pissed Off the CIA.” It is not the first time Zero Hedge has been accused of carrying Putin’s water. Back in March of 2020, there was an article in The New Republic asking the question: “Is Zero Hedge a Russian Trojan Horse?” Although it is not readily apparent by looking at Zero Hedge, apparently the company that owns it is based in Bulgaria. BTW, don’t miss what three Cipher Brief experts had to say about the trend of sharing intelligence with the public this week.
IRONY, IF NOT DEAD, MAY BE ON LIFE SUPPORT: Every country has their own holidays and commemorative occasions. Here in the US, we have MLK Day, President’s Day, and stuff like that. In Russia, there is the upcoming “Defender of the Fatherland Day” (February 23rd) and the just-passed: “Diplomat’s Day” – which was celebrated on February 10. We told you about that holiday last year, when some Russian diplomats released an awful video to mark the occasion. How was the day observed in 2022? It is unclear to us if Russia has a functioning embassy in Ukraine and, if so, whether the diplomats there are busy preparing care packages for their troops massed around the country’s borders. We do know that the Russian Embassy in Washington marked the day by tweeting out a link to an “interactive photo exhibition dedicated to outstanding Russian diplomats who served in the U.S.” in the past. (Click on that link at your own risk.) Back in Moscow, according to Diplopundit, the day was marked by U.S. Embassy Moscow’s Deputy Chief of Mission Bart Gorman and his family departing Russia after being declared persona non-grata. So much for diplomacy. Interestingly – Diplopundit reported Gorman’s ouster on February14th, but the State Department only got around to publicly confirming it on Thursday the 17th. Great work by the Diplopundit blog which (sadly) announced on Thursday that they would be shutting down. For all those who have been sending tips to them – you know our address.
AND IN ENGLISH THAT WOULD BE? Congresswoman Elaine Luria (D, VA) took to Twitter last week to admit that, while she had served in the U.S. Navy for twenty years, she had no idea what the Navy meant in a February 9 tweet of their own. That “communication” had some nice pictures of a variety of ships at sea along with unattributed words in quotes that said: “Our sea-denial exercises with naval expeditionary integration and littoral allies prepares us to counter potential adversarial aggressive actions.” Representative Luria noted that it is no wonder why many in the public don’t understand what the Navy does – when it is so hard to understand what they say. As John Paul Jones once said: “Don’t give up the naval expeditionary integration!”
MANY BOOKS ON THE HORIZON: We understand that Marvin Truhe, a former Navy JAG Corps lawyer, has landed a deal for the Chicago Review Press to publish his book: “Against All Tides: The Untold Story of The USS Kitty Hawk Race Riot.” Truhe says he plans to set the record straight on how he and other JAG lawyers fought for justice for the 23 Black sailors who were court-martialed in what is often referred to as the US Navy's only incident of mutiny. The book is scheduled to be released in October, which marks the 50th anniversary of the riot.
Prefer something about the Air Force? Kathleen Kornahren has penned: “Bring Me Men: The True Story of Female Cadets Who Fought for Acceptance at The All-Male U.S. Air Force Academy.” The book describes her experience as one of the first women to attend the Air Force Academy, and how a small group of determined women battled with Academy discipline and traditions to earn their place in the formerly all-male institution. Publication date is unknown.
Another forthcoming book is exploring events event further back in time. Journalist Thomas Lipscomb and psychology professor Jerry Kroth have a book coming out called “The Oswald Letter: A Journey.” The book is said to mine the recent declassification of thousands of documents relating to the JFK assassination. In a teaser, the publisher says the book will reveal that “…among many other things, JFK himself knew exactly who wanted him out of office—his own Chiefs of Staff.” (We think they are referring to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.) The book will be published by Bombardier Books – an imprint of Post Hill Press. No publication date was announced.
Speaking of Bombardier, the imprint also has landed former FBI agent Thomas Baker’s “The Fall of the FBI.” The publisher says the book will detail “the FBI’s 20-year decline from premier law enforcement agency to a politically motivated, easily manipulated shell of its former self.” Not exactly the kind of positive ink the Bureau is accustomed to. Look for it in December 2022.
And, clearly in the area of fiction, is a book called “Dream State”, by Martin Ott, in which “a freak explosion on the moon upsets the tides and sleep patterns of people on earth, plunging everyone on a resort island into a violent week of sleepless, increasingly mad chaos between the resort guests, town locals, and nearby Navy SEALS.” Don’t you hate it when that happens? If that is your thing…look for it in the summer of 2022 from Castle Bridge Media.
POCKET LITTER: Dead Droplets and bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
DUMB MILITARY RULES: The folks at Task & Purpose asked its readers for suggestions of some of the dumbest rules and regulations required by the U.S. military. Among the answers they got were: “no hands in pockets,” “no walking on the grass,” “wearing reflective belts during the day (even indoors),” “no eating or drinking while walking in uniform,” and “no carrying of umbrellas.” Some of their submissions didn’t sound that unreasonable to us – for example “don’t talk on a phone and walk.” Who among us hasn’t seen folks wipeout doing that on a city street? We’re guessing Cipher Brief readers have their own list of dumb rules – both for the military and civilian agencies of government. Send us any additional examples. But please don’t email us while you are walking or driving.
HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT THE DEAD DROP IS A LITTLE THIN THIS WEEK? That is because some of you (and we won’t name names) have been falling down on the job in sending tips to us. There is still time for you to do your civic duty. Send your news nuggets to: TheDeadDrop@theCipherBrief.com.
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