Cyberattacks, NATO, Kissinger, & Burying Carbon Emissions
November 30, 2023
They’re In Our Infrastructure (But They Can’t Really Do Anything)
Over the weekend, multiple water facilities across the U.S. were hit by cyberattacks, which Washington has pinned on Iranian hackers. According to two anonymous government sources, the U.S. is tracking a “single digit” number of facilities hit by the hacks, though none of the cyberattacks caused any significant disruption. The sources say that the hacks were designed to create concerns about vulnerabilities in Israel-supplied devices.
Cyber Av3ngers, a Tehran-backed hacking group, claimed responsibility for one of the cyber breaches in Pittsburgh. The hackers targeted a control panel made by Unitronics, an Israeli company. They disabled the panel, which controls water pressure, and posted a message reading “Every equipment ‘Made in Israel’ is Cyber Av3ngers legal target” on its screen. Authorities say that control over the Unitronics panels will not give hackers the ability to alter chemicals in the water supply, but one cybersecurity expert estimates that 1,500 of the devices are vulnerable to attacks globally.
“It seems like they’re trying to make you hesitate if you should do business with Israel,” he said. However, another expert claims that Cyber Av3ngers’ attacks are a bit overblown, saying the group likes to “suggest the impact of their actions is far greater than it really is.”
Another one of the attacks appears to be unrelated to Cyber Av3ngers’ hack in Pittsburgh. That attack hit a North Texas utility that provides services to 2 million people, affecting its business computer network and phone system but not any of its actual water infrastructure. The facility wasn’t using any Unitronics technology.
Last month, FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate that Iranian cyberattacks against U.S. infrastructure might “get worse” as the Israel-Hamas conflict grows, especially given the lack of funding and cybersecurity manpower for utilities like water and power.
Some Good News
- Brazil could reach historic low deforestation in 1-2 years, official says (Reuters)
- Jobs, not jail: A judge was sick of sending kids to prison, so he found a better way (USA Today)
- Illinois man wins Michigan lottery after gas station employee’s mistake (NBC)
The Pentagon Pleads For Paper
- In order to keep the government running as House Republicans and Senate Democrats work out their budgeting differences, Congress has passed short-term spending measures that fund each department of the federal government at last year’s levels. Unfortunately, these short-term solutions didn’t take into account that a massive war would break out in the Middle East. Whoops!
- The Pentagon is struggling to keep control as Congress continues to clash over the U.S. federal budget. While the Department of Defense has sent aircraft carrier strike groups, fighter jets, and infantry to discourage the Israel-Hamas conflict from spreading, top defense officials say that Congress’ budgeting fight means that the U.S. military’s Middle East operations are running on fumes.
- The military has been forced to take funds from other areas, including training, combat exercises, and operations elsewhere in the world. Officials say the tradeoff will prevent the military from starting up new programs or expanding operations at all.
One Less Spoiler For Sweden
- According to Swedish officials, Turkey is expected to ratify Sweden’s bid to join NATO in the next few weeks. Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said Wednesday that Hakan Fidan, his Turkish counterpart, “told me that he expected the ratification to take place within weeks. And of course, we don’t take anything for granted from the side of Sweden, but we look forward to this being completed.”
- Billström had met with the Turkish Foreign Minister on Tuesday, and added that “there were no new demands from the Turkish government, so we look [at] our part as being fulfilled.” Turkey has been one of the major blockers to Sweden’s NATO membership, haggling with Stockholm over its harboring of groups that Turkey sees as terrorist organizations. Sweden’s NATO bid still needs to be ratified by Hungary.
Additional World News
- US Air Force Osprey crashes off Japan during training mission, killing at least 1 of 8 on board (AP)
- Four Palestinians, including two children, killed by Israeli forces in West Bank (Reuters)
- Deal to keep 1.5C hopes alive is within reach, says Cop28 president (Guardian)
- The militarized AI risk that’s bigger than “killer robots” (Vox)
- NATO vows to stick with Ukraine ‘as long as it takes’ (Politico)
- Haiti’s gang wars having ‘cataclysmic’ impact on access to food staples (Guardian)
- Myanmar and China conduct naval drills together as fighting surges in border area (ABC)
“Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go.” – Hermann Hesse
New Drama With New Delhi
- On Wednesday, federal prosecutors in Manhattan laid out the charges against an Indian national who is accused of attempting to kill a U.S. citizen who is a Sikh separatist. The indictment says the plan was devised by an Indian agent, putting pressure on the U.S.’s relationship with India. This comes just a couple of months after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada accused the Indian government of involvement in the June killing of another Sikh separatist.
- Charges against Nikhil Gupta, 52, were announced by the Justice Department days after American officials had expressed concerns to the Indian government about the suspected assassination plot against Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, general counsel for the New York-based group Sikhs for Justice. Pannun advocates for independence for the northern Indian state of Punjab, which is home to many Sikhs.
- Gupta had “credibly indicated” that he conspired with an employee of the Indian government. Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said Wednesday that “the government of India was clear with us that they were taking this seriously and would investigate.”
Kissing Kissinger Goodbye
- Henry Kissinger, who served as Secretary of State for Presidents Nixon and Ford, died last night at the age of 100. Kissinger remained influential in politics until the end thanks to his geopolitical consulting firm, Kissinger Associates, and his being the author of several books on international affairs. He was influential in the “madman theory,” which included the secret bombing of Cambodia in 1969 and 1970.
- Kissinger is often viewed differently by either political party. On the right, he’s a diplomat who won the Nobel Prize, while the left views his record as…well, bloody. Rolling Stone’s article on his death is titled “Henry Kissinger, War Criminal Beloved by America’s Ruling Class, Finally Dies,” while Fox News writes, “Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger dead at 100,” if that’s any indication of how polarizing he was.
Additional USA Reads
- Super PAC backing Nikki Haley seeks to swing independent voters in bid to beat Donald Trump (ABC)
- Biden to take on Boebert, House GOP’s economic vision in Colorado remarks (CNN)
- More than 40 inches of snow blankets the Northeast as storm snarls morning commute (NBC)
- U.S. life expectancy starts to recover after sharp pandemic decline (NPR)
- Retired St. Louis Detective Says He’s Too Sick to Testify at Murder Trials (ProPublica)
- Co-founder of Students for Trump was charged with assault after allegedly hitting a woman with a gun, court records show (CNN)
- CIA warns staff about social media posts after senior officer shares pro-Palestinian image (NBC)
Burying Our Emissions In The Sand
- Grass grows, birds fly, and another American corporation is paying top dollar to bury its problems – literally. American Airlines is paying a Bill Gates-funded startup named Graphyte to trap 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions underground, marking the young company’s first major deal. The agreement is part of American Airlines’ strategy to limit its greenhouse gas emissions, but the 10,000 tons are just a drop in the bucket – the airline produced the equivalent of 49 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2022 alone.
- Graphyte’s carbon capture technology costs about $100 per ton, which is actually cheap compared to other techniques. One of the largest carbon capture plants in the world, which is partnered with companies like Microsoft and Stripe, captures carbon at a cost of $600 per ton.
- This is because Graphyte uses a much less energy-intensive method compared to the plant – the company prevents carbon from being released into the atmosphere by mummifying plant matter, preventing it from decaying and releasing the carbon stored in the plants into the air. The mummified plant matter is then sealed up into bricks and stored underground, where the carbon is expected to stay locked away for thousands of years, at which point we’ll hopefully have figured out a way to beat climate change.
Additional Reads
- Thousands of syringes containing “vaginal tightening gel” seized at MSP Airport, CBP says (CBS)
- Weather experts in Midwest say climate change reporting brings burnout and threats (NPR)
- Wildlife Photographer of the Year – People’s Choice 2023 (Guardian)
- The sound of crunching chips is annoying. Doritos has made a silencer. (WaPo, $)
- Car dealers tell Biden: Customers aren’t ready for electric cars (Axios)
- Kansas will redesign its new 2024 license plates after hundreds of people complained its colors resembled other states (CNN)
- U.S. moves to protect wolverines as climate change melts their mountain refuges (NPR)