The cyber-security firm CrowdStrike gave these Russian cyber-criminals names—“Fancy Bear” and “Cozy Bear”:
Traditionally, Cozy Bear targets potential victims with phishing attacks—email messages that appear to be from a legitimate, trusted friend or associate. Those messages may contain malicious software that scans a machine for antivirus software, then plants malware on the target machine that make it possible for attackers to monitor keystrokes, communications, documents and other sensitive material on target computers. Fancy Bear is known for stealing targets’ usernames and passwords by setting up dummy websites that appear real enough to convince users to input their email and password information.[10]
Russian attempts to influence American politics are nothing new. In the 1960s “Soviet intelligence officers spread a rumor that the U.S. government was involved in the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.” In the 1980s “they spread the rumor that American intelligence had ‘created’ the AIDS virus, at Fort Detrick, Maryland. They regularly lent support to leftist parties and insurgencies.”[11] Russian intelligence services have been sifting through computer networks in the United States for more than a decade.
One of Russia’s strategies is known as dezinformatsiya, “false information intended to discredit the official version of events, or the very notion of reliable truth.”[12] We know this strategy better today as “fake news.” Due to the increasing polarization in the American political landscape and the fractured media environment, Russia views the United States as a ripe target for this tactic.
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified before the Senate regarding “an unprecedented Russian effort to interfere in the U.S. electoral process. The operation involved hacking Democrats’ e-mails, publicizing the stolen contents through WikiLeaks, and manipulating social media to spread ‘fake news.’”[13] The e-mail hacks are part of a much larger strategy to damage American confidence and undermine Western power and alliances. Again, Russia’s meddling in other nations’ elections is nothing new. Just ask the Europeans. Russia’s “Red Web,” as its espionage efforts have been called, has worked to exert influence on German and French elections as well.
The best term to describe Russia’s strategy, according to historian Angus E. Goldberg, “is the Russian word ‘bespredel,’ which means ‘absence of limits,’ or ‘anything goes.’”[14] What we see today is “bespredel” on steroids—a dangerous new game of Russian roulette.
Russian meddling in US elections combined with Russia’s growing international aggression has pushed US-Russian relations to a troubling low point. Sergey Rogov, academic director of the Institute for US and Canadian Studies in Moscow, says that hostility between the United States and Russia is deeper than it has been in years. He adds, “I spent many years in the trenches of the first Cold War, and I don’t want to die in the trenches of the second. We are back to 1983…. It’s frightening.”[15] The world has descended into a Putin-led Cold War 2.0. Consider these current headlines:
In addition to its cyber-espionage, Russia is constantly testing US patience and resolve with pinprick provocations. Russian bombers are flying off the coast of Alaska. Russian spy ships are loitering off the east coast of the United States. Russia’s acts appear to be carefully calculated and measured. Putin doesn’t want to cross the line and spark open confrontation with the United States, but he knows that microaggressions will be tolerated—to a point. Russia may also be testing the waters to see how far its intimidations can go without incurring a response from the US, or these may just be Putin’s attempts to constantly remind the world that Russia is relevant again. Whatever the Russian motivation for these actions may be, one thing is clear: the Bear is working on all fronts to let the US and the world know that there is a bear in the woods.
As the Kremlin is combing the world for soft spots to exert its influence, the Middle East and North Africa are key targets. Putin is taking advantage of the unrest, instability, and chaos in these places to promote his expansionist agenda. The disarray in the Middle East and North Africa has proved to be fertile soil for Putin’s unbridled ambition to bring back the Russian empire. Russia is working to bring Libya, Sudan, Turkey, and Iran under its umbrella. But the linchpin in Russia’s push into the Middle East is Syria, where the Kremlin has thrown in with the devil, supporting the diabolical tyrant Bashar al-Assad. Russian troops and aircraft poured into Syria in 2015. Russian air power combined with Iranian ground support is propping up the Assad regime. Russia is entrenched in Syria, even establishing a naval port in Tartus, giving Russia the warm-water port it has coveted.
The United States is already engaged in a proxy war with Russia in Syria that’s been going on for several years with both powers supporting different sides in the Syrian civil war. After the US Tomahawk missile strike of a Syrian air base on April 6, 2017, Russia and Iran warned the US of crossing “red lines” and raised the prospect of war. Without a doubt, Syria is a dangerous flash point. With Russian and Iranian troops stationed there and the United States launching missile strikes, the potential for a serious misstep is ever present. Any wrong move there could push the world to the brink of disaster. The Russian-Iranian alliance in Syria has put troops from these two nations ominously on Israel’s northern border. Russia’s new allies would love nothing more than to drive the Jewish state into the sea.
All of this forces us to reckon with some serious questions. Is what we’re witnessing just geopolitical coincidence, or could there be a hidden hand behind it all? Is it possible that the rise of Russia and the alliances that the Bear is forming are part of something bigger? Could it be the buildup for the fulfillment of ancient prophecies from Scripture? Is this another prophetic signpost that the world is racing toward the end of days?
On January 26, 2017, the Science and Security Board for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the minute hand on the Doomsday Clock ahead thirty seconds, bringing it to two minutes and thirty seconds to midnight. This is “the closest the clock has been to midnight since 1953.”[16] Among the reasons for the move were the rise of nationalism and the possibility of a renewed arms race between the United States and Russia.
People everywhere seem to sense that world events are moving toward an apocalyptic showdown. According to a recent poll, “41% of all U.S. adults, 54% of Protestants and 77% of Evangelicals believe the world is now living in the biblical end times.”[17]
10
Jeff Stone, “Meet Fancy Bear and Cozy Bear, Russian Groups Blamed for DNC Hack,”
11
Evan Osnos, David Remnick, and Joshua Yaffa, “Trump, Putin, and the New Cold War,”
14
David Ignatius, “Russia May Be Wounded, but It Can Still Bite,”
16
W. J. Hennigan and Tracy Wilkinson, “Scientists Move Doomsday Clock Closer to ‘Midnight.’ Trump’s Comments on Nuclear Weapons Are a Big Reason Why,”
17
“Shock Polclass="underline" Startling Numbers of Americans Believe World Now in the ‘End Times,’” Religion News Service, September 11, 2013, http://religionnews.com/2013/09/11/shock-poll-startling-numbers-of-americans-believe-world-now-in-the-end-times/.