Snowden Not Enough, Spying Continued Cyber Version

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Snowden Not Enough, Spying Continued Cyber Version

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Edward Snowden hoo-ha might have ended ten years ago, but illegal spying by the US carries on, both on its partners and anyone it wants to control, via warrantless surveillance rights to indiscriminately monitor communications of all internet users around the world.
Snowden popularized the term ‘metadata’ and started a heated debate about mass surveillance. He had succeeded beyond imagination. But who is there to defend our democracy and rights in this digital age?
The intelligence agencies (CIA, NSA, FBI – acronyms stated at end of article) dismissed such claims at that time, arguing that their programmes are constitutional, and subject to rigorous congressional and judicial oversight, yet critical to meet their overriding aim of protecting the public from terrorist attacks. As usual, they regurgitate the age-old slogan: if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to be scared of!
The whole world was shaken at that time. Its allies were rightly upset, its so-called enemies were proven right about what they had suspected all along, people were livid due to lack of some social responsibility, US internet companies claimed they were forced into cooperation and NGOs warned that surveillance was going beyond the intention of lawmakers.
Cell phones, laptops, Facebook, Instagram, X, Skype, and chat rooms: all allow the NSA to build what it calls ‘a pattern of life’, a detailed profile of a target and anyone associated with them. And the number of people caught up in this dragnet can be huge. You have to recall the Bourne Identity, Supremacy and Ultimatum trilogy of movies, to visualize the level of spying and black ops going on.
Ten years ago, faced with this growing public and political concern over the quantities of data it is collecting, the NSA said it collected only a tiny proportion of the world’s internet traffic, equivalent to a “dime on a basketball court”. But in reality, that is still a huge amount of data. It says it needs all this data to help prevent another terrorist attack like 9/11. To find the needle in the haystack, they argue, they need access to the whole haystack. Yet, the US Congress did not find any substantial evidence of NSA actions stopping terrorist attacks. NSA claimed 54 terror attacks being stopped, but was fact-checked to be only 4.
That was ten years ago. The chances were you were already sharing a lot more personal information than you thought, even back then.

Spying Continued
Now Five Eyes countries jointly conduct cyber espionage operations eavesdropping, tapping and collecting metadata upon other countries from Russia to China to Germany and France. Instead of toning down its indiscriminate monitoring and illegal spying operations, the Five Eyes have up their ante by introducing programmes such as False Flag operations, misleading traceability attribution and implanted backdoors in the internet products US companies sold to other countries.
US longstanding strategy of ‘forward defence’ and carrying out ‘hunt forward’ operations requires that it continues to stealthily spy on other countries by hook or by crook. At the same time, since Snowden’s time, due to investigations by US lawmakers, the tactics have gone underground, trying to cover up its attacks, erasing fingerprints of cyber espionage and attempting to obscure various identifiable features of its assaults. The worst of all was inputting code ‘strings’ in other languages to mislead cybersecurity experts and frame other countries for cybersurveillance.
According to China’s CVERC, Volt Typhoon was one such programme, deployed by the Five Eyes recently. China’s Global Times also highlighted a stealth tool kit codenamed ‘Marble’ used in such operations. The report claimed Marble can use over 100 algorithms to replace readable content in source code files with unrecognizable content and has the ability to insert interfering strings.
False Flag operations are a major component of Influence Operations by the Five Eyes countries. Influence operations include two aspects: (dis) Information operations and Technical disruption operations. Its 4D principles of deny, disrupt, degrade, and deceive are in full observation in its cyber spying activities.
Five Eyes’ illicit spying activities are helped by the fact that much of the world’s communications traffic passes through the US or its close ally the UK – what the agencies refer to as “home-field advantage”, because of the fact that it can control the world’s most internet choke points such as Atlantic submarine fibre optic cable and Pacific submarine fibre optic cable. The UK is connected to 57 countries by fibre optic cables whereas the US is connected to 63. NSA works closely with the FBI and British NCSC to carry out protocol analysis and data theft of the full amount of data transmitted by fibre optic cables, to achieve wholesale monitoring of internet users around the world.
The NSA has its own cable-intercept programs tapping traffic flowing into and across the US. These are collectively known as the Upstream collection. NSA runs these surveillance programmes through “partnerships” with major US telecom and internet companies. The Upstream project function is to retain all the original communication data of submarine fibre optic cables intercepted by monitoring stations in a massive data ‘reservoir’. The second project of NSA is Prism, whose main function is to classify the original data from the Upstream collection accordingly and to analyze its content. It is also a “downstream” programme – which collects the data from Google, Facebook, Apple, Yahoo and other US internet giants.
The above snooping would be sufficient provided if the data that they wanted actually travelled through the above submarine pipelines. What if the data they wanted to spy on stayed just within Russia or China? To solve this problem NSA conducts CNE for specific targets located in such blind spots and the Office of TAO follows up with the dirty work. To be specific, using advanced US technology and products, in cooperation with US internet, software and equipment suppliers, TAO would intercept and disassemble US products purchased by the entities in these blind spot territories, implant backdoors and repackage them before shipping them to their destination. These products once in use, would transmit back the required top-secret content back to NSA headquarters.
The division inside the NSA that deals with collection programmes that focus on private companies is Special Source Operations, described by Snowden as the “crown jewels” of the NSA, under the heading of ‘Corporate Partner Access’. It has already set out its mission: “Leverage unique key corporate partnerships to gain access to high-capacity international fibre optic cables, switches and/or routes throughout the world.” The names of many of the NSA’s “corporate partners” are so sensitive that they are classified as “ECI” — Exceptionally Controlled Information.

The future
Public opinion is polarized over surveillance, but polls over recent years showed a consistent increase in concern over privacy. Meanwhile, the unlawful activities by the Five Eyes continued, invading the privacy of many, not under its sovereignty as well as stealing the confidential top-secret information of other countries.
With the new peace-advocating President in place this year, hopefully, these anti-peace activities will discontinue soon. Optimistically, the $400 million assistance via Burma Act to antigovernment forces could be halted too, thereby stopping $20,000+ a month funding to each of the illegal fake news agencies in Chiang Mai, that did more to bring the country down than help any fellow citizens prosper.

Acronyms:
NSA: National Security Agency
CIA: Central Intelligence Agency
FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation
Metadata: Data providing information about other aspects of that data, e.g., information about the time and location of a phone call or email, as opposed to the contents of those conversations or messages.
Five Eyes countries: US, Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand,
False Flag operation: an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party.
Traceability attribution: tracing and attributing security-relevant actions (i.e., subject-object interactions) to the entity on whose behalf the action is being taken.
Implanted backdoor: a typically covert method of bypassing normal authentication or encryption in a computer, product, embedded device (e.g. a home router), or its embodiment.
CVERC: China Virus Emergency Response Centre
String: a data type used in programming, that is used to represent text rather than numbers.
NCSC: National Cyber Security Centre
Protocol analysis: tools to identify and create categories of propositions and semantic organization of text segments.
CNE: Computer Network Exploitation
TAO: Tailed Access Operation

Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar

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They also expect that doctors will provide them with a detailed discussion of their diseases and special advice on them. All patients prefer an individualized special care approach tailored to their particular health concerns. They value the timely information from the staff about appointment reminders and follow-up instructions through phone, message or email. They desire to be involved in making decisions on their own cases.Therefore, to fulfil the expectations and satisfaction of patients, the OPD staff should treat them with respect and good public communication. They should show understanding, empathy and mercy to their concerns and challenges. They should provide complete and clear information about procedures, waiting times and next appointments. There should be efficient management to prevent queue jumping. The staff should maintain a high standard of professionalism in appearance, behaviour and communication. There should be an effective, streamlined process from registration up to the follow-up to reduce waiting times. They should keep the privacy and confidentiality of patients. They should be heedful of the diverse cultural beliefs of patients and adapt their communication styles to avoid misunderstandings and conflicts. They should be committed to continuous medical learning so that they can offer patients much more advanced and effective treatments at all times and help them regain their normal health, the greatest blessing in their lives. They should place great emphasis on vulnerable groups such as elderly patients, children or the handicapped. They should flexibly react to challenges which arise during periods of high patient volumes or when an unexpected medical or technical crisis occurs. Through these skills and attitudes, the OPD staff can comfort and encourage patients, fostering an atmosphere of care, empathy and professionalism.Strategies for training the OPD staff to offer better services should include communication and empathy training, emergency response training, infection control and hygienic practices, continuous professional development, conflict resolution and stress management, continuous feedback loops, patient experience assessment workshop, cultural sensitivity training, quality and safety control training, incorporating technology in training, mobile app for continuous learning, cross-departmental training and team-building exercises. Incentives of various kinds should be offered to the staff by the management team to create staff satisfaction, which then leads to patient satisfaction.In conclusion, for the Outpatient Department (OPD) can render more efficient and qualified services and care to patients, it must be equipped with a sufficient number of highly competent and dedicated staff and physical facilities. There must be a streamlined patient flow and a smart workflow to create the best advantage for patients. It must offer integrated, patient-centred care through a harmonious and united effort of all staff. However, the burnout risks of staff from overburdening must be strategically handled for their retention. The OPD should collaborate with the community to develop community-oriented services. It should foster a culture of excellent care, prioritize patient experience and develop a patient loyalty programme. It should help patients gain access to and continuity of care. Its far-sighted targets should include the improvement of the online booking system, telemedicine expansion, application of artificial intelligence in various procedures, holistic personalized medicine, a one-stop health hub and a community outreach programme.Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar
Earthquake Diplomacy: Extending a helping hand to Myanmar through humanitarian ground
Earthquake Diplomacy: Extending a helping hand to Myanmar through humanitarian ground
The international community’s earthquake relief support to Myanmar depicts true compassion, solidarity, and commitment to a shared future.The Mandalay Earthquake that struck Myanmar in late March claimed 3,763 lives and injured 5,107 people, with 110 still reported missing as of 24 April, causing widespread devastation across major urban areas, especially in central Myanmar.The disaster consisted of two consecutive quakes: the first, a powerful 7.7-magnitude tremor, struck near Sagaing. Within just seconds, a second quake measuring 6.9 in magnitude was shaking with its epicentre near TadaU, Mandalay. Therefore, Mandalay, Nay Pyi Taw and Sagaing were impacted the most devastation of the quake, where the former two cities are economically and executively important to the country.The National Disaster Management Committee (NDMC) announced, as of 19 April, that a total of 65,096 residential housings; 2,514 schools, 4,317 monasteries and nunneries; 6,027 religious sites including pagodas, temples and stupas; 350 healthcare areas including public hospitals and clinics; 38 locations on the rail transportation system; 269 roads; 203 sites on the Yangon-Mandalay Expressway; 586 dams and water reservoirs, and 170 bridges across the country were damaged by the quake.Chairman of the State Administration Council, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, immediately requested international aid to remedy the heavy casualties and devastation of the country amid the quake. The call was quickly responded to by the international community. Neighbouring countries such as China, Thailand and India; friendly nations such as Russia and Belarus, ASEAN nations; many countries that build diplomatic relations with Myanmar, and international organizations such as UNICEF and WHO poured in their helping hands to Myanmar.“Dealing with disasters typically pushes diplomatic relations along the pathway which it was on before,” Professor Ilan Kelman remarked concerning disaster diplomacy in an interview with Business Insider in 2018.In this regard, many presidents, prime ministers, military leaders, top diplomats and top leaders of many countries sent their condolences to Myanmar day by day through various channels following the powerful earthquake.The very first, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated his condolences to Myanmar in a statement published on the Kremlin’s website, underlining his deepest condolences on the tragic consequences of the earthquake in Sagaing and Mandalay regions and stating that Russia shares the grief of the friendly people of Myanmar, the Russian media reported.Consequently, on the next day, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing received phone calls and letters from world leaders expressing their condolences to Myanmar. It witnessed the extensive diplomatic activities with Myanmar in the international diplomatic realm.What is more, as per Professor Ilan Kelman, it is learned that: “the diplomatic efforts following such events (disasters) can serve as a catalyst for the thawing of political and diplomatic relations between nations,” and “the evidence from disaster diplomacy studies suggests that disaster-related activities do not create fresh diplomatic opportunities, but that they have the possibility for catalyzing diplomatic action.”On this point, the 6th Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit was held in Bangkok, Thailand, from 2 to 4 April 2025. It marked the first in-person meeting of BIMSTEC leaders since 2018. The Myanmar delegation, led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, participated in the summit and related side events. The summit focused on enhancing prosperity, resilience, and openness for the region’s 1.7 billion people. During the meetings, BIMSTEC leaders held a minute of silence to express their condolences for the recent tremor that happened in Myanmar and Thailand.During the BIMSTEC meetings, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing extended additional requests to the international community to reinforce resettlement operations in Myanmar for the post-earthquake trauma. He met with the current BIMSTEC Chair, Thailand Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ahead of the BIMSTEC meetings discussed domestic situations of the socio-political landscape, and exchanged views on disaster management.The BIMSTEC leaders issued a joint statement on the impact of the earthquake on 4 April. It bolsters the solidarity of the regional bloc in supporting the mechanism of relief and recovery efforts, including collaboration through the BIMSTEC Centre for Weather and Climate to provide critical weather information and enhance early warning systems in the region. The efforts of the BIMSTEC member states in providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to Myanmar had been appreciated in the bloc statement.In addition, Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing met with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the rotational chair of ASEAN 2025, in Bangkok, Thailand, on 17 April. The meeting highlighted the extensive collaboration of the bloc in the relief of Myanmar from the earthquake disaster.It is highly challenging for the people of Myanmar to be resilient in this catastrophe with huge destruction unexpectedly, in addition to the multi-sectoral hardships on social, economic and political grounds in the meanwhile.Worse again, hundreds of aftershocks ranging from mild to severe with magnitudes between 3.0 and 5.5 continued shaking the country until mid-April every day. Every aftershock reportedly struck with a shallow depth of around 10 kilometres or below, intensifying their impacts. During these three weeks, there was no such day on which the aftershocks did not strike the regions alongside the Sagaing Fault, as well as in surrounding areas near the Kyaukkyan Fault and other smaller faults in Shan State.Sagaing Fault: The seismic activity of the 1,200-kilometre-long Sagaing Fault is highly active. It is responsible for major earthquakes in Myanmar’s history, such as the Bago Earthquake with a 7.3-magnitude in 1930 and the Mandalay Earthquake with a 7.7-magnitude in 1946. Since the fault passes through the urban area with high population density, and it runs north-south through the country, further studies have to be conducted later. Therefore, many external geologists and seismologists should conduct further studies on these deadly active tectonic plates.Over the past weeks, rescuers, medical teams, and shipments of relief and humanitarian supplies from various countries have been arriving in Myanmar, batch by batch. As of 17 April, rescue workers, medical teams, Red Cross personnel, and humanitarian aid workers from 25 countries have been actively involved in rescue and resettlement operations in Myanmar following the earthquake.“A total of 1,956 rescuers, 2,332 tonnes of humanitarian supplies and 1,170 tonnes of relief and rescue assistance from 25 countries have been received through 136 flights,” Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun shared the information with the media on 17 April.Senior General Min Aung Hlaing’s immediate declaration of emergencies and request for international assistance following the devastating tremor, which truly was part of effective disaster management, and the spontaneous responses of the international community on humanitarian grounds truly saved many souls and properties.A total of 653 lives were rescued and 754 bodies were found by Myanmar Fire Brigade personnel and foreign rescuers as of 18 April. Amongst, eight lives were saved and 203 bodies were discovered by the foreign rescuers, according to the NDMC.The people of Myanmar express our deepest gratitude to every nation, humanitarian organization, and international body that reached out to help us during our nightmare of this earthquake disaster. Every support of the international community has touched our hearts overwhelmingly.In summary, the earthquake in Myanmar on 28 March not only caused enormous suffering for the people of Myanmar, but it was also observed blessing in disguise. The recent earthquake disaster renewed engagement in addressing urgent humanitarian needs. The increased international aid witnessed a true compassion of caring and sharing in the essence of the shared future.Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar
Let’s Overcome the Impact of Earthquake Disaster through Collective Action
Let’s Overcome the Impact of Earthquake Disaster through Collective Action
Earthquakes are one of nature’s most destructive forces, capable of causing widespread devastation in a matter of seconds. While we cannot prevent earthquakes from occurring, we can significantly reduce their impact through collective awareness, preparation, and action. Natural disasters such as earthquakes strike without warning, leaving behind trails of destruction, sorrow, and loss. The ground shakes, buildings fall, and lives are changed forever within moments. In the face of such devastating events, individual efforts alone are not enough. It is only through collective action, the combined strength of communities, governments, organizations, and individuals that we can truly overcome the challenges and rebuild stronger than before.When an earthquake hits, the immediate priority is saving lives. Rescue teams, medical professionals, and volunteers must work hand in hand to provide emergency aid. This rapid response is only possible if communities are trained and prepared in advance. Therefore, collective preparedness such as earthquake drills, emergency plans, and shared knowledge can significantly reduce the loss of life. Schools, workplaces, and neighbourhoods must unite in practising these safety measures regularly.After the initial shock, the path to recovery requires even more cooperation. Rebuilding homes, restoring infrastructure, and healing from trauma take time and effort. Governments can provide funding and policy support, while local and international organizations offer technical assistance and relief supplies. Community members can participate in rebuilding efforts, support each other emotionally, and ensure no one is left behind. The power of unity becomes evident when everyone, regardless of their background, works towards a common goal.First and foremost, education and awareness are crucial. Many people are unaware of the signs of an impending earthquake or the safety procedures to follow. The offices, schools, and all communities must join forces to educate the public about earthquake risks and safety measures. Regular drills, public campaigns, and the integration of disaster preparedness into school curriculums can help ensure that everyone knows how to act quickly and calmly during an earthquake.Secondly, building infrastructure that can withstand seismic activity is essential. In earthquake-prone regions, strict construction standards should be enforced, and older buildings should be retrofitted to meet modern safety codes. Architects, engineers, and city planners all have a role to play in ensuring that our built environment does not become a trap during a quake. Investing in resilient infrastructure today can save countless lives tomorrow.Community cooperation is another powerful tool. Neighbours helping neighbours can make a significant difference in times of crisis. Forming local emergency response teams, establishing communication plans, and stockpiling essential supplies can improve survival rates and reduce chaos during an earthquake. When communities come together to prepare, the impact of disasters is often greatly reduced.Technology and science also offer valuable support. Early warning systems, seismic monitoring networks, and mobile alerts can provide precious seconds or even minutes of warning, giving people time to take cover. Governments and private sectors should work together to invest in these technologies and ensure they are accessible to all.Moreover, collective action plays a crucial role in reducing future risks. By learning from past experiences, communities can push for stronger building codes, improved early warning systems, and better land-use planning. Public education campaigns shared disaster data, and community-led resilience projects helped create a culture of safety and awareness.In conclusion, while we may not be able to stop earthquakes from happening, we can certainly prevent their worst effects by preparing and acting together. Let us unite and take collective responsibility to make our homes, schools, offices and cities safer. By joining hands — before, during, and after a disaster — we can protect lives, rebuild communities, and emerge stronger. Let us all remember: together, we are resilient. Together, we can overcome any disaster.Source :The Global New Light of Myanmar 
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