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Stratfor Emails: Lots of Excitement, How Much Information?


Wikileaks has released the emails Anonymous hacked from Stratfor. It will be interesting to see if there is support for the claims on the Wikileaks site. Right now, there's a lot of activity on #gifiles, not a lot of information.

It will take some time to sift through all the information, and I probably won't be doing much of it. I encountered and rejected Stratfor long before the period of the emails. It was clear that they were flying blind on a lot of subjects, and I already see criticism that, unlike responsible journalists, they were willing to base an analysis on single sources. That would account for some of the stuff that convinced me they weren't worth my time.

There are some macho quotes floating through #gifiles, most with no links. That wouldn't surprise me either; Stratfor always liked to affect macho. But we need to keep in mind that braggadocio doesn't necessarily have a basis in reality.

And keep in mind that single-source thing. Even if people were paid for information, they could have motivations to give Stratfor something other than a straight story.

So I'll be watching with amusement. The hot rumor is that George Friedman is resigning. He probably should have done that when the hack occurred.


Cheryl Rofer February 26, 2012 - 10:32pm
Cheryl Rofer's diary | printer friendly version | digg
( categories: Unproven Stories )

I'm amused

watching the twitter feed, but like you gave up on Stratfor years ago.

Tina February 26, 2012 - 10:38pm
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That would match my experience as well.

There's one little string in the releases thus far about supposed Israeli direct action inside Iran. All I can say is that they have a very "Hollywood" version of what is doable.

"In combat one should be very suspicious of painless moral choices. When you are confronted with a seemingly painless moral choice, the odds are that you haven't looked deeply enough." ~ Karl Marlantes

JustPlainDave February 27, 2012 - 12:26pm
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Will this change anything? No! Coal to Newcastle...

Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them,and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows,or with both~FDouglas

Celsius 233 February 27, 2012 - 8:48am
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Live blogging of leaked emails ....

by Greg Mitchell at The Nation and The Dissenter.

Epok February 27, 2012 - 1:58pm
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George Friedman on Email Theft and the Wikileaks Release

Video at the link.

Transcript:

I'm George Friedman, founder and CEO of Stratfor.

As most of you know, in December thieves hacked into Stratfor data systems and stole a large number of company emails, as well as private information of Stratfor subscribers and friends. Today Wikileaks is publishing the emails that were stolen in December. This is a deplorable, unfortunate -- and illegal -- breach of privacy.

Some of the emails may be forged or altered to include inaccuracies. Some may be authentic. We will not validate either, nor will we explain the thinking that went into them. Having had our property stolen, we will not be victimized twice by submitting to questions about them.

The disclosure of these emails does not mean that there has been another hack of Stratfor's computer and data systems. Those systems, which we have rebuilt with enhanced security measures, remain secure and protected.

The release of these emails is, however, a direct attack on Stratfor. This is another attempt to silence and intimidate the company, and one we reject. As you can see, emails sent to many people about my resignation were clearly forged.

We do not know what else has been manufactured. Stratfor will not be silenced, and we will continue to publish the geopolitical analysis our friends and subscribers have come to rely on.

As we have said before, Stratfor has worked to build good sources in many countries around the world, as any publisher of geopolitical analysis would do.

We are proud of the relationships we have built, which help our analysts better understand the issues in many of these countries through the eyes of people who live there.

We have developed these relationships with individuals and partnerships with local media in a straightforward manner, and we are committed to meeting the highest standards of professional and ethical conduct.

Stratfor is not a government organization, not is it affiliated with any government. The emails are private property. Like all private emails, they were written casually, with no expectation that anyone other than the sender and recipient would ever see them. And clearly, as with my supposed resignation letter, some of the emails may be fabricated or altered.

Stratfor understands that this hack and the fallout from it have created serious difficulties for our subscribers, friends and employees. We again apologize for this incident, and we deeply appreciate the loyalty that has been shown to Stratfor since last year's hack.

We want to assure everyone that Stratfor is recovering from the hack. We will continue to do what we do best: produce and publish independent analysis of international affairs. And we will be back in full operation in the coming weeks. We look forward to continuing to serve you.

One does wonder who started those resignation rumors...

Raja February 27, 2012 - 9:08pm
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WikiLeaks: Stratfor emails reveal problems with Web security

McClatchy

bottom line: "That's the big scandal here," said Jakobsen, the Norwegian risk analysis industry expert. "An intelligence company being hacked."

Tina March 1, 2012 - 3:00am
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