When Herr Asshole got back from his disastrous trip to Paris, he couldn’t think of anything better to do than insult Emmanuel Macron, the French president on twitter... in a way he would never have been man enough to do to his face. Trump is certainly the most disgusting excuse for a national leader anywhere in the world— and a stain on our nation, just like his dwindlng base of supporters are. I once pissed on Nixon’s grave. I look forward to defecating on Trump’s. Imagine what Jamie McCourt must have thought when someone in the Embassy rang her up and said, "Madame Ambassador, I think you had better take a look at la page twitter du grand crétin." Although... she did give him $400,000 for the job so she’s probably as cretinous as he is. (Besides, she used to be married to Frank McCourt and didn’t even have the class to change her name back.)Aside from everyone in the world laughing at him for his general petulance and for being afraid to get his “hair” wet, Trump is also pissed off about Paris because Macron released an international agreement on cybersecurity principles Monday as part of the Paris Peace Forum, which was the backdrop for Trump’s latest international buffoonery. More than 50 nations were among the initial signatories, but not authoritarian states like Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Iran… and Trumpistan.As Axios explained yesterday, "The Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace is another step in the disjointed effort to create international norms and laws for cybersecurity and warfare. In most international matters of regulating the internet, there tends to be a wide split between the liberal Western order and authoritarian nations like Russia and China. The agreement does not command any specific legislation." Asshole just wanted to show he stands with Russia and China against democracies and especially against Macron.
The principles include agreements to promote human rights on the internet, thwart election hacking, cease the theft of intellectual property via hacking and stop "malicious cyber activities in peacetime, notably the ones threatening or resulting in significant, indiscriminate or systemic harm to individuals." China, Russia and North Korea have each been accused of violating some or all of these in the past.
And Trump probably hopes to. Caroline Orr, reporting for ShareBlue, wrote that no one is positive why Asshole refused to be part of the new framework agreement.
The need for the international pact couldn’t be clearer. Current international law protecting civilians is founded on notions of state sovereignty and traditional methods of warfare, but the digital environment doesn’t respect or abide by international borders, and the information battlespace does not separate state actors and combatants from civilians.Without rules and norms to define these matters in the digital environment, civilians can all too easily get caught in the crossfire of state-sponsored hacking, misinformation campaigns, and cyberattacks on critical infrastructure.Just as the Geneva Convention specified rules of combat to protect civilian populations during wartime, the cybersecurity pact is meant to define what is unacceptable, and to provide a legal basis for punishing those who breach international rules and norms in the digital world.It’s not clear why the United States chose to join some of the world’s most repressive regimes in refusing to sign the agreement, but it’s far from the first time America has split from its allies under the leadership of the Trump administration— and just like the previous times, Russia stands to benefit substantially from America’s retreat from the global stage.The Kremlin regularly uses its cyber capabilities as tools of war, sometimes turning them against the Russian population, and at other times aiming at countries like Ukraine, Estonia, and, most recently, the United States. And in many instances, Russia has gotten away with these acts of aggression and human rights violations, in part because there is not even widespread agreement on the definition of cyberwarfare or the rules of engagement.A new agreement like the one unveiled Monday would put the United States and its allies in a stronger position to mount a defense and hold Russia accountable for such acts. But, as the RAND Corporation warned in a 2017 report, “Without clear consensus on what constitutes a cyber violation, Russia will likely continue to maneuver unfettered in the vast gray area of international law.”With the Trump administration continuing to make inexplicable decisions that benefit Russia with no apparent gains for the U.S., it’s not hard to see why so many people believe that Putin has a hold on Trump.Unfortunately for the American people, that also means Putin has a hold on Trump’s decision-making— and despite what Trump may claim, there’s nothing “America First” about America retreating.