Gawker: valleywag, vladimir putin

Is Twitter Under Attack from Russia?

Ryan Tate — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:45:37 EDT

Twitter continues to be flaky today. Par for the course on the overcrowded microblogging service, right? But Twitter claims it is the victim of elaborate hack attacks that "appear to have been geopolitical in motivation." That's actually true!

In a blog post, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone writes that the attacks are ongoing and "massively coordinated," but declined to elaborate, because then he'd have to kill you. Actually no, it's because he didn't want to "engage in speculative discussion." But a Georgian blogger is happy to speculate; he says it's totally the Russian regime.

The blogger, known as "Cyxymu," has been outspoken in his criticism of Russian tactics in the war over the disputed region of South Ossetia. Facebook's chief of security tells CNET (via Business Insider) that Cyxymu is the target of the denial of service attack on Facebook and Twitter yesterday and today. The blogger has accounts on both services, as well as on LiveJournal, Blogger and YouTube. Google, which operates the latter two, told CNET its systems "prevented substantive impact to our services," so we still have the keyboard cat.

First the subs off our coast, now Twitter attacks. How will the Russians vaguely annoy us next? Satellite TV jamming? Attack the iPhone app store?

(Pics via)

Vladimir Putin Taunts Michael Dell

Owen Thomas — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:28:00 EST

Dude, Russia's not getting a Dell. That's a polite version of what Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Russia's testy KGB agent turned autocrat, told Michael Dell in Davos. Dell's sin? After Putin delivered a fiery 40-minute sermon about the doom of the West, Dell asked if there was any way his company could help Russia with its computers. Yes, he gave a tacky sales pitch at the high-minded World Economic Forum. But he didn't deserve the tongue-lashing Putin gave him next, as reported by Fortune: "We don't need help. We are not invalids. We don't have limited mental capacity."

Ouch! That's almost as bad as the time someone asked Dell what he'd do if he ran Apple, and he said he'd shut it down and return the money to shareholders. Apple is now worth four times as much as Dell's company.

(Photo by AFP/Getty Images)

Google's Russian acquisition delayed by regulators

Owen Thomas — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:20:00 EDT

Why hasn't Google finished its acquisition of Begun, a Russian online-advertising startup? The country's antitrust authority has asked Google to provide lists of people who control the company. Or work there. Something may have been Jewish, and liberal, is no friend of the authoritarian state.

Investor Patricia M. Cloherty receives medal from Vladimir Putin

Jackson West — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:00:10 EDT

Veteran VC Patricia M. Cloherty has been awarded Russia's highest honor for non-citizens, the Order of Friendship, by outgoing president and incoming prime minister Vladimir Putin. Cloherty has been helping to make Russia safe for capitalism since her appointment to head the U.S. Russia Investment Fund by Bill Clinton in 1994. That fund is now managed by Delta Private Equity Partners, of which Cloherty is chairman and CEO. Current Delta projects include VideoNext, a suitably Orwellian video surveillance software and services company with offices in Virginia and the Ukraine. Flip that company for a profit, Patricia, and you just might get a statue.