The FBI and other US intelligence agencies this week officially blamed Iran for a recent hack on Donald Trump's presidential campaign, which prompted fears of attempts by foreign actors to influence the November elections.
“Iran has … demonstrated a long-standing interest in exploiting societal tensions through various means, including through the use of cyber operations to attempt to gain access to sensitive information related to US elections,” the agencies said in a statement.
Tehran has denied involvement.
When it comes to foreign interference, the US has historically been the one to tamper rather than be tampered with: from assassinations to covert advertising campaigns, the US has frequently tried to influence political outcomes in countries around the world.
But foreign actors have become increasingly involved in trying to influence US elections – and this year is no different.
An Iranian hack job?
“Iran has always been a significant actor on the stage,” Philip Lieberman, founder and president of Analog Informatics and a noted cybersecurity expert, told The National.
“There have been public examples of them exerting their capabilities worldwide on anybody that displeases them. They're competent at this.
"The thing is that the tools themselves for doing these attacks are available on the dark net and are readily available to anybody with money.”
Under Mr Trump's administration in January 2020, the US carried out a strike in Baghdad that killed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force leader Qassem Suleimani. Iran has vowed revenge, but insisted it will pursue justice through legal action.
After the hack of his campaign, Mr Trump blamed Iran but claimed that the hackers had stolen only “publicly available information” from “one of our many websites”. It is still unclear what documents were taken.
Although the FBI has declared Iran responsible for the hack, there is not much that can be done in terms of punishing the attackers.
“Even if they investigate it and the criminal is offshore, they don't have the ability to reach out and deal with it, and so it begins to drop into the State Department's purview, depending on the size of it, of the incursion and its political implications,” Mr Lieberman told The National.
“There's a certain fundamental under US law: a citizen cannot take action against their attacker, because that would be a declaration of war – and in fact, warfare against another country.
"So the FBI becomes the spokesperson for the nature of the attack and its implications, and briefs the president as to what action they believe should be taken.”
US intelligence agencies have repeatedly warned of Iranian attempts to influence elections.
“Iran is becoming increasingly aggressive in their efforts, seeking to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions, as we have seen them do in prior election cycles,” Avril Haines, director of National Intelligence, told a Senate hearing this year.
“They continue to adapt their cyber and influence activities, using social media platforms, issuing threats and disseminating disinformation. It is likely they will continue to rely on their intelligence services in these efforts and Iran-based online influencers to promote their narratives.”
The lies that blind
But high-stakes hacks of political campaigns is only part of a much bigger picture.
Foreign actors looking to influence US elections aim to “pollute the environment” so Americans can be confused about matters ranging from how to submit mail-in ballots to politicians' connections with shadowy organisations intent on world domination.
While everyone is susceptible to disinformation, people on the extreme ends of the political spectrum are more likely to buy into false information, be it intentionally false (disinformation) or unintentionally (misinformation).
And the issues of 2024 are much more significant that those of previous elections.
Sarah Oates, a professor at the University of Maryland whose current research focuses on Russian political influence in the US, told The National that many voters have come to feel “unmoored” when it comes to getting reliable information.
“Politicians lie all the time,” Ms Oates said. "Trump was quite extraordinary in that he deliberately uses disinformation as part of his political process and he was sort of the first US president to do that.”
She said Mr Trump's essential undermining of several US institutions, including the media, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention during the Covid-19 pandemic and more recently the Justice Department, has affected how Americans view the validity of information.
And foreign actors looking to influence elections are taking advantage of this atmosphere of uncertainty.
Marek Posard, as sociologist at the Rand Corporation, a Washington-based think tank, told The National that because the “cost of entry” is so low, many countries and actors engage in election influence operations.
“There are certain issues surrounding contentious topics that they can amplify and twist, and the issue is, it's hard to figure out who's doing it,” Mr Posard said.
Ms Oates, author of the book Seeing Red: Russian Propaganda and American News, said: “We're not really dealing with electoral disinformation or propaganda in the normal way in 2024.
“We're actually dealing with an existential crisis about democracy … 2024 is not about who wins or loses, it's about whether the system holds together.”
Democratising the undermining of democracy
Disinformation can be spread in a variety of ways – through videos, news articles and social media posts.
“Social media is essentially the cheap pipeline to do this, in any way,” Mr Posard said. “We've democratised the undermining of democracy with social media, so you can pump out targeted content and lots of different ways on lots of different mediums simultaneously.”
Foreign actors aim to exploit existing fault lines in American society – such as race and foreign policy – to cause greater division.
The aim, Mr Posard said, is to increase divisions and “muddy the waters” to drive people to extremes.
Mr Posard was part of a team analysing the threat of foreign election interference in the 2020 race to become California's governor.
“We found pretty convincing evidence, for example, that Russia was targeting both the right and the left simultaneously, and so they would try to get on both sides of the aisle,” he said.
But it is hard to ignore highly influential people who are either intentionally using disinformation or have been duped into spreading it.
Ms Oates says that some politicians – especially Trump-supporting Republicans – are repeating and amplifying Russian talking points, especially with regard to Ukraine.
“Russia has these grand narratives … that they want to push out in the world,” she said– one of them being that Nato is “out to destroy Russia”.
“I think [President Vladimir] Putin and the Russians are just gleeful at the way in which Trump has become a conduit for their propaganda right into the heart of American politics.”
Mr Lieberman said that “it is war all the time” in the cyber world – and all governments are involved.
“All governments influence all elections in all other countries in the cyber realm, that's just reality,” he said.
“All countries use their cyber tools in order to promote their agendas. And that's always been the case. The issue is to what degree and how effective they are.”
He said they are generally not all that effective – “but generally speaking, it's ubiquitous”.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Who has been sanctioned?
Daniella Weiss and Nachala
Described as 'the grandmother of the settler movement', she has encouraged the expansion of settlements for decades. The 79 year old leads radical settler movement Nachala, whose aim is for Israel to annex Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where it helps settlers built outposts.
Harel Libi & Libi Construction and Infrastructure
Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.
Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.
Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
These are illegal outposts in the West Bank, which are at the vanguard of the settler movement. According to the UK, they are associated with people who have been involved in enabling, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that amount to “serious abuse”.
Results
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,200m, Winner: ES Rubban, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Ibrahim Aseel (trainer)
5.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh85,000 (T) 1,200m, Winner: Al Mobher, Sczcepan Mazur, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
6pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m, Winner: Jabalini, Tadhg O’Shea, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
6.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m, Winner: AF Abahe, Tadgh O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
7pm: Handicap (PA) Dh85,000 (T) 1,600m, Winner: AF Makerah, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
7.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m, Winner: Law Of Peace, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
How The Debt Panel's advice helped readers in 2019
December 11: 'My husband died, so what happens to the Dh240,000 he owes in the UAE?'
JL, a housewife from India, wrote to us about her husband, who died earlier this month. He left behind an outstanding loan of Dh240,000 and she was hoping to pay it off with an insurance policy he had taken out. She also wanted to recover some of her husband’s end-of-service liabilities to help support her and her son.
“I have no words to thank you for helping me out,” she wrote to The Debt Panel after receiving the panellists' comments. “The advice has given me an idea of the present status of the loan and how to take it up further. I will draft a letter and send it to the email ID on the bank’s website along with the death certificate. I hope and pray to find a way out of this.”
November 26: ‘I owe Dh100,000 because my employer has not paid me for a year’
SL, a financial services employee from India, left the UAE in June after quitting his job because his employer had not paid him since November 2018. He owes Dh103,800 on four debts and was told by the panellists he may be able to use the insolvency law to solve his issue.
SL thanked the panellists for their efforts. "Indeed, I have some clarity on the consequence of the case and the next steps to take regarding my situation," he says. "Hopefully, I will be able to provide a positive testimony soon."
October 15: 'I lost my job and left the UAE owing Dh71,000. Can I return?'
MS, an energy sector employee from South Africa, left the UAE in August after losing his Dh12,000 job. He was struggling to meet the repayments while securing a new position in the UAE and feared he would be detained if he returned. He has now secured a new job and will return to the Emirates this month.
“The insolvency law is indeed a relief to hear,” he says. "I will not apply for insolvency at this stage. I have been able to pay something towards my loan and credit card. As it stands, I only have a one-month deficit, which I will be able to recover by the end of December."
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Cabriolet
Price, base: Dh429,090
Engine 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission Seven-speed automatic
Power 510hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque 700Nm @ 1,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 9.2L / 100km
Why are you, you?
Why are you, you?
From this question, a new beginning.
From this question, a new destiny.
For you are a world, and a meeting of worlds.
Our dream is to unite that which has been
separated by history.
To return the many to the one.
A great story unites us all,
beyond colour and creed and gender.
The lightning flash of art
And the music of the heart.
We reflect all cultures, all ways.
We are a twenty first century wonder.
Universal ideals, visions of art and truth.
Now is the turning point of cultures and hopes.
Come with questions, leave with visions.
We are the link between the past and the future.
Here, through art, new possibilities are born. And
new answers are given wings.
Why are you, you?
Because we are mirrors of each other.
Because together we create new worlds.
Together we are more powerful than we know.
We connect, we inspire, we multiply illuminations
with the unique light of art.
Ben Okri,
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
RESULT
Australia 3 (0) Honduras 1 (0)
Australia: Jedinak (53', 72' pen, 85' pen)
Honduras: Elis (90 4)
What is safeguarding?
“Safeguarding, not just in sport, but in all walks of life, is making sure that policies are put in place that make sure your child is safe; when they attend a football club, a tennis club, that there are welfare officers at clubs who are qualified to a standard to make sure your child is safe in that environment,” Derek Bell explains.
City's slump
L - Juventus, 2-0
D - C Palace, 2-2
W - N Forest, 3-0
L - Liverpool, 2-0
D - Feyenoord, 3-3
L - Tottenham, 4-0
L - Brighton, 2-1
L - Sporting, 4-1
L - Bournemouth, 2-1
L - Tottenham, 2-1
Guns N’ Roses’s last gig before Abu Dhabi was in Hong Kong on November 21. We were there – and here’s what they played, and in what order. You were warned.
- It’s So Easy
- Mr Brownstone
- Chinese Democracy
- Welcome to the Jungle
- Double Talkin’ Jive
- Better
- Estranged
- Live and Let Die (Wings cover)
- Slither (Velvet Revolver cover)
- Rocket Queen
- You Could Be Mine
- Shadow of Your Love
- Attitude (Misfits cover)
- Civil War
- Coma
- Love Theme from The Godfather (movie cover)
- Sweet Child O’ Mine
- Wichita Lineman (Jimmy Webb cover)
- Wish You Were Here (instrumental Pink Floyd cover)
- November Rain
- Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden cover)
- Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan cover)
- Nightrain
Encore:
- Patience
- Don’t Cry
- The Seeker (The Who cover)
- Paradise City
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
How to donate
Text the following numbers:
2289 - Dh10
6025 - Dh 20
2252 - Dh 50
2208 - Dh 100
6020 - Dh 200
*numbers work for both Etisalat and du
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Qosty Byogaani
Starring: Hani Razmzi, Maya Nasir and Hassan Hosny
Four stars
