Professor Tsygankov Discusses Rumored Russian Cyber Attack on U.S. Democrats

RUSSIA DIRECT -- Asserting power in cyberspace is quite common today and all the major powers are practicing it, with the United States being engaged in it much more extensively than the others, says Andrei P. Tsygankov, professor of International Relations and Political Science at San Francisco State University. As he suggests, Russia and China do respond in cyberspace, “seeking to confuse and discredit their Western opponents.” “However, possessing a special capacity to break into the DNC server or falsify the U.S. elections would be something new, and we don’t have definitive evidence that Russia has such capability,” he argues. Given the U.S. track record of accusing others and claiming proof without providing it is not encouraging, he notes. “In practice, neither the U.S. nor Russia is developing a grand plan of destroying their respective political systems,” he adds.