"Russian hackers" myth was created in order to justify U.S. military expenditures?

[AleksBudka17]

Greetings!
After reading this article (I don’t know how I came across it lol), a reasonable question arose in my head: why do the United States traditionally accuse of cyber attacks only those countries that do not agree with the White House agenda (Iran, China, Russia and North Korea?) I mean, don't you think that America itself carries out false flag operations, setting the world community against the above-mentioned states? All in all America has a whole Cyber Command, which like the rest of the army must also justify its existence. There’s no doubt the activities of this Cyber Command are not limited to just defensive operations. Best defense is a good offense after all.
I can’t say much about Iran, China or the D.P.R.K. due to the lack of communication with the citizens of these countries, however, being familiar with the Russians, I can say that they are pretty funny and open-minded, despite their closed nature. And almost no one believes in conspiracy theories among them. Same can't be said for the United States. In the past year conspiracy theories have been taking center stage in American mainstream politics. At the same time, no convincing evidence was attached to any conspiracy theory, as well as to any large-scale cyber-incident.
First, at the epoch of the Cold War American government scared its citizens by «hand of Moscow» and Russian mafia afterwards. With the fall of the “Iron Curtains”, everyone realized that the Russians, for the most part, are regular people who have common problems. Perhaps, with the rise of alternative media and development of information technologies as a whole, as well as realizing that the population is progressively losing confidence in national propaganda, the U.S. leadership has shifted to the area where it would be very difficult for an ordinary person to get to the truth – cyberspace.
In fact, most cyber attacks do not require high skills or significant financial outlays, especially given the recent massive leak of NSA’s cyber tools (most likely NSA workers themselves dumped these tools). In my opinion, America and its allies themselves create conditions for accusation, presenting indirect evidence that can be interpreted as it wanted.
Clearly, I admit that my (conspiracy) theory may be wrong or silly. However, I'm glad to read every single comment, especially if it is well-argued! Have a nice day everyone!

 

[Counter-Errorist]

Greetings!
After reading this article (I don’t know how I came across it lol), a reasonable question arose in my head: why do the United States traditionally accuse of cyber attacks only those countries that do not agree with the White House agenda (Iran, China, Russia and North Korea?) I mean, don't you think that America itself carries out false flag operations, setting the world community against the above-mentioned states? All in all America has a whole Cyber Command, which like the rest of the army must also justify its existence. There’s no doubt the activities of this Cyber Command are not limited to just defensive operations. Best defense is a good offense after all.
I can’t say much about Iran, China or the D.P.R.K. due to the lack of communication with the citizens of these countries, however, being familiar with the Russians, I can say that they are pretty funny and open-minded, despite their closed nature. And almost no one believes in conspiracy theories among them. Same can't be said for the United States. In the past year conspiracy theories have been taking center stage in American mainstream politics. At the same time, no convincing evidence was attached to any conspiracy theory, as well as to any large-scale cyber-incident.
First, at the epoch of the Cold War American government scared its citizens by «hand of Moscow» and Russian mafia afterwards. With the fall of the “Iron Curtains”, everyone realized that the Russians, for the most part, are regular people who have common problems. Perhaps, with the rise of alternative media and development of information technologies as a whole, as well as realizing that the population is progressively losing confidence in national propaganda, the U.S. leadership has shifted to the area where it would be very difficult for an ordinary person to get to the truth – cyberspace.
In fact, most cyber attacks do not require high skills or significant financial outlays, especially given the recent massive leak of NSA’s cyber tools (most likely NSA workers themselves dumped these tools). In my opinion, America and its allies themselves create conditions for accusation, presenting indirect evidence that can be interpreted as it wanted.
Clearly, I admit that my (conspiracy) theory may be wrong or silly. However, I'm glad to read every single comment, especially if it is well-argued! Have a nice day everyone!

I don't fully understand your argument. You're saying Russia doesn't carry out cyber-attacks on the US because they're nice, regular people? That seems largely irrelevant. Any nation not carrying out cyber attacks / cyber espionage these days is losing a massive opportunity in my opinion. Cyber espionage is relatively cheap for a nation state, it doesn't cross any red-lines and is easy to mask - even get someone else blamed for it.

Russia managed to make their agent US president. They've bought out most of the Republican party. It's one of the biggest coups of the century. It's ridiculous how no one sees it as such. To think that Russians wouldn't be carrying out cyber-attacks on the US is naive.

However, you're right in saying that the US does the same, which is common knowledge these days thanks to Snowden.

 

[AleksBudka17]

I don't fully understand your argument. You're saying Russia doesn't carry out cyber-attacks on the US because they're nice, regular people? That seems largely irrelevant. Any nation not carrying out cyber attacks / cyber espionage these days is losing a massive opportunity in my opinion. Cyber espionage is relatively cheap for a nation state, it doesn't cross any red-lines and is easy to mask - even get someone else blamed for it.

Russia managed to make their agent US president. They've bought out most of the Republican party. It's one of the biggest coups of the century. It's ridiculous how no one sees it as such. To think that Russians wouldn't be carrying out cyber-attacks on the US is naive.

However, you're right in saying that the US does the same, which is common knowledge these days thanks to Snowden.

Thank you for your answer!
By saying the Russians are regular people I mean that during the Cold War the American propaganda told the Soviets were crazy people who could start nuclear war at any minute, you know.
It feels like the American narrative found itself in cyber space - a place where nothing can be proven. And its mainstream media can do the whole work by spreading idea of Russian aggression - same thesis since the Cold War.