The Russia Virus: A Fiction (Or Is It?)

The Russian president is going all out to increase Russia's influence on the Western democracies. Computer hacking, misinformation campaigns and efforts to thwart elective processes are the weapons. Cyberwar. How far are the Russians willing to go? Action is called for to save ourselves from numerous deadly threats. Change is inevitable. What will the future bring? The characters in this story are all subject to more powerful forces than they can withstand. The directions taken in their lives are not theirs to choose beyond the insignificant power that the average person can muster. That is why it is important for each individual to make every effort to cast a vote in every election. If the vote seems insignificant, consider the atom. One is insignificant but many together can be the most powerful force. If we try, perhaps, we can make change to our specifications.In this work, the Russian president starts with hacking of computers combined with misinformation. His campaign against the West steps up with a clandestine mission to introduce a pathogen to the global populace, as in biowar. Then, just as his people begin, they are presented with an opportunity they can't resist. They foment a plan to manipulate a famous American, as they help him to win the presidency. How far will they go? Read the beginning:The Russian President, Vasily Pustin, contemplated his position. He was powerful and rich, and he could see clearly how to continue being powerful and rich. Any misstep could spell disaster, but the people were forgiving if he told the right lies. The President was a master of deception, promulgater of propaganda, expounder of untruths as suited his needs. He could wrap any situation in justifications and obfuscations, while pointing his finger accusingly at others. His manipulations had propelled him to the top of a huge, weak, shallow heap of manipulators that was the de facto Russian power hierarchy. He paid the others off by giving them money making construction contracts for civilian oligarchs and offering positions of power to his loyal military officers. The manipulated populace was kept in place using tyrannical power and The President’s propaganda machine, which were generally sufficient to maintain control. His enemies were imprisoned or worse, some dying of strange and obscure causes, poisons such as polonium 210 or the Soviet developed nerve agent, Novichok. These were easily attributable to Russia, as if The President wanted to send a clear, unambiguous ‘thumb your nose’ signal, ‘in your face’. The Russian President knew that staying in control was largely dependent on keeping his people poor and isolated. He liked to stir up some nationalistic fervor while he was pocketing the people’s money, giving government contracts to his friends, for a small or large kickback, and siphoning the national wealth from the oil dollars that flowed out of the ground. However, The President was not happy being the undisputable leader of a big, floundering mass of a third-rate nation. A bit player on the world stage. He wanted to be leader of the world. He had the weaponry to push other nations around, but not the economic clout. There could be no ascension to that lofty goal, but he had a plan.Since there was no room at the top, The President would make room for himself. His time in the KGB had prepared him well and subterfuge was his forte. He wanted to punish those who had wronged him, chiefly the Americans, and bring them down to a lower level than himself. He would use the mechanisms he had learned and employed in the secret intelligence organization, the KGB. Russia had some of the best computer hackers and propaganda purveyors in the world and on The President’s command, they would ramp up their efforts to subvert the government of the United States and other western democracies. Democracy was a thing of the past.