{"id":149395,"date":"2025-05-05T08:42:25","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T15:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=149395"},"modified":"2025-05-05T08:42:25","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T15:42:25","slug":"iberian-mysteries-the-spanish-blackout-do-pegasus-and-cyber-attacks-on-electricity-grids-explain-chabad-houses-in-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2025\/05\/05\/iberian-mysteries-the-spanish-blackout-do-pegasus-and-cyber-attacks-on-electricity-grids-explain-chabad-houses-in-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"Iberian mysteries (the Spanish blackout): Do Pegasus and Cyber-attacks on Electricity Grids explain Chabad Houses in Sri Lanka?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dimitris Konstantakopoulos<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

It\u2019s unprecedented.<\/strong> In two European countries\u2014both EU and NATO members\u2014electricity was suddenly cut off. Two more countries, France and Morocco, were also affected by the blackout. Life came to a standstill in the two countries most heavily impacted: passengers were trapped in trains, airports plunged into chaos, and in Spain alone, the estimated damages could reach 800 million euros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is no small matter, nor has anything like it ever happened before\u2014a total blackout in two countries and partial outages in two others. To this day, no one has offered a satisfactory explanation of what happened\u2014or even a plausible hypothesis as to how such an accident\u201d could occur, if it was indeed an accident. Of course, as always, some are quick to use the incident to promote their own narratives. The left blames privatization\u2014and indeed, new private owners are more interested in boosting profits than in raising costs by investing in network security. Nuclear energy advocates seized the moment to argue that the reduced share of nuclear power in the national energy mix is to blame. The far-right points fingers at renewable energy\u2014that\u2019s their go-to grievance. But none of them are offering strong arguments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, we live in an age of irrationality, fanaticism, and Manichaeism\u2014where loud voices abound, but evidence and reasoning are in short supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if it wasn\u2019t a mysterious accident, then it was a cyberattack, carried out with a shock and awe\u201d strategy. If such a scenario is accurate, then welcome to the brave new world of cyberwarfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Spanish leadership has, of course, categorically denied this possibility\u2014so categorically that it seems unwilling to even begin the search for a culprit, possibly fearing the complications that might arise. After all, how can one categorically deny such a possibility when the exact cause of the incident remains unknown? Still, the government failed to convince even the country\u2019s Supreme Court, which ordered an investigation into the possibility of a cyberattack, leaving nothing off the table. This is also the approach taken by Spain\u2019s intelligence agencies, including the National Cryptology Center and the National Intelligence Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The possibility of a cyberattack was taken seriously enough to make headlines in major international media outlets. No evidence of cyberattack,\u201d was the title chosen by The Guardian<\/em>. But that could just as well be read in reverse: No evidence that it wasn\u2019t a cyberattack.\u201d If the possibility was not serious, it wouldn\u2019t have been discussed\u2014let alone featured on front pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most likely scenario is that we\u2019ll never know with certainty what really happened. And if we never find out, that may be precisely because what happened is too important to be disclosed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two suspects<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it was<\/em> a cyberattack, then who might have been responsible? Politico<\/em>, a thoroughly mainstream and well-informed media outlet with major influence in the West, identifies two possible culprits: Israel and Russia. As it wrote: Spain\u2019s opposition to Israel\u2019s war in Gaza and its support for Ukraine against Russia\u2019s invasion have made it a major target for cyberattacks.\u201d https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/spain-portugal-power-blackouts-energy-electricity\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reference to Israel is bold and unusual by current Western standards, where even the slightest criticism of this country often leads to swift accusations of antisemitism and public condemnation. On the other hand, while it can\u2019t be ruled out entirely, the scenario of a Russian cyberattack seems unlikely. It is true that Spain has followed NATO\u2019s general anti-Russian stance, but its role in the Ukraine conflict has been secondary. It is not among the countries most aggressively pushing now for the continuation of the NATO war. It is governed by a coalition of Socialists and the radical left\u2014the latter having many reservations about Ursula von der Leyen\u2019s program of mass European rearmament. If Moscow wanted and was able to strike, one might wonder what it would gain by targeting Spain \u2014 why not attack the UK, France, Germany, the Baltics or Ukraine itself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, if there were even the slightest solid indication that Russia was behind the blackout, wouldn\u2019t Europe have erupted in condemnation of Moscow?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some colleagues in Spain we spoke suggest that probably Politico\u2019s reference to Russia was included so that the mention of Israel wouldn\u2019t stand alone. And they add: if a media outlet like Politico<\/em> made such a suggestion about Israel, it likely had a very serious reason to do so. After all, media of Politico<\/em>\u2019s stature often maintain some level of connection with major Western intelligence services. Clearly, if a major European country like Spain truly suffered such a cyberattack, it would not go unnoticed by its intelligence agencies\u2014nor likely by those of other EU states or the US. The article, therefore, might also be read as a kind of warning, our colleagues underline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Possible Motives and Preconditions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The probable reason that could lead Israel to take such an action is Spain\u2019s highly active stance in favor of Palestine, which has greatly strained its relations with Tel \u2013 Aviv. Madrid recognized the Palestinian state a year ago, along with three other European countries. A few days ago, under pressure from the radical left faction within its ranks, the S\u00e1nchez government was forced to cancel a major ammunition purchase contract from Israel, citing the latter\u2019s genocidal actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, Spanish authorities have reopened the case and are conducting investigations, in collaboration with France, regarding the alleged surveillance of Prime Minister S\u00e1nchez and other Spanish politicians using the Israeli Pegasus spyware. It is worth noting that this same system was reportedly used to spy on French President Macron, a fact that says much about the correlation of power between France and Israel https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/technology\/cybersecurity\/spain-reopens-israeli-spyware-probe-sharing-information-with-france-2024-04-23\/<\/a>! Pegasus was also used, alongside the Kandiru software, to monitor dozens of Catalan politicians in the Katalangate scandal. The human rights group Ir\u00eddia and Amnesty International concluded that those responsible for this case were the heads of the Israeli company NSO, who later attempted to cover their tracks by appearing as heads of various companies in Luxembourg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Already since last year, top Israeli hackers have settled in Barcelona, from where they coordinate their operations across the European Union https:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/israel-news\/security-aviation\/2024-12-26\/ty-article\/.premium\/israeli-hackers-flock-to-barcelona-as-spyware-industry-shifts\/00000193-fec4-df5b-a9b3-fec5d9dc0000<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact that Israel is now under the control of an extreme, fanatical leadership that seeks to immediately expel or eliminate the Palestinian population\u2014and has every reason not to care about the formalities of Western democracies\u201d\u2014is certainly a factor that would facilitate undertaking such international actions, which under normal circumstances would be considered extreme adventurism, especially against two EU and NATO member states. Israel also appears to have become one of the most powerful global forces in surveillance and all forms of information warfare.\u201d Together with the Americans, it has likely organized cyberattacks against Iran\u2019s nuclear reactors, the pager attack in Lebanon, while officers from the Israeli armed forces have been placed in key positions at all major internet giants such as Google.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(As revealed by the Greek editor Mr. Vaxevanis https:\/\/www.ieidiseis.gr\/politiki\/351413\/vaxevanis-toylachiston-15-anthropoi-ekanan-tis-synakroaseis-gia-na-min-akoyei-oli-mera-o-k-mitsotakis\/<\/a> \u2014without being denied by anyone\u2014Israeli officers also organized the infamous surveillance scandal in Greece. We can\u2019t rule out that the revelations about this scandal came from US agencies, who thought the Israelis had gone too far.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything we wrote so far remain of course speculative and analytical reasoning at best\u2014indications rather than conclusions. But we have written them because we consider important that the public and those still interested  for the security of European nations are informed about what is being discussed in the more serious circles of the West itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Role of Jorge<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a good opportunity to recall that the infamous Tal Hanan, or Jorge,\u201d an Israeli entrepreneur\u201d and former (?) special forces officer in the Israeli army, who was linked to Cambridge Analytica\u2014a company accused of manipulating millions of Facebook users to vote for Trump \u2014 has claimed responsibility for cyberattacks during the lead-up to the (non-binding) 2014 Catalonia independence referendum. These attacks targeted the local government and various websites that encouraged people to vote in the referendum. Cyberattacks were also carried out against the emergency medical services website, the Catalan police, and the internal website of the Catalan judicial system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s worth noting that the role of Jorge and his team in cyber warfare and public opinion manipulation\u2014using millions of personal data points and other methods\u2014was exposed in an investigation by some of the world\u2019s biggest newspapers. His team engaged in disinformation, hacking, and espionage methods and allegedly influenced 33 elections worldwide www.theguardian.com\/world\/2023\/feb\/15\/revealed-disinformation-team-jorge-claim-meddling-elections-tal-hanan<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commotion about Jorge and his team, however, was short-lived. Someone\u201d ensured the issue would quickly fade from public debate. As for journalists, nowadays the vast majority are paid not to uncover or investigate\u2014 but rather to remain silent, to cover not to uncover. And if something does get revealed, it\u2019s usually when powerful forces within our increasingly totalitarian West clash between themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Heart of the Rising Global Authoritarianism<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of what did or did not happen in Spain with the blackout, what is certain is that Israel\u2019s intelligence services and armed forces\u2014along with US agencies\u2014have privileged access to the oligopolies controlling more and more our Internet world and representing the avantguarde of the emerging Western authoritarianism. And perhaps, the Israelis have an even stronger sense of purpose\u201d or mission\u201d than the Americans themselves and can often leverage the latter for their own goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Israeli military\u2019s privileged relationship with Google is believed to give them access to data from hundreds of millions of users. Google collaborates closely\u2014and will collaborate even more closely\u2014with the Israeli military, which will thus gain even greater access to user data. The same applies to Meta and Facebook.Wiz Acquisition Puts Israeli Intelligence In Charge of Your Google Data<\/a> Veterans\u201d of Israel\u2019s Unit 8200 have taken key leadership positions at the biggest tech companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon https:\/\/www.defenddemocracy.press\/the-former-israeli-spies-working-in-top-jobs-at-google-facebook-and-microsoft\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unit 8200 specializes in surveillance and the collection of incriminating data, and its officers designed and installed Pegasus spyware, which has been used to monitor tens of thousands of politicians worldwide and was probably used in the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These four tech giants, along with Peter Thiel\u2019s Palantir\u2014Thiel being a dark cardinal\u201d of Trump and of the masterminds of his authoritarian plans\u2014collaborate closely and contribute significantly to the crimes taking place in Palestine.
https:\/\/www.defenddemocracy.press\/tag\/thiel-peter\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translated from Greek by Christian Haccuria<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dimitris Konstantakopoulos It\u2019s unprecedented. In two European countries\u2014both EU and NATO members\u2014electricity was suddenly cut off. Two more countries, France and Morocco, were also affected by the blackout. Life came to a standstill in the two countries most heavily impacted: passengers were trapped in trains, airports plunged into chaos, and in Spain alone, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149395\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}