Final Word from Tuesday, February 19, 2019
When the U.K. announced last year that one of the world's most devious spy organizations had botched the assassination of a Russian traitor using an extremely deadly poison, Czech politicians and intelligence agencies fell into line and didn't ask any questions about the holes in the story. The U.K. is our ally, they said, and Russia is not. Case closed. How different things are now with Huawei. According to Respekt, the CR's NÚKIB cybersecurity agency inspected Huawei's equipment and found things that shouldn't be there. This was akin to finding a sealed bottle of Novichok in the park. Yet the U.K.'s National Cyber Security Center has reportedly found that Huawei isn't that toxic after all. There are ways to mitigate the security threats, it found. This is of course more a swipe at Donald Trump than at Dušan Navrátil of NÚKIB, but still, when the CR needed a bit of friendly support, its ungrateful ally started asking questions about the holes in NÚKIB's story. [ Czech Republic GRU United Kingdom UK NCSC Centre ]
Glossary of difficult words
devious - showing a skillful use of underhand tactics to achieve goals;
to botch - to carry out (a task) badly or carelessly;
to fall into line - to conform with others;
akin - of similar character;
to mitigate - to make (something bad) less severe, serious, or painful;
swipe - a blow; an attack or criticism;
ungrateful - not feeling or showing gratitude.