Russia seems less like a state and more like a mafia. “Nice wind farm you got there. Would be a shame if something were to happen to it. Maybe you better buy some more oil.”
Yes yes, russia, current year, politics, government actors,... but again... why is it connected to the internet in the first place?
I'll give you points on security concerns but your other comment is borderline ridiculous.
In terms of internet needs - there are many reasons that renewable assets need internet connectivity not strictly forecasting and it isn't unreasonable to be able to get secure connections.
Did they though? From what I read they only lost remote control and the wind turbines continued to operate in "auto mode".
Given stormy conditions you maybe could break some wind turbines remotely by somehow disabling their brakes/turning them into the wind, but if you only brick some electronics on a normal day, that's an easy fix. They're not complicated technology and replacement electronics/expertise are readily available.
In a contest. Not at war.
Decades of fighting guerrillas has left us loose with words. Tanks rolling past Kyiv should remind us of the bright line between annoying and engaging an enemy.
[A proxy war relationship] usually takes the form of funding, military training, arms, or other forms of material assistance which assist a belligerent party in sustaining its war effort.
I'm not complaining about that, mind, but it's not like it's surprising or unfair that they'd try to hit us in limited ways, if they can.
Day one of the invasion I double checked our backups (ahead of schedule) and security. And the company I'm with isn't at all involved with anything military, nor do we have any particular interest (business-wise) in Ukraine—some kind of mass automated attack still seemed likely enough to be worth a little of my time. I assume CISOs with infrastructure and military orgs were on a war footing before the shooting started. At least, I hope they were.
Proportionality. Weapons are being shipped to Ukraine for use on Ukrainian territory. Not Russia. I don't know if explicit red lines have been drawn. But the Moskva was sunk by Ukranian missiles [1]. And I believe the cross-border raids were done with Mi-8s, not the Mi-17s Kyiv’s been provided by the West [2].
If Russia wants to open its territory to retaliation, that's its choice. But it would be one more blunder in a series of idiot moves. (To be clear, this story looks like Russian criminals being Russian criminals more than anything state directed. If we didn't have the backdrop of the war, the headline would probably mention Bitcoin.)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-360_Neptune
[2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/04/20/...
We've established this precedent over decades in earlier proxy wars like Vietnam and Afghanistan where the US and USSR armed each others opponents. It certainly doesn't make the supplier an 'effective war participant' as you stated.
This was even true when the US and USSR sent actual personnel in as 'advisors' or combat pilots, even though that is direct involvement. It's not a casus belli.