US President Joe Biden warned of the possibility of a real war with a superpower, and considered this a possibility if the United States was subjected to what he described as a major cyber attack.
He added - in a speech to the intelligence community in Washington - that disinformation has become a problem that is getting worse.
"Most likely, if it ends up, we will end up in a real war with a great power, and that will be the result of a cyber hack with huge consequences," Biden said.
Baden also emphasized that intelligence information that Russia is spreading disinformation;
In an effort to influence the 2022 midterm elections.
Al-Jazeera correspondent in Washington, Nasser Al-Husseini, said that Biden's statements are the boldest American warning to the Russians and the Chinese, even if he did not mention them by name, noting that the US President did not specify the parameters of this attack in the future, but the warning here is for the Russians and the Chinese because the United States began talking about electronic piracy about Moscow. And Beijing in particular, without giving Washington more details.
Al-Jazeera correspondent pointed out that Biden's statements carry several meanings for the countries that the United States considers a strategic priority and strong competition, whether in trade, politics or locations around the world.
He also indicated that the US President's statement came after long patience and silence, and he did not comment much in the past few months on what is now known as electronic warfare, or cyber war.
In this context, the reporter explained that the United States has been subjected to several cyber attacks during the past few weeks and months, the latest of which was a "ransom demand" attack, which was said to be from a "criminal group" at the electronic level (hackers) in Russian territory, and perhaps in China.
One of the most prominent damages suffered by the United States due to these cyber attacks - according to the reporter - was weeks ago, when the distribution of gasoline stopped in the major cities of the East Coast, after the company hacked its distribution in the cities, and demanded a ransom of millions of dollars.
Months before that, also, at the end of the US elections, US servers in the Pentagon and the State Department and major US financial companies - which are the backbone of the US economy - were attacked, described as "successful", and the United States did not move a finger.