Regardless of what they exactly mean, one core component is always the use of propaganda and disinformation, that is information - true, partly true or fake - to influence the opponent. Most of the time all of the above intermingle. A good disinfo always contains shreds of truth.
Arguably the longest lasting disinformation was likley planted by the Czarist secret service Ochrana: "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" - a deeply antisemitc pamphlet that is very popular among the far-right, parts of the far-left and islamists until today.
In Soviet times "Operation Denver" was launched in which the USSR spread the rumor that AIDS was an US-biological weapon. This should deflect attention from the use of chemical agents in Afghanistan and was partially successful in achieving the wanted outcome.
In recent times there are many examples but as it just happened yesterday 10 years ago i will use the example of the shooting down of MH17 by Russian forces. After the event Russian propaganda went into overdrive and used the "Firehose of Falsehoods" to sow doubt and discord. In the picture you can see some examples of media coverage shortly after the shooting down with the one of BBC NEWS from 2016 still asking the questions of "Who did it?" At this point it was proven beyond doubt that Russia was responsible.
So. How does it work? First of all "This Firehose of Falsehoods" actually is the same as Bannons "Flood the Zone with Sh*t." It is:
- LOUD and EVERYWHERE
- fast, continuous, repetetive
- there is no commitment to objective reality
- there is no effort to be consistent.
Why so?
Russian campaigns in the information space use the 5 Ds:
- Dismiss
- Distort
- Distract
- Dismay
- Divide/Distrust
In case of MH 17 those points show as follows:
- First Russia dismissed any allegations and tried to blame Ukraine
- Later they used the incident to deflect and distract international media from other warcrimes comitted at this time.
- They tried to distort the fact that a Russian BUK launcher was brought into Ukraine and out of Ukraine exactly at the time of the shoot down.
- They planted several other narratives to instill doubt and distrust.
This method proves highly effective - even more so in the age of social media were the flow of information is very fast, the attention span short, bubbles help reinforce opinions and media portals live of likes and clicks. The sheer amount of - easily distributed - (dis)information makes live hard even for the most engaged journalist and reader to sort out the truth. And the Russians play it very skillfully.
Now lets talk about the concept of "Reflexive Control" which tries to force the opponent to act in ways that are actually inappropriate and detrimental to his own goals.
S.A. Komov devised a list of possible ways to achieve this goal. Some points with recent examples:
- Distraction: Nuclear threats, polycrisis (migration etc.)
- Overload: Firehose of Falsehood - (Nazis in Ukraine, NATO threat, see MH17, Kramtorsk)
- Paralysis: Energy war
- Exhaustion: Sabotage in Europe, instability in MENA, intervention
- Division: Sowing and furthering discontent in NATO and EU - e.g. "Farmer riots" in Poland - Pacification: Russia will never attack Ukraine. Will never attack NATO.
- Deterrence: overwhelming manpower, war economy, systematic warcrimes, Kyiv in three days
- Provocation: Attack on Kharkiv to divert troops, strikes on civilian targets to divert air defence
- Deception: "Peace" negotiations, humanitarian corridors (Mariupol, Donbas)
- Pressure: "peace" offers, annexation of territory, "elections", diffamation of enemy leaders.
All of the above examples were and are designed to lure western leaders to not act in unity to counter the Russian aggression and are designed to entice western audiences to force their politicians to act in way that benefits Russia.
You see there is alot going on in our information space but I hope this short introduction helps to see some silver lining. Thanks for reading to the end! Repost if you liked the thread. Gratias ago.
