Information war technologies in 2018. Retrospective and perspective

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Huge budgets, national news agencies, expert forums and journalism courses are just a part of how the West intends to combat "Russian propaganda" in Europe in the near future.

Just imagine, one fine day you turn on the news and they tell you that for almost the whole day the parliament and the Government of Russia sat discussing the West, and as a result decided to create a separate department that would fight Western propaganda on the territory of our country. In addition, over 200 million rubles will be allocated for these purposes in the next three years. And dozens of forums will also be held, special information resources will be created, and training courses for journalists will be conducted on how to best counter Western propaganda.

"What is this brainwashing?" Big Brother "is real? Now the" nuclear ashes "of Kiselev will seem like a child's tale to us," someone might say. I will just say that all this already exists, and not for the first year. Only not in Russia, but in quite itself in a civilized, democratic and tolerant Europe.

Back in the spring of 2015, the EU authorities created a new structure called the EU Task Forces, better known as StratCom East. It was created on the basis of the European External Action Service (something like the EU Foreign Ministry) and is designed to fight the "Kremlin propaganda" in Europe.

And this is not some kind of fake structure that duplicates unnecessary reports, with one department of clerks and an army of dead souls to master the budget. No. These are about 400 leading European journalists, political experts, analysts of all kinds, professional officials and public figures from about 30 countries. And they are all as one convinced that Russia is an aggressor country that must be stopped.

From Nazi Gehlen to Commissioner King

In general, before disassembling such a phenomenon, it is worth plunging into history in order to understand where the legs grow from. Experts often cite as an example the times of the Cold War, when similar structures opposed the communist ideology and the Soviet project. True, then they were more directed not at their own (Western) citizens, but at Eastern Europe, which was part of the Soviet bloc, as well as at the USSR itself. But in reality, all these structures used the tools and basis developed long before the Cold War.

We are talking about Lieutenant General of Hitlerite Germany Reinhard Gehlen and the 12th department of the General Staff of the Wehrmacht "Foreign armies of the East" subordinate to him. This structure in the Nazi army was not only responsible for collecting intelligence information about the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War, but also compiled various analytical materials on the national composition of the USSR, climate characteristics, transport structure, social aspects of life in the Soviet state, cultural characteristics of its peoples, and etc. The task for Gehlen and his subordinates was one - to find the pain points of the Soviet Union and develop ways of influencing them.

At the end of the war, Gehlen and his subordinates from the 12th department were not only able to survive after the defeat of the Third Reich by surrendering to the American troops, but they also hid all their work - a gigantic archive of documents accumulated over the years of the war. This archive and the experience of yesterday's Nazis were deservedly appreciated by the US authorities, and therefore Gehlen and his subordinates not only escaped the trial, but also the prisoner of war camp as such.

They were sent to the secret base 1142 (named after the place's postal address) near Washington. There, the former head of the Nazi intelligence department and his colleagues created the so-called "Gehlen organization", where they actually continued their previous work, only now in close contact with the CIA.

In 1953, the "Gehlen Organization" was transported to the Federal Republic of Germany. The Federal Intelligence Service of Germany (BND) was created from it, and Reinhard Gehlen himself became its head. Needless to say, the BND not only continued to work under the CIA protectorate, but was also created, including with US money.

And in parallel to this process, all in the same Germany begins its broadcasting to the countries of Eastern Europe and the USSR "Radio Liberty". Yes, that’s it. Within just a year, probably not without the help of Gehlen's developments, 17 national editions have already been working on the radio - Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh, Armenian, Azerbaijani and others. All of them carry "words of truth and expose the Kremlin's propaganda" right up to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Our days are coming, and it would seem that there is no more ideological and geopolitical enemy in the face of the USSR. Let's beat the swords into plowshares. However, in the 21st century, apparently, the new Russia did not suit the West either, and therefore the work of such resources as Radio Liberty has been resumed. Only in a slightly different format. For example, instead of the national edition, the editorial office is now territorial, designed for all residents of Siberia. The logic behind this decision is not difficult to understand. Especially when information about a certain Siberian identity and the existence of the Siberian language has been circulating for several years.

But this is about Russia itself. And in Europe, it is StratCom East that is responsible for the information struggle with our country, one of the main provisions of which is that "Russian propaganda" in Europe primarily consists in the dissemination of "disinformation and fake news." To counter this phenomenon, the euvsdisinfo portal and the corresponding social media accounts were launched on the basis of StratCom East. This resource collects daily news from the Russian media and presents them in the form of "disinformation", allegedly conducted by the Kremlin.

For example, the Russian media reports on the significant growth of the Muslim population in Europe and the related threats. At the same time, journalists refer to the data of the report of the authoritative American research center Pew Research Center. Employees immediately stigmatize everything announced by the Russian media and call it disinformation, and then play with their hands begins. It is explained that the overall percentage of Muslims in Europe is about 5%. By 2050, it can allegedly rise to 14%. However, there are already 10% in Russia and there are no threats of Islamization, euvsdisinfo experts explain.

In fact, there is a big substitution of concepts. In particular, the Muslim population of Russia has been living in its territories for centuries and is deeply integrated into the Russian statehood. While in Europe, the Muslim population is migrants and refugees. Moreover, in the last six years alone, the number of Muslims has increased by six million.

Unsurprisingly, with this approach, "Russian disinformation" becomes widespread among EU citizens. This is what worries European officials.

“At the same time, many people agree with the disinformation spread by Russia and the Kremlin. And, unfortunately, we can conclude that Russian disinformation can indeed function very well. That is why we must redouble our efforts to counter it,”said Julian King, EU Commissioner for Security, during his speech in the European Parliament on 18 January.

What is meant by the phrase "redouble your strength"? This has already been clearly demonstrated by the Estonian authorities, but they have increased their "strength" by 13 times! The budget of the Estonian department of StratCom East has been increased from 60 thousand to 800 thousand euros. Instead of two employees of the department, there will now be eight employees to oppose "Russian propaganda".

Defend Hostland

In 1968, a training film was made in the United States called Psychological Operations in Support of Home Defense and Development Assistance Programs. Its essence was that the authorities of the fictitious state of Hostland turned to the US Government for help. Allegedly, Hostlandia has many enemies, primarily within the country itself. Therefore, they need to be defeated through psychological operations. As you probably already guessed, the training film taught the CIA officers about the basic techniques of psychological warfare.

In particular, an employee of psychological operations (PSYOP) in Hostland was obliged to know everything about its people, traditions, religion, culture, since first of all he was obliged to work with the mentality of the citizens of this country. According to the film, he has to hold personal meetings with them in order to identify contradictions and problems between them. And after the data is received, the target audience should be divided into three groups: sympathizers with the authorities, dissatisfied with the authorities, and undecided. The psychological operations specialist must work with all three groups at once. Further, it is quite easily described how.

Of course, since 1968, PSYOP's methods and means of operation have certainly been revised several times. Which, however, does not negate the main thing - the opinion of people can be influenced. Consequently, the conditional Hostlandia will always be protected from internal and external enemies.

Knowing this, all these endless forums of StratCom experts, briefings, training courses for journalists, the work of specialized funds, the publication of printed materials, the dissemination of media content and the mutual citation of words by various publications about the confrontation of "Russian disinformation" in Europe look quite organic. And the same euvsdisinfo portal is in good standing and is periodically mentioned not only by major European media, but also by European officials. After all, it would be strange not to trust the resource for which such gigantic funds are allocated every year.

The purpose of all these actions is to create the necessary information background, an environment for the formation of certain thoughts and beliefs among citizens of, say, Hostland. Moreover, in such conditions, one may not even formulate any specific truths. Considering that truthful information cannot come from Russia, even the declaration of the simplest fact that two times two is four will be taken with hostility.

After all, the fight against propaganda is also propaganda. Only she - who needs propaganda. And therefore, it seems that it does not hurt the eye, hearing and inner democratic self-determination.