5 Russia touts the West’s “interference” during the Ukrainian revolution as further evidence that the United States and NATO are meddling too much in its area of influence. Secretary of State James Baker in the aftermath of the Soviet dissolution. 4 This assessment derives from a strong Russian belief that the United States broke its word that NATO would move “not one inch eastward,” as stated by then–U.S. It views the United States, NATO, and the European Union as committed to weakening Russia, eliminating its sphere of influence, and ensuring sustained U.S.-Western unipolar dominance. Over centuries, Russia has experienced attacks from the Teutonic Knights, Napoleon, and Nazi Germany, and, since the end of the Cold War, encroachment from the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The world is grappling with an “infodemic” as well as a pandemic, and both require a whole-of-society approach to be successfully addressed. As Russia targets issues of public health in this way, there will be tremendous implications for American citizens and the U.S. 2 From Russia’s interference in the 2016 Presidential election to spreading hoaxes during the 2020 global pandemic, Russia is exploiting America’s divisions with disinformation to amplify discord in the United States and undermine its institutions. democratic society and defame America’s reputation on the world stage. ![]() One strategic goal of Russia’s influence operations is to weaken the United States and its allies, which Russia views as operating too close to its sphere of influence, what it refers to as its “near abroad.” 1 Time and again, Russia has used familiar influence tactics to spread disinformation in an attempt to weaken U.S. adversaries, including Russia, they are potential weaknesses to exploit. These characteristics, its founding principles, are also its strengths as a nation. The United States is diverse, pluralistic, and democratic. While Russian weaponization of information is not new the intersection of Russian disinformation, public health crises, and vulnerability to bioevents presents new and troubling homeland and national security threats for the United States. Social media has provided a unique tool kit to manipulate narratives and amplify societal divisions in an effort to weaken the United States in ways previously unimaginable. But without equivalent conventional military might, Russia has turned to other asymmetric advantages to compensate in its competition with the United States. Since the nadir of Soviet dissolution, Russia has fought to rebalance power and contemporaneously reduce American influence. Given its history and a geographic location with many bordering nations, it sees itself as constantly besieged from all sides, but particularly by the West. Russia has a long history of seeking to project power and influence while playing with a technological and geopolitical handicap. Russia used tactics of influence and coercion long before social media allowed for nearly ubiquitous access to its targets and a prolific capability for controlling a narrative and manipulating the hearts and minds of a population on a range of sensitive societal issues, including public health. ![]() The blurred red lines that result from covert i nformation operations waged by foreign actors on the Internet will force a change in how the United States operates and how its society consumes information. America’s competitors are regularly operating below the threshold that would warrant a military response, including on the information battlefield. I n a renewed era of Great Power competition, the United States is faced with adversaries engaging across multiple domains without the traditional distinctions of war and peace.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |