CEPA: "The Kremlin's 20 toxic tactics"

[Wwcd]

http://cepa.org/EuropesEdge/The-Kremlins-20-toxic-tactics

Edward Lucas
30 October 2017
The Kremlin's 20 toxic tactics

Human weakness means we find it is easier to admire problems than to solve them, to focus on the dangers we can see than worry about those that we can’t, and to use the tools we have on hand rather than try to acquire the ones we actually need.

All that is particularly true of the West’s approach to Russian political warfare. We over-focus on easy-to-see Kremlin propaganda, especially in English and other Western languages.
In fact, information warfare—meaning deliberately misleading “fake news” plus the disorientating use of trolls and bots—is just one, albeit conspicuous, element of Russia’s well-stocked arsenal.
At a NATO conference in September, I outlined another 19. Here they are, in alphabetical order:

1. The targeted use of corruption;

2. Cyber-attacks on the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data held on a target country’s computer systems;

3. Diplomatic divide-and-rule games designed to weaken multilateral rule-based organizations, and to create the perception of the targeted country’s isolation and indefensibility;

4. The exploitation of economic, ethnic, linguistic, regional, religious, social and other divisions;

5. Economic sanctions such as import curbs and restrictions on exports and transit;
Interference with energy supplies, especially natural gas;

6. Stoking financial panics;

7. Weaponizing history to besmirch the reputation of a target country and hide Kremlin crimes;

8. Covert information operations

11 more...At Link

Excellent Read

[DetlefK]

1. And here are some examples to that:

The targeted use of corruption;
-> Carter Page

Cyber-attacks
-> US

Diplomatic divide-and-rule games designed to weaken multilateral rule-based organizations,
-> Russia playing games with OSCE and other organizations

The exploitation of economic, ethnic, linguistic, regional, religious, social and other divisions;
-> e.g. Russia creating Facebook-groups that launch anti-muslim rallies in Texas
-> Russia occupying northern Georgia as "peacekeepers"
-> Russia portraying Ukraine as run by Neonazis

Stoking financial panics;
-> Russia is awefully obsessed with cryptocurrency and controlling cryptocurrency.

Weaponizing history
-> Russia called Ukraine and Poland ungrateful for not saying Thanks for liberating them from the Third Reich, completely ignoring that the Soviet-Union had first invaded those countries, then lost them to the Nazis, and then re-occupied them from the Nazis
-> Russia casually ignoring the yugoslavian civil-war for some NATO-bashing, as if NATO bombed the Serbs for fun and not for stopping a genocide

Military bluffing and saber-rattling; irregular and regular warfare;
-> russian soldiers fighting alongside ukrainian separatists are "on vacation"

Physical intimidation of opponents and critics;
-> the US ambassador to Moscow had the tires of his car cut. Just because.

Psychological warfare on an individual and collective basis;
-> any criticism of Russia gets summarily denounced as hysterical Russophobia

Subversion of social norms, public confidence and state institutions;
-> accusing the West of cultural imperialism for demanding things like equal rights for homosexuals. The West has no business demanding human rights today because they did awful stuff 40 years ago during the Cold War.

Support for violent anti-social behavior.
-> That anti-muslim rally in Texas that was organized by Russians? They called on their protesters to "bring your guns."

[Wwcd]

2. Damn well nailed it!

Thanks for breaking it down for us.

"Know your enemy"

Still processing all you wrote here, appreciate it.

[Nitram]

3. The fact that the US has used most, if not all of these techniques against other countries does not

lessen their effectiveness against us.