I believe it.
People are generally ignorant of how the Kremlin, and more recently the CCP, are using social media to divide democratic countries.
Dumb question, but if it’s so effective why dont we don’t in Russia? Or if we do, why doesn’t it work as well?
This is what we do. The USA/CIA does this every day and they are the best. Any time a South or Central American or Middle Eastern state elects someone who puts that state’s interests above those of the United States, that person is doomed.
Their reputation will plummet as long as they maintain freedom of the press. And if they decide to defend themselves by restricting press freedom in a trial to stop the media from lying, they are even more doomed to fail.
Only a dictatorship like China can defend itself against American opinion-forming. But of course, life under a dictatorship has its own shortcomings. But perhaps it’s better than being another piece of prey in the American portfolio, unable to counter Western arrogance and racism. There are only a few countries on earth that can be seen as accomplices of American imperialism and not as its victims.
Unfortunately, Eastern Europe was not smart enough to hold on to the changed Soviet Union under Gorbachev and become its own economic power like China.
They simply switched sides and became a bargain for Western interests. The Spoils of the Cold War. Just a market for western companies and products. Helpless at the mercy of the Americans. This is what professional propaganda can do to peoples.
While Putin tries to turn back time. Also pathetic. He will be able to destroy a lot but his country will never benefit from it.
I don’t want to sound like the soviet union nostalgic you’ll find on grad. But there was a time when the KGB was supposed to be among the best secret service in the world with crazy operations. and now the best Russia can do to destabilize a democracy is… pretending there is some bedbugs in Paris
Russia’s systemic failures, significant as they are, will never be enough to displace their status as one of, if not, the best foreign intelligence operators. At least, not as long they’re the Russian Federation.
That’s not because they’re magic, smarter, or genetically predisposed to being great spies. It’s a function, or symptom, of their empire and how they cobbled it together with so many diverse and divergent ethnic groups, cultures, and religions.
America is a melting pot that forms a singular monoculture, more or less, but Russia is literally different nations stitched together from Europe to the opposite end of the Asian continent. It’s kept together through the immense effort of their internal security services…and the occasional indiscriminate bombing campaign, but primarily their internal security services.
The continuation of the Russian empire necessitates the mass production of people for their internal security services, who also then just happen to have the same skill sets required for covert foreign intelligence work. So it’s not really surprising why they excell at it, and will continue to for the foreseeable future.