“By inserting disinformation in publications, advocating extremist ideas, inciting racist and xenophobic flash-mobs, conducting interstate computer attacks on critical infrastructure targets that are vital for the functioning of a society, it is possible to ‘heat up’ the situation in any country, all the way up to the point of social unrest.” (Major General Igor Dylevsky, deputy chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation).
Does that sound at all familiar? Try this one for size:
“All warfare is based primarily on deception of an enemy. Fighting on a battlefield is the most primitive way of making war. There is no higher art than to destroy your enemy without a fight – by subverting anything of value in the enemy’s country.” (Sun Tzu. Chinese general and philosopher, 500BCE).
Both quotations are chapter lead ins from ‘Putin’s Playbook: Russia’s secret plan to defeat America’ by Rebekah Koffler. It is an interesting book and there are so many deja vu moments as I read through it.
Consider the misinformation around the QAnon movement, the bullshit around the various conspiracy theories regarding vaccinations, undermining Dr Fauci’s task during Covid, the attack on our freedoms and resistance to social distancing, lockdowns and mask wearing, election interference, white supremacy forums, the rise of Black Lives Matter as a result of blatant racism in police forces throughout the USA… oh and could there possibly be a link to Australia here and the incarceration rate of First Nations people?
The internet and social media platforms have opened up a huge Pandora’s Box with information which used to take at least several days to become headlines in mainstream press or a snippet on the evening news now circles the earth in a matter of seconds, questioning the credibility of political leaders and respected journals and institutions.
It’s not just Putin’s Playbook, it is also Xi Jinping’s and Benjamin Netanyahu’s.
The objectives are to break down trust in government and political systems and create civil disorder, so that the fight is between us, no need to strike a single blow, no need to kill anyone, let the discord destroy the social fabric.
So much there means knowing the enemy, knowing the hot buttons to push and when to push them, and finding useful idiots to push the agenda.
With social media the internet becomes a valuable cyber tool to disseminate misinformation and conspiracy theories. Little drops of misinformation, let’s call them breadcrumbs, work very nicely to undermine credibility, to fracture any inkling of trust there may be, especially in a growing culture which scorns mainstream media.
Freedom and democracy are important to the way Americans and we in Australia live our lives, and that freedom and trust in government and the rules-based living that we have are fundamental. Knowing this, the easiest way to upset the comforts of people living in ostensibly free, democratic societies is to break down their trust in the systems which allow the sense of freedom and trust.
Misinformation and conspiracy theories are key elements which have been used time and again. Today I purchased a battery for my Ukulele tuner, the lady asked me pay the $10 in cash, I didn’t have cash, so she talked about how ‘they’ were seeking to have absolute control over us, besides, it costs so much more with fees and charges, as she processed the purchase and I tapped the phone on the machine to complete the transaction.
The conspiracy theory includes the ‘THEY’ as though we all know exactly who ‘they’ are.
A good definition of a conspiracy theory is ‘The belief that an organisation made up of individuals or groups was or is acting covertly to achieve some malevolent end.’
To achieve a level of distrust, breadcrumbs are dropped as it were, little bits of misinformation here and there, in this case that the ‘THEY’ are out to destroy our finances.
Think of all the little breadcrumbs that littered our lives during Covid. Our freedoms were being assailed, we had to wear masks when meeting with people or even just to walk the dog, we had to be sure there was distance between us when we met, we couldn’t travel more than a few kilometres from home, had to work from home, OH MY GOD my freedom was completely destroyed.
And China spread the virus to undermine the freedoms we have in the west; they want to absolutely control every aspect of our lives.
And so it went. Oh dear, I forgot the number one, all-time greatest enemy, the producer of all those dangerous vaccines. Dr Anthony Fauci. What an evil man he is, doesn’t even deserve the title Doctor, he is/was leading the big pharmaceutical companies to poison everyone, and if we didn’t get the needles we were to be locked away!
Another little breadcrumb was that of the danger of Genetically Modified Organisms. Even today I see my favourite protagonist tell me of the evils of GMO, especially those in the vaccines we had to have, and did you know they cause autism and all sorts of other things?
I did ask my favourite protagonist whether he eats bread made from flour milled from wheat. And did he know that wheat as we know it today is a far cry from the wheat of many centuries ago, that genetic modification changed it to make it a more reliable crop with different strains to suit different climatic regions and to make different foods? He changed the subject.
So many breadcrumbs to deal with, so many clouds of misinformation to negotiate. So many reasons to be fearful of those we elect to govern us.
A freedom we cherish most is the freedom of speech. We have (although we don’t in the same way that Americans do) the absolute right to speak freely on just about any topic we like. In America it is enshrined in the First Amendment to their Constitution. Should there be, or are there limits to freedom of speech?
Can, for example, anyone vilify a person or group they don’t much like, for example, black people, homosexuals, political lefties? Am I free to say whatever I like, whenever I like, to whoever I choose?
I remember when the internet was young I participated in some forums, and at first they were interesting until I noticed that a particular person started criticising using inflammatory language, calling names, not addressing my argument but attacking me personally. That, unfortunately, is most prevalent on social media today, names are not used, but name calling is. A person who disagrees or argues from a different perspective is either ignorant, WOKE, dumb, an idiot, and they are the less inflammatory definitions. To call someone out for that apparently attacks their freedom of speech. And so distrust breaks down into inflammatory language, insults and nastiness, hatred, making people feel unsafe, and when directed at a particular group, such as coloured people or immigrants, Islamists, Jews, and so the list grows, can lead to bloody confrontations.
A very pertinent example is the state of politics in America since the last Presidential Election. There is no need to bring an army in to fight Americans, the seeds of distrust have grown so large that the very seat of government was attacked on 6 January 2020.
There were calls for the Vice President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to be killed. That war still rages, simmering as the next election looms. If Donald Trump does not win there is the distinct possibility that violence will erupt again.
Little breadcrumbs grow exponentially. All an ‘enemy’ need do is drop a little trail of them and all hell can break loose.
We see that here and elsewhere with the demonstrations regarding the Gaza conflict, the nascent violence, the inflammatory language, the heavy hand of authorities trying to close down the demonstrations.
Other forms of cyber warfare include the hacking of computer systems used in everyday transactions. I worked for the last fifteen years in a transport company which suffered a ransomware attack. It crippled the company for a short while, cost millions in lost revenue because the accounting system no longer operated, caused mayhem in pick up and deliveries. The company was owned at that time by a large foreign investor, the losses suffered ultimately led to the company being broken up and sold off bit by bit but at much reduced prices. The value of the business had been severely undermined. Trust in the company took a long time to re-establish. The impact on the supply chain of everyday commodities, such as food in supermarkets as well as the impact on industries such as mining interrupted all aspects of our economy.
The Medibank hack of 2022 by a Russian operative, Alexandr Ermakov saw personal data of Australian citizens, their health records made available through the internet, and trust in the system was shattered.
The OPTUS data breach showed how vulnerable our economy is when we are so reliant on cyber connectivity for basic every day dealings for individuals, but how dramatic the losses are for businesses reliant on electronic payment for sales, and that is just about every business we all use every day, from the cafe for the morning coffee to the doctor’s surgery, to the supermarket for the weekly groceries, to the service station when filling up the fuel tank.
Cyber attacks are an important weapon in waging a war of deception, waging a war of wearing down an enemy’s population to breaking point, where trust is so undermined, where internal conflicts become street battles, where the rule of law breaks down to a point of disintegration.
When we buy into conspiracy theories which so undermine the very foundations of who we are as a nation, we become the attacker’s useful idiots.
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