Information and Disinformation

In January 2023, I wrote a piece called “With the Ukraine War, an Information War.” In October 2020, I had written a related piece: “Dezinformatsiya.” It begins,

The Russian government has various means of attack: assassination, invasion, annexation. But don’t forget dezinformatsiya, i.e., disinformation, which the Kremlin has practiced for almost a hundred years. A special disinformation office was set up in 1923.

Here is a new article from The Economist: “France uncovers a vast Russian disinformation campaign in Europe: ‘Portal Kombat’ also targets Germany and Poland.” Busy little beavers, the Kremlin disinformation specialists.

And here is a report from the Washington Post: “Kremlin runs disinformation campaign to undermine Zelensky, documents show.” Of great interest, and importance.

A few weeks ago, I podcasted with Phillips O’Brien, the professor of strategic studies at St Andrews University. He said, “The Russians have gained far more geopolitical leverage out of the millions they’ve spent on information warfare than the billions they have spent on the military.”

• Elon Musk is the richest man in the world, or one of them. He is also very influential: the owner of X (formerly Twitter), with 173.1 million followers, personally. He is a darling of the populist Right (I know from personal experience). Many people swear by him.

Over and over, Musk either peddles or endorses flagrant propaganda. Here is a recent instance:

• Something Nikki Haley posted reminded me of 2015, 2016, 2017 — when I wrote over and over, “Putin is not your friend, you know. He is not our friend.” With dismay, I had watched Republicans warm to him. The last essay Charles Krauthammer ever wrote was on just this subject: “The Authoritarian Temptation.” (I cited this essay in a post on February 10: here.)

Haley posted this:

She posted this as well:

Will that kind of thing hurt Donald Trump in the GOP primaries? Doubtful.

• Russell Moore is the editor-in-chief of Christianity Today. I very much appreciated what he had to say here:

• I appreciated, as usual, a column by Daniel Hannan: “Vladimir Putin is a gangster-murderer. Only strength and punishment can defeat him.” A world without Putin in power will be better for Ukrainians, for Russians, and for everyone.