Hybrid War

Attack on the West

Mauro Voerzio, Jesus M. Gonzalez

• Publisher: Babelcube Inc.
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781667415239
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Intelligence & Espionage
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Disinformation is a bad virus for Democracies and a vaccine can never be discovered to render it harmless. With the help of everyone, however, we can contain it and make it less effective.
The book talks about the techniques used by disinformers, the terminologies that are used every day by journalists and insiders whose meaning is often unknown, disinformation in history, the psychological aspects of disinformation, case studies, objectives that disinformation sets for itself.
Disinformation is certainly one of the most important components of the new hybrid wars. A hybrid war is underway against the fundamental values ??of the West, a hybrid war that aims to collapse the project of the European Union, the largest peace project in history.
Recognizing disinformation and disinformers will help us recognize our enemies, those who want to destroy the society we built, with not a few sacrifices, by our grandparents and our parents. As in all wars, in hybrid war, there are generals and soldiers. It is up to us to decide which side of the fence to stand on in this modern call to arms.

COVID 19

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When I wrote this book, the Corona Virus was certainly not one of the problems of our life. I did not publish it in 2019 because, except in rare cases, it did not attract particular attention from the publishers to whom I made it available, perhaps also because, not being a professional writer, the text needed a robust editing work. But the poor quality with which I write was not the only problem. Some who had found the topic interesting, however, wanted to change some parts to make it more appealing to the general public. I thought about it for a while and then I declined the offer, because those adjustments would have somehow altered the meaning of the book and since I was not interested in a commercial work, I would have had to somehow "betray" my work.

In the time between the offer and my decision, the Corona Virus appeared.

Within two months, we have seen the use of all available arsenal in a hybrid war.

Most recently, the Swedish embassy in Italy denounced how in Italy there is a "spiral of disinformation" which in this case aims to affect the way in which the Scandinavian country is dealing with the Coronavirus emergency. In a post on Facebook, the embassy states that a recent interview with Prime Minister Stefan Löfven on Swedish television "was taken out of context and incorrectly quoted" by the Italian media, which in the translation spoke of a 'mea culpa' by Löfven on the measures taken to limit the spread of the virus ("We have not done enough", is the quote attributed to the Swedish Prime Minister).

The Italian government also timidly dealt with the disinformation issue on Covid by publishing on its institutional websites the various fakes encountered^[77].

The World Health Organization has pointed the finger directly at Russia and in an article in the New York Times^[78]. Experts and analysts of the Organization are quoted: "A global infodemic action is underway to spread falsehoods about the virus and sow discord and alarm in democratic countries". According to experts consulted by the New York Times, Putin's goal, in the infodemic campaign on the coronavirus, is to provide an image of American and Western officials intent on «minimizing health alarms and therefore posing serious threats to public health».

Thousands of Russian-linked social media accounts have launched a coordinated effort to spread alarm over the novel coronavirus, State Department official sources say. Often arguing that the United States is behind the ongoing global epidemic. YouTube videos of RT, Russia's global television network, average one million views per day, "the highest among news outlets," according to an intelligence report cited by the NYT.

«Russia's intention is to sow discord and undermine US institutions and alliances from within, including through intimidating and coercive campaigns of malicious influence», said Philip Reeker, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia. "By spreading disinformation about the coronavirus, Russian malicious actors are once again choosing to threaten public safety by distracting from the global health response." It doesn't matter the website, which can also be small: «They are a cloud of Russian influencers», explains Linvill, a communications professor who has reviewed millions of Russian troll posts^[79].

EUvsDISINFO^[80], a European Union project to combat disinformation, has published research in which they compared cases related to the coronavirus published between January 22 and March 25. It turns out that anti-American sentiment is one of the main narratives. In total, they found 39 pieces of content that point to the United States as a contributor to the coronavirus. The other most common narrative strikes the EU, unable to manage the crisis and in the process of disintegrating, just like the Schengen area of ​​free movement. In particular, this reading focuses on the failure and lack of solidarity from the EU, and that it has been more successful after sending aid from Russia to Italy. A third narrative is the interpretation that the virus was used to hit China and its economy.

To understand that disinformation does not try to convince someone that something is true or false, but is only concerned with creating chaos, it is interesting to note that together with the narratives set out above, the Kremlin’s outlets have also proposed news of the type

380 Belgians contracted COVID-19 by participating in an orgy^[81], or that the cause of the spread of the coronavirus epidemic is the legitimacy of gay marriages^[82]

Russia has also littered the web with conspiracy theories relating to a link between the Corona Virus and 5G technology, while the US accuses China of manufacturing the virus. The European Union had to intervene in the case of virus-5G correlation by specifying that^[83] "The EU has the most stringent consumer protection standards in the world. That's why we can walk into a store and have faith in the products we buy. Even 5G must abide by these exceptionally stringent regulations. To be honest, our standards are well above ...