From Texas to Ukraine, from Middle East to Africa, we are facing the geopolitical game played by the old KGB playbook—and again and again, the Western democracies are blind to it. Insanity is repeating the same action and expect a different result… Thread on hybrid war 1/xx

Since 1999, a criminal government, headed by Putin, runs Russia as a mafia state. By 2018, a conglomerate of officials, security forces and organized crime has consolidated power and took under control all aspects of political and social life.

Its wealth generates from appropriating the national natural resources, mainly oil, gas and diamonds, as well as the major assets. Each year, the Kremlin siphoned out of Russia, laundered and stored in the Western banks and offshores an estimated 40–50 billion dollars.

Since 2014, motivated by the need to protect these assets, the Kremlin has been waging a hybrid war against the Western democracies, openly speaking about establishing “a new, Post-West world order.”

The West needs to acknowledge the threat, run research and training programs to understand the Kremlin’s strategy and take an immediate action by developing and implementing a united response to the attack.

The long-term goal of the Kremlin hybrid war: the expansion of the Russian economic and geopolitical interests as a guarantee of the personal wealth and power of Putin and his allies. “…not a shooting war, a war of geopolitics and trying to undermine our systems,” - Dr. Galeotti

The Kremlin’s short-term goals include: 1. Weakening and dissolution of the EU and NATO 2. Removal of the economic sanctions against Russia 3. Destabilization of the US 4. Normalization of the military intervention in Ukraine and Syria

By 2018, the Kremlin has built a strong network of agents of influence and weaponized all aspects of the political, economic and cultural life in the US:

→political system (In 2018, special counsel Robert Mueller charged 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities with an illegal “information warfare” scheme to disrupt the 2016 presidential election and assist the candidacy of Donald Trump….

…Other means of undermining the political system include bribing, recruiting, blackmailing and manipulating Senators, Congressmen and local politicians; donations to parties, using “Manchurian candidate” model; lobbying; sending “phishing” emails to officials…

… hacking election system; supporting political parties, leaders, social movements, including separatists, nationalists; supporting “independence” referendums around the world,  etc.)

→financial system (funding Western startups and companies through the Kremlin-funded venture funds, money-laundering, corporate raiding, etc.) →judicial system (court trials, Interpol Red Notices extradition, denaturalization)

→business industry (running conferences, offering business opportunities and deals, shares in offshore companies, etc.) →science (climate change denial, history re-writing, etc.)

→arts (funding exhibitions, shows and films normalizing the Kremlin policy; recruiting Western celebrities, political leaders and public figures by offering free publicity, financial incentives, career opportunities, etc.)

→educational system (inciting conflicts in traditionally liberal colleges, infiltrating colleges, etc.)

The Kremlin uses multiple covert and overt strategies (called “active measures”) and combines traditional and non-traditional methods such as organized crime, terrorist acts, etc. The traditional warfare is also used (in Ukraine, Syria, African Republic.)

One of the most successful operations of this hybrid war is the mind war (also called cyberwar, information warfare, hybrid war, brain war, non-linear war, psychological war, etc).

Mind War Main Goals: →Demoralizing the population of the US and EU by planting discord, mutual hatred and distrust by means of disinformation, confusion and manipulation of the consciousness.  →Corrupting democratic values and morals.

→Dehumanizing other demographic groups perceived as enemies. →Creating a new collective mentality, identity and self-image in the West.

I will do a separate thread on the mind war methods. None of it is new. It is my article from 2018 for @Byline Times (when it was an online platform): https://byline.com/2018/08/07/a-mind-war-a-red-wasp-and-a-spider/… Yet, it is unrecognized; we are not fighting back. The consequences of a mafia state taking over are dire