This is War. The Disinformation Attack on Democracies

Good summary in an extended tweet here.

The war we are in is not a war between formalized countries has we have understood it historically – it is between powerful multinational network of corporations, governments and individuals, who are united by a common interest in the continued power, wealth and influence of the fossil fuel industry.
It’s not like all these people meet in the same room, at least, not usually.
But they act together with a common purpose, and their efforts compliment and amplify each other. Their most powerful tools are not artillery, satellites, or even FPV drones. They are information networks directed against the minds of citizens in the world’s democracies.

Jim Stewartson on X:

We are the target nation of a foreign attack. This is not a war in the way we have historically thought of warfare, but it’s just as real and potentially just as dangerous to our way of life. It’s time to be open about what it is and how it works.

This should not be a political message. Because the people behind this are oligarchs and foreign dictators, led by a war criminal invading Europe and attacking our allies. This should hardly be controversial. Needless to say it is.

We see the effects of this new kind of warfare every day. It’s taking casualties in the tens of millions—and we’re left to wonder: “What happened to my sister?” “My mom is a whole different person.” “My best friend thinks I deserve to be executed for treason. Where did he go?”

We all deserve the answers because the answers are knowable.

What makes this complicated is that the enemies’ war on America is being fought through Americans. That’s confusing and heartbreaking, but we must understand that as Lincoln said, no nation can defeat us through a conventional invasion, we can only be destroyed through suicide.

Over the last decade, a group of Americans with the assistance of foreign nations has built a massive disinformation engine that has had very dangerous and disruptive effects on our fellow citizens.

Many of us know people whose minds have changed, but not in the normal way. Sometimes this happens gradually and sometimes all at once—when suddenly someone you know is… a different person.

It’s not just their politics that change, people may have a serious change in personality that seems inconsistent with who they used to be. They may be aggressive, overly combative, and completely unable to listen to logic and reason. They may also have surprising new opinions about our adversaries, or be lost in any number of conspiracy cults which target people across the political spectrum.

In most cases, this can be traced to “disinformation” but this is not just propaganda, it’s a coordinated, coercive process which targets vulnerabilities to entice and trap people into an alternate reality. The goal is to create an insulated world for people in which they’re willing to act against their own self-interests, and to wage war against their fellow citizens—or family members—out of terror.

There are large sources of foreign propaganda being run on the app stores of major software and hardware providers. These apps serve hardly any other purpose than disinforming and trapping our citizens into a poisonous vortex of falsehoods and hatred. All of this is reinforced by social engineering, active measures, influence campaigns, and entire websites & TV networks devoted to enemy propaganda.

What’s happening to people is not their fault. They’re casualties of a psychological war. They need help. We cannot leave them on the battlefield.

As Americans, we should demand that the people collaborating with our foreign enemies be stopped & held accountable, and that our fellow citizens and loved ones be freed from their mental captivity by shutting down sources of enemy warfare, whether the source is foreign or domestic.

We deserve better. Being honest with people should not be controversial.