I was listening to an interview on protests in Georgia (the country) at the end of April.
This article skips over the full weight of this seemingly innocuous (heck, even seemingly valuable!) disclosure law for organizations with 20%+ foreign funding, but the key is that Russia in 2012 used a similar law as a wedge to disrupt civil society.
So locals know it's a dogwhistle. It invites *more*, not less sowing of disruption in favour of foreign interests.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/17/georgia-russia-how-dream-of-freedom-unravelled-foreign-agents-law
Something Adam Curtis described in one of his docs has stuck with me for years:
One way Putin's Russia solidified was through investment in political action groups across the spectrum. The key was to discourage citizens from feeling they could trust any initiative for change to be genuine. That's how you keep people in line: Believe me! Everyone else is lying to you!
It's been a good tactic for many operators (including Russia with other countries!) ever since. And we just aren't ready for it.
@MLClark Adam Cutis documentaries are brilliant
Bitter Lake · Pandora's Box · Modern Times · Inside Story · The Century of the Self and HyperNormalisation to name a few
The series Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone is also awesome six 1hr episodes
Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone is SO GOOD.
It also affirmed the feeling captured in Svetlana Alexievich's Secondhand Time (2013), if you've ever come across her recording of oral histories. She covers the disorientation of the 90s vividly, in a way that also acutely highlights how the era shaped the cultural consciousness that would come next.
@tyghebright @ecksmc @CanisPundit
Yes! Exactly.
There are four dangerous mentalities with which to engage with intel in this climate:
1) all is psyops and can't be trusted;
2) everything I don't agree with is psyops;
3) everything I agree with can't be psyops; and
4) nothing is psyops - that's just what "they" want you to believe.
We all fall prey to one or more of these from time to time - such is the nature of our infowar economy - but the key is getting better at recognizing when we do.
@ecksmc @tyghebright @CanisPundit
OMFG TOO GOOD. 😂
@MLClark @tyghebright @CanisPundit
😆