The effort includes artificial intelligence, fake social media accounts and a spike in state-sponsored Russian propaganda.
By Dan De Luce
Russia is seeking to exploit America’s divisive debate over Israel’s offensive in Gaza through overt and covert propaganda, with the aim of aggravating political tensions in the U.S. and tarnishing Washington’s global image, according to two sources familiar with U.S. intelligence on the matter.
In its ongoing information war against the United States, Russia has shifted its focus in recent months to the Israel-Hamas conflict, seeking to inflame existing divisions in the West and to portray Washington as fueling the violence, the sources said.
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A favorite theme of Russian information operations is to paint America as a failing democratic state, according to U.S. officials and researchers.
At an event last week in Washington, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said Russia works to denigrate America’s standing in the world, to undermine democratic institutions and processes and to exploit social, political and economic divisions “in our culture and in our society.”
Little bit of A, little bit of B. We shouldn’t think that just because we are fighting for peace and equality that we cannot be infiltrated and manipulated to someone else’s advantage. They’re not mutually exclusive possibilities.
If there would be a clear benefit for doing so, and it can be done in a cost effective manner, then it is reasonable to think it might be happening. When you consider the strong motive provided by being involved in an active war with hundreds of thousands of casualties and many billions being spent, it’s just not something we can afford to ignore.