Psychological Warfare

In terms of conflicts, psychological warfare (PSYWAR) is used "to denote any action which is practiced mainly by psychological methods with the aim of evoking a planned psychological reaction in other people."^[2]

In military conflicts it is often also known as PSYOP, Psy Ops and "winning the hearts and minds". In military and political conflicts it is often referred to as propaganda.

Psychological warfare is used to influence a target audience's values, beliefs, emotions, motives, reasoning, or behavior. For example, it is often used to destroy/lower the morale of enemies. The Tokyo Rose broadcasts are an example of psychological warfare being used to lower the morale of American troops during WWII. In the 21st century, through corporatist intelligence sharing agreements with the US government and NATO allies that are not subject to congressional oversight and the Freedom of Information Act, Big Tech is deeply involved in surveillance activities and psychological warfare.

Ideological subversion[edit]

See also: Cultural Marxism

Former KGB officer and Soviet defector Yuri Bezmenov outlined the four steps of Marxist ideological subversion.^[3]

Demoralization[edit]

See also: Long march through the institutions and Fake news

The first step of ideological subversion that of demoralization which takes 15-20 years. During this phase, young people are influenced to question the integrity of a country and raise suspicions through media propaganda and academia. Perception takes the centre stage and facts become meaningless. Bezmenov attributes the demoralization phase to the lack of moral standards in a society.

For a population self-absorbed in a world of propaganda and the theories of Marxism and Leninism, truth loses its grip on the society. The older generation also loses control over the population due to consistent attacks on their moral fabric. Bezmenov described the process of demoralization in the United States thusly:

Psychological warfare to demoralize is not without risks, however. For example, during the Russia-Ukraine war, Ukrainian officials ran thousands of facial recognition searches on dead or captured Russian soldiers, using the scans to identify bodies and contact hundreds of families in Russia for what may be "one of the most gruesome applications of the technology to date," The Washington Post reported.^[6]

The country’s IT Army, a force of hackers and activists under the direction of the Ukrainian government, says it has used those identifications to inform the families of the deaths of 582 Russians, including by sending them photos of the corpses. Some military and technology analysts worry that the strategy could backfire, inflaming anger over a shock campaign directed at mothers. Stephanie Hare, a surveillance researcher in London, said it is “classic psychological warfare” and could set a dangerous new standard for future conflicts. “If it were Russian soldiers doing this with Ukrainian mothers, we might say, ‘Oh, my God, that’s barbaric.’ And is it actually working? Or is it making them say: ‘Look at these lawless, cruel Ukrainians, doing this to our boys?’ ”

Destabilization[edit]

See also: 2020 leftwing riots and Maidan coup

Destabilization of a country is the second step, altering the nation’s foreign relations, economy, and defence systems. The process typically takes 2-5 years to execute. Researchers at the RAND Corporation and the University of Southern California discovered COVID-19 lockdowns caused more deaths instead of reducing them. They looked at 43 countries and all 50 states in the United States and published their assessment as a working paper of the National Bureau for Economic Research.

The RAND/USC team wrote: “[W]e fail to find that SIP [shelter-in-place] policies saved lives. To the contrary, we find a positive association between SIP policies and excess deaths. We find that following the implementation of SIP policies, excess mortality increases.”

Countries that locked their citizens in their homes were experiencing declining — not increasing — excess mortality prior to lockdowns. In other words, lockdowns made the situation worse. The researchers were direct. “If SIP were implemented when excess deaths were rising then the results … would be biased towards finding that SIP policies lead to excess deaths. However, we find the opposite: countries that implemented SIP policies experienced a decline in excess mortality prior to implementation compared to countries that did not implement SIP policies.”

Finally, there was no advantage to locking down early or staying locked down longer. The researchers noted: “We failed to find that countries or U.S. states that implemented SIP policies earlier, and in which SIP policies had longer to operate, had lower excess deaths than countries/U.S. states that were slower to implement SIP policies.”

The RAND/USC study makes it clear that all the lockdowns accomplished was to add personal, psychological and economic devastation to the terrible personal and societal toll of illness and death.^[8]

Crisis[edit]

See also: U.S. Color Revolution, CCP global pandemic, and Russia-Ukraine war

A country can be brought to a state of crisis, the third step, in as short of time as six weeks.

Normalization[edit]

See also: Great Reset

Coupled with a violent change in power structure and economy, the fourth phase of normalization kicks in and can last indefinitely. The word normalization is derived from Soviet propaganda that seeks to downplay a drastic change in a country as a being normal phenomenon. Bezmenov remarked, “This will happen in America if you allow the schumuks to bring the country to crisis, promise people all kinds of goodies and paradise on Earth, destabilize your economy, eliminate the principle of free-market competition, put a Big Brother government in Washington DC with benevolent things."^[9]

Patrick Byrne, founder and former CEO of Overstock, told Jenny Chang of NTD Television that this is what is happening in the United States in early 2020. “That’s what the left is trying to do here. They have a bill that they’re ready to pass as soon as they get in [Congress] that basically imposes a Chinese-style censorship state.” Byrne noted that questioning the reported irregularities of the 2020 election will count as “an act of domestic extremism.”

“What they’re going to try to do is take the FBI and Department of Homeland Security and CIA, and just completely unleash them as instruments of oppression against their domestic political opponents, all under the disguise of ‘We’re fighting domestic extremism." Twitter permanently suspended President Donald Trump’s account on January 8, 2020; Google and Apple removed Parler, a social media app, from their app stores. “This is a color revolution. And it was managed really to the T and executed,” Byrne said.

Byrne went on to explain that the color revolution had been implemented through four stages: demoralization through the COVID-19 pandemic, disorientation through Antifa’s burning of buildings with no state response; the crisis of the 2020 presidential election; and the normalization phase, which is the MSM and Big Tech's wiping out any opposing points of view.^[11]

Snowden revelations[edit]

One of the focal points of the Snowden documents is not so much the technical marvels of intelligence collectors, rather the existence of, and extent to which intelligence agencies worldwide share information through cooperative sharing agreements (also known as 'shell game eavesdropping' or 'third party relationships').^[12] While the programs are billed as efforts to fight terrorism, international drug cartels, money laundering, and safeguard national security, they exist and function only on the basis of circumventing national laws in the respective countries whose agencies cooperate in the efforts.

Fort Meade, MD, for instance, home of the NSA which has the technical ability to monitor and spy on any American with an Obama phone or flat screen TV in their living room, cannot do so without probable cause or a warrant. So two employees of the UK's GCHQ in residence standby at the ready to man the helm and perform the operation legally under the guise of international intelligence sharing and national security.^[13]

While the United States possessed greater capacity and resources in surveillance technology, the United Kingdom was less scrupulous in violating privacy rights and civil rights, and more aggressive in cyber attacks and the use of fake news to discredit and harass their political enemies, including domestic opponents. Under Obama, the marriage of passive surveillance and active cyber warfare against political opponents accelerated, with both the UK and US extending cooperative agreements and technology to other third party agencies globally.

Psyops in war[edit]

See also: CCP propaganda war and Ukrainian propaganda war

Propaganda in times of war or other kinds of military operations. It can be divided into the following types: Propaganda of captivity. One of the most popular and effective types of military propaganda in the framework of psychological warfare. It includes providing information about prisoners of war, their normal existence, lack of bullying and serious difficulties. Implementing the idea that surrender is a completely normal solution that will help you return home alive.

Propaganda of military successes. Significantly increases the morale of his army and demoralization of the enemy army. A kind of "placebo effect" – the introduction of certain thoughts and moods can really lead to the result that is stated.

Propaganda by instilling fear of defeat. Such propaganda can set up the army for the most decisive actions, since "there is nowhere to retreat." It can acquire a different character - instilling fear due to the consequences of the offensive. Such an approach can cause confusion in the army and society of the attacking side. Other ways of exposure.

War propaganda is used as a means of influencing both sides of the military conflict.

Psychological warfare and the U.S. Army[edit]

According to the U.S. Army:

“

Psychological Operations (PSYOP) Soldiers benefit the Army’s missions by using unconventional techniques. Their intelligence, interpersonal skills, cultural sensitivity, and foreign language proficiency help sway opinions and actions of foreign governments, groups, and individuals. Psychological warfare requires adaptability, resilience, and problem solving to be successful. To become a PSYOP Soldier, you’ll be thoroughly tested and trained on your critical thinking skills, and your mental and physical toughness, in order to prepare you for work in the field.[15]

”

U.S. Army field manual: Psychological Operations Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures[edit]

• U.S. Army field manual: Psychological Operations Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

Lines of persuasion - 2003 U.S. Army Field Manual: Psychological Operations Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures[edit]

• 2003 U.S. Army Field Manual: Psychological Operations Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures - Lines of persuasion

NATO war in Ukraine[edit]

See also: NATO war in Ukraine

From the earliest days of the conflict, the Kyiv regime focused on winning a global information and propaganda war rather than a military conflict. Researchers at the University of Adelaide in Australia published a landmark paper on August 20, 2022 on the activities of bot accounts on Twitter related to the conflict. The Australian findings were staggering – of 5.2 million tweets on the social media network from February 23 to March 8, 2022 at the outbreak of the conflict, between 60 to 80% were shared by fake accounts.^[16]

Quote[edit]

"If your opponent is of choleric temperament, seek to irritate him." - Sun Tzu

See also[edit]

• List of military strategies and concepts
• Copium

References[edit]

External link[edit]

• U.S. ARMY RELEASES RECRUITMENT AD FOR THEIR PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE DIVISION, 2022
• GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE, All the world's a stage. May 2, 2022 , 4th PSYOP Group. YouTube.
• The Latest NATO Propaganda Tool Is Pure Cringe
• Stalingrad Massengrab
• Elon Musk Buying Twitter: Why It's a Bigger Battle Than You Think, The New Atlas, Apr 17, 2022.