The Kremlin’s shadowy looking-glass war on the truth, on facts, and on Western institutions continues apace. Here are just a few data points from the past several weeks.
Russian media is spreading a false quote attributed to incoming U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in an operation that included multiple attempts to tamper with the veteran American diplomat’s Wikipedia page.
A viral video reportedly showing election officials stuffing ballots in Flint, Michigan has been exposed by U.S. media as having been filmed in Russia.
And in the Czech Republic Miloš Zeman, who is widely-believed to have close ties to Moscow, is calling on that country’s intelligence services to reveal the names of all suspected Russian agents in the Czech Republic and the details of their intelligence operations there.
Russian active measures and malign influence campaigns are nothing new. But like a mutating virus evading Western defenses, they are constantly evolving and changing.
This week we are joined by 28-year CIA veteran John Sipher and former FBI special agent Clint Watts, two people who have been on the frontlines in this stealthy, non-kinetic, political war, to discuss where it may be headed.
The Power Vertical Podcast is produced by the University of Texas at Arlington’s Charles T. McDowell Center for Global Studies and the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.
