Tracking Spooks
Tuesday Open Comments, Sept. 10, 2024
Tracking Spooks
There’s a lot of practical analysis of hostile foreign influence operations online, although sometimes obscured by other hostile foreign influence operations. The stuff that catches my eye generally pertains to Russia, the country having been my long-ago subject of college study. The tl;dr explanation version is that Russia is an entertaining drama queen of a country you just can’t take your eyes off of, in a mercilessly violent way throughout most of its history.
Today’s chosen link has far too many good passages to cite to do justice to the whole. But here’s a sample to whet your appetite:
Interviewer: What percentage of the Vatniks you have catalogued are ideological, truly believing they are working for a good cause?
Pekka Kallioniemi: True believers are quite rare. While some are driven by nostalgia for the Communist system, most Vatniks are motivated by greed. They tend to fight against something rather than for a cause. There is a common ideology that unites almost all of them: strong anti-Western and anti-establishment sentiments. They are vehemently opposed to the democratic systems of Western countries, particularly targeting the United States and NATO. Although NATO is a military organization, their anti-NATO and anti-US stance is a consistent thread among 99% of these individuals.
A “Vatnik” is a pejorative term that spread in Russia and post-Soviet states to describe someone who spreads pro-Russian jingoistic talking points friendly to the Putin dictatorship. Vatniks are sometimes hired propagandists, sometimes freelance strongman enthusiasts who would count as a Putin fan club.
The interviewee, Pekka Kallioniemi, is a Finnish counter-intelligence researcher with expertise in analyzing Russian influence operations. The cited article was published all the way back at the beginning of August, well before the recent news of the Justice Department’s indictments mentioned yesterday. The article furnishes a handy overview of just how pervasive—and nettlesome—the disinformation problem is. It is a helpful short read.
Good morning. Science team this morning, then D's art class, then the parish festival committee, and somewhere in there, produce meals and stuff.
"There is a common ideology that unites almost all of them: strong anti-Western and anti-establishment sentiments."
Seems like there's a lot of that going around, including among people who should know better.
My timber rattlesnake sticker arrived. It's perfect. The white squirrel (mascot of Brevard) now looks anxious.