Distorting Your Perception of Russia's Aggression: How Can We Combat Information Warfare?

Since the full-scale Russia-Ukraine war started recently, there is a lack of peer-reviewed scholarly literature directly discussing the war and the use of information warfare. [...]this article presents its findings mainly through content and documentary analysis of official and media publications in Russian, English, and Chinese. Information Warfare The term information warfare, or information war, was developed by Russia and is widely used. Since the early 1990s, Igor Panarin has been leading the discussion of information warfare.2 He considers information warfare a psychological 1 Andrew Anthony, "March in Support of Ukraine in London: Everything Was Turning Blue and Yellow," The Guardian, March 27, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/mar/27/march-in-support-of-ukraine-in-london-everything-was-turning-blue-and-yellow. [...]it actively develops information warfare to gain the capability of influencing public opinions and counteracting Western influence. [...]China emulates Russia by using information campaigns to promote pro-China narratives, such as during the Covid-19 pandemic, to confront the West.11 Meanwhile, the West, especially the United States, has considered Russia and China a threat to the Western-dominated world order. [...]in the eyes of Western scholars or governments, the term information warfare represents the weaponized spread of pro-Russia and pro-China information to gain the Western audience's support.12 Take the United States National Security Strategy as an example.

Post-COVID Transformation: DOD Goes into the Matrix

These are complex, turbulent, and uncertain times to be sure. The Department of Defense (DOD) is at an important inflection point. COVID-19 has irrevocably altered the dynamics of international security and reshaped DODs decision-making landscape. As a result, DOD will have to adapt to significantly different strategic circumstances post-COVID than those assumed operative in the 2018 National Defense Strategy (NDS18). We recommend that DOD recognize this to be true, seize the initiative, create opportunity from crisis, and recraft defense strategy to re-emerge from COVID as a stronger, more hypercompetitive institution.