by Richard Herzinger*
The extent and systematic nature of the disinformation with which Putin’s Russia is flooding Western public opinion in order to destabilize liberal democracies and undermine their willingness to support Ukraine is becoming increasingly clear.
For example, Germany’s Suddeutsche Zeitung recently published a detailed analysis of hacked files from the Russian IT company Social Design Agency, which feeds “propaganda from the assembly line” (according to the SZ) into social media on behalf of the Kremlin.
Germany as the prime target of Russian disinformation
The research confirms that Russia has chosen Germany as the prime target of disinformation campaigns with the intention of detaching it from the Western alliance and turning it into Moscow’s advocate.
The Kremlin is thus following the maxim attributed to Lenin, which already served as a guideline for Soviet foreign policy: “Whoever has Germany has Europe.”
Established media are also fed with Kremlin propaganda. In German-speaking countries, once reputable publications such as Switzerland’s Weltwoche and the Berliner Zeitung, which are in the hands of publishers with close ties to the Kremlin, conspicuously often feature Russian disinformation.
Useful idiots or mere ignorants?
However, Western media also involuntarily, out of ignorance and thoughtlessness, become sound amplifiers of Russian disinformation operations.
A typical example: German newspapers and TV stations recently published a report under the headline: “Putin supports Kamala Harris.” In reality, the Kremlin ruler had poured scornful ridicule on the U.S. presidential candidate and her characteristic laugh at a press conference.
Putin’s games
Full of spite, Putin in essence explained that if Harris was so cheerful, she would probably not want to do anything bad to Russia either. In this sense, in his eyes, she probably deserves support. So the correct headline should have read: “Putin mocks Kamala Harris.”
The misleading headline, however, gave an assist to Donald Trump’s election campaign team. It had been untruthfully claiming for some time that Putin favors Joe Biden and the Democrats. The aim is to distract from the fact that in the real world the Kremlin’s declared favorite is Trump.
Willingly and knowingly aiding and abetting Russian propaganda
Time and again, the German media offer a stage to propagandists of the Russian terror state. This was the case recently on Deutschlandfunk, a nationwide public radio broadcaster, which conducted an interview with the Russian ambassador in Berlin.
Unchallenged, he was allowed to spread falsified and invented facts from the Kremlin propaganda kitchen and present the Russian war of annihilation against Ukraine as a defensive measure by Russia.
Such appearances are usually justified by the editorial offices with a journalistically misunderstood imperative of “objectivity.” It makes sense, they argue, to find out the “point of view of the other side” from an authentic source.
For a sense check, would this also be the argument if it were about a leader of IS or Al Qaeda?
According to this misguided concept of objectivity, the Kremlin’s de facto German spokeswoman, the MP Sahra Wagenknecht, can also easily and constantly spread Putinist disinformation at will. After all, she is as close to a permanent guest on German TV talk shows as they come.
Meanwhile, it should have been known to every informed contemporary for a long time that Wagenknecht is a central figure in Putin’s strategic plan to create an “anti-war mood” throughout Europe, which is to lead to a change of power in the interests of the Russian aggressor in the German 2025 federal elections.
Fitting into the Kremlin’s plans
Last year, Russian secret service agents and diplomats had already developed a concept on behalf of the Kremlin on how to turn the mood of the German public against Ukraine.
According to this plan, the extreme right and left forces in Germany would have to be united in a common fight against “the elites,” “the globalists,” the EU and, above all, the United States.
The founding of the Wagenknecht party BSW, which systematically mixes right-wing nationalist and left-wing populist ideologies, corresponds exactly to these Kremlin guidelines.
The Washington Post knows, Germany ignores
The Washington Post was able to view the relevant minutes of Russian “expert meetings” that were leaked to the West and reported on them in detail.
However, this was hardly noticed in Germany. “One of the reflexes here in Germany,” writes journalist Matthias Koch, is still to dismiss Russian plans to control public debates in the West “as mere wishful thinking on the part of Moscow.”
Putin’s hybrid war against Germany
In fact, German politicians and the German public at large have long criminally underestimated or even downplayed the danger posed by Russian activities to infiltrate the consciousness of large sections of the population.
They do so out of fear of an open confrontation with Moscow or for fear of appearing “paranoid.”
However, now that openly Kremlin-supporting parties such as the AfD and the BSW are increasingly dominating the political and social discourse, it is becoming clear that disinformation is a highly effective weapon in Putin’s war against the free world.
Some defense emerging
State defenses against this threat have recently been significantly strengthened in Germany. At government level, a working group is pooling the findings of experts from various ministries, above all the Ministry of the Interior and the Foreign Office.
Together with German security authorities, such as the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Federal Intelligence Service, it is tasked with identifying hybrid attacks on Germany and developing strategies against various forms of illegitimate influence.
However, the results of these investigations need to be communicated much more proactively to society in order to mobilize it to defend against disinformation.
Briefing the public
A regular central public briefing would be required, for example, in which the latest disinformation attack operations are warned of and the intentions behind them are explained.
Also, the German media should set up an overarching control body that checks suspicious news for its origin and, if necessary, places it on the index.
The democratic public must finally be made aware that we are facing nothing less than a hostile Russian invasion.
It may not yet be carried out with tanks and missiles, but it is already causing considerable damage to the cohesion and defensive power of Western democracies.
*Freelance columnist and analyst
**first published in: Theglobalist.com
By: N. Peter Kramer
