In this report, Know Thy Enemy: Understanding the threat posed by Rus- sia and China in the post-COVID era, three distinguished researchers take a close look at the threat Russia and China pose to the democratic states in the world. [...] Cole ends his chapter with a series of recommendations on how to face this multifaceted threat from China and a plea to the West that “we must regain our footing and self-esteem by ignoring Chinese propaganda about the “inevitability” of the West’s decline and through a reinvestment in our human capital and belief in the wisdom of our democratic ideals.” Lastly, Balkan Devlen looks at the commonal. [...] As Devlen concludes, “[i]t would be a bleak future where the progress of human rights and democracy in the last three decades is rolled back.” Devlen ends his chapter with a series of recommendations that include the necessity of a clear-eyed understanding of the authoritarian challenge, better study of political warfare and subversion, and the importance of developing societal resilience. [...] Common to both Fascism and Leninism are the pervasiveness of an all-encompassing police force, state control of the media, and the lack of any legal constraints on the regime. [...] As the many investigations in the US and elsewhere show, these activities are coordinated from Moscow with the systematic use of military intelligence (GRU) and other hackers, such as the Internet Resources Agency (IRA), to launch incessant information operations and cyberattacks to polarize and divide targeted states and influence their political trajectories (ibid.).
- Pages
- 64
- Published in
- Canada
