Globohomo, Russia, and China are the three competing imperial powers.
Each of them, for obvious reasons, run Influence Operations. All of them know the value of information control as part of Total Warfare, of Unrestricted Warfare.
It was the case years ago that dissidents against one or more imperial powers could set up an independent information outlet or network and attempt to bring information that is clean of imperial meddling to the public.
Do I need to explain how all three imperial powers see any and all independent voice as threats?
Do I need to explain how all three imperial powers also see any and all dissidents as Useful Idiots to be used in waging Narrative Warfare against their enemies (often their own populations) and their rivals (the other powers)?
I sense that the latter does need some explanation.
No Liminal Space For Information
An imperial power, by its nature, is totalitarian. Totalitarianism, by definition, operates under a policy of TINA: (T)here (I)s (N)o (A)lternative. The contemporary state makes no distinction between Near and Far, Home and Away, Frontline and Rear Area, Domestic or Foreign Affairs, etc. because all three powers embrace Italian Fascism's key belief:
With regard to Narrative Warfare, the purpose of suborning dissidents is to create a curtain of plausible deniability in waging Information Warfare against the targetted population. Globohomo has proven the master of this to date, even with Western dissidents taking the time to break down what it is and how it works (themselves quoting past and present figures within Western media and Intelligence). Russia and China have manufactured a strong degree of control for their domestic populations, but their attempts as pushing Narrative Warfare strikes abroad have met with mixed results.
The successes come when there is a verifiable fact around which they can use as an attack surface for a Narrative strike. The recent Middle East diplomacy by China is one such example; yes, Beijing did intervene in some growing tensions and there is an announced agreement, but that does not tell the full story.
Persian, Arab, and Han cultures are all Face cultures. Seeming is at least as important as substance in Face culture. What we have here is a great show of prestige, a theatrical display of mutal acknowledgement of and respect for the prestige (Face) of the others, and words said about a peaceful resolution. It's a fine performance; there is nothing of substance to back any of that up. In blunt terms, it was all fake and gay; nothing actually happened.
The CCP Shillsphere's Narrative attacks work on this Face Culture concept of attacking prestige, of theatrical displays and declarations, that are meant to create illusions in the minds of the recepients. The Russian operations do the same thing, and both of them use media manipulation (as Globohomo does) to dress up these attacks like a special effects crew dress up raw footage for a feature film. As the Warographics video on Russian media control points out (and The China Show has also shown for China), they are not that good at at it.
Globohomo, by comparison, goes out of its way to add substance to their Narrative attacks. This is where the Non-Governmental Organization network comes into the picture; they either coopt organic opposition to make Useful Idiots of them or they create inorganic opposition by identifying dissatisfied persons and supporting them as covertly as possible in organizing into an effective opposition movement against the target. This has been the playbook long enough that Russian and Chinese outlets have been calling this the CIA Playbook For Color Revolution. (Which means that Globohomo needs to refine their game again.)
That substance is the big difference. Where Russia and China try to bullshit their way in a manner befitting a stage magician in Las Vegas, Globohomo is Hollywood in all its industrialized media majesty, and that is not an exageration; the Pentagon's Hollywood Liason Office is not a secret, and you can bet that the card-carrying spooks piggyback off of that.
In practice, this means that all of the Hollywood magic tricks used to wow audiences worldwide as entertainment are also used by Globohomo media operations to influence populations worldwide to side with Globohomo and against whomever they're targetting. Back that up further with material support for one or more designated parties to act on the behalf of Globohomo's interests and you are ready to read John Perkin's Confessions of an Economic Hit-Man.
Towards A Solution
Dissidents worldwide need to recognize the need for clean information.
Dissidents worldwide need to recognize the threat that imperial regimes pose to information flows out of their control.
Dissidents worldwide need to recognize the utility that imperial regimes see in coopting independent outlets into fronts for their purposes.
Dissidents worldwide need to admit that this has happened by all three parties, reducing the liminal space for clean information to a very small one- but not yet wholly consuming the open territory.
Dissidents worldwide need to admit that without an equally large and committed network of committed operatives, complete with secure financing, there is no practical solution for this information pollution problem.
Therefore I propose the following:
- Decide upon at least two locations in the liminal spaces in geopolitics: Singapore, Dubai, Panama City, etc. and two or more figures who are willing and able to trust each other to set up operations in those two locations. Those locations are a bare-bones office for legal and financial reasons only (i.e. to set up banking access and provide visas to those in need); the actual operation is location-independent and thus decentralized. Like it or not, it needs to be crypto-friendly.
- Connect with dissidents across the globe. Collect their contact info, video/streaming links, etc. and put together a landing page where they can all be found.
- Hire translators to translate video scripts for Subtitle purposes, as YouTube (et. al.) cannot be trusted to not fuck with things for various reasons.
- Set up a separate set of accounts that link to contributors, and with regard to YT (et. al.) a regular news brief (with links in the Description; like we see with niche scene channels like Things VTubers Say).
- Cultivate and foster networking across dissident spheres, leading to collaborations. This is the geopolitical form of "get to know your neighbors".
Because this is (a) a money-generating enterprise and (b) meant to directly challenge imperial Narrative Warfare worldwide the first few steps in particular need to be done with an eye to keeping the Glowies out. Thanks to recent events like the Ricky Vaughn trial and the contining exposure of Russian and Chinese influence operations in the West, it's getting easy to profile the usual suspects.
That means deep and extensive background checks, credit checks, etc. for anyone as a candidate for the core operation. It also means certain nationalities are already cut out of consideration due to long-standing cultural norms.
This will need to be extended to any would-be contributor; far too many "dissidents" are imperial assets or are otherwise just plain liabilities. Not just cutting out the CCP Shillsphere, but also many Globohomo assets are outright criminals (and so too would CCP shills and Russian dupes; crooks are easy to control), so the list would grow slowly over time and be reviewed on a regular basis to prevent someone's being turned pozzing the network or just plain running off with the cash.
In time, the network would become able to assist honest and earnest dissidents with securing their operations at home by providing their members a way out from imperial control via a work visa to one of the network's offices (or, in time, a subsidiary thereof that said dissident group owns and control).
Conclusion
The irony of solving the imperial problem is in creating the global network of nationalists that Globohomo claims to champion but shows by its deeds that it does not.
Each nation has its assets that it can contribute to assisting other nationalists in throwing out the imperial power afflicting it, and it is in those liminal geopolitical spaces that the liminal information space can be exploited to best effect.
By providing clean information about the world to the world's dissidents, they can and will learn how to counter imperial Narrative Warfare against them and their people. By collaborating with other nationalists, the pre-conditions for a practical peace after the imperial powers collapse can be had and put into operation before they are needed.
By cutting out the media establishments and the governments they not only are in bed with but engage in some seriously perverted relations on a nightly basis, we demonstrate that we do not need them- they need us, and we can be good neighbors; we live separate and apart, but can collaborate and come together as necessary to handle things bigger than any of us.
Which requires admission of a power greater than Empire, but regulars here know that. When nations come together without imperial oversight, Empire falls.
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