Russia reminds us (again!) they are at war with us
Arrests in Germany, leaked documents, and an insane member of Congress
A prime minister and an “ex”-KGB spy attend a caviar- and vodka-fueled party, while local intelligence officials listen in. It’s a story too good to miss, coming Monday as part of my Foreign Influence Operations course. Sign up now!
ALEX’S WEEKLY RANT
Yet more evidence came to light this week that Russia is in a war stance vis à vis the West.
First came the news on Wednesday that Russia’s foreign ministry drafted a secret document outlining Russia’s plans to weaken the United States and its allies. The document calls for implementing an “offensive information campaign” and other acts of hybrid war against Russia’s adversaries. If you’ve taken my Foreign Influence Operations course, you already know we collectively call such acts “active measures,” which aim to influence world events in Russia’s favor.
The document says the outcome of the war in Ukraine will “to a great degree determine the outlines of the future world order.” I’ve said the same many times. You see? I don’t disagree with everything Russia says! But I think we’re hoping for two different outcomes: Russia wants to weaken the West in order to have a world order free from any democratic influence (particularly from the US), while I want the opposite.
Why does Russia want this? Well, Putin wants it, because it is his only way of maintaining power. In the simplest terms, Putin must discredit democracy, otherwise his people might start asking for it for themselves. I explain in Class 2. (Seriously, if you had signed up for the course months ago, the world would make a lot more sense now.)
One of the people who contributed to the policy document called for Russia to “continue to facilitate the coming to power of isolationist right-wing forces in America,” which helps explain why we keep seeing a number of right-wingers repeating policy ideas that only help Russia. Again, I’ve written extensively on this, but check out this article, this article, and this article.
Speaking of “isolationist right-wing forces in America,” Marjorie Taylor Greene did not disappoint in the lead up to the vote on Ukraine aid.
More On Moron Marjorie Taylor Greene
After her whacky rant about Ukraine persecuting Christians, MTG this week introduced a number of amendments to the Ukraine aid bill in the House. Nearly all were straight up Kremlin talking points. One involved space lasers (I’m not making this up).
Among the Kremlin amendments:
Anyone who votes for Ukraine aid must sign up to join Ukraine’s military
No Ukraine aid until Ukraine closes all bio-labs
State Department must certify that Christian churches in Ukraine can operate free from government interference
All Ukraine aid money instead should go to Maui, after its fire last year
No money for Ukraine until Hungarians in Transcarpathia can use their own language in school
Let me say a little extra about that last one. First of all, I doubt MTG knows where Transcarpathia is or what Transcarpathia is. This “Hungarians in Transcarpathia are being persecuted” narrative is a very nuanced Kremlin talking point with absolutely no connection to the United States (much like the “Ukraine is persecuting Christians” narrative, which I dove into last week).
Members of Congress do not come up with such ideas in a vacuum, especially ones that involve lies (like bio-labs, persecuted Christians, or oppressed Hungarians in Transcarpathia). Instead, maybe this is connected to Russia’s policy to “continue to facilitate the coming to power of isolationist right-wing forces in America.” Maybe Russia and its proxies told MTG to say those things.
Or maybe it’s all just a great big coincidence.
One Florida Congressman responded to MTG’s amendments by submitting one of his own, naming MTG as “Putin’s Special Envoy to the United States Congress.”
Germany Arrests Two Working For Russian Intelligence
News that Russia has codified its hybrid war against us was followed yesterday by news that Germany had arrested two German-Russian nationals who were scouting facilities for sabotage. Among the targets were US military facilities in Germany.
The two alleged criminals had been in touch with Russia’s military intelligence service (GRU), the same service that carried out the attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal in Sailsbury, England, among other poisonings, and that blew up an arms depot in the Czech Republic. That’s a small list of their many accomplishments.
Among the targets the two allegedly scouted was the US military base in Grafenwöhr, Bavaria, where Ukrainians are being trained to use M1 Abrams tanks. The two had also scouted out transport and industrial facilities. (Last week, I wrote about evidence of Russia considering attacks on critical infrastructure and civilian transport.)
Germany’s interior minister said, “Our security authorities have prevented possible explosive attacks that were intended to target and undermine our military assistance to Ukraine. It is a particularly serious case of alleged spy activity for Putin’s criminal regime.”
Germany has been a hotbed for Russian spy activity, as I wrote about here.
The problem has only gotten worse.
All of this together highlights a message I keep repeating but too few seem to understand: We may not think we are at war with Russia, but Russia sure as hell thinks it is at war with us.
THE WEEK’S LINKS
A roundup of stories you should be reading
RUSSIA AND EUROPE
Russia Just Helped Swing the Presidential Election in Slovakia (Foreign Policy)
Spy scandal revives fears of Austrian exposure to Russia (BBC)
Alex Finley is a former officer of the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, where she served in West Africa and Europe. She writes and teaches about terrorism, disinformation / covert influence, and oligarch yachts. Her writing has appeared in Slate, Reductress, Funny or Die, POLITICO, The Center for Public Integrity, and other publications. She has spoken to the BBC, MSNBC, CNN, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, France24, and numerous other media outlets. She was also invited once to speak at Harvard, which she now tells everyone within the first ten seconds of meeting them. She is the author of the Victor Caro series, satirical novels about the CIA. Before joining the CIA, Alex was a journalist, covering Capitol Hill, the Pentagon, and the Department of Energy. She reported on issues related to national security, intelligence, and homeland security. Did she mention she was invited to speak at Harvard?
Ok, so you're Russia, and you've been cultivating MTG (aren't you? Maybe she does it for free). Do you not see any potential pitfalls to this strategy (in either case!)? She throws bombs but she's a clown with limited influence. And let's say, no proof of course, that you've been working on Mike Johnson and he's been behaving. Then, he wakes up and decides that he "believes the intelligence agencies" now and is going to let the vote happen. I don't get it. Is there a counter intelligence logic here I'm not smart enough to understand? Is the GOP just full of idiots? (obvs). What is going on?