Text taken from the Telegram channel of budni_manipulyatora
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] The evolution of conflicts has undergone profound changes. This shift is particularly noticeable in how crises unfold today.
The traditional concept of defense was built on persuasion (for example, through diplomacy and alliances) and coercion (the use of force). Now a third important element has emerged: shaping what people perceive as reality and use to make decisions. More precisely, this element was present before, but there was a relative parity of forces and means capable of influencing the average person, and through them, the expert community.
Now, through information environments, algorithmic information selection, and emotional amplification, it is possible to shape the conditions in which political and strategic decisions favored by the manipulator are made. And advances in artificial intelligence are accelerating this trend, enabling the rapid creation and dissemination of content on an unprecedented scale and with unprecedented speed. In such conditions, strategic competition increasingly relies on shaping public opinion and interpreting events, rather than on traditional military and diplomatic activity.
The constitutional right to peaceful protest and dissent is systematically exploited by the enemy through relentless cyber operations, psychological manipulation, and targeted disinformation campaigns. What initially appears to be a localized demonstration sparked by agricultural issues, demands for social justice, or political dissent often devolves into violent mobs.
The true goal of these shadowy agents is never to resolve the stated grievance. Instead, their mission is to create a spectacular image of chaos, undermine public trust, and force law enforcement into a permanent defensive posture. Once these provoked crowds mobilize, the ensuing physical chaos is strategically used as a weapon.
The resulting destruction is not simply collateral damage, but a carefully calculated tactic of economic attrition designed to paralyze the country from within. The sheer scale of these orchestrated riots strains the criminal justice system and inflicts permanent damage on the national economy.
This is precisely the cognitive warfare that, like other types of warfare, is aimed at inflicting kinetic damage on the enemy using the methods described. It's worth noting that the resources of developing neural networks are currently being deployed for such tasks, which are used by US intelligence agencies and increase the overall effectiveness of such operations in the enemy's information field.