Active Measures
Psychological warfare. A strategy used to invade another country without the mess of physical violence or formal proclamations.
TikTok, if the vastly different content algorithmically curated for children inside China has been accurately reported.
Originally conceived as a military strategy by the USSR, it has been adopted by many other nations and is currently trending. This does not prevent people from constantly claiming its the Russians.
A real phenomenon that is actively occurring in numerous countries, which is curious considering how little it is discussed in any official capacity by our governments in any specific terms. It is possible that they have noticed that the destabilization it generates is politically useful for their own ends in the moment. If this is true, it will not last for long once the model runs its course and their enemy moves in.
These acts of aggression are so incredibly effective at dividing populations and generating fear and mistrust, some governments have begun to favour using them on their own citizens. Corporations have mastered such manipulations, compelling us to empty our bank accounts to buy a never-ending amount of garbage that we do not really want or need, while making us mentally and physically sick in the process.
Active measures, famously expounded upon by former KGB propagandist and Russian informant-turned-defector Yuri Bezmenov, were created as an extension of wartime strategies outlined in The Art of War by Sun Tzu, an ancient Chinese military general and strategist. Prior to his death, Yuri explained that the purpose of active measures is:
…to change the perception of reality for a sufficient number of people so that no matter how much information is available, no one can come to reasonable conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their interest, their family, their community, or their country.
He described it as a bureaucratic policy that seeks to replicate one of the manoeuvres employed in martial arts. Rather than fight an opponent directly – using resources and suffering potential casualties, the easiest way to win a war is to avoid fighting at all. Instead, observe when there are natural forces present in a country that may generate discord or division, and use their existing momentum while amplifying their effect. Do not strike an opponent directly, wait for them to swing their fists wildly, grab their wrist when you see an opportunity, and guide their knuckles towards an actionable position – a vulnerability in their social fabric.
Do these enough times over a period of a few decades, and you can weaken an enemy’s position to a point that an invasion will be met with little resistance. This is a lengthy process, much longer than the traditional alternatives of formal declarations and battle, but its ability to preserve the stability of the expansionist nation makes it a far more elegant strategy. No lives must be lost, families will remain intact, industries avoid interruption, national identity is spared the taint of war mongering, and the financial burdens of conflict are largely avoided.
When he began to speak publicly about his former position as a propagandist in the 1980s, he stated:
War is a continuation of state policy, so if you want to successfully implement your state policy, fighting is the most idiotic way to do it. The highest art of warfare is not to fight at all, but to subvert anything of value in the country of your enemy until such time that the perception of reality of your enemy is so screwed up that he does not perceive you as an enemy. Where your systems, your civilization, your visions appear as alternatives to your enemy, if not desirable, then at least visible.
Bezmenov outlined, in detail, the four stages that comprise an assault using active measures:
Demoralization - 10-15 years
Destabilization - 2-5 years
Crisis - A few weeks
Normalization - Indefinitely
Demoralization [has been] overfulfilled in the U.S. [No one] can assess truthful information, and facts mean nothing.
Religion [is denigrated] and substituted with something else, and you replaced real organizations with fake organizations. You distract people from learning something pragmatic, efficient, and constructive. You replace real structure with fake structure, bureaucratically-controlled structures that remove responsibility from individuals. Replace social relationships with social workers who work for the bureaucracy. Replace real power and authority with fake and unelected entities who decide for you what is right and wrong. Mediocrity is established, competition is removed.
[Over time, there will be] a slow substitution of moral values. Convince everyone that they need more, they need to consume more, never less. Destroy the value of deeds, merit, and contributions, and replace it with an absence of judgment and entitlements.”
He was then asked a question about whether they have equality in the Soviet Union by an audience member, his response: ‘Equality exists in Soviet Union; everyone is equal in dirt.’
He continues to Destabilization:
“You let them do it to themselves, they will lose faith in one another and their institutions. It has a narrower application than [demoralization]. People can no longer reach reasonable compromise without conflict. Radicalization of labour and unions, and radicalization of human relations [occurs]. Normal accepted relationships are destabilized, no more acceptance of the legitimacy of demands of workers. More conflict is encouraged, which makes us look more heroic; conflict is presented as normal.
Law and courts are involved in the smallest of cases that would have otherwise been resolved peacefully and legitimately. We cannot solve our problems anymore; society becomes more and more antagonistic. The media places himself opposite the society at large, alienated. Everything in a sense becomes about rights and politics, [and] all of this leads to the creation of a crisis.”
The third stage, Crisis:
“[Crisis has been established when] nothing functions anymore. Artificial bodies are injected into society, [these are] non-elected committees, social workers, media, groups that claim they know how to lead society - they don’t, they just know how to sell their own concocted ideology, people who want power and will take it if it is not given, university graduates seeking revolution. People are looking for a savior, and strong government is usually the answer [they seek].
This leads to one of two outcomes: civil war or invasion. Civil war like in Lebanon by PLO, or invasion like Afghanistan, and in Eastern Europe. The result is the same either way - Normalization.”
Stage four, Normalization:
“[Normalization is an] ironic term meaning that the fabricated conflict and disillusionment has been eliminated. The new leaders don’t need destabilization anymore, nor radicalization, so they will be shot. You stabilize the country by force, [killing all the] liberals, homosexuals, professors, Marxists/Leninists, and social workers. The new rulers need stability to exploit the nation, to take advantage of the victory.”
With this dismal forecast outlined, the audience anxiously awaited possible solutions to prevent such an assault from coming to fruition. He offered the following on how to stop this process and prevent normalization:
“[People need to prioritize] self-restraint, which used to be the business of the church. [We need to produce] high-quality goods, [and we need] strong, brave, and conscientious citizens. Re-introduce religion - a formalized abstraction that governs our lives, that preserves and makes society move. Keep human beings intelligent moral agents of God… Ancient civilizations collapsed and disappeared from the surface of the earth the moment they lost religion; they disintegrated.”(1)
All of these prescriptions are self-evident - they are a call to embody a high moral standard that is commensurate with our existence. Self-restraint is a feature of discipline, and testing how little we need to be comfortable and fulfilled is always a worthwhile endeavour. Owning fewer things and taking exceptional care of them ostensibly acts as a treatment for the disposable culture we find ourselves in. Our fickle tastes and loyalties permit us to discard perfectly good items, and people, because we decide they no longer prove worthy. Develop competence to be strong. When we are strong, we can more easily overcome our fears so we can bravely meet the challenges of existence. Work diligently on purposeful and meaningful endeavours to embody the conscientiousness that is valued by both markets and neighbours. Our enemies are certainly doing this, so if we do not, we are bound to be left behind.
While there may some hesitation about forcing a re-integration of faith into predominantly secular cultures, having substituted an orientation towards a distinct object with ideology and humanism has had a deranging effect on the human spirit. It is possible that a high-resolution narrative absent God is possible, but it has not yet been conceived. Even if we went with God, in the current globalized climate that contrasts our religious provincialism rather starkly, which God or gods do we choose, acknowledging that their respective narratives may be impossible to reconcile?
Whether it is Russians, our own governments and elites, or private interests, the relationship is clear: the more fearful, confused and divided a population, the easier we are to manipulate, coerce and compel. Strategic goals, power and profit are much easier to accumulate when we are kept in such a state.
It is worth noting that normalization is only necessary if our aggressor is a foreign nation. Regardless of who initiated this warfare, the powerful can piggy-back on the process, and they simply oscillate between demoralization and destabilization, with periods of crisis that act as reset buttons. This is an incredibly potent tool for authoritarians, and it should be assumed that once someone is experienced enough as a social engineer, they can see the benefits of investing in this act of war.
The question then becomes: what we you going to do about it?
(1) All excerpts are from Understanding the Political Scenario of INDIA,CANADA,JAPAN,CHINA,USA, FRANCE etc, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9TviIuXPSE, posted on Jan. 9, 2020. Could not locate original airing or source.
Posted: 12 Feb 2023
