The “Yellow Vests” have spontaneously employed the social media networking tactics most commonly associated with Hybrid Warfare, which is direct proof that this cutting-edge regime change technology has finally blown back and is beginning to undermine political stability in Western states.
When Jokes Come To Life
It’s been a running joke in the Alt-Media Community for the past few weeks that the French Establishment will eventually blame Russia for the “Yellow Vest” protests, and lo and behold that’s exactly what the Foreign Minister implied on Sunday when he said that the Secretariat-General for National Defence and Security (SGDSN) was investigating earlier reports spread by British media alleging that Russia is playing a shadowy role in influencing events. Moscow vehemently denied the accusations, which were based on nothing more than the observation that some supposedly Russian-friendly social media accounts were actively following the latest developments in Paris, calling the claims “nothing but slander” and reiterating that Russia doesn’t interfere in the internal affairs of any country. Still, the very fact that the French Establishment crossed the Rubicon into ridiculousness says a lot about how desperate they are to frame the “Yellow Vests” as a foreign-influenced destabilization operation instead of accepting their genuine grassroots origins.
Highlighting The Hybrid War
The French Establishment might still be in a state of disbelief and strategic paralysis after confronting what could objectively be described as Hybrid War threats in the capital’s streets, which isn’t rendering a value judgement or any other sort of implied political commentary about the “Yellow Vests” but simply drawing attention to the tactics that they’ve employed. To explain, the author’s theory of Hybrid Warfare posits that social media networking plays a disproportionately influential role in organizing massive demonstrations such as the ones that the “Yellow Vests” are now known for in Paris, with the deliberately decentralized nature of the socio-political movement making it extremely difficult for the authorities to counteract because there aren’t any official leaders for them to detain in trying to preemptively stop it. Instead, the state is immediately thrown on the defensive by the very nature of the rebellious threat that it’s facing, which usually makes it unable to respond in any effective way and encourages it to fall into the strategic trap of overreacting.
Falling Into The Trap
That’s precisely what happened in France, as the state has resorted to using excessive force in the hope that it can “set an example” and intimidate the populace, hence the deployment of an astounding 89,000 cops throughout the country as a “preventive measure” last weekend and some of the forceful measures that were used in response to the rioters. Western Mainstream Media outlets would have described such a move as “bordering on the brink of civil war” if any Chinese-friendly government in the “Global South” were to have done this, but largely eschewed any hint of this narrative when talking about France because of the fear that they have that similar methods could be unleashed against them by their own people one day too. Truth be told, just like in other Hybrid War battlefields, some of the footage being shown by on-the-ground activists might have been decontextualized, misportrayed, and over-amplified to push an agenda, but therein lays further proof that Hybrid Warfare is being applied.
A Taste Of Their Own Medicine
Hybrid War Comes Home
The scale and scope of the “Yellow Vest” protests took the French Establishment completely off guard since the state had evidently overestimated the effectiveness of its indoctrination operations that the people were previously exposed to. It appears as if the government felt that its perception management techniques had successfully convinced the population to accept declining living standards and other aspects of the unsavory fate that the elite has in store for them, which is why they were so taken aback by the massive protests that have rocked the nation over the past month. The only “politically correct” explanation that they could think of is that “Russian propaganda” counteracted the effect of their operations and that the nationwide revolt is somehow being orchestrated from Moscow, refusing to countenance that their own failings are entirely to blame for what’s happening. It’s much easier to allege an international Hybrid War conspiracy than to accept that the West’s many international Hybrid Wars have finally come home to roost.
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This article was originally published on Eurasia Future.
Andrew Korybko is an American Moscow-based political analyst specializing in the relationship between the US strategy in Afro-Eurasia, China’s One Belt One Road global vision of New Silk Road connectivity, and Hybrid Warfare. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.
