Today’s world, scene of hegemonic powers’ soft war (3)

Welcome to the third episode of the series: Today’s world, scene of hegemonic powers’ soft war. Previously, we spoke about the most important scenes of soft war and this war’s main addressees.

Today, we study the terms of infiltration in the political and social layers of targeted communities.

Upon the fall of the bipolar system in the world and termination of the Cold War, the hegemonic powers adopted a new approach for domination of the world and materialization of their sinister goals, turning toward soft war. For the first time, soft war was practiced in Eastern Europe in the 1980s. The US; via usage of media, social bodies, non-governmental organizations, and civil establishments, set the stage for social movements. This approach maintained cultural and ideological aspects, which named inefficient political structure as the root cause of social protests. This is while as of 1940s to 1980s, the meddlesome policies of the hegemonic powers were carried out via diplomatic means, and intelligence organizations. The prime examples of this fact are the coup plotted by the US against the government of Dr. Mohammad Mosaddeq in Iran in the year 1953, and the ouster of Salvador Allende in Chile in the year 1973. In these incidents, the US took advantage of direct means of interference.

However, following the fall of former Soviet Union, US officials realized that they would no longer be able to serve their interests in the new era via direct interference and confrontation. Hence, they decided to promote proxy wars to set the stage for fall of their targeted states. They realized that the social forces of their targeted community are the main tool used in soft war for fulfillment of their goals. The US had made use of this approach in countering the socialist system which governed Afghanistan.

The Americans also made use of this experience in Nicaragua within the framework of a low-intensity war.

Moreover, MKO terrorist outfit was also organized by the US in a futile bid to organize operations against Islamic Republic of Iran.

Each of these groups staged proxy wars for the US.

In this manner, proxy war took shape within the realm of soft war. This trend went through major changes in the 1990s. In the year 1994, the former US president, Bill Clinton, presented the so-called theory of expansion of democracy. What happened in Central Asian countries, Caucasus, and the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union as colorful revolutions marked another phase of soft war.

This pattern and trend captured the attention of many American theorists, such as the former US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, and the former US national security advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski. They carried out studies on how they could transfer their political values to other geographical locations. Given the effectiveness of such an approach, some US statesmen urged allocation of more sums of money for soft war. They realized that if they would be able to target the local identity of the people of their targeted land, there would be no need for waging a war against the targeted community, because they would have captured the hearts and minds of those people, which was sufficient for the domineering powers.

Western theorists believe that this goal is feasible via propaganda campaign and psychological warfare, and persuasion of the public opinion of the targeted community. Meanwhile, spreading rumors is considered as one of the means for provocation of public opinion in the process of soft war. In this framework, all social and political groups become targets. The instigators of soft war initially stage large-scale psychological operations via media and other means in a bid to infiltrate the layers of the targeted community, and later influence a number of individuals or currents to expand their impact. The enemy considers infiltration in the targeted community as the best option for attainment of its goals. Meanwhile, some believe that infiltration is only synonymous to persuasion of an individual to carry out a particular measure against the interests of a country. However, in majority of cases, there is only need to change the general incentives and beliefs of an individual to accomplish infiltration.

Those staging such plots do not even speak a word in their complicated conspiracies, and are only intent on changing mindsets, thoughts, and values. Meanwhile, if the targeted country doesn’t react, the perpetrators of soft war would achieve their aims.

The formation of soft war sets the stage for surging inner-structural contradictions. In other words, soft war pivots round guidance of social and political forces which maintain contradictory ideologies, thereby setting the stage for widening political rifts. These conditions undermine the ruling system.

Moreover, in the contemporary world, the combination of arts, culture, and technology highly contributes to advancement of the goals of soft war and infiltration in the targeted community. This trend is so extended that even many governments in Asia and Europe are deeply concerned over the swift cultural invasions in their countries, while believing that if this trend continues, their countries would be exposed to major security and political threats in the near future.

 One of the evident examples of soft war is efforts made to isolate religion, making it possible for the hegemonic powers to achieve their goals. One of the former CIA agents, Michael Brunt, in his signature book, points out that the US is not hasty in ouster of opposition states, because the US long-term plots would certainly lead to the fall of these systems. This former CIA operative notes establishment of satellite networks especially for Muslims, change of Islamic names, eradication of concepts such as Jihad, promotion of virtues and martyrdom,  and promotion of secularism are part of the long term strategies of the West for cultural deterioration of the World of Islam and obstruction of Islamic awakening movements.
EA