…
Ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague this month, where members are expected to agree to raise defense spending targets to 5% of GDP, the alliance is worried that Russia is using its policy of transparency for propaganda and military planning.
…
The Kremlin is deliberately betting on turning even the smallest incidents into scandals and points of conflict, a strategy demonstrated by recent disinformation campaigns targeting Moscow’s opponents.
French President Emmanuel Macron found himself at the center of these efforts, first through unflattering rumors about his wife Brigitte and later with a viral video in which she allegedly slapped him before they disembarked a plane.
In one famous example, Russian state television channels, pro-Kremlin online media and Telegram news channels spread the false claim that a bag of cocaine was lying on the table in front of Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on their train to Kyiv.
In reality, it was a napkin.
…
I say this is just so the public doesn’t know 5hen the U.S. with a strangle hold on NATO can just reduce it with no oversight.