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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.
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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.
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I genuinely don’t understand how this hasn’t been clear as day for everyone from the start. We’ve seen Putin (I still refuse to say Russia because it’s not Russia’s war, it’s Putin’s specifically) do this many, many times before! He’s shown us his methods, he’s broadcast his intentions over and over again (especially when trying to disguise them, I’d say, because his lies are always absurd and stupid), we all know why he’s doing what he’s doing. Why are we dancing around the subject, trying to give the benefit of the doubt to the wolf who’s lounging belly-up in the middle of our empty and bloodied sheep pen?