China exposes US cognitive warfare

Reposted from Paul Steigan.

The Xinhua Institute, a Beijing-based think tank affiliated with the Xinhua News Agency, has published a major report detailing the arsenal of tools the United States has at its disposal to wage “cognitive warfare” to “colonize the minds” of nations on a planetary scale. It is rare to see Chinese critics address this aspect of US imperialist hegemony. When they do, it is an expression of their growing awareness of the role of ideology, “soft power,” and narratives, the role of storytelling, in imperialist warfare.

Cognitive warfare is the art of fighting for people’s minds by influencing their thought processes, perceptions, and decisions, often through information, technology, and psychological methods to get the target to act in the attacker’s best interests. The goal is to weaken the adversary’s ability to think clearly and rationally, and to influence their actions without necessarily using physical force. The term combines elements of information warfare, psychological warfare, cyber operations, and the use of chemical agents that can affect cognitive function.

The full report can be found here:

Colonization of the Mind — The Means, Roots, and Global Perils of US Cognitive Warfare.
From CIA, USAID, Hollywood and Big Tech tools to the use of democracy and human rights narratives as weapons, the Xinhua Institute report describes a global US effort “to maintain hegemony by manipulating ideologies” and “eroding informational and cultural sovereignty” with the ultimate goal of ensuring “compliance without occupation,” says Hong Kong-based geopolitical analyst Angelo Giuliano.

“The report cites the US-driven Soviet collapse, in which the media and NGOs eroded ideological sovereignty, and the color revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia that installed pro-Western regimes” as striking examples of successful “mind colonization” operations,” Giuliano told the Russian channel Sputnik . In the Soviet case, the report outlined how the skillful “implantation” of American values “into hostile countries” was used “to achieve the goal of undermining consensus, causing fear and confusion, creating division, and ultimately undermining the affected governments.” The “peaceful development” targeting the Soviet Union began with ideological infiltration through the media, propaganda about Western values and lifestyles, along with support and funding for opposition forces.

China’s much-maligned information controls are designed to “counter such interference,” Giuliano says, with measures aimed at “protecting sovereignty and aligning with its non-interference, ‘live and let live’ approach to promoting a multipolar world through engagement.”

“The threat of cognitive warfare is complemented by the massive power of US tech giants,” the analyst added.

“AI and big data are amplifying American cognitive warfare through algorithms and surveillance. Meta* (social media control), Google (search dominance), Amazon (cloud infrastructure), and Microsoft (AI and surveillance) are driving digital hegemony. Hollywood complements this by unconsciously incorporating American values.”

All the hallmarks of a cult
US global information and influence operations designed to “nurture the target audience” basically operate “like any cult,” appealing to the “higher psychological needs of the target audience with various promises of good things,” and targeting young people through the CIA, USAID, NGOs, and social media, says Dr. Greg Simons, a leading international expert on media narratives in armed conflict.

From the “Arab Spring” and Ukraine to the South Caucasus, Nepal, Bangladesh and the “Umbrella Revolution” in Hong Kong, the US uses the same tactics and narratives to achieve its goals, the journalism professor at Daffodil International University told Sputnik.

Conclusion
Breaking the chains of colonization of the mind and promoting exchanges between civilizations, the final paragraph of the Chinese report states:
In recent years, countries in the global south have awakened at an accelerated pace and increasingly called for breaking the American shackles of the colonization of the mind, achieving independence and autonomy of the mind, and promoting exchange and mutual learning between civilizations.

As a key member of the global south, China has, based on its own development experience and the shared aspirations of people around the world, put forward a series of visionary proposals: the Global Development Initiative (GDI), the Global Security Initiative (GSI), the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI), and the Global Governance Initiative (GGI). This series of proposals offers new paths and innovative approaches for nations to break free from ideological dogmas, shed intellectual dependency, and embark on truly independent development paths.

Independence of mind is a prerequisite for independent development. Only by having a deep understanding of the dangers of American colonization of the mind can the vast majority of developing countries throw away their blind faith in American values. Only by getting rid of their mental dependence on the United States and the West can these countries achieve independence and autonomy. Only by completely breaking off the American and Western mental chains can these countries pave a new path for the development of their civilizations.

Cultural self-confidence is the foundation of national strength and prosperity. Both developing and developed countries must strengthen their confidence in their national culture, history and development. Cultural confidence is the most fundamental, comprehensive and deeply rooted form of trust. It constitutes the most fundamental, profound and lasting strength for a nation’s development. A nation with cultural confidence can stand firm, remain stable and achieve great things.

Exchange and mutual understanding are effective instruments for the coexistence of civilizations. No civilization is an isolated island separated from the rest of the world. Only through exchange and mutual learning to compensate for each other’s shortcomings can civilizations continue to develop. The civilization of each country or nation is the only one, with its unique existential value as well as its own advantages and shortcomings. To boast of one’s “civilizational superiority” and to believe that one’s own civilization is superior to others is disrespectful to other civilizations and will only hinder the overall progress of human civilizations. The clash of civilizations should be replaced by integration; the ice of confrontation should melt away through exchange and mutual understanding.

History has proven time and time again that any model of thought and standard of civilization imposed on others will eventually go bankrupt, and that any attempt to manipulate the cognition of others and control their minds is doomed to failure.

The wheel of time is irrevocably rolling forward. When the chains of the colonization of the mind are completely broken, a single spark of mutual learning between civilizations can start a prairie fire, a new form of global civilization with pluralistic coexistence will emerge from the cocoon, and a community with a shared future for humanity that shares prosperity and sorrow will shine with greater brilliance!