北约指挥官呼吁加强对俄罗斯和伊斯兰国的信息战

AS IT IS 2016-10-03 NATO Warns West Is Losing “Information War” Against Russia, Islamic State Group 北约指挥官呼吁加强对俄罗斯和伊斯兰国的信息战

NATO commanders are calling on Western nations to expand efforts against the ‘information war’ being spread by opponents of the West.

The commanders warn that countries like Russia are using the free press in democratic countries to spread disinformation.

The term “hybrid¹ warfare²” is often used to describe the deployment³ of disinformation and military power at the same time. An example is the Russian takeover of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

Two years ago, gunmen launched raids on Ukrainian military bases in the area. At first, the Russian government denied the gunmen belonged to the Russian military. Yet similar unidentified armed groups appeared in eastern Ukraine a few weeks later. That conflict, between Russia-supported rebels and the Ukrainian military, is continuing.

Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko, spoke⁴ recently to the United Nations General Assembly. He said hybrid warfare is being used against the whole Western world.

“Political pressure, blatant⁵ propaganda, interference with the electoral process, economic coercion⁶, secret subversive⁷ and military operations, cyber attacks, misuse⁸ of diplomatic measures.”

Janis Sarts is the director of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s STRATCOM Center of Excellence⁹. She said the West is playing catch-up to the disinformation campaigns.

Representatives of Western countries recently met to discuss the growing influence of Russian state media, including its 24-hour Russia Today or RT. The television station is often accused of broadcasting propaganda for Russia.

Edward Lucas works for The Economist¹⁰ magazine. He says TV stations like RT should not be considered journalism¹¹. He says Russia lies about events. He says Western media prioritizes “fairness over truth.”

Lucas says the West must be more active on social media.

“There’s a real problem with comment fields, and with fake social media accounts, particularly on Twitter. The Russians are putting lots and lots of money into creating tens of thousands of trolls.”

NATO officials said Russia believes control of information is an important part of its conflict planning. They said Western nations use separate public relations teams to provide information during conflicts.

Words in This Story

hybrid warfare – n. a combination of conventional weapons, irregular tactics, disinformation, terrorism and criminal behavior used in the same time and battlespace to reach a group’s military and political goals

blatant – adj. very obvious and offensive

coercion – n. the act of making someone do something by using force or threats

journalism – n. the activity or job of collecting, writing and editing news stories for newspapers, magazines, television, radio or the internet

troll – n. a person who tries to cause problems on an Internet message board, in comments sections of websites or on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook by posting messages that cause other people to argue, become angry, etc.

1 hybrid   

n.(动，植）杂种，混合物

参考例句：

• That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
• The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。

2 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

3 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 blatant   

adj.厚颜无耻的；显眼的；炫耀的

参考例句：

• I cannot believe that so blatant a comedy can hoodwink anybody.我无法相信这么显眼的一出喜剧能够欺骗谁。
• His treatment of his secretary was a blatant example of managerial arrogance.他管理的傲慢作风在他对待秘书的态度上表露无遗。

6 coercion   

n.强制，高压统治

参考例句：

• Neither trickery nor coercion is used to secure confessions.既不诱供也不逼供。
• He paid the money under coercion.他被迫付钱。

7 subversive   

adj.颠覆性的，破坏性的；n.破坏份子，危险份子

参考例句：

• She was seen as a potentially subversive within the party.她被看成党内潜在的颠覆分子。
• The police is investigating subversive group in the student organization.警方正调查学生组织中的搞颠覆阴谋的集团。

8 misuse   

n.误用，滥用；vt.误用，滥用

参考例句：

• It disturbs me profoundly that you so misuse your talents.你如此滥用自己的才能，使我深感不安。
• He was sacked for computer misuse.他因滥用计算机而被解雇了。

9 excellence   

n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德

参考例句：

• His art has reached a high degree of excellence.他的艺术已达到炉火纯青的地步。
• My performance is far below excellence.我的表演离优秀还差得远呢。

10 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

11 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。