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In the days following the alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria that prompted the United States, France and the UK to launch a joint air strike offensive in response last week, a predictable Russian effort was put into motion to control perceptions of the event throughout the world on social media. In the face of […]

Turkey, and more specifically President Erdogan, has a long-standing feud with social media. From banning access to Twitter and Facebook during the Gezi Park protests in 2013, where 11 people were killed in the four months of the unrest, to continuous protests of the Turkish government against social media companies. Interestingly, the protests in Gezi started […]

The word “troll” has been used to describe many of Russia’s social media efforts to encourage the widening divide in our country. Their campaign’s success is difficult to measure, though it has certainly had some level of success. It would be difficult to argue that the division through the heart of the U.S. is all […]

As tensions between global powers once again come to the forefront of the national security discussion, the United States finds itself facing not only traditional threats, but entirely new kinds of warfare borne out of rapidly advancing social technologies. Perception management, manipulation and propaganda have always played a vital role in warfare, but the advent […]

After days of speculation, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to offer a warning, or perhaps a threat, to Russian and Syrian forces: “missiles are coming.” Trump’s message on social media comes after an alleged chemical weapons attack on Syrian civilians in the rebel controlled town of Douma on April 7th. More than 80 people […]

With Facebook in the news again because some people were surprised to learn that the massive amounts of data the platform harvests about us might be used in ways we don’t like, I thought it was a good time to tip toe behind the curtain a bit and get a sense of the person Facebook […]

These days it seems like everyone is in a perpetual state of dissatisfaction. Even compared to the Karen people, who live under the oppressive thumb of the Burmese government while surviving in an unforgiving jungle, I have rarely come across people more profoundly dissatisfied with their lives as Americans.  In fact, the Karen are among […]

The Marine Corps, like every military branch, has a language all its own. That isn’t to say that Marines don’t speak English – but the words we use come with a cultural context that often requires familiarity to translate. A casual observer may be able to glean that the “head” is actually the bathroom, but […]

More than a dozen Russian nationals and three Russian entities have been indicted by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller on charges stemming from their interference in the 2016 presidential election. The charges brought against them range from conspiracy to defraud the United States to bank fraud. According to the 37 page indictment, thirteen Russian individuals […]

According to multiple sources, including Secretary of State under Donald Trump, Rex Tillerson, the Kremlin’s varied digital campaign against the United States remains ongoing. While the topic has becoming a politically charged one within the United States, the informed debate is not about whether or not Russia has worked to manipulate events within the United […]

Since news broke that President Trump wanted to throw a military parade, there’s been a lot of angry debate in social media regarding just how “American” such a parade truly is. From the Left, we see the same anti-Trump bloviation that has characterized the party since January, and from the Right, we see the same […]

According to reports emerging in Russian media, a Russian fighter was shot down by Syrian rebels on Saturday while conducting air strike operations near the city of Maasran in Idlib, Syria. The pilot reportedly successfully ejected from the aircraft, but was killed in a firefight with rebels who were attempting to take him prisoner. Details […]