{"id":197576,"date":"2021-10-18T12:00:42","date_gmt":"2021-10-18T11:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=197576"},"modified":"2021-10-14T04:51:13","modified_gmt":"2021-10-14T03:51:13","slug":"natos-plans-to-hack-your-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/10\/natos-plans-to-hack-your-brain\/","title":{"rendered":"NATO\u2019s Plans to Hack Your Brain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Behind NATO\u2019s \u2018cognitive warfare\u2019: \u2018Battle for your brain\u2019 waged by Western militaries. Western governments in the NATO military alliance are developing tactics of \u201ccognitive warfare,\u201d using the supposed threats of China and Russia to justify waging a \u201cbattle for your brain\u201d in the \u201chuman domain,\u201d to \u201cmake everyone a weapon.\u201d
\n<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

8 Oct 2021 – <\/em>NATO is developing new forms of warfare to wage a \u201cbattle for the brain,\u201d as the military alliance put it.<\/p>\n

The US-led NATO military cartel has tested novel modes of hybrid warfare against its self-declared adversaries, including economic warfare, cyber warfare, information warfare, and psychological warfare.<\/p>\n

Now, NATO is spinning out an entirely new kind of combat it has branded cognitive warfare. Described as the \u201cweaponization of brain sciences,\u201d the new method involves \u201chacking the individual\u201d by exploiting \u201cthe vulnerabilities of the human brain\u201d in order to implement more sophisticated \u201csocial engineering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Until recently, NATO had divided war into five different operational domains: air, land, sea, space, and cyber. But with its development of cognitive warfare strategies, the military alliance is discussing a new, sixth level: the \u201chuman domain.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 2020 NATO-sponsored study<\/a> of this new form of warfare clearly explained, \u201cWhile actions taken in the five domains are executed in order to have an effect on the human domain, cognitive warfare\u2019s objective is to make everyone a weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe brain will be the battlefield of the 21st century,\u201d the report stressed. \u201cHumans are the contested domain,\u201d and \u201cfuture conflicts will likely occur amongst the people digitally first and physically thereafter in proximity to hubs of political and economic power.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NATO
The 2020 NATO-sponsored study on cognitive warfare<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the NATO-backed study insisted that much of its research on cognitive warfare is designed for defensive purposes, it also conceded that the military alliance is developing offensive tactics, stating, \u201cThe human is very often the main vulnerability and it should be acknowledged in order to protect NATO\u2019s human capital but also to be able to benefit from our adversaries\u2019s vulnerabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a chilling disclosure, the report said explicitly that \u201cthe objective of Cognitive Warfare is to harm societies and not only the military.\u201d<\/p>\n

With entire civilian populations in NATO\u2019s crosshairs, the report emphasized that Western militaries must work more closely with academia to weaponize social sciences and human sciences and help the alliance develop its cognitive warfare capacities.<\/p>\n

The study described this phenomenon as \u201cthe militarization of brain science.\u201d But it appears clear that NATO\u2019s development of cognitive warfare will lead to a militarization of all aspects of human society and psychology, from the most intimate of social relationships to the mind itself.<\/p>\n

Such all-encompassing militarization of society is reflected in the paranoid tone of the NATO-sponsored report, which warned of \u201can embedded fifth column, where everyone, unbeknownst to him or her, is behaving according to the plans of one of our competitors.\u201d The study makes it clear that those \u201ccompetitors\u201d purportedly exploiting the consciousness of Western dissidents are China and Russia.<\/p>\n

In other words, this document shows that figures in the NATO military cartel increasingly see their own domestic population as a threat, fearing civilians to be potential Chinese or Russian sleeper cells, dastardly \u201cfifth columns\u201d that challenge the stability of \u201cWestern liberal democracies.\u201d<\/p>\n

NATO\u2019s development of novel forms of hybrid warfare come at a time when member states\u2019 military campaigns are targeting domestic populations on an unprecedented level.<\/p>\n

The Ottawa Citizen reported<\/a> this September that the Canadian military\u2019s Joint Operations Command took advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to wage an information war against its own domestic population, testing out propaganda tactics on Canadian civilians.<\/p>\n

Internal NATO-sponsored reports suggest that this disclosure is just scratching the surface of a wave of new unconventional warfare techniques that Western militaries are employing around the world.<\/p>\n

Canada hosts \u2018NATO Innovation Challenge\u2019 on cognitive warfare<\/h3>\n

Twice each year, NATO holds a \u201cpitch-style event\u201d that it brand as an \u201cInnovation Challenge.\u201d These campaigns \u2013 one hosted in the Spring and the other in the Fall, by alternating member states \u2013 call on private companies, organizations, and researchers to help develop new tactics and technologies for the military alliance.<\/p>\n

The shark tank-like challenges reflect the predominant influence of neoliberal ideology within NATO, as participants mobilize the free market, public-private partnerships, and the promise of cash prizes to advance the agenda of the military-industrial complex.<\/p>\n

NATO\u2019s Fall 2021 Innovation Challenge is hosted by Canada<\/a>, and is titled \u201cThe invisible threat: Tools for countering cognitive warfare.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Canada<\/p>\n

\u201cCognitive warfare seeks to change not only what people think, but also how they act,\u201d the Canadian government wrote in its official statement on the challenge. \u201cAttacks against the cognitive domain involve the integration of cyber, disinformation\/misinformation, psychological, and social-engineering capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ottawa\u2019s press release continued: \u201cCognitive warfare positions the mind as a battle space and contested domain. Its objective is to sow dissonance, instigate conflicting narratives, polarize opinion, and radicalize groups. Cognitive warfare can motivate people to act in ways that can disrupt or fragment an otherwise cohesive society.\u201d<\/p>\n

NATO-backed Canadian military officials discuss cognitive warfare in panel event<\/h3>\n

An advocacy group called the NATO Association of Canada has mobilized to support this Innovation Challenge, working closely with military contractors to attract the private sector to invest in further research on behalf of NATO \u2013 and its own bottom line.<\/p>\n

While the NATO Association of Canada (NAOC) is technically an independent NGO, its mission is to promote NATO, and the organization boasts on its website, \u201cThe NAOC has strong ties with the Government of Canada<\/a> including Global Affairs Canada and the Department of National Defence.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of its efforts to promote Canada\u2019s NATO Innovation Challenge, the NAOC held a panel discussion on cognitive warfare<\/a> on October 5.<\/p>\n

The researcher who wrote the definitive 2020 NATO-sponsored study on cognitive warfare, Fran\u00e7ois du Cluzel, participated in the event, alongside NATO-backed Canadian military officers.<\/p>\n

\"NATO
The October 5 panel on cognitive warfare, hosted by the NATO Association of Canada<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The panel was overseen by Robert Baines, president of the NATO Association of Canada. It was moderated by Garrick Ngai, a marketing executive in the weapons industry who serves as an adviser to the Canadian Department of National Defense and vice president and director of the NAOC.<\/p>\n

Baines opened the event noting that participants would discuss \u201ccognitive warfare and new domain of competition, where state and non-state actors aim to influence what people think and how they act.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NAOC president also happily noted the lucrative \u201copportunities for Canadian companies\u201d that this NATO Innovation Challenge promised.<\/p>\n

NATO researcher describes cognitive warfare as \u2018ways of harming the brain\u2019<\/h3>\n

The October 5 panel kicked off with Fran\u00e7ois du Cluzel, a former French military officer who in 2013 helped to create the NATO Innovation Hub<\/a>\u00a0(iHub), which he has since then managed from its base in Norfolk, Virginia.<\/p>\n

Although the iHub insists on its website, for legal reasons, that the \u201copinions expressed on this platform don\u2019t constitute NATO or any other organization points of view,\u201d the organization is sponsored by the Allied Command Transformation<\/a> (ACT), described as \u201cone of two Strategic Commands at the head of NATO\u2019s military command structure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Innovation Hub, therefore, acts as a kind of in-house NATO research center or think tank. Its research is not necessarily official NATO policy, but it is directly supported and overseen by NATO.<\/p>\n

In 2020, NATO\u2019s Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT) tasked du Cluzel, as manager of the iHub, to conduct a six-month study on cognitive warfare.<\/p>\n

Du Cluzel summarized his research in the panel this October. He initiated his remarks noting that cognitive warfare \u201cright now is one of the hottest topics for NATO,\u201d and \u201chas become a recurring term in military terminology in recent years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although French,\u00a0Du Cluzel emphasized that cognitive warfare strategy \u201cis being currently developed by my command here in Norfolk, USA.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NATO Innovation Hub manager spoke with a PowerPoint presentation, and opened with a provocative slide that described cognitive warfare as \u201cA Battle for the Brain.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NATO<\/p>\n

\u201cCognitive warfare is a new concept that starts in the information sphere, that is a kind of hybrid warfare,\u201d du Cluzel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt starts with hyper-connectivity. Everyone has a cell phone,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt starts with information because information is, if I may say, the fuel of cognitive warfare. But it goes way beyond solely information, which is a standalone operation \u2013 information warfare is a standalone operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cognitive warfare overlaps with Big Tech corporations and mass surveillance, because\u00a0\u201cit\u2019s all about leveraging the big data,\u201d du Cluzel explained. \u201cWe produce data everywhere we go. Every minute, every second we go, we go online. And this is extremely easy to leverage those data in order to better know you and use that knowledge to change the way you think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Naturally, the NATO researcher claimed foreign \u201cadversaries\u201d are the supposed aggressors employing cognitive warfare. But at the same time, he made it clear that the Western military alliance is developing its own tactics.<\/p>\n

Du Cluzel defined cognitive warfare as the \u201cart of using technologies to alter the cognition of human targets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those technologies, he noted, incorporate the fields of NBIC \u2013 nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science. All together, \u201cit makes a kind of very dangerous cocktail that can further manipulate the brain,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"NATO<\/p>\n

Du Cluzel went on to explain that the exotic new method of attack \u201cgoes well beyond\u201d information warfare or psychological operations (psyops).<\/p>\n

\u201cCognitive warfare is not only a fight against what<\/em> we think, but it\u2019s rather a fight against the way<\/em> we think, if we can change the way people think,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s much more powerful and it goes way beyond the information [warfare] and psyops.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Cluzel continued: \u201cIt\u2019s crucial to understand that it\u2019s a game on our cognition, on the way our brain processes information and turns it into knowledge, rather than solely a game on information or on psychological aspects of our brains. It\u2019s not only an action against what we think, but also an action against the way we think, the way we process information and turn it into knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn other words, cognitive warfare is not just another word, another name for information warfare. It is a war on our individual processor, our brain.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NATO researcher stressed that \u201cthis is extremely important for us in the military,\u201d because\u00a0\u201cit has the potential, by developing new weapons and ways of harming the brain, it has the potential to engage neuroscience and technology in many, many different approaches to influence human ecology\u2026 because you all know that it\u2019s very easy to turn a civilian technology into a military one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NATO<\/p>\n

As for who the targets of cognitive warfare could be, du Cluzel revealed that anyone and everyone is on the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cCognitive warfare has universal reach, from starting with the individual to states and multinational organizations,\u201d he said. \u201cIts field of action is global and aim to seize control of the human being, civilian as well as military.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the private sector has a financial interest in advancing cognitive warfare research, he noted: \u201cThe massive worldwide investments made in neurosciences suggests that the cognitive domain will probably one of the battlefields of the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The development of cognitive warfare totally transforms military conflict as we know it, du Cluzel said, adding \u201ca third major combat dimension to the modern battlefield: to the physical and informational dimension is now added a cognitive dimension.\u201d<\/p>\n

This \u201ccreates a new space of competition beyond what is called the five domains of operations \u2013 or land, sea, air, cyber, and space domains. Warfare in the cognitive arena mobilizes a wider range of battle spaces than solely the physical and information dimensions can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

In short, humans themselves are the new contested domain in this novel mode of hybrid warfare, alongside land, sea, air, cyber, and outer space.<\/p>\n

\"NATO<\/p>\n

NATO\u2019s cognitive warfare study warns of \u201cembedded fifth column\u201d<\/h3>\n

The study that NATO Innovation Hub manager\u00a0Fran\u00e7ois du Cluzel conducted, from June to November 2020, was sponsored by the military cartel\u2019s Allied Command Transformation, and published as a 45-page report in January 2021 (PDF<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The chilling document shows how contemporary warfare has reached a kind of dystopian stage, once imaginable only in science fiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nature of warfare has changed,\u201d the report emphasized. \u201cThe majority of current conflicts remain below the threshold of the traditionally accepted definition of warfare, but new forms of warfare have emerged such as Cognitive Warfare (CW), while the human mind is now being considered as a new domain of war.\u201d<\/p>\n

For NATO, research on cognitive warfare is not just defensive; it is very much offensive as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeveloping capabilities to harm the cognitive abilities of opponents will be a necessity,\u201d du Cluzel\u2019s report stated clearly. \u201cIn other words, NATO will need to get the ability to safeguard her decision making process and disrupt the adversary\u2019s one.\u201d<\/p>\n

And anyone could be a target of these cognitive warfare operations: \u201cAny user of modern information technologies is a potential target. It targets the whole of a nation\u2019s human capital,\u201d the report ominously added.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs well as the potential execution of a cognitive war to complement to a military conflict, it can also be conducted alone, without any link to an engagement of the armed forces,\u201d the study went on. \u201cMoreover, cognitive warfare is potentially endless since there can be no peace treaty or surrender for this type of conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just as this new mode of battle has no geographic borders, it also has no time limit: \u201cThis battlefield is global via the internet. With no beginning and no end, this conquest knows no respite, punctuated by notifications from our smartphones, anywhere, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NATO-sponsored study noted that \u201csome NATO Nations have already acknowledged that neuroscientific techniques and technologies have high potential for operational use in a variety of security, defense and intelligence enterprises.\u201d<\/p>\n

It spoke of breakthroughs in \u201cneuroscientific methods and technologies\u201d (neuroS\/T), and said\u00a0\u201cuses of research findings and products to directly facilitate the performance of combatants, the integration of human machine interfaces to optimise combat capabilities of semi autonomous vehicles (e.g., drones), and development of biological and chemical weapons (i.e., neuroweapons).\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pentagon is among the primary institutions advancing this novel research, as the report highlighted: \u201cAlthough a number of nations have pursued, and are currently pursuing neuroscientific research and development for military purposes, perhaps the most proactive efforts in this regard have been conducted by the United States Department of Defense; with most notable and rapidly maturing research and development conducted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA).\u201d<\/p>\n

Military uses of neuroS\/T research, the study indicated, include intelligence gathering, training, \u201coptimising performance and resilience in combat and military support personnel,\u201d and of course \u201cdirect weaponisation of neuroscience and neurotechnology.\u201d<\/p>\n

This weaponization of neuroS\/T can and will be fatal, the NATO-sponsored study was clear to point out. The research can \u201cbe utilised to mitigate aggression and foster cognitions and emotions of affiliation or passivity; induce morbidity, disability or suffering; and \u2018neutralise\u2019 potential opponents or incur mortality\u201d \u2013 in other words, to maim and kill people.<\/p>\n

\"NATO
The 2020 NATO-sponsored study on cognitive warfare<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The report quoted US Major General Robert H. Scales, who summarized NATO\u2019s new combat philosophy: \u201cVictory will be defined more in terms of capturing the psycho-cultural rather than the geographical high ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as NATO develops tactics of cognitive warfare to \u201ccapture the psycho-cultural,\u201d it is also increasingly weaponizing various scientific fields.<\/p>\n

The study spoke of \u201cthe crucible of data sciences and human sciences,\u201d and stressed that \u201cthe combination of Social Sciences and System Engineering will be key in helping military analysts to improve the production of intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf kinetic power cannot defeat the enemy,\u201d it said, \u201cpsychology and related behavioural and social sciences stand to fill the void.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLeveraging social sciences will be central to the development of the Human Domain Plan of Operations,\u201d the report went on. \u201cIt will support the combat operations by providing potential courses of action for the whole surrounding Human Environment including enemy forces, but also determining key human elements such as the Cognitive center of gravity, the desired behaviour as the end state.\u201d<\/p>\n

All academic disciplines will be implicated in cognitive warfare, not just the hard sciences. \u201cWithin the military, expertise on anthropology, ethnography, history, psychology among other areas will be more than ever required to cooperate with the military,\u201d the NATO-sponsored study stated.<\/p>\n

The report nears its conclusion with an eerie quote: \u201cToday\u2019s progresses in nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science (NBIC), boosted by the seemingly unstoppable march of a triumphant troika made of Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and civilisational \u2018digital addiction\u2019 have created a much more ominous prospect: an embedded fifth column, where everyone, unbeknownst to him or her, is behaving according to the plans of one of our competitors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe modern concept of war is not about weapons but about influence,\u201d it posited. \u201cVictory in the long run will remain solely dependent on the ability to influence, affect, change or impact the cognitive domain.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NATO-sponsored study then closed with a final paragraph that makes it clear beyond doubt that the Western military alliance\u2019s ultimate goal is not only physical control of the planet, but also control over people\u2019s minds:<\/p>\n

\u201cCognitive warfare may well be the missing element that allows the transition from military victory on the battlefield to lasting political success. The human domain might well be the decisive domain, wherein multi-domain operations achieve the commander\u2019s effect. The five first domains can give tactical and operational victories; only the human domain can achieve the final and full victory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canadian Special Operations officer emphasizes importance of cognitive warfare<\/h3>\n

When Fran\u00e7ois du Cluzel, the NATO researcher who conducted the study on cognitive warfare, concluded his remarks in the October 5 NATO Association of Canada panel, he was followed by Andy Bonvie, a commanding officer at the Canadian Special Operations Training Centre.<\/p>\n

With more than 30 years of experience with the Canadian Armed Forces, Bonvie spoke of how Western militaries are making use of research by du Cluzel and others, and incorporating novel cognitive warfare techniques into their combat activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cCognitive warfare is a new type of hybrid warfare for us,\u201d Bonvie said. \u201cAnd it means that we need to look at the traditional thresholds of conflict and how the things that are being done are really below those thresholds of conflict, cognitive attacks, and non-kinetic forms and non-combative threats to us. We need to understand these attacks better and adjust their actions and our training accordingly to be able to operate in these different environments.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NATO<\/p>\n

Although he portrayed NATO\u2019s actions as \u201cdefensive,\u201d claiming \u201cadversaries\u201d were using cognitive warfare against them, Bonvie was unambiguous about the fact that Western militaries are developing these tecniques themselves, to maintain a \u201ctactical advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot lose the tactical advantage for our troops that we\u2019re placing forward as it spans not only tactically, but strategically,\u201d he said. \u201cSome of those different capabilities that we have that we enjoy all of a sudden could be pivoted to be used against us. So we have to better understand how quickly our adversaries adapt to things, and then be able to predict where they\u2019re going in the future, to help us be and maintain the tactical advantage for our troops moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Cognitive warfare is the most advanced form of manipulation seen to date\u2019<\/h3>\n

Marie-Pierre Raymond, a retired Canadian lieutenant colonel who currently serves as a \u201cdefence scientist and innovation portfolio manager\u201d for the Canadian Armed Forces\u2019 Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security Program, also joined the October 5 panel.<\/p>\n

\u201cLong gone are the days when war was fought to acquire more land,\u201d Raymond said. \u201cNow the new objective is to change the adversaries\u2019 ideologies, which makes the brain the center of gravity of the human. And it makes the human the contested domain, and the mind becomes the battlefield.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we speak about hybrid threats, cognitive warfare is the most advanced form of manipulation seen to date,\u201d she added, noting that it aims to influence individuals\u2019 decision-making and \u201cto influence a group of a group of individuals on their behavior, with the aim of gaining a tactical or strategic advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raymond noted that cognitive warfare also heavily overlaps with\u00a0artificial intelligence, big data, and social media, and reflects \u201cthe rapid evolution of neurosciences as a tool of war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raymond is helping to oversee the NATO Fall 2021 Innovation Challenge on behalf of Canada\u2019s Department of National Defence, which delegated management responsibilities to the military\u2019s Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) Program, where she works.<\/p>\n

In highly technical jargon, Raymond indicated that the cognitive warfare program is not solely defensive, but also offensive: \u201cThis challenge is calling for a solution that will support NATO\u2019s nascent human domain and jump-start the development of a cognition ecosystem within the alliance, and that will support the development of new applications, new systems, new tools and concepts leading to concrete action in the cognitive domain.\u201d<\/p>\n

She emphasized that this \u201cwill require sustained cooperation between allies, innovators, and researchers to enable our troops to fight and win in the cognitive domain. This is what we are hoping to emerge from this call to innovators and researchers.\u201d<\/p>\n

To inspire corporate interest in the NATO Innovation Challenge, Raymond enticed, \u201cApplicants will receive national and international exposure and cash prizes for the best solution.\u201d She then added tantalizingly, \u201cThis could also benefit the applicants by potentially providing them access to a market of 30 nations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NATO<\/p>\n

Canadian military officer calls on corporations to invest in NATO\u2019s cognitive warfare research<\/h3>\n

The other institution that is managing the Fall 2021 NATO Innovation Challenge on behalf of Canada\u2019s Department of National Defense is the Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM).<\/p>\n

A Canadian military officer who works with CANSOFCOM, Shekhar Gothi, was the final panelist in the October 5 NATO Association of Canada event. Gothi serves as CANSOFCOM\u2019s \u201cinnovation officer\u201d for Southern Ontario.<\/p>\n

He concluded the event appealing for corporate investment in NATO\u2019s cognitive warfare research.<\/p>\n

The bi-annual Innovation Challenge is \u201cpart of the NATO battle rhythm,\u201d Gothi declared enthusiastically.<\/p>\n

He noted that, in the spring of 2021, Portugal held a NATO Innovation Challenge<\/a> focused on warfare in outer space.<\/p>\n

In spring 2020, the Netherlands hosted a NATO Innovation Challenge<\/a> focused on Covid-19.<\/p>\n

Gothi reassured corporate investors that NATO will bend over backward to defend their bottom lines: \u201cI can assure everyone that the NATO innovation challenge indicates that all innovators will maintain complete control of their intellectual property. So NATO won\u2019t take control of that. Neither will Canada. Innovators will maintain their control over their IP.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comment was a fitting conclusion to the panel, affirming that NATO and its allies in the military-industrial complex not only seek to dominate the world and the humans that inhabit it with unsettling cognitive warfare techniques, but to also ensure that corporations and their shareholders continue to profit from these imperial endeavors.<\/p>\n

________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Ben Norton is a journalist, writer, and filmmaker. He is the assistant editor of<\/em> The Grayzone, and the producer of the<\/em> Moderate Rebels<\/a> podcast, which he co-hosts with editor Max Blumenthal. His website is BenNorton.com<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 thegrayzone.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

8 Oct 2021 – Behind NATO\u2019s \u2018cognitive warfare\u2019: \u2018Battle for your brain\u2019 waged by Western militaries. Western governments in the NATO military alliance are developing tactics of \u201ccognitive warfare,\u201d using the supposed threats of China and Russia to justify waging a \u201cbattle for your brain\u201d in the \u201chuman domain,\u201d to \u201cmake everyone a weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":197578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[1817,244,2703,1268,2161,1706,91,278,2649,70,830],"class_list":["post-197576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-militarism","tag-anti-militarism","tag-china","tag-cognitive-warfare","tag-european-union","tag-militarism-and-science","tag-mind-control","tag-nato","tag-russia","tag-space-digital-military-branch","tag-usa","tag-western-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}