{"id":990750,"date":"2025-02-24T20:52:31","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T20:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/frishberg.com\/?p=990750"},"modified":"2025-04-26T09:11:34","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T09:11:34","slug":"world-war-iv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frishberg.com\/uk\/world-war-iv\/","title":{"rendered":"World War IV"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Russia isn\u2019t preparing for World War III\u2014it believes we are in World War IV: While the West debates whether a global conflict is looming, the Kremlin sees things differently. To Moscow, the Cold War was World War III\u2014a battle of ideology and influence that ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Now, Russia sees itself fighting World War IV, not with tanks and missiles, but through deception, disruption, and destabilization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modern warfare is no longer about mass armies clashing on battlefields. Russia knows it cannot compete with the West\u2019s military and technological superiority. Instead, it wages war in the shadows, exploiting the vulnerabilities of open societies. Propaganda confuses, disinformation divides, and social unrest weakens adversaries from within.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first glance, Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine might seem to contradict this. But Moscow believed it could seize Ukraine in a week\u2014not just through military force, but by using disinformation, corruption, and social destabilization to make resistance collapse from within. That strategy failed, but Russia has only adapted, expanding its unconventional war on a global scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia\u2019s alliances extend beyond rogue states like Iran and North Korea. It also works with non-state actors\u2014Hamas, Hezbollah, narco cartels, human traffickers, and cybercriminals. These groups don\u2019t wear uniforms or march in formation, but they are instrumental in spreading chaos, eroding Western stability, and carrying out operations that Russia can deny involvement in. The West, focused on conventional threats, has failed to recognize or counter this new kind of warfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The upcoming negotiations are just another weapon in Russia\u2019s arsenal. Moscow understands that the mere act of diplomacy forces the West to make concessions\u2014just as the Soviet Union did before. While Western leaders prepare for outdated forms of warfare, they also cling to outdated diplomatic assumptions, failing to see Russia\u2019s real strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what does this mean for the future?<\/p>\n\n\n\n