Mrgunsngear B Channel
7 HN mentions · mentioned in 6 months, 2020–2025
13:37 · 1.9M views · Jun 21, 2020
A 1984 interview with former KGB agent Yuri Bezmenov on ideological subversion and psychological warfare, reposted in 2020 with a modern political framing.
HN commenters cite it as a source on Soviet subversion tactics and propaganda, usually in political threads.
7 comments from Hacker News
> Because in this specific case this is completely in the well regarded tradition of liberalism. If people want to watch TikTok movies, it is up to their judgement whether that is a good idea or not. This argument holds no water when corporations are running platforms that are used to spread disinformation and propaganda, which is tearing the fabric of society apart, and becoming a matter of national security. The effects of propaganda and information warfare are well known[1], and I'm in constant disbelief that these platforms weren't heavily regulated years ago. Practically speaking, there is no difference from US and foreign companies in this matter, as they're all used for this purpose, and should be regulated equally. Though, obviously, it's easier to regulate foreign companies with ties to political adversaries, than local ones the US government is in a symbiotic relationship with. I'm also in disbelief that this is such a controversial matter, and that politicans and the general public (especially on this forum) can't put two and two together and realize that the extreme sociopolitical polarization in the West is a direct consequence of information warfare. [1]: this video
It's patently evident that the current social and political instability in the West is caused by ideological subversion carried out by their political enemies. The internet and social media have provided the perfect weapon to deliver disinformation and propaganda to manipulate the masses, and create a state of internal conflict and confusion. Modern warfare is no longer carried out by soldiers and artillery, but by words, videos and troll farms. Why waste resources investing in physical offense, when you can undermine your enemy via ideological means, using the same tools they built for you, and watch their political and social systems crumble from within? If nothing else, it makes the eventual physical offensive much cheaper and more effective. This has been known for decades[1], yet the West has done little to stop it from happening. They engage in the same psyops, but information in the countries of their enemies is much more strictly controlled, so it has much less of an impact. [1]: this video
> Putin kind of realized in 2011 that he needs to change the narrative. These operations were happening way before 2011[1]. The internet and social media were simply the most effective ways of executing them. > And western democracies are very inefficient when it comes to debunking fake information, because our legal system takes year or even decades to prove innocence. Debunking disinformation is not the antidote, and the legal system wouldn't have anything to do about that. The problem is that the West built the perfect tools for psyops, opened them up to the entire world, and are now wondering why their democracies are crumbling. This is either an act of self-sabotage or the enemy is a much stronger adversary than they anticipated. [1]: this video
Of course they did. They stoke issues that already exist, they're not invented. Just like how the Russians have been stoking race-issues in the US for decades. Are Antifa and BLM Russian plots to destabilise the US? They certainly have that signature [0], that doesn't mean they aren't valid movements. [0] this video
Hard part is, there’s no way to reverse what has already been started. We need to go through a revolution either way, to destroy this insanity, or for it to win and this country regresses into a dystopian nightmare. The KGB helped bring this radicalization to academia and now it’s bearing fruit. this video