> Russia is corrupt, but they lack the sophistication and resources to apply effective propaganda.

The interesting thing about information warfare is that it doesn't require sophistication and much resources at all. Set up a bunch of troll farms, pay tech-savvy teenagers to do your dirty work, give them some vague talking points, and let them loose on social media.

If you really want to scale this cheaply, deploy AI instead. Russia might not have those capabilities yet, but China certainly does.

BTW, I'm not picking sides here. Just pointing out that it would be absurd to think Russia or China aren't engaging in this type of warfare. They would actually prefer it, given that they can't compete with traditional physical might.