laws are not the issue as much as foreign totalitarian entities have a strong ability to influence local voters in adverse ways.
This is such a threat to democracy that ironically the only solution is to crack down on democracy
This is such a threat to democracy that ironically the only solution is to crack down on democracy
Blaming Russia is such a tiresome stance. Russian propaganda is so bad and so hilariously ineffective that it penetrates only small bubbles inside political parties, even after years of propaganda.
Also the current German government includes the historically most notorious Russian shill party.
The laws are absolutely the issue and if you are tearing down democracy to "preserve democracy", you just see democracy as a useful propaganda tool, for the sake of your own power.
If steering far off (based on Iran's MO in Israel for example) with a little bit of bitcoin and time you can hire someone to do anything for you in a foreign country. This includes graffiti, burning cars, moving weapons and finally assasinations.
Because democracies are so dependent on voters opinions, and organizations that have a vested interest in the failure of a state now have influence, this can be catastrophic (brexit, covid vaccines, race wars)
Can't say I support cracking down on free speech, but IMO that's exactly what we're going to see, especially in Europe where Defensive Democracy is already in place
Those have even worse reputations than Russia and even fewer and more fringe supporters. Iran shills are solely Iranian nationals or their descendants. China shills are some niche communists.
Usually the play is something a country like Russia has zero interest in apart for weakening the west, e.g. pizzagate.
For a recent example, that time when scottish independence accounts disappeared when Israel bombed Iran https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/dozens-of-pro-indy-accounts-...