CUNOAȘTEREA – AL 6-LEA SPAȚIU DE LUPTĂ ÎN CONFLICTELE ACTUALE
KNOWLEDGE – THE 6TH BATTLEGROUND IN CURRENT CONFLICTS

Summary/Abstract: The nature of military action has changed dramatically in recent years, and armed conflict has evolved from the traditionally accepted definition to new forms such as cognitive conflict. Thus, „the human mind is becoming a battlefield”1, similar to those already accepted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (land, air, sea, space and cyber), due to the fact that by manipulating and controlling human thought and perception, desired results can be achieved much more easily than by using conventional weapons. Methods of cognitive manipulation are used in this type of conflict by military, political, economic and professional structures, civil society and interest groups, as well as by nation states in relation to other states.In the past, the presentation of distorted realities according to self-interest were used to maintain a state of instability that creates the conditions for strategic surprise and to redefine international relations, as well as to manipulate public opinion in the desired direction (democratic elections in the USA, France, Germany, Finland and Netherlands, as well as the launch of disinformation campaigns on the UK referendum to leave European Union, the Catalan secessionist crisis in Spain in 2017, management of the COVID-19 pandemic).In the current context of the conflict in Ukraine, it is possible to observe the use by the Russian Federation, in addition to classical, conventional warfare, of a series of irregular, narrative-based actions, without pre-established rules, with economic, information, propaganda, cyber and proxy capabilities, targeting „the product of human perception, trust”2. At the same time, China has also changed its discourse at the international level, both through state proxies and other means of influence, undermining international norms in various fields ranging from diplomacy, politics, law, economics and culture to intelligence.

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