Influence Campaigns and the Future of International Competition

"Russian policy in one country can also have an impact on public opinion elsewhere. Take Syria, where Russia has intervened in a deadly and ongoing civil war. Russia’s motives in Syria have generally been analyzed through a traditional geopolitical framework, emphasizing energy routes, hegemony in the Middle East, and the warm water port in Tartus as motivating factors. However, Russia’s actions in Syria have also had a major impact on attitudes in Europe, where the civil war sparked a refugee crisis and a resultant nativist backlash. As Ian Bremmer stated, “the rise of the far right coincides with fears aroused across Europe by a tidal wave of desperate migrants.”"