Back in the Cold War, the Western establishment viewed any attempt to question the status quo of their societies as a communist plot. The peace movement? An attempt by the Russians to weaken "western resolve". The environmental movement? A communist plot to destroy capitalism from within. And so on...
Sadly, that thinking is still alive and well at NATO HQ:
The head of one of the world’s leading groups of democratic nations has accused Russia of undermining projects using hydraulic fracturing technology in Europe.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), and former premier of Denmark, told the Chatham House thinktank in London on Thursday that Vladimir Putin’s government was behind attempts to discredit fracking, according to reports.
Rasmussen said: “I have met allies who can report that Russia, as part of their sophisticated information and disinformation operations, engaged actively with so-called non-governmental organisations - environmental organisations working against shale gas - to maintain European dependence on imported Russian gas.”
He declined to give details of those operations, saying: “That is my interpretation.”
Yes, we must Protect The Sanctity Of Our Precious Hydraulic Fracturing Fluids from Russians who want to steal and impurify them!
Or, alternatively, citizens in democracies don't actually like being able to set their tapwater on fire. But that clearly is too simple an explanation for the paranoids at NATO.
