Estonia: Mihkelson: Mental hygiene helps handle propaganda

NordenBladet – Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) Marko Mihkelson believes that having strong mental hygiene is the best way for handling propaganda both at the level of the individual and the society.

“The more aware and educated the user is, the harder it is to carry out influence activities and, through it, polarise open societies,” Mihkelson said in The Hague, Netherlands, at the conference on Russia’s influence campaigns, organised by Free Russia Foundation

In Mihkelson’s opinion, Europe should at last get used to the fact that Russia is conducting ceaseless hybrid war against us, where media space is used for influencing the public and the politicians in the name of a strategic aim – to demolish the post-Berlin Wall Euro-Atlantic security architecture.

“We do not so much need new regulations and legislation restricting media space, as we have to create the best possible informational deterrence within the framework of existing legal space, from the Constitutions to the fight against corruption,“ Mihkelson added.

In his speech, Mihkelson asked rhetorically why we were alarmed about the selling of the Russian S440 anti-aircraft weapon system to Turkey, but at the same time gave the green light to the activities of the media warriors of Sputnik and RT to win over the minds and hearts of our people.

At the end of his speech, the Deputy Chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee emphasised that Europe still had very much to do to increase the awareness about information wars.

Source: Parliament of Estonia