As the US retreats from transatlantic security, European countries are scrambling to show that they can take the lead. The focus so far has been on kinetic power: mass industrial military production, artillery supplies and air defence. But that is only part of the challenge.
The Kremlin also excels in non-military means of projecting power. We know the “hybrid” toolkit well by now: the troll farms and conspiracy-spewing state media, the fake news sites, hacks, rent-a-mobs, vote-buying and cyber attacks. If there is a ceasefire in Ukraine, Europe will become an even greater focal point as the information war assets that have been targeted at the US are repurposed.
Can democracies step up in this space? It has been done historically. In the second world war, the British Political Warfare Executive co-ordinated the high-minded BBC and much more subversive, often downright scurrilous radio stations and newspapers where disaffected German soldiers and other exiles undermined the hold Hitler had over occupied Europe.