By Edmond Y. Azadian
Technology has been changing the world at a rapid pace. Once, the way to conquer a country was to invade and overrun it. Today, physical borders no longer can defend a country, as there are more potent weapons to do the job: economy and technology. The US in particular has weaponized its tremendous economic power and has been using it these days effectively against Russia, Iran and Turkey.
The first two are adversaries, while Turkey is a NATO ally, which is being subjected to US economic sanctions.
The other weapon being deployed is technology, which can wreak havoc in the hands of industrialized nations. Governments can also weaponize social media through which they can penetrate the borders of other countries, shape public opinion, feed misinformation to foment upheavals in societies and bring down targeted regimes.
Of course, technologically poor countries are immune to these kinds of invasions.
Turkey, whose economy scored remarkable gains in recent years, has devised its own particular defense against weaponized electronic warfare: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has polarized Turkish society, playing partisan groups against each other. He has either exiled or jailed the cream of the crop among the elite, educated segment, whose lives revolve around cyber technology. Since Erdogan has savagely deposed the educated elements of Turkish society, he can depend on the fanatically indoctrinated (i.e. less educated and poorer segment of Turkish society) which is delivering one electoral victory after another for him.