2024 Paris Olympics sees Ireland wins a wildly impressive amount of gold medals, yet these games could have unfolded very differently. French security services have foiled several plots to disrupt the Olympic Games. These plots apparently have ties to Russia. From disinformation campaigns, falsely stoking fear and anger to cyber attacks, Russia has been very busy of late.
For example, a now classical act of digital subversion was a deep fake video, claiming Hamas was behind the forthcoming attacks on the Olympic Games. French officials linked this deep fake video to Russia. A Hamas spokesperson also denied any involvement over their Telegram channel, which adds credence to the French position.
French Security Service on High Alert for the Olympics
Another aspect of digital subversion is the spillover to the physical world, which has occurred in this case. French police arrested an 18-year-old man on suspicion of “planning a violent action against the Olympic Games”. The young man faces accusations of targeting the organization of the games, according to French Interior Minister, Gerald Darmanin. The strategic nature of his focus points to skilled 3rd party orchestration.
French security services are on high alert for some weeks and foiled many attempts to destabilize the Olympic Games. Russian involvement, once carefully hidden, is becoming brazenly easy to identify by security services. They arrested a 40-year-old Russian man on suspicion of planning to destabilize the Olympic Games on the Wednesday before the opening ceremony.
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Authorities subsequently charged him with “conducting intelligence work on behest of a foreign power”. The structured provocation by highly skilled digital authoritarians is as clear as the tactical human intelligence work by equally skilled operatives. While spies normally operate in a tactical game of cat and mouse in target countries, this escalation points to more aggressive tactics backing a larger offensive plan by a hostile state actor.
French Security Service Protect the Olympic Games
Anyone versed in digital subversion will understand that these are pieces of a larger offensive plan to ultimately undermine their target country. They will use tactics that fall below the threshold of war. The skill level by planners, digital authoritarians, and physical operatives requires mathematical precision in design, deployment, implementation, and follow-up.
In the end, this approach is a ruthless game started by a cowardly, hostile actor. Just like in my novel, these bad actors know they cannot beat their target in a fair fight. By going below the threshold of war like this, they tell the world about what they consider as acceptable behavior. Yesterday, they meddle in the private lives of their people. Today, they meddle in your life. Tomorrow, they may meddle in mine.
Enlightened societies do not do this to each other, making an obvious case for why we all need to stand together. Their design is to drive us apart in a web of well-structured lies. As we become aware, their malice may well bring us together as we stand up together and do the right thing.
About the Author
John is a versatile author known for his gripping fiction narratives in the thriller, action, and suspense genres. With a background as a journalist since 2016, and expertise in cloud technologies as an engineer; John brings a unique blend of storytelling prowess and technical acumen to his work.
