1. The Hidden War Before the Ballot Behind every modern election lies not just a battle of ideas, but a quieter, more insidious war for the minds of voters. In Europe, that war is being waged with increasing intensity by Moscow, and its weapons are not tanks or missiles, but armies of fake accounts, half-truths, and carefully manufactured outrage. According to Swedish security officials, Russia’s sprawling disinformation machine views elections as golden opportunities to tear at the fabric of democratic societies. Magnus Hjort, a senior figure at Sweden’s Psychological Defence Agency, has warned that the Kremlin sees each electoral cycle…

For four days in early September, Istanbul wasn’t just a city where East meets West; it became the meeting point for some of the most important conversations about the future of security and communication. More than five hundred specialists — 542 to be exact — gathered at the Multinational Joint Warfare Centre, a place normally associated with military planning rather than public messaging. But these weren’t generals storming a beach or pilots planning sorties. They were communicators: press officers, public affairs professionals, digital media experts, and information strategists from 42 countries. They came to discuss a battlefield that is invisible…