Words have a way of creeping into our lives quietly, and then suddenly they are everywhere, shaping how we see the world. For a long time, Europe has been living through a strange and unsettling period of disruptions, but the language used to describe them was deliberately distant and technical. Officials spoke of “hybrid operations” and “grey zone attacks,” phrases that felt clinically precise yet strangely hollow. They were words designed for briefings, not for human beings. They did not stir the public imagination, and they certainly did not communicate the urgency of the moment. Then, recently, a European leader…

It is unsettling to think that our real-world suffering, our anger, and our desperate marches can be quietly co-opted by distant actors with their own agendas. In France, the autumn of 2024 was a period of genuine turmoil. The streets filled with frustrated citizens, initially teachers demanding better conditions for crumbling public schools, and then a broader population grappling with skyrocketing living costs and overwhelmed public services. These were organic, heartfelt grievances born of daily struggles—people worried about how to heat their homes or feed their children. Yet, according to a highly sensitive internal assessment from the European Union, a…