FAQ

We con­sid­er the rise of state-spon­sored and transna­tion­al influ­ence to be the most pro­found threat fac­ing the West as it seeks to counter the flood of dis­in­for­ma­tion that is mak­ing ratio­nal dis­cus­sion of pub­lic pol­i­cy increas­ing­ly dif­fi­cult, if not impos­si­ble. There are scores of pub­li­ca­tions report­ing on influ­ence oper­a­tions, but none seem to cov­er the sub­ject on a dai­ly basis, and none have the scope of the GIOR which also includes transna­tion­al net­works such as the Glob­al Nation­al Con­ser­v­a­tive Alliance (GNCA) and the Glob­al Mus­lim Broth­er­hood. This com­pre­hen­sive approach under­lines the blog’s unique cov­er­age, with the Glob­al Influ­ence Oper­a­tions Report (GIOR) being the only pub­li­ca­tion that incor­po­rates these two net­works in the analy­sis of glob­al infor­ma­tion oper­a­tions. The GIOR pro­vides a dai­ly, chrono­log­i­cal account, free from polemics and backed up with sol­id, gen­er­al­ly pub­lic infor­ma­tion and pre­sent­ed with his­tor­i­cal and oth­er explana­to­ry context.

The selec­tion cri­te­ria were based on assess­ing the mag­ni­tude of the threat posed by each enti­ty to demo­c­ra­t­ic nations. This assess­ment con­sid­ered the nature of their influ­ence activ­i­ties and the resources avail­able to them. Major state actors such as Rus­sia, Chi­na, and Iran are indi­vid­u­al­ly cat­e­go­rized due to their promi­nent and active roles in glob­al influ­ence oper­a­tions. The “Oth­er States” cat­e­go­ry includes addi­tion­al coun­tries like Turkey, Qatar, and North Korea, which also par­tic­i­pate in these activ­i­ties, albeit with vary­ing scopes and inten­si­ties. Fur­ther­more, the inclu­sion of trans­ac­tion­al net­works such as the Glob­al Mus­lim Broth­er­hood and the Glob­al Nation­al Con­ser­v­a­tive Alliance (GNCA) high­lights less­er-known but rapid­ly emerg­ing groups that affect glob­al politics.

The Glob­al Mus­lim Broth­er­hood Dai­ly Watch (GMBDW) was an ear­li­er pub­li­ca­tion of the GIOR Senior Edi­tor that oper­at­ed from June 2007 until Octo­ber 2020. Giv­en the esca­lat­ing threat posed by influ­ence oper­a­tions, it was deemed nec­es­sary to adopt a broad­er per­spec­tive and that the Glob­al Mus­lim Broth­er­hood was best viewed as an influ­ence oper­a­tion itself. The GMBDW will remain live for as long as pos­si­ble as a his­tor­i­cal archive and is search­able either on the GMBDW site or from the GIOR search page if necessary.

The GIOR is the cre­ation of its Senior Edi­tor who has sole edi­to­r­i­al con­trol of its content.

The most straight­for­ward way of sup­port­ing the GIOR is by mak­ing dona­tions that can be made by click­ing here or by click­ing on the dona­tion but­ton on the home page and in the right-hand col­umn. Any amount will be grate­ful­ly accept­ed and all dona­tions are secure­ly han­dled by Pay­Pal and can be made either with a Pay­Pal account or with all major cred­it cards.  Names of con­trib­u­tors will nev­er be pub­licly dis­closed nor shared with any­body else at any time nor for any rea­son. You can also help by feel­ing free to send us any devel­op­ments that you become aware of and that you would think fit into our out­look and cov­er­age. Most val­ued are local devel­op­ments that we might nev­er come across on our own. Please use the con­tact form for this pur­pose. Any­thing done to fur­ther inform the world of our exis­tence would also be of great ser­vice. So, feel free to share our post­ings via email, Twit­ter, Face­book, or by any means you see fit.