Iran and Russia as Objects and Subjects of Western Psychological Operations and Information Warfare

Western centers of economic, political and military power such as selected European countries and the United States have been the dominant geopolitical and geoeconomic forces in international relations for some centuries now. They have built an institutional and network system that supports and projects their power and influence. The United States has sought to expand its hegemony and influence that stems from the Western-centric unipolar global order. However, political and geopolitical mistakes and miscalculations threaten its position in the 21^st century and signs of an emerging non-Western-centric multipolar global order. However, the US seeks to retain its privileged status as a global hegemon, not in terms of absolute dominance of all other powers, but rather in terms of a relative dominance advantage over emerging actors at the strategic and operational levels in international affairs as China, Iran or Russia. This is done through the informational component of geopolitics that shapes opinions and perceptions of the physical realm. In particular the use of orthodoxy of knowledge and obstructive foreign policy as a means of limiting the strengths and opportunities of actors as Iran and Russia. The information realm is intended to engineer the appearance of cognitive threats and weaknesses as a means of imposing constraints and restraints on decision makers and the results of their foreign policy.