Strategy of tension
"You had to attack civilians, the people, women, children, innocent people, unknown people far removed from any political game. The reason was quite simple. They were supposed to force these people, the Italian public to turn to the State to ask for greater security." Vincenzo Vinciguerra, Gladio operative, during his trial.
Strategy of tension, an intelligence service or political term, is a generic term for a complex of undercover action for the destabilization or unsettling of parts of the populace, a region or a state, done or supportet by institutions of the state.
The tools by which this is achieved are illegal, mostly violent measures like terrorist attacks, assassinations, kidnappings, paramilitary operations, propaganda, psychological warfare and economic compulsory measures. Also the stirring up of riots and the focused escalation of formerly non-violent conflicts through agents provocateurs. These are typically used under false flag and in combination with the spreading of disinformation to shift the blame to a uninvolved third party.
The strategy of tension, carried out with high-lvl secrecy and consequent plausible deniability, using organizations infiltrated and/or controlled by but not directly affiliated with the state agencies. For this reason it is often hard to prove that a government has used a strategy of tension. Nevertheless, a number of undeniable instances have surfaced since WW2.
The name, strategia della tensione, was made public in italy in the 1990's and refers to the series of false flag terror attacks by italian secret services, extreme right-wing, NATO/CIA Gladio and the secret loge Propaganda Due (P2). They had the aim of:
shifting public opinion to the disadvantage of the political left, especially the communist party of italy
>The main target of a strategy of tension is the public opinion, to manipulate votes, generate the impression of a national threat to legitimate war, to call for a strong leader or tolerate surveillance and denounce peacemakers as 'unpatriotic'. [[[False flag]] terrorist attacks are just the tip of the iceberg of possible measures to achieve these goals.
>In "Interdoc and West European Psychological Warfare", Giles Scott-Smith puts the strategy of tension in a broader context.
"Ultimately, Interdoc’s value comes from it being a remarkable example of the way European security services sought to engage with and manipulate the public sphere, initially out of serious concerns for the effects of peaceful coexistence on Western ideological solidity, and eventually as a means to secure a strategic advantage in the Cold War."
>Based on official statements he shows that prolonged periods of peace are seen as a threat to Western power structures, the established order and political 'stability' by the establishment. The proposed 'solution' to this is - in the propagandists phrasing - to "raise awareness" of external threats or to "encourage a responsible citizenry as part of the process of maintaining a democratic society". The result may be called fine-tuning of democracy and included staged terror attacks under a false flag in the past.
>The same rhetoric is put forward by the Joint Statement of European Ministers of the Interior after the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack:
"In order to tackle the root causes of radicalization in particular of young people, the EU should consider strengthening targeted actions designed to raise awareness and promote the respect of fundamental rights and values"
https:// wikispooks.com/wiki/Strategy_of_tension
https://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategy_of_tension
https://de. wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategie_der_Spannung
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategie_der_Spannung_%28Italien%29