Disinformation Age

Russia’s Fictional Narratives: A Double-Edged Sword

Republicans leaning on Moscow’s disinformation for political gain would be wise to remember the record of “useful idiocy” during the Cold War.

Jeffrey Herf is Distinguished University Professor in the Department of History at the University of Maryland in College Park. His publications include War by Other Means: Soviet Power, West German Resistance and the Battle of the Euromissiles (The Free Press, 1991) and, most recently, Undeclared Wars with Israel: East Germany and the West German Radical Left, 1967-1989 (Cambridge University Press, 2016).