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Alternative War: Unabridged
In Alternative War, former police officer turned investigative journalist James Patrick tackles Russian interference in the UK's Brexit referendum and the US election of President Donald Trump head-on, exposing the reality of the third world war in the face of fake news and sophisticated disinformation campaigns.
Based on interviews, documents, and information from both sides of the Atlantic, including an expedition to Sweden to explore Russian-sponsored alt-right disinformatsiya, this book uncovers the truth about the undeclared conflict which has rocked democracy, peace, and stability across the West.
Over the course of an extensive investigation spanning Europe, North America, and beyond, Patrick has brought together experts, classified intelligence reports, public records, and witness testimony to build the most extensive and accurate account of Vladimir Putin's assault on the NATO allies to date. The book documents how detached and deniable assets, including Wikileaks and the far-right - including UKIP and Republican officials - were engaged by Russia to successfully subvert two of the world's superpowers and install managed democracies in the execution of a strategy planned over decades, to enhance the Russian position and destabilise its perceived enemies.
Alternative War exposes the depth and complexity of a hybrid world war and captures the methods used to profile and manipulate populations in order for Russia to emerge victorious. The book leads us to question everything about Western regulation and enforcement, setting accountability at the highest levels while empowering the people everywhere to help ensure the world is never taken by surprise again.
- GenresPoliticsNonfiction
432 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 21, 2018
35 people are currently reading
117 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 30, 2017
**Disclaimer: although I have had Twitter communication with the author, this review was not solicited and I purchased the book on Amazon at my own expense.**
I first came across J.J. Patrick through Twitter, after someone I followed retweeted something he’d posted to warn against fake pro-EU accounts used to spread false information. Patrick, a former police officer turned whistleblower and investigative journalist, had just published a book called ‘Alternative War’, the result of an extensive investigation on how Russia, ‘fake news’ and psychometric data effectively got Donald Trump elected and influenced the EU referendum vote, leading to Brexit.
There is no easy way to summarise this book: it’s dense, packed with names, acronyms and unexpected twists and turns. Some of its finding are frankly mind-boggling and after reading the last page, I was left in a state of dazed stupor, wondering if someone had sneaked up behind me and put a tin-foil hat on my head. What had I just read? That question reminded me of an old Woody Allen joke: “I took a speed-reading course and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia.”
Sadly, the subject matter of this book is anything but funny: it’s clear from Patrick’s findings and the mountain of evidence he produces that Putin’s Russia is behind Trump’s election and the Brexit vote. Not only that: Patrick argues that we are effectively in the middle of a war: a hybrid war, fought through disinformation, propaganda, data mining, psychometric manipulation and a hefty dose of the old adage ‘divide and conquer’.
It is absolutely staggering to think that this hybrid war is being waged right in front of us, in this day and age, and that a foreign government succeeded in influencing the vote in not one, but two countries (mercifully, an attempt to influence the recent French elections was ultimately defeated). Why aren’t the media talking about the links between all these prominent characters and shady organisations? Unfortunately it is only now, some three months after the publication of “Alternative War”, that mainstream media is beginning to discuss the connections between Cambridge Analytica, Robert Mercer Steve Bannon, Nigel Farage, Julian Assange and many other names of the people and companies this book investigates. The problem is that this is a very, very complex web: how do you condense these findings into a catchy headline for public consumption? As Patrick himself points out:
“The background information in all of this is of such a complex nature, I now find it easy to understand how difficult it has been for the world’s media agencies to reduce the available evidence to the short, sharp punches needed for headline-led reporting.”
Don’t ask me to summarise this book, but let me tell you this: “Alternative War” is a compelling and often terrifying read - the kind of book that will make you question everything you know about the EU referendum, the US elections and the near-dystopian outcome of both. You will never read the news in the same way. It might have gone under the radar of the mainstream media but without a doubt, “Alternative War” is the most important non-fiction book of 2017.
I first came across J.J. Patrick through Twitter, after someone I followed retweeted something he’d posted to warn against fake pro-EU accounts used to spread false information. Patrick, a former police officer turned whistleblower and investigative journalist, had just published a book called ‘Alternative War’, the result of an extensive investigation on how Russia, ‘fake news’ and psychometric data effectively got Donald Trump elected and influenced the EU referendum vote, leading to Brexit.
There is no easy way to summarise this book: it’s dense, packed with names, acronyms and unexpected twists and turns. Some of its finding are frankly mind-boggling and after reading the last page, I was left in a state of dazed stupor, wondering if someone had sneaked up behind me and put a tin-foil hat on my head. What had I just read? That question reminded me of an old Woody Allen joke: “I took a speed-reading course and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia.”
Sadly, the subject matter of this book is anything but funny: it’s clear from Patrick’s findings and the mountain of evidence he produces that Putin’s Russia is behind Trump’s election and the Brexit vote. Not only that: Patrick argues that we are effectively in the middle of a war: a hybrid war, fought through disinformation, propaganda, data mining, psychometric manipulation and a hefty dose of the old adage ‘divide and conquer’.
It is absolutely staggering to think that this hybrid war is being waged right in front of us, in this day and age, and that a foreign government succeeded in influencing the vote in not one, but two countries (mercifully, an attempt to influence the recent French elections was ultimately defeated). Why aren’t the media talking about the links between all these prominent characters and shady organisations? Unfortunately it is only now, some three months after the publication of “Alternative War”, that mainstream media is beginning to discuss the connections between Cambridge Analytica, Robert Mercer Steve Bannon, Nigel Farage, Julian Assange and many other names of the people and companies this book investigates. The problem is that this is a very, very complex web: how do you condense these findings into a catchy headline for public consumption? As Patrick himself points out:
“The background information in all of this is of such a complex nature, I now find it easy to understand how difficult it has been for the world’s media agencies to reduce the available evidence to the short, sharp punches needed for headline-led reporting.”
Don’t ask me to summarise this book, but let me tell you this: “Alternative War” is a compelling and often terrifying read - the kind of book that will make you question everything you know about the EU referendum, the US elections and the near-dystopian outcome of both. You will never read the news in the same way. It might have gone under the radar of the mainstream media but without a doubt, “Alternative War” is the most important non-fiction book of 2017.
November 10, 2017
Quite possibly the most important investigative piece of our time. Russia has declared war on us, and in the case of the UK and US has won. If you have any doubts James answers them, and this is the scariest bit - all of the evidence and the biggest players (Banks, Wigmore, Farage, Putin, Mercer, Bannon, Trump, Le Pen et al) are all in plain sight. An essential read.
December 4, 2017
Yep, finally finished it. THE hot book about the continuing cold war. If you've ever wondered why there's all this talk about Russia, and how on earth there could be a link between Trumpism and Brexit, get your copy today and educate yourself on the big picture.
September 12, 2017
Our democratic systems in the West are under threat like never before. This books spells out the nature of the threat: fake news, data mining, manufactured crisis and Russian backing of the far Right in Europe and the US. And the worst part is, we should have seen it coming, Russia set out their intentions for the Alternative War in black and white, many years ago...
The EU and even the intelligence community in America are waking up to the threat. Britain, by contrast, seems worryingly complacent. We have not yet fully woken up to the hostile foreign influence in our Brexit vote, with some of the main figureheads in this country up to their necks in it. Read this book in the UK and elsewhere and shake the establishment out of their complacency, this is a defining issue of our time.
The EU and even the intelligence community in America are waking up to the threat. Britain, by contrast, seems worryingly complacent. We have not yet fully woken up to the hostile foreign influence in our Brexit vote, with some of the main figureheads in this country up to their necks in it. Read this book in the UK and elsewhere and shake the establishment out of their complacency, this is a defining issue of our time.
September 5, 2017
The world's a scary place right now but what lurks in the shadows is even more terrifying. Thank god J.J. Patrick isn't afraid to go searching in the dark places we pretend don't exist and finds the truth most still try to deny. All those things that happened that no one believed was possible are down to a small group of men and the power of one nation. World War 3 is happening right now. You need to read this book
December 15, 2018
Good book, perhaps hastily written and hastily proof-read. Sometimes the typos got in the way of the flow of the narrative but it was compelling nonetheless.
Really interesting on a personal level, too, as the social media aspects of the Alternative War shed light on a particularly odd Twitter account run by an former Uni friend of mine.
Vive la difference, eh? (Sarcastic face).
Seems like we can do little to fight back against this hybrid threat from Russia.
Really interesting on a personal level, too, as the social media aspects of the Alternative War shed light on a particularly odd Twitter account run by an former Uni friend of mine.
Vive la difference, eh? (Sarcastic face).
Seems like we can do little to fight back against this hybrid threat from Russia.
October 25, 2017
Must Read
Warfare is not like it used to be. These days the greatest war is fought behind our computer systems. It's been happening for a long while now. Don't believe everything you hear or every tweet you read.
Manipulation is all around us.
Warfare is not like it used to be. These days the greatest war is fought behind our computer systems. It's been happening for a long while now. Don't believe everything you hear or every tweet you read.
Manipulation is all around us.
October 15, 2017
Russia is trying to destabilise the West, utilising all the latest Big Data bullshit that represents the latest incarnation of "The Hidden Persuaders". Note that on pg.23 we are warned that Russia tried to "push voters in the wrong direction" although they failed - so our present guardians have their own ideas about the correct way for democracy to proceed. Voting Leave or Remain is just doing some master's bidding, it seems.
December 26, 2018
Impressive investigative work even though hopefully most of what is covered should be known by now. It is not written in the most fluid and elegant way, but it is effective and it should be mandatory reading
April 16, 2018
3.5 stars. Very interesting points, but not well written.
September 29, 2018
James Patrick brings to sharp (and terrifying sharp) focus what many has suspected for quite a while now. That the Russia State, under the ever watchful eye of President Putin) has declared war (via cyberspace and poisonings and its willingness to prop up the Assad regime in Syria) on the West. James, in that matter of fact ex-Police Officer way, tells it as it is. Thanks James for confirming what I have suspected for quite a few years.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews