"Rudd's commitment was particularly welcome because China, Russia and Iran have drastically increased their budgets for influence operations. Russia, for instance, has made a calculated trade-off.

Its 2026 budget increased funding for state-run media and information operations by 54 percent " an additional $458 million.

As Ukraine's foreign ministry has noted, Moscow has determined that maintaining the "firehose of falsehood" is as critical to its survival as the supply of artillery shells."

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much more at the article