Frag Out! Magazine

1. Cognitive warfare is a multidomain tool used to weaken the capabilities of the Polish Armed Forces. Its objective is to change the way individuals think, which in turn influences specific social groups and, consequently, destabilizes the attacked society and progressively degrades the functionality of the executive services, ultimately reducing the effectiveness of the state's entire resilience system. 2. Regardless of the emergence of new forms of communication, this is a phenomenon as old as warfare itself, and it comes down to stripping the attacked society of the will to fight and resist. The novelty lies in the ease, low cost, and high effectiveness of conducting cognitive warfare in the 21st century as a result of the emergence of the Internet and social media. 3. In the state resilience system, the services (especially the Polish Armed Forces) cannot effectively fulfill their constitutional duties without the support of society. In particular, a sense of community, identification with Poland, and the willingness to fulfill duties toward it, as well as to bear sacrifices and make concessions, are key to the effectiveness of ongoing operations. In the case of the Armed Forces - both in terms of mobilization and later replenishment of losses and the morale of fighting soldiers - support from society is crucial. 4. Owing to the liberal democratic system and reforms of the Penal Code and, more broadly, state legislation, the Polish state in practice does not currently have sufficiently effective means of forcibly enforcing citizens' duties toward the community. The catalogue of penalties is relatively low in relation to the threat to life in wartime, which does not encourage fulfillment of obligations toward the state. As a result, negative behavioral incentives are significantly reduced, while positive ones (a sense of belonging to the community, pride in the Armed Forces, patriotism, etc.) are the target of intensive Russian efforts aimed at breaking society's will to resist and its willingness to support the military. It should also be emphasized that, unfortunately, positive incentives are always less effective in situations of this kind (war) than negative ones. 5. More than 20 years of open internal borders within the EU and the ease of international travel and communication have meant that for the two youngest generations of Poles - "Gen Z" (1997–2009) and "Alpha" (2010–present) - closed borders or the prospect of being unable to leave the country once an individual decision to do so has been made are abstract and difficult to understand. The pandemic and temporary border controls did not change the perception of borders as something fluid and permeable, especially in light of the ease of finding work abroad. This means that the willingness to fulfill constitutional duties toward the state is significantly weakened, because a seemingly "attractive" alternative appears to exist in the form of fleeing the country, reinforced by the low penalties provided for this in the Penal Code. www.fragoutmag.com

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