The Grey Zone is NOT a metaphor.
It is a real cognitive, geopolitical, psychological, and informational space.
The Grey Zone is not just a geopolitical, external battlefield it's also an internal and relational terrain:
- In childhood: where love is conditional, truth is filtered, roles are assigned
- At school: where rules shift depending on who’s watching, where conformity hides violence
- At work: where loyalty is tested silently, and power is exercised informally
- In relationships: where emotional manipulation hides under care, and silence becomes a weapon
The first Grey Zones we enter are emotional, not strategic.
The Grey Zone, 3 levels of reality distortion.
1. Global / geopolitical level
- Theatres of power without attribution
- Cyberwarfare, disinformation campaigns
- Proxy wars, economic coercion
- Influence without fingerprints
- AI, fragmentation of nation-states, cognitive warfare
2. Organizational level
- Parallel architectures of power inside companies, institutions, or movements
- Informal hierarchies, covert influence
- Sabotage masked as process
- Role confusion, scapegoating, unofficial veto power
- Corporate mimicry of nation-state logic
3. Interpersonal / biographic level
- Emotional & psychological grey zones
- Family dynamics of silence, guilt, invisibility
- Loyalty traps, unclear roles, emotional double binds
- Subtle manipulation, gaslighting, ambiguity
The Grey Zone in international relations and geopolitical space.
In this context, the Grey Zone is the space between open war and official peace.
It is where influence happens without accountability, and where actions fall outside conventional legal or ethical frameworks.
Not because they are lawless, but because the lines themselves are blurred.
It is a "third" mode of action, emerging from the erosion of binary oppositions (war/peace, legal/illegal, state/non-state) in global systems.
It is defined by four core criteria:
- Liminality: it operates in transitional, in-between zones (legal loopholes, informal diplomacy, cognitive framing).
- Non-attribution: actions are intentionally deniable.
- Cognitive targeting: its primary arena is human perception, emotion, and decision-making.
- Multi-vector strategies: it synchronizes narrative, access, networks, and emotional leverage across domains.
In strategic terms, the Grey Zone is designed ambiguity.
It is the dominant operational space of the 21st century.
- Governments exploit it to destabilize others without triggering war.
- Corporations use it to influence legislation, perception, and behavior without regulation.
- Activists and disruptors manipulate it to shift paradigms without physical confrontation.
This is an infrastructure, a parallel architecture of power and it shapes the world more than many formal systems.
Theoretical grounding
The Grey Zone in IR emerges at the intersection of three ruptures:
- The crisis of sovereignty → states are no longer exclusive actors of power. Corporations, intelligence freelancers, diasporic networks, and tech actors shape outcomes without formal authority.
- The collapse of binaries → traditional categories (war/peace, true/false, civil/military) no longer structure action. The 21st century is governed by gradients, not dichotomies.
- The strategic colonization of perception → power no longer aims at controlling territory, but at controlling what people believe is real, legitimate, urgent, or acceptable. Perception becomes the key terrain.
It is a seismic shift in how reality is constructed, perceived, and contested.
Classical geopolitics operated under a Cartesian assumption:
→ That truth is knowable, events are traceable, and actors are identifiable.
But the 21st century broke the frame.
In the Grey Zone:
- Truth is a variable shaped by framing, timing, and trust, not evidence.
- Action is not tied to identity, individuals operate through shells, proxies, and informal networks.
- Legitimacy is performative: whoever appears most coherent or morally anchored wins the narrative, regardless of facts.
We are debating what is allowed to be seen, what it means, and who gets to define it.
To understand what the Grey Zone truly is, we also need to clarify what it is not:
What it is NOT
- Not soft power → it doesn't seek legitimacy
- Not hybrid warfare → it avoids escalation
- Not espionage → it integrates open sources, human behavior, and media manipulation
- Not disinformation → it uses true facts, deployed with timing and intent
Soft power assumes legitimacy. Hybrid war assumes escalation. Espionage assumes secrecy. None of them account for visible influence with invisible control. The Grey Zone fills that blind spot.
The Grey Zone is a doctrine of ambiguity.It is how influence, manipulation, and control are synchronized without ever being named.
Who operates there?
The people who move "in between":
- Narrative engineers
- Private intelligence brokers
- Strategic advisors without titles
- Cyber operatives
- Ghost diplomats
- Handlers and fixers
They don’t work in the spotlight and don't ask for permission either.
They’re not illegal but rarely traceable.
For a profiling of the operators of the Grey Zone, please check these:
- In the mind of a Grey Zone operator (w/ Kenneth Dekleva).
- Psychological traits of a Grey Zone operator
The 3 axes of the Grey Zone
1. Ambiguity as a strategic resource
→ The art of designed uncertainty
The Grey Zone operates by exploiting ambiguity with INTENTION. On the legal, political, moral, institutional realms!
- It is neither legal nor illegal, it exists in loopholes.
- It is neither war nor peace, it operates between thresholds.
- It is neither true nor false, it reframes what is believable.
Ambiguity neutralizes resistance. Therefore, it's an excellent control tool.
It allows actors to move freely while others are stuck debating definitions.
2. Influence without attribution
→ The logic of invisible power
Actors shape decisions, narratives, and alliances without appearing anywhere officially.
- No flag.
- No title.
- No responsibility.
It’s about proximity, access, and deniability, not visibility or recognition.
And that is quite important because the people of the Grey Zone are less driven by the ego and the titles. The lack of attribution is a weapon in itself.
You influence, yes, but without being held accountable.
3. The cognitive terrain as the primary battleground
→ Shaping what people feel is real, urgent, or acceptable
The Grey Zone does not fight over resources or borders. It fights over meaning.
- It aims to frame, more than inform.
- It doesn’t spread lies. It uses truth with timing and emotional leverage.
- It targets belief, fear, identity and not logic.
Today, power lies in perception control. He who controls what people believe is real, controls the outcome.
Why I chose the Grey Zone
To be completely honest, I didn’t choose the Grey Zone. It chose me.
My journey began at Sciences Po, the breeding ground for French political elites. Here, clarity and structure were celebrated, but beneath the surface was a subtle form of indoctrination.
We were trained to reason eloquently, twisting arguments to sound intelligent -(regardless of substance). Ironically, the same elites groomed to govern often never created real value or understood business deeply.
In France especially, wealth and entrepreneurial success are viewed suspiciously. Politicians mastered rhetoric but often hid behind hypocrisy.
Disillusioned, I left France, and almost accidentally became a journalist in Israel and the West Bank. Again, I played by the rules: condensing complex realities into 90-second narratives, carefully selecting words to match editorial agendas.
Initially, I complied without question. But eventually, frustration set in, and rebellion followed. I quit journalism.
That’s when I entered the world of intelligence and stepped fully into the "Grey Zone".
At the intersection of politics, journalism, business, and espionage, I learned to navigate ambiguity, uncover hidden narratives, and build my own framework of understanding.
Here, in the Grey Zone, I finally found the closest "thing" I could get to the truth.
I discovered a completely different reality: chaotic, subtle, nuanced, powerful.
That experience completely changed my worldview. And that's the reason why I had to share it.
The real truth never belonged entirely to one side or another.
It always lay hidden in an ambiguous chaotic space - in the grey zone.
Why we fear ambiguity
Biologically, we’re wired to reject the "Grey Zone".
Cognitive science is clear:
- Our brains crave simplicity.
- We use heuristics to avoid cognitive overload.
- Uncertainty = threat.
This is not weakness. It’s evolution.
But it also makes us vulnerable to manipulation.
Because when complexity overwhelms us, we cling to whoever offers clarity, even if it’s false.
This is how simplistic narratives, ideologies, and conspiracies thrive.
They reduce mental load. They calm the brain.
But they shut down thought.
They delegate power to others.
Escaping this trap demands effort.
Not just intelligence: but emotional regulation, strategic patience, and intellectual discipline.
Why I created this space
Not to impose a worldview.
But to equip you to build your own.
The Grey Zone is where I train, write, and teach to help others:
- Decode complexity,
- Handle ambiguity,
- Operate with strategic empathy,
- And act with grounded influence.
I don’t claim to hold the truth.
I work to model methods for approaching it.
This space isn’t comfortable.
It wasn’t designed to be.
But it is real. And you are welcome here, if you’re ready to stop looking for simple answers and start building sharp questions.
Make no mistake: I have biases too.
I constantly question myself, relentlessly working to deconstruct my own assumptions. I don't claim to deliver the absolute truth. Instead, I offer tactics and strategies to help you navigate complexity, encouraging you to question alongside me.
This process is experimental and mutual.
Your feedback and perspectives are invaluable, allowing us both to refine our understanding continuously.
Breaking simplistic narratives demands courage, time, and resilience. Yes, it's uncomfortable at first, but ultimately, it's empowering.
This commitment to clarity amid complexity forms the foundation of "The Grey Zone" and my exclusive advisory program, "The Grey Eminence Experience," designed specifically to equip you to comfortably navigate ambiguity, nuance, and uncertainty.
If you've been following me for a while, you already know my approach begins with emotional intelligence and deep introspection.
You cannot effectively observe the world in all its darkness and beauty without first confronting yourself. This requires knowing yourself profoundly - constantly reassessing, understanding your flaws, emotions, triggers, and shadows.
Here, in the Grey Zone, is where true understanding and real power resides.
Welcome to a revolutionary way of seeing the world.
Stay sharp,
Oriane