In the Western world, there seem to be this prevalent ideal that the people should control the government and not the other way around. If a Western government hired people to influence politics like this, wouldn't there be a backlash?
Unfortunately there's no obvious way to stop it because politicians appear to believe spy agencies should be unaccountable and above the law.
So, some people at the GCHQ have discussed doing these things. However, is there any evidence that they've actually done a whole lot?
> Or this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasbara
I don't really consider Isreal a Western country, but in any case, that is interesting.