Rome has framed a wave of demonstrations as hybrid warfare. Defence Minister Guido Crosetto went further, calling the Milan clashes the result of a hybrid war against the West, and said foreign powers are influencing our kids on social media.

Albania followed a similar script. Prime Minister Edi Rama blamed a week of street protests on hybrid war and accused the same forces of targeting Albania's EU integration.

The label is also migrating into diplomacy. Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky said Italy too is a victim of Putin's hybrid warfare, while complaining that Washington is pressing Kyiv to pull back and calling that demand unfair — invoking the same phrase to argue against restraint, not domestic unrest.

None of this makes the concept empty. A separate investigation reported this week that Russia is running a hybrid campaign against NATO out of holiday homes near alliance sites — a claim built on named infrastructure, not a mood on the street.

That is the distinction Rome and Tirana are blurring. One is a documented intelligence problem; the other is a label applied to crowds that disagree with their own governments, with no evidence offered beyond a minister's word. Every time 'hybrid war' covers both, the next real warning gets harder to hear. Watch whether Rome or Tirana produce evidence for their claims.