“By creating a new status quo, Russia successfully
breaks international norms, creates indistinct (and new) borders, and lowers
international expectations about its behavior. By making the conflict
politically ambiguous, claiming no direct involvement, and keeping hostilities
small and protracted, Russia keeps outside players like NATO and the United
States weak, off-balance, and confused. Russia fuses psychological with kinetic
operations to cloud its adversaries’ and Western perceptions of the conflict. This
strategy complicates the arrangement of an appropriate and timely response from
the international community.”— James Van de Velde, “War in Peace,” The American
Interest, Volume 12, Number 2 (Holidays, November/December 2017)
It was so obvious a year and a half ago. Each day
since has confirmed it.
It seems like only one person in the federal
government refuses to say unequivocally that this is the case, for reasons best
known only to himself….Just the way he hopes it continues to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment