Ukraine: military (Aug '14 to mid-June '15) closed

[OUTLAW 09]

Outlaw, for what it is worth Mirhond is providing a fascinating insight into a (the?) info campaign that Moscow would want us to believe. If I were you I would stop spending so much effort breaking down and attacking in detail everything said gentleman(s) states as it is pretty clear that his responses are going to continue regardless, and the general readership here can be trusted to make up an informed judgement overall.

One question I have which I have struggled to find an answer for is how large Russia's SF and SOF community is - I'm assuming that their SF have been involved, which seems to be safe judgement. Would Ukraine represent complete commitment and culmination for them, or would they be retaining some economies of scale and have some scope to expand their efforts at UW if opportunities became available, either in Ukraine or elsewhere in the FSU?

Although with each response he reveals more and more of the how they argue and the newest emphasis messaging---thus the constant pushing. Meaning if one pushes back does he respond or move on or if responds what is the response and the change of direction to avoid the push back--since the shoot down he is struggling actually to regain his footing as has their entire info war efforts.

It took a massive amount of push back to just get him to admit he was in Russia as he sidestepped that all the time.

The Russians have greatly expanded their SF abilities and have even complimented SOCOM by creating their own SOCOM and it falls to a degree under the GRU which also has recon/sabotage groups.

I linked the last day or so to a number of videos and photos depicting their SF/GRU equipment and their secure satcom radios taken from inside the Ukraine.

There was an interesting article today in Foreign Policy about the Russian UW efforts. If you look at their new military doctrine "New Generation Warfare" and their eight step approach to supporting political warfare they have reached step six with the introduction of actual Russian troops into the Ukraine.who some commenters here said would not be done.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...aine_arms_nato

First six steps of their new UW doctrine---it is this doctrine that NATO announced today they will view as a trigger for Article 5 for NATO members.

The phases of new-generation war can be schematized as (Tchekinov & Bogdanov,
2013, pp. 15-22):
First Phase: non-military asymmetric warfare (encompassing information, moral, psychological,
ideological, diplomatic, and economic measures as part of a plan to establish a favorable
political, economic, and military setup).
Second Phase: special operations to mislead political and military leaders by coordinated
measures carried out by diplomatic channels, media, and top government and military agencies
by leaking false data, orders, directives, and instructions.
Third Phase: intimidation, deceiving, and bribing government and military officers, with the
objective of making them abandon their service duties.
Fourth Phase: destabilizing propaganda to increase discontent among the population,
boosted by the arrival of Russian bands of militants, escalating subversion.
Fifth Phase: establishment of no-fly zones over the country to be attacked, imposition of
blockades, and extensive use of private military companies in close cooperation with armed
opposition units.
Sixth Phase: commencement of military action, immediately preceded by large-scale reconnaissance
and subversive missions. All types, forms, methods, and forces, including special
operations forces, space, radio, radio engineering, electronic, diplomatic, and secret service
intelligence, and industrial espionage.