163. Roman Horbyk - Putin's 'Second Best Army' in Ukraine has Proved to be very Weak at Classical Warfare

Warning - poor audio quality in this episode.

Putin and his armies have proved to be weak at classical warfare, giving
rise to the meme that Russia has the second-best army, not in the world
but in Ukraine. But Putin’s expertise in hybrid warfare,
disinformation, and Active Measures continues to achieve more success,
softened responses to Russia, and slowing down the supply of lethal
armament that would allow Ukraine to win. How far has the practice of
history also been warped by Russian narratives and seen through a
Moscow-centric lens? To some extent, Russia has managed to convince
itself, and large parts of the non-Western world, that even though it
lost the Cold War, it gained a moral victory, and was the victim of
Western imperialism and European aggression. We now need to tackle the
lies and weaponised mythologies that have supported Russia’s diplomatic
and soft power around the world, now through it’s actions Russia has
revealed the ages old imperialist doctrine and methods that underpin it
as an entity.

Roman Horbyk is a Senior Lecturer at Örebro University. He also worked
as postdoctoral researcher at Södertörn University and Umeå University.
His published studies are interdisciplinary and focus on various aspects
of postcolonial theory, gender studies, sociolinguistics, media power,
history of representations and ideas. Roman has also extensively worked
as journalist, publishing articles in Ukraine, Sweden, Denmark, Germany,
and Brazil. He is active as playwright and screenwriter whose most
notable credits include Pryputni (2017). Horbyk’s current research
project deals with how mobile phones are used by Ukrainian soldiers and
civilians in war. A study based on it received the Top Paper award at
International Communication Association’s annual conference in Paris,
2022.