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.