Behind The Lines Ep 2 - Ukraine's Radical War

08/31/23 • 50 min

Ukraine’s Radical War

Thanks to all of you that have listened to the first episode of Behind the Lines and to all of those of you that are joining this new podcast for the first time. We are taking a weekly look at a different aspect of current geopolitics. This week, it’s how the information age has transformed warfare, and particularly how it has transformed warfare in Ukraine.

Russia's war on Ukraine is the most online in history. The smartphone has become the way the war is recorded and transmitted, and it is the way we consume news of the war. But it is also a weapon. The smartphone has become part of the kill-chain, with Ukrainian civilians uploading targeting information via secure servers that are used by Ukrainian military to direct their artillery fires against the Russians. How do we understand this new kind of radical warfare?

Dr Matthew Ford, an Associate Professor of War Studies at the Swedish Defence University, is currently writing the book War in the age of the Smartphone to be published by Hurst in 2024. Matthew is co author with Andrew Hoskins of Glasgow University of the book Radical War about how the digital age has revolutionised modern warfare. He used to be a strategic analyst at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) and has recently been undertaking Open Source Intelligence work for the UK government on the Ukraine war. We discussed what is different about the Ukraine war, how the smartphone enlists civilians, both inside and outside Ukraine, and how it shapes how we talk about and understand that war.

Matthew can be found on Twitter @warmatters and his book is available here: https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/radical-war/

You can find me on Twitter @snellarthur and you can find my Substack on some of these, and related issues here https://arthursnell.substack.com/

Thanks again for listening to Behind the Lines. If you are enjoying it, please spread the word and give us a positive review. See you next time!

Vyner Street Productions

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ukraine’s Radical War

Matthew can be found on Twitter @warmatters and his book is available here: https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/radical-war/

You can find me on Twitter @snellarthur and you can find my Substack on some of these, and related issues here https://arthursnell.substack.com/

Thanks again for listening to Behind the Lines. If you are enjoying it, please spread the word and give us a positive review. See you next time!

Vyner Street Productions

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Behind The Lines Ep 1 - Prigozhin's Fall

Behind the Lines with Arthur Snell is a new geopolitics podcast. Every week we give the listener access to the best informed people to help you understand this turbulent world and get a feel for the things that will matter in the future.

This week, for our first episode, we have an emergency podcast in the light of the apparent assassination of Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose private jet fell out of the sky on a flight from Moscow to St Petersburg on 23 August 2023. I was delighted to be joined by Owen Matthews, former Moscow bureau chief for Newsweek and author of "Overreach the inside story of Putin's war on Ukraine", just out in paperback. Owen is a native Russian speaker and knows more about the country than almost any other British journalist. Owen now sees Russia as a "failed state”, but this does not mean, in his view, that Putin is at risk of being toppled.

You can follow Owen on Twitter here @owenmatth and see his article on the Prigozhin killing here https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/yevgeny-prigozhin-dead-man-walking/

I am on Twitter @snellarthur and you can read some of my thoughts on world affairs here https://arthursnell.substack.com/

If you enjoyed this podcast please spread the word and give us a positive review - as a brand new title it makes all the difference!"

Vyner Street Productions

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

Behind The Lines Ep 3 - Zimbabwe’s Forgotten Dictatorship

Since independence in 1980, Zimbabwe has been controlled by one political movement - ZANU-PF. Outside the country this was often seen as the personal fiefdom of one man, Robert Mugabe. Undoubtedly he was the key figure, but after his removal from power in 2017, the party has continued to control Zimbabwe’s politics and its institutions. So it is a fair question whether there has ever been a legitimate election held in the country.

Last week on 4 September president Emmerson Mnangagwa, formerly seen as one of Mugabe’s most ruthless henchmen, was sworn in for a second presidential term after another election marred by serious allegations of election irregularities, violence and targeting of opposition supporters. But this time there were differences: election monitors from Zimbabwe’s neighbouring countries, which have a history of turning a blind eye to such irregularities, on this occasion chose to spell out in highly critical detail the problems with the poll. Another big difference was the way that opposition activists were able to use their smartphones and modern tech to run a highly credible vote tally, clearly demonstrating that the officially declared results were questionable at best.

To discuss these elections I was joined by Dr Sara Dorman (Twitter: @afr_pol), a Zimbabwe specialist from the University of Edinburgh and author of Understanding Zimbabwe, published by Hurst. https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/understanding-zimbabwe/ I also spoke to Makomborero Haruzivishe

(Twitter: @MakomboreroH) who is a Zimbabwean political activist now based in the UK after a year as a political prisoner in Zimbabwe.

If you are enjoying this podcast please subscribe via whichever platform you use and give us a positive review. Thanks for listening!

Vyner Street Productions

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.