A reflection of modernity
24 February 2022, when Russia attacks Ukraine, Russian armed forces outnumber Ukrainian forces two to one. However, as US President Joe Biden points out, more than a year later, Ukraine "is still standing. Ukraine's technological advantage proved decisive in offsetting its numerical inferiority. In the context of the war in Ukraine, the use of theOSINT (Open Source Intelligence) plays a crucial role for the players involved. The various parties to the conflict have used this method. They have three aims: to monitor enemy troop movements, to follow tactical developments and to obtain intelligence on the intentions and capabilities of their adversaries.
The rapid advance of technology has brought about a profound transformation in the way war is waged. Francesco Guicciardini At the end of the 15th century, he was already referring to the use of war cannons during the siege of Florence (1529-1530). He considered these weapons to be a new phenomenon. He saw the emergence of these new techniques as forcing the State to adapt its military defences and develop innovative strategies to deal with this new reality.
For the academic Mary Kaldora specialist in civil society and human security, the use of digital technology, social networks and websites marks a turning point in contemporary warfare. "New technologies have enormously affected war."The British researcher at the London School of Economics suggests that the use of social networks and modern communication technologies in contemporary conflicts can facilitate the organisation of protest movements. But they can also be used to share information on human rights violations and to amplify stories of resistance. These new technologies are also used as a means of disinformation, to manipulate and divide public opinion. For Carole Grimaud, founder of the Centre for Research on Russia and Eastern Europe, the Russian-Ukrainian war : "was first played out on the virtual terrain of disinformation.
Mary Kaldor recalls that during the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the media were used to amplify violence and spread stories of hatred in order to reinforce ethnic divisions: "We are seeing other new technologies in new wars: social media and websites have become hugely important in propagating extremist ideology".. But the use of these new communication technologies is nothing new, since they are no more and no less than a different means of disseminating propaganda and controlling information.
Archaic motivations
Technological advances and new forms of combat may change the tactical and operational aspects of warfare. But the fundamental motivations and principles remain. The original motivation for war is economic. The British researcher Susan Strange in his book "Casino capitalism has already highlighted how economic and financial issues fuel tensions and can trigger wars. The Russian-Ukrainian conflict, fuelled by crucial economic issues used as strategic tools, is the most recent illustration of this.
Political objectives such as territorial expansion or the protection of national interests are often the driving force behind armed conflicts. This continuity is evident in contemporary wars, where political objectives underpin military operations: the war in Syria, the Russian-Ukrainian war and tensions in the South China Sea are prime examples.
Like Clausewitz conceptualised it: "war is simply the continuation of politics by other means"..
War according to Plato :
The Athenian philosopher examines the relationship between war and politics in at least three works: the Protagoras, the Republic, the Laws.
For Plato, war stems from politics and is therefore the means by which men can remain safe and sound.
He distinguishes between two types of war: the pòlemos and the stàsis. Pólemos, or external war, contributes to the development of the state, while stásis, or civil war, threatens its equilibrium.
Technological developments - with OSINT - have certainly given rise to new tactics in contemporary warfare. But this is more a change in the means used to achieve political objectives than a radical transformation in the nature of warfare. Cyber attacks, for example, cause significant disruption, but are used for traditional reasons: espionage or sabotage. The large-scale cyber attacks such as the one that targeted Ukraine in 2017 have been motivated by political tensions and geopolitical rivalries. This highlights the persistence of traditional motivations for war.
On 5 June, the IHEDN will be taking a closer look at the issue of new practices in warfare at the "Regards croisés de Alexandra Jousset, Frédéric Lenfant and Kevin Limonier on "OSINT: the new sinews of war".
