"Russia is the first modern state to employ…" — Jamie E. Palagi (#c1398)

Card #c1398IR // #c1398SynthesisMilitary report

Russia is the first modern state to employ the full spectrum of hybrid warfare — conventional, irregular, and asymmetric means plus persistent political and ideological manipulation — operating just below the threshold of international military response; the US and NATO are unprepared, unwilling, and unable to counter it for lack of unity of action, common understanding, and a cohesive strategy.

— In our words · Source: Wrestling the Bear: The Rise of Russian Hybrid Warfare (Jamie E. Palagi)

[Use when]

If your doctrine has no name for the threat, you have no plan for it — definitions are weapons.

[Why it matters]

A 2015 diagnosis of the exact playbook Russia used in Georgia 2008, Estonia 2007, and Crimea 2014 — and the 'below the threshold' problem is still the core difficulty in deterring gray-zone aggression today.