Small Wars Journal

In Finland, Mattis Backs Creation of a Hybrid Warfare Center Focused on Russia

Mon, 11/06/2017 - 6:33pm

In Finland, Mattis Backs Creation of a Hybrid Warfare Center Focused on Russia by Dan Lamothe – Washington Post

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis appeared at the presidential palace here Monday, praising a country that once clashed with Soviet forces to preserve its independence for now establishing a new center dedicated to countering the unconventional forms of warfare that Russia is fond of using.

Mattis called the European Center of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats that Finland established earlier this year “an institution fit for our times.” He did not mention Russia, but Finland shares an 830-mile border with Russia and pays keen attention to Moscow’s actions.

Hybrid warfare can include conventional combat, but it often seeks to achieve goals through other means, by targeting computer networks, for example, manipulating people through propaganda, or using clandestine operations to avoid retribution for aggressive actions. Russia has been accused of using all three in recent years.

The center has participation from Finland, Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Britain and the United States. European Union countries and those in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are able to join…

Read on.

Comments

This ECECHT – whose mission is as ungainly as its acronym – will worsen tensions between the West and Russia for no apparent benefit. This is yet another example of the lines between NATO members and non-members blurring, which already exists with various joint military exercises, EAPC, PfP, etc. Note that 13 former PfP members became full NATO members from 1994 to 2007, and 12 of the 16 recognized sovereign states bordering Russia are members of NATO, PfP or other U.S. alliances, namely Japan. Moreover, discussion of further PfP members joining NATO continues despite: Russia’s expressions of concern, unresolved territorial disputes and ongoing conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, Russian bases in Belarus and Armenia, and the Azeri-Armenian conflict over NKO. Although NATO is a defensive military alliance, it has unfortunately been used for offensive purposes, notably in 1993 (Bosnia), 1999 (Kosovo) and 2011 (Libya); there was also considerable overlap between NATO and the coalition that invaded Iraq in 2003 alongside the U.S. By its own admission, 2 of the ECECHT’s 5 missions involve integrating NATO with non-NATO members. This sort of initiative will only provoke more Russian hostility in order to counter a form of international competition that is rather traditional and never required a new name.

I have just read an interesting article by Nolan Peterson, appearing n the Daily Signal, "Russia’s Hybrid War Against the West Began on the Battlefields of Ukraine
Nolan Peterson / November 17, 2017"
His background in special ops and aviation give him a special vantage on the topic.
General Mattis has been on top of it. Good piece even if short.

I have just read an interesting article by Nolan Peterson, appearing n the Daily Signal, "Russia’s Hybrid War Against the West Began on the Battlefields of Ukraine
Nolan Peterson / November 17, 2017"
His background in special ops and aviation give him a special vantage on the topic.
General Mattis has been on top of it. Good piece even if short.