E54: The Military Element of National Power, Part 3 — Mercenaries

Since 2014, Moscow has used mercenaries in Ukraine, Syria, Africa, and other places to exert military power without accountability. Although these mercenaries, commonly referred to as the Wagner Group, never left Eastern Ukraine, they are now active again with the Russian invasion. Why? What is their value in a conventional war? What dangers do they present? That is the subject of this episode.

For more in-depth discussion of Wagner and other Russian mercenaries, please visit Episode  2, “What Are Russian Private Military Companies”; Episode 4, “The Difference Between Russian Quasi-Mercenary Organizations and Western PMSCs”; and Episode 6, “Meeting the Challenge.”

E53 The Military Elelemt of Power Part 2 Russian Militias

Russia's use of Militias in the ongoing war has been very different than Ukraine's. The way these militias and auxiliaries act as an element of a nation’s military power will reflect the goals, objectives, and strategic vision of the nation that is using them. The danger is that forces that do not fulfill the criteria of a legitimate belligerent under the law of war undermines disciplined and efficient use of military force and threaten the restoration of a just and lasting peace.

E52 The Military Element of Power, Part 1 Militias

The military element of national power is not just regular armed forces fighting on the battlefield. This episode begins to look at the varied means and methods of using military power, once again drawing observations from the current war in Ukraine. I  begin with the use of militias and mercenaries.

E51: Information Warfare

We live in an information age. How can the use of information, in all its forms, be a decisive tool in warfare? I look at the war in Ukraine to describe how the West is being influenced by Information as a tool of national power.

E50: Economic Warfare

If war is a continuation of political intercourse with the addition of other means, what are those other means? How do we apply them for success in war and operations short of war? What does that mean for Ukraine?  This podcast begins to answer those questions by looking at Economic Warfare.

E49: Do we learn from history?

In 1938 the Western powers allowed Nazi Germany to annex the border regions of Czechoslovakia and, a few months later, dismember the rest of that country. Some people say that this model is replaying itself today. Have we learned from history? Have others learned lessons we have not?

E48 The American Way of War w Col Jayson Altieri

Initiative, Imagination, Independence. These principles seem more important than ever in today’s vague, ambiguous, complex, and uncertain strategic environment. But, has the United States gone in another direction? COL Jayson Altieri of the USAF Air War College joins me to discuss this.

E47:Great Commander Pt 3 - von Moltke and the General Staff

What does a Prussian general, a product of the enlightenment, have in common with a Greek commander who studied under Aristotle? More important, how does that continue to affect warfare in the 21^st century?

E46 Great Commanders Part 2: Alexander

Can one man change warfare, or history? I asked colleagues for their recommendations. Everyone's list included the same name. Alexander of Macedon. His vision changed warfare and the world, with effects that continue to this day.

E45: Commanders Part 1

If war is a human endeavor, can the actions of one person, against all odds, change the course of a battle or a war? Times may bring out the man, but sometimes one person can change history.