by By: Makenna DeGeronimo
The United States of America became a world power in 1898, and since then has been evolving to retain that title. As America fights to stay on the throne, one of its largest competitors wishes to knock them off of it and take the throne for themselves. Russia has been a long standing focus of many international communities, especially the United States as they see Russia as one of its main competitors. As the world evolves, having a large conventional army force simply isn’t enough. The future of warfare is “irregular warfare”, which Russia utilizes frequently. “Irregular warfare is a struggle among state and non-state actors to influence populations and affect legitimacy” as defined by the Department of Defense. https://media.defense.gov/2020/Oct/02/2002510472/-1/-1/0/Irregular-Warfare-Annex-to-the-National-Defense-Strategy-Summary.PDF The Russian use of irregular warfare against America primarily focuses on two points. The first point being the use of social media as a propaganda outlet that allows them to influence voters and allegedly even elections. By influencing the American population to unknowingly follow a Russian agenda, it allows Russia to attack America from the inside out. Although Russia is the largest country in the world by land mass, they are aware of the fact that America is still stronger than them and they could not beat them in a force on force confrontation. The only way that Russia sees to beat America, its number one competitor on the world stage, is to weaken them with their own people.
The second point to be made is that Russia’s use of irregular warfare tactics are far ahead of America’s conventional tactics. The United States relies on its large military force to impose threats against other countries and security for itself, however, this outdated ideology that America continues to use is why Russia has been very successful in dividing America. Russia has been known to back far right and far left groups, giving them money for supplies and spreading their ideology through social media which creates more tension between the two groups. America wants to be viewed by all other countries as a world power, but is unwilling to change their ways. They have invaded other countries for the sake of upholding democracy yet theirs is crumbling beneath their feet without them even knowing. If the United States continues to remain on this path, Russia will soon be an equal on the world stage and pose a far greater threat than they do now. Changes in tactics and diplomatic solutions are imperative for the success of the future.
Hi Makenna,
You did a nice job with your blog! It’s different than the other ones that I read, but you did great job connecting it to the importance of social media. I think you brought up some valuable points about how social media can affect war and the way other countries can infiltrate that. I know things like this can be controversial, but I felt like you did a good job covering the topic and explaining what it can look like in practice.
Dear Makenna,
Thank you for bringing irregular warfare to our attention. Social media has changed the way we think along with politics, as people get locked into echo chambers digitally set up by algorithms, followed by others with similar beliefs far too often promoting false truths. Our country has been sent back 50 years, while excelling our hatred for certain minorities and attempting to demolish the rights of woman and their bodies. Donald Trump would never have won the presidency with out the same strategies the Russians are using. With out Irregular warfare, Trump never would have made such an unconievable leap of faith. So, where do we draw the line on free speech? The world-wide-web, is just that: world wide–as is Fake News.
Hi Makenna,
This is a really interesting topic. It has been a while since I thought about this in the context of the Russian intervention in the election, but you do a good job bringing up how important it is. I have seen this more recently with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, where social media has been brought up quite a bit as a propaganda tool on both sides. It’s important to change tactics that way even during actual wars for countries like Ukraine, and it seems like they’ve done a good job of taking advantage of social media.