JOAQUIN FLORES, SPECIAL EDITOR
CROSSPOSTED WITH FRATERNAL SITE FORT RUSS
They have branded themselves in a nearly identical fashion to the Russians, as the Moscow Victory day previews indicate. There is a new shade of green being used on hardware both by the Russians and the Novorossiyans, alongside a new type of red star that has inside of it an upright white vector with a white bar through it. This is flanked on either side by extended St. George ribbons, which have come to symbolize, in contemporary context, both the joining of Crimea with Russia and the revolution in Novorossiya. That Russia itself has decided to use the St. George ribbon prominently for the second year in a row, speaks volumes by itself.
What is different today is the way these decentralized units are able to come together at various times to project tremendous centralization; morphing between a regular standing army and a guerrilla style resistance in real time. Also a difference, which makes this simulation possible is that they are supported at the same time by recent parallel developments in new media – peer to peer information sharing, social networking, and alternative media. Together with a syncretic ideology which combines the essential features of the total sum of the Eurasian historical-social experience, spanning several centuries, we can see a successful shift on the part of Russia from third generation warfare (3GW) towards fourth generation warfare (4GW).
Interestingly, in this frame we can see two military personnel leading this unit who are simulating a standard Hezbollah uniform. The hats, beard, belt, and white gloves are too similar and specific to be random.
What we are to make of this preview is clear: the DPR is an official part of the Russian sphere of co-prosperity and affinity, and has for itself important hallmarks of state institutions. The DPR is in better condition and is better organized than the UAF, and can manage the proper balance and coordination of centralized command and control structures alongside of popular, horizontal, decentralized structures. These are tremendously important signs.
[box] Special Editor Joaquin Flores is a Mexican-American expat based in Belgrade. He is a full-time analyst and director at the Center for Syncretic Studies, a public geostrategic think-tank and consultancy firm, as well as a co-editor of Fort Russ news service. His expertise encompasses Eastern Europe, Eurasia, and he has a strong proficiency in Middle East affairs. Flores is particularly adept at analyzing ideology and the role of mass psychology, as well as the methods of the information war in the context of 4GW and New Media. [/box]
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