The PLA’s outlook on future conflict in cities has reflected lessons learned from the study of more recent foreign battles, especially by the United States and Russia. 1/7 isw.pub/PLAUrbanWarfar…
Intelligence:
#PLA writers believe that drones can enable advances in technical reconnaissance, a dynamic identified in PLA analysis and commentary from events as early as the 2002 offensive launched by the Israeli Defense Forces in the West Bank. 2/7 isw.pub/PLAUrbanWarfar…
Information Attacks:
#PLA scholars have emphasized that the launch of “soft kill” attacks, including electronic warfare and cyber warfare, to paralyze a city’s defenses can lessen collateral damage and create conditions for later strikes. 3/7 isw.pub/PLAUrbanWarfar…
Precision Strikes:
The #PLA sees air power as a means to provide precision support to ground forces and create coercive effects that impact defenders psychologically, all while avoiding politically and economically costly collateral damage. 4/7 isw.pub/PLAUrbanWarfar…
Close Combat and Mobility:
The adaptation of armored vehicles to the demands of urban operations remains a focus of the #PLA, as described in several studies. 5/7 isw.pub/PLAUrbanWarfar…
Hybridity and Integration of Forces:
#PLA scholars believe that the blurring of political and military struggle in urban combat creates dynamics of “hybrid warfare.” 6/7 isw.pub/PLAUrbanWarfar…
Morale and Public Opinion:
The PLA has highlighted Israel’s “Operation Cast Lead” as a conflict worthy of review and study, including the “second battlefield” of a “social media” war in which Israel and Hamas contested the narrative of public opinion. 7/7 isw.pub/PLAUrbanWarfar…
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The #Kremlin continues to falsely blame Ukrainian forces for planning or conducting “provocations” in areas where #Russian forces intend to commit or have already committed atrocities. 1/4 isw.pub/UkraineInvasio…
#Russian officials claimed on April 15 that Ukraine plans to attack the Lozova train station. Russian forces conducted a missile attack on a refugee-filled train station in #Kramatorsk and blamed Ukraine on April 8. 2/4 isw.pub/UkraineInvasio…
The #Russian proxy Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR) claimed on April 15 that Ukrainian special forces intended to stage a terror attack on an April 16 rally in the city of #Luhansk. No such attack took place. 3/4 isw.pub/UkraineInvasio…
We discuss below some instances in which #American and other officials have presented information in ways that may inadvertently exaggerate #Russian combat capability. We do not in any way mean to suggest that such exaggeration is intentional. isw.pub/RusCampaignApr9
We assess that the #Russian military will struggle to amass a large and combat-capable force of mechanized units to operate in #Donbas within the next few months. isw.pub/RusCampaignApr9
#Ukrainian forces conducted several local counterattacks around Kyiv, in northeastern Ukraine, and toward #Kherson on March 31, successfully pressuring #Russian forces and seeking to disrupt ongoing Russian troop rotations. isw.pub/RusCampaignMar…
The Kremlin used the #COVID19 pandemic to expand its societal control tools. The Kremlin seeks to expand its ability to control Russia's population as President Putin increasingly relies on authoritarian measures to preserve his rule. THREAD 1/13 bit.ly/3isipTo
Putin has steadily expanded his grip on Russia since 2000, but the pandemic provided opportunities to refine his authoritarian toolkit further under the pretext of quarantine enforcement. 2/13
The Kremlin empowered Russian security services and military, expanded Russian authorities' digital surveillance capabilities, and tightened control over Russia's information space. 3/13
Reuters allowed the Kremlin-run TASS news agency to join Reuters Connect. The Kremlin might use this access to spread its false narratives among Western audiences under the veneer of objective reporting- a campaign ISW has tracked in detail. bit.ly/2NvzPRy THREAD 1/11
TASS CEO Sergey Mikhailov said the deal will help present news from Russia "as objectively & reliably as possible." 2/11
Joining Reuters Connect is a gain for the Kremlin and its efforts to make Russia’s global information space less vulnerable to counter-disinformation efforts. 3/11