I'm not quite sure what a “hybrid war” is, but the recent TED talk about the Stasi reminded me of recent events: http://www.ted.com/talks/hubertus_knabe_the_dark_secrets_of_a_surveillance_state

It seems that something very similar is unfolding here, too, or some kind of close methods, Mutin still was a resident in the GDR and could not help knowing what methods worked there.

Dei Zersetzung is a set of techniques and techniques developed by the Stasi aimed at breaking the will of man. The direct translation of the word is "biodegradation" and this is a relatively accurate definition. Purpose: discreetly, through a series of small covert operations, to destroy self-confidence, to sow a series of internal conflicts, to paralyze will, to hold down moral strength, to unbalance, to undermine a person. Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zersetzung

Using these methods, there was no need to arrest or physically destroy every dissident - after all, it’s enough just to crush and confuse him, to deprive him of the ability to resist, and in fact to disarm.

When I saw a video with the Prime Minister of Ukraine repeating in a trembling voice that Ukraine could not fight the Russian army, I also recalled a quote from Henry Ford: “When you think you can and when you think you can't, you are right in both cases.” “I really hope that it was such a distracting maneuver, an attempt to gain time for regrouping forces. But now, time passes and similar moods are heard louder. What will happen in the winter? What will happen if the Russian army moves forward, for example, take Kharkov?”

I come from Lithuania and the events in Ukraine touch me deeply, echoing the events of 1991 in the Baltic states. But then Lithuania had no army at all, no resources at all, no help, no opportunities for active resistance. The only thing that was - the will to win and complete moral superiority over the enemy .

It seems to me that after Ilovaisk, after the Russian troops entered the territory of Ukraine, the will to win seriously shook (not without the help of the special services of the Russian Federation and selected excellent students from Olgino, of course). I do not know what to do with this, but I think that this is exactly what they need . This is exactly the victory that they really want.

In the military sense, even when he reached Kiev and put a tank at every intersection of Ukraine, Putin won nothing. Absolutely nothing. In Lithuania, tanks were generally from the first day, from the 39th year, nothing needed to be captured - everything was already captured. So what? And almost half of the local population was for the USSR - imagine the DPR / LPR public throughout Ukraine?

It was impossible to defeat the Maidan , because people had an iron will to win, a wave of confidence in the truth, in the justice of their cause. Even the vile shooting of people could not change anything. The defenseless people at the TV center in Vilnius on the 91st were shot by the same Pskov airborne assault that is now walking on your land. But even if they can defeat your army - the main question is still whether they can defeat the Ukrainian people. Will they be able to break his will to win, decompose, "biologically" decompose confidence in the justice of their cause.

I look from the outside and I'm a stranger, but it seems to me that right now is a very slippery part of the path that is important to go through without losing confidence, without losing unity and will, and not allowing minor conflicts to disarm you. Right now it is important that the commanders of volunteer battalions fight not with the leadership of the ATO or politicians, but with the aggressor - and they are clearly aimed at victory (and victory in the war, not in the elections!).

This war is in many ways going right here. “Winter will be long” - this quote is not from Game of Thrones, but from “Kill the Dragon”. Need to get ready. You need to somehow make sure that minor conflicts, insecurity and disagreements do not pull you down. Gloves and thermal imagers are very important, but to win in the minds, we also need tools, information.

We need public dialogue and unity around the goal, we need a rejection of conflicts of any internal nature (even if betrayal, even if incompetence or venality - bite the bullet and postpone the analysis until victory). It is necessary to reassure alarmists (real and "tactical"), to extinguish conflicts, to extinguish election populism, whiners and defeatists - and constantly, every day to redirect people's attention and aggression to the real culprits of the war. Until victory.