The russian art of war Quotes

“As a probable consequence of Vladimir Putin’s professional heritage, and unlike in Europe, decisions are taken after a methodical analysis of the facts with the intelligence services.”
― Jacques Baud, The russian art of war: How the West led Ukraine to defeat

“As a result, Westerners tend to get lost in concepts that have neither head nor tail, and wage false wars. It’s the same phenomenon as with terrorism, against which no Western country has been able to develop a real strategy for over a quarter of a century—we have explained the phenomenon so that it “fits” our discourse, without trying to understand it. By aligning our strategies with our representation of reality, and not with the reality on the ground, we don’t solve the problem—we perpetuate it. This is why countries like Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso no longer see our “aid” as a solution, but as a problem.”
― Jacques Baud, The russian art of war: How the West led Ukraine to defeat

“The problem came from Russia specialist Mark Galeotti, who first commented on Gerasimov’s article and deduced from it the existence of a “Gerasimov Doctrine,” supposedly illustrating the Russian concept of hybrid war.63 But in 2018, realizing the damage he had unwittingly caused, Galeotti apologized—bravely and intelligently—in an article entitled, “I’m sorry I created the Gerasimov Doctrine,” published in Foreign Policy magazine:64 I was the first to write about Russia’s infamous high-tech military strategy. One small problem: it doesn’t exist.”
― Jacques Baud, The russian art of war: How the West led Ukraine to defeat

“As in the Cuban crisis, the Americans only understand the hard way: instead of trying to bring about change through cooperation—as was successfully done during the Cold War—they try to do it through confrontation and exclusion.”
― Jacques Baud, The russian art of war: How the West led Ukraine to defeat

“Americans don’t like it when people do to them what they do to others.”
― Jacques Baud, The russian art of war: How the West led Ukraine to defeat

“Throughout the Cold War period, the Soviet Union saw itself as the spearhead of a historical struggle that would lead to a confrontation between the "capitalist" system and "progressive forces." This perception of a permanent and inescapable war led the Soviets to study war in a quasi-scientific way, and to structure this thinking into an architecture of military thought that has no equal in the Western world.

The problem with the vast majority of our so-called military experts is their inability to understand the Russian approach to war. It's the result of an approach we've already seen in waves of terrorist attacks — the adversary is so stupidly demonized that we fail to understand his way of thinking. As a result, we are unable to develop strategies, articulate our forces, or even equip them for the realities of war. The corollary of this approach is that our frustrations are translated by unscrupulous media into a narrative that feeds hatred and increases our vulnerability. We are thus unable to find rational and effective solutions to the problem.

The way Russians understand conflict is holistic. In other words, they see the processes that develop and lead to the situation at any given moment. This explains why Vladimir Putin's speeches invariably include a return to history. In the West, we tend to focus on the immediate moment X and try to see how it might evolve. We want an immediate response to the situation we see right now. The idea that "from the understanding of how the crisis arose comes the way to resolve it" is totally foreign to the West. In September 2023, an English-language journalist even pulled out the "duck test" for me: "if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck." In other words, all they need is an image that matches their prejudices to assess a situation.”
― Jacques Baud, The russian art of war: How the West led Ukraine to defeat

“Our media and "experts" have literally pushed Ukraine into a conflict, denying it any negotiating option, but convincing it that Russia is an adversary, one that it is capable of defeating. They are the most detestable, and I hope this book will help make Ukrainians and Russians realize how dishonest they have been with them.”
― Jacques Baud, The russian art of war: How the West led Ukraine to defeat

“Like all conflicts, Ukraine was the scene of unbridled disinformation. The phenomenon is not unusual, but here it took on an almost cartoonish quality. From the outset, the Western narrative revolved around the idea that "Russia cannot, and must not, win this war."
This is demonstrated by the hearing of Michel Goya, a colonel in the French army, before a committee of the French Senate in November 2022. Without the slightest knowledge of Russian military doctrine, with a very limited understanding of the art of operations and even of the inner workings of the Atlantic Alliance, he analyzed the war in terms of what a French soldier would do. Beyond navel-gazing, he illustrates a very Western way of understanding war based on our own logic, not on that of our adversary. This is what led to the disasters of 1914 and 1940 in France, and to the failure of operations in the Middle East and Sahel.”
― Jacques Baud, The russian art of war: How the West led Ukraine to defeat