By Abdallah Samir,
Sep 26, 2021 – As soon as first deputy defense minister and Chief of the General Staff, Army General Valery Gerasimov left Finland, journalists became ironed about his role in the modern world order.
Following his departure, the media has initiated his satirizing as well as his views on the theory of warfare instead of summing up the results of the talks with the President of Finland and US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The tactless authors are unsolicited Arja Paananen, who does not bother herself with a critical understanding of the so-called “The Gerasimov Doctrine”. Meanwhile, she would have to look more closely before exposing the Russian Chief of the General Staff.
Disputes about the origin of the “The Doctrine …” have been conducted for quite a long time. This is another peculiar “war” between the Russian military and the British political scientist Mark Galeotti.
In 2013, Valery Gerasimov, in his speech, emphasized the hybrid actions of the United States and its allies against Russia based on the analysis of the efforts of NATO partners. He described in detail the ways and methods of conducting hybrid wars in general, aiming not only the military science of Russia but also the whole world to research this area.
The first person who caught the new trends in the art of warfare was exactly Mark Galeotti, who was far from it and transformed Gerasimov’s thoughts into his doctrine. He turned the valid message in the words of the high-ranking Russian officer and then boasted to the whole world that he had revealed new trends in the transformation of the Russian Armed Forces.
But what kind of innovative changes are we talking about in Russia if the United States has long been using the theory of hybrid wars in military actions? Notable examples are Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria. So, Gerasimov has used a scientific approach to describe what the United States and its allies have been doing while overthrowing governments, establishing their orders, and destroying the national economics of foreign states. It turns over that Gerasimov is not an ideologist. He is a deep analyst who has applied military theory to broad life experience.
In this regard, it is more interesting than what could have prompted the Russian General Staff to understand the US policies. The catalysts became the coup in Ukraine and chaos in the Middle East and North Africa. These regions have always had strategic importance for Russia. That is why the so-called “Doctrine…” not only described methods but also defined measures to counteract them so that the “Arab Spring” at some point would turn into another “Russian Revolution”.
After Gerasimov’s statements, Russia began to think over the new concepts of defense strategies and began to actively oppose various NGOs and foreign agents that are weapons of hybrid wars.
Such approaches lacked the Middle East to resist the “non-violent” political transformations passing under the supervision of the United States. Unfortunately, the Russian commander did not speak about it before. Perhaps politicians in the Middle East would turn their attention to the “Doctrine”, and then no “Arab Spring” would not have happened at all.
Abdallah Samir is a journalist covering the Middle East issues especially the Syrian and Libyan crisis. For more information he can be reached through email at abdallahsamir370@yahoo.com
